Challenge 17: The Sarnia Sting (Discussion Thread)

[timmy_t]

Won another cup (and the memorial) in season four, here are the draft results:

Awesome!

I'm hoping to finally win one in my third season.




On a side note....

Shayne Campbell has decided that he "Thinks he needs to leave the team to further his career" and he asked me to shop him around.

No problem Shayne-- I hope I can get someone who wants to win in your place.

[bruins72]

Looks like Ritchie at #7 is my best result by far.

Nice job!

On a side note....

Shayne Campbell has decided that he "Thinks he needs to leave the team to further his career" and he asked me to shop him around.

No problem Shayne-- I hope I can get someone who wants to win in your place.

It sounds like somebody has an attitude problem! He played for me in the first season but he was down with the Legionnaires by season 2. No big loss there!

[timmy_t]

It sounds like somebody has an attitude problem! He played for me in the first season but he was down with the Legionnaires by season 2. No big loss there!

Now he's hurt for 3 weeks...

I wouldn't be concerned about Campbell, but my other two goalies absolutely stink. (I need to draft a couple of good ones this offseason)

[bruins72]

I got a decent goalie in my first draft (Lindsay Germain). I've got him as my starter and Jamie Phillips as my backup. Shayne Campbell, Sean Parker, and Jesse Raymond were all with the Legionnaires but Parker was loaned out to another team. I drafted another goalie or two in the second draft but haven't signed them yet.

[timmy_t]

Somehow Jack Campbell got released from Windsor as a free agent and now he's in a sign/release loop with London. They've signed and released him 2 or 3 times.

[timmy_t]

Somehow Jack Campbell got released from Windsor as a free agent and now he's in a sign/release loop with London. They've signed and released him 2 or 3 times.

It's now 4 times: Jack Campbell

[bruins72]

That's just odd!

[bruins72]

So I'm going into season 3 and the Season Preview came out. We're ranked #2. We were towards the bottom of the rankings the last two years. Either they like what I've done with what I had for a team or they're really excited about the guys I drafted and signed. Nathan Staal (my 1st round pick) is the key new face on the team. He'll be taking the top line RW spot from Ritchie (who will be bumped to the 2nd line to start the season).

None of our goalies were ranked in the top 10 for that position but one of the guys I commented on (due to his odd name) in the recent draft is now the top ranked goalie. Boston Messier is #1.

For defensemen, we've got two guys on the list. Rogalski is ranked 4th and Chiarlitti is ranked 9th. I don't even have Rogalski in my plans for this season's roster. Maybe I'll use him as trade bait if his value is high enough? I really would like to upgrade at the center position. Chiarlitti is my top LD though.

For left wingers, I've got Brandon Francisco on the list at 6th. He's still playing 1st line LW for us but I like the newly drafted Davin Ciampini better. I'm just trying to spread out the talent. It's funny, Ciampini was my 8th round pick and he looks like a monster. We'll see how he does in the regular season. He's done okay in the preseason.

None of our centers ranked in the league's top ten. I wanted to address the center situation at the draft but every time my pick came around I couldn't find a guy I thought warranted the pick over a player at another position. Maybe in the OHL draft I need to look at drafting by positional need more than BPA? I'll really have to look at getting a center via my trade for the season.

And for right wingers, Ritchie made the list at 3rd. He's good but he doesn't look as good as Nathan Staal does now. This kid's physical attributes are all greens (17,18,19) except for a 16 in balance. He's also got several yellow technical attributes already. His mental attributes are mostly all yellows too. He's going to be The Man here in Sarnia soon.

None of our guys made the top ten prospects list. I honestly thought Staal would. Oh well!

I'm looking forward to seeing how things shake out this season.

[bruins72]

So October has rolled around and ISS released their preliminary rankings.

Francisco is ranked 29th. Of course, he's one of the guys we had when we started the game. He's played every game for us in each of the two season, putting up 41 points in his first season and 72 in his second. He's got 4 point in 4 games so far this season. He's playing on the 1st line and the 1st PP unit.

Lindsay Germain is raked 166th. Germain is the goaltender I picked in the 4th round of the 2007 draft. He played in 25 games in the 07-08 season. He had a record of 14-7-3 with a 3.24 GAA and .885 SV%. In 4 games so far this season he has a record of 4-0-0 with a 1.97 GAA and a .922 SV%. I'm expecting him to the our #1 goalie this season.

