Have you ever wondered whose build is most similar to your own? Well, here's your chance to find out. Introducing Build Similarity Score.

What I've done here is compile every player's build, both SHL & SMJHL, along with a full list of player types to determine starting builds & weaknesses to account for the extra TPE it takes to improve those attributes. Now there are a couple ways you could go about determining similarity between builds. You could choose to compare them strictly based on the total number of TPE applied to each attribute, or you could compare them based on the percentage of total TPE spent on each attribute. In geometric terms, similarity is essentially defined as proportional, so I went with the latter for my calculations.

I have a sheet prepared for all of this, which I'll add at the end of this article (fair warning, it does have some bugs), but if yo'd like to do the calculations on you own, here's what you'll need to do:

If both players have the exact same percentage applied to a particular attribute, they get a perfect score of 1. Most common examples of this are in things like fighting, faceoffs or penalty shots, categories most people won't touch until later in their careers.

If the two players do not have the same percentage, take the lower percentage divided by the higher to determine the component score for that attribute. The reason I do it this way is to assure that both players get the same total either way they're compared.

Once you've gone through every attribute, take the average of all component scores & multiply by 100. The number you get from that is your Build Similarity Score.

I'll go through a couple examples to show you what kind of numbers you can expect.

Since it's my article, the first player I tested was my own, Cory Knouse. Honestly, I was surprised by how low most of the numbers were for this one, but I guess when you consider I've got at least a few TPE in everything except fighting, you're gonna come up with a few zeros.

The top 5 builds most similar to my own are:

5) Ben Dover - 73.8
A defenseman? Ok, so maybe my system's not perfect, but as prototype's go I think this is a nice place to start. Like I said before, with high TPE comes spending in obscure places, regardless of position.

4) Kevin Hamilton - 73.9
Well on his way to becoming a high TPE player, but after his recent blowup we'll see if that continues. He's got a little in everything, including fighting, so that zero hurts a little, but still a solid comp.

3) DeMaricus Smyth - 74.3
Another young player on the right track to becoming a solid SHLer. The biggest difference between he & Hamilton, no fighting. (Yes, I still mean the player)

2) Toivo Kosonen - 77.8
Another one like Dover, Toivo's a high TPE d-man with TPE in a little bit of everything, even faceoffs. A little peculiar, but hey where else is he supposed to put it?

1) Mikko Linna - 83.1
Go figure, the first person that took a chance on me almost 2 years ago. Same 3 strengths, all maxed out & nothing in fighting. This one makes a lot of sense.

For my 2nd test, let's go with a slightly less diverse player who just so happens to be my GM as well, Nikolaus Scholz. His top 5 in BSS:

5) Dwight Halpert - 87.2
4) Oliver Konig - 87.6
3) Michael O'Dowd - 89.0
T1) James Jamason - 89.5
T1) Viktor Kare-Akesson - 89.5

See what happens when you've got a guy with nothing in checking, fighting OR penalty shots? The numbers skyrocket. In fact, Scholz had a whopping 19 players score higher than my max of 83.1.

Now don't worry, I didn't forget about all you goalies out there. For my example here, I'll use the man who drafted me, who I've played in front of my entire SHL career & who continues to be the gold standard for all things related to stopping the puck. I'm talking of course about Michael McFadden. Even 4 seasons into regression, he's still completely maxed out, so you're probably gonna see a similar trend that you did with mine up above. McFadden's top 5 are:

5) Patrick Diehl - 69.2
4) Charlotta Caspari - 72.2
3) Jason Aittokallio - 77.3
2) Steven Moore - 80.1
1) Jeff Kirkstone - 85.1

Ok so goalies are a bit more random, probably because there's less creativity & individuality to their builds. Nonetheless, the numbers are what they are.

Now for the spreadsheet I mentioned earlier, it can be found HERE. I will warn you that it takes a bit to load it all, but it will eventually fill everything in. If you want to do your own testing, just copy the whole thing & plug your player name into the Test tab. If you want to adjust ratings to reflect future updates, you can do that in the Current tab, but I strongly suggest you don't touch anything outside of those two.

Thanks for reading guys, hope you enjoyed this.