With the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League’s season nearing its end, we have to look forward at the offseason and the changes that it will bring. For the Quebec City Citadelles, the break between Season 76 and Season 77 is going to be tumultuous. More than half of their roster will be rookies in the Simulation Hockey League next season or otherwise moving on to future opportunities.
A rebuild year will be hard to stomach for Citadelles fans who have adjusted to being at the top of the league over the last few seasons, but such is the nature of the SMJHL. Fortunately for the team’s supporters, the front office has consistently shown themselves to have a good head on their shoulders, so Quebec City’s winter shouldn’t last too long.
Furthermore, it’s budding superstars like Anna Skovgaard, Fredrik Gronlund, Song Ju-Gong, and Supah Dupah that will be making up next season’s Citadelles core, so the team is being left in good hands with the players. 
Skovgaard ended the season with seventy-six points, second on the roster behind only her countryman and captain Froya Solberg.
She’s backstopped by a fellow Norwegian in Gronlund, who is shaping up to be an absolute minutes eater, as well as American teammate Dupah, who is taking a leadership step with Team USA for the S76 World Junior Championships. It was recently announced that he’ll be serving as an alternate captain for USA White. 
And last but certainly not least, Song is the latest addition to the long line of successes coming out of the Citadelles’ verifiable goaltending factory. Following in the path of goaltenders like Mat Smith, Tyler Ward, and Justin Time, Song has already claimed a number of goaltending awards and a World Juniors silver medal as the number one on a team that was generally viewed as an unlikely dark horse.
With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the team’s losses. 

Defender Abdi Smokes has had a dramatic couple of seasons. They were drafted in the second round by the Los Angeles Panthers, but were recently traded to the Minnesota Monarchs. On top of that, they were selected from the Citadelles in the expansion draft, but the Highlanders elected to trade them back and allow them to finish their J career in Quebec City. In fact, Smokes was a late addition to the Citadelles compared to their compatriots in their class, as  Quebec City picked them up post-draft. It’s a fascinating career trajectory for a fascinating player, who has remained understated compared to the flashy successes of their teammates. Smokes has only one award nomination to their name at the time of writing, for the Jack Cross in S75. An underrated contributor, for sure, and one who is clearly valued by their teammates and coaches. 
With the Monarchs, Smokes is poised to join a defensive core that includes such notable names as Nevek Kove (a fellow Quebec City alumnus) and Emil Egli (a victim of the recent Edmonton firesale). As a young defender, Smokes cannot likely count on much in the way of ice time, but if they manage to do well with what the coaching gives them, they have the opportunity to rise quite quickly up the depth charts. 

Bog Damsel is another member of this draft class core who was not drafted by Quebec City. Originally selected in the first round by the St. Louis Scarecrows, Damsel spent a season terrorizing the Owls and the rest of the league from the blue line; she amassed a league-leading 130 penalty minutes and 5 fight wins in that rookie season. As a mid-season trade, she played 67 games in S74, slotting neatly into the Citadelles locker room, and then proceeded to more than double her point production in S75 after finally settling in. She was a member of the Team USA White bronze medal squad at the World Juniors that season, playing top-pair minutes at even strength and being a stalwart force on their special teams. Despite a point regression in S76, Damsel has still been a force to be reckoned with, and certainly hasn’t been left behind in Quebec City’s playoff scoring.
Her struggles in St. Louis dropped her from a first-round J draft pick to a third-round selection by the Toronto North Stars in the SHL draft, but she came out firing upon her trade to Quebec City. It may be that she reacts and adjusts the same way upon moving up to Toronto; that would be ideal for the North Stars, whose -41 goal differential is made respectable by only the fact that there are teams in the SHL who are worse by what might as well be orders of magnitude. Her presence on the blue line, even on lower pairings, could help reduce this deficit. She’ll benefit from the advice and mentorship of Citadelles alumni Louise St. Martin and Jack St. Clair.

Winger Celeste Desjardins has certainly had a notable Junior career. Selected in the fourth round and forty-seventh overall by the Citadelles, Desjardins came storming back in their rookie season to post an astounding 87 points for the best rookie season in SMJHL history. That season, though unimpressive in terms of team results, netted them a well-deserved Esa Anrikkanen Trophy and Rookie All-Star nod as well as propelling them a massive forty-five spots up the draft board. If not for the presence of their own teammates, they may well have gone from the fourth round to first overall. Second, however, is perfectly respectable. They’ve served as an alternate for the Citadelles for the entirety of their junior career as well as two seasons as an alternate for Team USA White behind Citadelles linemate Ryland Murphy, who they now take over for as Captain of that USA squad for the upcoming S76 tournament. 
Celeste’s offensive presence may not be the most beneficial to the Manhattan Rage, whose -13 goal differential in S76 would likely be more benefited by a staunch blueliner. However, the Rage are still led offensively by Class of S62 draftee Aksel Fiske, another Citadelles Anrikkanen nominee. The injection of new blood into the scoring numbers could absolutely be useful for Manhattan. Thankfully for the team, they have a defender with experience in their rookie winger’s defensive faults; sophomore defender Jaromir Jagrbomb spent a large chunk of time backstopping a young rookie Desjardins as a senior player on that S73 Citadelles squad. Either way, the Rage have picked a player who has the drive to blossom into a bonafide superstar if given the space and support to do so. 

