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***Jexter*** · 11-26-2023, 10:21 PM

With the Preseason soon to start for the SMJHL and the entry drafts done, it is time to revisit the very subjective power rankings brought to you by yours truly. Now, I was pretty far off with a lot of predictions and power rankings in the previous iterations of this list so feel free to comment on how I am wrong or how I am shockingly right. The best part is none of us will know for sure until two weeks from now when the pucks drop for the first time this season. For every team, we will look at how they did last year in the regular season and in playoffs. Then we will discuss some standouts if any jump off the page as well as the notable departures as well as draft acquisitions. Let’s get to it.

1. Timber

Maine Timber Timber

Last Season’s League rank: 2. Playoff Result: Champions. The Maine Timber stormed through the later part of the regular season in the SMJHL, going from middle of the pack to second in the league and earned themselves a bye. The first-round bye did nothing to slow the Timber down as they continued to roll over all of their opponents and ended up winning the finals 4-1 over the Newfoundland Berserkers. Shootin Blanks, Logan Webb, Morgan Delfield, and Mick Mayhem have moved on from the Timber and normally I’d say losing players of their caliber would be a major detriment. However, the Timber have been so dominant that I think doubting them would be a disservice. The Timber had 6 rookies this past season and still figured it all out in the end. Now they will have a great opportunity with a trio of recreates alongside two newgens. Mia Lavoie, Edouard Lavoie, and Jean-Jacques François Jacques-Jean all recreated together and were insistent on trying to play together in juniors. With the three all taking a different forward position, they could very easily end up being a line together in juniors. While couple names are cute and all, the best name here is Jean-Jacques François Jacques-Jean, though there is no word yet if he prefers being called JJ Franky JJ or not. Maine also drafted a new goalie in Shotty McStopper (also a fantastic name) who comes from Ireland to backup Nelly Celly, the extremely hot goaltender who just led Maine to a title. Finally, Maine picked up one last player in Jonesy Fortnite (I think Maine started drafting by names) who presents a very well-balanced build for a workhorse type player. Again, even though Maine has lost some pieces from their championship winning roster, there is enough still there and a strong enough draft that we might see Maine on top of the table still, much to chagrin of Yukon fans.

2. Armada

Anchorage Armada Armada

Last Season’s League rank: 3. Playoff Result: 3-4 Loss to the Great Falls Grizzlies in the first round. What is Anchorage doing up here? Didn’t they lose to GFG as heavy favorites? Well, yes, but that GFG team was so hot in playoffs, who can blame the boats. The Armada will lose a few players, notably Barg Hazbite, to aging out, along with a few other defenders, but the Armada was surprisingly young last season with S74 making up most of the roster and 8 players from S72 and S73. Significantly for Anchorage, Stun Gun, their fantastic goal tender, will look bounce back after the poor playoff performance and seems to be on pace to really breakout this season as the premier goaltender. It will help that Meo Vanbiesbrouck will stick around to help him as a tandem. With 3 of their 5 picks in the SMJHL draft related to the defense, the Armada are getting even more help for their goalies over the summer with Jurijs Rālfs, Sebastien Levesque, and Carter Crutchfield. It will be interesting to see how the Armada match up this youth on the blue line. Finally, the Armada will be getting two well-rounded forwards in Muon Collider and Jesus Murphy. With enough pieces of a roster that was 42-24 in the regular season last year, Anchorage can and probably should remain on the higher end of the standings.

