Challenge 13: Nashville Predators (Discussion Thread)

Mikita21 · Post by **Mikita21** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:57 pm

Captcrunch wrote:Where do you look to know how much more time you have to sign a prospect or loose his rights?

Sometimes I get mixed up and I'd like to have a simple list...

Go into the player screen and click on information. In the Details section below it lists his remaining Junior Eligibility. You should also get news items warning you I believe a month before you're going to lose their rights.

Post by **Asher413** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:40 am

Well this challenge has led to another first- I'm getting angry that my team ISN'T losing. Not exactly world beaters, but we've climbed out of the Tavaras basement, and slowly seem to want to challenge for the #5 pick instead...

Of course as always the All-Star game ignores the league leader in points (Arnott), not a big deal, but just baffling why they set up the all-star game almost solely based on rep.

Almost done with the 3rd quarter of the 1st season, and I'm also about to get fired in MIL. I'm so proud of the Admirals board for not connecting that fact that a last place pro team doesn't have any talent to send to a farm team, that has managed to hold onto 5th in their division.

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:46 am

2nd year draft. Boy it was a bad year!

I had to work a lot to find marginal players. At #15 the best I could pick was a 2nd line projected forward...

#15
Maxime Barron
Team: London Knights, OHL
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 18
Height: 5 ft 10
Weight: 205
Consistency: 11
Best stats: Stamina (19), Determination (18)
Worst stats: Creativity (2), Anticipation (5), Faceoff (4), Deking (5), Deflection (5), Slapshot (5), Wristshot (5)
Character: Competitive, Poor Self-belief
Projected career role: Skilled forward, 2nd line potential
Player projection: A more talented version of Daniel Winnick with a smaller frame
Drafting note: Ranked high so I had to pick him early. There were other better players but they were unranked. Good stamina and determination, good rating last season (7.25), better in the playoff (7.59)

#45
Felix-Antoine Poulin
Team: Baie-Comeau Drakar, QMJHL
Position: Left Defense
Shoots: Left
Age: 19
Height: 6 ft
Weight: 183
Consistency: 14
Best stats: Agility (19), Teamwork (17)
Worst stats: Checking (4), Hitting (6), Pokecheck (5), Slapshot (4)
Character: Ambitious, Realist, Poor Self-belief
Projected career role: Mobile defenseman, no 3-4 potential
Player projection: A more talented version of Lukas Krajicek
Drafting note: Unranked and a a pick a bit out of left field but he was the only 2nd pairing defenseman on my shortlist. 19 yr old with good physical stats and determination + teamwork

#75
Matt Macenzie
Team: Prince Albert Raiders, WHL
Position: Right Defense
Shoots: Right
Age: 18
Height: 6 ft 1
Weight: 185
Consistency: 16
Best stats: Agility (15), Work Rate (15), Acceleration (14), Stamina (14), Strength (14)
Worst stats: Deking (6), Aggression (7), Flair (7)
Character: Realist, Independant
Projected career role: Skilled defenseman, no 5-6 potential
Player projection: A poor man's Philippe Boucher
Drafting note: The highest ranked guy on remaining the board, so I had to take a decision to draft him right there, only a third pairing defenseman but I liked his consistency (16) and his Work Rate (16). Good overall stats across the board too for a 18 yr old.

#105
Dean Howard
Team: Sudbury Wolves, OHL
Position: Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Age: 20
Height: 6 ft
Weight: 189
Consistency: 13
Best stats: Acceleration (17), Stamina (17), Determination (19)
Worst stats: Deflection (6), Flair (7), Checking (7)
Character: Unambitious, Competitive, Fickle
Projected career role: Skilled offensive forward, 2nd line potential
Player projection: A poor man's Mike Comrie with a bigger frame
Drafting note: At that point I only had 2 projected 2nd line player left in my list and Dean had the higher consistency (13 vs 4) and a very high determination (19). Bad points include his age (20), his season and playoff ratings (6.65 and 6.42) and his character

#165
Pekka Jormakka
Team: JYP Jrs, Finnish Junior League
Position: Right wing
Shoots: Right
Age: 19
Height: 5 ft 9
Weight: 149
Consistency: 4
Best stats: Acceleration (16), Stamina (17), Determination (16)
Worst stats: Aggression (4), Hitting (6), Off the puck (5), Positioning (3), Slapshot (5)
Character: Honest, Determined, Mercenary, Relaxed
Projected career role: Skilled forward, 2nd line potential
Player projection: Like MArtin Erat with a smaller frame
Drafting note: I almost did not draft him even if he was the last 2nd line potential on my list. At 4 consistency, he's going to be infuriating if he even makes it

