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MarlinManiac4 · 08-23-2020, 10:39 PM

Code:
No one can hold a candle to the Berserkers; they will hoist the Four Star Cup

Against: I think there are several teams who can and will challenge Newfoundland in the playoffs. The first and most threatening team being Carolina, which is a team that rivals Newfoundland in total quality. Also, while Newfoundland may be tough, they would still have to face the western conference champion, and I think it would be unwise to assume they will win easily. Anchorage has had a good season, and Kelowna is also a very tough out. My pick is the Kraken.

***WannabeFinn*** · 08-23-2020, 10:42 PM

Of the major trades that have gone down in the past month, Edmonton's move for Theo Morgan stands out as the best of all

I don’t know if it’s the best trade, there were a lot of great trades. However, Theo Morgan’s 37 goals speak for themselves. Edmonton isn’t the beast they are without Morgan.

Nhamlet · 08-23-2020, 10:47 PM

Quote:New Orleans will break the FHM President's Trophy Curse and win the Challenge Cup as well:

New Orleans will absolutely not break the FHM President’s Trophy curse as they’re showing themselves to be a team that stumbles at the key moments. My evidence? The fact that they just did that very thing on Saturday, tripping over the opportunity to win the President’s Trophy. Most positions were locked up with a few exceptions of the 4th spot in the East as well as the top spot seeding in the league. As such, many teams had nothing to play for other than to maybe get some momentum going into the playoffs or just because they had to finish out their season. Against teams like Los Angeles, San Francisco (x2) and even Texas who knew their fates prior to Saturday’s sim, NOLA lost to them by a single goal, showing how despite the TPE advantage they hold, they don’t have quite the pop that teams like a Buffalo, Edmonton or Hamilton do with their top players.

Quote:A bit forward-looking here, but Tampa Bay will continue their drastic improvement and win double-digit games next season

Against. If Toronto has shown us anything, moving forward in your rebuild will not necessarily mean an exponential or even linear improvement in your win totals. Tampa Bay had nowhere to go but up with a zero win season fielding the lowest TPE roster the SHL in the FHM era has seen. With them dipping heavily in the IFA market in order to shore up their defense in particular, while they won’t be relying as heavily on that and be able to start calling up some of their prime prospects like Ambacudas Cuddles and Zoltan Topalo in order to replace the worst of the IAs, that in itself combined with the improvement of their top line in Fiddler, Fitted and Ronlain isn’t enough to distinguish themselves from other rebuilding teams. Is it possible that they gain a handful more wins through the tight contests like Baltimore (they went 2-4 against them this season), Toronto (1-2 currently with 1 game remaining) might get them close to the double digit mark but not enough to make a significant jump. If the over/under was set at 9.5 next season for Tampa in the casino, that’s one I would be heavily tempted to take the under on.

Quote:The New England Wolfpack are the best team that won't make the playoffs

For. To consider whether the Wolfpack would be the best team to not make the playoffs would have to pit them against others who won’t make it. As it stands, it looks like the Western race is currently going to be New Orleans, Edmonton, Calgary and Texas. Given the other teams of San Francisco and Winnipeg would be the closest comparables from the West, and there not really being another viable option in the East, it’s pretty clear to say that New England even with the departure of Eko van Otter are the best team to not make the playoffs. Primarily, the couple key players they have, plus their very understated defensive depth are key reasons why they have performed as well as they have this season. I will say that I’m a low key Jets favorite in thinking that they’re getting much closer and were it not for differing goalie performances this season between Eller and Chamberlain, Winnipeg would be much closer given that their scoring has been fairly potent, though on some level may be a result of having taken significant advantage of the weaker teams this season.

Quote:The MVP awards are Monkey D Luffy's to lose

Against. Mostly this is a statement against the idea that Luffy is the clear cut winner and I think that it’s going to be a very close race with arguments for a variety of different players. Luffy will most likely win both the goal and point scoring title though some voters will likely hold the quality of his teammates against him as other players on other teams have done almost as much with much less. For example, one prime choice for a MVP is Dick Clapper of the Hamilton Steelhawks. The last couple seasons saw Flacko Lagerfield as the prime winner being the top scorer on his team and the league by significant margins. While Clapper hasn’t completely captured that similar level of success, what he has been able to do on a less stacked Hamilton team is almost on par with Luffy’s success offensively. In particular, the one area that does deserve credit is the 5v5 scoring rates of Clapper compared to all the other high scoring peers. Clapper sits 2nd in the league with 49 even strength points at this point...though technically Luffy does have 50. Still, combined with the fact that Clapper’s linemates are not at the same elite tier that Luffy has, as well as the overall team scoring contribution especially at even strength, then it’s clear that Clapper does sit atop in the most valuable contribution sense.

