1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.
room
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13. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Old Reliable IIHF Analysis
Write your predictions for this year's IIHF tournament or WJC! Tell me about your team! What are your expectations for your player? What teams are you watching out for this time around? Did last season's results surprise you and how much do you expect them to change this time?
Last season's IIHF results were a huge surprise. The final game of the round robin stage saw team Czechia face off against team Norway with the winner locking the final spot in the playoffs. Czechia were the favourites to earn the spot earlier in the tournament, but three consecutive losses to close out the round robin stage meant that Norway was able to take the final spot in group B. Norway would then go on to win the gold medal and leave Czechia thinking about how close they were to a similar run. This season the expectations are high for team Czechia after that heartbreaking finish from last season. They have a growing roster that's getting stronger every season and most definitely have the skill required to earn a spot back in the playoffs and compete for a medal. After last season's playoff miss, the expectation and hope for the team is to not repeat that surprising and unfortunate ending from last season.
150+ words, 3 TPE
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14. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Volatile Results
The IIHF has always been known to be hard to predict. Last season saw the 8th seeded Norway win the entire tournament after taking down 2nd seed Ireland, 3rd seed USA and 4th seed France. In season 77, we saw a similar situation with 8th seeded Ireland taking on 6th seeded Japan in the finals. How do you feel about the volatility of the IIHF, do you wish the series were longer so the stronger teams didn’t get upset as much? Or do you prefer the chaos that is single elimination?
The volatility of the IIHF format is a really nice change of pace compared to the best of 7 SHL format that often sees divisional rivals face each other in the same early matchups season after season and sees the top teams face each other in the finals more often than not. The quick offseason tournament of IIHF is refreshing because you truly know that any team could win. Only 12 games to qualify for the playoffs and then three wins in a row after that to claim gold. Since the initial format is so quick to begin with, seeds don't mean as much as they do in the SHL format anyways. Upsets don't feel as heartbreaking for the higher seeded team because they know that everything is on the line to begin with. Being able to have a realistic chance of an upset in any playoff series is what makes real world NHL playoffs so exciting, and I appreciate that the IIHF here is able to capture some of that magic that sometimes gets lost in the balance of FHM.
04-02-2025, 11:11 AM(This post was last modified: 04-02-2025, 11:11 AM by LGRW613.)
1. Trivia! (verification word: donut)
11. Chicago is definitely the team that shocked me the most, jumping from 16th to 9th in the standings this season. This is still a young team that was looking to continue finding their identity as a team, and I don't think even they thought they were going to rise as high as they did, so big shoutout to their coaching staff for making the absolute most out of that roster, because that coaching talent is going to carry this team incredibly far as their players reach their full potential. The most shocking thing about their rise is that their prospect system is still LOADED to the brim with elite talent who still need to make the jump to the big leagues (and even then, will still need more time to reach their full potential), so there is really no where to go but up for them. However, I do think they might struggle next season to reach that same level, as their youngins still need time to develop and reach their peaks. But if you're looking at the future and trying to predict who the next three peat team is going to be, Chicago definitely has the talent across their entire roster to be that team. (206 words)
14. Honestly, I'm one hundred percent here for the chaos that single elimination brings to the IIHF (might be biased though since I also got a gold medal on that Norway team last season). I would NEVER want the SHL to transition to that format, the seven game series should live on forever, but I love the best on best tournament being one shot to get it done. It also fits incredibly well with the idea of a "best on best" tournament, because the "best of the the best" should be able to turn it on and keep it on the entire tournament, and grind out a win in every game. Last season, it was my beloved Norway that kept the pedal to the floor, and I'm excited to see if we can do it again! (135 words)
2 : Which team has had the easier road to the cup finals? Do you think they could have made it to the finals if they were in a different division? (160 words - 3TPE)
If we go purely by playoff record, we can compare the various rounds as follows:
Round 1: The Tampa Bay Barracuda faced the Philadelphia Forge, and needed seven games to see them off. The San Francisco Pride faced the Winnipeg Aurora, and got the job done in 6 games. So the San Francisco Pride hade the slightly easier match-up here.
Round 2: The Tampa Bay Barracuda faced the Atlanta Inferno, and won the series in 6 games. The San Francisco Pride was matched with the Seattle Argonauts, and also needed 6 games. So for round two, the teams are tied.