3. Whalers

Vancouver Whalers Whalers

Last Season’s League rank: 1. Playoff Result: 0-4 Loss in Semifinals to the Maine Timber. The Whalers were the old kids on the block last season, pretty much the seniors dunking on the rest of the league. This Year, the Whalers will be without a significant portion of their league shatteringly good roster as many of them have aged out of the J’s. This includes Inactive Forever, Scary Jerry, Aumy Junior II, Thomas Liebold, Johnny Fourstar, Ryan Quinta-Green and Bellamy Blake. With these players contributing to a lot of the scoring for the Whalers last season or being the main netminder, the Whalers may have a serious come down to earth season. That being said, there are still enough pieces from last season’s roster to make this team still competitive this season. Despite going on a serious run last year, the Whalers had a stockpile of picks in the draft which they deployed to get a staggering seven players. While none of these were in the first round, this was a fairly deep draft in Juniors and with the uncertainty at the Junior level, the Whalers might have struck gold. Niclas Wastlund was the first player taken by the Whalers and this impressive recreate has $268 million in the bank. Wastlund has yet to publicly tip his hand as to what his player wants to do in terms of a set strength or role, but as a defender, Wastlund might be perfectly suited to help Vancouver ride the wave of its amazing season. The Whalers then used their next pick on Bo Jangles, a promising rookie with a great shooting ability that will be ideal to maintain depth. Kolen Henderson was picked next, who seems to compliment the strengths of Jangles by adding some great passing. Immediately after Henderson, the Whalers got Masked Stanger, a goalie who has great positioning and is mentally tough and ready for Juniors. I had the pleasure of speaking with Stanger, Henderson and Jangles during scouting and they were all great people who I am sure Vancouver are ecstatic to have in their locker room. Ethan Brown comes in as an offensive machine who loves screening, getting open and shooting accurately, while lacking defensive strengths so far. Even still, Brown will provide that gritty net front presence, even at 5 foot 4. Speaking of tough, Defender Groaty Bronson will add some grit to the blue line of the Whalers with a 12 in fighting and a 14 in hitting and strength. Anyone that makes it past Bronson will have to contend with Max Hammer (another great name) who also has 14 in hitting and 10 in fighting. This defender will be looking to protect the goal scorers of the Whalers, but more importantly, GM's Son.

4. Falcons

Detroit Falcons Falcons

Last Season’s League rank: 8. Playoff Result: 0-4 Loss in the second round against the Maine Timber. The Detroit Falcons did surprise the SMJHL by eliminating the Quebec City Citadelles from the first round of the playoffs after the Citadelles were loaded with plenty of young talent including the first, second, eighth and twelfth picks in the first round of the SHL Entry Draft. Even though they were made mincemeat by the Maine Timber, the Timber were doing that to every single team they came across in the playoffs this season, so I will not hold that against the Falcons too much in this ranking. The key standouts on this team include Will Tomlander, Marek Carda and Emil Karlsson as well as Sim Jaaskelainen who were all drafted by SHL teams this last draft. Also working in the birds’ favor is the fact that their entire core roster from last season will be returning. In addition, the Falcons had a very smart draft in picking up the Commisioner, Kal Åkar Kekkonen, who will bring an all round defender as well as the refs to the Falcons. The Falcons grabbed two more recreates in Teemu Salami and Æric Calland who will bring some scoring depth to the birds, which is something they lacked last year. The Falcons also got a new goalie in Luke Fromm who has been very active and should pair nicely with Wayne Holloway between the pipes. The Falcons could be the dark bird contender this season with low risk, high reward draft picks and a stacked, young lineup with some good veterans up front.

