EHM The Blue Line

Canadian Passport wrote:They took Kevin Miller for Brylin straight up, I'm half-way thinking I should load an old save and start over because Brylin for Miller is highway robbery.

Major steal haha - I've noticed too that if you trade for pending free agents you can get bargain basement prices (hence my Belanger/Carter trade, which is ridiculous haha).

Canadian Passport wrote:
I had a down turn in the pre-season too. I won 2 exhibition games out of 6 but once the season started things have been going a lot better, for the most part. The goaltending is horrendous. I'm in third place though and that's not a fluke, we're scoring like crazy so the goaltending doesn't hurt as much as it would have last season but I still want to move Salo. Jonsson hasn't been playing well either so I'm thinking I might see if I can trade him for a legitimate starting goalie which would free me up to move Salo. I got rid of all my generalist skill type forwards in the off season and brought in checking forwards because my defense was horrible last season, I've had mixed results so far. I traded Watt for Dan LaCouture and I got a third and a fourth for both Webb and Lawrence. Marty Reasoner was my UFA signing. I'm faster and I have better checkers now. Before I saved the game this morning the Devils put Sergei Brylin on the block. They took Kevin Miller for Brylin straight up, I'm half-way thinking I should load an old save and start over because Brylin for Miller is highway robbery.

Goaltending has been horrendous for me as well. Although Salo is starting to play well, but Flaherty has just sucked. Finally managed to claw my back into 3rd spot in the East after 40 games. So it's good to see that the team is turning things around.

I've got 1 point from my first seven games of the second season

stone169 wrote: Goaltending has been horrendous for me as well. Although Salo is starting to play well, but Flaherty has just sucked. Finally managed to claw my back into 3rd spot in the East after 40 games. So it's good to see that the team is turning things around.

Same thing with my team. Flaherty was really good for me last season, until I gave him a new contract. Ever since then he's been really bad.

MWE wrote:For free agents does it go down to salary or cap hit?

It's cap hit for free agent salaries.

Note that your overall salary budget goes by averaged club salary.

nine-o wrote:

Canadian Passport wrote:They took Kevin Miller for Brylin straight up, I'm half-way thinking I should load an old save and start over because Brylin for Miller is highway robbery.

Major steal haha - I've noticed too that if you trade for pending free agents you can get bargain basement prices (hence my Belanger/Carter trade, which is ridiculous haha).

Absolutely. I like Belanger but if I could get Carter for him I'd make that deal too.

By the way, everytime I see that Satan Praised thing I laugh out loud.

Canadian Passport wrote:By the way, everytime I see that Satan Praised thing I laugh out loud.

Miroslav Satan - great player, even better jersey.

Heading into season 4 and my first major trade. I'm right under the "internal" cap, the entire cup winning team is back for another year. But next year things will get rough. Trevor Linden, at 31 years of age, is signed for another 4 years at 5M. THE contract to move and I think it's time to start managing the cap right now.

So Trevor Linden is dealt to the Jets for 25 year old center Dave Scatchard and a 2nd round pick. Needless to say, fans and board hate me right now. But that's 3M less in cap and the same lenght contract for a pretty similar player that did quite well on a poor Jets team last season. Really wanted Plekanec as well in that deal, but I think I had to give up like a 1st to get him even though they did have some interest in dealing him. So, that should see Chara coming back easily again for next year, the biggest contract coming up I think.

nine-o wrote:Great season, really lucky on the injury front... then the day before the first round starts, lose Palffy for 3 weeks. FML.

Yeah injuries can derail everything, Pallfy had an awesome season with 77 points i not even 70 games already then gets injured for rest of season and Deadmarsh and Cullen, basically the bes ti have follow and i get eliminated in 2nd round dough... all in all i always have an awesome roster, something like Pallfy, Deadmarsh, Luongo, Iginla, Samsonov, Kunitz, Niinima , Cullen, Tverdovsky, Kim Johnnson, Czerkawski , Kubina , Franzen, Markov, Drury, Zetterberg, Brewer, H-Sedin, Gionta, Bieksa, Cole next season. But doesnt matteri guess, got cup last year and with me being such a horrible coach will stay my only one i guess

So, I'm thinking about getting back into the Challenges, (great iniative BTW! ). Been a few years since last time I joined.

I do have a question about the rules though; do the rules outlined in Gameplay rules, (especially the stuff about Core Roster Players), apply to this challenge, in addition to the rules outlined in the challenge post on the front page, (where it says "The rules for the challenge are as follows...")?

Well.. 20 games into season 2 and we sit 7-12-1..

