Challenge #43 - 2003 Blackhawks Discussion Thread

[stone169]

Yeah, Morris was one of those ones that I couldn't get the other team to agree to a trade for leading into season 1. His team didn't even value him that high. He was 3 stars in the trade screen. I'd offer them a 4 star or two 3 stars and they wouldn't bite. I had the same problem trying to grab Jokinen.

3 stars? He was rated 1 star in my trade screen. That's why I couldn't figure me not being able to get him. I can't remember who I offered in the 1st season, but he's been great for me in season 2. He lead all dmen on the team in points and has a plus rating.

[ronrein]

Finally got my team fully built after a horrible first quarter and it only took 11 trades this season and I was able to get several pretty good deals. These are my current line combinations:

Sturm - H.Sedin - Hemsky
LaCouture - Vyborny - Rosa
Vasicek - Getzlaf - Pominville
Axelsson - Aalto - Irgl/Zubrus

Phillips - Robidas
Oduya - Sopel
O'Brien - McCarthy/Brookbank

Thomas/Aubin

There might still be some trades if any of my players won't renew their contract or if some decent player's market value goes down.

[MWE]

Cant wait to have a go at this challenge will have to wait until next Wednesday to start as I don't have internet in my new home.

[m0fownz0r]

After the surprising success we had with the craptastic roster druing the first season - where we clinched a PO spot on the last day then went on to win the cup, we decided to change our utterly passive system with a balls out offensive one. Depending grealy on the influx of young talent we drafted or traded for.

While the change was more than working, many of the youngsters were sent down to the AHL or straight back to their junior teams.

Ryan Getzlaf was the first one being sent down. He managed a respectable 2+5 in 9 games, being +4, however, he average rating was pretty low - 6.44. There was no way he was going to play top line minutes and he was losing the battle with P. Bergeron for the 2nd line, so we decided to give him all the minutes he needs - in the AHL.

Newly acquired B. Burns was the next to follow suit. He was probably shocked when he got the news since he was playing pretty good for a rookie - 5+13 in 31 games with avg 7.23. However, he was playing on the 3rd pairing and got his points mainly on the PP. We decided to give him more playin time, as our D core was strong.

Finally, after 53 games in the Show, Bergeron was sent back to his junior team. He had 42pts but was playing average at best and it seemed his teammates were the main reasons for his point total.However, the main reason was that we acquired Rod Brind'Amour at the deadline. We were leading the west at the time and we thought he strong leadership will help push us over the top. He did not disappoint!

Pominville, Ott, Hartnell, Bowmeester among others were also given a chance to win a spot in the big club but they were average at best. All of them were pretty slow for our club so we looked for opportunity to ship them out of town.

Hartnell landed us Brind'Amour in 1v1 trade, Bowmeester + pick gave us Big Buff, Ott and Pominville we swapped for Perry (who was immidiatly sent to his junior team). However, the best deal we maneged to pull was Francois O'Brien for Martin Erat and C. Ehrhoff another couple of speedsters that was deadly in the playoffs. A close second was tradign our FA signing from season 1 A. Daigle for P. Parenteau who led our team in scoring in the post season.

Here are your defending champions - Chicago Blackhawks.



*edit: It turns out E.Staal was the best choice afterall. His speed enables him to play in the NHL straighaway, whereas both Getzlaf and Bergeon, while still able to play should rather be send down to the AHL/juniours.

[saberhagen83]

Closing in on the end of Q1 and I have to say we are doing better then I expected. 9-5-3 record put us in 7th spot. And I just completed a "steal" according to the fans and board. Haller has been one of my worst D-man so far this season so I went back in for Rachunek from the Panthers (been trying to get him before too) and this time we struck a deal sending Malmivaara and Canucks 3rd rounder to them.

