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Czerkawski's FA Rankings with a Throwback to S41
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(This post was last modified: 01-16-2019, 09:14 AM by majesiu.)

As you may know or not I tend to be a quite loyal player and I have never left a team in free agency as long as team presented me with a concrete offer (which didn't happen only once, surprisingly when I was entering my prime in GOMHL). Neither did I hand out trade request. So make your own assumption about the importance of this article (especially since I'm mostly one year NTC kind of player), but this is an opportunity for me to talk about teams in an easy way and take a look who is where, before it may change rapidly with the expansion draft. So while it's written from the perspective of my potentials destinations, you might learn a thing or two about teams history and their outlook for the future.

So you know the drill, say some words about them, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but lets at least somewhat modify the formula by going back to the moments before S41 SHL Draft, when I was still quite new in the whole sim leagues business I tried to rank my destinations during the draft, based mostly on a hunch and a small group of people I recognized back then.
Bonus draft board:
Quote:Tier 1 - Definitely Interested (No particular order within tiers)
Wolfpack New England Wolfpack - Seems I know a lot of people there and already they reached out to me, so I feel I would immediately fit right in with Wolfpack. Though I saw that current GM stepped down, it seems worthy successor was already named.
A lot of has changed but this team probably the most. I think I'm finally over the past drama and still there a lot of great people there, but I'd just leave it there and wouldn't consider NEW as a viable location.

Quote:Blizzard Edmonton Blizzard - They have great uniformed avatars and I already met some of their players, just to name a few: Connor Tanner (Keygan), Tigole Bitties (Ace), Cory Knouse (ckroyal92). Unfortunately, they don't have any picks in first two round, so I probably have no chance ending up at there.
Well, that's kind of prophetic, isn't it? Though I didn't exactly predict the circumstances in which I have ended in Edmonton the players I was looking for in Tanner, Knouse and more nowadays are still there.

Quote:Riot Seattle Riot - their scout send out nice, a non-standard message with a question that seems to be important than general ones you most often receive when joining sim league. They also have five draft picks in first two rounds, so even via some trivial (though not making much sense) probabilities, there is decent chance I'd end up being Seatle Riot player. The quick glance at rooster shows they are developing phase of team building and just 9 wins season confirms that. But I'm a strong believer in all kinds of processes and wouldn't mind joining one.
Read that paragraph once again and without context try to guess the GM that was able to make scouting more appealing and convince me to put the team in Tier 1 - yeah it was @Samee . He should get another shot at whole GMing thing, and that's from the perspective of a player that he traded away day 1 after taking over in another league. Why am I not upset about it? Because he was honest and straight up about it, not hiding anything or surprising with the move.

Quote:Stampede Buffalo Stampede - So instead of creating Interested Prospects Page they send out a message in similar form, seems their management doesn't want to share these unique answers with any other team. Plus they have that sweet 1st overall draft pick and who wouldn't like to be drafted at the top?
Yeah, that was a blatant attempt on trying to get drafted 1 OA, I admit that much. They went with the good decision at the time getting @JSS , though in terms of TPE I wouldn't be a bust either (more so in terms of player performance).
Quote:Tier 2 - I guess I wouldn't mind being drafted there
Dragons Calgary Dragons - they have one of (if not the) best Right Wingers in Joe Kurczewski (JKortesi81) - that I know well from other sim leagues. He'd definitely be the great mentor for another rookie playing his position.
One more team that pulled a steal from the draft, getting the 4th 1k+ TPE player from S41 class already in @BarnabasCollins and I wasn't on board long before their pick.

Quote:Panthers Los Angeles Panthers  - Panthers are no exception, as I saw familiar faces there too: RW - Sophia Bennett (goilers) and C - Matthew Auston (Dweaves08). They also have the 6th overall pick so in the range I'm expected to get drafted.
They still have the simillar core, so it's nice to see they stick with their franchise players.

