Challenge #46 - Montreal Canadiens - Discussion Thread

[smdesroches]

Feb 2019 Update
Finally acquired my 2C. Was able to pick up Tyler Johnson (28, contract = 5M for 6 years) from Tampa for Daniel Carr. He wasn't playing so great this year combined with his contract and TB being out of the playoff hunt might have been why he came so cheap.

Has anyone figured out how best to use Jacob de La Rose. I'm getting a poor AvR of 6.42 but his skills are looking like he can play well beyond that.


Can someone teach me how to add a pic correctly
Edit: Thx for the tip Braeden

[braeden]

Feb 2019 Update
Finally acquired my 2C. Was able to pick up Tyler Johnson (28, contract = 5M for 6 years) from Tampa for Daniel Carr. He wasn't playing so great this year combined with his contract and TB being out of the playoff hunt might have been why he came so cheap.

Has anyone figured out how best to use Jacob de La Rose. I'm getting a poor AvR of 6.42 but his skills are looking like he can play well beyond that.

https://imgur.com/XnLTId4

Can someone teach me how to add a pic correctly

Yeah, copy the image address so you get the link directly to the picture being: https://i.imgur.com/XnLTId4.jpg instead of just the regular imgur link.

Then put the

Code: Select all

[img]your picture link here[/img]

and your picture will pop up!

[braeden]

Ended up getting S3 underway. Never signed a Free Agent, didn't really have many holes on my team.

I traded Artturi Lehkonen to the Colorado Avalanche for Nail Yakupov just before training camp.

My lines are now, I plan on playing Charlie Lindgren in every game I have a back to back:

Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Drouin
de la Rose-Poehling-Gallagher
Guryanov-Shaw-Yakupov
Byron-Danault-Grabner
Scherbak

Alzner-Weber
Mete-Petry
Morrow-Anderson
Benn

Price


Both Anderson and Poehling are 20 years old and rookies on my team. They both look really good. Currently 3-0-0, Carey Price has a 0.67GAA with .978sv% and 2 shutouts. He showed up to camp in great shape, same with Shea Weber. Looking like a great start to the season.

[smdesroches]

End of Regular Season Two Update
Went on an outstanding run down the stretch 22-0-2 to grab 1st place in the East on the last night of the regular season. 50-22-10
Scoring Leaders: Drouin (81), Galchenyuk (73), Pacioretty (68), Gallagher (62), Lehkonen (62)
Upcoming UFA's: Pacioretty, Holland, Taormina, Froese, Deslauriers, Byron, Benn, Baun
AGM Top Prospects: Kravtsov (2018 #14), Timirov (2018 #55), Burzan (2018 #76), Ikonen (2017 #58), Giles (2018 #45), Bourque (2015 #177)

Laval Rocket
49-23-4 1st in AHL North Division
Scoring Leaders: Baun (65), Holland (57), Reway (55), Bitten (52), Deslauriers (50)

[smdesroches]

Season 2 Playoff Update
R1 Mtl 4 vs Phi 3 - Took a 3-0 lead only to have the Flyers battle back and push us to 7 games
R2 Mtl 4 vs Ott 0
R3 Mtl 4 vs Pitt 1
R4 Mtl 4 vs Win 0
Playoff Heroes: T. Johnson (24), Drouin (21), Morrow (19), Galchenyuk/Gallagher/Pacioretty (18) and Price with 15 wins

Laval
The Rocket beat Rockford 4 games to 2 to win the Calder Cup
Playoff Heroes: Reway (26), Kravtsov (21), Holland (20), Baun/Deslauriers (18) and Fucale with 9 wins

[MWE]

My draft picks at the end of the first season were

#31 Tyler Weiss
#55 Colton Maclean
#59 Patrick Giles
#62 Ryan O Reilly
#93 Marcel Buysse
#155 Jaxon Nelson

[smdesroches]

Summer 2019 Update
Draft: Moravec #31, Nodler #54, Tyuvilin #62, Sandin #93, Kaijankoski #124, Hasa #186, Barklund #217
Lost to UFA: Baun, Benn, Byron, Deslauriers, Froese, Holland, Pacioretty (ouch!)
Added UFA: Johan Larsson 3/4C for 1.5Mx3

[braeden]

Uhoh. Just lost Paul Byron (2LW) to an 8 month injury. Denis Guryanov will get his chance to shine on the 2nd line alongside Ryan Poehling and Brendan Gallagher.

