EHM The Blue Line

philou21 wrote:

uknownick wrote:

philou21 wrote:Season 5 is over for me too. We clinched the President Trophy with a record of 55-19-8 good for 118 pts. I've never such a good record with goalies that bad. Thanks team tactics! We lead the NHL with 325 goals scored and Winnipeg is behind us with 288! They also finished one point behind us. We lost in the Conference Finale against Philly who went to win the Cup against the Jets.

Here's the team stats for the season:


Has you guys can see, offensively it's been a succes. Five players over a PPG, two 40 goals scorer and three over 30. Girard and Weber both got the best season of their career. Gauthier's signature alsor turned out pretty good for us.

Laval got an amazing season too but couldn't win the Calder Cup for a second year in a row. Like I expected, Langford dominated the AHL. Finishing with a record of 39-8-2, 2.03 GAA, .917% and 7.70 of average performance. His growth slowed down a bit during the season but he's definitely ready for the NHL. Justin Barron started the season with us but when he turned 20 I sent him down, he did alright but I doubt he'll start the next season with us, is growth was pretty slow too. Now Basem Stevens and Anton Hellgren, those two dominated the AHL and will certainly play for us next season. Both were at their first pro season. Stevens finished with a record of 15-48=63 in 76 games with a ratio of 7.58. Hellgren stats are 47-32=79 in 72 games with a ratio of 7.89. Both also improved their attributes alot so it's encouraging.

Now for the off-season we'll lose some players. With Stevens emergence, Alzner will not be resigned, despite him been sad by the situation. Jerabek will be free too and Marchessault decided that he wanted to test the UFA market, probably asking for a 8-10 millions contract. Anyway Hellgren will gladly take his place! I still have one spot left in defense though but I noticed a certain PK Subban hasn't resigned yet with Nashville. Would be fun to bring him back for a couple of seasons.

Time to improve the defense and goalie. Offense looks very solid. Those +/- look not bad either.

My defense is already where I want it to be. Only Weber's getting old a bit but with Stevens and Barron coming up I'm not worried at all.

Can you show your lines in a screenshot?

I'm actually in the off-season so my lines aren't done but each time the season is about to start I'm posting them here.

I did a thing a bit against my save rules and now I don't know if I should go back in time or not. I'm not the one usually taking advantage of the mistakes of the AI but kinda did it. Bergevin, GM of the Flames (lol) signs Tkachuk to a one year deal worth 9 millions and then four or five days later he puts him on the block because of cap issues. Since I'm one of the few teams that don't bust the cap, I thought I could strike a nice deal for him since he's one of the players that I would really like to coach.

Of course now that he's on the block he's worth only three stars. Most of the time I try my best to make the trades fair and I didn't really changed that for him. I gave Wahlstrom and a pretty good defense prospects (1st line potential) for him. Even at Wahlstrom they wanted to make the deal but it was just too ridiculous.

I look at back the this trade and I think it's almost too much! I could put someone like Zadina or Drouin on my third line with so many good and young players in my team. I thought about loading back but the only save that I have before the trade is 5 hours of playtime back and takes me into the playoffs. Which could make me win the Cup that I didn't won and I consider that cheating. What do I do?!? (I know I worry too much but it's a bit against my morale )

philou21 wrote:I did a thing a bit against my save rules and now I don't know if I should go back in time or not. I'm not the one usually taking advantage of the mistakes of the AI but kinda did it. Bergevin, GM of the Flames (lol) signs Tkachuk to a one year deal worth 9 millions and then four or five days later he puts him on the block because of cap issues. Since I'm one of the few teams that don't bust the cap, I thought I could strike a nice deal for him since he's one of the players that I would really like to coach.

Of course now that he's on the block he's worth only three stars. Most of the time I try my best to make the trades fair and I didn't really changed that for him. I gave Wahlstrom and a pretty good defense prospects (1st line potential) for him. Even at Wahlstrom they wanted to make the deal but it was just too ridiculous.

I look at back the this trade and I think it's almost too much! I could put someone like Zadina or Drouin on my third line with so many good and young players in my team. I thought about loading back but the only save that I have before the trade is 5 hours of playtime back and takes me into the playoffs. Which could make me win the Cup that I didn't won and I consider that cheating. What do I do?!? (I know I worry too much but it's a bit against my morale )

Do it! You are already in season 5 of this save and it is time for you to do some deals that place less constraints on yourself. I have picked up Ekblad, RNH, Burns in my saves because either the AI couldn't manage their cap or the player wants to be traded to a new team. I am totally fine with these deals. And I try to make it fair for the other teams by offering something in equal value back. I have seen crazier deals between AI teams when a cap issue arises.

uknownick wrote:

philou21 wrote:I did a thing a bit against my save rules and now I don't know if I should go back in time or not. I'm not the one usually taking advantage of the mistakes of the AI but kinda did it. Bergevin, GM of the Flames (lol) signs Tkachuk to a one year deal worth 9 millions and then four or five days later he puts him on the block because of cap issues. Since I'm one of the few teams that don't bust the cap, I thought I could strike a nice deal for him since he's one of the players that I would really like to coach.