5. Malamutes

Yukon Malamutes

Last Season’s League rank: 10. Playoff Result: Loss in the Semi-finals 2-4 to Newfoundland. The Malamutes have benefited from the rebuilding year they just had. The loss of Theodore Svatos, Furious Chicken and Jordan Tanner may be a tough to swallow, but the now sophomores of Yukon may be up to the challenge. For the Malamutes, the constant bow outs in the semifinals are getting old. They have two now first round draft picks on their team going into their sophomore seasons in the SMJHL in Squidwardo Tentacles and Langston Hardison-Laurent. While the Malamutes were a little flat footed last year and prone to streaks of hot and cold, the current iteration of Yukon should let them be get a little more consistent. The Dogs have added 3 forwards, 1 defender and 1 goalie from this draft. The first two picks in Slava-Ukraini Heroyam-Slava and Elly Snow-Leopard may go down as two of the best picks in the draft. Meanwhile, Wellerman will serve as an instant replacement to the disappearing Jordan Tanner. Rocket Deke will slot into the defense to help plug the hole of Furious Chicken. Ólafur Gunnleifsson will aid Jim Wen and Ryker Johnasson as Ryker will soon age out of the J’s. I might be biased (I am) but I loved Yukon’s draft, but there were a few players that fell through the cracks that were unfortunately chosen when Yukon did not have any picks. All in all, I expect this to be one of the first seasons in a while where we will see the Malamutes actually competing for a title.

6. Citadelles

Quebec City Citadelles

League rank: 7. Playoff Result: First round exit 1-4 to the Detroit Falcons. The Citadelles had a disappointing end to their season, but they have an incredibly young roster and a massive upside for improvement. Rookie of the Year Celeste Desjardins will look to work with a mostly returning roster this season with only Nico Nurminen leaving the team. The Citadelles added center Rowan O’Beirne from the Regina Elk, who helmed the top line for the Elk. The Citadelles were among the most active in the lead up to the draft with a lot of trades to acquire first round picks for a total of 3, which would be the only ones they would hold onto and use. They paid a lot to Carolina for the first overall pick and they took Demir Bellona, a recreate from a pretty active user with over $100 million in the bank. Going as a defender this time around, Bellona is looking to be the second HOFer made by this user. Time will tell if this will come to pass, but early scouting on Demir show that it could very well be the case. The next first round pick was a goalie in Song Ju-gong who was the first goalie taken in the draft. Song Ju-gong is an unknown at this time, but could be a great partner for Fergus Stewart after the departure of Net Man, a pillar of the Citadelles last season. The last player taken by the Citadelles was another defender in Frederick Gronlond, a recreate who sits on roughly half of what Bellona does in the bank, but is no slouch either. With great positioning and awareness, Gronlund could very much help the Citadelles in not digging pucks out of their own net. Clearly, the Citadelles believe that scoring was not the issue last season, but have tripled down on first round picks related to the Defense or Goalie position. Only time will tell if this was the correct decision or not, but with an active forward core, this team could have astronomical heights if not this season then the next two.

7. Raptors

Colorado Raptors Raptors

Last Season’s League rank: 12. No Playoffs. As one of the youngest teams in the SMJHL the previous season, the Raptors will be in a position to greatly improve this season after losing none of their lineup to the age out process or call-ups. Their top line of Xavier Beausoleil, Jussi Mutou and Shadow Fenix will obviously be returning and all of them had 70+ points last season. Though they finished in 12th, they were keeping with the pack last year and only missed playoffs due to a stacked division. They will be adding Andrade La Sombre, who is a very offensive minded player, Pinli Switchbang, a recreate with over $98 million in the bank and Supreme Dalek who had rave reviews from scouts. All three are forwards who could do a lot to improve the Raptors' scoring woes. Meanwhile, the extra year of training and experience for the Colorado defense could help assuage the amount of goals let into the net. The Raptors remain a team that I am bullish on for this next year, but they truly have an insanely high ceiling as well as a very low floor.