Quote:pride San Francisco Pride - Seriously anywhere I look I see someone I already met somewhere, this time it's: D - Jack Tanner (Beaver), LW - Dakota Reid (Jiggly_333) and RW - Jacob Renninger (Shadowz1797). Is it a shame that they forfeited their pick, isn't it? Or was it a penalty as in some rulebook punishment?
The two first endured and are almost there to reap rewards with rebuild entering the final phase, while Rudiger retired in the meantime and isn't back with recreate. I wasn't aware of @Wally Portland debacle back in the day either.

Quote:Jets Winnipeg Jets - they have a really stacked team and it wasn't a huge surprise when I saw them at the top of Western Conference. Still, their core players seem to be hitting regression soon and they might be in need of some fresh blood.
Nothing changed, eh? Still with a strong core, though it seems this season is a fight to get into playoffs for them.

Quote:Stars Toronto North Stars - they seemed to be between rebuild effort and contention having two great players at my position: RW - Kristian Eriksson (raymond3000) and known to me  RW - Chris York (Symmetrik).
A lot has changed in Toronto since then, Kristian Eriksson retired and recreated while Symmetrik is still around but not in the GM role anymore.

Quote:Rage Manhattan Rage - almost made playoffs last year and have some great pieces. Maybe I'm missing one at 5th overall?
Well, I wasn't and the Rage hasn't made playoffs since, coincidence? Wink They are in similar to Pride situation and while not likely this season, they should be there next year.

Quote:Chiefs Minnesota Chiefs - D - Noctis Caelum isn't a player name I expected to be (Andybj). TPE wise they seemed to be Juggernaut but finished only 4th last season. Having only one pick, although the middle of the pack one - 13th - might be both too little and too late.
One more team that changed a lot, including both GM and co-GM. Andy recreated and Chefs still are a perennial contender, which is a bit surprising glancing at their roster.

Quote:Platoon West Kendall Platoon - They have a great defence, just to mention D - Sven Brokstad (Bzerkap) and D - Ludwig Koch Schroder (Rabidsponge21 ). Finished on top of Eastern Conference, but they might need some Right Wing reinforcements hopefully. 9th pick is also good looking one.
Bzer and Rabid are still there and they won a cup in the meantime so good for them!

Quote:Steelhawks Hamilton Steelhawks - they have Wozy! But he is Detroit Falcons General Manager... No draft picks though, so no harm.
They don't have @Wozy anymore.

Quote:Renegades Texas Renegades - I was pretty sure their only pick in first two rounds will be used on GM that recreates, but to my surprise General Managers recreates are automatically picked up by teams without a draft. I guess that's a good method to prevent some weird extorsion-like scenarios.
Well, I was wrong about weird extorsion-like scenarios if you remember S41 Draft.

Quote:Tier 3 - no, don't do that!
As you probably noticed no team deserves to be here from my observations, even if I land on the team that I don't know anyone that'd be great opportunity to get to know more people and expand my perspective about the league.
Aww, so wholesome, but also because I had barely any history back then and it would unfair to show a middle finger to any team back then.


Okay enough with the throwback, let's focus on present change since the landscape changed a lot more than I already mentioned with the biggest takeaway being the addition of two new Expansion Teams that were just revealed: New Orleans Specters and Chicago Syndicate. Order within the tiers is random and dependant on where the scroll and random clicks have taken me.

Tier 1 - the places I would love to play
Blizzard - Yeah, my current team, big surprise I know. They really embraced me and @Evok , even after my monthly hiatus from SHL related discords following the NEW/EDM GM trade back in the day. I think it's safe to say the team is going to be a contender for many seasons, with a great core at every position, that goes with 11+ players with 1k+ TPE. Finally performs up to their level this season too. Still once/if we win it all finally my underdog mentality might kick in. The team have a lot of great people, including many I know from other leagues, which is quite important for me. The only downside so far is that because the team is so stacked I'm one of the few max earners players in league history that spend all his first three seasons outside of Top 6 role, despite spending 3 seasons in SMJHL. RIP shot at any records, but oh well, sim-league life.

Riot - This may be a surprise to many, and one of the few FA rankings that have Seattle up high, for many reasons. I'm still wondering what would happen if I dropped to them in S41 draft (which was top heavy, but not really deep, with just 26 players drafted, @luketd I realise you might be busy, but that draft class review would be so sweet). They have two great GMs in JSS and @Torbvo , and I like up and coming mentality, which is a position Seattle is poised to be for a long time. The likely upcoming rebrand is interesting too, it would be nice to bring some fresh perspective and hope into a rebuilding team. Playing time on the top line with the scoring machine in Lagerfield would be great too to revive some life into my player.

