Hot Prospects: The official draft/youth/prospects thread

[batdad]

Put him in net and pray?

[Manimal]

Any tips on developing a goalie? I have a goalie 21 years old "projected" as starting. I tend to suck at developing goalie. any tips?

Play him in the AHL for two seasons before you bring him to the NHL

[Metalbrian2]

Well I am praying right now since my regular start and back up got injured during game one and two of the 1st round of the playoffs

[Wroom]

I'm currently on a game, playing with Rangers, Panthers and Canadiens.

Just about to do the draft, got 13 draft picks with the Rangers. Going to be interesting!

[Wroom]

A question about young players and waivers/sending back and fourth between NHL and AHL/send back to juniors.

How are the rules here? Some guys can just be sent back to juniors. Is it because the amount of years of their junior eligibility?

The game sometimes handles prospects a little oddly, but here are some quick rules that cover most situations -

Drafted out of Canadian Major Juniors (QMJHL, OHL, WHL)

18 year olds*: Juniors or NHL. May not play in AHL or ECHL, not eligible by league rules
19 year olds*: See above.
20 year olds: May return to their junior team for "overage" season, but the junior club is only allowed very few spots (I think it's 2 or 3 - 3 in the Q, 2 in the O? I forget off hand) for overage players and it's not terribly impressive for a 20/21 year old to be dominating 16, 17, 18 year olds. Eligible for ECHL, AHL or NHL (naturally).
21+ year olds: ECHL (though the game doesn't recognize it, only players on entry-level contracts may be sent to the ECHL without first obtaining permission - again, game doesn't recognize this rule), AHL or NHL. Junior eligiblity has expired.

* - Players that have played 4 years of junior ARE eligible to play in the AHL (usually those that have gained "exceptional status") - I don't know if the game recognizes this, I've never tested it.
** - "Underage" players may join their respective pro teams or their affiliates once their CHL season is complete - and only after it is COMPLETE, the game does not recognize this and it's infuriating at the AHL, NHL and Major Junior level. Losing your best junior player because the NHL team needs to sign him during him the Championship round...come on...

College players may be signed "early" and be sent to the AHL as 18 or 19 year olds (trying to think of an example, I think Chris Bourque might qualify here) (however, I don't think I've ever done this and then had to send the player down to the AHL - I'd be curious to know how the game handles it if the former NCAA player was signed BUT also had CHL rights and junior eligibility, would it not allow you to send him to the AHL?). Similarly, Europeans may be sent to the AHL after they are signed - the names Jiri Tlusty and Niclas Bergfors come to mind here as citations. The game does not (to my knowledge) recognize the NHL's clubs ability to loan a player back to his European club. I also believe that there is a rule somewhere (which I may not get completely right, help me out if you know it because I'm going off memory) that Swedish players NOT chosen in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft that have signed their Entry Level Contract at or before the age of 19 may NOT be sent to the AHL but MUST be returned to their Swedish team. First round picks (see: Larsson, Adam) may be sent to the AHL at the club's discretion or returned to their Swedish team. There's no chance the game would recognize that as it's way too complicated and it's a new rule.

* - Collegiate players may leave their college team to pursue a Major Junior team if a team holds his rights and he has junior eligibility but a player may NOT leave his junior team and go to college. The NCAA recognizes the CHL (again, QMJHL, OHL, WHL) as a professional entity because teams like Windsor, London, Quebec, etc. pay their best players despite league rules players receive a stipend for expenses (among other things).

** - NCAA players are not eligible for NHL training camp as it assumes the team will a) pay the player for his services b) provide "free" services to the player such as lodging, travel expenses, equipment - thus, making him ineligible. The game does not recognize this, but if a NCAA player so chooses, he may pay his own way to a training camp and still retain eligibility.

I think I covered most of the scenarios? Any further questions or corrections, please don't hesitate to post...

Better late than never. Nice respond!

[ExxonPirate]

I've had a problem with goalies ever since I started playing EHM a few years ago, so I think this is a little late coming. When I look at skaters attributes, I know what to look for and can usually spot a bust, but with goalies I'm clueless. I have two prospects, both my #1 and 2 on my top prospects list. Could you guys give me a little insight?

