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hughesab · 09-27-2020, 10:41 PM

The Nevada Battleborn will win the Four Star Cup

While bold, this isn't an outlandish prediction. Nevada had some impressive goaltending late last season and that will likely continue. They also have improved significantly defensively in the offseason so if all goes well they will be serious contenders.

Kylrad · 09-27-2020, 10:53 PM

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Texas will be the top team in the Western Conference

While I think Texas will continue their improvement this season and soon be the top team in the West and probably even win their division this season, I think Calgary or Edmonton will still be the top team in the West this season

*jeffie43* · 09-27-2020, 11:05 PM

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The Toronto North Stars will finish with fewer points than the Seattle Argonauts

The Toronto North Stars are a strong team and have shown steps in the right direction in the last few seasons by building a strong core via the draft. ML002 and co have done a great job managing this team and I believe that they will be a tough team to beat this season. With a strong forward core they'll be a tough team to defend on any given day. For example, their first line features a strong group of forwards in Mika Kandinsky, Bobby Lane and Ruslan Zaporozhets (If he hasn't been replaced by Rhys Pritchard). The trio have been together for three seasons now and are as strong as ever moving forward. With Mika Kandinsky at 1721 TPE, Bobby Lane at 1511 TPE and Rhys Pritchard at 1140 TPE the trio have something going. Although the three got unlucky with a sub-100 PDO and Kandinsky having a major down season last year, I'm sure they're due for a major bounceback season with Toronto's supporting cast getting much stronger and slowly developing. Following those three, Rhys Pritchard, Danny Marston and Hiro Fujikawa are a great 2nd line for a developing team. Although Hiro may be inactive, there are plenty of teams that would love to have a 1000+ TPE inactive on their roster moving forward, not to mention if you're a rebuilding one. Danny Marston will be looking to improve on a strong rookie season where he was 2nd among rookies in points despite having only third line minutes to go off of. Similarly, Rhys Pritchard is 3rd among Toronto's forwards in TPE and has a lot to go on as one of the best earners in the S52 class. Defensively, Ursin Zimmermann and Delver Fudgeson offer a lot as a top pairing. Ursin has proven time and time again that he can be a great defenseman when called upon. Similarly, Delver Fudgeson was part of a deal that really helped Toronto solidify it's defensive core last season at the deadline and eventually led to more wins towards the end of the season. Also a player not to forget will be Axel Meszaros who will probably hit the 1K TPE mark soon, and will certainly represent another capable/serviceable defenseman on the Toronto roster. Now, last but not least will be Toronto's goalie, Harry Carpet. Harry Carpet is currently the highest TPE goalie across the SHL and is used to keeping Toronto in games single handedly at this point. The heart of the North Stars and the true King of the North will be the most important player on the ice for the North Stars as his heroics had led to them getting 11 wins 2 seasons ago. If he can match the success that he had 2 seasons ago, Toronto will be a tough out on any given night and should serve as problematic for any of the other teams in the Great Lakes Division.

Seattle on the other hand doesn't share the same depth that Toronto does via it's forwards as their rookie Darzins, and young gunner Vanice have to play major minutes for the expansion franchise. Although they may have a better defensive core in Darrow, Murphy, Zizagooney, Kanoff and Skinney, they also have probably the worst starting goalie in the Simulation Hockey League in Reynolds. I think these are going to cost Seattle success early on and will hurt them when it comes to comparing them to Toronto.

As a result I'm going to disagree with this BOLD prediction and say it's nothing more than a hot take that will be incorrect as time goes on.

Nour is pretty hot ngl

***Rankle*** · 09-27-2020, 11:12 PM

Quote:Tampa Bay will not finish with the worst record this season - San Francisco will

AGREE

TAMPA IS ON THE UPSWING BABY THERES NO WAY WE FINISH LAST YOULL SEE IN TIME TAMPA WILL WIN 6 CUPS IN A ROW CHOMP CHOMP WATER DOGS

Chomp Chomp Water Dog Barracuda

Scarecrow Noises Scarecrows

RippleLuck · 09-27-2020, 11:17 PM

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The Toronto North Stars will finish with fewer points than the Seattle Argonauts

I don't see this as a hot take, Seattle is better than I think people give them credit for and should get more points against the middle/top of the west than Toronto will

to12143 · 09-27-2020, 11:46 PM

There will be no major scandals during the season

Are you kidding me, this prediction is easily the worst one of the bunch. I can't say I've ever been in a sim league in my now 3 years of being in them, and a league going an entire season without any sort of scandal. While a major scandal may be less likely, the SHL is always good for a 20+ page punishment thread, and can even be said that a scandal has already happened with Slash and his goaltender. If I was a betting man I'd put all my money on this prediction being wrong, it's just what the SHL does and we all gotta accept the fact that the SHL has a good scandal all the time.