Of course now that he's on the block he's worth only three stars. Most of the time I try my best to make the trades fair and I didn't really changed that for him. I gave Wahlstrom and a pretty good defense prospects (1st line potential) for him. Even at Wahlstrom they wanted to make the deal but it was just too ridiculous.

I look at back the this trade and I think it's almost too much! I could put someone like Zadina or Drouin on my third line with so many good and young players in my team. I thought about loading back but the only save that I have before the trade is 5 hours of playtime back and takes me into the playoffs. Which could make me win the Cup that I didn't won and I consider that cheating. What do I do?!? (I know I worry too much but it's a bit against my morale )

Do it! You are already in season 5 of this save and it is time for you to do some deals that place less constraints on yourself. I have picked up Ekblad, RNH, Burns in my saves because either the AI couldn't manage their cap or the player wants to be traded to a new team. I am totally fine with these deals. And I try to make it fair for the other teams by offering something in equal value back. I have seen crazier deals between AI teams when a cap issue arises.

I definitely seen crazier things too! But in my games my immersion is really important for me and it kinda breaks it a little bit but at the same time....it's exciting to have such a good team haha

After two seasons of utter dissapointment (and disabling human GM firing) with the Flyers where I finished dead last twice in a row. I decided to completely focus on setting up my own tactic, my own style of play, and hopefully something that will help my team actually perform how I feel they should perform.

One month into season 3, I'm currently 3rd in the east with a 10-3-1 record and a spectacular 48-33 goals for/against which puts me in the top 3 and top 2 respectively... So, I'm wondering if I somehow created myself a super tactic, simply learned how to play to their strengths proper, or maybe the talent is finally showing up beyond the stars that were already established...


East Standings
Team Stats
League Scoring
Team Report
Season Stats

The biggest changes, arguably, is that I went 'eff it' and took control of tactics, practice, selections, and lines. Leaving my Head Coach to twiddle his thumbs, and make him just focus on improving the players.

Team Tactics wise, I made the risky decision of setting all lines to equal, which has decreased the 1st line's minutes from 19/20 to 15/16 on average. Also, I have chosen to put the Wayne train on the third line, the reasons for that comes later. My first two lines play the same unit style, high tempo - offensive - creative - no dumping - hard backcheck. Basically I trust their stickhandling to get the puck up the ice, since I feel boardplay just doesn't work the way it should... The third line 's unit style is normal tempo, aggressive, VH backcheck, hard hitting, safe passing, and rarely dump. The fourth line is more traditional in that they're defensive and look to slow down the tempo and give 1-2-3 time to get a breather.

My lines (to me) are the more interesting aspect of why I feel i'm so prolific and capable.
Lines

The biggest departure I made from what the AI did was putting Simmonds on the third, but also seperate Ghost and Provorov, and most importantly shift Giroux away from the center to the left wing. The reason for the latter move has also happened with the real life Flyers this past season, as they're looking to put a less physical toll on Claude, of course Wear and Tear isn't realistically simulated in EHM. But the reason I did it was to not just give Couturier a chance on the first line, but to have a significantly less finesse player in center. Sure the FO% has gone down a bit because Claude is a goat in the circle, but their performances don't lie.

I've noticed that in EHM the center often goes in front of goal, even if he's not the most physical player on the line. Ex. Giroux often went to screen the center, even though Simmonds (or even Komarov last season for me) where a lot more suited for that role. That meant Giroux was spending more time jostling with defenders than actually handling the puck in the offensive zone. Now that changed, Couturier is the center AND the most physical player on the line, he does the dirty work whilst Giroux/Voracek/Prov/Larsen take their time to find the best shots. Who has been feasting the most? Sean Couturier who has a 32% shot percentage and leads the league in goals after a month. He gets rebounds, deflections, and generally all the hard-work plays in the crease.

Again, Giroux is one of the best centers still, but his lack of 'edge' at center caused the offensive to suffer when it came to doing the dirty work. In the past two seasons he only had 67 and 59 points respectively, which aren't Giroux numbers.

