We afforded all 14 SHL teams an opportunity to speak with defensive prospect, Karl Hefeweizen, who is eligible for tomorrow's S36 SHL Draft. Hefeweizen is coming off of a disappointing season with the Detroit Falcons, where their playoff hopes were dashed in the final frames of the regular season. Hefeweizen posted impressive 21 points in 50 games as a rookie (7 goals/14 assists) but the performance was marred by a laughable -15 rating. While the entire Falcons roster struggled, Karl has said on numerous occasions that he's been entrusted with monster minutes and thus expects to turn in a monster performance night in and night out.
In anticipation of the draft, we reached out to all 14 SHL teams and their respective GM's to offer the opportunity to ask questions of the young rookie. While we didn't have a 100% response rate, we did get some great questions.
<center>:admirals: <a href='index.php?showuser=2236' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Wally</a> - Portland Admirals :admirals:</center> GM: Who do you feel could be late second/early third round addition to a team with as much depth as Portland has?
Karl: "Er, that's an odd question to ask. I have to say that our rookie goalie, Marmeladov, will probably fly under some people's radars. He's a great guy and pretty active, so worth keeping an eye on."
GM: This draft truly has an initial impact of feel built for longevity, would you feel top to bottom, are there more built for success in two to three seasons or success in sustaining gradual career growth? Or both even.
Karl: "If I understand the question, you want to know if players in this draft are more tailored towards short term success or career longevity. I think there's a healthy mix -- there are guys that want to start lighting the lamp ASAP at whatever level they play in. I've tried to focus on shoring up any glaring weaknesses across the board before I really start fine-tuning certain aspects of my game that I know I'll need at the SHL level."
GM: Who has the biggest risk to have a Tomen-esq type exit from the SHL?
Karl: "Too soon, bro. I can't really answer that -- nobody saw Tomen coming and I don't think there's any red flags we can use to telegraph a situation like that. I will say that I worry about people 'burning out' sometimes; you can see people that are active in the league but not as active in the community and that may be an early predictor."
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=1045' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Steelhead77</a> - Calgary Dragons</center> GM: What do you think is your best asset that you bring off the ice to a team or locker room?
Karl: "My liver. No seriously, I think I help bond the guys around me through my shenanigans. My momma always said that team building happens best after 10pm, and if booze is the fuel that keeps that fire alive then I'm happy to help the team grow closer."
GM: If it's the right fit, are you looking to stay with one team your whole career or would you like to bounce around a bit?
Karl: "I think most people would like to make a home with one crew, if there's a good fit. Maybe that's an assumption on my part -- but my style is definitely to find a place where I belong. Wins come and go, but I've found that the wins come easier and the losses don't sting as much if you've found a place where you belong."
GM: The name Hefeweizen, do you expect your jersey to be a top seller of college aged fans? Do you think it will get a cult following from lovers of the German Beer Hefeweizen?
Karl: I'm less worried about how often my name shows up on jerseys in the stands, and more focused on how often it shows up on the scoresheet...or the cup.
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=2327' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-69'>ztevans</a> - Winnipeg Jets</center> GM: The Winnipeg LR has one of the most-revered STHS minds on the site in <a href='index.php?showuser=12' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-4'>Leafs4ever</a>, who was our GM for the first 30 seasons of the SHL. As a programmer who has worked on another hockey sim, what's one question you'd ask him about Simon T?
Karl: I'd like to know what we think SimonT does really well and see how easily it could be replicated by another solution. There's a lot of logistics that get complicated by the nature of STHS, and by all accounts STHS has a lot of warts of its own.
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=1773' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Baelor Swift</a> - Minnesota Chiefs</center> GM: If you had to compare the Chiefs to an NHL franchise, which would it be and why?
Karl: "My understanding is that there's elite veteran talent all the way down the ice. Having a franchise forward, defenseman, and goaltender surrounded by a lot of youth is a pretty unique position to be in. In a way it reminds me of the New York Rangers."
