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***ThePyroAlpaca*** · 10-15-2023, 11:42 PM

As a new player to the league it is hard to understand what all the player stats do and what to focus on early on in your career. Sure your GMs and Mentors are a great source for guidance and advice but the best source is analyzing the current top players to see what makes them successful. As I am a currently trying to build a top two-way defencemen in the SMJHL i thought i would look at last years defencemen of the Year and the current defence point leader, to see what similarities they share and where they differ.

First we have Season 72 Defencemen of the Year:
Seamus O'Slapahan ( 12G 61A 73PTs +42)
Team: New England Wolfpack ( 51-15-0, +148 Goal Differential)

First this team was very good, finishing top in the league and sporting 3 of the seasons top 10 goal scorers (1st, 7th, and 8th). Seamus was not a passenger though leading defencemen scoring with 73pts and having 15! more assists than the next defencemen. As expected his player attributes/ratings are all very high with Defensive read, Offensive Read, Puckhandling, Checking, Balance, and Strength being his key attributes at 18+. His four lowests stats, not including positional useless stats like faceoff and screening, are Shooting Accuracy, Shooting Range, Hitting?!, and Speed. Obviously, the biggest surprise for me here was seeing his hitting so low. This let's me believe its probably better to focus on one of either hitting or stick checking rather than trying to max both out equally. Another Surprise for me was that his highest stat wasn't Stamina as lots of people have told me its a key stat for defencemen. Although his Stamina is not low at 17, it seems this stat may be more important to defensive defencemen who have to stay on the ice longer to kill lots of penalties, and in fact may provide diminishing returns after a point to a two-way defencemen.
Since his allstar Season 72 performance he has increase his Passing, Positioning, Speed and Acceleration. At the time of writing Seamus currently sits tied for 1st in Goals, 2nd in Assists, and second in points with a stat line of (11G, 28A, 39Pts, +27). His Team is currently 2nd in the league (28-3-1) with 3 games in hand on Edmonton who leads them by 1pt.

Next we'll look at the current point leader:
Louise St. Martin (10G, 42A, 52PTs, +35)
Team: Edmonton Blizzard (29-6-0, +139 Goal Differential)

Again we see the team is very good, sitting atop the division and sporting 3 of the seasons top 10 goal scorers (1st, 2nd, and 10th). Louise, like Seamus, is also a top contributor leading defencemen scoring with 52pts and having 14! more assists than the next defencemen (who just so happens to be Seamus). Louise attributes lean more offensive with Getting Open, Passing, Puck-handling, Shooting Range, Offensive Read, Positioning,Defensive read, and Stamina being the highest attributes. One thing to note is Louise has that a 20 stat (offensive read), where Seamus has none. Louise's lowest stats are Shot Accuracy, Shot Blocking, Hitting and Most of her Physical Attributes are only sitting at 16.
Before i compare the stats note i am using only have a season of stats for Louise and thus will be projecting a little bit.
Comparing the stats its clear Hitting is not important if you have a good stick-checking, and overall Physical attributes seem to not have as huge an impact on players as they reach certain levels. Its also clear to see the most crucial stats for a two-way defencemen are Offensive Read, Defensive Read, and Positioning which makes sense as you need to be able to read both ends of the ice and always been in the right position so you can transition properly. Offensively it looks like Shooting range has minimal impact on scoring for a defencemen as Louise is projected to only finish with 4-6 more goals than Seamus the previous year and is currently behind him in goals. Overall i think Louise should win the Defence scoring race this year and by quite a large margin, as they are projected to finish close to where Seamus did the previous year but with 20 Offensive read and better offensive stats should break the 80pt mark.

Another a key factor in all of this is the fact both play on top teams with very high scoring forwards. This is what i think separates good players and great players. To be great is not a solo journey but is a collective pull of many good teammates.

As a young SMJHL defencemen, both are exemplary defencemen to look up to and I hope when I make the SHL i can emulate even a fraction of their success.

In Conclusion, if you want to be a top Two-way Defencemen in the SHL you need 4 things:
1. Have generally high stats 16+ in everything
2. Make Your Highest stats Defensive Read,Offensive Read, and Positioning
3. Prioritize Hitting or Stick check not both
4. Play on a Top 3 Team

Thanks for Reading (word Count 866)

*CptSquall* · 10-22-2023, 10:23 AM

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