Second line, same idea. Patrick is the strong guy putting in work, Konecny/Vrana/Dahlin/Ghost throw the puck around and look for the shot. Less prolific, but the three forwards still have 24 points between them, which is encouraging to say the least.

Third line is the checking line, three forwards that work hard and are all-round capable. Wayne is of course the most notable name, and wildly overpaid and overskilled for a traditional third line. But they're set at rare dumping and very hard backchecking. Knowing that many teams love to match their #1 against the opposing #3, I match the same. My #3 will go onto the ice against their #1, and they basically try to choke them an entire shift with safe offensive play and aggressive defensive play, but still allowing them to try their luck. Wayne has 7 points in 14 games, Jarnkrok has 6, and Leier stands out with 7 in 13 on 30% shooting! They're not perfect, but they get plenty of ice time as they look to outwork the opposition's stars.

The only thing that is a work in progress is the powerplay, because I want that 16% to be over 20%, I don't see the team keeping their steam if they can't punish teams on the PP.

Either way, that's my little talk right now. I wasn't planning on posting an update until the end of the season where I talk about dissapointments all around, but with this insane first month I just had to talk about my fortunes

If people wanna see some screenshots, please ask and i'll deliver!

Great post, interesting to read your rational behind your tactics, something I struggle with.

My first season of my second career with the Montreal Canadian is over. For this career, I also took control of Laval Rocket, Montreal's affiliate in the AHL in order to hopefully control a little more the growth of my prospects.

In the off-season leading to the first game, I didn't do much. I sent Victor Mete back to the OHL since he's just 19 and I'd rather have him play with guys his age and with Team Canada at the World junior. That move was successfull as Mete won the award for the best all around player in the OHL. Aside from that, I kept the team as is for the beginning of the season. I did put Montoya and Pleckanec on the trading block, but no one wanted either of them for the whole season. I managed to grab Curtis Lazar from the waivers. He's just 22, so I do hope he'll develop into a good 2nd liner in the near future.

Laval's season was a complete disaster. To the point that the board actually fired me from the team. I recreated myself and re-added myself to the team. In the end, Laval ended second-to-last in the whole AHL with something like 20 points behind 3rd last team. It was pathetic...

Montreal's season started really bad. We were 14th in the East at some point early in November. I thought we would be in the race for Dahlin, but the guys woke up and we ended the season 2nd in the East. It was also the first season where I really toyed with the tactics. It worked...fairly well for the first line. But for the rest, it wasn't exactly a success as you can all see in the screenshot below. It's kinda easy who was on the 1st line and who wasn't



And below are my lines when everyone was healthy. Just replace Sherback with...random right winger. I forgot who played most of the season on the 4th line



I made only one trade during the season : Sent Brendan Davidson to NY Rangers for Anthony DeAngelo. A 22 years old prospect who is already a more interesting defensive option than Joe Morrow.

Although the team finished 2nd in the East, we didn't went far in the playoffs as we were taken out by Tampa Bay in the second round. Washington went to win the Cup, after finishing 1st in the league with 123 points, 7 ahead of San Jose (who finished with 115 points)

Now, it's time for the draft and the free agency. Hopefully, I'll be able to get rid of most of Laval's old farts and fill the team with youngsters to develop...

Next update : Right before the 2nd season

On the eve of my second season!

Quite a few changes were made to both line-ups. Laval saw many veterans leave the team (By veteran, I mean players who have more than 260 games played either in the AHL or the NHL). As Mete finished his junior stage, I feel he isn't totally ready for the NHL, so he'll spend the next season in the AHL, playing on the first pair with Juulsen. Hopefully, both of them will developp into NHL worthy defensement for my 3rd or 4th season.

In Montreal, I traded Al Montoya to NY Rangers for a 4th round pick. As a replacement, I signed Petr Mrazek. I also signed both Darren Dietz and Ivan Vereshchagin to bolster my defense. Anthony DeAngelo is also going to stick to Montreal for the season. The forwards haven't changed at all from last year. Hopefully, the offence won't rest on Paccioretty-Galchenyuk-Drouin's shoulders...

From the draft, the only noteworthy pick was my 26th : Jake Wise

Here's my lineup for the season, so long everyone stays healthy :



Pretty sure some players are gonna move around

Next update at the end of the season

Good job on getting Mrazek, my experience is that he's a really good starter level goalie, having him backing up Price is a brilliant goalie tandem. I'm not sure about Alzner/Petry as the third defensive pair, Alzner has a terrible contract.

I'd say you need offense more than anything, Hemsky isn't great and Hudon isn't either. It might be best to get Jake Wise onto your team asap to get you some all-round playmaking to up your offensive production.

