Challenge #31 - Future Boston Bruins - Discussion Thread

[batdad]

Wow. I may have had a good draft. 5 guys could come to camp of the 7, as 2 are NCAA. The coaches like all 5, and the lowest rating on any of them for my scouts is a 2nd line, and 3-4 dman. Wow.

[joehelmer]

Anisimov just retired in my game, just what I needed...
In 14 days I've lost Schenn and Anisimov.

[Ozzman]

W.T.F.! Look at Tavares contract! How did they manage that?

[Kopi]

boy, you sure love dicks

anyway love reading you all in challenges...keep up the good work!

[batdad]

Finishing up camp. Dicks and Jadon Groleau (my second round pick) have been awesome. Dicks had a bad game (5) but made up for it with a 3 point game against Ottawa. Groleau has gone 2-2-4 in his 3 ex games, and 2-0-2 in his 4 camp games.

Groleau is the one with the better chance to stick around. Physically stronger, bigger 6'3 191. And skates as well. Also tech attributes are pretty good. Both are going to get as long a look as I can give them, as so many of my players are very middling.

[Peter_Doherty]

Finishing up camp. Dicks and Jadon Groleau (my second round pick) have been awesome. Dicks had a bad game (5) but made up for it with a 3 point game against Ottawa. Groleau has gone 2-2-4 in his 3 ex games, and 2-0-2 in his 4 camp games.

Groleau is the one with the better chance to stick around. Physically stronger, bigger 6'3 191. And skates as well. Also tech attributes are pretty good. Both are going to get as long a look as I can give them, as so many of my players are very middling.

Lol, i also got Groleau as my 2nd rounder.

[batdad]

Heh. Funny. Sent my friend Dicks back to Junior....

Exhibtion season:

7-1-1 record, lost only in shootout to Isles, and in regulation to Flyers

Scoring leaders

Groleau 7 games 3-6-9 (with last 3 games on 4th line. Wow.)
Jaconsen 7 3-5-8
Owens 7 0-8-8 (2nd and 3rd line)
Khomutov 7 0-7-7 (all 3 and 4 line time)
Skurdra 6 2-5-7 (all 3 and 4 line time)
Zhakarov 6 3-4-7 (all 3 and 4 line time)
Aberg 6 0-6-6 (finally a top 2 line time guy)
Schenn 6 3-3-6

I was very surprised by the scoring in ex season. easier to do though.


Now introducing your 2024-25 Boston Bruins

L Eriksson-Schenn-Aberg
Jacobsen-Owens-Brouwer
Khomutov-Vandersteen-Fahas
Groleau-Skudra-Zhakarov
Stoughton, Petterson

Carrier-Riekkinen
Seversen-Berthet
Liebsch-Gormley
Rouleau

Bernier
Haas

Giving Berthet a chance to get some ice, but his size probably means that I send him down after 10 games, and bring some other scrub up.

[bruins72]

I didn't draft Groleau in the 2nd round. I ended up taking a defenseman named Britt Chamberlain. He's staying in juniors. I also sent Dicks back to his junior team. He was signed to a contract and was with the team since shortly after the draft but after the preseason and 2 regular season games, it was obvious that he wasn't ready. I tried him on various lines and with differing amounts of ice time but he still struggled. He did have one really good game against the Red Wings in the preseason where he scored a goal and had 2 assists but he managed just 3 more assists throughout the preseason. He had no points in his 2 regular season games and got a 5 and a 6 rating in those games.

I've been juggling my lines, trying to find a combination that works for me. Moving forward without Dicks in the lineup, this is what my lines look like...

Jacobson - Owens - Vandersteen
Aberg - Schenn - Fahas
Eriksson - Khomutov - Zakharov
Calvert - Skudra - Brouwer

Carrier - Riekkinen
Seversen - Gormley
Liebsch - Berhet

Bernier
Haas

I'm playing Eriksson on the 3rd line but he's also getting 1st PP unit duty. These lines are highly subject to change!

[batdad]

Wow. Calvert was so bad for me, I could not stand it.

Eriksson is likely going to drop down for me.

AFter 3 games

Toronto L 0-2
Toronto L 1-5
Ottawa W 5-2

In the game against Ottawa...JOhn-MIchael Petterson...GORDIE HOWE HAT TRICK.

But man this team SUCKS.

