Coyotes Challenge 10 Discussion Topic

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:44 am

Ease off aggression. Ease off on your puck pressure. Ease off on your gap control. ease off on hitting. All those things help.

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:24 am

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 3:37 am

Well my first season is in the books, I took 5th in the conference with 48 wins. Unfortunatley both the Ducks and the Oilers did well as well, grr, high draft pics. The good news Doan won the Art Ross by about 10 points. No Richard though, I'll get you Ovechkin, and your little semin too. Off to the playoffs, I face the Red Wings, who took the season series 3-1, i think i'll have to come up with some different tactics to defeat them, especially with Jovocop down.

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:00 am

Booyah!!!

Beat the hated reds in 5 games. Lost the first game badly, but i saw that I was getting stopped most of the time before i made it past the blue line, so i changed my tatics to a more positional style and took the next four games. BTW, I'm not fond of the red wings, too bad they will win the cup this year (for real).

jwh5875 · Post by **jwh5875** » Wed May 14, 2008 5:59 am

This one looks like it could be a LOT of fun...just getting ready to go through the Yotes roster, make my core picks and see if I can pull off a miracle in the desert.

Basically, looking things over, playoffs would be that miracle

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:54 pm

So I picked up the Coyotes game again this weekend and the first thing I did was adjust my tactics and special team lineups, hoping I could stop the long term injuries for my top players. Sure enough it worked and I never had an injury longer than 10 days for the rest of the season but on the other hand we started giving up goals like crazy.

I just couldn't find new tactics that worked and we ended the season at 14th in the conference. As an added bonus I was fired after game 80 and had to add myself back in. For those of you who haven't had the displeasure yet let me tell you that it wipes your shortlist and all your scouting reports as well as scouting assignments... This should be an interesting draft.

I think I must be doing something funadamentaly wrong with my tactics.

Post by **Shadd666** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:58 pm

To react on the minutes played / injuries stuff, i checked my own stats. Only Doan (21:04) and Reinprecht (20:06) are over 20 minutes for my forwards. Jovanovski (25:54), Morris (24:56), Boynton (22:54) and Regehr (21:56; deadline acquisition) amongst defensemen. None of them have missed more than 5 games due to injury, and i haven't had any injury exceeding 2 weeks.

As a result, only 3 guys played less than 10 minutes. And out of them, just one played less than 8 minutes. And it was Josh Gratton, with 6:54 per game, and an average of nearly 4 PIM per game (200 PIM in 54 games).

And i run with normal ice time for both fowards and defenseman, going equal when i have a big lead (which really rarely occured this season), overloading in the final 10 minutes if we're down by one or two goals (occured a lot, reason why Jovo and Morris are around 25 minutes per game), and using just two lines in the final 2 minutes if it's a one goal game.

As a result, very few injuries, only short injuries, and a decent ice time for everyone. It's not that hard to play a bit realisitically...

And if some of you think it's the reason why i had a bad season, you're proven wrong by batdad (and others), as he played realistically and had way better results than me (plus, he plays NTNB, which i don't). All really depends on how well you manage your guys and deal with tactics. Playing guys for 30-35 minutes (let alone for 60!) won't make a big difference, especially once they'll be down for 3 months or more.

EDIT: Marsac, you're not necessarily doing wrong things with your team

When you look at the Coyotes lineup, would you expect big things out of it? If the answer is 'no', then your 14th spot is somehow logical (just like mine... but i wasn't fired

). At least, your guys are no longer injured now, so you don't have to change your lineup for every game or end playing your AHL team. This team has some nice young talent coming in, so i'd suggest you to keep a really close eye on their devellopement while your big team is struggling. As for tactics... If it doesn't work, try something else! I may not work either, but at least you'll know it and won't make the mistake again

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:30 pm

well we managed to defeat the Oilers and the Sharks in the second and third round respectivley. Now I face the other Reds in the Finals. Devils, okay, everyone run broduer.

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:31 pm

Cool Hanzel just won rookie of the year in the WHL

inspector84 · Post by **inspector84** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:34 pm

batdad wrote:And gee tk...I wonder why you might have lost them.

