Challenge #37 Discussion - Blowing Up The Canucks!

[Koekenbakker]

Unlucky? Yes! Sedin got injured for 2 months in May

[jmi]

After Tampa Bay had taken down Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals, the hockey world began to follow seemingly insane, newly hired manager of Vancouver Canucks, Mana Geri. Mana Geri had only one goal, to get rid of anyone who was older than Megan Fox.



Hockey forums went wild on 9th of June, as Mana Geri did the unthinkable and broke the relationship of Sedin brothers and Canucks. Sedin's were shipped as far as Mana Geri could get them, all the way to the east coast of United States, more specifically to the Stanley Cup champions, Tampa Bay Lightning. The return wasn't even near what the fans were expecting, as if anyone expected Sedin's to be shipped, when unproven youngsters, 21-year-olds, Russian goalie Andrei Vasilevsky, and good old Canadian defenceman Slater Koekkoekkoek joined the team. Koekoeko, who's name no media got right, had just had mediocre season in Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate Syracuse, scoring 20 points (4+16) and 62 penalty minutes in 65 games. Vasilevsky, who spent whole year up in Tampa Bay posting record of 6 wins, 88.6%, 3.11GAA in 20 games, didn't seem to be the savior Vancouver so much needed. Vasilevsky himself commented the move " ", adding "at least I won the Cup before dooming my career in Canucks".

As if moving Sedins wasn't enough for the hearts of Canucks fans, just hours after the Sedin trade, Canucks tweeted "Bieksa + Burrows > NYR, Nicholls + Hayes + TBL 2nd > VAN". While Burrows and Bieksa weren't the biggest stars of the past season of Canucks, had they been with the team for ten years. And as the fans started to point at they rage to Mana Geri, how he was trading the soul of Canucks to seemingly scraps from others AHL affiliates, Mana Geri was one step closer to his plan of getting Meg.. Stanley Cup to Vancouver before end of time.


The next day went quietly on Canucks office, while journalists and hockey fans around the internet were taking all their rage on Mana Geri's trading abilities. They believed Mana Geri should've been able to grab at least Ovechkin and Crosby, with pick to call out Connor McDavid's name in the next draft. When asked to comment recent trades, Mana Geri mumbled "I am the god of this team, you can't judge me".

9 AM at the morning of eleventh Vancouver Canucks GM Mana Geri called press to conference beginning at 9.05. Surprisingly no reporters showed up when Mana Geri announced to the teams twitter handler a trade involving some Dan Hamhuis and St. Louis Blues legend Ryan Miller. As there was no press, GM Geri had decided not to share more information and just let it fold out during day from other sources. The speculation was wild as people were throwing names like Tavares and Price as sure thing according to their "very close" sources. But no one had expected Pittsburgh Penguins to be part of the trade, when Penguins' GM Jim Rutherford told a local paper boy that Olli Määttä and Scott Harrington had been moved to Canucks. Local paper boy was very smart and he could calculate that 1+1 is actually 11 and announced the trade on HFBoards. Ofcourse no one believed the poor paper boy as, who would be idiotic enough to trade for aging defenceman and goalie, especially with one of the best defensive prospects in NHL (and Määttä). But as evening turned to night, Mana Geri decided to finally tweet the full trade out with "Earlier to PIT, Määttä + Harri + mbe pick to us". Canucks fans were surpsisingly pleased with the trade. While losing number one goalie did hurt, had they learnt that Andrei Vasilevsky might actually catch few pucks, and there's always Matthews / Chychrun / Puljujärvi. Win - win. For several Penguins fans this day was the moment their drinking problem began.

Next days went with rumors about Mana Geri's secret agenda to take down Canucks and move them to Kansas.. or Las Vegas.. or Wood Buffalo.. whoever you asked it from, gave you different answer.

16th of June Toronto Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan called for Press Conference. Hockey world expected firing of Dave Nonis, but was disappointed with a trade involving Canucks' Alexander Edler (who's only real fault was being one month older than she-who-shall-not-be-named) and Maple Leafs Richard Panik and Phillip Danault. Neither of the fans really disliked or liked the trade and it was generally accepted as very meh. Or Canucks fans had already given up on the team and commenting on anything related to the team.

On the 17th of June Canucks announced their latest trade including Radim Vrbata, Jannik Hansen and Chris Higgins. In return from Dallas Stars Canucks received Cody Eakin, Ludwing Byström and 5th rnd 2015. While no one was really interested about trades involving Canucks, took GM Mana Geri time to finally give proper comment on the matter of past trades, "We got rid of the players who were the cause of us not winning Stanley Cup, you see, and we have now all the pieces we need to win Stanley Cup in the upcoming years. You will see and believe, you will see and believe".




In the draft GM Mana Geri refused to comment or let his drafted players comment, but he did tweet on Canucks twitter every pick.