#195
Steve Ourson
Team: Red Deer Rebels, WHL
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 18
Height: 5 ft 10
Weight: 183
Consistency: 13
Best stats: Acceleration (15), Speed (16), Determination (15), Teamwork (18)
Worst stats: Deflection (5), Anticipation (7), Deking (7), Positioning (7)
Character: Determined
Projected career role: Quick forward, 3rd line potential
Player projection: Like Alexander Svitov
Drafting note: Out of the last players on my list, there were only 1 18 year old left. I took him.

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:01 am

Off season trades!

Its the end of july, I'm still running after free agents. Nobody wants to sign with me but I did some good trades early in the month.

New arrivals with the big club:

1- Jonas Gustavsson, 25 yr old goalie, is going to battle with Halak for the backup position. Both are then going to battle with the starter to get his job.

2-John Tavares burned the OHL last season and he's going to get some minutes on the 4th line

My objectives this off season:

1- Get a starting goalie to replace Ellis. The guy was ok for me last season (7.62 avg rating) but he was very inconsistent, could not make the key saves, had a 3.30 GAA and a 0.889 SV%. My scouts are projecting a 0.915 SV%... we'll see about that.

2- Replace Erat. Not only he's inconsistent but he costs too much for what he gives me. He also got an injury that could come back (as per my physio)

3- Look for a replacement for Sullivan. I would like to keep him but he got a nagging injury last season that could come back (as per my physio) and he has enough value to land me a real gem.

4- Get dept at the right win if possible.

5- Look for a decent LD/RD (both sides) to get some dept and cover any eventuality of my old warhorse retiring (De Vries)

Limitations:

1- The board thinks star players do not cost more than 1.9 mil a season. I did everything to clear budgets... send all the players I could to the farm, trade high value players for cheap young guys.... they won't budge. Luongo and Nabokov were available and, while Luongo was probably to expensive for me, Nabokov at 4.5 mil was doable since I had the cap space and the budget... alas my board valued him at 1.9 mil...

2- Nobody wants to trade me their starter... well... that's logical.

Trades:

Predators traded Radek Bonk (C) and Steve Sullivan (LW) for Eric Staal.

Ok. Kinda wonky for the LW (Staal is only Competent at the position) but its Eric Staal! A young 25 yr old star! Its going to be a great 1st line with Staal - Arnott - Dumont!

Giving Sullivan hurt but he was old and had a critical injury.I wanted him to retire with the club and being eventually replaced by Wilson but, well, that's hockey. Giving Bonk hurts as well since he was my main defensive center but I have good dept there (with Staal-Arnott-Legwand-Wilson-Tavares-Platonov being natural centers I have a lot of flexibility at that position)

Radek Bonk
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Steve Sullivan
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Eric Staal
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Predator traded Chet Pickard (G), Martin Erat (RW) and Patric Hornqvist (C/RW) for Nikolai Kulemin (LW/RW).

That one is a bit of a gamble. Chet Pickard is a throw in, a goaltender that would never have made the club. Erat was my main trading piece... I wanted to get rid of him for a better option. Hornqvist, though, was great dept and was just coming into his own at 23.

Kulemin, however, is breaking out at 24 without breaking the bank (1.6 mil). Natural/Accomplished LW/RW, he has great stats and he is projected to be a 1st line player. He gives me dept, an option both on the LW and RW and if he develop properly, could be very valuable.

Chet Pickard
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Martin Erat
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Patric Hornqvist
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Nikolai Kulemin
http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... eason2.jpg

Post by **Lidas** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 3:42 pm

Season 4 is just about to start here.
During silly season, I decided to improve team depth, and thus going tier III. I've got plenty of defensemen, so I brought in a LW (Jay Pandolfo), a C (Kyle Turris), and a RW (Darcy Tucker). I was a bit over the cap, but fixed it by waiving de Vries (Columbus took him). I also had one center too much, waived Platonov, and lost him to Dallas. Tootoo and Pihlstrom cleared waivers.

Season 4 here we go...