Quote:Scholz or Kirkby will win the Stevens Award for best defenseman

I think it really does come down to these two defensemen for the Stevens Award at the end of the season. The only other ones that come close are a quartet of Buffalo defensemen where none of their numbers, combined basic or advanced, are close to either Scholz or Kirkby. I would have to lean towards Scholz, not that I would necessarily make him as the pick as my Stevens winner off the bat, but his point totals are probably what pushes him into the favorite category. For example, he is currently 14th in league scoring with 12 goals and 36 assists at a 1.12 PPG pace. Kirkby sits a decent distance behind with 9 goals and 30 assists and just under the point per game mark. Both have very similar ice times being on the top pairing, #1 powerplay unit and heavily relied on for penalty killing as well. If there’s anything to continue to separate the two defensemen, it’ll likely be the overall shot suppression advantage that Scholz has with allowing almost 90 shot attempts against less than Kirkby despite having higher average ice time by about 20 seconds. The overall scoring rates are also higher for Scholz as well as fewer goals against per 60 though with the 101.8 PDO for Scholz, it may be a little bit of luck, though very likely, just a measure of how well Scholz has been performing. All in all, can’t really go for anybody else other than Scholz even if Kirkby has shown more defensive engagement with higher shots blocked, Scholz has prevented more shot attempts in general.

Quote:THE RETURN OF CAMERON CARTER - CCII will land on an all-star team!

Against. I love the guy and think he deserves all the accolades that go his way but it’s impossible to give a spot to a player with 41 points in 50 games, when the normal appears to be at least a point per game if not better. Especially when the 25th highest scoring player is just a shade under PPG. Even with 25 goals on the season, that’d only be good for tied for 13th in the league. What makes CCII the force that he’s been in the past is the blend of physical and scoring ability at all parts of the ice. Unfortunately this season, he seems to have taken a step back on both sides. For a second straight season, his hit totals still only hover around the 60ish mark, and the biggest thing is that he has far less takeaways this season and far more giveaways. Just doesn’t stand out right now as an All-Star performance with other more deserving candidates, including teammate Ryan Shepard who might have only scored 35 points but also exploded with a 186 hits.

Quote:Parker Smeb is the toughest player in the entire SHL

I think this is easy FOR. The most obvious part of this are the hits that Parker has racked up season after season. Last season he had a whopping 337 hits for first in the league and once again led the league with another 253 hits. That alone puts him in contention for being the toughest player to play. While he could just be a meathead like a certain Tampa Bay retiring forward, he actually has the skills to mix in with his physicality. With 12 goals and 30 assists, this is a guy who you just hate seeing on the ice because he’ll make an impact by either making his presence felt physically, or contributing offensively and making your retaliation feel like mistakes by putting points on the scoreboard. Worst of all, it’s not like he’s a complete sieve and you’re able to get him in his own end as it almost seems like he should be out of position with all those hits. With an almost sparkling 2.4 GA/60, he’s not defensively elite but still better than average and demands all the respect that is deserving of a monster defenseman like him.

Quote:Collin Gibbles will finish with the most takeaways in the league for the third straight season

I suppose this would have been better when the season wasn’t already over. I guess I’ll write about how he got to this point. Being one of the highest forwards in TPE, Gibbles could easily have become a Daniel Smeb or Dick Clapper in terms of offensive ability but chose to focus on a two-way game, leading to some superior positioning, stick use and ability to read the game on the defensive end at the highest level. Combine that with the fact that as a team, the Chiefs regularly spend time without the puck, Gibbles finds himself with more opportunities to have to take the puck away...only for it to be lost back to the opponent. To some degree, I would argue that it’s likely more a result of his team’s inability to control the puck and giving the lion’s share of possession to the other team than it is a demonstration of his own ability.

Quote:The Calgary Dragons are the team that most urgently needs to make a deadline move

FOR
I think prior to the deadline, I would have likely agreed with this. They currently have their best players at the prime of their careers with Maxime Bouchard (S45), Barry Batsbak (S46), Esa Parmborg (S47), Brennan Kenndy Jr. (S46), Leopold Lockhart (S45) and Kata Vilde (S41) all currently facing regression or will be in the very near future. As regression continues to hurt these guys as well as the older folks on the team, their overall effectiveness will only continue to drop. They initially had a pretty bright future with Atlas Rush, Joseph Weston and Alexei Rykov being the new forwards of the future, but unfortunately one of those has continued to pan out. There’s a couple players who will look like they could potentially be locked in over the next couple seasons, but not enough in the immediate future for there to be a resurgence of competitive talent over the next 2-3 seasons. As part of their current group, in order to escape being ‘good but not good enough’, having made some of those purchases at the deadline would have been key.

One of the particular reasons that I believe buying would have been particularly important for the Dragons is the relative amount they stood to gain compared to some of the other teams who already had few weaknesses to begin with. The Dragons have likely one of the weaker 3rd lines as well as an okay 2nd line. Adding a player of Eko van Otter or a player like Oliver Cleary on the back end would have been a significant addition to the team to the point where their minuscule chances to make the finals would have at least come up in a respectable manner.

