Challenge #31 - Future Boston Bruins - Discussion Thread

[totch]

Even if I'm a habs fan , I decided to do this challenge. I'll post some news soon

P.S: Sorry for any english weaknesses. I'm better in french and portuguese

[rocker87]

Draft 2029:

30th - Jacques Fitzgerald RD/RW 6'3 224 lbs
31st - Tyler Ryan RW 5'11 160 lbs
60th - Sebastian Tamminen G 6'5 194 lbs
90th - Benn Peluso RW 5'10 187 lbs
120th - Stuart Henry C 6 171 lbs
150th - Viktor Lukin RW/LW 6'3 220 lbs
180th - Ed Hanson LD 6'1 160 lbs
210th - Phillip Kacir RW/LW 6'2 178 lbs

After this off-season, I can see that most of my talents are on steroids. What the hell is going on? Looks like I could kick 8 players after this season to make a space to all my talents.

Anyway, I'll start with lines like this:

Karlsson - Nylander - Lindblom
Orlov - Owens - Škoda
Quenneville - Forsberg - Dicks
Jacobson - Khomutov - Prybil
Noble (O'Brien, Thocker in Providence)

Nordstrom - Spencer
Bykov - Riekkinen
Carrier - Severson
Beausoleil (Crowther)

Montadon
Haas

Yes, I forgot to mention, my UFA signing was Alex Forsberg, C, 5'10 189 lbs, 34 yo, 525k/2 years. Solid 3rd line center, I think. I'm really near 64M, so... (nothing else to pick).

[rancer890]

Season 6!

For the off-season we targeted another defenseman, in 30 year old Roman Denisov, to a 3 year contract with a $3 million cap hit. He's an ideal player who is quick, can hit and defend and chip in on offense. We unfortunately start the season with 8 defenseman, and we'll try to move Kaikkonen or MacKinnon.

Guys released include Ellis, Skudra, Aquino, and Robin Mille.

Starting Lines: (C - Captain, A - Alternates, R - Rookie)

Jake Virtanen (C) - Ryne Pare - Jan Skoda
Erik St. Pierre (R) - Ted Schroeder - Kenric Vandersteen (A)
Dmitrij Jaskin - Bryan Owens - Peter Funk
Cody Quenneville - Stephane Noble - Jules Fahas

Alexandre Carrier - Eric Crowther
Ryan Pilon - Zech MacKinnon
Kael Severson - Alexander Lindblom (A)

Bryden Woodcroft/Jimmie Astrom

INJ - LD Roman Denisov
Spares - LD Jonas Kaikkonen, LW/LD Ted Reilly

As many 7th round picks (Funk, Reilly) are on this year's team as 1st round picks that I selected (Schroeder, Crowther). The only other prospects I drafted on the big club are 2024 2nd round pick MacKinnon and 2025 5th round pick Astrom.

In other news, Woodcroft finished 3rd in Vezina voting, no idea how a goalie who played 29 games was a finalist, but I don't mind. I voted for him, with obvious bias.

Top Prospects:

1 - RW/LW Bogdan Vasilyev (Providence/AHL), 19 - Did ok in preseason but needs more seasoning in the minors.He only has 1 season in North American hockey at the ECHL level. Still very excited about him. He is also 6th on the NHL Top Prospects list.
2 - RW Torgny Holmqvist (South Carolina/ECHL), 18
3 - G Krister Uski (South Carolina/ECHL), 19
4 - RD Remy Darche (Moncton/QMJHL), 18
5 - LW Henrik Burakovsky (South Carolina/ECHL), 18
6 - RD Otakar Vychodil (Providence/AHL), 18
7 - C Hans Harrysson (Malmo/Swe-2), 18
8 - RD Eric Crowther (Boston/NHL), 21
9 - LW Jared Booth (Providence/AHL), 20
10 - C/RW Derrick Townsend (UAH/WCHA), 18
11 - C/RW Hans Downing (Providence/AHL), 22
12 - C/LW/RW Erik St. Pierre (Boston/NHL), 21

Lots of good prospects, and two are already on the Bruins to start the season. Very happy about our prospects overall. Think some of them not already on the Bruins will soon be good NHLers with good development at the lower levels.

[batdad]

1st 20 games of season 5 in the books

1st place at 16-4-0 Not a bad start, better defensively than I have been, but offensively the numbers are spread around the team more than in season 4. No big time scoring leaders.Only 3 guys (Nylander Bennett and Reinhart with over a point per game, and all are in the 20s. 27-26-24)

On the other side of that the rookies have played very well for me:

Gould had 1st point in game 1, first goal in game 2. He has yet to score since but has put up assists 1-6-7 in 14 games, and only 4th line duties.