Almost at the 40 game mark with a record of 26-7-4. Have played Charlie Lindgren a bit, he's currently 2-3-0 with a GAA of 2.81 and a sv% of .896. He's looking like a back-up at this point. But that's okay, Carey Price is elite.

My team chart:

My top 10 prospects:
1. Matt Anderson 20 yo RD/LD - Drafted Round 2 (#61) in the 2018 Entry Draft
2. Wyllum Deveaux 19yo LW - Drafted Round 2 (#51) in the 2018 Entry Draft
3. Cade Webber 18yo RD - Drafted Round 2 (#61) in the 2019 Entry Draft
4. David Levin 20yo LW - Drafted Round 1 (#31) in the 2018 Entry Draft
5. Joni Ikonen 20yo C/RW - Drafted Round 2 (#58) in the 2017 Entry Draft
6. Noah Juulsen 22yo RD/LD - Drafted Round 1 (#26) in the 2015 Entry Draft
7. Ryan Poehling 20yo C - Drafted Round 1 (#25) in the 2017 Entry Draft
8. Martin Reway 24yo RW/LW - Drafted Round 4 (#116) in the 2013 Entry Draft
9. Tag Bertuzzi 18yo LW/RW/C - Drafted Round 3 (#92) in the 2019 Entry Draft
10. Zach Fucale 24yo G - Drafted Round 2 (#36) in the 2013 Entry Draft

[MWE]

So what dates can we trade in?

I've not done any trading at all yet.

[nino33]

So what dates can we trade in?

For this Challenge we're using the 2010 Challenge Rules (sections 5 and 6 apply to trading) viewtopic.php?p=98699#p98699

[30Tanner]

Oh man. Having a great season when, suddenly, Price out 9 months with a damaged spine.

This should be fun

[alesanko]

So, my first Challenge season is over and it was great! We won SC!

Regular season
1st in conferenece with 63-18-1
Top points scorers: Drouin (83), Pacioretty (82), Galchenyuk (75), Weber (47), Byron (43)

Playoff
1R: Florida 4-0
2R: Ottawa 4-0
3R: Pittsburgh 4-1
4R: Chicago 4-1
Playoff Heroes: Galchenyuk (33), Droiun (28), Pacioretty (26), Byron (11), Lehkonen (10)

Lines for first season were:
Pacioretty - Galchenyuk - Drouin
Hudon - Plekanec - Byron
Lehkonen - de la Rose - Hemsky (Hemsky started out of lines, but in the end he had 32 points in 48 games)
Shaw - Danault/Holland - Gallagher

Schlemko - Weber
Alzner - Petry
Benn - Morrow
Jerábek

Price
Montoya

Alzner injured in playoff.. he will be out for 8 mouth
Leaving players: Plekanec, Davidson, Deslauriers, Eisenschmid, Fucale, McCarron, Mitchell, Parisi, Terry

Draft 2018
#31 Johnny Gruden - LW, USA (USHL)
#60 Matt Anderson - D, USA (NCHC)
#61 Félix Robert - C, CAN (QMJHL)
#62 Matthew Grouchy - RW, CAN (QMJHL)
#93 Nico Gross - D, SWI (Switzerland)
#155 Carl-Johan Rosén - LW, SWE (Sweden)

Signed UFA: Lars Eller 5x2.8M

[OldGregg]

Had a great season 1, went 49-20-13 and got to game 7 of the ECF losing in overtime to Washington. Had incredible seasons from Lehkonen (39G 81P), Pacioretty (43G 91P), Drouin (25G 83P), Galchenyuk (40G 89P) in season 1, but season 2 has started off a lot more closely to the real Habs lol. Scoring is way down, Lehkonen has 2G in 30GP, Weber, Petry, Hudon, Danault, and Jenner have all missed significant time to injury, and when Weber and Petry were both injured it was pretty dire having Nygren on the first pairing. Enjoying playing the challenge a lot overall though, I had kinda gotten tired of playing EHM with no restrictions since every game turns into ripping off the AI in massive trades but it's a lot more fun having to actually look at what players you have within the organization and plan around their abilities instead of just swindling the AI out of superstars.