Nhamlet · 09-27-2020, 11:57 PM

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Tampa Bay will not finish with the worst record this season - San Francisco will

For. Despite the fact that the infamous 0-50 finish wasn’t that long ago, Tampa Bay hasn’t necessarily made significant steps forward from where they’ve ended up in the last season to not be the worst team in the league. Instead the primary reason for San Francisco being below TBB is simply the complete dismantling of San Francisco themselves. For what was a vaunted defensive group, has been completely reduced to a SHL player with only 2-3 seasons experience. On the forward side, there are still a few players here and there who are above SHL replacement level and could at least put up a few points, but the combination of having a lot of their TPE strength in the goaltending position and the 16m cap penalties has forced them to put together a hodgepodge of bargain bin choices that is meant to get them past this season. Tampa Bay at least has a number of players who will be active, earning and looking forward to the upcoming season, and will continue to be a better team by the week.

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The Toronto North Stars will finish with fewer points than the Seattle Argonauts

Against. Toronto are a bit of a weird team to bet on given that they have been terrible the last couple seasons, but very much trending upwards yet in an extremely difficult division that hasn’t given them the opportunity to demonstrate how much of an improvement they’d made from season to season. With Seattle coming in and having plucked off some very attractive players especially on defense, they definitely have an advantage in that area compared to Toronto. However, with the natural depth and talent that Toronto has built up on the forward spot with the likes of Mika Kandinsky, Bobby Lane and many youngsters like Pritchard, Marston, Johansson and so on, I think Toronto has more depth on forward. Combined with the star that is Harry Carpet and I’d put Toronto as a better team. With how expansion has changed how the game split works, Toronto being in the dreaded Great Lakes division doesn’t hurt their W/L record any more than being in the Atlantic division (say goodbye to playoffs though). It’ll likely be incredibly close but I see the Toronto team being a slight surprise and standing out amongst their peers this season in the lower strength category.

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Neither expansion team will make the playoffs

Against. There was a possibility depending on where the teams were placed divisionally that this could be called into question, but now that we know that Atlanta will be playing in the Atlantic and Seattle playing in the Northwest, it’s highly likely that we’ll see at least one expansion team make the playoffs, namely Atlanta. Manhattan is the top of that division so that’s one spot taken. With two spots remaining, it’s an expected race between New England, Atlanta and Baltimore with Tampa doing their best to not be the worst team in the league, but very likely being the worst in their division. Baltimore has been rebuilding for a couple seasons now and are going to be worse for a while before things get better for them. It’s most likely that both Atlanta and New England will be the two teams to take the two playoff spots in the Atlantic division barring a terrible performance from Atlanta and/or an amazing one from Baltimore. On the Western side of things, it’s looking more likely that Seattle will not make the playoffs, with Edmonton and Calgary being virtual locks for the top two spots, it ultimately comes down to both Winnipeg and Seattle vying for that last spot. Minnesota will want to make a claim and be a party-ruiner for both of these two teams, but even with a few moves made in the offseason to beef up their roster, it just might not be enough to fully make a significant difference to say that they’re a lock for the spot in this fairly competitive division. Winnipeg takes the edge for me if I had to admit it just due to the top level forwards that they have on their roster. Seattle really has a major hold at forward where they aren’t entirely lacking but also doesn’t quite have enough to say that it’s a strength. If they were able to add a couple pieces they might be able to make a convincing argumet to take the final playoff spot 10 times out of 10.

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Chicago will win the President's Trophy

For. This isn’t the bias in me talking (okay maybe a little bit) but Chicago genuinely has the team depth that they’re capable of having a strong enough season to win the President’s Trophy. I think one of the main things in particular is the defensive depth that they haven’t had the last couple seasons through the additions of Dayudie and Schieck to replace the departing LPLL and Abel Skinner. The Syndicate have constantly been spending futures to continue to build a team that continues to extend their window out and these last few moves in the offseason has only continued to demonstrate that while keeping them at the top in terms of overall talent.

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Texas will be the top team in the Western Conference

Against. If the statement was that Texas would be the best team in their conference, that’d be a fairly easy if not arguably point to make. But to say that Texas would be able to best either Edmonton or Calgary as they are right now is still a little than what they’re capable of. Is the potential there? It’s miniscule and certainly on its way but to say this season where they’re lacking more than 2 forward above the 1500 TPE mark is a bit premature to say that they’ll finish about the rest of the Western Conference. Their defense is coming along very nicely though and could be seen as a strength that is close to rivaling the rest of the conference’s best.