[Image: specters.png] - expansion team and already top tier? Hell, yeah, even though I don't know personel I love absolutely everything about the team so far - location, colours, branding and the GMs duo in @JKortesi81 and @TheDangaZone that guarantees stability and success as much as it is possible? The possibility of establishing new records sounds great too and was one of the things that finally got me to create a player in SBA not so long ago. While I had the pleasure of playing with Joe on a team now, it would be nice to be partners on the top line for some time too - yeah I figure next season and with the expansion rules I should have a plenty good shot at the extra playing time there - I'll make article once we know protection lists, but the way to go in the expansion draft seems to be S40-43 players and I fit the bill perfectly for that timeline.

Tier 2 - I wouldn't mind, but something really convincing would have to happen for me to end up there

syndicate - Expansion teams always bring hype to the players and I'm not different in that aspect. @Velevra seems like an excellent choice and I loved the answers in the press conference to my questions. While I prefer the design and know the Specters better, Chicago seems like an excellent location as well. They are also looking for co-GM, which I'm not that particularly interested in having already plenty of league jobs and roles spread around sim league world, is a good method to scout more players and find potentially interested ones in joining a brand new team. The probable roster should fit my best years as well. For sure I'm going to watch the expansion draft and the moves new teams will make early on with great interest and heightened attention.

Rage - the team I thought quite a while whether belongs in Tier 2 or Tier 3, but the season @39alaska39 is having put it above, good lord, I'd give my season pay to have results like that, he already beat my career bests and is on pace to beat my point total from 3 seasons in just one. He is an amazing presence and deserves that. Manhattan and San Francisco are often put in the same phrase as rebuilding teams and I think it's a fair analysis. They finally start to figure it out and S46 should be big for them, they have fantastic S40 and onwards core that is poised to dominate the league in the late S4x/early S5x days. Perfect underdog team and only concern are that I don't know that many people well, though I should certainly fit their planned years of the peak.

Dragons - the legendary franchise that while seemingly is in a sudden need for a rebuild with two-star players leaving for an expansion team and already traded still defies the odds and is in the postseason race. I still remember they were one of the two teams to really reach out during my RFA year (with the help of Shadow Proxy GM @Mike Izzy and that counts for something. Still, they won enough for an SHL lifetime and all dynasties have to die one day. Also while they are still denying the reality, their draft stashes and prospects aren't nearly on Pride or Rage level, though they certainly are doing a good job to prepare for that. There could be also considered my rival team since they were the first team I went up against in S42 Challenge Cup Finals, that they unfortunately won. That missed overtime breakaway scoring opportunity of Game 3 still haunts me... Wink

Renegades - while they have an interesting mix of people on the team I'm not 100% I'd get along they have without a doubt the strongest S38-42, with a huge amount of max earners that are just entering their prime. That core is going to be scary good, that is already evident this season for at least 5-6 more seasons if they stay together granted they will be able to replace some of their ageing stars. They seem hungry and haven't won anything in that recent history (well, S36 isn't that long ago, but still before I joined a league). I like Renegades, seems like a step away from underdogs, even if they shouldn't be considered as such anymore, especially if they make some noise this postseason.

pride - one more team that was interested in me back in the third year of my rookie deal in the boring days of RFA. They have a great dude at the helm in @Grapehead. Seeing Luke Thomason having a blast of a first campaign is making me more than jealous since I'm still waiting for a decent year, but if anything it shows the team and management potential for greatness in near future. Their rebuild was a long one, required a lot of patience, so I'm not sure whether they would even welcome some outsider to just swoop in and join the team on the rise. Also, they have so many great young players in the SMJHL that I'm sure they rather commit to the internal growth.

