EHM The Blue Line

I'm just coming up to my draft now, I've signed Wheeler, Mueller, Lisin, Hanzal, Krysanov, Pestunov. All prospects, so hopefully a few can step up and contribute right away. I also fired Gretsky, and replaced him with Constantine.

You got Constantine to sign on as coach? I've never been able to get that guy to budge... in any game I've played. He's never wanted to leave where he is.

bruins72 wrote:You got Constantine to sign on as coach? I've never been able to get that guy to budge... in any game I've played. He's never wanted to leave where he is.

He wasn't signed to anybody guess I got lucky?

Just finished my draft, very happy with my selections.

Once the injury problems got mostly sorted we battled our way back to a .50 record, and took an extra win for good measure, going 8-1-1 for games 51-60 and ending up fifth in the conference.

Kaigorodov returned for game 58 and scored three points in three games. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do down the stretch.

Annoyance award: Auld - playing like a god after I signed Aebischer to a big three year extension.
Payday award: Aebischer - increasing his salary by 1.2M (or 200%) per season.
Fading star award: Jovanovski - only scored two goals in 20 games.
Rising star award: Morris - tied for third in D-man points

Have you tried re-signing York yet? He wants to go from $1M to something like $3.5M but he's looking for a 1 year deal! So I tried getting 3 years out of him. I even sweetened the pot a little bit for signing a longer deal. No dice! So now I'm trying to get him to go for a 2 year deal at the amount he's asking for.

I was a bit surprised that Aebischer had the gall to ask for so much money. He was asking for the same kind of money from me as what you gave him. He's been terrible for me! He's 5-8-0 with a 3.83 GAA and .882 SV%. How can he justify such a pay increase?

York asked me for two years at 2M, I finally signed him for two years at 1.8M after trying a couple of times for a four year deal. He might have gone lower since that was my first two year try. I guess something good came from his injuries after all?

WOW! That's a nice and low contract for him! I guess that helps to make up for losing him so much. Good for you for getting that out of him.

I'm sure I'll end up with a 2 year deal for around $3.5M. I shouldn't really complain though. It's not like I've got to worry about the TBL budget.

I'm still negotiating with York. At first he asked for 2M.
Cheap as I am, I offered 1.6M. He rejected, and now he wants 3.125M. I guess I should have accepted his first offer.

...well, its not that it matters that much... it might even help me get over the salary floor for the next season.

hee. Exactly, I am not being particularly careful about my contracts for year 2 and even to some extent year 3. I mean I have $20 mill to play with, and about 25 3rd liners. Not that concerned;

Well, we've got to see what kind of a budget the Coyotes give us for season 2 and beyond. I'm sure they'd be a little upset if we got ourselves up against the NHL salary cap when their budget is $10M less than that. Sure, we're not in any danger of that right away but payrolls seem to catch up to you. At least that's what always happens to me. Plus, what York gets this time will factor in to what he asks for in his next contract.

hey guys--Make sure you have a look back at the eligible homegrown players before you get too far. I missed a couple..Winnik and Latendresse..so I have added them now! Sorry bout that.

And there you have it...batdad makes the first mistake

Called up Tellqvist to backup Aebischer when Auld went down with an injury for 10 days. I had 5 games in those 10 (4 for sure) so wanted the better of the two goalies, knowing he may have to play a game. Did not want Leneveu to get beat up...

Anyway, plays his game does well. Auld comes back. I have to waive Tellqvist to send him back. Or go with 3 goalies the rest of the year.

I did not want 3 goalies...so....I waived him

Tellqvist is now a New York Ranger.

Goalie depth is down to

Aebs
Auld
Leneveu
Tjordman
Bennett (unsigned)

So...hopefully no more goalie injuries. Without Leneveu I would have been very concerned.

Mikhael...enjoy NY

Yeah, Aebischer went down for 10 days for brought up Tellqvist, I played in one game, and Auld for the others, Sent Tellqvist down on waivers, and thankfully he cleared them. I was afraid that he would be picked up.

I brought Tellquist up when Auld was out for three weeks and when I sent him down via waivers he cleared it, thankfully, for me as well.

Buggers

It's getting more worse for me for every 20 games. First 20 was quite okay, but now after 55 games I'm in 14th place and losing almost every match and sometimes I beat Dallas with 4-1 or something... I think I need to work more on my tactics.

I also signed York for 2 years at 2m a season, which is vital....hate to think where I would be without him. I am very happy with who I drafted too!

I got him at 1.9 for 1 season, and 2 for the next.

Keith Yandle could turn out to be pretty good if developed properly, I sent him back to the juniors in the first year, and he was impressive, I might even use him this season depending how he goes in training camp and pre season games.

I got York for $2M for season 2.

Playoffs baby!

We just secured our spot in game 79 and I must say making the playoffs was way beyond my expectations at the start of the season. Sadly I don't think our PP is anywhere near good enough to go deep, or the depth players for that matter, but the board should be pleased anyway.

Ick! Not going deep was an understatement, the Sharks easily swept the series 4-0.
Well atleast we have room for improvment next season...

The playoff MVP in our short series was easily Sjöström with 2g 3a and a 8.25 rating.
The duo of Jones and Michalek managed to collect a -7 +/- rating in four games and Jones was rated 5.5. I'm glad I'll have Yandle for the next season. There are no guarantees that he will do better than Jones ofcourse.

To sum up season one:
Biggest surprise: Sjöström - 33g 37a +24 8.02
I didn't even expect him to break 40 points or a 7.00 rating and he turned out to be the +/- leader.

Biggest disappointment: Murley - 2g 5a -20 6.26
I hadn't expected much but still, he did make the opening night lineup unlike other losers like Kapanen and Tjärnqvist.

Riches to rags: Michalek - 8g 23a -9 7.24
He started strong on the second pairing but lost his stride and switched positions with Ballard. Still picked up some decent points though

Rags to sort-of-riches: Zigomanis - 16g 25a +4 6.98
Zigo actually picked up some decent points when he was forced to center the second line during Kaigordov's 32 game injury.

Biggest duel: Aebischer - 30w 24l 3.12gaa .90sv vs Auld - 11w 9l 2.81gaa .905sv
I had Aebischer in my core so Auld never really got a fair shot until the end of the season where he played really well. I'm having serious trouble deciding if I should resign Auld since LeNeveu was great last camp and has had a strong season in the AHL.

I feel a little better after seeing the Sharks win the cup, they only met resistance in the conference finals vs the Red Wings. I guess they have a decent center trio in Marleau, Thornton and Briere.

You guys are killing me. Did everyone re-sign York for about $2M per season? I couldn't get him to sign for less than $3.48M per season. I'm guessing it's his points production. In 46 games so far he's got 32G 41A and a 8.09 average rating.

I can't wait to get through the rest of the season to see if these guys make the playoffs and how well they can do there. Plus, I've got a strategy for the draft that I'd like to try.

I resigned York at 1.9 for the next 3 seasons.