The Bright spots so far:

Second line was playing well, having to put Pahlsson onto the second line for the first 15 games hurt them, but Dawe is at 11 points, Czerkawski had 13 and Smolinski has 4 in the 5 games he's played.
First line is still in the + category, they have fell off a little lately, but assuming they pick up the pace again and the second line increases the scoring pace with Smolinski back we should bounce back in Q2.
Lowell is playing well, I traded Flaherty for a third and brought up Cousineau as a backup, so Luongo is now the starter there, which should help his development. Along with that Yngeni Lapin is their top scorer, so he may be ready for a call up next year. I could see him replacing Dawe on the second line.

Now the bad..

Goalies can't stop a beach ball, Salo is at 3.60 GAA, and pre trade Flaherty was at 3.93.
Mark Lawrence has has more PIM in Q1 than he did all last season.. that combined with our 2nd league worst 70.7% PK has killed us.
Third line was awful, hoping now that Pahlsonn is back there we'll see an improvement.

The future:
Overhauled the tactics completely a few games ago, been 2-1-0 since, and Salo has only allowed 2 goals in each, putting up 8's.
Prospects seem to be developing well, giving me hope for a decent run next year.

Just finished Season 2 Q1 too. 2nd place but the Devils are only two points behind me and they have two games in hand. I traded Salo and Jonsson, I finally had it with their mediocre performances and there was some interest in them around the league. Jocelyn Thibault is my starter now and Brewer moved up to take Jonsson's place in the top 4 and he's responding well to the additional ice time. My PK was at 44.3% at game 10. Minor personnel changes and major tactical overhaul to the PK got me up to 70.4% by the end of Q1 so hopefully that holds. I'm starting to be able to take control of games instead of just scoring in bunches which is encouraging.

The Thrashers are 0-19-3.

0.
19.
3.

The "two trades per season" limitation really makes you get strategic! I agonized over my year 2 trades...

I run a tactic that requires mobile D - Chara, awesome as he is individually, doesn't fit. Just too slow, his ratings are consistently lower than 7. I finally bit the bullet and shipped him out for what I desperately need - solid starting goaltending. Ended up getting Marty Turco, who's 15-in-everything-goaltending stats should finally give me stability in net for a few years while Luongo slowly becomes amazing. Got me under the challenge's cap too!

Then managed to turn Claude Lapointe into Tom Poti and Dan Lacouture - my top-six D are now terrifyingly offensive, and LaCouture gives me the left winger I needed. Center depth is excellent, good speed and scoring on all four lines which matches my tactics perfectly. Heading into the preseason - we shall destroy people. Satan wills it.

nine-o wrote:The "two trades per season" limitation really makes you get strategic! I agonized over my year 2 trades...

Is there a two trades per season limit?

Canadian Passport wrote:Is there a two trades per season limit?

I think so, it's in the general rules:

6.11 You may now make a maximum of two trades per season.

I don't think we are using the general rules for this challenge. Just the ones set out in archies post on the main page

The rules for the challenge are as follows...

Trades:
◦No trading is allowed in season 1 until the 1998/1999 Stanley Cup Finals are over.
◦Trading opens once the 1998/1999 Stanley Cup Finals are over. After that, you're allowed to trade at any point the NHL allows you to.
◦No more than 2 assets can be involved on either side of a trade. This means you're allowed 1 for 1, 2 for 1, 1 for 2, and 2 for 2 deals.
◦You may not trade for anyone over the age of 25. You are allowed to keep your older players and re-sign them though.
◦Any players involved in trades must be under contract. No "player rights" trading allowed!
◦Draft picks are allowed as components of the deal, except 1st rounders. Only picks for the next draft are allowed. Example : Player for a 2nd round pick, 2 players for a 2nd and a 3rd round Pick, or Player for Player, and so on.

Yeah, wouldn't mind some clarification on that one when you have a sec archibalduk - under the rules for this challenge it says

Beyond that, normal challenge rules apply.

so I'm not entirely sure what's what with regards to trades... I've basically been going with the most strict rules to avoid screwing anything up haha.

As so many of you are playing this challenge remember to point out any errors/mistakes/weird things you find in the DB, so we can improve it.
Use this thread for that: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... &start=400

First off, B72 has always run the Challenges and knows the rules inside out. I'm coming into this fresh and so if anybody can show that what I say below is not how it was in the last 98 Challenge then please let me know and I'll revise the original post setting out the rule modifications (which is 99% a copy and paste from B72's rules post for the last 98 Challenge)

fz50 wrote:So, I'm thinking about getting back into the Challenges, (great iniative BTW! ). Been a few years since last time I joined.

I do have a question about the rules though; do the rules outlined in Gameplay rules, (especially the stuff about Core Roster Players), apply to this challenge, in addition to the rules outlined in the challenge post on the front page, (where it says "The rules for the challenge are as follows...")?

