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*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 12:33 PM

Hello. I'm going to open myself up to any questions or comments people might have. I noticed a few other users doing so and the threads were getting along pretty well, so I figured what the hell, why not.
Here are a few points that you could build off of:
- I joined in the S50 Reddit Draft, Went to Halifax at 53, then Was drafted by WKP at 23 their draft
- I recently international transferred to Sweden after playing for Germany in 2 WJCs where we finished Gold, then Quarter finals
- I was one of the SMJHL interns for S51 (last season)
- I have been recently named Co-GM for Halifax and got to experience my first draft from that side of the table
- I'm currently playing my rookie SHL season after 3 seasons in Halifax.

Open the flood gates! No topics off limits. I'll keep it open for atleast the weekend, and if it's dead we can close it then

01-31-2020, 12:56 PMroastpuff Wrote: What's the biggest difference between the SMJHL and SHL? Are the locker rooms significantly different? Do you wish you moved up sooner/stayed down longer?

The SHL gets to have established names for a few seasons. You can be the best x for a while, people know your name, and in general less overall surprises.
SMJHL there's always a constant influx of new people, the discords are usually churning out content at a faster pace. Players have a short lifespan, and with the TPE cap they are limited in their ceiling. Even with the same capped build you could handily win the scoring race one season, then only pot 15 the next. There's a lot of chaos and change and that makes it very exciting.

I'm happy with my decision to go up when I did. When I was being scouted for the draft that was a question every team rep asked: How long do you want to stay down. My answer was always 3-4 years, that as long as there was a legitimate reason to come up (not be slotted on the 4th line with 3% ice time), that I would be happy to. My third season in the SMJHL I was able to accomplish a lot - I was selected to the All Star game, was a 2nd team all-star (I think?), won an individual award, scored at over 1 ppg last season - this was one of my goals after my 4 point rookie season, followed up by a second season of just shy of the 1 mark. The only thing we weren't able to accomplish was team success in the playoffs. I've still yet to win a playoff series, and that's definitely the goal for me whenever the next player comes around. On the WJC side I've had a lot of success so far, out of 3 seasons I have a Gold, Silver, and a tough season in between.

On the management side my time as a player came to an end, but my time to help in other ways with the team is full on. We have a really really good crop of S51,52,53 players, and with Charlie and myself moving our players out this is truly their team, and we will see success with them.

01-31-2020, 02:47 PMRindiee Wrote: Although you've been in the league for under a year you've already taken on a pretty large role being a Co-GM. Are your goals to eventually be a GM in the SHL? Or what caused you to have the desire to take on this role at this point of time?

My first offseason I applied to be a Co-GM for DACH, hoping that I could be matched with someone a bit more familiar with the system and it would be a good none anxious way to learn a bit more about the simulation, as I had enjoyed it quite a bit to that point. I lucked out and got paired with @FinnRhys who I knew from Halifax, and we were a great duo. The next season I GM'd again in the WJC and had a tough run, but still enjoyed it. That season (my 3rd) I became a HO intern and learned a lot about the league, rules, and GMs. When @Flareon announced he was stepping down last season I thought I was still a little fresh to take over GM, but was hoping I'd be able to compete for a Co-GM job to continue to learn the ropes.
My ultimate goal in the SHL is to grow Karl. I have no goals or dreams of coaching or managing in the SHL, as of now I really enjoy the SMJHL and WJC, but that may because that's where I've been living for the last 3 seasons.

I have some time away coming up, so that prevented me from applying for some more roles, but when I'm back I fully expect to have the appropriate time and ability to expand my portfolio (maybe testing with FHM to get ready for that move).

I've immensely enjoyed my time in the league so far and I've loved participating in every position that I've held.

01-31-2020, 04:33 PMthiefofcheese Wrote: Are you taking a different route with your player in FHM or planning to build in the same vein as your STHS player?

What do you feel is the hardest part of the GM role in the J?

