Challenge #37 Discussion - Blowing Up The Canucks!

[Peter_Doherty]

Went 16-4-0 in Q3 and the team is clearly clicking Scoring continues to be very spread.

[batdad]

I Know. but what would you rather have 10-13-23 in 33 games, or 1-15-16 in 82 games? Sure it is cool some use Blomstrand. I have thought about it. But he does not play his role as well as others do. Shinkaruk, Vey, Horvat...even McCann and Gaunce play their roles better.

For me he plays his role perfectly, he's my 4th line winger + PK and does it well. I would never let Shinkaruk, Vey or Horvat on the PK before Blomstrand.

Not what I was saying. BLomstrand cannot play the role that the others do. Horvat absolutely on PK ahead of him. He is great for me in that role, in spite of what are fair to middling attributes. Wins 55% of his faceoffs or more, and his bravery is outstanding (16). He does the job perfectly. Other two never go near the PK but McCann and Gaunce do when they are up with the big club. Blomstrand would never see it. And he never sees the PP either. The others do. They do their jobs and Blomstrand does alot of the same as my 3-4 line guys, just not as well. Not nearly as well. ALwasy one or two guys from third line or fourth line on PP, 3 or 4 on PK and 1 who is my toughness. Blomstrand fits none of that as well as these guys:

Shinkaruk-Horvat-Kassian
Virtanen-McCann-Vey


Bravery is a HUGE key to PK, as is positioning.

[Peter_Doherty]

I like Blomstrand on my 4th line, he balances it out. Not every player needs to be creative Yeah both those attributes are important for the PK and Blomstrand has 15 positioning, 14 bravery, 18 work rate for example, i have Samuelsson and Bonino as my FO takers on the PK so i don't need Horvat for that. My bottom 6 is like this:

Shinkaruk-Samuelsson-Virtanen
Blomstrand-Horvat-Hartman

As i said earlier though it's a good thing that we all play differently and get different results out of the same players. There are no right or wrong in a game like this, just different

Edit: Wow, Horvat definitely developed better for you, he only has 13 bravery and 8 positioning for me.

[visualdarkness]

Wow, Horvat definitely developed better for you, he only has 13 bravery and 8 positioning for me.

He is even worse for me with 13 bravery and 7 in positioning.

I'm struggling with Jenner. He plays decently but takes so many high-sticking penalties that it's ridiculous.

[Peter_Doherty]

Wow, Horvat definitely developed better for you, he only has 13 bravery and 8 positioning for me.

He is even worse for me with 13 bravery and 7 in positioning.

I'm struggling with Jenner. He plays decently but takes so many high-sticking penalties that it's ridiculous.

Try lowering his aggression maybe? I'm not sure if that helps but worth a try.

[visualdarkness]

Wow, Horvat definitely developed better for you, he only has 13 bravery and 8 positioning for me.

He is even worse for me with 13 bravery and 7 in positioning.

I'm struggling with Jenner. He plays decently but takes so many high-sticking penalties that it's ridiculous.

Try lowering his aggression maybe? I'm not sure if that helps but worth a try.

Tried already. I've tried hitting aggression and pressure all at lowest but he still can't handle his stick and racks 2+2's for high-sticking coupled with a couple of tripping. Only he and Kassian racks up penalities like that but Kassian gets his from getting thrown out for fighting.

[jmi]

Sorry for the wall of text, I kindof like making my own story while I play so..
__________

After Vancouver Canucks' shocking trades in June, several media outlets speculated, that Canucks' General Manager Mana Geri would be one of the most active participants on the UFA market. To disappoint many, GM MG only signed Jonne Tammela, Jasper Lindgren and Lucas Carlsson (all '15 draftees) with ELC.

Canucks' personnel on the other hand saw a significant changes when GM MG fired Lorne Henning, Harold Snepsts, Normand Poisson, Lucien DeBlois, Dave Prior and Eric Crawford from scouting department. GM MG also demoted Ron Delorme from head scout position, and appointed Thomas Gradin as a new head of scouting.
GM MG also brought in new blood in scouting, when hiring Mark Yannetti (Alaska Aces), Mike Sands (Wichita Thunder) and Ed Herneisen (Florida Everblades) from ECHL teams and John Williams (Denver Cutthroats) from CHL.