CA Ellis--almost all 4th line duties, but 1 game on 3rd line. 3-3-6 in 15. Rookie of month for October.

Dan Hatcher is probably the most impressive in terms of start of the bunch. Most consistent as well 4th line, 2 games on line 3 and always 2nd unit PK if playing. 4-6-10 in 17 games (rookie of month candidate for November)

On November 9 I got sick of Paltaama. He is small, he is weak and he is not good. He had only played 1 game and was a 5 rating, and was hanging around on the roster. I was going to deal him, but decided it was too small a part to get back. So I placed him on waivers. ON the 10th the Jets claimed him. YAY.

When they did I called up RW Marty Thocker who was just doing okay in Providence, but the team has played quite poorly *surprising me* They are now 7-8-2 after losing their first 5 games and 6 of first 8, so starting to get it together. Thocker had vet status and was taking some time away from younger guys. He did really well in preseason and had I not had Paltaama hanging around would have made the team.

Anyway...3 games in for him as a Bruin. 4th line RW duties only averaging 7 minutes of ice per game.

SCORED ON HIS FIRST SHIFT ON FIRST SHOT. 2nd game...assist, third game assist. Not a bad way to start your NHL career.

Still have not made a trade, and may not as lineup is looking really solid right now. If I do it will likely be a Dman for a Dman.

Bennett-Reinhart-Owens
Bartek-Nylander-Skoda
Jacobson-Noble-Kapanen
Gould-Hatcher-Groleau
Ellis-Thocker

Lots of in and outs of lineup with Kapanen, Hatcher, Ellis, THocker and Gould.

Kapanen has not performed all that well. Oh well. He is doing great for 2 games, then not super good for 2 games. So he is 3rd line and 2nd line PP for now, but that is changing alot.

Severson-Spencer
Kaikkonen-Riekkinen
Beausoleil-Prikryl
Leibsch

Leibsch getting time as forward is now harder as got rid of Paaltama and have so many young guys who need to play. However he will get in and beat someone up every 2nd game either as D or 4th line Wing.

Only Spencer has played all 20 in my core, and I am resting him for game 21. All the D are playing well enough that I can do this, and rotate a bit.

Goalies have surprised me a bit. Have only had to lift each of them once.

Haas 9-3-0 2.41 .899 (just last game came down under 900)
Woodcroft 7-1-0 1.97 .907 (Back to back shutouts in October vs Detroit and Florida and won D player of week)

On the farm both goalies in PRovidence started to struggle early (Pope and Englund) but both have really picked up their games now. Englund has played 6 and Pope 12...about the split I was hoping for.

Booth is starting to score 6-12-18 in 17 games with 9 of those points in last 4.
Geric Dube has shocked going 9-8-17 in 17 games.
Eric Crowthers started slowly but is now playing well with 5 points in last 5 games, and ratings are starting to come up.
Meichtry is suffering from Vet status and a shortage of Forwards on this team....meaning dress an AHL vet to help out. But he is doing well now and since got rid of Paaltama is playing better.


off to next 20

[totch]

Well , I now started my first season.

Here's my draft picks:

Rd 1 (6th overall) - Herman Dicks (Kootenay) - RW/LW - 6'1", 169 lbs
Rd 2 (36th) – Anatoly Grishin (AK Bars Kazan) – RD/LD - 6'1", 194 lbs
Rd 3 (66th) – Vladimir Martinec (HC Stadion Litomerice) - Goalie - 6'1", 183 lbs
Rd 4 (96th) – Hans Berggren (Karlskrona HK) – LW/RW - 6'1, 158 lbs
Rd 4 (109th) - Ville-Matti Lohtander (Barrie) - LW/RW - 5'11", 169 lbs
Rd 5 (126th) – Eammon Davis (Boston Junior Bruins) - Center - 6'4", 211 lbs
Rd 7 (186th) – Alexander Vystik (Barrie) - RW - 5'9", 176 lbs

As everybody did, I choosed Herman Dicks as my first pick. My team really need some improvement in the the left wing , and He was the best player available in that position. I have great expectations for him, He seems to be a good leader (great team work, influence and hard work attributes). Maybe my captain in the future.

For the 2nd pick, I choosed a 18 years old russian defenseman Anatoly Grishin . For me, he was the best defenseman available in the second round, great defensive attributes and as Dicks, he shows bravery e leadrship attributes , so it was an easy choice for me. I have to say that I have good memories from one defenseman that I picked in another save of mine (Calgary Flames 2010), with the same name and playing in the same team. So it was also a question of superstition.

