05-03-2019, 09:59 AMKatth Wrote: Against: The St. Louis Scarecrows have officially moved passed the Kelowna Knights as the best SMJHL team of the S40's.

Both teams have won 3 Four Star Cups in a row and both teams have appeared in 4 finals. Though Kelowna Knights still have the slight edge with 2 Laurifer Trophy wins while the St. Louis Scarecrows have had none in the same period.

BS! While St Louis recently matched Kelowna's record for 4 Star Cup wins in a row, St Louis looks primed to make yet another return to the 4 Star Cup finals this season. Despite not winning any Laurifer trophies yet, St Louis is on their way to winning their first and have had to go through two Laurifer Trophy winners in finals that they have won (Detroit in S45, Kelowna in S46). While Kelowna may own a better overall record through their 3 cup victories, St Louis has seen more sustained success and have had to take down tougher opponents en route to their cup victories. This current season is yet another point to add to this conversation, as St Louis is currently on an 11 game win streak, sits at the top of the table, and is only getting better as the season goes on.

AGAINST: While Driftwood will ultimately find himself among the top scorers in the league, the lack of goal-scoring my defensemen in the league every season would require Driftwood to either break that spell (which he currently isn't doing), *or* break assist records. Combine those with the fact that Driftwood spends a considerable amount of time in the sin bin and it looks unlikely that Driftwood can win the scoring title.

FOR: West Kendall was already good before the additions of Berezin and Bennett. Now, they have a top-5 scorer in the league and another who is just under a point-per-game at 21 points in 23 games. With their goalie sitting at a .912 save percentage, West Kendall looks primed for a Challenge Cup run this season.

AGAINST: San Fransisco is sitting pretty right now currently in a playoff position. To fall out of the playoffs, one of three teams with a pretty negative goal differential will need to hop them, as well as Calgary needing to hop them *again*. San Fransisco, barring a catastrophic collapse, looks like a lock for the postseason.

AGAINST: Players in the SHL sitting under 1000 TPE have a hard time finding themselves being consistent contributors on the score sheet, which means lower ice time for those who aren't high earners. The SMJHL serves two purposes: a development league for players to play in before they are SHL ready, and as a league to get new players acquainted with how the SHL works. With how high TPE numbers middle-six players have, it means SMJHL player's TPE banks rack up sometimes hundreds of TPE waiting to be "unbanked." This "unbank" makes updating rough since there is so much math involved in making sure no one applies more or less than they had in their bank. Raising the cap would give more time for SMJHL players to feel like they are actually progressing while they spend the same amount of time in juniors.

AGAINST: While Chicago currently holds more draft picks and more prospects than New Orleans does, New Orleans has better quality prospects in the farm system and has enough "young" players to stay consistently competitive throughout the next few seasons. With Aleister Cain in net and players like Nicholas Williams and Demaricus Smyth also on the roster, and Michael Fox, Jimmy Slothface, and Charlie Serpe in the system, New Orleans looks to only get better as seasons progress.

FOR: New England and Chicago seem to be mirroring each other in terms of performance this season in almost every aspect except for one: special teams. This is the one aspect where New England shines above Chicago, boasting a 24% PP over Chicago's 16%. While neither team has good penalty kill units, if New England can keep up their power play success, they should sneak into the playoffs ahead of Chicago.

FOR: LAP seems to have realized that they are in a middle-of-the-road position in terms of the standings and had two choices: load up for a run, or sell off some assets and prepare for the future. They took the latter route, and while they may find themselves in the playoffs before S51, it seems unlikely at the moment that it will happen.

AGAINST: While Knutsen is posting the most points in the league as of the writing of this post, underlying stats tell a different story. Knutsen Jr's success could very well be a product of his linemates, as Knutsen doesn't have any underlying stats that shout "elite" outside of his positioning. 

AGAINST: Hamilton has 11 players at or near 1000 TPE on their roster, including their starting goaltender. To start the season 7-13 should come as a shock to a roster with well rounded talent on the upper end. We have seen worse teams start stronger, so regardless of what the issue is, their record should be a shock to those within the organization.