Login

Andy · 08-22-2020, 04:54 PM

As the season winds down, there are two expansion teams, each having played an identical schedule. Those teams are the Quebec City Citadels and the Nevada Battle Born. Both of these teams were expansion teams so comparing them for this case study means that they are fairly identical.

These teams have two completely different make ups in how they were created for this season. During the expansion draft Quebec picked 5 forwards, while Nevada picked two forwards and two defenseman as well as trading their first pick for a first rounder which became a goalie.

So now lets look at the bigger contributors for each team. It's no secret that forwards score more then defenseman however having the veteran forward makes a big difference for QCC with Roach and Gunnar two expansion picks with totals of 32 and 26 points (before today's sim). The battleborn while having a more balanced scoring attack actually have a rookie in the top scoring with Zelma an expansion pick leading the way with 24 and then an inactive with 23 points followed right by @"arayven"'s Danger with 22 points. So in a game where scoring more goals then the other team makes a difference you can see more goal scoring production obviously can lead to more wins.

In the standings it is clear that QCC is ahead but does that mean that they are a better team or is it just that NBB needs to develop its forwards more?

In terms of preventing shots, both teams do let up the same amount of shots, so goalie quality is obviously very important still as having higher TPE forwards does not make you better in that department. However there is one stat that I have found very interesting.

When comparing both teams SOG or in simple terms, your ability to score, QCC's top players in total had most likely close to 2:1 in terms of SOG that made it to the goal. Obviously in FHM, that is no longer based on your scoring stat like it was in STHS but it also comes from offensive read as well as the Getting open stat. This ability to personalize your characters to allow them to score more has shown that at lower TPE forwards can make a bigger contribution.

I think the biggest leaning factor towards forwards in the SMJHL being more important than defenseman is in terms of TPE how they are able to succeed. Nevada has some very good defenseman in terms of earners, including two of the highest earners in their class with Sachimo Zoidberg and Bane. While Zoidberg is enjoying a solid season as a rookie with 19 points, Bane only has 7 points. They also have their send down who is capped and even with a build that leans more defensively only has 11 points.

From what I can conclude, although through a bit of a tangent is that forwards in the SMJHL are a lot more important than defenseman. Looking through the big TPE earners of NBB, defenseman in the SMJHL have the same problem that centers do. They can't just put their points purely into their offensive stats (similar to how centers have to put points into faceoffs which detracts from their other skills). They have to be able to play defense and keep the puck out of the net especially as they want to prepare for when they make the jump to the SHL. When you look at the SHL the opposite may be argued with defenseman being important but that could stem from the possibility that defenseman really start to shine when they can play in both ends strongly which may not necessarily appear up until they hit 1k TPE. As a quick example I found this example in Buffalo with Nicholas Owens taking a big step forward as a defenseman but not having nearly the same offensive skills as teammate Aaron Hernadivic as you have to invest more into defensive skills as a defenseman. Hernadivic was able to have offensive skills in the 16/17 skill range where the highest Owens could go was 15. Granted that their is a season of TPE between them you can also look at their stats from this past season where although they did not play the same minutes (with a minute and a half difference between them) But Hernandivic had 31 points to Owens 19.

Code:
740 words

Nokazoa · 08-22-2020, 07:58 PM

youre important to me

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us