For the third pick I choosed a Goalie. Yes I already have great prospects on that position but those aren’t my picks and it was important for me to have a forward, a defenseman and a goalie on my first three draft picks. Vladimir Martinec was also the best goalie available (best ranked available). I wanted to get Gubin and Bud Ayotte first but the Ottawa Senators and the San Jose Sharks anticipated me, so I picked Martinec. He is a 17 years old Czech who plays as number one goalie in a senior team in the first Czech hockey division, and with great stats (43 GP – 31V – 6L - 6T ; 1,95 GAA ; 0,927 Sv %, 8.14 perf). It was an easy pick for me.

For the 4th pick , I get Hans Berggren, a 18 years old swedish boy who plays as senior in swedish second divivion. I don’t know him but for this draft pick I decided to trust my scouts , coaches and my assistant GM. He was Peter Forsberg's (my assist GM) choice . A swedish advice. And he did well also as a senior player.

For the other ones , it was a mixed of intuition, scout advices and best players stats and attributes. Ville-Matti , a 18 years old finnish player, was a scout choice. He will play his first CHL year in the OHL, and I will see if it was a good move. Eammon Davis, was a mixe of scout advice and intuition. He is a 18 years old boy from Massachusets who plays in the Boston Junior Bruins, 6’4’’ , 211 lbs. Well, enought said I think . For my last choice, as usual in my EHM saves, I pick a guy with good stats or great attributes and usually a little bit older, like Alexander Vystik, a 22 years old Czech. He is already ready for the AHL and maybe the NHL, so why not. He has good physical and technical attribute with also good team work and work rate. I’m just worried for his size.

[rocker87]

I finish my 6th season. We were first, 64-15-3. First round, we won Canes in 5, then Sabres in 4 and we lost against Capitals in 7.

The problem with injuries in series with Capitals was crucial. Few week/10 days injuries of key players and I'm out.

My leaders:

Oskar Lindblom 82+86, 168 points in 82
William Nylander 156 points in 82
Anton Karlsson 144 points in 77
Herman Dicks 64 in 82
Matthew Spencer 62 in 82

I stop before draft, because I don't know if any of you guys will continue in season 7. I think it's the end of my Bruins journey, it becomes easy and nobody follow.

[bruins72]

I'm still in season 3 and haven't had time to post about my game but I'm still playing. I kind of flubbed my player for player pick this season. I was so eager to make a deal, I really didn't wait for the best deal or for one I really needed. I sent Berthet to the Islanders for Soren Pagh. He's a pretty good, young, 2-way center who I suppose will make a good replacement for Schenn, who has probably played his last season here. I haven't made my player for pick (or pick for player deal) because I couldn't find a deal I wanted by the deadline. I didn't make one of those deals last season either.

My top line of Karlsson - Owens - Skoda is doing quite well! I just wish Skoda had better stamina. Berggren started out the season with us and was doing okay but his morale wasn't staying up so he went down to the AHL. Dicks has had his call-ups but he hasn't impressed me when given the chance. I'm thinking he'll probably be traded next season. I've brought Thocker up to be a goon and he gets to play a little on my 4th line. He mostly just fights. Haas has been playing better than Bernier as of late and may be winning over the starting goaltender job. I think this might be my last year with Bernier.

[rancer890]

I finish my 6th season. We were first, 64-15-3. First round, we won Canes in 5, then Sabres in 4 and we lost against Capitals in 7.

The problem with injuries in series with Capitals was crucial. Few week/10 days injuries of key players and I'm out.

My leaders:

Oskar Lindblom 82+86, 168 points in 82
William Nylander 156 points in 82
Anton Karlsson 144 points in 77
Herman Dicks 64 in 82
Matthew Spencer 62 in 82

I stop before draft, because I don't know if any of you guys will continue in season 7. I think it's the end of my Bruins journey, it becomes easy and nobody follow.

I'm going to try and get to season 7.

I'm busy right now with exams so not much time for EHM. And I do see how some of you have multiple Cups and I only have one, so as long as I'm close to winning another one I will keep playing.

[rocker87]

I can play whole season in 3 days without any problem, if I see you uploading stats for season 7, I will follow, of course. Well, I can't see why you won't be able to be cup contender every season after, it's easier every season and I don't know what to do with all those good players. I'm even dealing minor deals because I don't have space to put another star in lineup.

[Salming]

I can play whole season in 3 days without any problem, if I see you uploading stats for season 7, I will follow, of course. Well, I can't see why you won't be able to be cup contender every season after, it's easier every season and I don't know what to do with all those good players. I'm even dealing minor deals because I don't have space to put another star in lineup.

I got bored after s.5

couse

1. Everyone signs the same super UFAS who belong to the same generation.

2. everyone trade for same players who belong to the same generation ( aged 27 begining)

3. Every team is under cap so impossible to do trades who makes sense.

[bruins72]

So I finally got season 3 finished and logged. We finished the season winning the President's Trophy. Karlsson was runner up for the Rocket Richard with 55 goals. Skoda had 50. Owens, Karlsson, and Skoda all topped 100 points. Haas was the hot hand heading into the playoffs, so he was our goalie. We had a couple tough rounds but ended up sweeping the Wild in the Stanley Cup finals!

