06-24-2021, 05:39 AMgolden_apricot Wrote:

06-24-2021, 12:26 AMztevans Wrote: Is it the chicken or the egg, though? While the SHL has obviously never had to deal with a pandemic before, it is the natural progression for almost every user on the site to become less active or completely inactive over time.  The Tomens, Teddys and Lukes are the exceptions, not the rule. 

If it weren't for the pandemic, a lot of those same people would have still seen their interest wane.  Maybe they stay busier at work, get a promotion, and lose free time that way.  Maybe they find a new SO on Hinge.  Maybe they find a much cooler hobby, like underwater basket weaving. 

Either way, the people who would have joined around that time should be on their way out of the SMJHL regardless, which is the focus of this expansion.  If you still need room for more players with those people gone, and you know a Reddit draft is coming?  Expansion seems like a no-brainer to me.

1. People are specifically saying they are less active because of work and school taking off.

2. Sure, retention from the early pandemic drafts is still high, but it's not a factor that can just be ignored. I don't have a problem with planning a J expansion but there are a huge number if factors that likely have nkt been accurately accounted for.

3. We just had a scale change specifically to help player get called up before aging out. Also any IA player not in the shl this season will now be completely useless due to this scale change so any retirement or any player crossing the tpe level of an IA in a teams system will be called up. Expanding isn't a no brainer but GMs should be in place in case.

We have talked in great detail about call ups, but at the end of the day, we have so many actives. We can expand with no growth and still be sitting comfortably. There is a case that Reddit could not go as planned and we see increased call ups (which didn’t happen this season). But we are confident that even in that situation, we are fine. Worst case we have IAs on the bottom line and the rookies get more playing time. I personally could not find a downside to expansion at the moment. It has been something we have discussed for quite some time and we are ready. I do value your input however, cause I could have easily overlooked something.