GM MG commented very shortly the scouting changes with "During last draft it became very apparent, that the fired scouts didn't have any idea of the game of hockey, nor the players they had to be looking".

At the beginning of July Canucks' also announced on their Google+ they have fired Ron Rolston and bringing in Guy Boucher. Because of this no one actually knew what was happening until one unfortunate middle aged newspaper reporter decided to be "hip" and reach out to younger audiences by registering to Google+. When the news broke, Canucks' Google+ handle doubled its likes. From 2 to 4.

When asked about head coaching changes GM MG shared "Ron Rolston's job was only to stay until we find a new coach" and after being asked why Ron Rolston was told he had GM's confidence GM MG added "Well, I am not dumb enough to tell a person that they are going to get fired"

During preseason nearly all of hockey media crushed Vancouver Canucks. "Too small" "Too slow" "Too much like Hurricanes" were just a few phrases used to describe the seemingly all around weak roster. Only Andrei Vasilevsky was noted as an "the best of upcoming goalie prospects" and as 5th best rookie in overall.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
none of the reporters invited to our Stanley Cup party #canucks #2016 #champions

As the season started 8th of October, Vancouver Canucks were ready to face San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena. From the minute one it was obvious, that Canucks were in fact, not ready for the beginning of the season. San Jose Sharks were out performing Canucks in everything and only the bad ice in Canucks' defending zone kept the numbers down. The scoreboard still displayed ruthless 2-7 score. After the buzzer in 3rd period, several fans stayed to protest and demand resignation of General Manager Mana Geri. Board joined in by telling that sufficient replacement was found for GM MG, but some magical wall blocked their wish to sack GM MG.

In the fifth game of the season against Calgary Flames, Canucks finally managed to snab a 4-2 win. After losing to Sharks, Flames, Ducks (so.) and Kings (so.) even this fan didn't shut off fans, who kept protesting and collecting names to petition to buy Canucks and fire GM MG themselves.

12th game of the season against New Jersey Devils ended yet again on overtime. Canucks having 0-5 record on overtime to begin the season, betters were excited to jump into Live Bets and bet with a huge sums of money against Canucks. But as overtime went on longer, Canucks and Devils both were making the betters very nervous. There was 10 seconds left on overtime when Bärtschi got the puck behind the Devils net. Bärtschi advanced to the side of the goal and wristshot the puck somewhere towards Devils' goal. Against all the odds the puck ended up behind Cory Schneider, and as the replay was played over and over it looked to be one of the softest goals in the history of hockey. After being asked about it in post-game interview Cory Schneider shocked everyone with "I didn't want to see our guys take shootouts, you know how bad we are at it, it is just painful, so go figure what I think of the last goal".

The first quarter of the season (7-7-6 9th) was coming to the end and fans were still praying for Mana Geri to be sacked. GM MG commented on the protests first time by saying "I think most fans don't realize we are actually playing great, I don't mind being what Bettmann is to owners to our players, but it is ridiculous we are playing great and fans focus on personnel".

Between 25th and 36th game Vancouver Canucks managed to snab only one win, while losing 11 games (3 OT). Canucks seemed to be crushing to bottom of the league, holding 14th place in Western Conference at the end of the bad stretch. Fans weren't having any of it and GM MG was still the primary target of their insults, but they were finally starting to spread it to players as Josh Nicholls and Kevin Hayes both were heavily criticized for lacking effort. Canucks did manage turning the boat around and winning 4 last games of 2nd quarter. Suddenly they were again only two points behind the 2nd Wild Card spot.

The second half of the season started as a huge battle. Vancouver couldn't find any kind of form, and one good game was followed by an awful one. The points grabbed kept Canucks steadily in the playoff race, but still behind several teams. Until after All Stars break Canucks finally seemed to have found an effective playstyle, that they also managed to execute. Result was a great seven games won in a row and a lot more steady results after the streak ended. GM MG seemed to finally have some backing from the fans and Canucks' board, as they were climbing hard towards playoffs.

