There is no other word to describe Magnus Liljestrom's S56 season other than abysmal. After coming off a nomination for the Jesster Trophy for the Best Rookie, and leading all other rookie defensemen in points, scoring but a third of the previous season's points and having a very disappointing playoff series against Chicago is nothing less than a massive step back. I'm not sure there is really anything to attribute it to other than the team as a whole taking a step back as Winnipeg massively underperformed compared to the pre-season expectations, and the tougher, expanded schedule gave the team's fitness a thumping. There isn’t really much to do but to put the nose to the grindstone and get better - after all, once you hit rock bottom there is no other place to go but up. With another 200 or so TPE, hopefully Magnus can make something out of himself, and handle the 2nd line (or even 1st line minutes) that might be handed to him, instead of being a disappointment to the Winnipeg Jets and to the fans alike.

+3

Just like in real life, the major SHL cities would do the best in setting up a bubble as the host city of multiple teams. Toronto for the Eastern teams would be a good choice - in fact, you could add in Hamilton to spread the load and give the Eastern bubble two rinks to play out of. That way, the ice isn’t quite as abused as we saw in the NHL bubble this year, and the teams don’t get into each other’s way if the games go long. In the Western Conference, I would like to nominate Seattle - the newest team in the league should have the nicest, newest arena, and Seattle is a relatively central location for the rest of the Western teams to come together. Although it is not as easy to split the games like it would be with Toronto and Hamilton right next to each other, the newer arena should be able to handle the load easier with the newer ice system. These locations also have somewhat better infection rates, so it is less likely to cause an infection in the bubble as well.

+3

The Chicago Syndicate was the best team in the SHL not to make the finals this season, and they were unlucky in that Buffalo managed to win out over them. They had better depth than Buffalo, better goaltending, better players overall, and they had excellent tactics. Chicago is a scary team that plays a consistent style top to bottom, and all their lines can match up with any other line in the league no matter which way you play them. The fact that Winnipeg had to resort to illegal lines to beat them just shows how strong that team was, and they would probably give Hamilton more trouble than Buffalo is doing right now.

+2

As usual, I expect the big boys to do well - Team Canada, Team Great Britain, Team USA. Japan, Sweden, Austria, Germany and Czechia will occupy the second tier of teams as usual, and the Latvian, Norway, Ireland, Russia, and Finland cohort will be below that tier of teams. Sadly there isn’t really parity as such, so I expect Team Canada or Team Great Britain to be vying for the gold medal once again, and two of USA, Japan or Sweden to be fighting it out for the third slot in the medal standings. As for outstanding players, we have to once again look at the previous seasons, where we can see Ola Wagstrom and Monkey D. Luffy led in scoring, followed by Jimmy Slothface. These players are still at very high TPE, so I expect them to do well once again in the IIHF tournament. There might be a few new players that can challenge them - let’s hope so, and let’s hope that this year will be more interesting than last year!

+3

Obviously, Lake Superior is the Greatest Lake of all - it’s already there in the name! Superior implies that it is the better choice, the best choice, and the correct choice. This is a very easy question to answer, as the Lakes themselves have decided for you; there is no need to overthink it. Simply go with your gut and make sure that your pick is the superior one.

+1

I would like to hang out with Jobin from the Hamilton crew - we already hang out in the Detroit Falcons locker room, and he’s a blast! We have similar interests, we have similar tastes, and I wish that we could actually have in person meet ups so we can meet in real life. I have already said that if they come to Vancouver, any of my former or current team mates are more than welcome to catch a Canucks game with me!

+1
snorkel

+3

Total 16 TPE