Why is S50 the best draft class ever? (I hear you old folks talking smack in the podcasts SHL guys - watch your back)

Yes, my idea is to be to go a different route with FHM. My original plan was a hard hitting turnover creating power forward. I intend to go that route. For STHS I changed to scoring predominately because the Raiders had room for shooters, undecided if I'll want to be pass first or shoot first, but at the moment I'm leaning towards pass.

The hardest part that I've run across so far is managing the balance of players. What I mean by this is some people are wanting different levels of role playing, some are all the time, 100% in character, and others are more all the time an agent or manager of their character and you are out of body. This directly leads to enjoyment and retention in both the league and LR's and overall SMJHL is the starter league for SHL, so my goal is to get Halifax prospects up to a certain standard where they are highly sought after. A more bland version of this answer could definitely be to maintain activity and engagement in the LR and the team, but I think the more specific answer sounds more fun Tongue

Well now here is where you can run into a lot of protests. I hear a lot of people saying S46 is the best, but I'm really not sure about that. Clearly when you get a draft class that produces studs such as Adam Barron, Ivan Maximus, and Henrik Lekberg Osterman as the 1 - 2 - 3 picks - Each could easily argue for number 1, actually I'll expand it to anyone who went round 1 could have made a strong case to go #1 at the time. That's a really talented group. I'd make the argument that you get a pretty good 2 rounds out of our group and then you start to get into some question mark territory - some might say that's shallow, but I think the skill from the top 30 is overwhelming and that is the strength of the class.
Alas it's too soon to tell for S50, because we're just hitting our rookie seasons this season or next, and from dealing with the recent reddit draft I think this S53 group is really good - still fresh, but I think very well primed to take over the top spot from whoever argues the best. With that group being in the SMJHL for the next few seasons we are going to have a really fun Jr. league.

01-31-2020, 04:37 PMluketd Wrote: how does it feel to have the 2nd best gritty picture on site?

Well I take that as an absolute compliment. Gritty is well known to be the best and I've seen a few more Gritty's pop up so being number 2 is no small feat. Plus I'm assuming you have Luketd's Gritty at #1 (if not, why not, also SMH get your brain checked) and that's the best avatar on the site, let alone best Gritty. I'll happily take my place until it is time for Kardasian Gritty to rule above all.

01-31-2020, 11:07 PMLordBirdman Wrote: Why did you decide to transfer to the coolest country with the most attractive women in the world?

Well what you said is alone a pretty solid reason. But let's do some real talk for a sec:
I was a bit disgruntled with how things were going with Germany after my second WJC. I was the only GM for Germany which was a little stressful and the coalition of DACH was disbanded leaving me with only 8 active players which was really really tough. We had a decent top line but no depth or activity and it was difficult for me to deal with. At the time I didn't think much of it, that's just the way the offseason tournaments go.
Because of this I didn't bring the feelings up the chain to anyone. My plan was to bide my time and eventually I'll get called up, probably some time after uncapping. That's when I was approached and we started chatting. I took a few days to think and look at perspective and rosters and chat, but I think I liked the romance of the idea. I was burned out and I wanted to have a fresh start and this was an offer to do so. Additionally looking at the pipeline I felt that Sweden had a very strong core and they are just on the cusp of starting a huge upswing, where I felt Germany's coffers were barren and empty, they had a few recruits, but that last WJC really instilled a belief that they were on their way to slowly aging out with not enough replacement talent coming up.

With that said I'm super happy with the decision to go through with the transfer. The Sweden LR has been super good and supportive, we have a very strong growing membership, and I'll be the first to admit that we defied expectations a bit with this WJC placing second.

