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Opera_Phantom · 08-13-2021, 10:46 AM

So the time has come. After almost an entire season in the SMJHL with the Maine Timber, it is time for one of the, in my opinion, best moments in sim leagues, the draft. The time when you know where you will, if you are like me, most likely spend your entire career. It does not hurt that i can make a few more bucks with draft media, always helpful since everyone keeps telling me money does not come easy here, so max earning is way harder than in other similar leagues.

Also, i will give some pointers to GMs about my "wants and needs". I do not consider myself a diva or anything like it, but I want to have fun as much as anyone while i spend some time online. Please take them as good information in case you have me on your draft boards.

As usual, i will use my past sim league experiences to compare them to the SHL. No league is better than the other, they just have different nuances, which is very cool.

1. First of all, the amount of teams on the majors here is incredible. 20 teams. So unless you are called Melvin Murder Moose or some General Manager is really confident, you have no idea where you will end up, especially as a non-recreate user. And while some may disagree because they do not like surprises, i do enjoy that part, not knowing where i will end up after the draft. More to come ahead about my preferences, but even though i can have some requests, i will not know where i will be playing in a couple of seasons;

2. Scouting is very different here than i was used to. Again, not better or worse, different. Firstly, i seems like in the SHL scouts talk to you very close to the draft date. Perhaps there is too much to do during the season that prevents GM's/Scouts to come to you a bit sooner, but the draft is tomorrow and i would expect draft boards to be 95% done by this time. And yet some teams are still doing their first scout talks with rookies and i do not feel that it leaves enough time to get to know the user a little bit better, for you to see if he would be a good fit for the team, philosophy or locker room. I know very well drafting is, in the end, a crap shoot, as a given user can be great pre draft and then immediately disappear without a trace after you spent a first rounder on him. It does happen. But if you create a rapport with someone, get to know him a little bit, it would make it harder for someone to leave you hanging. Obviously, like i said, i am talking out of my bottom, because i have no idea the available time teams have, but maybe start scouting a bit earlier. And if every other team scouts closer to the draft and you do it earlier, you will definitely stand out of the crowd, making rookies keener in going to your organisation. Just food for thought. Or the other way around, you know what i mean;

3. Still with scouting, and with a personal preference. I am online on discord pretty much every time. I normally have my phone, so if you shoot me a message, i can normally answer back after a bit. So please, do not come to me with those same old questions you send everyone. And do not even get me started with the "Interested Prospect" thread. That just shows a bit of laziness in my opinion. You are supposed to make rookies excited to be drafted by your team, how do you achieve that if you just send exactly the same few random questions to 50 different people? I do not understand. And if you do not have enough time to scout 100 guys and gals, maybe get some members of your team to help. As long as they can represent your organisation respectfully, it works wonders. Again, i am not taking random shots against anyone, because this is only based on my personal preferences. Maybe 99% of other users are ok with it, it is fine;

4. Word of advice now. I was not scouted by every team, which is normal. Some teams just check their needs and go for the few players they are really interested, also very normal. But some teams scout just a handful of players, they get a couple on draft night and then just go crazy with their following picks. Or maybe they are picking late in the first round, so they just scout a few players thinking at least one is going to be there come their turn to pick, but some teams pulled the rug under them and then they have zero scouted player available. So they go for TPE, or discord messages, or gut feeling, whatever. I would suggest for you not to do that. In fact, i can tell you this, if you did not take the time to shoot me a scouting message, do not waste your time in drafting me. And i know a lot of Season 61ers share this feeling. So, thread carefully with this info. In my case, all you need is to come to me on discord, ask me a few questions about me and my plans in the league, i will ask you a couple things about your team and your objectives for the future, and in 5 or 10 minutes it is scouting complete. Almost no effort and time spent and you will have a fan right here.

5. Contract money, no idea how that works, what the minimums are, whatever. All i want is to get average money that can help me get max equipment and training every season. Good for me, good for you;

6. After all these words, what does this all mean? Jay Cue, Season 61 Centre was scouted (so far) by 8 teams. So there are the teams i want to play for. Still plenty of time though, more than 24 hours until draft time, so if you think you might be interested in drafting my player, shoot me a DM on discord or here. Just do not copy and paste, changing the small relevant info to make it fit my case.

Thank you for reading this. Any info or complaint, talk to @Z-Whiz

Z-Whiz · 08-13-2021, 01:27 PM

I will forward all complaints to @Crunk

Grapehead · 08-13-2021, 02:07 PM

Thanks for sharing this piece. I think you touched on some areas of the new player experience that can really be lacking. Well written as well, and I think this article will certainly have a positive effect on your draft stock.

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