The last quarter was very mediocre, much like whole Canucks' season. The slumps of other teams in Playoffs race helped Canucks climb to 1st wild card spot. Both, Oilers and Blackhawks, ended up the season with a cruel 2-8 record to knock them off from the race.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Cant see us 30th, who owns up to their analysis? We are going for the cup #no #reporters #at #parade

On the first round of playoffs Vancouver Canucks faced Central division's 1st seed, Nashville Predators. During regular season, Canucks had won one and lost two (4-0, 3-6, 1-3) against Preds. Both teams had a great goalies, no offense, and Predators had a great defence, while Canucks' defence didn't really convince anyone, but it wasn't claimed bad either.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
We win at social media #predators #sweep

The serie started extremely close at Bridgestone Arena, when Predators managed to take the lead in series with 2-1 victory.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
@predsnhl everyone can get lucky once

To the second game Vancouver Canucks came with a much higher intensity, which led to great chances, but as was story for most season, no one really knew how to score. And as it goes in sports, if you don't score, the others will. After great first period, but no goals, Predators got the handle of the game and decided the pace of second. After Calle Järnkrok took Predators to 1-0 lead, Canucks seemed to lose their strive. Second period was completely Predators and only reason Canucks were still in game was standing between their pipes, Vasilevsky had 21 saves on 22 shots.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Guys we need to advance to play Kings, we might get @meganfox to watch our games

The pep talk from GM MG seemed to have paid off as Canucks got flying start to 3rd period when Nick Bonino tied the game from close. As the period progressed, Canucks created more and more chances, but everyone was still trying to figure how to hold the stick in goal scoring positions. And if they did hit the puck, Rinne was having fantastic game. When the clock showed 3 minutes and 40 seconds left, Canucks got offensive zone faceoff. Guy Boucher called timeout and sent out, to surprise everyone, their 4th line. Kassian - Matthias - Dorsett, wasn't really a trio anyone expected to see in a situation where you needed to score. But they decided to surprise everyone. Matthias won the faceoff against Mike Ribeiro, got the puck on the blueline to Luca Sbisa, who sent it out to Derek Dorsett on the right of the net, who immediately passed it to Zack Kassian in front of the net. Kassian surprised everyone, including himself, when he did standing spinorama to silence the Bridgestone Arena and explode the bench of Canucks.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Kassians trade value is up #waiting #for #calls

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
We are taking this series #Vasilevsky #who #needs #sedin

3rd game at Rogers Arena was possibly the most boring hockey game all season long. Both team played to avoid mistakes which caused a lot of standing around, something that Guy Boucher's strategy seemed to cause. The game ended up going into the overtime and everyone in the audience just wanted it to end during first overtime. Thankfully, newly found fan favourite Cody Eakin scored from Barret Jackman's misplaced pass.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
big sorry fans

4th game of the series never happened.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
No idea what everyone is talking about, there was no game at Rogers

The series was heading to be the most boring playoffs serie NHL has seen in modern era, after yet another very safely played and low tempo match at Nashville. Nashville managed to take the lead in the serie again and had a chance to end the series in Vancouver. Game six, unlike any of the earlier games (apart from a single period of 2nd game), saw very active Canucks. While it led to much more scoring chances, Predators got a lot more counter attacks. By the second half of second period, Preds had taken 2-1 lead and while Canucks had the control of the puck most of the time, goal scorers seemed to be having another night off. But Yannick Weber had decided otherwise, giving chance after chance to others, he decided to take matters to his own hands and finish off himself. While first of his shots deflected and was marked to Eakin, the goal to bring Canucks ahead of Predators was a beauty beyond measure. Weber got a puck behind the net, passed it to Määttä who sent it back to Weber who spurted into full speed, deking Ribeiro, playing Simmonds out of the play with fake shot, passing the puck to himself through the boards to get past Franson, and finally pulling perfect Datsyukian deke on Rinne. This led to huge boost on energy in Canucks' players and the game was suddenly 5-2. While Roman Josi scored on PP to give Nashville a fighting chance, Canucks held on to the lead and brought the series into game seven.

And when Canucks had showed great effort in game six, game seven Canucks played like a little brother against his big brothers friends. Extremely scared to take contact, to go in for the puck, to try anything creative, just in fear of loss. The young players seemed to shatter under the stress, and only one who kept Canucks in the game, like most of the games this season, was Andrei Vasilevsky. At the end, without even putting good fight, Canucks were beaten 1-2 and were on the way to their summer holidays with series going 4-3 to Predators.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Who do we get rid of next? #stanleycup #2017



Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Congratulations for the second Stanley Cup in a row @TBLightning ! #sedin #almost #like #we #won

Andrei Vasilevsky
@andreivasi
How do I get traded back? ))))))))


Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
AHAHAHAHA #sorry #penguins

Shortly after the mocking message on Vancouver Canucks' twitter, General Manager Mana Geri called for Press Conference. In Press Conference GM MG shortly announced a trade between Canucks and Penguins. Derek Dorsett and Bobby Sanguinetti were heading to Penguins, while Canucks got Penguins' 1st (21st overall) round pick 2016.