Despite doing pretty well the distribution of points is strange. Guys like Rosa, Ott, Halpern and Hartnell isn't doing anything. Think it took Ott 13 games to get his 1st point. Hartnell had a stellar camp and pre-season but has been SO bad so I sent him to the AHL. On a positive, a line of Daze - Staal - Brylin is doing very good. And to my surprise my 4th line of Vesely - Påhlsson - Fisher is playing pretty well lately. Snow is a weird one too, everytime he get to play we loose...but his stats aren't as bad as one would expect. Bad luck I guess as he is always playing the 2nd game in a b2b.

Edit: LOL! Rachunek debuts with a 5p (1+4) night.

[stone169]

Two game into season 3 and there's already been a ton of interest in Hartnell. The Isles came to me with an offer that had Dustin Brown as the center piece of the deal. Kept Brown as the initial offer, removed all others, and asked for Brent Seabrook to go along with Brown. The Isles needed time to think about it. In the meantime I rejected all other offers for Hartnell. The Isles came back and agreed. Blackhawks fans were ecstatic at the steal, I mean deal. Both are down in the minors right now.

[braeden]

I think it's time for me to dethrone m0fownz0r...

[saberhagen83]

Meh...halfway into Q3 and I think it's time to go "tank mode". All was good and well enough untill Staal got a 2 month injury, wasn't long untill the players couldn't cope any longer. Had a nice point gap in 7th spot and now we are 10th and falling like a rock. So many injuries we've had, but Staal was just too much especially for so long.

[SteveBonus]

Season 1 is done, and was it ever terrible! We finished with a 19-50-13 record, which is actually a nice improvement compared to the 2 win 1st quarter. But still definitely bad enough to land dead last in the NHL, which means.....



OVECHKIN!

Malkin was actually ranked 1st, but there was no question that Ovechkin was the guy for me. Stunningly Malkin didn't get taken until 7th overall! This offseason I just plan to sign my top young guys Weber and Ovechkin, and likely Ryan Suter too, and then see who I can find for a million or less in the free agent market. I'll also check out the staff availability to see if I can make any upgrades. I am ok with having another rough year ahead and to let the young guys lead the way, because I hear there is a pretty good player available at the top of the next draft. I don't know though, might be hard for a first line of Sedin-Sedin-Ovechkin to finish last. But maybe with a defense where most of the guys are under 20 will keep the losses coming.

I made a few more trades during last season too. Janne Laukannen wanted out so I gave him his wish and sent him packing in exchange for tough guy dman Lance Ward. I also got myself a better backup goalie by shipping out Jim Cummins for Jamie Storr, who then went on to earn a 6-2-3 record in a backup role to Ryan Miller. Much better than Ouellet! My final trade was acquiring Willie Mitchell for a 3rd round pick, and Mitchell will be the the wily veteran of the defense corps next season along with Oleg Tverdovsky (if I keep him). I think we should be better next year but I still don't expect us to be good. Things are heading in the right direction though.

Edit: I signed Ovechkin right after the draft, but I guess he won't transfer over until May 1, 2005. So, gotta wait a year before he can join the team, it seems. Well...I did expect to be terrible again this upcoming season, that fully supports that!

[saberhagen83]

Okay so season 1 is in the books and it didn't go exactly as I had planned. It wasn't looking too good as I mentioned so I brought up Hartnell as well as Moulson (who has done good in AHL). With Staal coming back the team decided to turn it on and we had a couple of nice win streaks. On the very last day we secured 8th place. Hartnell played pretty bad, but I was surprised Moulson did really well. In the 1st round we face St Louis and we did pretty good pushing that series all the way to 7 games. I guess you can tell Staal is still young, dominating the regular season but was pretty bad in the playoffs.

Unfortently this means a worse pick, and the draft looks pretty bad after the top 5, top 10 or so. Will have to take a closer look at that now...and see if there is anyone to ship out and bring in. I really want to bring in a good playmaking center on the 2nd line. Rosa started to play better in Q4 so hopefully he start better next year. Halpern isn't really a great fit on 2nd line I feel. I love having playmaking C and snipers or 2-way guys on the wings. Just hard to find the right player for that position that I can afford.

