What makes a team dominant? How can a team remain dominant? These are the two most important questions one could ask in the SMJHL. And while there may be a lot of different ways to answer that first question, the biggest issue is always staying dominant. The SMJHL is a unique league because the turnaround of players is so rapid that it’s hard for a team to build a meaningful core. Players have a measly 4 years in the SMJHL, and some have even less time if their SHL GM pulls them up early. This leaves the junior league to be extremely volatile, inconsistent, and outright difficult to navigate for GMs. 


I want to highlight Maine Timber because they have a unique strategy to stay dominant in the league, but they have also remained at the top of the standings for almost 15 seasons but even then they’d be in the middle of the table and bounce back within a couple seasons. How do they do it?! First let’s look at their playstyle. It’s interesting how they almost always have an extremely high volume of shots. They remain at the top of the table in shots, goals, and assists. They have incredible offensive production that continues era after era. 


So how do they continue this efficiency? Well obviously they draft players. But more specifically, they consistently draft players to mold into top players. While their veterans are in their 3rd and 4th years, we will see new faces joining the ranks. And by the time their veterans are able to retire, they have a just as stacked lineup ready to go on their 2nd line. And they continue this trend, always having an elite 3 in their 1st line AND a group on their second line ready to take their place right as they get drafted. They have impeccable draft timing. There is never too much nor not enough talent for Maine to fill their roster. And while I’m not going too deep into their defensive prowess despite their defense being amongst the top in the league regularly too, they could use this same drafting approach on their defenders. 


Simply put, Maine’s success comes from their unparalleled ability to draft the right players at the right times, and it seems like they are the ONLY team that has this secret formula. Now, there is a clear threat to this “formula” and it’s well out of their hands. If SHL GMs decide to pull up Timber’s core players, they can find themselves behind, needing to force players who aren’t ready for the step up into elite and key supporting roles on the team. However, it seems Maine has even accounted for this in their draft strategies! You will often see key players being staggered over 2 years which offers flexibility for them in the event they ever get slightly unlucky with early call ups! If you look at their current starting forwards, you will notice they have two 4th years and one 3rd year! So even if a team pulled up one of their players, they’d be able to pull up a player from their second line.


Furthermore, supporting this idea of staggering players. Like I mentioned ⅔ of Maine’s first line are 4th years. Maine just so happens to have 2 2nd year players on their 2nd line ready to take the step up into a capped elite player next season. Maine’s timing and draft selecting is elite and IS the “Maine” cause of their success.


I hope other teams can take a look at timing within the draft cycles for new players and bring in specific types of players in each wave, creating pairings on lineups for the inevitable passing of the guard.

@noxu Approved!