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:54 am

Well, I finally found my LD/RD dept!

Claimed Nicklas Grossman from waivers. 25 year old defenseman from Sweden, natural/accomplished LD/RD, 1.18 mil a season, 13 of consistency and better than either Zanon or Klein.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu12 ... ossman.jpg

Goalies are still Ellis and Halak since I am going to let Gustavsson learn the NA game in the AHL a bit before calling him up. We'll see who gets better in 20 games.

We beat the Blackhawks 10-2 in our home opener. I reduced the 1st line shift to 40 since I have more dept but I'll turn it back up if I need a boost.

1st line:

Staal - Arnot - Dumont
Kulyash - Weber

2nd line

Hartnell - Legwand - Kulemin
Suter - De Vries

3rd line

Pihlstrom - Wilson - Thuresson
Hamhuis - Grossman

4th line

Platonov - Tavares - Belak

1st PP

Staal - Arnott - Dumont
Kulyash - Wilson

2nd PP

Hartnell - Legwand - Kulemin
Tavares - Weber

Starting to look good!

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:19 am

Season #3 is over. We managed to keep our level up pretty well for the latter half of the season too. Preds was even leading the conference for a while (somewhere between 55th and 61th games), but after the trade deadline our competitors improved their playing and we dropped back to third place.

There was some major trades done in February (I was watching and biting my nails...). Especially defensemen were moving busily. Rags acquired Scott Niedermayer, Pengs traded Ponikarovsky and A. Miettinen to Ottawa for Derek Morris, Sabres got Colin White and Adrian Aucoin, Kings traded for Kimmo Timonen, Ducks acquired Willie Mitchell, Tobias Enström went to Philly, Canes got Ron Hainsey and Chris Phillips in one deal, Wild traded for Dan Boyle, Blue Jackets got Karel Rachunek, Flyers got Sergei Gonchar, Blues traded for Brian Campbell, Canes got Paul Martin, Blue Jackets went for Christian Ehrhoff, Sharks got Shaone Morrisonn, Habs acquired Nick Boynton, Oilers got Anton Volchenkov and Blue Jackets dealt Mike Van Ryn to Devils for Johnny Oduya (and a pick). I could've been interested in some of those guys too, Martin and Ehrhoff for instance.
There were also some "better" forwards on the move, Heatley and Cole on the top of them. Dany went to Philly and Wild got Erik.

In the regular season I was pretty happy with the roster and with my lines. There was some minor injuries along the way so the lines were (obviously) in a constant change, but this is how they looked like in the last games of the regular season (Hagman, Wilson and Hamhuis were out with injuries):

Hossa - Getzlaf - Dumont
Jessiman - Legwand - Ortmeyer
Ellison - Platonov - Tootoo
Pihlström - Shafigulin - Ward

Kulyash - Weber
Suter - Strålman
Zanon - Hale

Theodore
Rämö

I used Hagman as the 1st or 2nd line LW, Wilson either as the 1st line LW or the 4th line C and Hamhuis used to challenge Zanon for the 3rd pair LD place.

Getzlaf's 102 points in 58 regular season games with us was way more that I dared even dream of. Jessiman's first whole season with Preds was a big success too, he ended up being 2nd best in points after regular season with 91 points. But after all it was Weber who made me happiest of all, as getting the "C" on his chest made him improve significantly from last season. He was now undoubtedly the no 1 d-man of the team and was also leading team with his +37 rating.

What comes to disappointments, Legwand was underachieving badly both in the end of the regular season and in the playoffs. His attributes haven't dropped but he was almost the only forward whose attributes weren't on the green either. I must make some adjustments in my coaching staff and/or in our training schedule already in off-season, me think. And it seems that Anton Strålman wasn't ready to play in NHL for the whole season yet, I just have to hope he takes a step (or two) forwards before the next season.

After trading for Rämö our goalie situation looks much brighter. Theodore was our starting goalie this season and he went 32-15-3 as Rämö's stats were 14-8-3. There is much to improve though (in both goaltending and defense), as GAA for both of them was over 3.50 and they were both left under 0.900 in SV%. Anyway we should try to reduce the amount of shots on goal against (but then, who shouldn't?) as we were 22nd in it and 26th in goals against in regular season.

There are some obvious needs in the roster but as the playoff games brought up more of them, I'll get back to that topic in my next posting.

