Wild94's EHM Blog

[Wild94]

Hello EHM the blueline blog readers this is my 1st blog here, and I only recently joined but I have been following the site for years.

I will be starting a game with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL and I will be trying to work my way to an NHL Job. I will be using the lidas 2.3 rosters for this save.

I have set the following guidelines:

Max 3 trades per season
1 trade at the Draft
1 Overager only
2 imports
No head coach
1 scout
1 Assistant coach
No free agent signings (Only players who will be scrubs in the Q)
Maximum of 2 1st round draft picks
I could get a 3rd 1st but I must forfeit 10 picks
Maximum of 1 19yr player on the team
Can only make trades for a player's rights
Human Manager sackings are enabled

Well thats all for today. I will write again tomorrow.

[Wild94]

It was a long and tiring drive to Baie-Comeau Qc, as I packed my things I realized that we were in for a long and cold season in Baie-Comeau. It took me 4 hours to get to Baie-Comeau, though it could have been 3 if it were for me stopping to eat and making several wrong turns. When I finally arrived at the Henry-Leonard center I saw the Drakkar's fan convention going on and to my surprise there was at least 20000 people out there, partying, eating, waiting in line for autographs, it was great to know that we had supportive fans.I proceeded to go in the players entrance, shortly after my arrival I had a press conference scheduled.


As I entered the press conference room I could feel the optimism the media had, finally they had someone in charge who was a hockey genius. It was amazing but I warned that dark times were ahead and that patience would be the key to success here. I announced that Raphael Bussieres was the teams franchise player and the only player that I wouldn't listen to offers for. Everyone else I said is available, even though I knew it would be hard to turn around the Drakkar's franchise it was a challenge I was willing to take.


Well that's all I can say for now once I get settled in I will have more.



Quote of the day:

<One day Baie-Comeau will be the best team in the Q, one day we will win a memorial cup,one day players will envy those who got to play for the Drakkar, one day this franchise will be respectable.> -Branislav Hossa

[Wild94]

Well its the start of pre-season and training camp already, I've made a few moves and well I tried to arrange some exhibitions against some team in the WHL and OHL the invitations were rejected in fact I was only able to get games against Junior AAA teams which is somewhat disappointing. We have a game against Val D'or and that is are only Pre-season game against a Q team.

I have made offers for Etienne Marcoux and Jean-Francois Leblanc even though I can only acquire 1 of them.

I hired a few trainers and a new head scout. I know that the season will be long but we have a young team and a few potential stars.


Here are the 2 trades that have been made:

[Wild94]

Well its 5 days till the game against Val D'or our team is starting to take shape, even though the players have yet to hit the ice I made another move, I acquired Jean-Francois Leblanc from the Foreurs de Val D'Or in exchange for Alain-Alexandre Rajotte, Nathan Dunett, 2007 10th round pick and a 2007. The price was very high for us, but I have confidence in Leblanc and we now have 3 scorers on this team that are 16 and under.Dunett and Rajotte were 19 and 18 respectively and did not fit in our short term plans.


The search for an assistant coach continues as Barry Melrose chose the Rouyn-Nouranda Huskies over us. We do however have a new head scout and 2 new trainers, I have signed many of our young prospects as I would like to see what they can do.


It looks as though I will have to do most of the coaching and run the practices and the team's terrible reputation and bad finances make it hard to acquire help. I'm not going to whine about it though as I knew coming in that this would be hard, we will probably use defensive tactics and we intend to build a strong offense because the Q is the most offensive of the CHL branch.


Well I'm going to bed now, I will have more updates on the team on game day which is August 30th.

[Wild94]

I would like to announce that Yvan Larouche has decided to join our team as an assistant coach I look foward to working with him, Yvan won't be in Baie-Comeau till the 1st so tonight I will select the roster and make the lines.

Were going with 20 players, 12 forwards, 6 defenceman and 2 goalies.

Here is the team selection:



These are tonights lines:



And Here are the tactics:



I hope we win tonight but were using a very young lineup, After tonight we travel to Kanawhakee to to on the Junior AAA condors. After that we travel to the Maratimes where we will play 2 more exhibitions before playing our 1st regular season game in Halifax.