8. Grizzlies

Great Falls Grizzlies

Last Season’s League rank: 14. Playoff Result: Second Round Loss to the Whalers 3-4. These Bears came out of nowhere in the playoffs last season after a terrible regular season. They shocked the league after finishing last by eliminating the Armada and took the Whalers to seven games. However, if the bears want to replicate that success, it might be an uphill climb. The Grizzlies have lost Andren Akerson, RIP THUNDERDOME, Bryson Basham, Levin Schattenaxt, and Andre Latreille in the offseason with Latreille, Schattenaxt and Akerson being tied with Gibbles for the most points in the playoffs. The Bears were busy in the draft, snatching picks like they were salmon, totaling 6 when all was said and done, though none were in the first. Niclas Sundqvist comes as an interesting prospect from Sweden with $19 million in the bank. Sundqvist is coming in to be a workhorse defender and early reports are that he will do his best to keep the puck out of his net, even laying his body out to do it. Continuing on with the new defenders, we have David Doughtty (yes I spelt that write) who looks to be a little more offensively minded that Sundqvist and could make a great tandem in the future. Finally for the defenders is Warwick Windsor, one of the most selfless and brave players in the draft. Windsor might as well be another goalie with all the points they have dumped into shot blocking and bravery. And you better call him brave too with all the fighting skill Windsor has. Left Winger Dave Bardizz is a new player with a great shot like many rookies in this draft. However, Bardizz's skating ability allows him to get in position a little better than some. Viktor Vyzovsky is the next winger and looks to be a great two way player that every team wants to have to help out the defense while still having a solid shot. Finally, the speedy Wonderbread could be among the more balanced and complete skaters in the draft that can compliment the abilities of their fellow draftees. These goal scoring forwards and defenders are very important for the Grizzlies to pick up as GFG had the lowest amount of goals scored in the regular season by a large margin, but picked it up in playoffs. Still their 2.52 goals for was terrible when the Goals Against was a manageable 3.88. If these new additions can help bring the goals to a more balanced level, we could see a pretty solid Great Falls team. The main reason that I have GFG this high is as an apology for doubting them in the playoffs and I have learned my lesson since. Therefore, despite the departures, I will be firmly on the GFG train this season. Can't wait.

9. Elk

Regina Elk Elk

Last Season’s League rank: 5. Playoff Result: 2-4 loss in the second round to the Berserkers. The Elk’s early exit in the playoffs was a disappointment, but they can take solace in the fact that the Berserkers went all the way to the final. What is more concerning is how the Elk will fill the holes in their line up next season. Mercedes Baylé, Rowan O’Beirne, and Just-to-Buy My-Love have left the Elk in the off-season, and the departure of all three will be keenly felt as the top scorers on the Elk. Mercedes Baylé was also one of the top scorers in the entire league. However, the Elk made some moves at the draft and picked up four new forwards in Bean Beanman Jr. (lot of juniors in this Junior draft), Inge Baardsen, Mary Hollywood, and Violet Stoica. Beanman is coming in as a talented and wealthy recreate with a solid offensive stat block and an immense 14 points in faceoffs. Beanman was also able to cut his teeth in the WJC tournament over the summer, playing for Team World. Inge Baardsen is a new player who is able to pass the puck through the difficult areas and should help facilitate the goalscorers on the team including Mary Hollywood who has a wicked shot and has already made some awesome graphics. Stoica comes in as a recreate with a balanced build and could emerge as a speedy center with great awareness. Regina also got 2 new goalies to work on changing up the mojo between the pipes for the Elk. Roman Cechmanek II is a well-rounded tender with very few weaknesses while Henri Losanov is known for fantastic positioning. This was a strong batch of draft picks, but the losses of the Elk in the off season might be a little too much to absorb immediately, so I think they might struggle out of the gate. I hope they prove me wrong though.