Round 3: The Tampa Bay Barracuda once again needed 7 games to get past the New England Wolfpack. Meanwhile, the San Fransisco Pride had their third 6 game series, and therefore had a slightly easier third round as well.
Based on playoff rounds alone, the San Fransisco Pride therefore had an easier troute to the finals, which was rewarded in the end.
14 : The IIHF has always been known to be hard to predict. Last season saw the 8th seeded Norway win the entire tournament after taking down 2nd seed Ireland, 3rd seed USA and 4th seed France. In season 77, we saw a similar situation with 8th seeded Ireland taking on 6th seeded Japan in the finals. How do you feel about the volatility of the IIHF, do you wish the series were longer so the stronger teams didn’t get upset as much? Or do you prefer the chaos that is single elimination? (160 words - 3 TPE)
The IIHF tournament has always been hard to predict, at least going by my record of IIHF predictions for TPE or money. And while there is something to be said for rewarding active nations, with more and higher TPE players, rather than punishing them through a system of volatility and upsets, I quite enjoy the current setup. The issue with going the traditional way, which would lead to fewer surprises and upsets, is that it is heavilyy geared to favour the nations that are very much the obvious choices for people creating a new player. The current setup allows for flexibility and rewards people for making bold choices, like creating a player with the nationality of a non-standard country. And it therefore increases inclusivity and non-conformity. And in the end, the 'better' teams still have a bigger chance of ending up with a medal, despite the odds of a succesful upset being larger than in a more traditional tournament setup.
2 - In my opinion, based on the difference in 7 game series by each team, The San Francisco Pride had an easier line to the cup than the Barracuda. I genuinely think it would not make a difference which conference The Pride are in, they are just the best team the SHL puts on the ice week in and week out. - 60 words (1 TPE)
10 - From any outside perspective, one could think that the difference giving these 2 teams the edge would be their tactics and maybe they just know FHM better than everybody else. I would argue that the clear common denominator is keeping a clear core together regardless of some past regressions. Insisting on forcing their line and pair chemistries onto the ice, The Tampa Bay Barracuda and San Francisco Pride have kept key players apart of their team, opting against possible trading of aging players to extend their championship window. Most players on this San Francisco team have been together for at least 7 consecutive seasons. Meanwhile it appears Tampa Bay's lineup appears to have been together for the past 6. Based on appearing in 3 of the last 5 cup finals, it would appear that Tampa Bay got an early head start on making it out of their conference to the finals 4 seasons ago. Whereas after that run The Pride have come together with a model of consistency, winning the last 3 cups consecutively, 2 of which came over The Barracuda. Teams should clearly be following the blueprint of trusting in their team building and chemistry to get to a spot where your players can know each other's thoughts and movements instinctively to have long lasting success versus just being a flash in the pan. - 225 words (4TPE)
2. As one half of the mentioned Webb/Winters duo, I like to think that I am uniquely qualified to speak on what makes it such a successful pairing. And that is that it isn't just a duo, it's actually a trio with Levin Schattenaxt. No one would argue that Webb and Winters have been more successful to this point in their career from a points perspective, but you know what? Before this season, Levin was the only one of the trio to have earned a season long award, having won the Dar as best two-way forward, even though he is often the forgotten part of that line for the Pride. They've been on a line as a group for almost their entire SHL careers, and that has definitely been demonstrated in their chemistry and their performances on a year to year basis. The Pride's S71 draft class has won a combined 18 Cups together if you add their later trades for Mercedes Bayle and Filip Svatos to the Webb/Winters/Schattenaxt group, and they've all be a critical part in making the current Pride run as one of the most dominant teams in SHL history and the first 3-peat in SHL history as well.
WC: 204
+4 TPE
15. San Francisco yet again won the Challenge Cup this season to the delight of their players and their fans, becoming the first team in SHL history to complete a 3-peat. Tampa Bay gave them a good fight for the second straight season in the Finals, but the experience and offensive firepower of the Pride turned out to be too much in the end. While the Barracuda did a respectable job to slow down the Webb/Winters/Schattenaxt line, surviving that group simply meant that you had to survive the next two lines of former Mexico Award winners with Chris Valentine and Viktor Hargreeves, something that proved to be too much for the Barracuda.