GM: Would you prefer to join a team with c as a GM or a team with a roster composed of you and 19 cs?
Karl: "I think one <a href='index.php?showuser=1322' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>mpc</a> is more than enough, 19 sounds like a dark timeline."
GM: Do lakes have beaches?
Karl: "Yes, some do."
GM: Who makes better music - Lil Uzi Vert or Lil Yachty?
Karl: "I've never heard either, so going based on name alone the answer is obviously Lil Yachty."
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=1766' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>karlssens</a> - Edmonton Blizzard</center> GM: would you say your as soft as a wheat beer, or as smooth as a wheat beer?
Karl: "Smooth, for sure. I'm probably softer than any of us would like right now, but the right team will help me get hard."
GM: what nhl superstar is Hefeweizen most similar to?
Karl: "I'm not there yet, this early in my career, but I'd like to see myself get to a player like Kris Letang. Smooth skating, puck mover, and enough IQ that he's a force on both ends of the ice."
GM: who will be the biggest draft bust? biggest draft steal?
Karl: "I don't want to call anyone in the class a bust...there's too much room there to make enemies or step on toes. As for steals, I think there's a lot of guys that are pretty active in media and community that aren't blowing up Discord. It's easy to see the guys that are chatterboxes in a channel that's in your face, it's another thing to identify who's hitting the workout room regularly. From the Falcons room alone, there's guys like <a href='index.php?showuser=2688' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-3'>Vikian</a>, @[Dean Youngblood], and <a href='index.php?showuser=2700' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-3'>Kmarko</a> that have fallen off the radar because they're not the loudest guys in the room."
GM: with the "blank" overall pick, Edmonton selects Karl Hefeweizen! What do you do?
Karl: "Depends on what number blank is! In all seriousness, regardless of whether it's the Edmonton Blizzard or another team I think I have the same gameplan. Jump into Discord immediately, get to know the guys, and then piss on everything to mark my territory."
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=1157' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Beaujeaux</a> - West Kendall Platoon</center> GM: How many hotdogs?
Karl: "In the name of our lord and savior, the answer is eighty one hot dogs."
GM: Favorite programming language
Karl: "I'm always going to be partial to Python. It's a good blend of power and developer creature comforts, and I've found it relatively easy to get up and running in a hosted environment with minimal fuss. I do have a soft spot for Java -- strongly typed languages keep me from getting in trouble, and Python has some real fucky ways of handling things that aren't immediately obvious to non experts. That being said, there's nothing faster than standing up a Python web app for me."
GM: Do you start your arrays at 0 or 1
Karl: "I start my arrays at 0, because I'm not a savage."
<center><a href='index.php?showuser=1290' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>vbottas17</a> - Los Angeles Panthers</center> GM: Where do you see Karl Hefenweizen's career at 5 seasons from now?
Karl: "I'd like to see myself contributing in a meaningful way to a contender in the SHL. 5 seasons is a lot of time, and I don't mind being in SMJHL for another season or two if that's what makes sense for the big club. Still, I don't plan on making a career in SMJHL and I sure don't plan on wallowing on the 3rd pairing for 10 minutes a game. If I can contribute in a meaningful way to a good team, awesome. If 5 seasons from now I don't see that opportunity, I may have to find a way to help a less competitive team turn into a good one."
GM: Do you see the emergence of a grinder type or player mentality that allows for a grinder stat line?
Karl: "Not really...grinders play a really important role in real life in a hockey game in ways that it's difficult for a sim engine to capture. I don't know that STHS does a great job of it, although maybe that's why the Defense stat is so OP. It's important to point out that all of our artificial constructs (Strengths/Weaknesses, TPE scaling, etc.) are built around the system that SImonT developed totally independent from them. As a result, he likely has a way that "grinders" are modeled in NHL Sim leagues that we wouldn't necessarily be able to build. Conversely, if there's few meaningful stats or outputs that highlight what a "good" grinder is, I'm not sure people will find them sexy enough to play."