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:29 am

I played my challenge game during the time I did a exam, I got all stats for season 4 recorded, but I now forgot to put them on the computer in the house that got internet workingm I got them on my laptop. So I will post my stats later today.

eternium85 · Post by **eternium85** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:39 am

In my game in season 4 it's nice to see Maple Leafs being one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They're currently 2nd after 64 games played with 82 points. They have really put up a strong defensive corps with Scott Niedermayer, Tomas Kaberle, Kim Johnsson, John-Michael Liles, Mike Commodore, Dennis Wideman, Freddy Meyer, Anton Strålman, Steve McCarthy and Denis Grebeshkov. So they even have nice depth if someone gets injured.

They also have quite impressive centers with Tavares, Saku Koivu, Grabovsky and Antoine Vermette. Then add to that wingers Stempniak, Parrish, Kulemin, Erat and Jiri Tlusty and you've got a pretty solid two offensive lines. With Toskala in the net I think they'll be a noteworthy contender to winning the Cup this season. Don't know about the future because there are several guys who are getting old and/or will be UFA in the summer.

mulla14 · Post by **mulla14** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:18 pm

1 goal away from beating the red wings in the conference semi's in my second season!! it would have been a fairy tale after coming from 3 games behind against second ranked sharks in the first round to win 4-3 and then that close to beaten number one ranked red wings!! and without kolzig for the last 4 months!! all i need is a second goalie and sir stanley here i come!!

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:54 pm

Predators – Admirals – Cyclones News, spring 2009

Preds, playoffs 2008-09

Predators didn’t have any significant injuries when playoffs started, but David Legwand’s situation was concerning coaches. Legwand had somehow vanished from the game in the last games of the regular season and the same thing seemed to go on in playoffs. Eventually, in playoffs he didn’t score a single point. I’m not sure if there was or is something wrong with his training or what, his attributes were all on grey in spring, whereas almost all other forwards’ attributes were developing. I'm going to pay attention at his training after the summer, that's for sure.

We decided that in the series against the Canucks we must play more defensively and carefully than in the regular season. Canucks had two dangerous offensive lines, especially their first line D. Sedin – O.Jokinen – S.Gagner was capable of scoring goals if given any room and opportunity at all. And R.Luongo in the net was going to be difficult to pass by.
The results of the games were 2-3, 3-2 ot, 1-3, 1-2, 2-1 and 2-4, so we lost the series to the Canucks 2-4. But as the results shows, they were tight games and I think we did well, considering that ’Nucks went all the way to the Cup and lost only three times in the rest of their games (twice on regular time and once on ot). In the series we were lacking one or two scoring snipers and one line capable of shutting down opponents best line. Hagman, Hossa, Wilson and Dumont weren’t good enough scoring goals and Shafigulin, Ortmeyer, Hale and Hamhuis couldn’t stop Canucks’ goal scoring. But I think Theodore wasn’t the one to blame, he improved his rates from the regular season a lot, his GAA was 2.65 (3.52 in the regular season), his SV% was 0.911 (0.892) and his AvR was 9.17 (7.81). In the next season I aim to have one big and nasty stay-at-home d-man and some defensive forwards to reduce the pressure at our goal and I’m sure we are going to see Jose Two-or-less before it’s time for him to give room for Karri Rämö. I also am going to bring in some good goalie coaches in Predators and maybe in Admirals and Cyclones too.

Admirals, end of the regular season 2008-09

Admirals hired a new GM in March 8th, over a month after they had fired my second incarnation. This time they should know I’m serious, as the new GM’s name is Will Kane. Admirals was last in their division after season and they had to be really close being the last of the whole league.
There hasn’t been any big changes in the team this far except departure of Nolan Yonkman. He was the best defenseman of the team, but he was also the most expensive player of it, so now Admirals aren’t any more over their player budget and that may help Kane in keeping his position a little longer.

Cyclones, spring 2009

When Admirals were struggling badly whole season, Cyclones were dominating ECHL in spring. Lake Erie Monsters won the regular season, but Cyclones were first in their division and eventually also won the Kelly Cup. Most of the players in the roster were under contract to Predators so there are some promising youngsters to come in few years. Especially G Jeremy Smith was convincing and is going to start in Milwaukee next season.