* - attributes I think are important.

#2 Phil Devine

6'2" 183 lbs 19 years-old playing in the NCAA.

Acceleration: 7
Agility*: 12
Balance: 6
Speed*: 11
Stamina: 14
Strength: 8
-
Aggression: 11
Anticipation*: 11
Determination: 7
Flair: 15
Influence: 10
Teamwork: 11
Work Rate: 11
-
Blocker: 15
Glove: 16
Passing: 15
Pokecheck: 14
Positioning*: 11
Rebound Control: 15
Recovery: 17
Reflexes*: 20
Stickhandling: 15

#1 Jean Jelitto
6'2" 156 lbs 18 years-old playing in NCAA as well

Acceleration: 9
Agility*: 17
Balance: 15
Speed*: 10
Stamina: 15
Strength: 4
-
Aggression: 12
Anticipation*: 12
Determination: 11
Flair: 15
Influence: 15
Teamwork: 15
Work Rate: 8
-
Blocker: 18
Glove: 18
Passing: 7
Pokecheck: 8
Positioning*: 13
Rebound Control: 17
Recovery: 16
Reflexes*: 2
Stickhandling: 17

Jean's poor reflexes worries me because through snooping I've noticed that no starting goalies in the league currently have poor a reflexes attribute (none of the good ones at least). I guess my question is: do these guys look like starters to you? Any tips of developing goalies (besides keep 'em in the "A" longer)?

I'm thinking of signing Jean at the end of the season (a year early) and assigning him to his junior team. The Battalion are short a good goalie and I feel I could get a better feel for him in juniors. Good or bad idea?

[Torgo]

20 year olds: May return to their junior team for "overage" season, but the junior club is only allowed very few spots (I think it's 2 or 3 - 3 in the Q, 2 in the O? I forget off hand) for overage players and it's not terribly impressive for a 20/21 year old to be dominating 16, 17, 18 year olds. Eligible for ECHL, AHL or NHL (naturally).

* - Players that have played 4 years of junior ARE eligible to play in the AHL (usually those that have gained "exceptional status") - I don't know if the game recognizes this, I've never tested it.
** - "Underage" players may join their respective pro teams or their affiliates once their CHL season is complete - and only after it is COMPLETE, the game does not recognize this and it's infuriating at the AHL, NHL and Major Junior level. Losing your best junior player because the NHL team needs to sign him during him the Championship round...come on...

Hooray for a functional forum search!

Playing with the latest Manimal roster, now in the 2013-2014 season as the Islanders (yes, I'm a sadist).

Ryan Strome made the NHL team as an 18 y/o in 2011-12 and again in 12-13 (19 y/o). Now, he is 20 years old (dob 7/11/93 - in-game date is 10/17/2014). Off-season acquisitions have rendered him a 4th liner this year, so he's getting squat for TOI and I wanted to send him down to Bridgeport. However, I only get the options to waive him or send him back to Juniors.

His information page shows that the Niagara Ice Dogs still hold his rights, and that his junior eligibility expires after this season. He had played 2 seasons of juniors prior to 11-12.

With Nino Neiderreiter, I had the option of sending him to the AHL in 12-13 when he was 20 y/o. His dob is 9/8/92. He had played 2 season of juniors before making the big club in 11-12.

Is this just a function of birthdate? It's not the end of the world if I can't send Strome down, it just seems off to me.

[grits207]

For some reason in my current game whenever I send one of my signed prospects back to juniors their attributes take a complete nosedive.

My most notable examples of this were two defensive prospects that I drafted in the first round in consecutive drafts. Both were considered to have top pairing potential according to my scouts and looked like they were close to being NHL ready. I sent them back to juniors so they could get lots of ice time and continue developing but both of their skills started declining almost immediately. By the end of their first seasons back with their junior teams their ratings had dropped up to 4 or 5 points in some areas. I checked their coaches thinking maybe they were the problem but they just looked like your average junior coaches, nothing to make me think they would ruin my prospects. Now a couple years later I've got them both in the AHL and their skills are slowly coming back up but they still aren't as good as when they were first drafted.

