After a couple of strong seasons in the FHM era Karlstraße Scholz absolutely went off in S55 and I couldn't be happier. In his final year before regression hits his TPE is at it's highest point so it was nice to see him perform to his best ability yet. Finishing the regular season with 56 points he led all defensemen in assists and points, which were both career highs for him as well. On the other end of the ice Scholz was equally dominant finishing the regular season top 5 in takeaways, corsi and fenwick ratings. As a result he is a sure fire nominee for some hardware this offseason. Sadly the season ended on a low note with a game 7 loss in the western finals to the Specters. Scholz was a shell of the player he was in the regular season in the playoffs and could easily done more to help his team this post season. What's in store for next season? I'd like to see another 40+ point season, hell maybe even 50+, but the main goal is a more productive post season.

Having been a part of this league for some time now I've been able to witness a couple expansion drafts now. This one is particularly exciting because there is so much talent available to the two new teams in Seattle and Atlanta. A 2k TPE defender?! No knock to Buffalo if hhh wants to be involved in the expansion process but it's wild to see a player of his calibre up for grabs. Beyond him there are a number of high TPE players, including the reigning goal scoring leader of S55 and Challenge Cup champion and MVP goaltender from last playoffs. There are a number of ways you can go but I anticipate one team to go hard right from the get go similar to what New Orleans did back in S46. Will the other team opt to go the slow and steady route similar to Chicago or will they go hard too and make the expansion draft an absolute bloodbath? Stay tuned.

I'm going to be lame here and say no. I know this isn't real life and we have no limitations, but one of the biggest draws for me on this league is the realism factor. I love how passionate some of the users are and introducing teams on other continents really deters from the realism factor for me. Like honestly, how the hell does one team play back to back games when one is in Hamilton and the next on is in Berlin. Now a league made entirely of European countries... that could be a thing. That would be a huge ask but it would be cool from a draft standpoint to compare the north american juniors to the European ones.

From the West I'm going to be a homer and say the Edmonton Blizzard. Finished the season with 70 points, tied with Buffalo for the most in the league. They had an absolutely stacked line up and if the puck luck was a bit more in their favor they'd be in the finals instead of going home after a disappointing end in a game 7 loss to New Orleans in the western conference finals. From the east I'll say the Manhattan Rage. Already a cup contender they went out and added an absolute stud in Wagstrom. It propelled them to 2nd place in the regular season standings in the east and they got bumped in round 1 again. I think if given another best of 7 they could go deep.

a. I'm going to give the edge to Buffalo. No knock to NOLA here, but Buffalo has a pairing with two 2k TPE players and they're second pairing isn't too far behind. Statistically speaking Buffalo was the superior defensive team in the regular season as well allowing just 98 goals against, the fewest in the SHL.
b. I don't believe so no. I can't speak to whether or not home ice advantage is even a thing in FHM, but what this does show us is that the two teams are very well matched and this could be a very tight series. Both teams have proven they know what it takes to win so I anticipate a long series between these two teams.
c. I don't believe so no. When we all sat down to transition our players from STHS to FHM it seems like it was the consensus that bravery, aggression and fighting were effectively dump stats. Nice to have, but not critical to your performance. After some more digging it was found bravery was sneaky effective, but the other two remain a dump stat so I doubt it makes a significant impact, if any, in this matchup.
d. For the Buffalo Stampede I'm going to go with Cassius Darrow. It's not goofy or weird, but just fun to say and dripping with sexiness. For the New Orleans Specters I'll go with Boris "The Beast" Poroshenko. A name like that just instills fear in the opposition and it's too funny his nickname is included in the subject line for his player page.
e. If we're going to include kirby in the category of animals I'll lock him in as the coolest. Dude is literally made of bubblegum and can turn in to anyone! If we're going off the board I'll say Poroshenko. Dude is straight up animal on and off the ice. He is a beast!

karl