[saberhagen83]

Quick question on the stats upload. In Q3 my best +/- player was at 0. The stats upload tool won't allow that as a number it seems. How do I set it as even?

[m0fownz0r]

Quick question on the stats upload. In Q3 my best +/- player was at 0. The stats upload tool won't allow that as a number it seems. How do I set it as even?

Just put 1 imo, shouldn't be much of an issue, it will surely change by Q4

[saberhagen83]

Just put 1 imo, shouldn't be much of an issue, it will surely change by Q4

True. I guess I'll do that. I know there were a few + players at the end of the season, so I guess it doesn't effect much anyway.

Just after the draft we got the fans and board happy yet again. Saw a trade offer, from some team I can't remember now, for Chris Kunitz in Carolina. Been eyeballing him last season with no hope of making a deal happen. But this offer looked quite low so I decided to test the Hurricanes yet again. They were very interested in Hartnell and my AGM was interested in that deal as well. In the end Hartnell for Kunitz straight up was enough. Similar players, both Power Forwards, but Kunitz is pretty well developed at 2 years older. Should slot in nicely in the team.

Also released Snow and brought in Brent Johnson as our new backup. Cleary was sent to Islanders for Vasicek and a 4th. He should be a good fit I hope on the 3rd line. Team is looking quite interesting this season. Preliminary lines:

Daze - Staal - Kunitz
Sturm - Halpern - Rosa
Brylin - Ott - Vasicek
Fisher - Påhlsson - Weller

Philips - Clark
McKee - Ference
Rachunek - Corvo

Thomas/Johnson

Also have Reirden, Moulson, Plotnikov, Bouwmeester and Pominville all fighting for a place this season. Plotnikov looks interesting and could possibly be the answear as the 2nd line center playmaker I've been looking for. But I feel he may be a year away or so. Tried to get a stopgap in Bryan Smolinki from Dallas, but they weren't really willing to give him up for the price I offered them anyway.

[braeden]

Just started this challenge...My first draft:

1st Overall: Shea Weber, RD
18th Overall: Ryan Suter, LD
31st Overall: Travis Zajac, C
61st Overall: Eric Fehr, C/RW
91st Overall: Steve Bernier, RW/LW
121st Overall: Zach Frawley, C
151st Overall: Grant Clitsome, LD/RD
181st Overall: James Thomas, C


Red Wings won the cup in my first year...Might try and have JBO, Suter and Weber play in the NHL first season...Didn't hurt Ekblad

[Peter_Doherty]

Oh wow, been looking at an upgrade at D during the entire season since Klee just isn't good enough. In December teams started to make offers for Rafalski so i started to investigate, at first they wouldn't budge but then after new years they suddenly liked Hartnell even more then before (from 4 stars to 5 stars) so i checked with them again and boom, we have a deal. Sent Scott Harnell to Jets for Brian Rafalski and Patrik Stefan, Stefan has had a rough start to his NHL career but my scouts still see something in him so i added him instead of a 2nd rounder to the deal. Stefan was just a bonus though, finally i have my #1 D-man in Rafalski. The biggest issue with Stefan is that he has to clear waivers to go down to AHL, not taking that risk so he'll be my 13th F for now.

[SteveBonus]

Time to start season 2. I made a few moves this offseason, but nothing close to the trade mayhem that I put the team through during the first offseason!

Trades
Dealt Oleg Tverdovsky to Detroit for 22 year old Chuck Kobasew
Dealt backup goalie Jamie Storr to Vancouver for a 2nd round pick in the upcoming draft.

The Storr trade was made possible by my free agent signing of goalie Brent Johnson for 2yr/454k. I also signed forward John Madden for 2yr/468k.

I have no idea what to expect this coming season. I think the roster has improved, and the defense looks impressive, but they are mighty young with 27 year old Wille Mitchell and 21 year old Jay Bouwmeester being the old men on D. Will this mean another year in dead last? We'll see.