Anybody else have this happen to them or know what could be causing it?

[wildguy108]

do you guys know how to develop goalies in the qmjhl?

I'm really bad at it so the goalies I have now I traded for.

[kpatterson14206]

After having gone through a few drafts, I've noticed that even in the middle to late 1st round my scouts tell me the players are "3rd liners" or "5th-6th" defensemen.

Does this mean that just about anybody after the 1st is probably not an NHL player? If so, would you recommend trading away my other picks. Seems like other teams value them and I feel like the best option is to go into a draft with two 1sts and anything after that is gravy.

[batdad]

Online games--Yeah anyone after 2nd round is useless for the most part as long as good GMs are there. On your own...against AI only...there are some gems to be found. I have drafted guys in the 7th round that have played on my 2nd line eventually and scored 20 goals. Often they are Euros or Americans that are not as noticed.

And with the AI--draft picks are definitely overvalued....it is a definite way to get things in the game working in your favor. Mind you I consider taking advantage of the AI and not playing the game the way a REAL NHL GM (not Garth Snow) would to be cheating and lame. In many cases trading all of your later round picks to a team for a star player is possible....but would a real NHL GM do that? Not unless he is Snow.

So....to me you play the game the way it is meant to be played and at the very very most move 2-3 of your draft picks in one season when you are going to challenge for a Cup run etc. I tend not to move any picks, and prefer to try and build my teams from within. I love finding that guy in the 7th round....a guy that would in an online league likely go in the first 3.

The AI in this game is easy to take advantage of. Would you trade Ovechkin if you had him for a late 1st round pick and 3 fouth liners? No...but in this game the AI will do that. Take advantage of it if you will, but don't bother reporting how big a steal trade you had here. We have all seen it.....and we all know it. And most of us who have played the game forever think it is boring and annoying.

[CeeBee]

yeppers.... major design flaw and it goes both ways. The AI almost always offers 3-5 low quality items for a top notch item and will often accept the same type of deal in reverse. I much prefer a challenge trade if I really want to make a trade but like Batdad I really prefer to build a strong system from the bottom up. Just love it when a 3rd rd or later pick becomes a star. Right now I've got a 6-5 Russian dman who I picked 99th and nobody,including my own scouts really liked him at all. He's just in his rookie season right now but so far so good. Numbers are even slightly better than his last AHL season

edit.... 89th overall and I forgot to mention the 209th pick in the same draft who it looking like he will be at worst a good 3rd line LW and powerplay specialist also in his rookie year and at this point leading all rookies in goals and points.

[jesterx7769]

I have a question about scouts and the draft. I have my scouts scout the draft of course and get reports on them. However when I open the draft page and change view to scouts where it says scout 1,2,3 etc nothing shows up. How do I get grades/scores/recommendations to appear there?

[Manimal]

I have a question about scouts and the draft. I have my scouts scout the draft of course and get reports on them. However when I open the draft page and change view to scouts where it says scout 1,2,3 etc nothing shows up. How do I get grades/scores/recommendations to appear there?

IIRC, the scouts has to finish their draft-scouting first. They cannot be assigned somewhere else after that either

[batdad]

You can see the reports if they do not finish the scouting....however they disappear for the list during the draft if you assign them to another scouting assignment prior to the draft. I always make sure that my top 5 scouts final assignment is scouting the draft. Unless of course I am challenging myself and like in real life I scout by region not by the draft. I mean can you imagine the cost of sending a scout from Sweden....to Canada...to Germany....to Russia...to Canada....to scout for the draft like EHM does. No....so mainly now I scout regionally and limit the age to 15-21

[timmy_t]

Another thing you can do is assign your top 5 scouts to the draft about 3 months before the draft. I think I usually do it around April 1st and make sure they are on "intense" scouting. Also, once your in the draft, in order to see their selections ranked by star rating you need to click the top by "Scout 1, Scout 2, etc."