Few days later GM MG called for another Press Conference, this time open for fans as GM MG thought it was time to make him look better towards fans. In the Press Conference GM MG firstly announced a trade between Devils and Canucks. Jacob Markström moved to New Jersey, in return of 2nd (33rd overall) round pick 2016. The trade didn't seem to generate much reaction from the crowd, as Markström had spent the whole season in AHL and was unlikely to make it to the team. "Guess it is nice for future" sighed one of the fans. After some pointless hockey and business jargon, while quite a few of the fans were leaving, GM MG announced another trade. Nick Bonino and Yannick Weber were moving to Florida Panthers and in return Canucks received Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Trocheck, Minnesota Wild's 3rd round pick 2016, and Panthers' 6th round pick 2016. Fans started to get restless, some yelling how GM MG is ruining the game yet again. GM MG told security to issue ban to the arena for any negative fan.

Vanvouver Canucks
@VanCanucks
Too much negativity around the team, where is the faith in us? #fans #ban

At the time of NHL Draft Vancouver Sun asked GM MG to give reasons for picks through interviews during Draft which GM MG quickly refused. After huge backlash from board, GM MG was forced to take on Sun's offer and commented on the picks followingly:

16th overall, Dante Fabbro, RD 187/87 CAN (Saskatoon)
heard a lot about this kid, from Vancouver area, family obviously fans, good frame and defensive skills, could slot into top 4, scouts liked him and I believe in our scouts more than last season, could use season or two in juniors to be ready, believe hes going to have impact for us

21st overall, Brandon Saigeon, C/LW/RW 187/90 CAN (Belleville)
honestly wanted him at 16th but decided to listen head scout, was ranked eight so surprising drop, big guy, can play any role in forward, not the best scorer, could be very serviceable 2nd/3rd liner in few seasons

33rd overall, William Fällström, C 182/79 SWE (Skellefteå)
impressed at his combine and interview, to my eye Sedin like player, scouts tell different, hard worker, can score and proved it against men last year, if he was bigger he'd go in top 10, if he can work on his physique I believe he has upside to be in our top 2 lines

46th overall, Riku Vanninen, RW/C 194/99 FIN (TPS Jrs.)
huge guy with great determination, fairly fast for his size, good shot and hands, can play big minutes, could slot into 3rd line with a chance of 2nd

80th overall, Paul Young, RW/LW 185/93 USA (Phillips Andover)
"strong guy, can play defense and offence, needs to work hard to make it to the top level, but has potential to become regular NHLer, I have never heard of him but one of our scouts were very high on him"

106th overall, Frédérik Beaudry G 183/86 CAN (Windsor)
"he's a goalie in OHL, ask again in 5 years, could become anything or nothing"

136th overall, Ted Cullen LD 174/80 USA (Eau Claire North)
this is probably one of our scouts friends son, I have no idea who called his name in draft, wasnt there, never heard of him

166th overall, Anthony Salinitri C 182/80 CAN (Sarnia)
"I saw him play with few of my scouts, impressed on his shot and goal scoring ability, needs to improve everything else to see NHL minutes"

168th overall, Baptiste Robillard RW 193/89 CAN (Drummondville)
"huge strong guy, natural leader, good skater, needs to improve his game all around, could be good defensive 4th liner"

196th overall, Garth Desjardins LD 180/83 CAN (Kitchener)
"eh.. you are still calling me about the picks? this is 7th round, everyone is drafting their bosses daughters and their friends crushes"

About the draft
In overall I believe we had a strong draft. I am really glad about getting both Fabbro and Saigeon, great players who will be making this team stronger. This time didn't see scouts blowing it up, so we might be going with this formation to upcoming season. There was also no other Jonne Tammela, a guy who I wanted to pick just by seeing him.


Vancouver Sun's article about General Manager Mana Geri's comments got extremely positive response from the fans of the team, that board asked GM MG to join for another session with Vancouver Sun to take a look at last year trades and draft picks and how they turned out to be so far. GM MG grudgingly agreed in exchange of getting new media clause in his contract to receive bonus for every media interaction. Board told GM MG to bring in results first, before asking anything.