WC: 113
+2 TPE
Total TPE: +8 TPE
Alex Winters (retired)
Matej Winters (retired)
Dominik Winters S45 Jesster Trophy Winner Challenge Cup Winning Goal Club: S52
This season was a fun one. My player played their second year so it was easier to know the players and their teams after a few seasons now. I feel like I sort of knew that San Fran would win it again, but at the same time its so rare to see a team three-peat. It takes a lot dedication and spirit to keep a team that good for so many seasons in a row. Congrats to the management and the players for their third cup in a row. Well deserved.
So many teams were climbing the ranks this season and that was fun to watch. My team, the Chicago Syndicate, made the leap to being a winning team this year and we made the playoffs. And had the audacity to take New Orleans to seven games. Not bad. Not bad. Can’t wait til next season because I think we will do even better. Definitely a team on the rise. I am excited to see new rivalries form and see some new challengers for the cup, but if San Francisco feels like they have one more in them, heck, then bring it boys and girls! New teams also making waves are all going to be harder to eat next season.
210 Words 4 TPE
14. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Volatile Results
Well, being a player who was on that eighth seeded team who took it all in the end and ended up winning the Gold medal, I thought it was fantastic how volatile the result was. Its fun to watch that slim chance turn into a medal and then turn into a gold medal. It was fun. And honestly completely unexpected. It made the IIHF really interesting for me anyway. Of course, I can’t speak for the stacked teams who didn’t make it, but the fun of it all, is there is a chance for any team to win the gold. Norway did it a few seasons before i thought we would get gud but well, here we are.
118 Words 2 TPE
12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Jenga
Expansion is going to be weird with four new teams at once. The math works out, that each team should only lose three players but this could still be devastating to a team that is in the mid range coming off a rebuild. The math also checks out that it will be equal hit for each team so in reality, it shouldn’t affect any standings as they would have been. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
It would also be interesting to see if there’s any drama pertaining to the expansion. Four new teams plus a vacancy in an existing team. Should be fun! Can’t wait to see the brands that everyone comes up with.
2. Easier road, 133 words +2 TPE
It's easy for me to say that both teams in the finals deserved to be there, looking at their team makeup and TPE, but the team with the tougher road to get there by far was the Tampa Bay Barracuda. They underperformed in the regular season, making them a lower-seeded team going into the playoffs and having a to face the top two teams in their conference in the first two rounds. In the third round, they were against the New England Wolfpack, the fourth place team in their conference who just defeated the third place team. Then in the finals was the toughest matchup of all against the President's Trophy winning San Francisco Pride, coming off back to back cup wins, who beat them for their third Challenge Cup in a row.
12. Jenga, 330 words +4 TPE
Between the upcoming expansion of four teams alongside FHM 10 being introduced as the league's new simulation engine, in the seasons to come many parts of the SHL will become unrecognizable. It should be interesting to see how each team is affected by the changes, and while we wait to see how everything looks once the dust settles, to make predictions about what's to come. Starting with the least affected teams, to me these would be the ones that are rebuilding or lower in the standings, since they'll be able to protect most, if not all of their important pieces for the future. At most these teams will be losing one or two semi-active mid-earning players, which while unfortunate, shouldn't be the end of the world. Next up, contending teams will lose a couple pieces that might bring them closer to the teams below them, but not so much that it causes a collapse. For the highest TPE teams in the league, this will be a ~1500 TPE player in regression, or a ~1200 TPE player who's young and earning well, but was drafted well after the rest of the core who will be more important for a cup run. Last, the most affected teams will be those losing one of their better players or even two to becoming GMs, these teams are the Montreal Patriotes, contenders who are losing Sve7en's player Jamie Fraser, a S76 who will be around 1700 TPE at the time of expansion, the Edmonton Blizzard, rebuilders who are losing HFFO's player Olafur Atlason, a S77 who will be around 1500 TPE, and the Winnipeg Aurora, rebuilders who are losing Ace's player Pohler Beargeron, a S77 who recently retired at 1300 TPE. No team is affected from Rashford's player since he recreated this season. All in all, teams should get closer together in TPE and in the standings, but the top teams should still be the top teams and the rebuilding teams will still be rebuilding.
Yesterday, 10:57 AM(This post was last modified: Yesterday, 11:36 AM by karlssens. Edited 3 times in total.)
