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***golden_apricot*** · 12-22-2019, 03:57 PM

SMJHL has seen the appeal brought fourth by the Carolina Kraken and have declined to change the punishment that they received for double trading a pick.

Below are the points made by the Kraken as seen by SMJHL HO and our response to each point made.

1. Carolina Self-Reported the infraction

The first point made from the perspective of HO is that due to Carolina self reporting the incident there should be some leniency in the ruling. This, although admirable is not ground for a lesser punishment, rather we feel as though this saves you from a more severe punishment that would be levied if this were to be hid from HO. In addition to this, SMJHL had knowledge of this incident prior to the self reporting of the violation. Previous precedent also shows that there is no added leniency from self reporting over the last 10 season in the SMJHL.

2. This was Carolina’s first offense for this management staff

Similar to the first point made, although this is true we feel as though the rules are put in place for first offenders and harsher punishments are to be levied upon teams that are frequent offenders. We did not feel as though this point allowed us to lessen the punishment.

3. No prior knowledge of reddit draft schedule

Although there were rumblings of a reddit draft taking place for the SMJHL this offseason prior to this trade happening there was no official announcement of the schedule giving some merit to the point. However, HO’s largest issue with this trade and the infraction in general, is the fact that reddit picks were treated as their own entity and not as a pick in a specific season. By treating the reddit draft as its own thing, Carolina’s management put themselves in danger of this specific scenario and we do not feel like it is HO’s responsibility to bail out teams that do not keep good track of their assets.

4. No real precedent

This is not true. This might not have been the specific point that was made but this is how SMJHL HO interpreted the language in the document. Cases of previous precedent can be seen here.

We respect the points that were put forth by the Kraken staff in regards to their appeal, but we do not find cause to reduce the penalty for this punishment. Our job in HO is to make consistent rulings regarding aspects within the league and we feel as though, with the information we have been given, this was done in this case.