Sorry..but not much sympathy for imjuries suffered l/t to players who are playing extreme amounts of ice time. That is the most clear reason why it is happening guys.

Injuries occur

1. Cause you use guys too much, and for too long on a shift, or they average more than 22 minutes per game for dmen, or 19-20 minutes for a forward.

2. Cause you do the above and practice too hard.

Hmm,good point...thx for the tip

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:49 pm

batdad wrote:By no means am I an angel that way either. When the rule comes in I have to play with mine a bit too. But noone plays 30 minutes ON AVERAGE. Occasional games ... yes. But not always.

My stats

Forwards--This is the most I have ever played my top line. For the reason that jdh79 describes. the rest of the team sucks, so I end up more often switching...but only for the 3rd...

At the beginning of the game my team is run on normal, and in the third (only the third) I will move to overload or to just three once in awhile. Last 3 shifts of the game are up for grabs.

I have a rule as well...as soon as I am up 3 goals, I switch to EQUAL (no matching) on off/def...change my pp and pk guys...and then play.

SOmetimes...this lets the other team back in the game..and I have to change again. But not always.

So I cannot claim to roll 4...and I do not. Rolling 4 is EQUAL no line matching. period.

Here is my icetime towards the end of the second season. ICE TIME

I've got 2 players averaging less than 8 minutes per game. One is a part time filler player, Patrick Fischer. The other is Perrault, a youngster who isn't in my core and isn't a homegrown. I was trying him out this season and he just hasn't done anything to impress me. I've got one other guy averaging less than 11:00 minutes per game and that's Lehoux, a part time player only used in case of injury. I don't use my PP forwards on the PK and I don't use my PK forwards on the PP. I've discussed my defensive usage in another post.

I roll 4 lines. I start off either running them equal or normal. It depends. Sometimes my top line guys perform better when I have my forward lines set to equal. Then I look at how I'm doing when I hit the first intermission. If we're up by a couple goals, I might leave it where it is. If it's close or I'm down, I'll tighten it up a little. I'll go from equal to normal or normal to just 3 lines. Then during the next intermission, I look again. Am I down? If I am, I'll go to either just 3 lines or overload. If I'm still looking good, I'll leave things alone. This keeps my guys from getting too worn out. Keep in mind that I also run practices that have 3 areas set to intense and the rest (including goaltending because it helps positioning) set to medium. Nothing set to light or none. I don't lose guys to long term injuries either.

Following these methods and using decent (I'm not going to claim my tactics are great because I sure as heck could get a lot better defensively) tactics, I'm sitting at 1st in my conference and 3 overall in the league with just 5 games left in the season. So in my opinion the whole rant about having to play top players 30+ minutes again because the rest are so bad is pure and utter garbage.

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:22 pm

Allright, Swept the Devils in 4 games

I win the CUP!!! Seriously, when I started this challenge and saw the team, I thought I would be hard pressed to make the playoffs, let alone contend for the cup. Booyah!!! I'll post my final stats as soon as i get the screenshots I need. Needless to say I am happy with my first season though.

Qikdraw · Post by **Qikdraw** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:54 pm

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules for you guys, but I'm not in the challange, but I thought I would throw out there:

Peter Mueller
Envir Lisin
Martin Hanzal
Jason Jaspers

Do pretty good. At least in my game.

If I violated any rules please forgive me. I'm enjoying watching you guys play with the Coyotes.

Qikdraw

Post by **batdad** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:16 pm

No issue qikdraw. But quite honestly...not sure where Jason Jaspers came from. Must be a different Database. He is not in the TBL DB 1.5 as a Coyote.

The other 3 are well known future players for all the guys in the challenge. You can join if you want, just get the right DB

Qikdraw · Post by **Qikdraw** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:06 am

batdad wrote:No issue qikdraw. But quite honestly...not sure where Jason Jaspers came from. Must be a different Database. He is not in the TBL DB 1.5 as a Coyote.

