EHM The Blue Line

Right now he is making $1.2 I believe, and next year he wants 3.5. I have countered with 3 for two years. I will see what happens. If he does not accept..he gets traded. Cause even $3 mill is too much for a keeper in this game for me.

But I really do not care. I have Big Sexy in the minors waiting for Price to outPrice himself. Tyson is not as good as Carey, but he will do well for me damnit. They all do, now that I have perfected my defensive tactics.

Check out the challenge stats and you will see dybbuk. Seriously...on average I allow between 25 and 28 goals in 20 game stretches now.

batdad wrote:Right now he is making $1.2 I believe, and next year he wants 3.5. I have countered with 3 for two years. I will see what happens. If he does not accept..he gets traded. Cause even $3 mill is too much for a keeper in this game for me.

But I really do not care. I have Big Sexy in the minors waiting for Price to outPrice himself. Tyson is not as good as Carey, but he will do well for me damnit. They all do, now that I have perfected my defensive tactics.

Check out the challenge stats and you will see dybbuk. Seriously...on average I allow between 25 and 28 goals in 20 game stretches now.

Haven't post in a long while and this is somewhat off topic, but hey batdad, that's very amazing results you have for your goalies. I am not getting something like that even with bobby luo. He is getting between 2.2 - 2.5 GAA and less than 10 SO each season. I am even running a high trap / left wing lock system and always has the lowest shot against average in the NHL. For some odd reason, he is letting 2 - 3 goes in when only 20 shots against...

Maybe you should to start posting your defensive tactics in a new thread called "tutorial - how to play defence correctly"

I have posted bits and pieces all over the place in here vissia.

My main ideas:

Change things up between periods, even if they are working. My defensive tactics are not always defensive. I run off 2 physical offensive tactics-one zone, one man defense (with alterations from the standard set up in the game), and I use individual tactics as well that are different depending on my teams and players. I think that with the Hawks team, I have just nailed what my guys play the game like defensively. I have never had this result with anyone but this team...so until i move past the challenge, I will not be 100% sure that it is my tactical set up...or if it is that I have kept a pretty consistent roster together over a 7 season period. (My numbers get better every season defensively. However, the offense has dropped off a bit)

It would take me hours to post the tactics. Because I really believe it is how I have each individual player set that makes the difference between a good tactic and what I have going here with my Hawks team.

**I also occasionally throw curve ball tactics in every 5-6 games and use either a neutral zone trap set up or a RUN AND GUn one.

Anyway, back on topic...

Love to hear your result again after you move past the challenge.

Right, back on topic...

I am not sure if anyone else tried this, but I find that dropping the player role one step usually helps to keep them cheap (i.e. drop key players to core players). Players usually don't get too upset when you change status and sign them to new contracts in July. With this I have signed my key players to decent deals.

Ovechkin 5.75 / 4yr (core / RFA)
Crosby 5.5 / 3yr (core / RFA extension)
E. Staal 5.75 / 2yr (core / UFA extension)
Piktanen 5.5 /2yr (core / UFA extension)
J. Staal 0.9 / 4yr (regular / RFA extension)

or as someone else mentioned already (i believe) sign them early when they are young. I signed these out of their entry contract.
M. Staal 2.5 / 5yr
Ryan Wilson 4.2 / 10yr <-- btw. I've got a godly Wilson in my game, 2 Norris and 2 Harts in the past 2 seasons. But the funny part is, he does not get selected to all stars game even when I have 7 players going.

Shadd666 wrote:Leafs_fever: ...and you should end with a huge deception... or not... Price is now 26 in my game, and not yet a true starter. He shares the duty with Esche, and both of them combine for just 1.8M$.

With me, Price barely reaches the .900 mark in the regular seasons. Not reality better in the playoffs, except in his rookie year, when he had a playoff campaign over .920 and 6 shutouts, including one in the Finals, for our 16th victory of the post-season.

Thanks god i never gave him a 2.5M$ cheque...

In my game price is now 22 and is a dominant goaltender. The deal has been a steal for me.

Good for you But he could have become useless the same way (recurrent injury, bad devellopement, whatever else...). So i'm still totally against those lifetime gambles... hem... i mean "long-term deals"

Usually, I exploit the RFA status as much as I can. You can seriosuly tie the poor guys neck and make him sign a much more reasonable contract then if he were an UFA.

Usually, after the entry-level deal, I sign him to a three years contract. After those, he'll still be a RFA, then I sign him to a better, but still cheaper, and if the player is the real deal alredy I make it a 4 or 5 years deal, to lock him up for the first few years of his UFA status.

Remenber, a guy quilifies as an UFA after 27 years of age <b>or</b> 7 seasons accrued in the NHL.