EHM The Blue Line

A player i always go after is Eric Godard. He´s a good fourthliner that drops the gloves often
I often tend to keep him long times and after some time he plays in my thirds checking line. (mostly due to injuries)

Last year he logged 77 games and 714 PIM´s.. This year he´s only allowed and not encouraged to fight

Knoeppel wrote:Last year he logged 77 games and 714 PIM´s..

Um wow? I'll be sure to try him some time, I'm always looking for a good fighter that actually fights.

I had him encouraged to fight all season. I really wanted to kill the current Nhl record for PIM´s, that was at 472 by Dave Schultz in 1974-75. (According to EHM) And jeez if i did

Now i´m going after Tiger Williams record of 3966 PIM´s career record!

But Godard really does something for the team. Maybe not all fight leads to a goal, but it´s seems to raise the momentum for my team, and that what fightings all about

Scott Parker is also a pretty good fighter (at least in EHM) He is something like 20 in strength, 19 in aggression and 18 in hitting.

Chris Dingman fights well, but he has other interesting skills, and so it wouldn't be a good idea to encourage him to fight, as he can play great on the checking line and even have PK duties. However, allow him to fight, and be sure he will protect the guys if needed

Shadd666 wrote: Chris Dingman fights well, but he has other interesting skills, and so it wouldn't be a good idea to encourage him to fight, as he can play great on the checking line and even have PK duties. However, allow him to fight, and be sure he will protect the guys if needed

Oh yes, he will... One of my favorite players in EHM2007 actually - incredibly strong, speedy and comes cheaply (~$500-550K per season). Such a pity, he's probably heading to a retirement in my game (at age of 36 in 2013). I hope he'll decide to be a coach/scout one day, so I can offer him a job with my organization, assuming he has some coaching skills...

My first run-through of the game was with the Florida Everblades, and it got me hooked on getting David Shantz. Young goalie with the Panthers early on, but in a fantasy draft, you can get him pretty near the end, and you can usually get him from the Panthers for pretty cheap in a non-fantasy save.

He was insane for two years in the AHL, 1.78 GAA and .934 save% the first year, and 1.53 and .946 the next year. In his two AHL years, had an insane number of shutouts and wins, set the season records for both and the career record for shutouts. He has an insane early growth, although he seems to peak decently soon. But, I left the team after that, and they rushed his development and probably let go all the good coaches I'd built up.

And, I'm still not sure how I feel about Marvin. I've gotten him in two saves, and he's been a bust both times. I think he might only really take off if he goes to Red Deer, which is hard to get him to do because he never wants to sign an NHL contract at the start, and usually plays a full season for Warroad first.

I've traded for Matthew Lombardi in a few different incarnations and he always develops into a solid 2-3rd line center for me. He comes cheap to when you get him early at age 26. He was floundering with the Flames with about 20 points in a full season. I traded for him and put him on the second line with Mike Cammaleri and Josef Vasicek and he shot up to 18 goals and 72 points.

If you use the TBL updated database, there are a lot of players that will be free agents at the start (even after a fantasy draft) that you want to target because they are out of the league, playing in Russia, etc. A lot of this is because of the attributes being set on 2005-06 stats, which for guys like Esche for example makes him a solid starting goalie despite the fact that he can't keep even an NHL backup job in real life. Move quickly on these guys, because the AI teams will also be going after most of them, and if you have a low reputation/undesirable team (Pens, Coyotes, etc), they probably won't go to you.

Available for year 1:
Dave Scatchard: he will sign for 3 yrs @1.5m. This is definitely worth it, he is a great penalty killer, plays far better than his stats, and has seemed to produce at a point/game pace whenever I have had to use him on a scoring line
Forsberg: It's only really worth it if you have a load of idle cap/budget room in year one and can get him to take a 1 year deal. In that case, why not? He is out into December with a foot injury. I would not sign him to the 4 year, 6m/year deal it sometimes takes though, because of his injury proneness and also because in my experience, he never plays up to his elite attributes when he's on the ice. A great #1 C, but not godlike.
Jason Allison: Usually he wants no more than 3 yrs @2.2m. If you are taking over a team like the Capitals in need of a 1st/2nd line center, definitely is worth it. Whenever I have used him on a scoring line, he's produced like 90-100 pts.
Chris Dingman: talked about ad nauseam early in the thread. The AI teams will heavily go after him too, so you probably need to play as a high rep team to get him
Selanne: Wants 2 yrs @4m. I would pass on this because he seems to be in decline by the start of year one and almost always retires after year one. Take Allison for half the price.
Eric Cairns: also discussed in this thread; excellent #6 D/enforcer that comes dirt cheap

Available for year 2:. Sign these guys ASAP if you want them because the AI teams will start going after them a couple months into the season.