Consistency is the name of the game for Juan Tymer, one half of the Citadelles’ noted Latvian defender duo. This third-round pick cemented himself at the top of the defensive core pretty quickly, earning time on both special teams and a rookie season Jack Cross nomination. Tymer’s game isn’t scoring- he’s posted a season with more than 50 points just once in four seasons- but he can always be relied upon to eat minutes and steal pucks.
Unlike Smokes, Damsel, and Desjardins, Tymer will not have any Citadelles alumni to rely on for advice and mentorship upon joining the Aurora in Winnipeg. He’s essentially flying blind on a team that took him with the eighth overall pick. However, as with Damsel and the North Stars, Tymer will be a benefit to an Aurora squad that posted a negative goal differential last season. Of course, that stat doesn’t tell the whole story of a team, but it can certainly begin to show you where the flaws in their game lie. And Winnipeg’s aging defensive core can absolutely use the younger, fresher legs to get their more senior players a bit of a break. Hopefully, their prospect core will begin to look a little better; it currently consists of just Tymer, Yukon Malamutes winger Langston Hardison-Laurent, and S76 draftee NoNo Jo of the Vancouver Whalers. 

The other half of the Latvian duo is Leo Roze, a towering 6-foot-6 blue line patroller. Roze has been an absolute steal for the Citadelles as a fifth-round pick. He was the last Owl to record a goal in the S76 playoffs, which came as a terrifying clapper from the blue line in the conference finals against the Berserkers. Like his countryman, he’s not much of a scorer; in fact, he’s less of one than Tymer, usually hovering right around 25 points on the season for three of his four SMJHL seasons. (S75 is the outlier season, as it was for the vast majority if not all of his Citadelles teammates.) He was the S74 recipient of the Alexis Metzler Trophy and a nominee for the Quilha Agante, reflecting his absolute defensive prowess.
Roze climbed into the second round of the SHL draft and will be joining a struggling Chicago Syndicate team. Of the teams that Citadelles graduates are joining that have been so far discussed, the Syndicate are the worst off by far; they may actually just outright be the worst team to draft a S74 Citadelle. But with adding Roze to an overall young defensive core bodes well for the Syndicate’s future, especially when you take into account their relatively large prospect pool. He has the potential to be a perennial defensive all-star, and will certainly be a massive player for not only the Syndicate but for his home country of Latvia on the international stage. 

Unlike Roze, Finnish blueliner Johnny Patey V2 is going up to the best team out of those that these Owls were drafted to. Though lacking in draft position movement or Simulation Major Junior Hockey League personal awards, Patey V2 has an abundance of World Junior Championship success to his name as a member of the repeating champion Team Norden. Moreover, he’s a consistent mid-range points producer with the vision and game IQ to benefit any team’s power play, as well as being a generally likable guy and good locker room presence.
Patey V2 isn’t traveling too far compared to some of his Citadelles teammates, as his SHL career is going to begin with the Buffalo Stampede. He’ll benefit from veteran leadership from fellow Quebec City alumnus Konstantin Selich, one of the oldest players to be referenced in this article. Selich isn’t the only former Citadelle that Patey V2 will be able to look to for mentorship, however, as center Jarrod Lakemore was a part of the S69 Four Star Cup winning Citadelles squad. The Stampede are gaining a consistent middle of the road defender, who doesn’t really reach any of the highs or lows that some of his compatriots do. But, by all accounts, Patey V2 makes the players around him better, and that’s a skill that not everyone has- just look at his performance so far in the S76 SMJHL Playoffs.

It should be noted this article is in no particular order, but we obviously have two incredibly notable players left to discuss. 

Froya Solberg seems to have been destined for great things. Her list of awards and accolades is already absurdly long; she wasn’t the first overall pick for no reason. Unlike her teammates, she’s earned some kind of accolade in each of the years of her career up to this point. She ran the board in S75, earning everything she was nominated for and deserved except for the Fallah in a decision that was considered questionable by many writers and fans around the league. 
This soon to be Calgary Dragon is a long-awaited scoring superstar for a hockey club that’s spent the last few seasons floundering lower than mediocrity. Her leadership and dedication have been evident over the last few seasons, culminating in her senior season promotion to Captain, and all of the events that have followed that naming. She’s only got one thing left to add as a feather in her cap- it’s just a question of whether she can lead the team to pulling it off.

Sonja Solberg is often overlooked in comparison to her sister, but it’s no wonder why the Dragons made room to draft both of them. Sonja doesn’t have the extensive list of accolades that Froya does, but she’s a powerful player in her own right, with the career numbers and international medals to prove it. 
Calgary’s offensive production will be benefited by Sonja’s knowledge of her own game and her sister’s; the two of them barely need to communicate on the ice to know where they are and will be. They’ll probably face an adjustment period once they make the move to Calgary- but hopefully Sonja won’t be saddled with an opposite-side winger with as many defensive faults as her current linemate Desjardins has. It’s obvious that not having to worry about both sides of the ice will allow her skill and game IQ to shine just that little bit more. Calgary fans are certainly in for a treat with these two. 

It’s always a concern that players won’t be able to flourish when they leave an environment they’ve become comfortable in, and it’s well-known that these players have become comfortable with Quebec City and with each other. In fact, the entire group of them have grown quite close. It can only be hoped that this competition won’t test their friendships. Desjardins and Roze, for example, are known to have grown quite close despite the language barrier; will that friendship be able to withstand the first time Roze checks Desjardins into the boards? Will Sonja Solberg keep her cool the first time Tymer robs her of the puck? Will these Quebec City graduates be able to set aside their friendships when they’re out on the ice as opponents? The World Juniors seem to indicate yes, but that tournament’s not the best of benchmarks for a professional career given how much more emotion is tied up in it.

These Owls are leaving the nest and exiting the relative safety of the learning environment created by Citadelles management. It remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to learn to fly after being tossed out.

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