Coyotes Challenge 10 Discussion Topic

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Fri May 30, 2008 5:16 pm

I'm still playing season I and I'm pretty shure I'll be able to play three seasons max before the deadline. I started late, I've played slowly and what else even could have happened next? The graphics card of my PC stopped working and the computer was out of order nearly two weeks. Today I got it back and now I think I'm gonna play all night long and make backups after every half hours, so I can use my other computer if this one stops working again.

My Coyotes are in a deep slump right now and I'm afraid we are not going to make it to the playoffs. Guys just can't score and although special teams are well and defense doesn't totally suck, we are losing most of our games. If only it was summer already, I would like to get to the draft and pick some new and exciting players in to my team!

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Sat May 31, 2008 3:15 am

More Blog

"the last stage of any mobilization is the children, the seed corn"
- Timothy Hutton, Taps

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:03 pm

Games 40-60 went OK, finally climbed out of the basement to step over the wild. Now i'm trying to finish out the season while doing the part I really hate, gameplanning my roster for next season. Resigned Auld and Abby for cheap, York was a cheap resign since he's been on the bench all season, so that's good.

I moved Kaigorodov from my 2nd line to my 1st to play with Doan and Sjostrom, and he's started to excell (Even on the PP2 which he has just Sjostrom on) Abby and Auld are posting save percentages of .915 or so, but we are just letting too many shots on goal and losing games by 1 goal margins most of the time

And then of course, Boynton tears his UCL in game 60

He'd missed a couple of other games to minor injuries, but was going to make his game played with no issues but now he's out for 4 months

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:17 am

I started to blog again - let's see how it goes this time!

Here's the link.

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:56 pm

kuulapaa wrote:I started to blog again - let's see how it goes this time!

Here's the link.

your blog is blank

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:46 pm

best season so far... it was fun

Blog

Corrected your URL tag so that it works properly - Shadd

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:59 pm

please mods fix the above..since we can't edit in the challenge forum

Danke!

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:46 am

bigargon wrote:
kuulapaa wrote:I started to blog again - let's see how it goes this time!

Here's the link.
your blog is blank

To it's contents it may be, but you shouldn't put it so harsh. I haven't said anything of your blog either.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:33 pm

Season 2: NTNB recap

Well...I won the cup! I surprised myself. David Aebischer has become a star. Wow! Who would have thunk. Vrbata as streaky as he is was awesome! Doan is a leader. The team performed very well in the playoffs in all 3 zones.

One of my draft picks was awesome in junior. Casey Pierro-Zabotel is a surprise waiting to happen for me. As a WHL rookie with the Calgary Hitmen Zabotel won:

1. WHL all star votes to make the team
2. WHL playoff MVP
3. Played in the Mem Cup and was the runner up.
4. Named to CHL all rookie team.

Impressive. Lets see how is next year goes! But as a 2nd round pick, this was well beyond my dreams.

Reg season 72 games 20-25-45 avg rating: 7.56
WHL playoff 21 games 14-15-29 avg rating: 7.95
Memorial Cup: 5games 3-3-6 avg rating: 8.80

The bigger the games, the better he played. Interesting.

Next up will be my draft. Not sure if I did well or not (have done it but will post later)

Some decisions to be made:

I am not resigning:

Tjarnqvist
Kapanen
Fischer
Winnik
Murley
Latendresse
Surovy

I have to make up my mind on Zigomanis still. And I have no choice but to bring back Roche and Weller for one more season, as my d-core on the farm is a bit thin.

Also competition for my roster for 09 should be strong. Redenbach, Jones, Yandle, Lisin, Gratton, Leneveu, Thomas and Cherepanov and Hanzal could all be in the running. Lisin looks like the homegrown.

Mueller--ended up gettting called up and sticking with the big club. So I cannot use him as a homegrown. Oh well, in 38 games he scored 8-25-33 with an average rating of 7.50 so I am happy anyway. Way better than Zig, Kap, Tjarn, Perrault...so he deserved to be there.

On to 2008-09!!!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:41 pm

batdad wrote: One of my draft picks was awesome in junior. Casey Pierro-Zabotel is a surprise waiting to happen for me. As a WHL rookie with the Calgary Hitmen Zabotel won:

Did you sign him and then send him down to the Calgary Hitmen? In my game he's playing for Michigan Tech. The Penguins actually drafted him in the 5th round. Isn't it crazy how random a player's potential can be?

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:42 pm

Yep. Signed him and sent down. What is funny about your game is in real life..Zabotel is a Pens draft pick.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:50 pm

Really? That is kind of funny.

