1. tea
2a. Prior to the finals ending, I would have gone with the Atlanta as the one to go through either way considering how well they have consistently performed in the regular season and carrying that over all the way into the playoffs as well. Seattle's run has largely been on the back of Willie Miller, and while goalies can easily swing a series, seeing it continue even further when there were signs of it faltering with Chicago seems unlikely.
2b. If it were possible to target specific areas that could be considered the weakness then it would still be impossible to truly figure out a specific way to prey on Willie Miller's incredible play this season. His balanced ability shows no significant area of weakness in any area. If anything it appears to be a very typical SHL goalie that priorities both their positioning and reflexes and having an all around solid game in terms of saving abilities. The only area could be considered anything involving puck movement which wouldn't be a goalie saving skill.
2c. Natural options would be just relying hard on your top end players and minimizing the ice time of those who you might consider the greatest liability. There is a limit to how much you can play a single line or pairing but it would be a decision between the min/maxing options as opposed to having a similar balanced attempt, at the cost of relative weakness more consistently. I don't believe there is a optimal option one way or another but I would personally lean to the former over the latter.

4. There is natural bias from me of all people but any number of the repeating Four Star Cup winning Newfoundland Berserkers in the S60s era could easily be a dominant force as comparable to the likes of the Buffalo/Hamilton monsters in the past, or the recent unrelenting depth of the Los Angeles Panthers and Atlanta Inferno. The greatest strength of the Berserkers as part of why they were so dominant was both the extreme depth that existed throughout the entire roster top to bottom, but also the high end (relative to the juniors) skill. Imagining an entire team that was 80% nearly 2K players would be just ridiculous to consider, yet largely equivalent of what Newfoundland brought upon the league. Naturally, having a team like the 0-50 Tampa Bay Barracuda would be unfair to as a team that carried arguably juniors levels players. So even without the juniors cap as part of the consideration, there would be a natural inclination to think that there would be a competitive 7 game series.

7. +3

18. Unfortunately I was not as familiar with the rosters going into the season. That being said, the controllable element that can be easily reviewed is the amount of TPE a team would have. As a result, it is not surprising to see the team that has the most be one of the most successful. Yet when considering the change of the sim engine, I think all in all that it was a positive move. There are certainly a lot of anomalies when it comes to the amount of scoring so far, as well as adjusting to the relative randomness compared to the consistent FHM6 experience we had before. However, seeing how much of a range there can be now certainly makes it a more enjoyable experience for the 'middle class' teams. Personally I believe that to be required for the better of the site as that means a greater number of users who find some more enjoyment whether personally for their player or with their team even if it is a win or two in playoffs series that they may not have been able to expect before.

23. Being somebody who lives in the moment more often than not, trying to consider and hope for the future feels more difficult than not. I would say just for now, looking forward to finding stability in a career path would be the dream at the moment, especially considering how stagnant the last several years have felt. Whether that is a change of career field or simply finding the opportunity to progress and be successful in a way that would allow myself to be more independent and free, that sense of progression would be the ideal. Realistically, I am sure that once I get that, there will be the next thing to dream towards but that is part of the ongoing drive in the day-to-day and ensuring that one enjoys their journey.