Last years Vancouver Canucks trades, piece by piece:

Daniel Sedin (82gp 40+26 +13 38pim 7.15avr), Henrik Sedin (80gp 10+30 +15 54pim 6.81avr. <-> Andrei Vasilevsky (75gp 35w 2.42GA 92.0% 7.72avr.), Slater Koekkoekokk (AHL 74gp 2+24 +32 113pim 6.50avr.)
Just by getting Andrei Vasilevsky we have won this trade. The kid is going to be dominating this league in the upcoming years, already had a great rookie year bringing team into playoffs and game seven. Koekkoekok is an exciting defensive prospect who I believe will take his first strides in Canucks' jersey next season. Sedin's seem to be slowing down.

Kevin Bieksa (79gp 4+43 -1 75pim 7.08avr.), Alex Burrows (76gp 12+8 -23 42pim 6.61) <-> Josh Nicholls (73gp 8+10 -10 54pim 6.16avr.), Kevin Hayes (81gp 17+14 +1 30pim 6.88 avr.), TBL 2nd rnd pick (Maxim Tretyak)
While Bieksa had a great season, he wasn't a piece we needed in our defense. One could argue he could have got higher return, but I am perfectly happy with the players we got. Nicholls had very hard rookie season, while Hayes put up great numbers from 3rd line without powerplay time.

Dan Hamhuis (55 3+22 +35 22pim 7.24), Ryan Miller (45gp 24w 2.96GA 89.1% 6.98avr.) <-> Scott Harrington (81gp 3+24 -20 22pim 6.68avr.), Olli Määttä (78gp 6+26 -1 18pim 7.00avr.), Penguins 5th rnd pick (Brandon Prophet)
Do you even need to ask? We got a steal, Määttä is going to be franchise defenceman, Harrington top 4 defenceman and Prophet has chance of being in top 6. I don't see either of the players we sent out worth more than Määttä, even together. I really like Penguins though, they seem to be loving to trade bad with us.

Alexander Edler (82gp 5+34 +4 14pim 7.11) <-> Phillip Danault(NHL 30 2+3 -5 8pim 6.43 | AHL 50 4+12 +1 12pim 6.58), Richard Pánik (82gp 28+28 +4 22pim 7.12)
Panik is a great forward for us with a lot of room to improve. Danault can be a great 4th liner in the upcoming years. Now dont get me wrong, I really like Edler, he's one of the players I was sad to let go, but he still couldnt play for Canucks as I have my mission for youknowho.

Radim Vrbata (82gp 19+31 +2 23pim 7.09), Jannik Hansen (traded to Panthers for 4th and 5th round pick, 61gp 9+6 +3 22pim, 6.93avr.), Chris Higgins (82gp 26+34 +14 44pim 7.20avr.) <-> Cody Eakin (82gp 29+29 -3 32pim 6.73avr.), Ludwig Byström (AHL 76gp 3+7 +5 56pim 6.86), Stars 5th rnd pick (Kevin Spinozzi)
We needed a number one center who can play also defence, and in that regard this trade was great for us. I do believe now we could have gotten greater value out of Vrbata, but I stand by this trade. Cody Eakin is a great player and will be key part of next years Stanley Cup finals. He also made AllStar game, no one else in the trade did, obviously victory.

Draft picks:
12th overall, Lawson Crouse LW (OHL 60gp 20+49 -2 49pim 7.77)
This guy will be one of the best wingers in the league in a few years. He has everything needed for it. Doubt theres much more to say.

42nd overall, Guillaume Brisebois LD (QMJHL 62gp 11+20 +3 90pim 7.60)
Had a great season, defensive defenceman who's going to solidify our backline in a year or two

60th overall, Maxim Tretyak G (MHL 29gp 18w 2.34GA 92.1% 7.21avr.)
Currently he's our plan for 3rd goalie behind Vasilevsky and Demko, seems to be progressing great and should be in our AHL team for 2017-2018 season.

102nd overall, Jesper Lindgren RD (ECHL 72gp 8+43 +0 66pim 6.99 avr.)
Will be fighting for spot in the NHL on the camp. Has great offensive tools and if he can prove he wont be defensive liability will most likely make the team after Weber is gone. Played in ECHL due player restrictions.