Tier 3 - I'll pass, but no worries I won't retire or pull any bad stuff If I somehow end up there

Chiefs - they were close to the tier above, but I'm not sure I'd fit that well in Minnesota and they have recent cup win in S39. There is seemingly a lot of turmoil with GMs changes recently as well, that is hard to keep up with. They have a surprisingly good season for their roster and after looking down a bit deeper they had a great S44-45 draft, which makes them one of the teams likely least affected by the Expansion Draft.

Platoon - 2 cups in last 4 seasons clearly screams a dynasty and with their recent acquisitions, they are poised for yet another deep playoff run firmly 2nd in the East Conference standings at the moment. Though if they considered rebrand to Miami Vice theme they immediately jump two tiers higher. They are starting to age badly too and I think their window of contention is finally closing down too, they have very few good prospects.

Steelhawks - Nothing against the team, but they are just entering the likely rebuild, or at the very least retool and there aren't any big draws for me there compared to other teams. They had quite good S45 draft and acquire nice assets recently, but it would take much more than one well recognizable everywhere face of Robert Phelps to lure me into the Hamilton area.

Wolfpack - I already mentioned them, and I'm even somewhat happy to see them likely making playoffs this season, but the team changed quite a bit and I just don't see myself back in the Boston in my SHL career. The recent success makes me wonder how the New England would look like if the Torbvo stayed as GM or @storm was chosen, but well, maybe it will be an inspiration for another article another time.

Stampede - They don't have 1st OA anymore (though with their play this season, they may have a good shot at it), but the change of tiers isn't directly connected to it. They have some great people like Dermot, but apparently, they are cursed by Simon T's vicious voodoo and I wouldn't dare to risk that. Add upon this that they will lose Atmey and one more big piece in the expansion draft and the team might focus might shift. They have nice S43-45 prospects but lack any talent from S41-42 to match up with Piotr.

Jets - Yet another cursed this year, or maybe just hungover by the last season trophy team. They have a fantastic duo at the helm with Flappy and Troy, but it's one more fabled franchise, that doesn't have much appeal for me. Their old S31-33 core starts to age badly too, lacking any players in S40-41 range, though they did a great job scouting in S42 and onwards, with some of those players already playing a decent amount of minutes in the SHL.

Panthers - I don't like drama (tough to be honest I'm at fault for at least some) and unfortunately LA wasn't the least controversial place in recent times. I feel a little bad for them since they are waiting for the title ever since S17 and this window of contention might be ending quite soon too with crucial players I mentioned in throwback part in regression, despite having GM that is respected and have the longest tenure in league history.

Stars - The last team left on the list, only because of because I wondered for quite a while where to rank or put them, but this convinced me that I have no big reason to play for Toronto. They seem like a good bunch that contends year in and year out, though the future might look a bit risky, considering they have 1-2 decent players from S40 and later.

That took quite a while, hopefully I didn't offend anyone and gave you all a good read. While this article premise (as in Free Agency) might not stay relevant for much longer, I had fun going through all teams and learning where they are currently and likely in the near future. Especially recommend the throwback part, it shows that a lot has changed in the league already, in just a little over 8 months, since I published the pre SHL draft articles the quotes are from! Looking forward to the trade deadline and next big expansion news in the protections lists being finally decided and published. Will certainly look into it and make my own picks and predictions on direction expansion GMs might take during that monumental event.


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#2

:majesiu: :love: :majesiu: :love:

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#3

Stampede its looks like R.I.P.


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Chris McZehrl III - Anchorage Armada
[Image: McZehrlIII.jpg?ex=667c5d3b&is=667b0bbb&h...3f94d487d&]

Challenge Cup Wins:
S18 - Riot Seattle Riot (with Chris McZehrl)*
S23 - Wolfpack New England Wolfpack (with Chris McZehrl)*
S27 - Dragons Calgary Dragons (with VLAD McZehrl)**
S34 - Rage Manhattan Rage (with VLAD McZehrl)
S37 - Jets Winnipeg Jets (with VLAD McZehrl)
S46 - Stampede Buffalo Stampede (with GOD McZehrl)*

*first ever Challenge Cup of Franchise History
**first ever Challenge Cup win after 0-3 in Finals Series

Four Star Cup Wins:
S24 - Whalers Vancouver Whalers (with VLAD McZehrl)
S39 - Scarecrows St. Louis Scarecrows (with GOD McZehrl)