[Wild94]

September 15th 2007



Well here we are, at the end of the pre-season, while I must admit I'm disappointed at our 1-4-1 pre-season record we did play better in the final 2 pre-seaon match ups. I knew before I got here that the season would be long, sadly it will be longer then originally anticipated, we were out shot in all 6 pre-season games, we went 1-3-1 against the Junior AAA teams that we played, but we weren't blown out in any of the games. I asked the board of directors for permission to sign a free agent goaltender and my request was approved, so I went and signed goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas, he had been released by Shawinigan and he will be our #1 goalie.

In the QMJHL top 10 player rankings, we had 2 players ranked in both a #7 in their respective categories they are Rpahel Bussieres and Jean-Phillipe Caron who play Left Wing and Center respectively. They will be relied on to provide offense and they will have some help from Jean-Francois Leblanc and Alex Lemieux after that though there is no one who can be relied on. While I know that I shouldn't be placing expectations on our young players we hope that Bussieres, Leblanc And Lemieux can play on the top line and each put up 30 goals, while this may be a stretch they will be counted on. Ilya Mashentov is going to be a dark horse and its my belief that he could get 15 goals this year and I think he has loads of untapped potential.




Well that's really all I have to say for now we play our 1st game against Halifax tonight and we play Moncton after that. I will provide updates every 10 games, because I'm so busy managing the team I will write the reports on the bus while were driving from city to city.

[Wild94]

Well here we are at the 10 game mark already, and were doing a lot better then expected, we 6-4-0, which is very good, we won 4 straight to start the season, you could say that were playing over our heads, as out play is starting to tail off, but I find my self very pleased with the team being 6-4-0 seeing as how many expected us to be 0-10-0 right now.


Star rookie Raphael Bussieres is off to a great start as he has 5 goals and 3 assists so far, Defenceman Maxime Lamarche has 3 goals and 5 assists which is good for a 1st place tie with Bussieres in team scoring.
Goaltender Marc Antoine Gelinas has been stellar as expected he is 6-4-0 with a G.A.A of 2.49 and a Sv% of 89.6 he has 1 shutout so far.


We are currently 6th in the west and 7th in the league, we have 28 goals which is good for 15th in the league, we have only allowed 25 goals which in 2rd best in the league, our powerplay is 8th and is scoring at 16.7%, while the penalty kill is 8th at 84.9%.


Well that's all I can say for now, I'm still settling in but I like it here, and I think we have a bright future.

[Wild94]

November 5th 2007



So here I am 20 games in, things are getting really hard, Raphael Bussieres went down with and injury and missed 6 games. Our play has tailed off but we have had some injuries, Jean-Phillipe Caron was also injured.
Jean-Francois Leblanc picked up the slack and now has 19 points in 20 games, Maximie Lamarche has 7 goals which is 1st on the team.




Marc-Antoine Gelinas has kept up his stellar play as he picked up another shutout. We went 3-4-3 in our past 10 games, so were 9-8-2 on the year. Were in a playoff spot but so this is more then was expected from the team. The team was over budget so goaltender Mathieu Leclair was cut.


Our best game of the past 2 weeks was when we played the League leading Remparts at home and we kept the Q's leading scorer Dimitri Kugryshev off the board in a 5-4 overtime loss. Were in Val D'Or to play the Foreurs tonight after that its off to Victoriaville and then we come home to play the Wildcats.

[Wild94]

June 1 2007


I've been busy these past few months and have had little time to write but I enjoyed my 1st season here, we did much better then expected and the future looks very very bright. Marc-Antoine Gelinas had a marvelous year and while it's sad that he has to go we wish him the best. As of right now there is no one to replace him in nets but I can surely find someone. There is going to be many top overagers this summer that will be changing teams, this year the owners have said I can bring in 2 OA's and make 3 trades or bring in 3 OA's but only make 1 trade.




Jean-Francois Leblanc had a great rookie year and lead the team in scoring, Rapahel Bussieres has some struggles and injuries but he still had a great campaign. More is expected of them for next year, and there will be some talented rookie's coming in. We might move up in the draft but we aren't sure yet. Were looking for a goalie and we have many picks to find one.



The Moncton Wildcats won the Q Championship over the Quebec Remparts. The Windsor Spitfires won the OHL Championship, while the Brandon Wheat Kings won the WHL. The Wheat Kings were also crowned Memorial cup Champs.