GM: If you were to recreate right now, what would be the build you'd strive for (besides everything maxed)?
Karl: "This season in Detroit has taught me that being a pass first player has a lot of limitations. Namely, it doesn't matter if you can dish the puck to your teammates if they can't fill the net themselves. We had a pretty stingy GA as a team and still missed the playoffs because we couldn't score...a lot of that is due to being so rookie heavy but I would've helped the problem had I been a scoring first mentality. I think a scoring winger would be my recreate, but probably still a very responsible defensive one."
GM: What do you see as the biggest problem in the SHL right now?
Karl: "Stagnation...there's so much stuff that's basically the same as when I did VHL 10 years ago. The internet is a different place, expectations are different...not only should the experience grow to reflect that, but if we want to capture (and retain) people then we've got to find ways to stay relevant and engaging. Aside from Discord (and obviously the people) the experience is pretty damn similar to VHL in terms of the mechanics."
GM: If you had a vote in either HO election, who would you have voted for and why?
Karl: "Bit of a homer pick, but <a href='index.php?showuser=2271' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-56'>Avakael</a> for sure. In the Falcons LR he's super active, he obviously has found lots of good ways to contribute to the site and add new experiences. He's also done some scraping/development work to try and nudge the league in the right direction...it's exactly the kind of platform that I'd run on if I were running for SHL HO."
GM: Will the SHL ever be susceptible to change as drastic as a simulation engine change? My hope is yes because you're trying to give us something awesome there, and I appreciate those efforts.
Karl: "Obviously I hope the answer is yes. Whether that's the case or not is a different story. I think we absolutely can, if the right research is done and the right measures are taken with regards to the migration effort. I do think there's one caveat though, which is that it can't be radically different in terms of attributes. We have so many systems in place (player roles, TPE scales, regression, etc.) that are fixated based on the number and types of attributes we have. If we were to move to something like EHM or an EA style of attributes then we'd seriously end up with a whole new league. I think a new sim engine, mine or otherwise, would stick if it's largely based on the existing attributes. We'd likely still need to give a free respec or something (people probably wouldn't all want max DF as a sniper) but you're largely playing with the same parameters."
Karl: "I can't speak to that; in discussions with a few GM's my name seems to keep dropping in the rankings so if I were a betting man I'd shut the fuck up about where I'm going so I don't lose money."
GM: Do you see an obvious competitor and obvious bottom-feeder in each conference? Which would you rather be drafted by?
Karl: "I do, but I won't name them for the sake of tact. I do think I'd prefer to get drafted by a bottom feeder than a contender whose window might be closed before they can call me up. Sure I want to be a part of a championship team, but I probably won't feel like I'm actually a part of it if I'm in the minors still. If they've had to sell the farm to get to where they are, they may end up being a bottom feeder by the time I get called up for action anyways. If it's all somewhat cyclical, then I'd rather start the timer on the downswing than the upswing. That being said, I don't think it's all perfectly cyclical...in this league, good teams may stay good for a reason, same with bad ones. I don't have enough of a bead on that yet to figure out which ones are."
Quote:Originally posted by ThatDamnMcJesus@Jul 31 2017, 12:15 PM I forgot about dis. :((
<a href='index.php?showuser=2651' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-3'>gfridge</a> i guess we won't play on the same team :((
gfridge
<a href='index.php?showuser=1045' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Steelhead77</a> - Calgary Dragons 
<a href='index.php?showuser=2327' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-69'>ztevans</a> - Winnipeg Jets 
<a href='index.php?showuser=1773' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Baelor Swift</a> - Minnesota Chiefs 
<a href='index.php?showuser=1766' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>karlssens</a> - Edmonton Blizzard 
<a href='index.php?showuser=1157' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>Beaujeaux</a> - West Kendall Platoon 
<a href='index.php?showuser=1290' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>vbottas17</a> - Los Angeles Panthers 
<a href='index.php?showuser=1322' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>mpc</a> - Seattle Riot 
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