02-01-2020, 05:39 PMmxman991 Wrote: What’s it like to leave us behind you big jerk? #pleasecomebacktohamilton

It's sad, but also time. I did toy with the idea of staying a 4th year quite a bit, and I also thought about things like saving money on the send down salary, but that's BS and I respect you enough to not say that. At the end of the day WKP had space for me, and they are giving me a bunch of ice time to show for it as well. I also feel connected to Charlie, and if he's making the jump Karl is right behind him.
I do feel that roster wise this did clear up some space to allow an influx of new active members and the role I'm taking on with management should help us out more than another season of Karl would have.

Also, come back to Hamilton? Shame on you good sir!

02-01-2020, 06:14 PMMike Izzy Wrote: Mr. Krashwagon,

For the veteran SHL players just seeing Karl Krashwagen for the first time, what type of player is he? What type of game does he bring to the SHL and are there players in the SHL that he has taken notice of or wants his game to resemble?

If you don't know the name Krashwagen you'll be seeing it in nightmares soon. Karl limped into the league having a difficult transition to the North American game, but he shot our of a cannon in his second season. He's done nothing but drastically improve and he is going to punish you with the body first, then on the score sheet. He hits a lot, he shoots a lot and he will be scoring a lot. Could be a solid fantasy player in a few seasons.

02-02-2020, 02:24 PMStamkosFan Wrote: How do you feel about getting a silver in the WJC?

How do you feel about the upcoming move to FHM?

I'm super pumped about the Silver! Obviously it sucks not to get the Gold, but I think we ended up surprising a lot of folks because we were definitely a medal underdog this season. I'm also doubly excited because we were able to roster a bunch of the S53 draft class, they got some action before the SMJHL regular season and some prize money to help with training. I'm happy with the team we built and they preformed very well as well. Both Karl and Hans are going to be moving on from the WJC team this season, so we have some space to be filled!

FHM I'm cautiously optimistic. When I joined SHL it was branded as a build your player any way you want. I quickly found that to be a stretch as the player type I tried to make (Power Forward) while allowed, was strongly recommended against. Fairly quickly I found that there were a few very important stats and it leads to relatively the same builds across the board, or at least not too much fluctuation. FHM I believe will spark a ton of build differences which will be a lot of fun to play with. which types of players go well together, what to avoid at all costs? I believe it will give players more options over their own destiny and that's exciting. It'll also be interesting to see how teams as a whole function. Do they target specific player types to fill a whole? Does it increase trades? What about the SMJHL where its a quick turnaround, will teams start to draft specific player types to address a weakness? Lot's of questions and I think exciting answers to be had with the move in engines.

(Complete, Ready for Grading)
--2096 Words--

*roastpuff* · 01-31-2020, 12:56 PM

What's the biggest difference between the SMJHL and SHL? Are the locker rooms significantly different? Do you wish you moved up sooner/stayed down longer?

*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 01:10 PM

01-31-2020, 12:56 PMroastpuff Wrote: What's the biggest difference between the SMJHL and SHL? Are the locker rooms significantly different? Do you wish you moved up sooner/stayed down longer?

The SHL gets to have established names for a few seasons. You can be the best x for a while, people know your name, and in general less overall surprises.
SMJHL there's always a constant influx of new people, the discords are usually churning out content at a faster pace. Players have a short lifespan, and with the TPE cap they are limited in their ceiling. Even with the same capped build you could handily win the scoring race one season, then only pot 15 the next. There's a lot of chaos and change and that makes it very exciting.

I'm happy with my decision to go up when I did. When I was being scouted for the draft that was a question every team rep asked: How long do you want to stay down. My answer was always 3-4 years, that as long as there was a legitimate reason to come up (not be slotted on the 4th line with 3% ice time), that I would be happy to. My third season in the SMJHL I was able to accomplish a lot - I was selected to the All Star game, was a 2nd team all-star (I think?), won an individual award, scored at over 1 ppg last season - this was one of my goals after my 4 point rookie season, followed up by a second season of just shy of the 1 mark. The only thing we weren't able to accomplish was team success in the playoffs. I've still yet to win a playoff series, and that's definitely the goal for me whenever the next player comes around. On the WJC side I've had a lot of success so far, out of 3 seasons I have a Gold, Silver, and a tough season in between.