The other 3 are well known future players for all the guys in the challenge. You can join if you want, just get the right DB

Ok forget about Jaspers, Coyotes did draft him, but then I picked him up off free agency a few seasons ago. (I forgot I did that)

I considered joining but decided it was too much work for me right now, even though I am out on disabilty. I'm still learning the game and have no clue at all about tactics, I just sim through. I'm still using the original DB too.

I'll live vicariously through you guys though.

Qikdraw

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:02 am

Holy Cow, York really must just be easy to injure, or I have terrible luck. 2nd day of pre-season (Inter squad scrimmage) he tears his MCL out 7 months.

(And this is with him on all medium for pre-season training, etc)

Post by **Shadd666** » Fri May 16, 2008 10:08 am

Ooch, this is real bad luck then

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:39 pm

Yeah, that is totally just bad luck. Losing a guy for that long in a preseason scrimmage is like winning the lottery... only the opposite.

OttawaSenatorsRule · Post by **OttawaSenatorsRule** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:45 pm

bruins72 wrote:Yeah, that is totally just bad luck. Losing a guy for that long in a preseason scrimmage is like winning the lottery... only the opposite.

Unless the lottery is first overall pick

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:49 pm

With an season long injury like that one he could be well on his way to getting that first overall pick.

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:45 am

I guess since I haven't even finished playing the training camp he won't be one of my core players! Oh well, it will certainly give me a chance to play a very different team than some of the other guys at least. (I was planning on doing the old rules when I started since this is my first challenge, just taking me a while to get started)

jwh5875 · Post by **jwh5875** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:33 am

Well, I've gotten through my first 5 games of the regular season so far...went 4-2 in the preseason (mostly was tinkering with the lines a bit to see what combos work).

2-3-0 to start the year. Main concern is the penalty kill, which was hovering around the 70% mark.

Anyways, here's what I'm rolling with so far...playing old school.

York - Reinprecht - Doan
Sjostrom - Kaigodorov - Vrbata
Tjarnqvist - Zigomanis - Fischer
Strudwick/Murley/Gratton - Latendresse - Kapanen
Jovanovski - Morris
Ballard - Boynton
Ference - Michalek
Aebischer
Auld

Picked up Strudwick & Ference off of waivers during the preseason..mainly for depth, and they would be better for this team this year than the alternatives...figured I'd let the kids progress a bit more in San Antone instead.

Thankfully, no major injuries to any core players yet (of course now that I said that, watch me end up posting a screen shot of a devastating injury to someone important (like Doan or York)..). Sadly, it's not the case for the entire organization, as the Rampage's Bill Thomas is out for a month with a knee issue.

Oh, with the Shanahan Watch...he was dealt to Nashville with a 5th round pick for Blake Geoffrion and a 7th rounder.

The more I look at this team, the more I think I might actually have a shot at doing something decent...and if not, well, the deadline is going to be really interesting

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:20 pm

A long over due blog entry. I kinda screwed this season up. the spirit of Bobby Clarke took over and i made too many trades.

anyway missed the playoffs by 1 point

well there is always next season

season 2 ]

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:48 am

Too many trades can kill a season. It disrupts team chemistry. I've found it works best to only make a few roster changes each year.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:25 am

Well I finally had time to finish up season 2. I struggled a bit in the last set of games but went into the playoffs leading the conference and 3rd in the league. I had home ice up until the Stanley Cup Finals... which I made it to. I had to face the Presidents Trophy winning Hurricanes in the Finals. They won the first two in Raleigh. Then we went back to the desert. They won game 3 there to lead the series 3-0. In game 4 we pulled off a win to stay in it. Then we won a 6-5 game in Carolina to bring the series to 3-2. Back to Arizona for game 6 and we pull out a big 6-3 win. It's down to game 7 in Raleigh. We've got a little bit of momentum going for us, so we're hoping for the big win. After 2 periods it's tied 2-2. About half way through the 3rd period, it's 3-3. Then the Hurricanes pot 2 goals about 20 seconds apart. We're not able to get anything else past Grahame (Ward is out with a groin strain) and the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup.

So close...