Awards after season

In NHL D Shea Weber and C Ryan Getzlaf were chosen into First All-Star Team and C Colin Wilson was chosen into Rookie All-Star Team. Getzlaf won Art Ross and Hart Trophies and was the first runner up for Maurice ’Rocket’ Richard, Wilson took Calder Trophy and Weber was the first runner up for James Norris Trophy.
In ECHL C Ryan Duncan was chosen into First All-Star Team, D Jyri Niemi into Second All-Star Team and C Brett Theberge into Rookie All-Star Team. Theberge is drafted by Predators in 2007 Entry Draft (round 4, #101). Head Coach Nick Vitucci won Coach of the Year Award, Niemi was first runner up for John A. Daley Trophy, Duncan won Kelly Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award and G Jeremy Smith and W Viktor Sjödin were the runner ups. Both Smith and Sjödin are under contract to Preds, both were drafted 2006.
In WHL D Alex Theriau won Bill Hunter Trophy and W Cole Penner won Bob Clarke Trophy and was the first runner up for Four Broncos Trophy and Star Player Award and second runner up for Doug Wickenheiser Trophy.

Post by **Lidas** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:35 pm

Season 4 trades done, including one huge blockbuster.

Ive never coached this guy before...

Nashville trade Thomas Vanek and Jordin Tootoo for Alexander Ovechkin (not injured)
(Fans celebrated, but many players became unhappy with the departure of Vanek)

- which brought me above the salary cap, so I needed to do a dump:
Nashville trade J-P Dumont and Kevin Klein for Marek Svatos
(Back under the cap again, but the fans raged and the board became worried with Dumont's department)

Going to be an interesting 4th season. I'll be back with season 4 lineups tomorrow. Time to go to bed.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:47 pm

Lidas wrote:Season 4 trades done, including one huge blockbuster.

Ive never coached this guy before...

Nashville trade Thomas Vanek and Jordin Tootoo for Alexander Ovechkin (not injured)
(Fans celebrated, but many players became unhappy with the departure of Vanek)

- which brought me above the salary cap, so I needed to do a dump:
Nashville trade J-P Dumont and Kevin Klein for Marek Svatos
(Back under the cap again, but the fans raged and the board became worried with Dumont's department)

Going to be an interesting 4th season. I'll be back with season 4 lineups tomorrow. Time to go to bed.

Nice job landing Ovechkin!

I've only landed him once before in a challenge. Way back in the Columbus Blue Jackets challenge I was able to get him for a recently drafted Ryan Wilson. I can't remember if there was anyone else involved in the trade but Wilson was the centerpiece on my side.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:51 pm

Almost finished with season 3. I've been so busy lately that I've fallen behind.

I'm really dreading when I'm going to have to part with Arnott. My Michalek - Arnott - Dumont line is really clicking. I've got Wilson ready to join us next season. Lucic is finally starting to come into his own. He's been riding the 2nd line (and 2nd PP) for most of the season but he's also seen some 3rd and 4th line duty. He's been holding on to that 2nd line spot for a bit now. He's earning it. His attributes may not look impressive but he's starting to score for me.

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:59 pm

Predators – Admirals – Cyclones News, offseason 2009

NHL Entry Draft 2009

In this year’s draft we were looking especially for a good center or two. I thought we had enough depth in goalies and in defense too, so in addition to the centers I decided to search for some promising wingers too. And when the drafting started, I first picked up (we had pick no 24) defenseman, of course. Well, I have said earlier that the on the first rounds (maybe two or three) I decide more by the rankings and on the later rounds I choose by the player position and attributes. And that’s what happened this time too. So, here are my picks:
#24 LD Olivier McCrae CAN
#54 C Sergio Burgener SUI
#84 C/LW Henric Åhlund SWE
#114 RW Stefan Troliga SVK
#144 RW Nathan Smith CAN
#174 C Patrick Matheson CAN
#204 LW Riley Boychuk CAN

McCrae was ranked 10th so I just had to pick him when he still was available after 23 picks. He is a bit smallish (and that may be the reason he didn’t get picked earlier) but I think I’m going to offer him contract next May, if his season goes well. Same goes with Burgener and Åhlund, they were the ones Barry Trotz recommended to me after training camp. Boychuk is a little older, he is 20 now and he may also get a contract offer after season. He would be ready for the minor league games in season 2010-11, if he develops well this season.

The level of the players in the Draft was pretty poor and what was most peculiar in it was that there were just three Canadian players drafted on the first round and no Americans at all.