On the management side my time as a player came to an end, but my time to help in other ways with the team is full on. We have a really really good crop of S51,52,53 players, and with Charlie and myself moving our players out this is truly their team, and we will see success with them.

Rindiee · 01-31-2020, 02:47 PM

Although you've been in the league for under a year you've already taken on a pretty large role being a Co-GM. Are your goals to eventually be a GM in the SHL? Or what caused you to have the desire to take on this role at this point of time?

*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 03:54 PM

01-31-2020, 02:47 PMRindiee Wrote: Although you've been in the league for under a year you've already taken on a pretty large role being a Co-GM. Are your goals to eventually be a GM in the SHL? Or what caused you to have the desire to take on this role at this point of time?

My first offseason I applied to be a Co-GM for DACH, hoping that I could be matched with someone a bit more familiar with the system and it would be a good none anxious way to learn a bit more about the simulation, as I had enjoyed it quite a bit to that point. I lucked out and got paired with Finn-Rhys who I knew from Halifax, and we were a great duo. The next season I GM'd again in the WJC and had a tough run, but still enjoyed it. That season (my 3rd) I became a HO intern and learned a lot about the league, rules, and GMs. When Flareon announced he was stepping down last season I thought I was still a little fresh to take over GM, but was hoping I'd be able to compete for a Co-GM job to continue to learn the ropes.
My ultimate goal in the SHL is to grow Karl. I have no goals or dreams of coaching or managing in the SHL, as of now I really enjoy the SMJHL and WJC, but that may because that's where I've been living for the last 3 seasons.

I have some time away coming up, so that prevented me from applying for some more roles, but when I'm back I fully expect to have the appropriate time and ability to expand my portfolio (maybe testing with FHM to get ready for that move).

I've immensely enjoyed my time in the league so far and I've loved participating in every position that I've held.

*thiefofcheese* · 01-31-2020, 04:33 PM

Are you taking a different route with your player in FHM or planning to build in the same vein as your STHS player?

What do you feel is the hardest part of the GM role in the J?

Why is S50 the best draft class ever? (I hear you old folks talking smack in the podcasts SHL guys - watch your back)

***luke*** · 01-31-2020, 04:37 PM

how does it feel to have the 2nd best gritty picture on site?

*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 04:58 PM

01-31-2020, 04:33 PMthiefofcheese Wrote: Are you taking a different route with your player in FHM or planning to build in the same vein as your STHS player?

What do you feel is the hardest part of the GM role in the J?

Why is S50 the best draft class ever? (I hear you old folks talking smack in the podcasts SHL guys - watch your back)

Yes, my idea is to be to go a different route with FHM. My original plan was a hard hitting turnover creating power forward. I intend to go that route. For STHS I changed to scoring predominately because the Raiders had room for shooters, undecided if I'll want to be pass first or shoot first, but at the moment I'm leaning towards pass.

The hardest part that I've run across so far is managing the balance of players. What I mean by this is some people are wanting different levels of role playing, some are all the time, 100% in character, and others are more all the time an agent or manager of their character and you are out of body. This directly leads to enjoyment and retention in both the league and LR's and overall SMJHL is the starter league for SHL, so my goal is to get Halifax prospects up to a certain standard where they are highly sought after. A more bland version of this answer could definitely be to maintain activity and engagement in the LR and the team, but I think the more specific answer sounds more fun Tongue

Well now here is where you can run into a lot of protests. I hear a lot of people saying S46 is the best, but I'm really not sure about that. Clearly when you get a draft class that produces studs such as Adam Barron, Ivan Maximus, and Henrik Lekberg Osterman as the 1 - 2 - 3 picks - Each could easily argue for number 1, actually I'll expand it to anyone who went round 1 could have made a strong case to go #1 at the time. That's a really talented group. I'd make the argument that you get a pretty good 2 rounds out of our group and then you start to get into some question mark territory - some might say that's shallow, but I think the skill from the top 30 is overwhelming and that is the strength of the class.
Alas it's too soon to tell for S50, because we're just hitting our rookie seasons this season or next, and from dealing with the recent reddit draft I think this S53 group is really good - still fresh, but I think very well primed to take over the top spot from whoever argues the best. With that group being in the SMJHL for the next few seasons we are going to have a really fun Jr. league.