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Mid-season report for the 19/20 season, it's January 1st and the Flyers are flying higher than I had ever expected them to fly before the season started.

Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Team Stats

As you can see, I'm first in the East and 2nd overall in the entire NHL. To say that I expected any of this would be the biggest lie of the year, I literally didn't expect to one of two teams to be over 75% on the first day of the new year. We're second best in scoring, 9th in goals allowed (Neuvirth and Sandstrom's non-eliteness shining through). Third lowest in PIM/A, but our special teams are sub-average even though we have the most PP's in the league, so we could be so much more deadly.

Overview
Top Goals
Top Assists
Average Ratings

Couturier is no longer the most prolific scorer in the league, but is still #5 which is... unexpected, still. After 38 games he's 8 points away of tying his career high points (49), so the odds of doing that are extremely high as he's on pace for 80+ together with Voracek and possibly Giroux and Nolan Patrick(!) too!

My top line of Giroux/Couturier/Voracek are also leading the league in +/-, which just goes to show you how utterly phenomenal they are on the ice together. Further random stat, There is not a single Flyer Forward in the top 50 of ATOI, so I guess if I were to give the top 6 more traditional minutes, they'd probably be even deadlier, but right now they team is so efficient that I don't want to risk changing the minute allotment, it also means my 4th and 3rd line get more love, thus they are happier, and everyone plays a little bit better across 60 minutes (I feel, at least).

Also, Voracek has the highest AVR in the league right now! I did not see that coming, although he's been having an utter feast with Giroux on the opposite wing as the playmaker, and Couturier banging in front of goal. Would probably be closer to 50 if he had more minutes, but at the same time he just as well could be worse.

GAA
SV%
AvR

As you can see, the team ultimately falters in goal. We're 12th in the league in shots against, so we don't allow a lot of shots and goals in the end, but because neither Neuvirth and Sandstrom are elite goalies they ultimately let the team down across 60 minutes with SV%'s around 90% rather than 92%, it's a percentage game, but you can really see the difference between a Sergei Bobrovsky (grumble) and Michal Neuvirth across those.

You might wonder, where is Carter Hart? Well he's in the AHL for a reason, that recovery is unacceptable and his mentals aren't great either. I'm afraid that I didn't get the luck of the draw and my Carter won't turn into a future Vezina winner, but i'm patient and as long as Neuvirth and Sandy are above average in their job, I can wait.

Flyers Lineup
Flyers Stats
Team Report

- As expected, Provorov has taken his spot as a star defender with point creation and stifling defense. Of course, he's still growing so he might become even better!
- Jakub Vrana has been dissapointing, and at 4,5M a year he's an expensive dissapointment. He's not worse than who he replaced, at least, but I expected more production from him because that's why I traded for his rights in the off-season. Patrick and Konecny are doing well, and it's clear that Vrana can't keep up with those two. First world problems tho!

- Also, my fourth line has been very poor, but I guess that can always be expected from a fourth line. They just lack 'it' and are an afterthought, but you can't have everything.

- I'm personally still 'meh' about Dahlin, he's got the potential, he's performing well with good point production for a 19 year old defender and all that. But i'm not charmed by his below-average defensive skills, i'm still waiting for him to grow into it, and he's only 19 so I should be happy that his ratings show that he's a top 3 rookie in terms of performances.

That's all I got to say right now, really. Also I dropped my powerplay shooting from hard to selective, because I feel that passing it around with a man advantage will get me more results, and the early results have been encouraging at higher rates than the season stats imply. Around 20-25% eye-balling it.

Finally, here's a single prospect I'm going to show off. 2nd overall in 2018 Oliver Wahlström, one of the fifty million Swedes I have in my system. Might make his debut in 20/21, because he's got extremely exciting offensive abilities and can even defend! Might even replace Vrana if he doesn't get on enough! Scout rated him as Poor man's Duchene, but i'm hopeful he'll become more like an Ameri-Swedish Ovechkin! I might also sign him and send him to Cape Breton, but he seems to be doing good enough in the NCAA as is.

As always, if people are interested in seeing some pics of players (Flyers or otherwise), feel free to ask for them and i'll try to deliver!

In my current save I traded a prospect and a depth player for the soon-to-be worst team in the league. And whaddayaknow, won the lottery. I just happened to be the best team in the league that year (too). So, I drafted a bust. There's justice in the universe after all. But I also got a 6th pick that I used in a Offensive D-man, whose been lights out. Won the calder with 50+ points, rarely has a game below 8 rating and scored 75 points in his sophomore year. But that was alongside Ekblad, so maybe that helps. But Vegas, oh dear Vegas. They have the team filled with 21-25 year old guys whose attributes are all on the green. Haven't got the faintest how they've done it. They're going to be a powerhouse in a couple of years, depending on their salary cap management. I was literally struck with silence when I checked their team report.