Quote:Of the major trades that have gone down in the past month, Edmonton's move for Theo Morgan stands out as the best of all

I think you have to say yes, even if you were to put this trade in a vacuum for the addition of Theo Morgan. For one, the fact that Morgan was added, it’s almost a straight injection of offense. 37 goals and 69 points...whoever Morgan took the spot of prior to this trade would have come nowhere near this and gave Edmonton an overwhelming offense that ranks them first in the league in goals scored. Other deals like the move for Rex Kirkby for NOLA and Dick Clapper for HAM are pretty important in their own right, but given the performance that Morgan had this season, he could easily sneak into the potential MVP candidacy just for his goal scoring results.

Quote:The new expansion teams should be placed in West Virginia and Montana #NOLEAKS

I don’t even know where these places are. At least when you look at a weird place like Anchorage, New Orleans and what not they have their own degree of character and can have some level of argument to potentially be great sports cities that would favor the addition of a professional (simulation hockey) team. However I question the ability for a place like West Virginia to even be capable of handling something like that unless it was a junior team. As it stands, the highest level that they have in real life is the ECHL. Hardly a ringing endorsement. As for Montana, I guess that I don’t hate it as much given its proximity to Canada and the number of junior teams in the state. However, much like West Virginia, the inability for the state to come around to rally around a professional sports team seems incredibly unlikely.

Quote:No one can hold a candle to the Berserkers; they will hoist the Four Star Cup

I’m going to argue against it just for the fun of it. There are some serious competitors in the SMJHL despite how good the Berserkers might be on paper. For example the existing champions in the Carolina Krakens might easily repeat given the amount of talent on their roster as well. Also looking at how much their defense is involved defensively, on top of another season of making a deadline acquisition to improve their team (Ulrik Bergstrom, 425 TPE IFA), suddenly even with a couple losses from callups from the beginning of the season, Carolina is probably in a close if not better position than last season. Blunt Man has proved to be a solid starter, though not quite at Eller’s peak. Still, with the amount of overall skill that he has in front of him both on the blue line and beyond, Carolina has just about everything you would want in a contending 4 Star Cup Team.

The other team that I see as a not so dark horse coming out of the West would be the Anchorage Armada. Despite lacking the same amount of forward that Carolina and Newfoundland has, the biggest strength that this team has taken advantage of is the top two lines as well as one of the deepest bluelines in the league, combined with one of, if not the currently best goaltender when looking at statistical measures. Scoochie Stratton has at least 8 shutouts to his name, breaking many of the previous SMJHL records. To beat him even once has been an impossible feat for a few teams, nevermind thinking of beating him multiple times if the Armada are about to plot a goal here and there. Then their defense which has all 425 but a couple guys has been an absolute force both offensively and defensively. In particular Bork Lazer has been carrying the role of Agitator, forcing other teams to lose their cool and take bad penalties, would playing an effective defense game where it doesn’t seem like you could get anything over him in a given night. Now beating all of those guys plus their star goalie? Seems impossible. They have the best goals against record for a reason. With their forwards, they’re leaning more heavily on their top 2 lines, but it's almost at the effectiveness of other title contending teams, where Chris de Siren is a few points back behind current league leaders for points.
Finally the last point is despite how hard it's been to score on this team, you would think that at least the man advantage would be something you could look forward to. Nope. They have amassed half of the penalties as other teams in the league. Somehow they’re defensively effective AND without taking penalties. If the best defenseman award doesn’t got to somebody on this team then I’d be shocked.

***luke*** · 08-23-2020, 10:56 PM

Gibbles will finish the season with the most takeaways because he is the best player on a terrible team. Of course he will have the best takeaways because no one else on his team will

hughesab · 08-23-2020, 11:08 PM

For. West Virginia and Montana are decent options with the only potential issue being population centers. In order to fill the stands it helps to be in a populated area and those are sparse in Montana and WV but a team in Bozeman or the Shenandoah valley would be pretty cool.

***Wally*** · 08-23-2020, 11:19 PM

A bit forward-looking here, but Tampa Bay will continue their drastic improvement and win double-digit games next season.
----

I have to agree here. I think Trella has the team pointed in the right direction with the right personnel. I think the hard point or position will be how the salary structuring will hurt long term growth. This team is primarily built around a few draft classes. If they start mass growth as a conglomerate, the salaries will bloat and could potentially face salary issues. As for now... All good... and hope they find the double digit win category.

*thevoicelesscreator* · 08-23-2020, 11:21 PM

No one can hold a candle to the Berserkers; they will hoist the Four Star Cup
The Newfoundland Berserkers are hand in hand the best SMJHL team this season. They are very reminiscent of the Detroit Falcons from a couple years ago which absolutely dominated the playoffs. I expect them to make a very similar run

Grum · 08-23-2020, 11:24 PM

Code:
New Orleans will break the FHM President's Trophy Curse and win the Challenge Cup as well

Yeah no way this happens. When there is a team as stacked as Buffalo is this season I don't think NOLA will have a chance at either

Cyanide · 08-23-2020, 11:25 PM

No one can hold a candle to the Berserkers; they will hoist the Four Star Cup

AGAINST

Clearly no one has been paying attention to the season. The Nevada Battleborn are gonna win the cup because we have lulled the league into a false sense of security.

Credit to Wasty
[Image: wolfpack3.png]

Credit to Sulovilen

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