"12th ovr. Lawson Crouse #whoismcdavid"
"42nd ovr. Guillaume Brisebois, some scout told me he's pretty good #believe"
"60th ovr. Maxim Tretyak #betterthandad #please #save #us"
"102nd ovr. Jesper Lindgren #nextlidström"
"132nd ovr. Lucas Carlsson "nextlidströmvol2."
"134th ovr. Kevin Spinozzi our twitter guy's cousin's friend #draftmethods"
"142nd ovr. Brandon Prophet, kinda just liked his name #useless #rounds"
"147th ovr. Augie Carlson #nextlidströmvol3."
"Just learnt our very own Augie is from Ohio #oops"
"Obviously our very own Augie isn't playing defender"
"You will see changes in Scouting department next month #useless #scouts"
"#162nd ovr. Jonne Tammela / KalPa / Finland / LW / 17 #scouted #myself #from #youtube"
"Perfect draft, Augie is the next gem, you will see #believe #firescouts"

___________

At the beginning of July, upcoming seasons roster looks like

Bärtschi - Eakin - Conacher
Danault - Bonino - Pánik
Hayes - Nicholls - Vey
McMillan - Matthias - Kassian
Dorsett, Jensen

Määttä - Tanev
Stanton - Harrington
Weber - Sbisa
Koekkoek

Vasilevsky - Markström / Läck
_

Edit: One of the pictures disappeared from the original hosting site and had to take new one

[coolwoff]

Very interesting so many picked lindgren.

[stone169]

Finally fixed my stats.

And yes, I drafted Jesper Lindgren as well in the 4th round. The kid's a steal.

[CeeBee]

jmi, I would have quoted your post but didn't want to clutter this thread......
Absolutely priceless recap you gave. Probably the best and funniest account I have ever read on this site.

[cecede123]

Just noticed that TML traded Dion Phaneuf + rights of Jimmy Lauzon vs.... Andy Greene just after the draft

Also, I changed the staff of Utica and retired the GM I created, and Brent Sutter just signed as the GM. Cool story

[Shanedawg]

2nd quarter of season 1: Lack is my starter. Both Markstrom & Lack had extremely shaky starts, but Lack figured things out after 20 painful games.

Not that we're winning... ha. But since December 1, Markstrom has played in 4 games, only playing 1 to completion. He's allowed 18 goals in those 4 appearances, his best effort a 2-1 OT loss to the Leafs. That game was the only one Lack didn't play in from December 1 - January 4.

[nickflyers]

So....I'm simming through my off-season hiring coaches and the likes...and this happens..





They placed OV on the block(Not gonna lie I kicked the tires. Yakupov and Thatcher was all it would have took) What the Dickens!?!?!??! The prospect they got was a 4th rounder

They let Green walk, traded Kuz, Burkowsky, and O'Brien to me, and then this happens????

AND they sent Orpik to Toronto for two prospects(3rd and 6th) and a 4th and 5th round pick. I guess me sending them the Twins and Burrows really confused their GM. There were other ways around getting under the cap(Like Orpik, Green, Laich, JML)

[cecede123]

Just finished my first 20 games ... Eddie Lack is AWFUL ! Wow
Btw, I got interesting results A lot of overtime loses, and also a couple of blowout

[batdad]

Not quoting jim post either. LOVE IT! I hope it works out for you. That is great story telling. Someone is a little Brian Burke.

[nickflyers]

So silly question, but how are y'all dealing with hitting the Cap Floor? I'm sitting with almost $30m in cap space and I just noticed this in August...

[batdad]

Just paying the fines and moving along.

[nickflyers]

Just paying the fines and moving along.

Ah ok good....whew. Thanks Bat!

[Koekenbakker]

Well.. I guess one of the Sedin brothers isn't going to be healthy before the draft which means I probably have to waive them both right?

[Koekenbakker]

So Henrik cleared waivers and Daniel went to Panthers (waivers)... This means:

You must trade the Sedin twins together in a deal.

is not fulfilled. What do I do? I prefer starting over cause when I look at the assets people got from the Sedin brothers it seems rather unfair I can't trade because of injury problems.

[Vadim10]

In your case I would recommend a complete new start as you can't play the challenge according to the rules if the Sedins are not traded together

[stone169]

Fired Guy Boucher near the end of the 2017-2018 season. Finishing in the basement a 3rd year in a row was unacceptable and something needed to change.

New coach and new season. Really hoping that the boys can compete this season. Exhibition when well with 8-2-0 record. Both losses were close and my last game was a 6-4 win over the Coyotes. A game that we managed to come back from a 3-0 defeceit.

Lost Nicklas Jensen for the next 3 months. That's a huge loss as he has been my best player over the last 3 seasons. The average age of my D is 23. A little too young for my liking. Luckily I do have some verterans in the minor if any of them seem to falter. The one who will be on a short leash is Sebastian Aho. I'm still not quite sure he's ready, but we'll see. I'm not sure if Kyle Connor is ready either, so I'll be closely watching him as well.