Second season with Montreal is now over.

Made a few trades during the season :

Al Montoya was traded to NY Rangers for a 4th round pick. Trade was mostly made because of roster size limits
Jordie Benn was sent packing to Washington Capitals for a 4th AND a 1st round pick. Sadly, those two picks are late rounds...but hey, another 1st rounder in 2019 draft. I'll take it...especially in exchange for Benn
Peter Holland was also sent to Washington Capitals for a 2nd and 3rd rounder. Holland would probably never made it to the NHL anyway. Soooo...for 2019, I took Washington's 1st-2nd and 4th rounds picks. I could try to get 3-5-6-7 from them

I'm now awaiting to know the lottery draft order so I can ship Paul Byron and (sadly) Arturri Lehkonen. Byron want to test Free agency. I'll try to deal him somewhere so I won't completely lose him. Lehkonen asked for a trade. Playing on the second line wasn't enough for him and he's angry I didn't sign him a new deal during the season. Not my fault you refused every offer you fool!

My top players didn't perform as well. No one on the team reached 100 pts. But, I had some slight improvement from the rest of the team. I still need to improve the offensive side of the team as my 4th scorer was Lehknonen at 50 pts. Third is Galchenyuk at 83 (He only played 69 games)

Team finished 5th in the conference and got taken out in the second round of the playoffs by Tampa Bay. At least, I can console myself knowing I lost to the eventual Cup champs. Them Tampa Bay won 2 of their 4 games against me in 3rd OT...not 1st or 2nd. THIRD...

AHL side now :

Laval finished 1st in the division and 5th in the league. A huge improvement considering last season we were second to last. Jacob de la Rose finished 2nd in points within the team with 87. Kyle Baun was first with 90.

Team also made it to the Calder cup finals...and then, with a 2-2 tie, Lindgren decided his season was over and pulled his harmstring Milwaukee admirals weren't asking for such a gift and won the next 2 games, also winning the championship

Next update : Just before my third season

Eve of third season :

I'm now the most hated man in EHMT Montreal. I dared to trade Karl Alzner and Jeff Petry. Alzner was sent to Chicago for a pair of 3rd round picks. Petry was sent to Arizona also for a 3rd round pick. Maybe not the best return, but I offloaded nearly 10 millions on my salary cap.

My best trade was getting Noah Hanifin from Carolina. The guy was unhappy there and put on the block. I inquired and Carolina asked for a pair of prospects that just won't make it to my team anyway and a 4th round pick + a 5th round pick.

I've signed Zemgus Girgenson from free agency and nailed Nail Yakupov from waivers.

Jacob de la Rose and Noah Juulsen are the players who got promoted from Laval.

Both boards are asking for the championship. Guess I have a rough season ahead of me

About to start my second season with the Senators. Was second overall in the regular season, got knocked out of the SC playoffs in the conference final.

Plenty of changes to the roster for the upcoming season, as I'm looking to go pretty much all-out offense this save and see where it takes me. Fans & board is furious after me after I traded Zack Smith and Luke Glendening for Marchessault. Personally I consider it a win both in terms of skill as well as economically, but hey - to each his own.

Bit worried about my goaltending as Anderson, while solid over 82 games, failed to deliver in the playoffs. Obviously he's not getting younger either. Other than that I'm happy with the roster I have. Stronger than last year and thus I'd consider us a real contender this year.

hypno wrote:About to start my second season with the Senators. Was second overall in the regular season, got knocked out of the SC playoffs in the conference final.

Plenty of changes to the roster for the upcoming season, as I'm looking to go pretty much all-out offense this save and see where it takes me. Fans & board is furious after me after I traded Zack Smith and Luke Glendening for Marchessault. Personally I consider it a win both in terms of skill as well as economically, but hey - to each his own.

Bit worried about my goaltending as Anderson, while solid over 82 games, failed to deliver in the playoffs. Obviously he's not getting younger either. Other than that I'm happy with the roster I have. Stronger than last year and thus I'd consider us a real contender this year.

I love your 4 right wingers. For goaltending, if he's still available, you might wanna consider Igor Shestyorkin. As of today, he's 22 IRL and in my saves, he always has some really nice attributes. Toronto always seems to sign him though. Slight problem is that he plays in Europe, meaning that if you are already into your second season, he might not be able to join you before the end of that season and be available only for the third.

