How do you force playing time in the minors?

WoodbineWolves · Post by **WoodbineWolves** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:12 pm

I have two goalies for my top minor league team (Hershey) - Cassivi & Stana.

I want Stana to play the most since I'm grooming him to replace Kolzig (or at least find out if he's good enough).

The problem I have is that Hershey keeps playing Cassivi. Is there a way for me to force them to start Stana?

I checked the forum and couldn't find a similar thread. If there is one, feel free to move this question there.

Thanks,

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:07 pm

Your best bet to properly develop your players in your farm system is to add another GM and take control of that team too. I'll set my lines and training for my farm team, tell the coach to use my lines and tactics, then go on vacation for a week or two at a time.

Post by **B. Stinson** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:09 pm

I don't think there's a way to do it, other than adding a new GM and doing it all yourself.

If you don't want to do that, I guess you could try loaning him to a more goalie-deprived team, where he'll most-likely get the playing time.

Besides those two, I think you're out of options.

Post by **Tasku** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:13 pm

This is kinda off-topic, sorta, but I had Rastislav Stana while playing the Caps as you do. Got rid of Kölzig and his 25 million per year contract and replaced him with Stana, because his attribs look pretty good. (This ofcourse before I started playing with Stins' Wizard Mode). But it turned out he's only good backup, lacking the consistency of a starter goalie.

Then again, this might not be the same in your game. Just giving you a warning not to count all your eggs into one basket. He might let you down.

WoodbineWolves · Post by **WoodbineWolves** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:08 pm

Bummer on having to manage him myself

Tasku - On one of my other turns thru the Caps, I had Stana as my goalie in the 2009-2010 season. He and another foreign goalie (Norrena sp?) took me to the Eastern Conf Finals. He was a steady goaltender, but definitely not a "franchise" like Kolzig was in his prime.

The hardest thing I had to do was not resign Kolzig - His skills were fine, but his stamina was at 9, and started giving up lots of goals in the 3rd period.

I've started a blog with my current caps season

puckman16 · Post by **puckman16** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:38 pm

If you don't control your minor league team yourself you're kinda screwed because your coach will play what he feels are the top ranked players unless there is an injury. Your only other option is to loan out 1 of the goalies to another team. Either place Stana where you're sure he will be #1 or unload Cassivi so Stana will be #1 on your minor league team.

I encounter this problem all the time (as I prefer only GM-ing 1 team) playing with the Penguins since I share my affiliation with Edmonton and they seem to send there best prospects to WBS instead of Milwaukee. I try to place my prospects that I know I won't be recalling (since it takes some time to recall a loan as opposed to the immediate recall from you affiliate) and my minor leaguers that have fallen out of favor with other teams with gaps in their rosters.

jdh79 · Post by **jdh79** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:56 am

What I would recommend doing if you don't want to control your AHL team is sending Cassivi to the ECHL. You might have to wait until 5 or 6 games into the season for it to allow you to do that, but that should work. The other thing you could do is just release him since he is your 4th goalie option.

I right now am working through a Caps dynasty as well and I signed Stana from year one to be a backup; I waived Brent Johnson (and lost him on waivers, but didn't care). because I thought Stana was better than him. I never really saw him as starting material though; too inconsistent. I had him as my backup for 1.5 years until Colorado decided to waive Budaj; I then lost Stana on waivers trying to send him to the AHL.

That being said, I don't know why anyone playing the Caps wouldn't want to roll with Kolzig, at least for the first few years. Year 1, yes he has a 5.5m contract, but you also start with like 18 M in cap space when you take over that team and don't have to start paying Ovechkin for another 2-3 years. If you wait until after year one and resign him from free agency, he wants like 3.5 million for 2 years, which is very reasonable. He stays a top notch goalie right until the end, especially if you provide proper defense (i.e. pick up guys like Hagman, Betts, Ortmeyer, as they are being given away or waived and sign a guy like Hannan in FA with some of that excess cap space). I had him roll me through to the Cup and win the Vezina at 39.

I didn't resign him at that point because his physical attributes were falling off. I then was left with FA options of Khabibulin, Esche or Grahame, and decided to take Khabibulin for 2 years and draft one of the regen goalies in the 2010 draft. Budaj attribute-wise looks like he could be a decent #1, but he was absolutely terrible in the 15 starts I got him as a backup the previous year and my scouts all scout him as a backup, so I am not confident in him as more than a 1A. The good part is he is willing to keep on resigning for less than 700,000. During this game, the Rangers were willing to give me Lundqvist (while he was out for 2 months) for Semin and Budaj and it took all the restraint in the world for me not to take it (I am trying to play this game realistically). The Islanders also were willing to dump off diPietro at one point (rated him as a 2 star player).

WoodbineWolves · Post by **WoodbineWolves** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 4:52 pm

Thanks for the advice - What I did was loan Stana out to Richmond for the year.

In the other seasons I've played, I've found that I needed 3 competent goalies, that's why I'm keeping Cassivi.

I agree about riding Kolzig until his physical attributes drop.