Preds’ UFA signing process

As I said earlier, we needed good defensive forwards, scary stay-at-home d-man and maybe more than anything some goal scoring skills in our roster. As there were players suitable for all those roles I made whole bunch of offers. Most of the superb d-men were out of my reach because of the wage they were asking. Instead there were a couple of good forwards available such as Martin St.Louis. I offered him a contract and he accepted it, but when it was time to response to him, our board didn’t let me to do anything as they thought the deal was unrealistic! So it became clear to me that I wasn’t going to get anyone whose reputation was superb as the board wouldn’t let me to sign them anyway. So all there was left was the defensive forwards –plan and I signed Blair Betts and Rob Niedermayer. Now I’m just hoping they can make the difference and help my team to win since I’m able to make some trades to improve my offense.

Preds’ RFA signing

From early March I tried to re-sign Shea Weber whose contract was expiring in summer. He wasn’t interested to negotiate a new deal even when I offered him nearly 6 M per year for three years with a no-trade clause. When his contract ended he then asked some 2,6 M per year for two years. His wage was 4 M in his old contract and he was and is our captain, so the only thing I was waiting when I offered him what he asked was that our board would have stopped me because of the unrealistiness of the whole negotiations.

New staff in Predators and in farm teams

Assistant GM Paul Fenton’s contract expired in the end of June. I offered him a new contract, but he was asking so much more that he didn’t accept my offer. Scout Andrej Cicman’s situation was same as Fenton’s. He was asking much more than I could accept. That seems to be the pattern with European scouts all the time. In June I also fired our Assistant Coach Mitch Korn because I thought we needed a better goalie coaching.
I hired Norm Maciver as our new Assistant GM. He’s got good attributes and he wasn’t too expensive. I hired too new scouts too, they are Gus Badali and Scott Mellanby. Badali was working in Germany so I thought he’ll going to take care of scouting Central Europe. And then I hired two new Assistant Coaches. Darren Pang came from Gwinnett and he will be responsible of goalie coaching. Max Esposito was unemployed and he was hired to bring more vision especially in defensive skills coaching.

Admirals hired one new Assistant Coach too, Shane Clifford is goalie coach and it’s his task to take care that Jeremy Smith and our other goalie prospects keep developing well.

In Cyclones there was one major change as the Head Coach Nick Vitucci didn’t want to continue coaching there another season. Fortunately Archie Tuttle was able to find a good, new Head Coach quickly, Dan Bylsma had been unemployed from the beginning of the year when he was fired from Penguins Head Coach job and he was very eager to get back working again.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:40 pm

Let me know how Niedermeyer turns out for you. I picked him up while testing these rules with the Isles, and he did not produce nearly the same way for me as I expected him to based on his past performance.

Closing in on the 60-game mark, and was able to pull off my first blockbuster trade in this challenge - and it only took four years!

To Chicago:

D Simon Despres
RW Joel Ward
G Jeremy Smith

To Nashville:

LW Ilya Kovalchuk

Smith has been highly disappointing with a 4.03 GAA and saving only 87% of the shots he faced in his second year of AHL play (68 total games), and oft-injured as well. Ward was stuck on my third line behind Dumont and Jessiman (who is playing way over his head, but fits well into my system). Despres was hard to give up. He's played well offensively (3-15-18) in 58 games with a whopping +25 on the second pairing. He was also leading the team in PIMs and had a habit of being in the box when giving up goals on the opposing power play. However, you need to give something to get something, and Kovalchuk (assuming I can resign him) will be a phenomenal complement to Steve Sullivan's scoring touch this season, and a replacement for him the next.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:52 pm

WOW! Nice trade! I think you definitely got the better end of that deal! Kovalchuk was a UFA in my game going into season 3. I tried to sign him but I couldn't offer enough. He ended up going to the Blues. I bet I could've traded with them and got him if I had saved a trade for the deadline. The Blues are currently near the bottom of the league. They would've been pleased to unload his contract. Maybe I'll be able to land him in the offseason. I don't know that I'd go after him though. I'm really liking Michalek as my top LW.

Post by **Lidas** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:38 am

Awesome trade to get Kovalchuk, jbsnadb.

