2. I don't expect a whole lot of change at the top next season. Redistributions might switch the order around between teams some depending on who has become fluent in FHM since last offseason and applies that homework to their team the best. Still, just having TPE and any non-garbage build for your players is enough to be a solid competitor, and it's all luck from there even in a better engine. New England looks to be a well-rounded team once again after dominating the regular season, and the same goes for Hamilton. I could see New Orleans pushing a bit higher in their conference as well with the talent they have. Unfortunately my own team in Texas is not quite there yet, but I think we could move up a spot or two in the conference as well and start sniffing out a playoff birth. Ultimately the top 2 in the East are the scariest once again.

4. One of the new stat categories that I really like in FHM is takeaways. I think an award with those as center-stage while also considering things like minimal giveaways and a high Overall Rating would fill a niche akin to a "rogue" or "thief" archetype in RPG's. Because we don't really have the career numbers to name it after any SHL player right now, I would call this award the "Greatest Thief in the Multiverse" award in honor of Dack Fayden (a magic the gathering character/inside joke). It would of course be renamed to honor an SHL great after a certain number of seasons have passed. For this season, there's actually quite a few solid competitors, including Gibbles with a ton of takeaways but giving the puck back too often and McCarthy with half as many giveaways and only 5 fewer takeaways but a low rating. To me, the winner would be Tig Murphy for his 40 takeaways and only 9 giveaways plus a strong 78 rating.

5. I am really excited for IIHF this season. My country - Germany - has been in a fairly solid place for quite a few seasons now, constantly challenging for a medal of some kind and taking home the gold pretty recently as well. Though we are aging a bit in our forward core we still have a lot of strong options there (not to toot my own horn, but including myself as well). Our defenders are young and maybe not quite up to snuff yet, but they show a lot of promise for future tournaments and it will be a good opportunity for them to gel early on. I think our forwards will carry us to at least a medal once again. The US team is also a consistent competitor and I could see them being our fiercest rival for the gold. The final team I'll mention is team Norway, who doesn't have the best forwards or defenders but has a solid all-around squad with no big holes plus one of the best goalies around in Mr. Tuck.

13d. I am firmly in the liking snow camp, though with a caveat. I feel like if I lived somewhere that constantly had snow - like my former team in New England (do they actually get a lot of snow there? unsure) - that I would likely get sick of it. But living where my current team plays in Texas, it's more of a rare and fun treat. That really helps keep snow feeling magical, which is the whole key to enjoying it.

16. Anthropomorphism

PBE PT