EHM The Blue Line

With Shadd in that makes 18 players! Great stuff. Keep joining people. Archi...archi....where are you?


And 13 playing NTNB. At least the start. Who will be the first to chicken out?

Should we start a poll...no no...just kidding.

I am truly surprised by how many people opted to go with NTNB. When we first discussed this option, we figured it might be a little too much of a change for most. That'll teach us! TBL members are up to the challenge!

Just finished my first draft and here's what I drafted:
#17 - A scoring RW who is good defensively. 1st line potential.
#20 - A huge stay-at-home LD with a hard righthanded slapshot. 3-4 potential.
#42 - A big offensive scoring LW with an off-wing shot. 2nd line potential.
#47 - An offensive C who plays well in front of the net and in the corners. 2nd line potential.
#93 - A small two-way RD who can also play well as a LD. 5-6 potential.
#137 - A finnish hybrid goalie. Depth potential.
#167 - An offensive RW who checks and hits well. 3rd line potential.

Shouldn't be hard to figure out who some of them are if you really want to.

I'm still chugging along. I'm 56 games in and Reinprecht has already reached 90 points. I've never used the guy before this challenge. I never knew he was so good! I do think a good part of that has to do with the lack of other talent on the team.

At this point I must be getting close to the trade deadline because I see a lot of news about different teams making offers for various players. Some of them are making me jealous. You see these players that could be moving teams and you think about how well they'd fit on your team, especially with all of that room under the salary cap. But I'm holding strong. I'll get some new blood on the team next season, whether it be by callups from the farm, signing my unsigned prospects, or drafting. I'll try to replace the guys that are driving me nuts. Until then, I've just got to keep chugging along...

Game opener with a 'splendid' 1-4 home loss to the Isles! We entered the third period with a 1-0 lead... DiPietro ended with 29 saves... Vrbata ended injured for a week...

So we're 18 challengers so far? Nice! It gives me a decent chance to end in the top-20

Shadd666 wrote: So we're 18 challengers so far? Nice! It gives me a decent chance to end in the top-20

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!

Jesus. I am so dead in this challenge. Reinprecht is doing squad diddly piddle all for me. Neither is Doan, Vrbata, York.

Way too defensive a system I am playing I guess. I dunno. In my last 4 games here are the scores (coyotes first)

2-0
2-0
2-0
0-1 shootout loss.

My defensive play is awesome right now! But darn...score once in awhile.

You're getting shutouts (and wins) galore. In real life, I'd love it if my team could play like that and have a killer record. In a challenge... that's a different story. I like to see my teams put up lots of points. I'm sure if you really wanted to you could change your tactics and put up lots of points too. You'd probably just have to sacrifice some of those wins and definitely the low GAA and shutouts.

Could be I dunno.

Just lost 2-1. First two game winless streak I have had in a long long time.

At the 20 game mark I'm 11-8-1. Shane Doan is the real deal. He's leading the team in blocked shots, hits, and plus/minus (along with goals and points). I wish I could have a line with all Shane Doans!

I need to tweak my tactics this next set of games and hopefully I can get my GAA down and win a few more games.

I'm scouting the draft pretty heavily. I may draft a few 20-21 year olds in the later rounds to get some depth that can contribute right away.

I honestly think it is going to take my team another season at least to start being more consistant, the team is in desperate need of 3rd 4th line two way players, I think LeNeveu could be a solid number 1 eventually aswell, I like the look of Yandle, Mueller, Lisin, Hanzal also. I've started Mueller on the top line left wing in my first pre season game, and depending on how he goes will determine if I leave him in the AHL, or keep him on the big team. Has anyone else signed Pestunov? He also looks like he could turn out to be a really solid second line centre.

the team is in desperate need of 3rd 4th line two way players

I totally agree with you. I hate my 3rd and 4th lines right now. I'm hoping some of my players in San Antonio will be ready for the next season. I'm not sure though, because San Antonio is struggling right now too.

Well I'm 4 games into my second season, and I'm 2-2, few things I have already found out, I am going to leave Mueller, Hanzal, Lisin in San Antonio for most of the season, I probably won't renew Ballard's contract either, I'm not even using him. I've got 3 players that made the team that didn't last season, Gratton, Yandle, Pestunov. Still too early to predict how I will go, also keeping an eye on a few 2 way wingers I drafted that look to develop into some really nice players.

4M over 2 years for me.

Also, I think I have the most lopsided Shanahan deal yet:

To San Jose for Christian Erhoff and Matt Carle.

And while batdad is solid as a rock, I'm insanely streaky - check out these last four games:

8-1 win over Nashville

7-1 win over Minnesota

10-2 loss to Columbus (?!?!)

1-0 win over Detroit

Nuts.

Second season camp is done. I still have two preseason games to decide my opening night lineup but I've got a pretty clear idea of what it will be already.

Offseason losses:
Tjärnqvist, Kapanen, Helmer, Lehoux, Caldwell, Weller.

Offseason additions:
Mueller, Lisin, Hanzal, Surovy, Ferriero.

Camp disappointments (who will need to clear waivers if I want to cut them):
Aebischer, Boynton, Ballard, Jones, Murley, Gratton.

Thus Aebischer, Boynton and Jones are out of the core. Gratton will stay since I don't have another enforcer option.
I'm glad I resigned Auld, this season he will get a fair shot at the no 1 spot.

