Login

ThisSeemsFishy · 07-31-2023, 03:56 AM

In the time since the Season 72 SMJHL Draft, I've been trying to come up with a massive media post that would blow everyone's socks off. And then it hit me. Why don't I do a full season sim using another hockey app/game? My initial thoughts were to use NHL 23 or Hockey Legacy Manager 23. The issue with the former is the amount of work that would go into it and ultimately making it no fun. The issue with the latter is the very barebones attribute system. Luckily, I used my thinking noggin and found a healthy middle: ZenGM.

The ZenGM hockey sim had a good blend of customization to make everything feel like the SMJHL without having to spend hours creating each and every player in the league, while also having a solid mix of attributes so that each player played as they would in FHM for the most part. There were some corners that ultimately needed to be cut, but I feel what I ended up with will be entertaining nonetheless.

A day or two after the draft I began the long task of editing the default roster to that of the SMJHL of season 72. I began by adding all 14 teams and arranging them into the divisions they will be playing in this upcoming season. My next step was to remove all default free agents from the game and turn off injuries and trades. Can't have any pesky roster changes throughout the season.

From there, I went team by team adding every single player to their respective teams. I was nearly done with Yukon when a very untimely glitch sent me all the way back to Anchorage to start again! And no one wants to be stuck in Anchorage. Once the last updates went through, I started going through all the teams once more. But this time, I added their attributes.

Since FHM uses a scale of 20, and ZenGM uses a scale of 100, I just multiplied each attribute by 5 to get the ZenGM equivalent. (10 becomes 50, 11 becomes 55, 12 becomes 60, etc.) For certain attributes, I had to take some creative liberties. ZenGM only has 1 Checking attribute. So I decided to take the average (rounded up) between every player's Hitting and Checking attribute. Most other ZenGM attributes had an equivalent in FHM. But for those of you who dumped all your TPE into Screening, Positioning, and Getting Open, I'm afraid you're S.O.L. as there is no equivalent in ZenGM.

Goalies were the toughest to figure out. I decided on a system where I added the sum of their attributes and divided by 13 (the total number of goalie attributes in FHM, and then multiplied that number by 5. Of course, this resulted in every single goalie having somewhere between 35-52 for their overall.

[Image: pViGOKD.jpg]

Using my player as an example for how I made up each attribute, you can see that I just multiplied everything by 5 to find the new attribute. The only attribute I kept consistent across every player, is Height. ZenGM describes it as “how a player’s height affects the game.” As I didn’t want anyone to have an advantage because they made their player Giant Man, (and I didn’t want to give everyone their accurate player heights) I just gave everyone a baseline of 50. I didn’t worry too much about anything beyond that.

For some teams, I also needed to add “bonus” players to ensure that they didn’t play a goalie on the wing or something. But we can get into that later.

I would also like to add that I’m using the positions as they are listed in the Index so if someone is out of position, take it up with your GM.

With that being said, let’s get right into the Season 72 ZenGM Sim

[Image: as8eYbu.jpg]

Anchorage did an okay job this season positional wise making sure that they had enough players at each position, but they were still a couple “wingers” short (as were all but 2 teams). ZenGM unfortunately doesn’t allow for 3 lines of players. It autos to 4 lines and 3 D pairs, so we had a couple defencemen taking time on the wings to fill spots.

[Image: hIOHcQu.jpg]

Carolina has a solid ZenGM roster based on ratings but were also a couple wingers short for the sim.

[Image: 97JIhPG.jpg]

I don’t wanna talk about Colorado. No one look at their rating. Please I beg of you (we have so many defencemen omg) We also ended up needing a couple of the lil bonus guys.

[Image: 6Tv3FSx.jpg]

Detroit also needing their bonus guys to prevent their goalies from playing where they shouldn’t be.

[Image: URoom9B.jpg]

Great Falls has a solid roster based on their ratings but could not escape the bonus players.

[Image: HZh4VxF.jpg]

Kelowna with another solid team.

[Image: 4xAGBqk.jpg]

For whatever reason, the ZenGM sim did not like the Timber, only giving them a rating of 19/100.

[Image: ygURecH.jpg]

Battleborn with a fairly low rating compared to some other teams and also were short on natural centers.

[Image: zwzpS97.jpg]

Newfoundland had one of the highest ratings in ZenGM. Would that translate to success throughout the season?

[Image: iiGdvGw.jpg]

Quebec was the first team to be without any of the bonus players, having enough players on their roster to fill a full squad. Yet only a rating of 23.

[Image: mpe1ww6.jpg]

The other team without any bonus players, Regina also boasted an impressive 90 team rating.

[Image: k430uTa.jpg]

Despite still needing bonus players, St. Louis ended up with the highest rating among SMJHL teams.

[Image: sz8sXTl.jpg]

Vancouver comes up next with a very respectable rating of 79.

[Image: AlpNNux.jpg]

And finally we have Yukon with a decent rating in comparison to some of the other squads.

Ranking every team by rating we have:

1. St. Louis Scarecrows - 104

2. Carolina Kraken - 94

3. Regina Elk - 90

4. Newfoundland Berserkers - 87

5. Vancouver Whalers - 79

6. Kelowna Knights - 76

7. Great Falls Grizzlies - 71

8. Detroit Falcons - 59

9. Anchorage Armada - 58

10. Yukon Malamutes - 56

11. Nevada Battleborn - 33

12. Quebec City Citadelles - 23

13. Maine Timber - 19

14. Colorado Raptors - -47 : (

I simmed out the regular season to some interesting results

[Image: xIqYggy.jpg]

Also, as I’m writing this, I’m realizing all the divisions were reshuffled. Don’t come for me.
Colorado and Anchorage miss the playoffs. Kelowna, Quebec, St. Louis, and Regina win their divisions.

[Image: rwvIMWP.jpg]

And the Detroit Falcons conquer all to win the Four Star Cup!! Congrats on a season well played.

[Image: 7MK2QcE.jpg]

Lasse Ziegler of St. Louis, Kyle Latreille of Great Falls, and Filip Svatos of Carolina all tie with 32 goals apiece.

[Image: iN93cv7.jpg]

Timo Lambert of Carolina leads the league in assists with 54.

[Image: 0AfRopp.jpg]

And finally, Smurfunkel Dothe of Quebec City leads the league in total points with 81.

[Image: nMND8ow.jpg]

End of season awards were interesting for me in trying to manually find a rookie of the year. Most players ended up being considered “rookies” as I didn’t edit anyone’s experience level. So the game initially awarded it to Timo Lambert of Carolina. Other than that, all the awards were as shown.

But the real story here, is the emergence of a new royal family to rule the SHL for eons to come.

[Image: q6TJGtD.jpg]