I traded Shaw for Washington's 2nd rounder to dump salary but my other offseason moves haven't really panned out. I signed Jenner to be a 2C and he's been massively disappointing and injured a lot as well. I'm at the point where I'm just running him as the 3LW and continuing to use Galchenyuk-Danault-Plekanec (I extended him 1Y at 6M) as my top 9 centers. I think I made a pretty big mistake with my player for player trade too, I traded Mete for Girard because my scouts said Mete would be "like Kris Russell" and compared Girard to Parako. I've played Habs saves in the past where Mete doesn't really develop after his rookie year so I thought I'd try to sell high and get Girard. Now a few months later the same scouts compare Mete to "a more talented Cam Fowler" and Girard to "David Warsofsky (literally who?)" so it's looking like the trade wasn't much help. Oh well, at the very least Girard is about equal to Mete right now, and he's been equally good as Mete was on Weber's pairing.

EDIT: I think I figured out why my season 2 has been so disastrous. During training camp I set my forward and defense usage to equal to get prospects and bottom six guys some more playing time. I must not have ever changed it back to normal, and since doing that and tweaking a few other tactics I've got on a roll and Lehkonen/Hemsky/Hudon are scoring again.

[nino33]

I started this Challenge the week before last, and got through the initial team setup (staffing, scouting, training and tactics) and training camp the first week (went 2 wins 4 losses in the exhibition season), and through most of the first 20 games of the season last week.....and this week so far I've finished off the first 20 games (finished 10-7-3) and am currently at 15-7-3 and on a 6 game winning streak!

[OldGregg]

Finished off S2, I got swept in the first round but I think I figured out my down season was mostly a tactics issue since I forgot to set my F and D usage back to normal from when I set it to equal during training camp.

In July of S3 I felt stressed about the long term cap situation, it was probably dumb but I traded Price for OEL (who was signed by Arizona for 7Y/7.2M), traded Alzner for STL 2nd rounder, and signed Halak to a 2 year 3M per contract, planning to run Halak-Lindgren as a 1A-1B. I'm fairly happy with those changes, but in the medium term I'm going to have to find a goalie in the draft or hope Primeau turns into a starter.

My biggest concern is a Lehkonen contract, he doesn't have high end attributes but he's well rounded and his mental/hiddens seem to be very good. He had 81P in S1, and like 40P in S2 (mostly because of the equal forward usage). He got a 2.5M arbitration award and he wants 4.8MX6Y which is high. I'm hoping I can get that number down closer to 3M.

[MWE]

I have lehkonen at 4.4 at the moment

[OldGregg]

Finished S3, lost in game 7 of the Cup finals to Winnipeg. My biggest issue right now is obviously goaltending after trading Price. Having an OEL-Weber top pair definitely lightens the load but Halak and Lindgren weren't very good as a 1A 1B.

EDIT: Was planning to just stay with Galchenyuk and Poehling as my centers but Tampa put Tyler Johnson on the block and I moved Boone Jenner (3M until 2023) for him. I was considering trading Jenner away next season as a salary dump (or even waiving him) but I'm thrilled to kill two birds with one stone and get a great 2C on a good contract and move out Jenner's contract at the same time. I got mega lucky with my $5M UFA signing as well, managed to get Wayne Simmonds for 4Y/5M (5M, 5M, 5M, 4.9M, 100k SB). That probably makes either Lehkonen or Gallagher my next piece to trade, Lehkonen at 3.6M and Gallagher's expiring so I'll have to extend him first. I've used my 1 for 1 and my UFA signing for S4, so all I have left is my pick for player trade to fix my goaltending. Hopefully I can get an OK rental goalie and extend him (F. Andersen is expiring and Toronto has Shestyorkin, so there's a non-zero possibility I can get him).