Well after years of success in the NHL I decided to try a fresh career starting in Juniors. I randomly selected the Sudbury Wolves, and they were ranked 12 out of 20 to start my first season.
I made very few changes in the first year other than firing most of the coaching staff and replacing them with offensive minded coaches. I finished that season 1st in my division and 4th overall, then lost in the first round to Mississauga who went to the finals.
My second season I signed an overage goalie and changed little else. I was ranked 1st in the league preseason and finished 2nd overall. I faced Mississauga in the 2nd round this year and got my revenge. The 3rd round was against the #1 overall team Barrie. I was down 3-2 in the series and then won two overtime games to get the comeback win. It was quite the exciting nail biter series. The final was against defending champion London, but they folded easily.

I think that the last season is as exciting as it will get as now my draft picks are filtering onto the team.
I set my unit tactics most of the time for Offensive, No checking, No aggression, High tempo, Tight gap, No dump ins, Backcheck hard, Heavy shooting. This tends to make it so most of my shots are on the rush so not many of my shots are blocked. Conversely, my teams block a ton of shots. Often shot attempts between my team and the opposition are close to even, but I block over half the shots. This demands speedy offensive players that can handle the puck and transition quickly both offensively and defensively. I certainly didn't start with many players like that, but now that I have some players that can play that style effectively I'm pretty sure I've set up the team for a dynasty (or a couple years anyhow).

My next goal is to get hired for an NHL job. I got lucky and was hired during my 2nd season as GM for the Canada World Junior Team. I handily won that and it boosted my GM ranking from 160 to 46 so I think when a job opens up I'll have a good chance of getting it. In the meantime my goal is the get first overall with Sudbury and hopefully win another championship, though my goaltending has taken a step back for season three the rest of the team is improved. My biggest challenges I have found at this level have been figuring out how to draft player from the import draft that will actually come and play in North America, even when they say they intend to play Major Junior they still won't sign. The other challenge I didn't bank on is not having too many underage or overage players. It a fun balance, and I have a glut of underage players that I want to get into my lineup to replace the older guys that aren't as suited to my style. Another season and that change over will be fully underway and I shouldn't have that problem anymore.

Early January season three I had just taken over 1st overall in the OHL after a slow start, and Columbus fires Kekkalainen and Tortorella. I was surprised that it was Columbus as the St Louis position has been listed as insecure for a year now. Anyhow, I applied and got the position. They were sitting dead last in the league with 38 points, 18 out of a playoff spot. My task given to me by the board was to improve the roster. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with the quality of roster this team has! I think the only reason they were last was that Torts was the coach. Here are my lines:



The only change I made is I called up Reaves from the AHL and demoted Dubinsky. I also demoted Jack Campbell who was the number one goalie. Goaltending is an obvious weakness, but I know I can win cups with replacement level goaltending. The bigger issue is down the middle. I love Wennberg as my #1, and Motte is good on the 4th line, but Stastny and Spezza are the old slow type that the AI loves and I love to exploit. I'm going to have to do something to get myself a decent 2nd line centre. I love the defense on this team though. I have never compiled a defense as good as this on any team I've had. They definitely make up for the weak goaltending. My plan is to trade one of them as they're coming up for a new big contract for a young centre. The team also hired Andy Moog as head coach before I came aboard. He seemed alright, but I saw Guy Boucher was available and he coaches exactly the way I like to play, so I booted Moog after 2 games and he now hates Columbus forever.

I have played 6 games now and have won all of them. I'm 10 points back of 8th in the conference with 31 games to go. I think I can sneak into a playoff spot and if I do I think I'm a contender for the cup this season. Not exactly the challenge of rebuilding a bum team I was expecting, but it will still be fun to see what I can do this season.

Playing the NHL36 DB, currently in year 3 as the Atlanta Thrashers. Signed Dominik Kahun to a 2yr deal and he's currently my 1C. Team hasn't done very well tho, as I've finished bottom 10 the first 2 years, and on pace to finish bottom 10 in the 3rd.

1st year Draft, i got Quinn Hughes 5th OA, Boqvist 13th, and Farabee 21st.
2nd year, Nussembaumer at 11, Gutik at 28, and Beecher at 32.

As of now, i have Hughes as my 2 LD, with 2G, 7A, and a 6.85 AvR. Farabee is still in BU (2nd year at BU) currently has a 7.29 AvR, so i might sign him at the end of this season.