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1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max
verification word = karl
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Written, 50 to 200+ words each. Short Prompts
5. 8 of the top 10 players by TPE on SFP are forwards, meanwhile 4 of the 6 TBB Defensemen are part of the top 10 players by TPE. Do you think it’s more important to have a core of powerful forwards or a core of incredible defensemen?
8. Who you got? Who wins the Challenge Cup or Four Star Cup? Why?
5. In the real world the best offense is a good defense, but in the virtual world I think it's been proven that the opposite is often the case. Much like in video games more damage is typically better than more defense. A dead enemy can't hurt you. I think in the SHL it's been shown you can out score a lot of your problems and San Francisco has proven that with 3 straight trips to the Challenge Cup finals and many strong regular season finishes over the last decade. It doesn't hurt that San Francisco also has a strong defense and an all-world netminder, but their offense is often the headliner. [111 words - 2 TPE]
8. San Francisco baybeee.
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12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Jenga
Expansion is once again a season closer and will potentially lead to each team losing three or four players. How do you think missing these players will impact different teams? Will it knock down the current competitors or maybe mess up the raising challengers? Do you expect those teams be able to recover with the assets available for them or do we finally see free agent movement like never before? What teams you would predict to be in cup contention for S83 and why?
It will certainly shake up the SHL landscape. Teams at the top will need to decide if they want to protect their aging veterans that can still contribute or their younger prospects that will eventually be their replacement. They'll ultimately need to decide if they want to win now or focus on future seasons in hopes of extending their window. If they simply protect all their top TPE players and let the young player get scooped up they may actually be in an even better position to win now since every team is set to get a hit talent wise. The teams currently near the bottom won't be as hard pressed in their decision. They'll protect their top prospects and let the expansion teams select from what ever is left. There could certainly still be some value there though, especially the new team can convince the inactive or semi-active user to take on a larger role and update their player more regularly. As a member of the San Francisco Pride I'd like to think we'll still be competitive for the next few seasons despite losing a few of our cast, but some of the middling teams on the rise are the ones most likely to benefit from this expansion draft as they have a solid core they intend to protect and have yet to flesh out a deep roster. [229 words - 4 TPE]
Question 3:
The team that had the easiest road to the finals is clearly San Francisco. in the first round, they played against Winnipeg which had finished 8th out of 10 teams in the Western conference. Tampa Bay, on the other side, played against Philadelphia which was one of best teams in the whole league, they were 3rd in the whole league. In the 2nd round, Tampa Bay had to face one of the favorites to win the cup, Atlanta, while San Francisco was facing Seattle. Seattle is a good team, but not on the same leave as Philadelphia. In the semi finals, both San Fran and Tampa Bay faced mid tiers teams in New Orleans and New England. This whole thing makes the run that Tampa Bay went on very impressive. To be able to beat a team like Philadelphia who had 87 points in the first round, but then to beat Atlanta in the 2nd is astonishing.
157 words
Question 8:
While I am writing this after the end of the championship, I think it was obvious that the Gods of the SHL was favoring San Francisco. Tampa Bay simply had no chance to beat the Pride. San Francisco just won the cup twice and have the best team in the league, they had to be the first team to win 3 championships in a row. A team like Tampa Bay is fun and had a great run, but did not have a chance to beat San Francisco. In 66 games, San Francisco won 11 more games than Tampa Bay and had a total of 24 more points.
107 words
Question 11:
The team that I think did better than expected is New England Wolfpack. They finished 8th in the league during the regular season but still made it to the top 4 in the playoffs and lost in game 7 against Tampa Bay, which means they almost made it to the finals. They exceeded my expectactions because when you have players like @o on defense, you can't expect to make it very far. Guys like him can't even do a junmping jack and need help to walk across the locker room. How are they suppose to win games with him in the locker room? The good news is next season, New England should be even better an perform at a higher level to finally win the cup for the first time since season 77. My expectactions are always high for a team managed by future hall of famer Luke and I'm excited to see what he has in his bags to improve the team during the offseason.