Happy campers who will be signed:
My 07 goalie draftee, 07 LD draftee, Pestunov. All europeans so they won't join us until next season.

I wish I had signed Pestunov for this season, he had a good camp last year as well but my scouts didn't like him until recently.

Happy campers who are likely to make the team:
Yandle, Carcillo, Winnik, Lisin.

Yandle looks like my HG choice seeing how two of the LDs from last season stunk in camp.

Ok I'm all set for opening night of season two, here's the lineup:

York-Reinprecht-Doan
Sjöström-Kaigorodov-Vrbata
Carcillo-Zigomanis-Lisin
Gratton-Winnik-Murley

Jovanovski-Michalek
Ballard-Boynton
Jones-Yandle

Aebischer
Auld

IR: Morris, Fischer

hello

i been an silent reader on this site/forum for some time

i havent played ehm for some time couse lack of commitment and intrest.

this challange looks realy fun and i register just to be in it. i will read up on the rules and download the new roosters.

i will go for the no trade option couse i want an huge challange thats long term.

cya all in a few days when i got my game set up posted core players and stuff.

salming

And we're 19 now! I still can end in the top-20...

Welcome to the challenge Salming Hope you'll have a fun time with us

I see this is your first post ever at TBL, so welcome to TBL! You should go to the Arrivals section so that everyone knows we've got a new guy on board

Well I've got 60 games in the books now. I really made some improvement this time around. I squeezed my way into 1st place in the conference... just barely. I had made it there on game 56 or 57 and then dropped to 4th place the next day. As it stands right now, I've got the Dallas Stars breathing down my neck! I've got 75 points and they've got 74 but I've played 2 more games than them. So if I want to maintain 1st place I've really got to keep on winning and hope they struggle.

I did struggle a bit when Doan went down with a skate bite and was out for 12 days. Zigomanis tried as best he could but we really don't have enough scoring talent to fill in for any of those guys on the top 2 lines if they go out. I really need to work on my 3rd and 4th lines in the off-season. Reinprecht is currently leading the lead in points, passing both Shanahan and Marleau. He's got a nice balance of goals and assists (42G 54A). York is catching up to him. He's 3rd in the league in points with 40G and 49A. Kaigorodov is 2nd in rookie scoring with 14G and 41A. He trails Kopitar by 7 points.

I'm hoping we can finish these last 22 games strong and maybe win at least 1 playoff round. Let's see what happens.

Oh, and since the trade deadline is approaching, I've been offered trades by 2 other teams now (which I rejected of course... NTNB).

First the Capitals offer me Boyd Gordon and the rights to both Luke Lynes and Oskar Osala for Derek Morris. Even if I wasn't playing NTNB, I would reject this!

Then the Wild offered my Clayton Stone and the rights to both Cal Clutterbuck and Riley Emmerson, plus a 7th round pick for David LeNeveu. I would also reject this one too, especially since LeNeveu has been on fire in the ECHL and seems to be developing pretty well. He's got a 35-10-5 record with a 1.49 GAA, .949 SV%, and 14 shutouts. His glove looks good with a 15 rating but his blocker is only 12. I'd really like to see him develop some more before I'd consider bring him in as a backup though. I don't want to rush him.

Just a quick update:

I'm at game 33, and I'm 15-15-3. I just can't seem to get any consistency from my team. My scoring lines are great, but the rest are horrible.

I already have players that "need rest" after every game. Ugh!

I really wish I would have played in the last few challenges. It may be my downfall ...

Hi everyone, I'm new to the challenge and the forum, and I just finished my first season doing NTNB. We had an awesome first 20 games, trapping our way to 14-6, but then other teams caught on to the system, and I had to change the tactics. The next 20, the PK exploded, and we went 7-10-3, before going a little above .500 or the rest of the season (after switching back to the trap) and finishing 4th. In the playoffs, we played the Canucks who were without Luongo (out 8 months with a torn mcl!) and after game 1 without backup Brian Boucher who they signed and who played extremely well down the stretch and in game 1. So we got to play against Curtis Sanford and won in 6. Next round we were swept by the Red Wings .

It's nice to see you joining in the discussion, Jarmac! Sharing stories about about teams is half the fun of the challenges. You learn a lot about how different people play the game different ways.

So how are you enjoying the challenge after your first season? I'm finding it to be a real challenge playing by the NTNB rules but I also think it's so much more interesting. Trading gets a bit too easy after you've been playing the game a while but getting the most out of the players you are given and then really developing depth... that's something different.

Well... I'm glad you jumped into the discussion. I hope to see you playing season 2 as well.

I am finding the challenge to be, well, challenging, but very fun, especially because of the different approaches and styles of other challengers that I can read about and compare mine to. The Coyotes on this database are a terrible team. they have no depth, and while their top forwards can put up points on this team, they would be 2nd/ 3rd liners on a good team. I had much higher hopes for Bill Thomas (1g 3a, a huge minus) and Tjarnqvist (2a in 58 games). The first draft class is pretty bad too, although I managed to pick up Ryan Wilson in the 4th round, so I will have at least one solid player out of it. All of this challengingness is making the game fun and different--no more picking up the same players in every game!

well i updated my challenge 10 blog after the first 20.

Bigargon's challenge 10 blog