Skudra is a guy who is really interesting me though. He seems to get a ton of points from 4th line (2 vs Ottawa and was first time really played him)

[bruins72]

Calvert has done alright as a 4th line mucker. He had a goal in one of the two games we've played. Skudra works well with him. I'm sure Brouwer is helping them too.

[batdad]

Hmm..did not finish the sentence..so bad I never re signed him after we took over. LOL

[batdad]

Very proud of my team...

Just checked the standings. Maple Leafs are 5-0. They have scored 22 goals, and given up...>EXACTLY 1 goal. To me.

[CJ]

Ya'll got time to play these challenges!

[batdad]

LOL. After 9 games...my PP is 2-57 3.5%. And yet I am within striking distance of having a better PP than Florida.

[umwoz]

My draft has apparently followed the script, Dicks and Groleau.

[nickflyers]

I may jump in on this(1st Challenge) looked at the drafts in the past and good god was that 2015 Draft STACKED! McDavid goes 6th overall and the other 5 are studs!

[Ozzman]

Oh and anyone else get the St Louis Blues in financial mess note?

I just got this in the beginning of August.

In my game it's the finnish club Espoo Blues who are in financial troubles. I think you've red a bit fast.

[joehelmer]

I also got the St. Louis Blues financial mess note.

[bruins72]

Oh and anyone else get the St Louis Blues in financial mess note?

I just got this in the beginning of August.

In my game it's the finnish club Espoo Blues who are in financial troubles. I think you've red a bit fast.

I actually got the Espoo Blues note about a month later.

[batdad]

Too funny.

[batdad]

My first quarter is the WORST first quarter I have ever had in a challenge. Terrible. I love it.

[timmy_t]

Ok, so I'm finally back in for a challenge. I've been wanting to do one for so long, so I'm pretty excited.

After taking over I fired AC Whitesides and added an AC to replace him (Nazem Swyripa) and 3 Scouts (Niklas Lidstrom, Radek Dvorak, Mikko Ruutu). I then had all of my scouts start on the draft. Some were set to intensive and some regular. I had some scout specific positions too. I was just trying to cast as wide a net as possible before the draft.

My draft was as follows:
1 - Herman Dicks - RW/LW 6' 167 lbs
2 - Jadon Grouleau - RW/LW/C 6'3" 180 lbs
3 - Fredric Axell - LW/C 5'11" 178 lbs
4 - Gaetan Caillard - LW 6' 200 lbs
4 - Rickard Bladstrom - C/LW 5'9" 165 lbs
5 - Norm Simon - G 6' 163 lbs
7 - Stu Ward - LD/RD 6'3" 171 lbs

The first two guys are probably the same for a lot of us because of the limitations of our scouting reports and number of guys scouted. Next year's draft will probably be pretty different depending on where we all end up in the standings. I'm thinking about signing Dicks, Grouleau, and Axell. I can send them back to Jr's for a season if needed (Axell was drafted by Shawinigan).

I'm at July 1st right now. I lost Parise, Eriksson, Arnesson, and Liebsch to waivers and I did not resign a bunch of guys. I plan on adding a GM to Providence and figure out my AC and two scouts to fire. I'll keep you posted.

[batdad]

3 of the same picks as me. 1,2,4.

BTW--Grouleau is my 2nd leading goal scorer. Playing mainly 4th line, but gets moved up in between periods if scoring, and on to the PP. He is also my PPG leader.

[bruins72]

Surprisingly, Aberg is doing really well for me. He's got 7 goals in 9 games so far! Oh and Dicks just won player of the week down in the WHL. He had 2 goals and 6 assists in 3 games. He's got 15 points in 7 games.

[bruins72]

WOW! We just destroyed the Habs in game 10 of the season. We beat them 9-0. I think I might be finding the right line combos and tactics to use with them now. I've got Eriksson and Brouwer playing on Schenn's wings and have them playing a low temp game. It seems to be working. Also, the line of Aberg, Owens, and Vandersteen seems to be working out well too. And so far, Haas has played himself in the starting goaltender role. He's played 7 games, winning 6 and losing 1. Bernier has 3 losses.

Right now we're in 6th place in the conference with a record of 6-4-0. We're doing much better than I anticipated! My PK percentage is insane. The best I've ever had. We're 95.6% right now. Our PP isn't bad either. It's 20.6%.