Simon Richard is ranked 182nd. Richard is a right defenseman I picked in the 1st round (11th overall) of the 2007 draft. He's a skilled defenseman with 1st line potential. He played just 6 games for us in 07-08, scoring a goal and logging 17 PIMs. He played 54 games for the Legionnaires in 07-08 and put up 70 points with a +48 and 80 PIMs. He's made the jump to the main roster this season. In 4 games so far this season he just 1 assist, a +2, and 4 PIMs.

The NHL's draft is top loaded with European talent this year. There are just 6 North Americans (4 from Canada and 2 from the US) in the top 30 of ISS rankings.

[Manimal]

Maybe in the OHL draft I need to look at drafting by positional need more than BPA?

This seems more viable in the OHL than the NHL as the draftees are more likely to make a sudden impact.

[bruins72]

My 1st round pick in the 2008 draft, Nathan Staal, is doing quite well already. 10 games into the season and he's got 14 points (11 goals and 3 assists). His latest game was a 5 point night (3 goals and 2 assists). He's had a couple off nights though. Growing pains I guess. He seems to do well with Francisco and Meurs.

[timmy_t]

If I already have my two foreign players signed, what happens if I draft one of the superstar imports, he signs with his NHL team, and they reassign him to juniors? Will they not reassign him if I already have two guys contracted?

[bruins72]

Hmm... that's a good question. I think they would re-assign him but you'd be forced to send one of those players down to the Legionnaires before you could advance to the next game. I could be wrong though.

[timmy_t]

Well, I think I'm going to try it (and maybe be the guinea pig for all of us). I already have two good foreign players that I'm happy with, so I'll let you know.

[bruins72]

I don't have any foreign players on my main roster right now. I got rid of Preisinger at the draft to clear reserve list spots. He had spent most of the season on the Legionnaires roster anyhow. He kept starting trouble for me in the press, so I buried him. My first pick in the first import draft ended up playing for Vancouver's AHL affiliate, even though he would have been better served in junior. My second pick in that import draft played part of the season on the Sting roster and part on the Legionnaires roster but he could never put it together. He's started out on the Legionnaires roster this year. I just don't have the roster spots to waste on him. And then there are my 2 import draft selections for 2008. The first one says he wants to play Major Junior but isn't interested in any position (Key, Core, and so on). I don't get it. Is it because he's under contract with his team in his home country? The other guy I didn't offer a contract to. I still have his rights. Maybe I'll bring him in next year.

[Loosie]

Somehow Jack Campbell got released from Windsor as a free agent and now he's in a sign/release loop with London. They've signed and released him 2 or 3 times.

I see this happen all the time post-season, he's probably an overager so the sign him, have no room for him and release and then sign him again because he's a good player.

[timmy_t]

Thanks Loosie, I believe you're right. By the end of the playoffs he was signed by an NHL club and sent to the AHL.

[Manimal]

Hmm... that's a good question. I think they would re-assign him but you'd be forced to send one of those players down to the Legionnaires before you could advance to the next game. I could be wrong though.

That is what we had to do with over-agers, so I guess it would be the same with imports

[bruins72]

That was a great first quarter for my third season. I got 13 goals in 17 games out of my new star RW, Nathan Staal.

We also finished at the top of the OHL and we're also regularly at the top of the CHL Top Ten list. Looking at my stats, our biggest improvement has been in our goal against. In the first two seasons, there wasn't much difference between our Goals For and our Goals Against. So far this season there is a nice big difference. 68 Goals For and just 35 Goals Against. That's a nice difference. It's also the lowest Goals Against in the OHL.

I think one of our other big areas of improvement has been in toughness. In the first two seasons we had a lot of guys with a Strength of 10 or less. There might have been only one or two guys with better than a 10. Now we've only got four players with a 10 or less. We've also added several with high Aggression and high Bravery.

Let's hope we can keep up these results in the next quarter!

[timmy_t]

The players that Sarnia starts with are horrible!



J.C. Campagna got homesick, I sent him on leave, and he didn't return. His scout report describes him as having "poor self-confidence."

Brett Ritchie is described as unambitious and fickle.

But the one that takes the prize for the biggest loser is Brandon Francisco. "Spineless?" Really?



How did your big three turn out?

[bruins72]

Campagna hasn't done much for me. In season 1 he split the season between the Sting and the Legionnaires. He was horrible while playing for the Sting. In season 2 he spent all but 2 games with the Legionnaires. In season 3, we're moving forward with him as our 4th line center and 2nd PK unit guy. His biggest problem seems to be his physical attributes. They're just not improving for me. My scouts say he's unambitious, loyal, and has a strong character.

