My biggest gripe with the league in its current form is with player building.

I've done a lot of looking at player builds on the teams that perform well and see a pattern in checking, puckhandling, and strength. These seem to go in line with the idea that puckhandling will help you not lose the puck, checking will help you get it back if you do lose it, and strength kind of helps in both of these areas. I'm probably missing some other important ones but these stand out to me.

Now, would it be possible to build a successful team strategy around high speed and shooting accuracy, with subpar defense and strength? Maybe, but the truth is, I have no idea. All I've really seen in SHL since the mid s50s are teams developing tactics around high hitting, low tempo, high attacking, low aggression. Why even risk building your team towards something else and wasting tons of time and tpe when this tactic gets results?

So, this being said, I'm lucky that I wanted to build a grinder with this build. That I'm fine sinking tpe into checking and strength because that's kind of what I wanted already. But what if I wanted to be a speedy sniper, scoring off the rush? From what I've seen with my new player in the last 3 seasons or so, there's pretty much no point in upping speed, accel, shooting past a certain range, and much more fruitful to crank checking, strength, puckhandling, etc. Even with teams running 3 danglers throughout the lineup, they still have incredibly high checking which almost conflicts with the point of that role in my eyes. But I'm not sure how roles affect playstyle and how attributes play into that as well so I don't know what to make of it.

Basically, you can build the way you want to be, and probably lose and/or suck. OR build the way everyone is building, and probably lose/suck anyway.

It's not fun to build anymore, or to earn tpe really. Its like a grind with no payoff in sight. I never thought I'd miss Simon T but here I am

If anyone is unsure as to what the current build meta is, this 200 tpe player on Buffalo fits the bill perfectly

Offensive Ratings
Screening: 5
Getting Open: 11
Passing: 11
Puckhandling: 14
Shooting Accuracy: 9
Shooting Range: 9
Offensive Read: 11

Defensive Ratings
Checking: 14
Hitting: 11
Positioning: 10
Stickchecking: 14
Shot Blocking: 10
Faceoffs: 5
Defensive Read: 14

Physical Ratings
Acceleration: 13
Agility: 10
Balance: 15
Speed: 9
Stamina: 13
Strength: 14
Fighting: 5

Mental Ratings
Aggression: 5
Bravery: 9