Here's the starting lineup for the season:

[cecede123]

Finished my 1st season with 41-31-10, good for the 8th seed in the West, got beat in 6 by Saint Louis.

The draft went pretty ankward....
1.Dubnyk (WSH)
2.Ladd (WIN)
3.Green (MIN)
4.Wolski(PIT)
5.Schneider (PHI)
6.Stafford (CBS)
7.Yandle (NYI)
8.Malkin (NAS)
9.Jomphe(CAR)
10.Ovy(DET)

The CSB had Ovy 1st and Malkin 2nd

I had to make a decision between Krejci and Edler at 16th, finally going with the center !
Can't wait to see my 2nd season!

[stone169]

So I just did the 2006 draft. Is it me or are the drafts getting weaker?

[m0fownz0r]

So I just did the 2006 draft. Is it me or are the drafts getting weaker?

They seem pretty top heavy.

I didn't do much scouting for the 2nd draft. I went after many goalies (all bad as it turns out).

The players seem pretty meh for the most part, even the "better" or atleast known guys. Defensive players are even more awkward, especially defensemen.

[stone169]

I never stop scouting, but this last draft I did after season 3, by the time the 3rd round rolled around, there was no one with stars beside them at all.

Good thing we can sign UFAs. Because of the limitations placed on that, I end up looking for young unsigned prospects to add to my prospect pool.

[bruins72]

I think the issue with the drafts is something you're bound to face with a historical database, at least as the game's scouting is currently programmed. Normally in real life, these top players would be spread out throughout the draft. Sure, you'd have a heavy concentration of good players come from the first two rounds but you'd have some hidden gems in the late rounds and solid NHLers in the mid rounds. Unfortunately, these players are all scouted for what they are and what their potential is, so they get ranked higher. If the scouting were skewed or there was a way to have the scouting not show the full potential of some players, that would work out better.

[Peter_Doherty]

Brian Rafalski is a complete stud, so happy i made that trade

[saberhagen83]

After 40 games into 2nd season we sit 2nd in the West with a record of 23-13-4. After the injury galore for a start of a season, it has hopefully cleared up now and it is showing our quality. Our PK is terrible this year though, but we are very strong 5on5 with ALL 4 lines chipping in. Staal is a beast though, 43p (16+27) in 39GP...if he gets injured again we are doomed to fall just like last season. Our new backup Johnson had a terrible start with his new team, but has improved a lot lately.

[nino33]

So I just did the 2006 draft. Is it me or are the drafts getting weaker?

They seem pretty top heavy.
I didn't do much scouting for the 2nd draft. I went after many goalies (all bad as it turns out).
The players seem pretty meh for the most part, even the "better" or atleast known guys. Defensive players are even more awkward, especially defensemen.

I think the issue with the drafts is something you're bound to face with a historical database, at least as the game's scouting is currently programmed. Normally in real life, these top players would be spread out throughout the draft. Sure, you'd have a heavy concentration of good players come from the first two rounds but you'd have some hidden gems in the late rounds and solid NHLers in the mid rounds. Unfortunately, these players are all scouted for what they are and what their potential is, so they get ranked higher. If the scouting were skewed or there was a way to have the scouting not show the full potential of some players, that would work out better.

Hmmmm....I can see perhaps in the first couple/few years (after 1998) the drafts being "top heavy" because we didn't include more than about 60 historical NHLers per Draft and the underdatabase/no added players means there's no fake players worthy of the NHL initially, but by 2006 and later I would have thought regens would have taken over, the same way that when playing TBL 8.2 right now regens would have taken over by 2023 and later; in theory the Drafts should actually get better (because you're getting the 60 or so historical NHLers every year + the regens), so it's odd...

[m0fownz0r]

Brian Rafalski is a complete stud, so happy i made that trade

In season 3, I had Liles outscoring all D by at least 5 pts (Niedermeyer) yet hes wasn't even top 3 in norris. First time I see this happening.