So I looked him up on HockeyDB and he was drafted closer to where you picked him (he was a 3rd rounder in real life). The funny thing is, he plays for the Vancouver Giants in real life. I don't know how he ended up in the NCAA in the game. As for his junior team, I'm assuming his rights were traded at some point since the DB was made.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:55 pm

Casey was committed to Michigan tech in real life. giants had his WHL rights. But he did not get the grades to get the ride to Michigan Tech, so this season he chose to sign with the Giants and decided not to go to school. Right decision for him. Hitmen did have his rights at one time I Think in real life (not 100% on this) but because he was committed to school they dropped him to make room for guys more likely to play with them. Then when Vancouver found out he was not gonna get to go to school..they grabbed him as once noone has his rights, anyone could pick him up.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:00 pm

Cool. So at least there's some sense to all of what we're seeing then. It looks like he did pretty good in his real life season with Vancouver too. I'm assuming that's part of the reason you drafted him?

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:03 pm

No not really. I just saw his name and his numbers and my scout reports. And I went...hmmm... Yeah I know his name, and yeah he was decent in Vancouver IRL...but Lucic is awesome in real life and I have never made a trade for him in the game.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:16 pm

That's because Lucic sucks in EHM. It's a real shame. I can't tell you how many times I've fired up a Bruins game wishing I could make use of him.

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:49 pm

kuulapaa wrote:
bigargon wrote:
kuulapaa wrote:I started to blog again - let's see how it goes this time!

Here's the link.
your blog is blank
To it's contents it may be, but you shouldn't put it so harsh. I haven't said anything of your blog either.

I only replied because, it thought it might have been a accident, that it was blank. I ment no harshness.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:44 am

Yesterday I decided it was finally time to pick the Yotes game back up after the disaster that was season three.

As I posted earlier the board of directors decided to can my ass at the end of the season and I had to add myself back in and lose all my scouting reports as well as my shortlist so the first order of business was to try and salvage the upcoming draft. I set five of my scouts to scouting a position each of the draft class on normal intensity and kept the rest for in-depth scouting. I then looked at all the players who got a three star rating or better and got detailed reports on anyone who I deemed to have promising attributes.

All in all the draft went pretty well considering the circumstances but despite my naff season I wasn't lucky enough to win the Tavares lottery (not that I'm short on C talent). Instead I ended up having the #3 overall pick behind the Red Wings and Islanders. I went into the draft looking primarily for a LW prospect and a few defencemen.

Unsurprisingly the Red Wings selected Tavares. The Islanders on the other hand went for the #7 ranked RD/LD Mihail Latal who looked great to me as well until I saw his consistency rating of 6. When it was my turn to pick I was looking at a C ranked at #2, a certain Cze goalie with 20 reflexes and flair ranked at #3 and LW/C Cass Mappin ranked at #4.

Since I already had a solid core of young centermen in Kaigorodov, Pestunov, Mueller and Redenbach I decided not to go for the top ranked player. The flashy goalie had a stunning determination of 6 and a consistency of 5 so he was a no-go. Besides I already had a round one goalie prospect from the last draft.

So my first round pick was Cass Mappin who looks to me like he will be a solid power forward in a few years and my scouts seem to agree, saying he has key potential and comparing him to a more talented Josef Vasicek.

In round two I selected flashy C Jean Messier ranked at #20. He loves to throw his weight around and ended the season with 310 hits in 68 games playing for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. My scouts say he has key potential and compare him to a more talented Mike Sillinger.

Round three gave me my first D-man of this draft in the form of #107 RD Mathew Fleury. An offensive defenceman my scouts can't seem to agree on if he is depth, core or key material. They all say he's a bigger, better version of Michalek though.

The last ranked player I selected was #152 LD Marc-Ancré Bourdon in the fourth round who had solid ratings last season and 232 hits in 70 games.

Rounds 5-7 saw me draft three overage, unranked players. LD Kyle Perry who has depth potential and is compared to Ryan Whitney, RW/C Brett Breitkreuz with depth potential and 266 hits in 70 games and RW/C Phil Gervais who has depth potential and good mental attributes.

Expect a training camp and prospect update sometime during this week.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:10 pm

Well since I'm stuck at work waiting for a phonecall I guess I might as well do the training camp post now.

Preseason

Sjöström
Lisin
Carcillo

I dont know how he does it, it sure isn't his technical attributes, but Sjöström keeps putting up solid points and ratings. 8.0 avg rating sharing the team lead with Morris and 7 goals in 11 games, all this while getting no special teams time.
Carcillo only got 4 games in but managed a 7.5 rating (and 19 PIM) and secured a spot on the fourth line.
Lisin is well on his way to becoming a star performer leading the team in goals and points with 8+5 as well as stealing the second line and first PP RW spot from Vrbata.

Preseason

York
Vrbata
Auld

York and Vrbata were awful at the start of the preseason getting 5 and 6 ratings all over the place but after I shuffled the lines a bit things seemed to turn around for them so I hope it lasts. Vrbata was dropped to the third line and given a slightly different role (by personal tactics). York switched places with Sjöström to give the second line a much needed defensive presence.
Auld was terrible in net, scoring a 5 rating and getting pulled in three of his five starts. He ended the preseason with a 3.94GAA and .847 save%.