SHL Hall of Fame Members:
S24 - Chris McZehrl Platoon Panthers Dragons Riot Wolfpack *
(GP: 764 | G: 322 | A: 461 | P: 783 | +/-: +109)
S40 - VLAD McZehrl Dragons Riot Rage Stampede Jets Wolfpack *
(GP: 653 | G: 333 | A: 361 | P: 694 | +/-: +141)

*1st Ballot Hall of Famer

small note: GOD McZehrl played at first as Defender and later as Forward!
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#4

@Wally where’s my 500k

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Scarecrows pride Chiefs Riot Stars Blizzard Ireland

ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs
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#5

Was always a pleasure being teammates in Montreal man Cheers

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#6

any team would be lucky to have you maj

great article as always

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#7

The only GM change we've had was baelor to shmurph with wuma recently becoming co, nothing outside of that for 15 seasons atleast :shrugs:

Doubt is a dream killer
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#8

01-16-2019, 08:34 AMChris-McZehrl Wrote: Stampede its looks like R.I.P.


[Image: 521006399396773904.png?v=1]

R. I. P. thought process before morning coffee, would be cool if emotes had aliases like :buffalo: - Stampede fixed


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#9

I mean to be fair to us, our core is built on S39 so just barely out of the S40s

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#10

01-16-2019, 09:06 AMsarmo Wrote: The only GM change we've had was baelor to shmurph with wuma recently becoming co, nothing outside of that for 15 seasons atleast :shrugs:

wasn't @andybj co-GM for quite some time too?


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#11
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2019, 09:23 AM by majesiu.)

01-16-2019, 08:38 AMbluesfan55 Wrote: @Wally where’s my 500k

What the bet was exactly about? That somebody mentions Portland?


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#12

@majesiu thanks for the kind words! haven't really checked the gomhl but your players prolly a star now Smile)

maybe someday i try gming again. engaging players in scouting prolly my best skill there. sths and other stuff? not so much.
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#13

01-16-2019, 08:10 AMmajesiu Wrote: I still remember they were one of the two teams to really reach out during my RFA year (with the help of Shadow Proxy GM @Mike Izzy


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If i wasnt the Augment... the 'Shadow Proxy' would easily become Izzy's new Alias  Cheers

Mike Izzy -
The Shadow Proxy
Dragons

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#14

01-16-2019, 09:16 AMml002 Wrote: I mean to be fair to us, our core is built on S39 so just barely out of the S40s

That's true, your S39 core is great with 6 quality players, but outside of that you got just S38 standout.
Other than that rest of the relevant players are starting to feel regression, including goalie, Michael McFadden, that had a fantastic year in S44, but is now quickly regressing into the dangerously low level without a clear successor on the horizon (and I like PabloSanchez55, the name I clearly recognize from other leagues, but it seems it will be quite a while until he gets to SHL level). After doing plenty of expansion mocks goalie is clearly the position that will be affected the most, so it might be hard to find viable replacement another way.
This is still obviously a very good squad, but I think it wouldn't be far from the truth to say you are likely to stay on the same level and fight father time in the upcoming future rather than improving by much, compared to some much younger teams, that aren't too far behind in raw TPE either.

And if that wasn't clear from the article, the most important aspect for me wasn't competitiveness, but overall feeling and familiarity of people on the team, I hope it will change, but it would be a little weird for me now to enter completely new locker room without any people I had extended interactions in the past - Cdub2 would be the closest one, but I think he is not really active anymore.


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#15

01-16-2019, 08:31 AMEvok Wrote: :majesiu: :love: :majesiu: :love:
Forever teammates, who says no

01-16-2019, 08:54 AMGrapehead Wrote: Was always a pleasure being teammates in Montreal man Cheers

Likewise! Cheers I admire the patience and love the transformation of Pride, both in the redesign and how young and good the team looks

01-16-2019, 08:55 AMJSS Wrote: any team would be lucky to have you maj

great article as always
Thanks on both accounts, I'm excited about the new Era in Seattle and just a bit jealous about the role Flacko has in the Riots uniform, haha


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