132nd overall, Lucas Carlsson LD (WHL 60gp 2+9 +5 77pim 7.20avr.)
Niklas Lidström volume 2 has became too one dimensional player to be Niklas Lidström volume 2, therefore his title has been taken away. Had a bit silent season in Juniors, still believe highly in his skills to become effective NHLer.

134th overall, Kevin Spinozzi LD (OHL 65gp 10+34 +9 127pim 7.03avr.)
I still don't know who this guy is. Our Twitter guy is no longer with us so I can't ask him.

142nd overall, Brandon Prophet LD (OHL 57 9+22 +1 58pim 6.63)
Won Memorial Cup 2nd season in a row. I have a prophecy that he will win another one next season.

147th overall, Augie Carlson C/RW (EJHL 59gp 35+52 +18 74pim 7.69
AUGIE IS SCORING! The league he plays is extremely weak, but who cares when he scores. Obviously our future first liner

162nd overall, Jonne Tammela LW (ECHL 67gp 27+21 -6 63pim 6.96
27 highlight reel goals. Brought Kalamazoo into ECHL finals. How can you not love this kid? Future Hall of Famer. And all because I scouted him. Ha. Maybe I do need some scouting changes, if my choices on 6th round are this effective.

[Peter_Doherty]

Ouch, beginning of March and Andersson gets injured for 3 months Trying Tryamkin for starters since he's the only defensive guy i have in AHL, if he sucks i'll try Subban i think.

[visualdarkness]

21 games in the fourth season we are exactly where we always are, dead last. However the team is playing better and with a PP above 7% and less non-scoring games we would be higher up for sure. Hirscher racks up fives at the moment so his line is struggling, but I got faith in him still. Pokka isn't driving the PP good enough yet.

I'm far more optimistic now but resultwise we are just as bad as before, just with more things actually functioning. One thing I don't get is how you guys get one or two guys scoring so much? My top scorer is at .75 points per game and and after him things drops rapidly.

[visualdarkness]

Yeah, filling up at C is clearly the toughest thing with this challenge... It's so hard to trade for the young stud Cs and the guys from the tier below just don't cut it.

Just play as bad as me and you will draft high enough to solve that problem.

[Peter_Doherty]

Yeah, filling up at C is clearly the toughest thing with this challenge... It's so hard to trade for the young stud Cs and the guys from the tier below just don't cut it.

Just play as bad as me and you will draft high enough to solve that problem.

It's fine, think i got it sorted now with Blugers and Samuelsson. Also both Marner and McCann is NHL-ready so i can slot them in next season aswell.

[visualdarkness]

It's fine, think i got it sorted now with Blugers and Samuelsson. Also both Marner and McCann is NHL-ready so i can slot them in next season aswell.

Marner isn't doing much in Utica for me and I'm in the fourth season. Hopefully he's just a slow developer.
My team is finally trying to not be in last place. They still suck, just not as much as before. This makes me think that it was more about my team composition than my tactics earlier as I downtraded most of my positions on paper but the play improved.
I had Bärtschi struggling this season until I once again clicked in "carry puck" and out he came.

[Peter_Doherty]

He leads AHL in goals and is 4th in scoring 3/4 into the season for me right now His attributes aren't developing massively but if he scores like he is, i'm happy

[jmi]

Oops, made a trade 2 days before the veteran age drop

[m0fownz0r]

I just traded for Boone Jenner and Shea Theodore in the 2nd offseason and I was wondering how does Jenner perform ( I think I saw someone else also trade for him during this challenge) given a couple of seasons to develop? Does he bring anything more than sand paper?

[batdad]

Jenner is inconsistent from the reports I have seen. Theodore becomes a stud I believe.

[bruins72]

Well I think my team has finally turned the corner! I just logged my S3Q3 stats and we're 1st in the West. As is usually the case, my offensive game is carrying me. At 60 games, we're at 200 GA. The only teams in the conference that have allowed more goals are the 13th and 14th placed teams. The difference is, we score a lot! We've got the most GF in the league and the only teams that are even close to us are the top 2 teams in the East (Tampa and Pittsburgh). Our PK isn't that great but it's okay because we're the least penalized team in the league. I attribute that to the high discipline ratings on my coaches. Tarasenko leads the league in both goals and points. Bartschi is 4th in both goals and points. Demko is doing okay in net but his morale is easily affected when he's not getting a 7 or better rating for a game. Savage, Wikstrand, and Weber have been my standouts on defense. Sbisa hasn't been quite as good as he was the last 2 years. Despite our record, morale has been an issue for most of our team this season. I'm not sure what the problem is there.

