I went to my home town in Slovenia, apparently there was a celebration of my SHL career accomplishments because I'm special. There was a rocking party at the local club with lots of drinks and some other lit stuff, and I got to see a lot of my old friends which was great. I guess what I was given, well that was the free drinks and food and the deafening music blasting through the whole place. It turned out pretty well, minus the massive hangover after, but yeah it was pretty fun. Somehow this was endorsed by the city even though it totally shouldn't have been legal probably, considering there were kids there getting drinks, but nobody died so I'm pretty sure it's all good. It was good to go back home after such a long time without visiting and I'm glad Slovenians know how to throw a party in style.
5. I would say it's a Mild Surprise really because the term rebuild doesn't inspire confidence if you know what I mean, I thought they were gonna be in the trenches for a while but maybe that was just luring the other teams into a fall sense of security. Maybe it was just a quick rebuild but dang it's impressive.
6. I feel like Brennan Kennedy Jr. @bk1689 had some potential to show his stuff and score some key points as his team was struggling a bit. Guy's got a real good defense rating so that's usually good, he could be due to break out and start to score more, probably in the form of assists to start with. A few key assists would get some attention and a bit of a name for him.
7. I feel like this is No Surprise, regression isn't as bad in my opinion as people seem to make it out to be, plenty of guys have fought it for awhile. All the veterans still have a lot of TPE and that's what counts at the end of the day, not how old they are.
8. Beajeaux Biscuit @.bojo has to have the upper hand with experience. Both goalies had some fine defensemen in front of them so really it was about who could stop the most percent of the pucks and Biscuit is one of the best in the business at stopping pucks and not giving up second chances.
I picked Imagine Dragons to sing the National anthem for Calgary for obvious reasons. Do I actually have to explain that it's because the band has dragon in the name? I'm telling you, it's perfect, and maybe the anthem isn't supposed to be about the show but they can put on a show. They probably wouldn't do anything flashy outfit wise but I feel like maybe they'd wear a Calgary jersey since Las Vegas doesn't have an SHL team yet and that's where they're from.
For West Kendall, I picked Coldplay just because A) everyone wants a British band, let's just admit it and B) they're insanely popular so why not. West Kendall as a dynasty deserves a big name, and I trust Coldplay to a do a good job and roll up in all black. Just like West Kendall, Coldplay has been around a long freaking time so I'd say it's a match made in heaven.
I would say the Edmonton Blizzard were the biggest disappointment because holy cow they had a really hot start. They looked so strong, so dominant, so it looked like the once-dynasty was back in form, but then they lost early to Calgary who were supposedly rebuilding but clearly not. The Blizzard have so many good pieces like Willy Mack, who earns a crap ton of TPE, and a ton of high earning forwards and defensemen with over 1500 TPE, and even more with over 1000. Their depth should've pushed them over the top, but I'd say the reason they fell short is their offense just didn't show up when they needed it most. Talent up and down the lineup on every line and at every position means something only on paper end of the day. If you can't deliver, that's a shame, you're gonna be packing your bags and heading to the golf course pretty quick.
Well while we are talking about the Edmonton Blizzard why not mention Edmonton again; the Dragons could take someone from the Blizzard roster since they knocked them out. Calgary would have taken the monster-hitting right wing @cpetrella Teddy Cuddles, who scores, hits, then scores some more. Why did Calgary choose him? Because he's a bulldozer and he does virtually everything, what a dumb question. He helps out with everything and brings some much needed physicality and grit to the forward lines, and he could play anywhere. Though with his talent, probably deserves top line, don't think he'd enjoy being bumped down lower really. He's a power play guy, a penalty killing guy, whatever you need and wherever Calgary has a gap, he'll be there. He'd be the one Calgary would want to put out on the ice for the first shift of over time too because he just has the it factor; it'd be a good deal for the Dragons if they chose Cuddles.