Here's how they lineup so far.

Bartschi - Bonino (currently injured) - Jensen (currently injured)
Bittner - Connor - Virtanen
Shinkaruk - Lazar - Wilson
Karlsson - Girgensons - Carrier
McCann

Siemens - Chychrun
Lindgren - Sbisa
Aho - Collins

Demko
Markstrom

Bonino should be back in time for the start of the season and McCann will take Jensen's roster spot.

All I really want is just to compete. Maybe compete for a playoff spot. If I finish at the bottom again, I might just fire myself.

[bruins72]

So Henrik cleared waivers and Daniel went to Panthers (waivers)... This means:

You must trade the Sedin twins together in a deal.

is not fulfilled. What do I do? I prefer starting over cause when I look at the assets people got from the Sedin brothers it seems rather unfair I can't trade because of injury problems.

Yeah, as Vadim said, you should just restart.

[Peter_Doherty]

Just played game #82, after a catastrophic 1st quarter where i went 2-17-1 i got a grip of this team somewhat and played close to .500 the rest of the season. End up 14th in the West 29th Overall so we will be able to get one of the top picks, i have my eyes on Grundström for now.

Neither Markström or Läck managed to stay over .900 SV% which is a bit disappointing, i still don't think i will trade for a goalie, Demko is my man for the future. I will probably trade either Läck or Ericsson but we'll see, kind of depends if Cannata resigns.

Big positive surprises were Cory Conacher (49 goals!!!!!!), Bärtschi (67 points and 7.38 AvR) and Sanguinetti (37 points and over 7 AvR) while the big negatives where Lowry (Young and i still believe in him but i'm a bit disappointed with only 18 points and 6.48 AvR), Girgensons (see Lowry, had 4 more points though) and Bjugstad (Started off really well but slowed down dramaticly, 50 points is fine but his AvR is just too low.)

Random stuff, Tanev had bad AvR but he tops both takeaways (by miles) and shots blocked so i can't be too disappointed. Dorsett had over 200 PIM and won 10/11 fights, i'm overall happy with his play in my bottom 6. Kassian won 4/9 fights. Kreider scored 30 goals, happy with that. Bonino was solid, he jumped between all 3 of my top lines.

I'll get back with another update after the draft

[Manimal]

So, it is decided. I am the slowest EHM-player.
The Comets just finished the season getting swept by the Griffins in the first round. Out went the coaching staff and I picked up John Anderson as new Head coach. I'll get some assistants one July 1st comes around.

Next season I won't play the Utica games, only Vancouver.

Now it is time to look at what trades to make.

[outdooral]

Im right behind you
Just started . I cant remember how to take and post screen shots so if anyone could help thanks.
Trades
Hamhuis-St Louis-2x 1sts
Edler-Buff-Grigensons & 2nd
Sedins- Chic- Runblad & Saad
Higgins-Wash-L.OBrien, 3rd, 4th
Hansen-Stlouis-P.Lindbohm
Burrow,Bieksa,Vrbata-Mont-Beaulieu
Millar-Tor-1st...was supposed to include T.Erixon but i accidentally deleted him from the trade and am not going back.

Draft
Pilon
Carlo
Rantanan
Novak
Vladar
Debrusk
wotherspoon
Nygard
Lindgren
Verbeek
Spinozzi
boland

[batdad]

LOL at trading Danny and Henrik to Chicago. I soooo thought about making them play with Duncan Keith.

[Unknown User]

alt - printscreen will take a screenshot of only ehm window and put it into your clipboard u can then paste it to paint or w/e.

[nickflyers]

Time to start my 1st season! Had a decent preseason

4-3 OT Win vs Minnesota
11-3 Loss vs Arizona(played the kids)
3-2 Win vs Columbus
3-2 SOL vs Boston
6-3 Win vs Florida(full squad)

Ranked 27th in the NHL Preview(Philly was 30th despite gaining Edler) and Jensen was listed #8 in the NHL Top Prospects

Coaching Staff
Hired Chris Pryor as my A.GM
HC: Guy Boucher
AC(Condition): Craig Berube
AC(FWD): Greg Carvel
AC(Various): Glen Gulutzan
AC(G/Tac): Roland Melanson(kept him)
AC(Def): Joel Otto


Lineup

Bartschi-Bonino-Concaher
Burkovsky-Kuznetsov-Yakupov(RUSKIES/SWEDE)
Jensen-Acton-Kassian
Conolly-O'Brien-Vey

Stanton-Tanev
Ouellet-Sbisa
Sanguinetti-Weber

Markstrom-Lack

[Peter_Doherty]

Bura is from Sweden!