[batdad]

Morale issue is a game issue. It is not yet working correctly i do not think. I have the same problem. Lost 7 games out of 51 (3 in OT) and half my team is low,very low.


But dang I wish I could score like other teams.

[bruins72]

But dang I wish I could score like other teams.

I'm sure you could but then you'd be sacrificing defense.

[Peter_Doherty]

Regular season 18/19 done and we end up 1st in the West and 1st Overall. We were really solid all season but we had a dip in form at the start of Q4 which meant there was a big fight for 1st in the end but we edged it. I'm very happy with how the team played, PP was a bit underwhelming but not horrible but the big positive is that i finally got my PK working, ended at around 86-87%. We will face Coyotes in the first round, i expect no problems.

Demko just keeps improving, i decided to give him more games this season (69) and he delivered, 46 Wins, 0.915 SV%, 2.38 GAA and 7.55 Av R, all better then his last season Markström took a small step back and is back under 0.900 SV% so i'm probably trading him and promoting McDonald next season but i'm not 100% sure on this.

Our D played really well this season, Lindgren broke 50 points (54), his partner Klefbom had a whopping +46 along with his highest Av R and point total (43). Kylington is a stud and posted his best numbers so far aswell (45 points, 7.33 Av R), Weber was just his usual solid self, same with Reinhart. Andersson had a really rough start but he picked his game up after Q1 and had overall a decent rookie season, over 6.50 Av R, his season got cut short after 62 games when he tore his MCL.

We scored alot of goals this season (304), scoring was very spread out among forwards. At the top we have Bärtschi though with 44+42, then we had our super rookie Puljujärvi who had a tough fight to be 1st in rookie scoring with Tyler Benson, Puljujärvi edged him out by scoring more goals (35), both ended up at 76 points. Niclas Jensen is a scoring machine and even though his partner in crime since season 1 - Kreider - only had 48 points this season (He did have alot less PP-time though which explains it) that didn't stop Jensen from potting 42 goals. Our big off season acquisition Blugers had a solid season with 24+40, happy to finally have a C that can produce. Shinkaruk started out at a PPG pace slowed down during the 2nd half of the season but still ended at a very good 37+29. The rest of the forwards did a good job except for Bonino who only managed to get 29 points as my #2C, sure he didn't get the same amount of time in PP but that still isn't good enough when you center our 2 top scorers.

Utica is looking good again this season and are also ready for playoffs, they were lead by Mitch Marner who finally showed up. Marner had a great season and at this point he has 56+36 in 72 games and with that he leads the AHL in goals scored and is 2nd in points. Other positives down there are McDonald, Colin White and Jordan Subban.

Edit: Marner had both the most goals and points in AHL when the season concluded at 62+38, very happy with that

Time for playoffs!

[batdad]

But dang I wish I could score like other teams.

I'm sure you could but then you'd be sacrificing defense.

So many times I Have tried. SO many times I have failed.

[bruins72]

I shouldn't have opened my big mouth. I've been struggling since then and I've dropped to 5th place.

[batdad]

It is funny how that kind of stuff happens. Talk about someone playing well, and then blech. I called up Pedan (see if this works) to replace injured Stanton. Pedan comes in and has played four games. His AvR in those 4 games on third pair, and 2nd line PK....7.25. He is plus 5 and has 1-2-3. Now watch...6-4-2-5 ratings come (have to play him as Trouba just got suspended as well)

[bruins72]

A 2 rating? Yikes! I don't know if I've seen that before.

My guys are climbing back up. I had Pearson out for a week, Weber out for 10 days, and Klingberg suspended for 2 games, all around the same time and I was struggling. I'm putting together more wins again now, even though many are by the skin of my teeth. But in my latest game, I lost Savage (who has been great for me), so we'll see what happens in the last handful of games for the season.

[batdad]

LOl. He has not got that rating yet..just predicting it. But I have seen it. Usually involves someone who plays poorly and then gets a major penalty and tossed (Non fighting major). Trouba just pulled a 3 for his match. But he was a 7 heading into that match penalty.