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The winner of the McBride Award (top goaltender) will come from the Atlantic Division

For. I think my primary reason for this is my award prediction is likely going to fall towards Peter Larson for winning the McBride I believe for the 2nd straight season. While having a weaker division might have meant something before, this is mostly to do with the fact that Manhattan Rage has generally been a solid team in terms of shot suppression but struggling with converting their own possession advantages in goals to a significant enough level to completely dominate to the same level of other opponents. How does this affect the McBride? I think that Larson will be able to continue to put up a great performance along with the improved defensive group with the addition of Oliver Cleary to put up another season worthy of winning the McBride.

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New Orleans will see a significant decline and barely make the playoffs

Against. Initially I said for, mostly due to the premise that New Orleans will see a significant decline. I am sure that most people including those on NOLA believe that they are not as strong of a team as they are last season. Given the departures of Boris Poroshenko, Michael Fox, Mika Mayfield and Aleister Cain, not to mention the other losses through the expansion, this has been a very rough season for the Specters who seemed like they could have a few more seasons at cup contention, but this one appears to be one where it’s closing and fast. They’ll still be good enough to make the playoffs as the only way that they won’t is that San Francisco pulls some sort of voodoo nonsense and wins enough games while New Orleans has their talent stolen in the same way that Space Jam worked. However with San Francisco being closer to historically bad, I don’t think New Orleans has any concern about making the playoffs. Their real concern is how far they will be able to go.

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The long reign of Edmonton and Calgary is over - neither of these teams will finish the season atop the Northwest Division standings

Against. As mentioned in my take up about Seattle potentially making the playoffs, I think these two teams have the top of the Northwest division on lock. The only team that could potentially challenge these two long standing monsters of the West is Winnipeg who has slowly put together a competitive enough team that they’re going to do some damage in this FHM era. However with a lot of the holes that they have on defense, there’s not a lot of optimism for the top of the division. Making the playoffs will be already enough for the Jets to happily accomplish when all things will be said or done. Calgary has too much talent throughout their lineup that even with any potential weaknesses in the organization they’ll be competitive enough every night and Edmonton has both the top end talent as well as seemingly the FHM know-how to draw the most out of their team. Edmonton in particular looks like a team that will happily outscore everybody despite 3 rookies on the team and 2 very low TPE defensemen on the backend.

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Neither Buffalo nor Hamilton will make the Challenge Cup finals

Against. With how strange the playoff seeding is with FHM and the current configurations of conferences, even in the scenario that both Buffalo and Hamilton will meet each other in one side of the bracket, to consider that one or both of them would be eliminated by somebody else other than each other is incredibly unrealistic to imagine. The most likely scenario I could see is both of them taking each other to the edge, one of Buffalo or Hamilton barely edging things out and then having to face a team like Chicago before the finals where Chicago has the potential to take the series against either Buffalo or Hamilton. All 3 Great Lakes team in one division on top of all of those particular if’s happening...just don’t see it. Manhattan could easily be a team to take out one or the other but for me it’s more of a “I’ll believe it when I see it” when it comes to Manhattan showing they deserve to be in that category of contenders.

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There will be no major scandals during the season

Against. If there isn’t a scandal during the season, I’ll just make one. I don’t know how or what, but I’ll do it.

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Monkey D Luffy, extra TPE and all, will have a worse season than he did in S55

For. To be honest this is probably a 50/50 coin flip and Luffy could very well prove myself and others to be wrong but there’s just so much elite talent on the Buffalo Stampede that it could theoretically work against Luffy to a degree. He’ll have the talent to play with and the top minutes to feast but if it turns out that Luffy ends up being the bridesmaid while somebody like Sharp, Passamus or whoever is the go to guy for the season, that just might put a hamper on things for Luffy to have an even better season even with the extra TPE.

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Someone from the S53 draft class will win rookie of the year

Against. I think that for the sake of some interesting discussion, there’s a couple other very interesting choices that would be in the race to win rookie of the year. For example, the two S54 guys in Edmonton of Daniel Laforest and Guy LeGrande will have loads of opportunities playing with some of the best Edmonton players to put up significant points. Their balanced approached really means that anybody could succeed even though there’ll be a couple primary producers. Another “rookie” that could win it is Samat Beibitzhanov who is technically a S52 player having been called up the season before. Theoretically he’s still a rookie considering he hasn’t started 18 games in the league yet so officially, could be considered one now that he’s the official starter of the Atlanta Inferno. In the last couple seasons, rookie goalies have been the trendy pick to win the Jesster award so it’s not far fetch to say that a playoff competitive team will be in there as well.

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The Nevada Battleborn will win the Four Star Cup

Against. I don’t even.

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The Detroit Falcons will return to dominance and be a top 3 team in the SMJHL regular season

Against. There’s too many other strong teams in the SMJHL that the Falcons who have been working on their drafts over the last couple seasons to replace the enormous talent known as the S53 class, will still have some time to go before they can fully realize their potential. There’s just too many players that were the core of that Falcons team especially from the cup run that it’ll just have to take time before you can automatically replace all of that.

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