*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 05:02 PM

01-31-2020, 04:37 PMluketd Wrote: how does it feel to have the 2nd best gritty picture on site?

Well I take that as an absolute compliment. Gritty is well known to be the best and I've seen a few more Gritty's pop up so being number 2 is no small feat. Plus I'm assuming you have Luketd's Gritty at #1 (if not, why not, also SMH get your brain checked) and that's the best avatar on the site, let alone best Gritty. I'll happily take my place until it is time for Kardasian Gritty to rule above all.

Thelastheraclid · 01-31-2020, 09:31 PM

Where do you see yourself in five seasons both as a GM and a player? Are there any goals you have set for yourself?

*CementHands* · 01-31-2020, 09:58 PM

01-31-2020, 09:31 PMThelastheraclid Wrote: Where do you see yourself in five seasons both as a GM and a player? Are there any goals you have set for yourself?

Hmm 5 seasons. I'd like Karl to be a solid second or top line player by then as he should be entering the prime of his career at year 9. Hopefully a decent bank to help fight regression down the road and not have to stress too much about that.
For GM it's hard to say because the experience is so new. I think I'd be perfectly happy being Co, 3 seasons ago I was fresh off the boat and everything was new and I would not have believed any one who said I'd pick up these jobs. Who knows how I'm feeling in another 3 seasons, maybe I want to move up to the SHL, maybe I want a step back?
I do want to help produce consistently sucessful teams, not this fluctuation between high end 1 season and bottom the next. That will take some time to build.

LordBirdman · 01-31-2020, 11:07 PM

Why did you decide to transfer to the coolest country with the most attractive women in the world?

mxman991 · 02-01-2020, 05:39 PM

What’s it like to leave us behind you big jerk? #pleasecomebacktohamilton

DeletedAtUserRequest · 02-01-2020, 06:14 PM

Mr. Krashwagon,

For the veteran SHL players just seeing Karl Krashwagen for the first time, what type of player is he? What type of game does he bring to the SHL and are there players in the SHL that he has taken notice of or wants his game to resemble?

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*CementHands* · 02-02-2020, 01:20 PM

01-31-2020, 11:07 PMLordBirdman Wrote: Why did you decide to transfer to the coolest country with the most attractive women in the world?

Well what you said is alone a pretty solid reason. But let's do some real talk for a sec:
I was a bit disgruntled with how things were going with Germany after my second WJC. I was the only GM for Germany which was a little stressful and the coalition of DACH was disbanded leaving me with only 8 active players which was really really tough. We had a decent top line but no depth or activity and it was difficult for me to deal with. At the time I didn't think much of it, that's just the way the offseason tournaments go.
Because of this I didn't bring the feelings up the chain to anyone. My plan was to bide my time and eventually I'll get called up, probably some time after uncapping. That's when I was approached and we started chatting. I took a few days to think and look at perspective and rosters and chat, but I think I liked the romance of the idea. I was burned out and I wanted to have a fresh start and this was an offer to do so. Additionally looking at the pipeline I felt that Sweden had a very strong core and they are just on the cusp of starting a huge upswing, where I felt Germany's coffers were barren and empty, they had a few recruits, but that last WJC really instilled a belief that they were on their way to slowly aging out with not enough replacement talent coming up.

With that said I'm super happy with the decision to go through with the transfer. The Sweden LR has been super good and supportive, we have a very strong growing membership, and I'll be the first to admit that we defied expectations a bit with this WJC placing second.

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