Here are the lines I'm running now that S4 has started.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:17 am

Needed to give up in order to move on. I don't want to relinquish the top conference seed. After landing Kovy just before the Olympic break, I solidified my defense at the deadline:

To Pittsburgh:

LW James Neal

To Nashville:

D Karel Rachunek

I was so glad to get Neal at the deadline the year before, but I was able to give up some of my left wing depth with Brett Connolly and Peter Holland developing nicely, and Raffi Torres signed to a new 2-year extension. With Kovalchuk in the fold, Neal was relegated to the 4th line. Kovalchuk, BTW, is 11-8-19 and a +10 in his first 7 games as a Pred, with a solid 10.00 rating.

Time will tell if the deal was good overall for the team, but we're currently on a 5 game roll, doing it mostly without the services of Evgeni Nabokov, who is out with a groin strain. Sebastien Caron has been the best UFA signing I've had since the challenge began. With him as my #2, I am no longer concerned about throwing a backup in there. He's been beyond solid, posting a 14-8-2 record in 27 games with a 3.37 GAA (slightly inflated after back to back high-scoring contests).

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:20 am

Lidas,

Interesting choice using Suter on the penalty kill, since he has always struck me as an offensive-minded d-man. Until recently, he and Greg Zanon were the only members of my squad with a negative plus/minus.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:28 am

Should've kept my mouth shut.

Next game up, Caron gives up 4 goals in 5 shots to the frickin' Avalanche! Ends Kovalchuk's goal streak at 6.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:43 am

Guess I'll give this a shot, I need a new game to run during the slow times at work and I'll be hanging around the board to follow my TBL "Star" anyway. Good timing on the deadline being moved back.

Just finished up training camp for S1, here are my likely lines for opening night:

G
Ellis
Dekanich

Rinne was awful and he hasn't even started a game in the AHL after being sent down. I intend to only manage practices for the AHL squad and leave the rest up to the head coach so hopefully Rinne can impress him eventually.

D
Hamhuis-Weber
Suter-deVries
Zanon/Koistinen-Belak/Zanon

Koistinen was injured for the entire camp so I'll have to assess his performance at the start of the season.

F
Sullivan-Arnott-Dumont
Ellison-Legwand-Erat
Platonov-Bonk-Ortmeyer
Fiddler/Tootoo-Nichol/Fiddler-Tootoo/Belak

The fourth line makeup depends on if Belak has to stay at D or not. Nichol really didn't show enough in camp to play at all but he might have to do. I'm trying to teach Tootoo to play LW in case Belak is freed up for forward duties.

I intend to roll all four lines equally at 40/40/30/30 second shifts for starters, no line matching. If the third line puts up a decent +/- I'll consider matching 1v3-2v2-3v1-4v4. D-usage will be set to normal.

Apart from Ellison and Platonov I also signed Wilson and sent him back to his junior team after camp. I feel like a bit of an ass robbing the kid of an education by fooling him into thinking he'd be a core player for the Preds this season but he looks like a lock for the NHL a few years down the line so hopefully I haven't ruined his future.

Tried to sign Kulyash and Radulov but they didn't bite. I'll probably try to bring Kulyash over for season two.

The goalie situation is obviously a disaster but other than that the roster looks pretty ok to me apart from Legwand and Erat being overpaid. Maybe I'll change my mind during the first season.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:17 pm

Welcome to the challenge!

The first year will be full of turmoil and cursing at your goalies for doing their best imitation of sieves, but after that you will have a blast shaping this team for the future. Who knows, you might be like tbug and win the whole darn thing in the second season!

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:04 pm

Five games in and we are 1-4-0 after a win over the Isles in game five. Our PP is at 2.5% and the PK at 73.7% so I'd say there is some room for improving special teams... The good news is that Ellis is at .907 SV% so far.

Time to simplify the PP into more of a go to the net and hope the puck bounces off a skate style and see if that works better.

Koistinen will stay with the big club. Nichol will center the fourth line for the next five games in place of Fiddler who has a rating of 5.40 so far.

Game 1-5 results: 3-4, 3-10, (PK tactics tweak), 0-1, 1-3, 2-1.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:36 pm

Marsac wrote:Guess I'll give this a shot, I need a new game to run during the slow times at work and I'll be hanging around the board to follow my TBL "Star" anyway. Good timing on the deadline being moved back.

Glad to see you back in the challenges! I was a bit surprised when I didn't see you in this one to start.