10. Battleborn

Nevada Battleborn

Last Season’s League rank: 4. Playoff Result: 3-4 loss in the second round to the Yukon Malamutes. Nevada had a very good regular season, particularly in the first half where they were challenging the Vancouver Whalers, but ended up in fourth. The Battleborn barely beat the Kraken in the opening round of the playoffs, taking their front heavy squad up against the Yukon Malamutes, who had a far worse regular season. The Nevada Battleborn next year will be without Thomas Sawschuk, their leading scorer and was among the top in the league with 102 points, Brock Samson, who had the third most points on the team with a respectable 95 points, as well as Shnopple Lopple, who provided a stalwart defense for the Battleborn. Nevada had themselves a very busy draft with 5 new players coming in and of those 4 were forwards as the Battleborn look to offset their losses. The first step was their first round pick Literal Wizard, a newgen from Ireland with a pass heavy game. Wizard probably recently graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so we will see what magic they can make on the ice. Then there is Kaiden Brown who boasts one of the most average builds I have ever seen with an obscene 16 in Stamina and 14 in Balance. What Kaiden Brown does with these stats will be very interesting. Simon Kotek, who comes from a new user, will be very fun to watch as they boast some very good acceleration and has all the makings of an early offense focused forward on a team that needs to replace its goal scorers. Jay Howitzer rounds out the forwards taken by Nevada with an average offense, but a great amount of aggression and defensive stats that will make him great on the backcheck. The only defender for Nevada in this draft is Caspian Leevi who has a great ability to break the puck out of their own end with great passing and awareness. We will see how this affects them in a season that may be seen as a rebuilding one. I expect Nevada to not be an lightning rod this season, but underestimate them at your own peril.

11. Berserkers

Newfoundland Berserkers

Last Season’s League rank: 6. Playoff Result: 1-4 Loss in the finals against the Maine Timber. The Berserkers need to shore up their game defensively, which will be helped by their developing goaltenders. The Berserkers have lost Erik Erikson, Heem Teem, and Adelbert Steiner in the offseason. Erikson’s departure will be keenly felt by the Berserkers as they racked up 96 points last season. However, the Berserkers will welcome the return of Dan Craig and Sad Ketchup. With plenty of goals for last season (4.09), Newfoundland will look to stymie the amount of goals against that really hampered their team last season (4.26). The main way they have chosen to do this is acquiring two defenders in Slowpoke and Eric Vanderberg Jr and a goalie Launchpad McQuack in the draft. McQuack has plenty good reflexes to help out Ben Harrison and Slowpoke has hands that are anything but slow with a puckhandling rating of 15. Meanwhile, Slowpoke's positioning and (you guessed it) stickchecking are the most stellar stats of this rookie on defense. Eric Vanderberg Jr is a recreate will very good stats in most categories, particularly on defense, where he can be counted on to probably block his share of shots and then some. I love these picks by Newfoundland who are looking to fix an area of play that was a weakness last season with smart drafting. However, the losses in the offseason I still think will make the Berserkers get off to a slow start.

12. Scarecrows

St. Louis Scarecrows

Last Season’s League rank: 9. Playoff Result: 3-4 loss in the first round to the Berserkers. St. Louis just edged out their rivals the Yukon Malamutes in the standings last year, but fell early in the playoffs. St. Louis’ problems last year stemed from an inability to keep the puck out of their own net, rocking a -30 goal differential. Moving on from the Scarecrows in the offseason will be losing Thor Odinsson, Sunrise van de Schubbekutteveen, Marshal Madden, Dominik Winters, Crazy Tomato, and goalie Kyle Baretto. While the Scarecrows will without these significant pieces, the draft allowed them to pick up Goalie Charlie Van Keyzer, Left Wing James Madison, Right Defender Cedar Lawson, and Left Wing Charlie Slurpe. Charlie Van Keyzer wowed scouts with their positioning (14) and reflexes (14) and could aid the sophomore goalie currently in net for St. Louis. Cedar Lawson looks like a great defender with boxes checked in every stat. James Madison has a very accurate shot (15) and great acceleration and speed. The big grab in the draft for the Scarecrows was Charlie Slurpe, a recreate with $126 million in the bank and 61 TPE yet to distribute, but already has a 15 in passing. If Slurpe can be the guiding hand for the new batch of rookies and part of the future plans for this team, the scarecrows have really struck gold with him. The Scarecrows will be entering the new season with a new GM and likely changes to the coaching staff so all bets are off on exactly how well they will do. However, I find it highly unlikely that they are looking at this season as one where they will be making moves towards the Four Star Cup.