Well I will have an up date coming in July or August but it will be before the start of training camp.

[Wild94]

September 1 2007



We had a huge offseason, filled with big acquisitions, We brought in a lot of new faces, and were now expected to contend for a Q title. Sean Couturier, Simon Despres, Brandon Gormley, Tomas Jurco, Jonothan Huberdeau, Etienne Marcoux, Joel Champagne, Joel Chouinard, Darcy Kuemper, Darcey Ashley, Olivier Archambault and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc have all Joined the team in the Offseason.


Kuemper,Chouinard and Champagne are all Overagers, the rest were brought in through trades as the team was sold and the owners allowed for many moves to be made. Alex Lemieux and Jean Caron were traded along with many draft picks and Simon Giroux to facilitate the moves we made. Ilya Mashentov was released and returned to Russia. In the import draft I drafted Tobias Reider and Mirko Hofflin neither is coming over this year.



The Hockey News ranked us 3rd in its season rankings, but that was before we received news that Despres and Gormley were being sent back to Juniors. Were hoping to make some noise and if we aren't top 3 in the League by Christmas time chances are I will resign and the team will enter a rebuild. If all goes according to plan then we will have a great year and I will have a job in the AHL before long.


I'm going to be very busy this year so I won't be able to write much but I will provide a Mid-season Update.

[Wild94]

December 20th 2007




Were in 1st place, everything has been great this year as expected were the top team in the league and our defensive strategy is working beautifully, were among the league leaders in all defensive catergories and we have not had much trouble keeping the puck out of the net. I've been very busy but I will have a end of year update. Here's the team and its leading scorers.



I'm sorry the past few updates have been brief but I'm very busy.

[Wild94]

June 2nd 2008



This is unbelievable, I never thought that we would get here so quickly, here we are Memorial Cup Champions, what an unbelievable year this was and what a ride we went from being a team that no one wanted to play for to Memorial cup champs. We also won the Q this year beating Quebec in the final.


I'm not sure if I will be back next year as I do like new challenges, and there may not be anything left to prove here, we have a strong core returning but maybe its time to go. Pat Burns once said that after 4-5 years with a team its time to go, I've had 2 strong years here and well maybe a new challenge is right for me, if I do leave I would like to stay in Canada and maybe manage a team out west in the WHL or in the OHL.


For now though I will celebrate with the team, and enjoy this incredible achievement, the team owners have stated that they would like me to sign an extension here and while I love the team and the city I feel as though maybe its time for me to leave.

[Wild94]

June 6th 2008




As I walked in to the Owner's office this morning I thought about all the good times I had in Baie-Comeau and how much I loved it there but I had a letter in my hand, it was my letter of resignation, Mr.Charles was not in today but that's fine, I know that its time for a new beginning, a fresh start, a new challenge so I hereby tender my resignation with immediate effect. I loved my time hear in Baie-Comeau but its time to go, maybe one day I'll be back. But for now its time to move on. As I leave for my 2 week vacation I have no regrets hear expect for maybe my time hear was too short.


Goodbye Baie-Comeau. Hello OHL ?

[Wild94]

July 24th 2008




Well after a long vacation I was offered the position of GM for the Kingston Fronteneacs, I happily accepted and await this new challenge. Its going to be another rebuild here but there is already a strong core in place and Erik Gudbranson is still with the team. There are a few players that could be moved depending on where we are at the trade dealine but for now I'll take the wait and see approach.



I have to get settled in here so this is all I have for now but I'll have more once training camp starts.

[Wild94]

September 10th 2008


The hockey news says that were the 10th best team in the OHL,that was before I went out and acquired John Macfarland and Austen Brassard and before Ethan Werek was sent back to junior. Were going to have a great year here and we have a very good team this year, with some strong goaltending and a some luck we could find ourselves in 1st place, Czech goalie Wally as I call him is a rookie goalie in the O but he's drawn comparisons to Dominik Hasek. If he plays at the top of his game we'll have a chance every game, Erik Gudbrandson and Taylor Dorethy will anchor the blueline while Ryan Strome and Austen Brassard will lead the offensive charge, maybe a memorial cup is in our future but for now our goal is to make the playoffs, things are starting to get very busy here and I find myself with less time to tell you guys about our team's progress but none the less I'll and update around playoff time.



GO FRONTENACS !!!!!