My big goof was not signing Boqvist immediately, as i allowed him to play the one season in the KHL, but in the 2018-19 offseason, I tried to sign him to an ELC, and I've gotten either "Does not wish to move to North America" or just simply his requested salary is higher than the max ELC salary. As of now i think I might trade him, or i could wait until his rights expire in 2022 and try signing him then, but idk.

Just finished up the Season 3, with my Atlanta Thrashers ending up with 54 points for 36th in the league. Dominik Kahun lead the team in scoring with 52 points and Quinn Hughes had a great rookie season, racking up 43 points, but only a 6.8 AvR with a 24:29 ATOI. Due to injury troubles, I had to thrust him into top minutes midseason, and he seemed to produce pretty well.

Looking at the rest of the league, the Preds won the West, led by selke finalist and 100 point scorer Filip Forsberg, and the Bolts in the east, led by Art Ross and Rocket Richard winner, Steven Stamkos, with the Preds winning the presidents trophy. However, neither team made the finals, and instead it was a 7 game series between the Leafs and Avs. Leafs ultimately winnning in game 7.

Playoffs and Standings
League Stats
Thrashers Stats

Onto the draft, the 3 lottery spots were taken by the Flames, Aeros, then Sabres. Dropping the 54 point Thrashers to 4th OA Alexis Lafreniere went 1st OA, Dman Kaiden Guhle jumped to 2nd OA, Danill Gushchin taken with the 3rd OA, which left me with the 6'6" C "Forward Phenom" Quinton Byfield, whoms't i took with no hesitation. Then I tried to trade Boqvist or Grubauer for one of picks 8,9,10, in order to pick up either Josh Lawrence(C/RW/LW) or Jaime Dysdale (RD/LD), but to no avail. After failing to aqcuire another top 10 pick, I tried to find a trading partner for Adam Boqvist. I was looking for either RD prospects of equal value to Boqvist or a top 2 RD. I settled on the Flyers, who had Ryan Merkely and Bode Wilde. I was looking to acquire another 1st rounder as well, so I sent Boqvist along with Tomas Tatar to Philly for the 20th OA and Bode Wilde. After the Boqvist trade, I sent Grubauer to Chicago along with my 2021 2nd for unhappy Brandon Saad, Josh Ho-Sang, a 2021 4th, and a 2020 6th. With the 20th OA pick, I took the center from Austria [url =https://imgur.com/a/dyG9umA]Marco Rossi[/url] and to complete my 1st round, center Evan Vierling at 31st OA.

2020 Draft

Going into Free Agency, my lines look something like this:



3C should be Kevin Hayes, but he currently is out with a 5 month spinal injury. In Free Agency, I'll be looking to find a replacement for Johnny Boychuck,a 3LD, Backup Goalie as well as a top 6 right winger to put in place of Ho-Sang. Not expecting much out of this roster, so I will be hesitant in signing big name FAs and focus mainly on developing prospects Like my 2018 2nd round pick, Liam Foudy:

I started a few months ago heavily playing the EHM 1.

Played 5 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks... pretty good team but when there was playoff time I always found my master in either Nashville or Winnipeg.

Then I started all over again, played another 4-5 seasons with my Detroit Red Wings. What a pain in the ass at the very beginning. A lot of naff contracts - still I managed to reach the playoffs the first year, but after that always struggling.

My best time came with another restart and the Vegas Golden Knights. Always playoffs in 5 seasons, always in the top 4 of the conference, always 100+ points. But the finals or even the Cup... no chance. So I decided to quit my job at Vegas and wanted to join the Red Wings. Sadly there was no spot for me there so I had to use the editor to get rid of Ken Holland (man, if it was THAT easy in real life...) - still the Wings always preffered another GM so I had to use the editor again and move myself to Detroit that way.

It was season 6 with that database, first year in Detroit. Did some changes on the roster. I think there were just 3 original Red Wings left on it. They have never made the playoffs in any of the 5 seasons before. Were always in the bottom 5. Once they were dead last with 22 points behind the next team! But I managed to get them from zero to hero... almost. Great reg. season, great playoffs... but in the end failed in the Cup Finals against Nashville. But still I was happy about what I accomplished in such a short time in Hockeytown.

Now, that's my story... so far.

Do you guys find the AI Nashville always lets Saros walk to Liiga/KHL? Really frustrating in challenge games because he'd be such a good goalie to trade for if Nashville kept him in the NHL.