Ossi Vaannenn (sp): Wants 2 yrs @1.8m. Very fast and great defensive defenseman; an excellent #3/4 type guy that can play first line PK. He also almost never asks for over 2m on contract renewals, so I would definitely go after him
Chistov: He will sign for 3 yrs @1m. If you are taking a team that is in desperate need of top 6 forwards, definitely worth a look. He is a great passing type player and will produce if you pair him with a sniper or two. He is terrible defensively, so almost needs to be a 2nd liner paired with 2 power forward type wingers.
Esche: Wants 3 yrs @2.2 m. If you have a team with terrible goalies, or a team that will be losing their starter after year one (Capitals, Red Wings), worth signing. He will be cheaper than trying to sign Kolzig or Theodore after year one and just about as good.
Peter Nedved: Wants 900k/year for 3 years. He will produce for you as a 2nd line center if you have a team that needs top 6 forwards.
Mikka Wiikman: Great goalie prospect that is unsigned at the start. AI teams go hard after him, and he usually seems to go to NJ and suceeds Brodeur
Ville Leino: Decent guy to sign and use as an emergency callup/2nd line center in a pinch. Does not seem to develop significantly, so may be better trade bait than anything, but worth it for a league minimum contract.

jdh79 wrote: Forsberg: It's only really worth it if you have a load of idle cap/budget room in year one and can get him to take a 1 year deal. In that case, why not? He is out into December with a foot injury. I would not sign him to the 4 year, 6m/year deal it sometimes takes though, because of his injury proneness and also because in my experience, he never plays up to his elite attributes when he's on the ice. A great #1 C, but not godlike.

For me Forsberg plays with Ovechkin and Nylander.
First season: 77 games, 47+74 = 121 points.
Second season so far: 25 games, 17+32 = 49 points.

No significant injuries so far.

I originally signed him for 3 years $ 6 250 000 per year. Two years left, no regrets.

I signed Forsberg with the Capitals one year. He played 4 games, then broke his wrist or something and was out for 3 months. Then when he came back around March 1, he had 13 seconds of ice time before straining his groin and missing the rest of the regular season. I have also had him on other teams where he stays healthy but produces more along the 85-90 pt range rather than the elite 100+ pt production you'd expect. Maybe I didn't give him the right linemates or something.

Another guy you want to target and target hard in the TBL database is Robyn Regehr. He is signed for 6 years at only 2.1 million per year and he is a legitimate franchise D-man. He may not be an offensive powerhouse, but he's a great shut down player and can fight too. The Flames are more willing to let him go than then should be, probably because they are loaded at defense and they really want a 1st line center to play between Tanguay and Iginla. If you're taking over a team with a veteran 1st line calibre center, generally they will trade him straight up. (I have had this work with Doug Weight, Robert Lang, Bobby Holik, Sergei Federov (although I had to take back some bad salary)). As long as you want to reduce that salary and can afford to lose the center, it's more than worth it. Usually the center I trade for Regehr goes on to have back to back 100+ pt seasons with the Flames though.

Every new game is a different experience. One player may look good in the first game, first set of tactics, certain linemates, but might not be so good in someone else's game / tactics / lines. That's what makes this a great game - the unpredictability of things to come.

Dave Scatchard's probably the best defensive forward in the game. He's always getting 8's or 9's and scores about 30 to 40 points every season. He's the first player I look for when I need a defensive forward and he's easy to get too, playing for the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL. (I guess he does that in the TBL Roster Update too?) The perfect third-line center, if you ask me.

Scatchard is on the Coyotes in both databases--TBL and original at the beginning of the game, as he should be...at least I AM 99% sure he is.

Dave Scatchard looks to be free agent in the updated database.

batdad wrote:Scatchard is on the Coyotes in both databases--TBL and original at the beginning of the game, as he should be...at least I AM 99% sure he is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Scatchard

"...is currently an Unrestricted Free Agent at the NHL level and has yet to find a new team."

Me and some other guys at a Swedish FM/EHM-site made an other database a while ago and I still update it for my own. So I use neither the original database or TBLs'.

Oh,whoops. my bad.

Was he a UFA at the start of the NHL season? I thought there was this whole big deal with him getting shuffled around and eventually bought out. Or am I remembering wrong? The original database is going to have him where he was at the start of the 06-07 season. The TBL roster updates should have him where he was at the start of the 07-08 season.

Unless, if he was moved to FA after the so called deadline...

I believe he was UFA. But who knows.

Anyone ever sign 36 year old Patrick Lebeau. I believe he had 11 or so NHL games prior to me signing him from the DEL. I'm in my first year with the Predators, he's a great passer and has got 37 points in 32 games, with a team best +8 on my 12th place team. Plays good on the second line with Arnott and Erat.

An update on Lebeau after the first season, not the greatest attributes all around but he played a SOLID season getting second line ice time with my last place team. (rebuilding)

a player i got cheap with the yotes, (using 1.2) was Richard Matvichuk (the devils trying to get rid of him) got him for l1 7th round pick in the 2011 draft (oh this in in 06-07 season) 38 games in he's got 1 goal 20 assists +15 rating around 8 118 hits, 95 takeaways with only 5 giveaways and 68 shot blocks.

With the Coyotes I always try to get Gauthier. He's a good, solid D-man. Great on the PK.

Also, try to sign John Adams from the ECHL. He's around 23 and whilst not a starter just yet he always seems to do well when covering for injured/tired players and all for the league minimum wage.

Have signed LW Kotalik from the Sabres twice now and he's got over 80 pts on the top line both times. He is on around £1.2m a year and has great defensive attributes too.

can someone assist me by giving me some names that can step in in year 2 for chelios since he is leaving.

matt44 wrote:With the Coyotes I always try to get Gauthier. He's a good, solid D-man. Great on the PK.

Also, try to sign John Adams from the ECHL. He's around 23 and whilst not a starter just yet he always seems to do well when covering for injured/tired players and all for the league minimum wage.

Have signed LW Kotalik from the Sabres twice now and he's got over 80 pts on the top line both times. He is on around £1.2m a year and has great defensive attributes too.

I always sign John Adams aswell, as you said is a good depth/fill in guy.