<div align="center">THE ECLIPSING OF POWER FORWARDS</div>

A/N: In the interest of a full disclaimer, I’m writing this as a true league rookie who’s picking up on the intricacies of the sim in regards to SMJHL stats. I have essentially zero knowledge when it comes to SHL builds. (That said, fewer power forwards being built in juniors means fewer trickling up through to the SHL, and power forward creators who don’t have early success may be more likely to get frustrated/bored and go inactive.Things to think about, eh?)

In terms of the sim, a power forward is loosely defined as a forward who is more defensively-minded, using a big body to check/make hits, block shots, and thus create turnovers that can be capitalized on by other members of an O-line. In theory, this is very similar to a two-way defenseman--the only difference in them is that, ultimately, a forward is still a forward and a D-man is still a D-man. That doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference if the theory behind the playing style is the same, but it actually does in terms of the sim (which I will talk more about later).

Let’s first discuss power forwards as opposed to finesse forwards. Finesse forwards will typically sacrifice a bit of weakness in either defense or checking to be able to maximize their scoring potential--this is true for all three types of finesse forward builds, which are respectively playmaker, sniper, and offensive forward builds. Power forwards, on the other hand, tend to take a weakness in scoring, skating, passing, or puck handling in order to maximize checking, fighting, strength, and sometimes defense--this is true for all power forward builds, which include the enforcer, two-way forward, and the most loosely guided power forward builds.

So, why am I advocating for finesse forwards as opposed to power forwards? The main reason is that, as of S25, the SHL has turned morale and injuries off. In real life, a lot of finesse players run into trouble when they have great play-making and scoring abilities but don’t have the durable bodies to handle big hits from power forwards and defensemen (here’s looking at you, Beau Bennett). But with injuries turned off, this essentially turns off two stats which were previously key, especially for enforcers: durability and fighting.

Durability is currently off altogether--the reason for turning injuries off was to entice players into staying active by reducing their potential downtime; the same reason behind decreasing the length of the off-season. Meanwhile, fighting has become a fun but more or less useless stat. Having a higher fighting number makes your player more inclined to incur penalties unless you also increase their discipline--once again, a stat that is nearly useless until and unless your player is changing up their fighting stat. Those penalties can be killed off by a team with great endurance numbers, but that’s something almost no one playing early in their junior career has until later in the season, so creating a build towards that doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense in terms of the overall success of your player and their contribution to the team. This is especially true when you could be spending those points you put rather fruitlessly into both fighting and discipline to increase your stats for either your decision-making attributes, or the other skills that are, as I like to think of them, your ‘trouncing other people’ attributes.

This is why checking makes a great weakness for a forward--it just doesn't do anything you can't compensate for elsewhere. Big body hits can and do create turnovers, but so do high skating speed and dirty puck handling. As a bonus, if your skating speed is higher than your opponent, you will occasionally draw penalties, rather than create them. This is a great case for leaving checking as a weakness if you intend to produce big offensive numbers. You draw more penalties, you wind the other team and run them out of their endurance--win-win. Only problem?--yeah, checking is frequently one of your mandatory choices for strength in strength player builds, and the other two are typically weaknesses that you’re going to need to up anyway if you’re working on a balanced offensive player.

So, if checking isn't critical, what about the strength and defense stats? Neither of those are bad choices and shouldn't be neglected even by finesse forwards, but I would argue that neither strength nor defense get maximized to their full potential as a power forward (where they do in other builds).

The strength stat is a decent choice to make your player competitive, and if you're thinking about the build of a typical strength forward, this is what you imagine--their solidity, their ability to take hits and still stay on the puck. (This is your Bollig, your lifetime MVP John Scott, etc.) But an interesting little gem in the world of the sim is that strength also contributes slightly to faceoffs. But, if you’re putting your hard-earned TPE into checking, chances are that in juniors you just won't have enough TPE to spare to put in both checking and faceoffs; not while all of your other stats are so crucial to increase for a player on the offensive side of the puck. You’re gonna miss 100% of the faceoffs you aren't taking because you suck at them, dude. (Or, you’ll put them in both senselessly, and finesse centers will be excelling while your strength center will be taking a one-way ticket to the Who Cares bowl.)

Okay, so, yadda yadda, strength is fine but how about making your defensive stat a specialty? This...is actually a pretty solid choice, but it’s still not the best choice. In my view, defense is the third most important stat in the sim (at least for a forward in juniors), behind endurance and puck handling. Endurance is the overall measure of how much ice time your player can take before they start getting sloppy in all of their skills, so it’ll become increasingly important later in the season as everyone’s endurance numbers start to come up alongside your player’s, and certainly shouldn’t be too neglected even in your rookie days. Meanwhile, puck handling is both an offensively and defensively positive stat, creating turnovers without a tremendous risk of incurring penalties. Puck handling also helps you escape hits and increases your chance on whether your shot is capably blocked by the goalie or deflected into a chance for another play. (Basically, don’t take puck handling as a weakness. Don’t. Just don’t do it, son.)

The reason defense is behind those two stats, for me, is because as a forward chances are you aren’t going to spend as much time blocking shots as a defenseman would, and the sim incurs a small hidden penalty against forward players put in defensive positions. However, it’s definitely still important, and there is a contribution to the offensive side of things--the ability to retrieve free pucks. So, finesse forwards should definitely boost defense nice and high as well, and it’s the best choice you could make in terms of strengths if you’re bound and determined to create a power forward.

So, here’s the thing--you know that player you’re thinking of? Yeah, they still exist, but you should consider one of two paths.

Path #1: Build a two-way defenseman. On the defensive side of the puck, their hits are going to be against the scrawny forwards rather than the burly defensemen, making them more frequently effective. They’ll be out of the position to take faceoffs, but they can choose more advantageous strengths and weaknesses to suit defensive play. If you’re going to go this road, you’ll have to build a high level of endurance because your player is going to have a ton of ice time, but as a playmaker defenseman they’ll be setting up quality plays for the star finesse forwards on your team. (Zdeno Chara and Kris Letang are two successful but very different two-way D examples here, if you need ‘em.)

Path #2: build a two-way forward. What? Didn’t I just spend this whole article advising you against that build? Well, yeah, if you’re gonna make a center there’s really no sense in pushing you in this direction, but if you’re okay with being a winger there’s actually a way you can make it decently successful, if you’re very careful when you’re building your player, and it’s similar to the two-way defense advice. Listen up, kids. *buckles seatbelt*

If you build a two-way forward, you must take defense as a strength (based on the build templates)--like I said, actually a pretty solid choice. You must also take one of either passing or scoring to make your second strength. Either is fine, but don’t choose both--because they’re both decision-making attributes within the sim, you should stick to one or the other, because you’ll want to leave about a 12 to 13 point gap between them so your player doesn’t freeze with indecision out on the ice.

So here’s what I’d recommend: build yourself a two-way forward winger. Take defense, your choice of scoring or passing, and endurance as your strengths, but don’t neglect your puck handling and skating, either--they should be your fourth and fifth best stats, respectively. Take either checking (my personal first choice) or whichever of scoring or passing you didn’t choose (my second choice) as your weakness. This sets you up to be an Ovechkin (scoring-primary) or Malkin (passing-primary) type power forward, where your player will frequently be a part of each play, won’t wear easily, but also won’t get knocked off the puck by hits.

In the future, if the league decides to return to playing with durability or with morale, we could see the return of enforcers--but for now, they’re about as useful as a wet paper towel.

Poor guys.