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*CptSquall* · 10-11-2020, 05:39 PM

It has been 9 WHOLE seasons since the SHL last expanded from 14, to 16 teams. With the league now making the jump to 18 teams for the start of S56, lets take a look back at the last two expansion teams to see how their near decade turned out.

Now i know many of you are probably already angry about my possibly arbitrary, definitely unpleasant number choice of 9 seasons. There are two reasons for the selection and they are as follows. Firstly, there are exactly 9 seasons between expansions. Waiting for the end of S56, while a whole number and more aesthetically pleasing, would throw things off as the prior teams will be affected by the new teams which, to me felt off putting. Secondly, we are in the middle of S56 and i do not like using the stats and percentages as well as current trends to predict both their final regular season numbers, but also how far they will go into the playoffs in a piece where i compare the successes of these two.

So i will start with their Regular Season numbers, counting things like winning seasons and playoff berths. Things like President's Trophies and, once we are there division titles, will also factor in. Finally Head-to-Head meetings are MASSIVE indicators, particularly as these two are on opposite conferences from each other. Each of the above will be worth one, single point. So if Team A is 2-0 in Head-to-Heads, Has a +.500 record, makes the playoffs, wins the president's trophy (I dont know if we have a league equivalent okay), and lastly their divisional title, that team will have 6 points for their regular season. Next Playoff numbers. This means rounds they made it to, number of rounds won, and obviously trophies for things like winning their conference and the coveted Challenge Cup. Lastly we will have all time numbers such as most wins, most points, most cups, most Head-to-Head wins and league awards by players.

With that out of the way, let us introduce the Class of the S46 Expansion!

S46: 27-19-4 58 Pts
S47: 33-14-3 69 Pts
S48: 30-15-5 65 Pts
S49: 27-17-6 60 Pts
S50: 28-21-1 57 Pts
S51: 36-11-3 75 Pts
S52: 25-18-7 57 Pts
S53: 29-17-4 62 Pts
S54: 30-16-4 64 Pts
S55: 34-11-5 73 Pts

VS

syndicate

S46: 24-22-4 52 Pts
S47: 24-23-3 51 Pts
S48: 21-24-5 47 Pts
S49: 22-25-3 47 Pts
S50: 24-23-3 51 Pts
S51: 30-20-0 60 Pts
S52: 29-15-5 63 Pts
S53: 24-24-2 50 Pts
S54: 35-13-2 72 Pts
S55: 30-17-3 63 Pts

Lets start from the top, Both the Chicago Syndicate and New Orleans Specters came in with solid strategies for building their teams, with NOLA opting for a win now and retool on the fly run. while Chicago wanted to start young and let them grow. Obviously both ideas are different and can effect this ranking by design. But we can start by counting the points on a per season basis.

S46:

.500+ record +1
Playoff Berth +1
Division win +1
Rounds won +2
Cole Reinhart Trophy +1

syndicate

.500+ record +1
HTH 2 Wins +2

So the first season had some interesting trends. New Orleans seemed to have a better season with more wins, points, winning their division, and obviously a playoff berth. However Chicago was only 6 points away and even beat the Specters in BOTH games the two played. Of course by not making the playoffs they couldn't accumulate more points. The Specters made the lead seem bigger with their run to the Challenge Cup finals where they lost to the Buffalo Stampede. Total so far

6

3

S47:

.500+ record +1
Playoffs +1
Div win +1
HTH 1 Win +1

syndicate

.500+ record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 Win +1

Now Chicago is making a bit of headway. They made the playoffs but split the head to heads. Neither team won a round in the playoffs though. Total so far Specters

10

6

S48:

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
Div win +1
Rounds won +1
HTH 2 Wins +2

syndicate

Not a whole lot

S48 was rough on the Syndicate as they slipped to a sub .500 record and lost both games against a powerhouse New Orleans team.
Total so far Specters

16

6

S49:

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
Div win +1
Rounds Won +1
HTH 2 Wins +2

syndicate

Ouch again

Same deal as the year before all told. Totals now Specters

22

6

S50:

.500 Record +1
Playoffs +1
Rounds won +1
HTH 2 Wins +2

syndicate

.500 Record +1

Honestly this is insane. Chicago had a .500 record, and still finished LAST in the East. NOLA continued to make the playoffs but lost their division, they also lost in the conference finals again. Totals now Specters

27

7

S51:

.500 Record +1
Playoffs +1
Div won +1
Prez trophy +1
HTH 1 Win +1

syndicate

.500 Record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 win +1

One of the Specs best seasons and the Syndicate get back into things, grabbing a Head-to-Head win AND a playoff berth. Totals now Specters

32

10

S52:

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
Rounds won +1
HTH 1 win +1

syndicate

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 win +1

Similar seasons here, both teams finished second in their divisions but at least NOLA won a round in the playoffs. Totals Now Specters

36

13

S53:

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 win +1

syndicate

.500 Record +1
HTH 1 win +1

FHM brought a new engine, a drop for both teams, and made the playoffs harder to make. Each team won a game Head to Head, but not much else happened. Totals now

39

15

S54:

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 Win +1
Rounds won +3
Cole Reinhart Trophy +1
Challenge Cup +1

syndicate

.500 Record +1
Playoffs +1
HTH 1 Win +1

This season was what the New Orleans Specters had been building towards since they joined and made the finals in S46. MASSIVELY good feeling. Chicago had a solid season too. Totals

47

18

S55:

.500 Record +1
Playoffs +1
Rounds won +2
Cole Reinhart Trophy +1
HTH 2 Wins +2

syndicate

.500 record +1
Playoffs +1

Back to back trips for the Spooks has them on top of the world, but the Syndicate have a mob of playoff berths as of recent. Totals now

54

20

Now for the all time things

Most wins +1
Most Cups +1
Most Points +1
Better HTH record +1
Individual awards +8

syndicate

Individual Awards +9

Final Totals Specters

64

29

Well this one should surprise nobody as the New Orleans Specters have yet to miss the playoffs and have actually won at least one series, let alone things like cups and stuff. This is not to say that the Chicago Syndicate are a bad team, far from it. But in a head to head matchup, NOLA has had more consistent success. I am curious to see how the next 10 seasons will treat these two teams and how much closer these totals will be. I will of course revisit the topic as well as the treads of the Class of S56 Expansion teams in Inferno

and

by then. Thanks for reading.

1327 words + research

***JKortesi81*** · 10-12-2020, 10:31 AM

I mean, that's 10 seasons bud. <3

But for real, you can't compare the two. Chicago took a different approach than we did so it isn't fair to really compare the two. Now if you want to compare Buffalo and Portland/San Fran nowadays, theres more than enough eras and data for that. I wonder how that turns out? /s

This data is skewed because of the two different paths though, and Chicago definitely has built a fantastic team.

DeletedAtUserRequest · 10-12-2020, 01:28 PM

+1

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