That's correct. All of the original rules apply save that the modifications set out HERE.

nine-o wrote:

Canadian Passport wrote:Is there a two trades per season limit?

I think so, it's in the general rules:

6.11 You may now make a maximum of two trades per season.

That's correct. There is a two trade limit under the rules. The modified rules allow you to do 1-for-1, 2-for-1, 1-for-2 or 2-for-2 trades at any time during the season - so two lots of any type of trade within those limits.

MWE wrote:I don't think we are using the general rules for this challenge. Just the ones set out in archies post on the main page

The rules for the challenge are as follows...

No I'm afraid that's incorrect. As above, the original rules apply save for the modifications set out.

If anybody has fallen foul of the rules then please let me know in this thread and we can think about what penalties to apply. Obviously this is all a bit of fun and so I hope everybody stays honest and alerts us to any infractions.

archibalduk wrote:First off, B72 has always run the Challenges and knows the rules inside out. I'm coming into this fresh and so if anybody can show that what I say below is not how it was in the last 98 Challenge then please let me know and I'll revise the original post setting out the rule modifications (which is 99% a copy and paste from B72's rules post for the last 98 Challenge)

fz50 wrote:So, I'm thinking about getting back into the Challenges, (great iniative BTW! ). Been a few years since last time I joined.

I do have a question about the rules though; do the rules outlined in Gameplay rules, (especially the stuff about Core Roster Players), apply to this challenge, in addition to the rules outlined in the challenge post on the front page, (where it says "The rules for the challenge are as follows...")?

That's correct. All of the original rules apply save that the modifications set out HERE.

nine-o wrote:

Canadian Passport wrote:Is there a two trades per season limit?

I think so, it's in the general rules:

6.11 You may now make a maximum of two trades per season.

That's correct. There is a two trade limit under the rules. The modified rules allow you to do 1-for-1, 2-for-1, 1-for-2 or 2-for-2 trades at any time during the season - so two lots of any type of trade within those limits.

MWE wrote:I don't think we are using the general rules for this challenge. Just the ones set out in archies post on the main page

The rules for the challenge are as follows...

No I'm afraid that's incorrect. As above, the original rules apply save for the modifications set out.

If anybody has fallen foul of the rules then please let me know in this thread and we can think about what penalties to apply. Obviously this is all a bit of fun and so I hope everybody stays honest and alerts us to any infractions.

So just to be clear on this, only two trades per season?

I made three trades between the stanley cup finals and the draft season 1. ^^ I had missed that rule. Good to know for the future though.

starshock101 wrote:I made three trades between the stanley cup finals and the draft season 1. ^^ I had missed that rule. Good to know for the future though.

Maybe do only 1 trade the next season to keep it fair!? Just a suggestion. I'm not part of this nor make the rules.

Uh, yeah...I think I'm out of the challenge here. I completely lost it in terms of trades being a maximum of 2 per season. No trades in S1, only one trade in S2 but 5 in S3 (2 players+4 picks in, giving up 3 players+6 picks) . Don't wanna backtrack a whole season. Also noticed I made a minor misstake on my S2 UFA signing, 25k over the cap limit, but 1M salary. He was signed for S2+3 and is now on a new deal.

So yeah, not sure what kind of penalties this would bring my way. But otherwise I might just continue this on my own.

Canadian Passport wrote:So just to be clear on this, only two trades per season?

Correct.

starshock101 wrote:I made three trades between the stanley cup finals and the draft season 1. ^^ I had missed that rule. Good to know for the future though.

Thanks for letting me know.

saberhagen83 wrote:Uh, yeah...I think I'm out of the challenge here. I completely lost it in terms of trades being a maximum of 2 per season. No trades in S1, only one trade in S2 but 5 in S3 (2 players+4 picks in, giving up 3 players+6 picks) . Don't wanna backtrack a whole season. Also noticed I made a minor misstake on my S2 UFA signing, 25k over the cap limit, but 1M salary. He was signed for S2+3 and is now on a new deal.

So yeah, not sure what kind of penalties this would bring my way. But otherwise I might just continue this on my own.

Doh! Thanks for letting me know!

If you want to continue with the Challenge, I'd suggest the following in order to make it a level playing field:

- Seasons 3 and 4 don't count for points (but continue to record your stats on the site like normal)
- No further trades allowed until you have balanced out your quota (i.e. apply the 3 trades too many in season 3 against your quota for season 4, 5, etc) - so no further trading until it has been evened out.

saberhagen83 wrote:Uh, yeah...I think I'm out of the challenge here. I completely lost it in terms of trades being a maximum of 2 per season. No trades in S1, only one trade in S2 but 5 in S3

By my count, you're under the quota if you spread it over your three seasons. Imma say you should be cut some slack there!