Opening night lineup (assuming no practice injuries):
Sjöström-Kaigorodov-Doan
York-Pestunov-Lisin
Hanzal-Mueller-Vrbata
Carcillo-Redenbach-Zigomanis

Jovanovski-Morris
Michalek-Boynton
Yandle-Roche

Aebischer
Auld

Players entering the final year of their contracts:
Jovanovski - probably has to be resigned at any cost, we have noone else near worthy of a top pairing LD spot
Auld and Aebischer - one of them will be resigned and backed up by LeNeveu next season, the other will be gone
Carcillo - will likely be resigned since I don't really have any LWs knocking on the NHL door
Kaigorodov - likely to be resigned but for what role remains to be seen
Michalek - turning UFA so it's really up to him, would like to keep him though
Roche - depends on prospect development
Sjöström - if he keeps up his preseason performance I'll have no choice but to resign this enigma

Post by **Manimal** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:31 pm

I've started my Coyotes game now and it's hard. Really hard. I'm gonna have to do some drastic changes whence the trading is allowed. The team is not performing well, at all.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:08 pm

Honestly, your best bet would be to take a good read through any and all threads here concerning tactics. The team can win the roster you start with as long as you have the right tactics. I've seen more people playing NTNB (No Trade No Budget) with better records than people playing old school rules.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:28 am

I played the first five games of season four yesterday and got off to a good start with three straight wins. I lost the next two but only by a one goal margin so it's not a disaster yet. I also forgot to mention that I replaced Wayne in the offseason to give the team a fresh start for this season.

I've now signed Jovanovski to a three year extension (with a no-trade clause) at his current salary so the top LD spot is secured for the rest of the challenge. Speaking of Jovanovski, he played all of 1:24 in the first game before getting himself thrown out and suspended for one game.

I missed Vrbata in the contract year writeup but he probably won't get resigned with Lisin developing so well. My first round pick from 2007, Brett MacLean, should be able to take a RW spot next year as well. Vrbata seems determined to prove me wrong and earn an extension though as he's leading the team in goals, assists and points right now.

Post by **Manimal** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:49 am

bruins72 wrote:Honestly, your best bet would be to take a good read through any and all threads here concerning tactics. The team can win the roster you start with as long as you have the right tactics. I've seen more people playing NTNB (No Trade No Budget) with better records than people playing old school rules.

Thanks for the tip! I'm reworking my tactics now and I'll hope they fit my team. I still think I'm gonna do some trade. I have a goalie too much as well. I picked up a couple of big bodys from waivers, Chad KIlger and Jason Strudwick. The Coyotes were too small.Also looking to replace Perreault and Kapanen

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:08 pm

First 20 games of season four are now complete. We start this season with a 10-8-2 record, far from great but certainly not useless. If I can just get the PP working at a decent rate I think we will have a good shot at a playoff spot.

I changed the tactics from "shoot first and ask questions later" to more of a "do not fire until fired upon" kind of approach and it seems to be working fairly well. If the PP wasn't so useless I'd be very happy with the new system.

Doan and Lisin are currently injured so I've called up Blake Wheeler and Gratton as stand-ins. Gratton has gotten his ass kicked twice in five games so far so he's right back on track for being an useless enforcer.

I just checked up on how my prospects are doing and it's not looking all bad.

2007
#17 RW Brett MacLean, AHL: 15gp 5g 4a, 15 checking, 15 wristshot, 14 deking, 14 passing, 14 slapshot
#20 LD Yakov Seleznev, AHL: 15gp 1g 8a, 14 pokecheck, 13 checking, 13 positioning
#42 LW Matthew Kang, ECHL: 9gp 7g 7a, 14 deflections, 13 passing, 13 wristshot
#137 G Juha Toivonen, ECHL: 3gp 0.34gaa .983sv%, 13 glove, 13 rebound control
#167 RW Brett Leffler, ECHL: 9gp 7g 3a, 13 hitting

2008
#11 G Dalyn Flette, WHL: 19gp 1.77gaa .925sv%, 13 recovery
#41 C Philip McRae, OHL: 16gp 10g 13a
#43 RD Bernie Stevens, WHL: 21gp 3g 11a
#71 RW/LW Dale Hunt, WHL: 18gp 5g 8a, 13 deking
#161 LD Bohdan Wishnak, ECHL: 9gp 1g 7a, 13 all but deking and faceoffs

2009
#3 LW/C Cass Mappin, WHL: 19gp 7g 15a, 13 faceoffs
#33 C Jean Messier, OHL: 21gp 5g 10a
#63 RD Mathew Fleury, QMJHL: 21gp 3g 5a
#93 LD Marc-Ancré Bourdon, QMJHL: 24gp 4g 13a
#183 RW/C Phil Gervais, WHL: 20gp 18g 10a

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:06 am

Two players of mine just had record setting games, Lisin with four goals and Carcillo with 29 PIM.

On the subject of young Yotes players, how is Benn Ferriero developing for everyone else?
Here he is two months into season 4 for me:
Benn Ferriero