EHM The Blue Line

So this has probably been asked a million times and is buried somewhere deep in this archive, but what is the best and most effective way of developing prospects in EHM? It's confusing for me because more than half of the prospies that come through my teams (regardless of league or team) don't get any better in terms of attributes, while the other (smaller) chunk get some really high numbers across the board. I figure coaching has a lot to do with it, as well as some ice time. Has anyone figured out a good way of developing them, or is it just a luck of the draw situation?

Draft has always been a hit and miss. Coaching is more something that helps your players perform but they are indeed playing a part in developping your players.

I don't know if it's because I always hired good coaches but I never had any problems with developping my players. Except the one with no potential of course.

The thibgs are learned here when I started in EHM 07 is simply to be patient to be honest. When you have a great prospect let him develop in the junior. If he's a stud at 18 years old and averaging 8.5 to 8.7 you might want to try him out in the NHL. If he's European, why not already bring him in the AHL so he can adapt to NA hockey? If your guy will take some years to develop I usually let them do their juniors years completely or until they go over 8 of performance average at the end of the year.

After this I sent them to the AHL 1 or 2 years depending of how it goes for him. If after one year he's close to 8 or over it, he's most likely ready for the NHL. If after one year he's between 6.7 and 7.5 average. I let him be until this improves.

Most of my "average" prospects takes 3-4 years to bring into the NHL. Most of my third liners/fourth liners arrive in the NHL at 22 years old while my first and second liners are coming between 19 and 21 years old.

Note that when I'm saying first and second liners, I don't mean to put them there right away. Most of the time when a kid has a huge potential I put them on the third line for a year with some PP time. If he goes well mid-season I bring him to the second line and then next year it's the first line.

So overall you should priorize coaches with a good attribute in "working with youngsters" and it will help you. Then taking your time to bring them up is the other thing to do. You just have to look at the signs to guess when he's ready.