End of the 2021 season and missed the playoffs. Mid season i had been looking to find a true 1C and found that the Sabres no longer had Jack Eichel listed as an Untouchable anymore. He was just under P/g with 34 points in 36, but Buffalo was looking to be the worst team in the league. I sent them my 11th OA pick in 2019, Valentin Nussbaumer, 4th round pick in 2018, Ryan O'Reilly, 3rd round pick in 2018, Riley Sutter, Josh Ho-Sang and my Firsts for the next two years to acquire Eichel. He went on to score 49pts in 46 games, locking down the 1C position, and stabilizing my 1st line. Rookie C Quinton Byfield went on to score 43 in 75 with a 6.83AvR, Finishing 3rd in Calder voting. Behind Kirill Kaprizov (67 in 82, 7.22 AvR) and Ilya Sorokin (45 W, 2.42 GAA, .925 SV%, 7.4 AvR)



League Stats:



Following the regular season, I had resigned a few players:

• Brandon Saad: 5.5mil, 5yrs

• Bode Wilde: 3.12mil, 3yrs

• Rem Pitlick: 1.08mil, 1yr

• Brandon Saad: 5.5mil, 5yrs

• John Beecher: ELC

• Maxim Cajkovic: ELC

• Nathan Legare: ELC

• Garrett Wright: ELC

Playoffs



At the draft, I was looking to move Maatta and Jenner in order to get a top 4 LD, I sent those 2 to Dallas for Esa Lindell and the 11th OA which i used to draft Martin St. Louis' son, Ryan. I also traded my 6th round pick in 2019, Alexei Lobanov for the 15th OA with which i took Owen Power, 6'8" Canadian LD playing at Michigan.

Draft



Heading into FA my RW was looking very weak. I only had from the previous year, Kevin Hayes (natural C) and, Trevor Lewis, who admittedly performed well, but is not a top 6 winger. So i was looking to rebuild my RW corps, and find a 3LD to play with Stephen Johns and replace Boychuck, who i had just bought out. Also, to sign a goalie to replace James Reimer who had walked this season. But i wasn't able to sign any of my targets at RW, so i settled for some depth wingers who could shore up my atrocious power play.

Signings

• Pat Maroon (LW): 4.4mil, 4yrs

• Frank Vatrano(LW/RW): 1.892mil, 3yrs

• Mike Reilly: 1.892mil, 2yrs

• Pekka Rinne: 2.67mil, 2yrs

Finally, as i still had a major gaping hole at 1RW, I looked to make a trade for one, and just before heading into training camp, the Toronto Maple Leafs put William Nylander(10.5mil) on the block. I wasted no time, and sent a 3rd, Judd Caulfield and, Kevin Hayes(4.2mil) for Nylander

Following that trade, we would have a starting line up of:

Saad- Eichel - Nylander
Hughes - Barrie

Rinne







Side Note: I have no clue why my images keep coming out that small, I've been using snipping tool to capture them, and ive been playing at 1366x768

Hey guys. First post on the forum. I just recently purchased the game and just finished my first season. Im a long time CM/football manager fan. Im a bigger hockey fan though and was happy to randomly run into this game.

have a vague question about the games toughness. So I finished my first season and I am Florida Panthers. My only purchases was Derek Grant from waivers and Ilya Ljubushin from KHL. At some point of the playoffs I got Valeri Nichuskin and A. Athanasiou from KHL (through offer sheets). So the question is, how hard or easy is this game, or did I just run lucky my first season. I finished with 102 points and 8th in the league. On the playoffs I marched to final 4-1, 4-1, 4-3. On the finals id did get ran over by sharks 0-4 though.

Also Barkov won the league in points, Ekblad in d-man points (Yandle 3rd)

Was this beginners luck or is the game unchallenging when playing an NHL team?

Thanks

NY Rangers.. Played two season now, and have dominating in the league and won two Presidents. First year playoff, we got swept in the first round 0-4 vs Montreal.
In year 2, we made to the Conf Final vs Tampa but got rap*d 0-4.. We seem to have the depth for 82 games, but when it all on the table we cant handle it. For year two i signed Jumbo Joe, and he racked up 71 points as a 39 yr old.
Feels really frustrated..

Kreider-Zibbe-Zucca
Miller-Joe-Buchnevich
Vesey-Bozak-Grabner
Kempe-Girgensons-Fast

McDonagh-Shatten
Staal-Skiej
Pilut-Seidenberg

Lunk-Shestyorkin

Sweet jesus those international team hockey associations are ruthless. I was in charge of Finland for four years, took over after the Olympics. Won the World Championships the first two years, bronze the following two years, silver in the Olympics, followed by a less than stellar World Championship quarter final where I lost against the Czechs with 4-3. Got fired as thanks.

Other than that, the save is with Predators in the 1998 database. 10 straight cups, 2004-2013, with 11 President's Trophies, 2002-2013, falling short with one point in 2005.