This challenge and the rules make the game a lot more fun and challenging. In looking at my team I'm basically playing whack a mole filling team needs by opening up new ones and it really punishes you for making a mistake, especially because it's so hard to fill in key roles with free agents. I got super lucky to get Simmonds but my other FA signings were Jenner and Halak who I settled for after missing out on Ryan Murray in S2, and Zadorov or Mrazek in S3. All my issues stem back to wasting my first 1 for 1 trade where I traded Mete for Girard, I made that trade hoping that Girard would become a stud on LD but instead both players have just stagnated after their rookie years. Girard stagnating meant I felt pressured to shore up the LD and traded Price for OEL, but then I needed a goalie so I had to use my free agent signing on Halak who really isn't a solution at G instead of finding a 2C or depth on defense. Now I'm going into S4 with tons of depth at forward but probably the worst goaltending in the league, an aging Weber, soon to be 33 year old expiring Petry, and all I have left that I can do is trade a 2nd rounder.

[smdesroches]

Start of Season Three Update

Lines:
Lehkonen / Galchenyuk / Drouin
Jenner / T. Johnson / Gallagher
De La Rose / J. Larsson / Shaw
Hudon / Danault / Friberg

Mete / Weber
Alzner / Petry
Morrow / Davidson

Price / Lindgren

Lost Reway on Waivers. Had to choose between him and Friberg for my 4th line RW
Lehkonen signed 3.5M x 5

Top 10 Prospects:
1) Moravec #31 2019
2) Timirov #55 2018 <-- Ranked 8th best NHL prospect
3) Giles #45 2018
4) Kaijankoski #124 2019
5) Ikonen #58 2017
6) Kravtsov #14 2018
7) Burzan #76 2018
8) Bourque #177 2015
9) Tyuvilin #62 2019
10) Lindgren

[OldGregg]

S4 has started off really well, Johnson has slotted Poehling in as 3C and all three lines are scoring well. Nashville traded for Nedeljkovic which is really frustrating because it ruined my future goalie plans. I was hoping to either trade for Nedeljkovic myself or that Nashville would sign Saros and I could trade for him, but now that they have Nedeljkovic they aren't bringing Saros over and he's signed in the KHL until 2022. My only realistic hope now is Toronto, they have Shestyorkin and Andersen, hopefully I can either trade for Shestyorkin in S5, or trade a 2nd for Andersen at the deadline (unlikely) and extend him. Halak regressed so much with age that he's not any better than Lindgren anymore so I have him buried in the NHL and I'm running Lindgren-Hawkey lol.

Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Simmonds
Drouin-Johnson-Ikonen
Lehkonen-Poehling-Gallagher
Byron-McCarron-Gregoire

OEL-Weber
Girard-Petry
Jerabek-Benn

Lindgren
Hawkey

EDIT: Managed to get Lundqvist for a 2nd round pick. Rangers are 14th in the East and way out of the running, and Lundqvist's contract is expiring so I guess they were willing to move him. Doesn't solve my goaltending problem in the long term but it gives me an elite goalie for this year which is probably my best chance to win the cup before Gallagher's contract runs out and Girard starts to get more expensive. Had to waive Byron, Lindgren, and Jerabek to fit Lundqvist under the cap but that's definitely worth it. I wasn't planning to extend Byron and Jerabek and I doubt Lindgren gets claimed. Leafs also just extended Andersen for 5 years, so I wonder if that makes Shestyorkin a realistic trade target.

[OldGregg]

Finished S4, won the cup over San Jose, Lundqvist wasn't amazing in the playoffs but he had something like 7.15 avg rating and a .910 which was much better than Halak/Lindgren the year before. Was hoping to sign Lundqvist but he wouldn't sign before July 1 and I'm definitely not committing to him as my one UFA.

Only a few days into S5 and I'm well set up and managed to fix my short and long term issues quite well. I signed Korpisalo as a UFA for 5Y/3M, he looks like a low end starter that might become an average starter, which I'm happy with.