13. Kraken

Carolina Kraken Kraken

Last Season’s League rank: 11. Playoff Result: 3-4 loss in the first round to Nevada. The Kraken managed to make things interesting in the Playoffs for the Nevada Battleborn, seemingly softening them up before they had to go into another 7-game series against the Yukon Malamutes. The Kraken lost most of their top scorers in Filip Svatos, Alexandro Mograine, Matt Stro and Alexej Kastrba as well as goalie Sith Happens. However, Dag-Otto Bjornjast, recent top 10 pick in the SHL Draft will look to lead the Kraken in a new era. The Kraken cashed in on their lottery luck by trading the first overall pick to Quebec City. That is not to say that the Kraken were quiet on draft night as they grabbed players all the way into the 11th round, well after all other teams had passed. However, for the purposes of this article, we will focus on the first 5 picks. The first the Kraken took was the second overall in Olīvija Agate, who is a promising rookie defender who has yet to show their hand with TPE placement, however, the Kraken must love what they see in the young player, putting a lot of faith in Agate. A more known quantity was picked in Ongo Gablogian (yet another great name) who is a defensive mastermind despite being only 5 feet tall. This render of Danny DeVito as Ongo Gablogian from Philadelphia has $537 million in the bank to play with (how accurate for Frank Reynolds). After those defensive picks, the Kraken chose two forwards. 1 was Jack "Jumpshot" Keigan who is an Aussie recruited by Frøya Solberg who interviewed as an active locker room member and an in your face goal scorer who wants to light the league up. If Keigan keeps the activity up, they will be a massive steal for the Kraken. Next is Mathias Olivera who has a great shot who might help the Kraken who had the third fewest goals last season. Speaking of goals, goalie Stan Free was grabbed to join the Kraken and learn from Denebor Milasch. Free has great fundamentals and a few seasons in Juniors with activity could make Free a great tender. The big problem with the Kraken and why I can't bring myself to rank them higher is that the loss of experienced players outweighs the gains in the draft at this time. Expect this to change a lot as the season goes on.

14. Knights

Kelowna Knights Knights

Last Season’s League rank: 13. No Playoffs. The Kelowna Knights had a terrible season, but perhaps it was a good learning opportunity for them. The bright side for the Knights is that their leading scorer Activity Check will be returning along with their starting Goaltender Five-Hole Sieve. Unfortunately, the Knights can no longer use the services of many veterans including Kevin Kim, Crystal McLeod and Arthur Kaliyev. The Knights had to wait till the second round to get a pick in the SMJHL Draft and they used it on Come O'Dirga, a recreate from Germany that could be a great breath of fresh air down the middle in the center position. Journey Man was the next player taken by Kelowna and this could be a sneaky sleeper with a defender with $40 million in the bank as a recreate. With that done, the Knights took a pair of forwards in the fourth round with Jasmin Quevillon and Blant Chorski, both newgens. However, both are looking to be reliable third liners for the coming season. Unfortunately for the Knights, there is not a lot that can be seen as a massive improvement after last season and they were unable to prove themselves in the playoffs like the Great Falls Grizzlies did. Also after going without their first round pick, the Knights will be sitting in last in this power ranking on this list, but I hope they can find some magic.

Thus concludes the preseason power rankings that, again, are extremely subjective and I used next to zero actual science to calculate how good these teams are. Instead, these are straight from the noggin that just got last in IIHF fantasy. When I say last, I mean dead last. Expect these to change when another comes out some time during the season and for me to have to eat crow when I'm wrong about so many of them. Good luck to all the teams and players in the league as we kick off the season in about two weeks. Forward any criticisms you have of this power ranking to HFFO. (Don’t actually (or do (I don't care, I'm not your boss (technically I just made my boss (Commish) 4th in this power ranking so)))). Welp that does it for today. I woof you all and see ya next time.

WC: 5032