Ritchie has been a stud for our team in my game. He played really well in the first season and improved in the second. He's producing a bit less in the third season but that's because he's been moved down to a second line role due to our new guy we drafted, Staal. My scouts say he's slack, realist, and loyal. What attributes does "slack" affect? And what about "realist"?

Francisco was okay in the first season, maybe in a little over his head though. He put up 41 points but he was a -6 and had a bad average rating. He played much better in season 2, putting up a little better than a point per game and a +23. He's scoring a little less than a point per game so far in season 3. He's been moving back and forth between 1st and 2nd line with Ciampini (a recent draft pick). My scouts call him independent and strong character.

Honestly, I would put Zion in the team's "big three" before Campagna.

[timmy_t]

Hmmmm, I don't think I gave Zion enough time. He put up 27 points in the second season and I sent him to the Legionnaires for season three. (where he went 34-43-77 in 43 games) I'm not sure where he would fit in for season four because my 2008 OHL Priority Selection draft was outstanding.

Having read many a post from batdad and bruins72 I quickly realized the value of tough, gritty players. I also knew from my first two seasons that my Sarnia Sting were worthless and weak and my goal for season three was to seriously toughen up. I drafted three players with 20 strength and 13 of the 17 draftees (I'm including the 2008 CHL Import Draft) have a strength of 15 or higher. Bravery is up as well with 7 players over 15. Aggression is high with 13 players over 13, and 5 at 15+. The averages for strength/bravery/aggression for my combined 2008 draft is 15.8/13.5/13.1

I seem to remember reading that high physical stats can make up for a lot at the junior hockey level, and I really put that to the test for season three.

10 of my 2008 OHL Priority Selection picks as well as both of my 2008 CHL Import picks played the season with Sarnia. They were great, and I'm looking forward to season four. I had my aggression and hitting dialed up for the majority of the season, allowed about 5 or 6 players to fight, and as a result I had 7 players with over 100 PIMs each. I have 5 defensemen returning and 9 forwards. Of those 9 forwards I have the goofball twins, Ritchie and Francisco, and I'm not 100% sure that I'll play them.

Overall, season three was great. I have my tactics nailed down thanks to extensive research into the TBL forums and insightful posts from batdad and bruins72. We won both the Robertson Cup and the Memorial Cup. Bring on the next season!

P.S. If I could only figure out how batdad gets his PK above 90% (hint-hint)

[bruins72]

Congrats on cup wins! I'm still in season 3 but I'm hoping that the guys I drafted will make the difference for us in the playoffs. I got bumped in the first round in season one and the second round in season two. I really hope we go all the way this time. I'm figuring season 3 will be my last for this challenge because I play so slowly.

[bestrafer7]

The players that Sarnia starts with are horrible!

J.C. Campagna got homesick, I sent him on leave, and he didn't return. His scout report describes him as having "poor self-confidence."

Brett Ritchie is described as unambitious and fickle.

But the one that takes the prize for the biggest loser is Brandon Francisco. "Spineless?" Really?

How did your big three turn out?

My J.C. Campagna has mid 50's in aggression, strength and bravery and plays on the worst PK unit in the league. He has poor-self confidence

My Brett Ritchie is my only right winger who can play. Both Hottot and Alderson are sucking, but Ritchie solid on my 1st line and 1st line PP. He put up 33 points through the first 50 games in season one with a +15 rating. He has a solid number under his strength and work rate, but both his agression and bravery are low. Ritchie is considered a model player with great hockey sense, but is described as ordinary.

My Francisco has good PA and has good numbers under bravery and strength. He puts out solid numbers on my 2nd and 3rd lines, but he is too inconsistent to be a star at this point in his career. He does well on the first PP line with Arniel and Ritchie as a good set up man.

I was lucky enough to get Mike Neal and Jamie Arniel sent back from their NHL teams. Arniel is without a doubt my best player and his offensive numbers show that. Neal has good strength, agression and bravery and does very well on my first PK line.

I unfortunately played almost the entire season with a 4th right winger as Brett Stevens went down with a UCL tear that put him out 4 months after only 3 games.

My defensive core turned out pretty good with Anthony Donati being my best overall defender. His bravery and aggression numbers are through the roof. My second best d-man is Kyle Flemington. My Rogalski is horrible. I have him buried on the third defensive pair.

[bruins72]

I love how players turn out differently for everyone. It adds some spice to the game.