2. The Tampa Bay Barracuda definitely had the more difficult path to the cup finals after being a middle of the pack team in the regular season. Their road to the finals included the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th placed teams in the league who were all high on TPE. Ultimately they couldn’t finish the job by winning the Cup but facing the top 3 teams in the league on the way to the a championship would have been a run for the ages. The Pride, of course, were the regular season champions so naturally they had an easier path facing the 5th, 6th, and 15th placed teams, still a tough path especially in the 2nd and 3rd round but not as difficult as the Barracuda’s path. Overall, the conferences are fairly even and the road to the finals these teams had to face more came down to their seeding rather than conference strength. (152 Words)
+3
15. As the regular season champions, defending back-back champions and the team with the highest TPE average in the league, the Pride were once again favourites, but Tampa Bay was motivated to get over the hump. The series started with Tampa taking a 2-1 lead and it looked like they were finally getting over the hump, but the last three games were Justin Time’s time. Time put up a .941 save percentage in those last 3 games that the Pride won, overcoming the odds once again. The Game 4 42-save Justin Time performance was my favourite part of the series as it was the real TSN turning point. Sometimes you just run into a hot goalie so it’s tough to say if Tampa Bay should have done anything differently. (128 Words)
5. Written (113 words) - 2 TPE
The league definitely seems to be more heavily influenced by high earning forwards than any other position. We all know the joke about goalie TPE meaning nothing, but even defenders don't seem to have the same impact as high quality forwards. A defensive player may be effective at reducing the number of shots on goal, and may even play a part in the team's scoring, but they never seem to have as much of an impact as a well-stocked group of forwards with high TPE. Hopefully with the new FHM engine, defense will have a higher perceived impact on the game, and more players will get into creating a variety of defensive builds.
11. Written (56 words) 1 TPE
The Wolfpack made some steps forward this season, making it to game 7 of the Conference Finals. Trading for solid mid-line forwards like Mac Turner and Peter Tingle allowed the 'Pack to compete deeper into the playoffs while still maintaining a strong prospect pool and giving rookie Jackass Pants time to develop on the third line.
12. Written (116 words) - 2 TPE
The expansion will certainly have a major effect on the future of the league, but teams should have plenty of time to fill in the gaps and make moves to keep themselves in a good place. The question is, how much of an effect will it have on the standings right away? There is no doubt teams will protect their biggest assets, the prime top earning and highest TPE players. The players available to expansion teams will likely be young, sub-1000 TPE players or high TPE players deep into regression. While this may make some immediate impact, the majority of the impact will be felt a few seasons down the line if protections are chosen wisely.
1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.
snakes
Code:
12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Jenga
Expansion is once again a season closer and will potentially lead to each team losing three or four players. How do you think missing these players will impact different teams? Will it knock down the current competitors or maybe mess up the raising challengers? Do you expect those teams be able to recover with the assets available for them or do we finally see free agent movement like never before? What teams you would predict to be in cup contention for S83 and why?
I think this massive expansion will lead to a lot more parity in the league. The top teams who are stacked with high TPE earners are going to feel the hurt from the expansion draft much more than the younger less experienced teams. I expect the expansion teams to be able to compete with the bottom half of the league immediately, while we may see closer standings overall.
More player movement is something I'd love to see in the league, and I suspect we will see a slight bump in free agents leaving their team, either an unwilling expansion draft participant, or maybe a player who wants to join an expansion team and really imprint their legacy into a brand new teams history. I think SHL users are generally loyal and open to new experiences though, so I don't expect to see the level of movement you see in real life leagues. I would still love to see HO provide further motivation for players to test free agency, or for GMs to execute trade deadline deals.
(175 words, +3)
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14. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Volatile Results
The IIHF has always been known to be hard to predict. Last season saw the 8th seeded Norway win the entire tournament after taking down 2nd seed Ireland, 3rd seed USA and 4th seed France. In season 77, we saw a similar situation with 8th seeded Ireland taking on 6th seeded Japan in the finals. How do you feel about the volatility of the IIHF, do you wish the series were longer so the stronger teams didn’t get upset as much? Or do you prefer the chaos that is single elimination?
I personally love the single elimination style of IIHF. The IIHF should be quick and fun, with lots of potential for upsets and chaos. I would hate to just see US and Canada domination season after season. Giving smaller teams like Great Britain a chance to compete keeps me invested. It also gives random users a moment to have their time in the spotlight, similar to how future accountants upset teams with multiple NBA lottery picks during march madness. I can understand the frustration with building a super team just to get bounced immediately, but that's realistic, and part of the fun of single elimination tournaments. Leave the series for SHL playoffs.
Keven![[Image: QdpOz9m.png]](https://i.imgur.com/QdpOz9m.png)
Mutedfaith
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