[CeeBee]

I have a question about the draft. I think it was discussed many years ago but I haven't found it yet. Anyway, after playing a few seasons the draft gets progressively bogged down for me. When I switch between screens(looking at player pages/scouting reports and going back to the available page it takes forever. There are over 11,000 players in the draft and I've tried using the configure choices to reduce the number but I either get nobody showing up or mostly the full amount. I seem to remember that there is now cure for game bloating but I still have hopes... Anyone else have this problem or a solution? help would be appreciated.

[helmespc]

Is it possible to save a prospect the AI was in the process of ruining? I'm in 2019, and the perennial bottom-feeder Blue Jackets drafted 1st overall and took a can't miss forward prospect. Unfortunately for him, the Blue Jackets kept him on their roster for 53 games as a 19 year old before I traded for him after seeing him floundering with a 5.81 with 0g 3a and a -28 (ouch). I picked him up near the deadline for a top 4 veteran defenseman, young borderline starting NHL goaltender, current 1st round pick and future 2nd round pick. I was kind of fleeced in the trade, but they were spare parts. I sent him back to Red Deer and he has been ok (7.30) through 10 games. Any hope of this kid turning things around or did I just gamble and lose?

[timmy_t]

Is it possible to save a prospect the AI was in the process of ruining? I'm in 2019, and the perennial bottom-feeder Blue Jackets drafted 1st overall and took a can't miss forward prospect. Unfortunately for him, the Blue Jackets kept him on their roster for 53 games as a 19 year old before I traded for him after seeing him floundering with a 5.81 with 0g 3a and a -28 (ouch). I picked him up near the deadline for a top 4 veteran defenseman, young borderline starting NHL goaltender, current 1st round pick and future 2nd round pick. I was kind of fleeced in the trade, but they were spare parts. I sent him back to Red Deer and he has been ok (7.30) through 10 games. Any hope of this kid turning things around or did I just gamble and lose?

I can't say much for what you paid for him in trade, but give if he's not an overage player send him back to juniors one more year and then give him one or two years in the AHL. I don't think one season will ruin him.

[timmy_t]

I have a question about the draft. I think it was discussed many years ago but I haven't found it yet. Anyway, after playing a few seasons the draft gets progressively bogged down for me. When I switch between screens(looking at player pages/scouting reports and going back to the available page it takes forever. There are over 11,000 players in the draft and I've tried using the configure choices to reduce the number but I either get nobody showing up or mostly the full amount. I seem to remember that there is now cure for game bloating but I still have hopes... Anyone else have this problem or a solution? help would be appreciated.

I really don't know what could cause that CeeBee. Is your computer fairly new?

[CeeBee]

computer is old but when I play in the WHL the bantam draft runs fast. It seems like 10,000 + players available is a tad overkill for the NHL draft. I think what happens it that only around 200 players are drafted every year and it seems like the game keeps undrafted players in the mix. I just can't find any way to get them out and speed things up. The First year I play the draft work pretty good but each following year seems to get worse. O well... i realize t here probably is nothing that can be done about it

[batdad]

Yeah sorry CeeBee I had not seen the post. I have never really had that problem. Not sure what is up there.

As for saving a guy AI messed up. Yes it is possible. I mean back in the original db I made Gilbert Brule a player after he had been in COlumbus for 3 years, and sucked. Took him in Edmonton and got him going to the point where he was a point a game player. This is before he was edited of course. But he was BRUTAL in CBJ and became a great 2nd line guy for me in Edmonton.

[MKoivuFan]

just started to play as Calgary Hitmen... My question is I know u can scout like BCHL and BC Leagues individually and such is there a way u can scout just the Providence wise?

[Manimal]

just started to play as Calgary Hitmen... My question is I know u can scout like BCHL and BC Leagues individually and such is there a way u can scout just the Providence wise?

It feels like you've asked this question before...

There is no way to scout just a province. You can scout for young guys and then filter it by selecting WHL region only.
Or you could just scout the bantam draft itself

[MKoivuFan]

The reason i asked is because going by some actual team site some teams have a scout for BC, one for Manitoba and such and just thought it would be easier for the scout to scout the province instead of league