I extended Gallagher for 8M/4Y in June intending to trade him for Vatanen, but I did way better than that. Karlsson was unhappy in Ottawa in July and wanted to go to a better team, so I was able to trade Angel Brown (21 year old LW that was PPG in Laval and was nearly PPG in last 20 NHL games + playoffs) for him 1 for 1. I had to waive Petry (claimed by NYR) and dump Gallagher for a 2nd to fit under the cap but I'm totally OK with that, if I think of it as Gallagher+Petry+Brown for Karlsson+2nd it's still highway robbery.

So now my lines look like:

Pacioretty-Galchenyuk-Simmonds
XXX-Johnson-Drouin
B. Tkachuk-Poehling-Ikonen
Messner-McCarron-Scherbak

OEL-Karlsson
Girard-Weber
Jerabek-Nygren

Korpisalo
Hawkey

[smdesroches]

............and dump Gallagher for a 2nd to fit under the cap

I don't think your Gallagher trade is legal under this rule set.

6.11 You may now make a maximum of two trades per season.
One straight up 1-for-1 deal is allowed. You may send one player out and you may accept one player in return. Nothing more.
AND
One player for pick or pick for player deal is allowed. In an effort to rebuild through the draft, you may trade an older player (aged 33 or older) for a draft pick (no better than a 2nd round pick). Alternatively, to strengthen your team through veteran talent, you may trade a draft pick (no better than a 2nd round pick) for a veteran player (aged 30 or older). You may only do one of these deals involving a pick each season.

[smdesroches]

Season Three Midway Update (Jan 2020)

1st Place in the league with a 31-4-5 record
Top Scorers: Lehkonen (53), Galchenyuk (47), Drouin 43, T. Johnson (33), Weber (33)
Challenges: Signing Galchenyuk by June 30th. Hoping to add a LD for our playoff push
Trades: Sent Jake Evans to the Blues for Michael McLeod

Laval 25-8-1 are 4th overall in the AHL
Top Scorers: Timirov (45), Bitten (29), Marsh (28), Scherbak (24), Vejdemo (16)

[axepig]

Holy rubbish I finished simming my 82 games and filled in my stats and realized we needed playoff wins... I just simmed with 0 line changes and 0 tactic changes (lucked out on no injury) so it wouldn't auto log me out and I got to the cup final and swept the Ducks. I am doomed for failure for 2018-19 though, I can't repeat that haha

[nino33]

............and dump Gallagher for a 2nd to fit under the cap

I don't think your Gallagher trade is legal under this rule set.

6.11 You may now make a maximum of two trades per season.
One straight up 1-for-1 deal is allowed. You may send one player out and you may accept one player in return. Nothing more.
AND
One player for pick or pick for player deal is allowed. In an effort to rebuild through the draft, you may trade an older player (aged 33 or older) for a draft pick (no better than a 2nd round pick). Alternatively, to strengthen your team through veteran talent, you may trade a draft pick (no better than a 2nd round pick) for a veteran player (aged 30 or older). You may only do one of these deals involving a pick each season.

A review of the rules Archi posted/linked to in the Challenge Announcement (and smdesroches has quoted) shows that alas, the trade is not legal

[OldGregg]

I don't think your Gallagher trade is legal under this rule set.

A review of the rules Archi posted/linked to in the Challenge Announcement (and smdesroches has quoted) shows that alas, the trade is not legal

Oh whoops you guys are right, I'm sorry about that.

I have an earlier save from just after the draft and I haven't submitted any stats for S5 yet, would I be able to revert to that save? I could go back and just trade Petry for a pick and waive Gallagher, or just waive both of them and forfeit my draft pick trade for S5.

Alternatively I could give Anaheim back the 2nd rounder I got for Gallagher along with my 7th rounder in 2026 and receive Anaheim's 2026 7th rounder (so they'd get their pick back and we'd just be swapping 2026 7th rounders). I could also give them back the 2nd round pick for the rights to a mediocre veteran (Max Gortz - mediocre 28 year old who's only played SHL and 1 AHL season) and immediately release those rights.