I let Bernier go at the end of the season and then traded Schenn (who had become my 3rd line center and wasn't performing all that well there) for a 2nd round pick. Jack Eichel signed on as my UFA. I got him for a $5M per year cap hit. It was nice to sign a Massachusetts boy to the team. I'm guessing he also liked the idea of signing with the reigning Stanley Cup champion. Also Berggren joined the team for the last 6 games of the playoffs due to injuries and performed well, so he'll start the season as the 2nd line LW. Since I let Bernier go, so Reijasalo was brought up to fill that spot. With the signing of Eichel, Owens has dropped down to 2nd line center. Pagh is now my 3rd.

I still have my 1 for 1 trade going into this season. We'll see what happens!

[rancer890]

I think I'm probably the only one who posts and does the challenge at the same time who didn't get Matthew Spencer (I had 4 chances to get him, didn't get him each time). Actually didn't get a lot of other players, and Karlsson retired too. Although his retirement didn't affect us in the long run.

I actually don't have a problem with star players: my problem is actually with all my top prospects. Not getting all the best players helps with longevity with the challenge, and I'm still having fun. I just focus on defense more. Halfway through season 6 and we only gave up 108 goals, and 11 of them in game 39 vs McDavid and the Caps and I used my 3rd string goalie (Markus Pope), who I lost on waivers. No big loss, he gave up 7 goals in 40 minutes and his save percentage was closer to a batting average in baseball.

We have a lot of top prospects in the minors:

Providence -
W Likit Bjuhr (10-14-24 in 35 games, 7.00 rating) - BOS 4th Rd 2027
LW Jared Booth (7-13-20 in 23, 7.61) - BOS 1st Rd 2027
C/RW Hans Downing (11-19-30 in 35, 7.77) - BOS 2nd Rd 2025
F Erik St. Pierre (8-16-24 in 22, 8.59) - CHI 1st Rd 2026
W Bogdan Vasilyev (16-15-31 in 31, 7.77) - BOS 1st Rd 2028

South Carolina
LW Henrik Burakovsky (13-18-31 in 30, 8.33) - BOS 6th Rd 2029
RW Torgny Holmqvist (9-8-17 in 30, 6.63) - BOS 2nd Rd 2029
G Krister Uski (17-5-2, 4 SO in 24, 8.83) - BOS 4th Rd 2028

Dan Hatcher, Peter Funk, Eric Crowther, and Ted Reilly already on the big club. I probably have to get rid of Jaskin for a pick and let Owens and Vandersteen leave at FAs to get Booth, Downing, St. Pierre and Vasilyev up in the future (next season). Really excited about our prospects, which probably means I will be attempting and trying to finish a season 7 before the deadline.

One trade I will definitely make after the season is Jaskin for a pick. Not sure about a 1 for 1 trade. I think it's good to just keep Jaskin for the season rather than call someone like Booth up. As for 1-1 trade, probably only for a top prospect defenseman who still has minors options. We have a lot of forwards so I don't mind trading one of them if the price is right.

[batdad]

Just wanted to post this because thought kind of cool

World Junior Division 1 Championships 2029 (ends in Jan 2029)

Group A

Khazakstan 3-1-0
Russia 3-1-0
Poland 2-2-0
Germany 2-2-0
Belarus 1-3-0
Ukraine 1-3-0

Group B

Denmark 2-0-1
Latvia 2-0-1
Great Brit 2-1-0
Hungary 1-2-0
Croatia 1-2-0
France 0-3-0

Anyone see a bit of an imbalance in the caliber of the groups?

The Khazaks lost to the Poles and the Russians lost to Khazaks...so unless Kkazakstan chokes in last game vs Germany and Russia beats the Poles..Russia two years in Div 1. LOL

[batdad]

Dagnabbit...Russians won, Khazaks lose. Russia back to group 1.

[jesterx7769]

Trying to finish season 5 before the deadline, we shall see this weekend. I'm not scoring as many goals as the other people this far in but I'm still dominating in wins, think I've only lost 4 so far and almost done with Q2, lots of 4-2/1 and 5-2/1 games

[bruins72]

I'm barely into season 4 and it doesn't look like I'll get around to finishing it.

[rancer890]

I was going to try and finish my current season, but then OOTP15 got released. So that's out the window.

Hopefully jester and batdad can finish so there can be four finishers in Season 5.

[bruins72]

I think we're going to extend the challenge for a couple weeks so that people can try to finish and we can give some extra time for the DB guys. I'm not trying to set a deadline for them or say that they'll be done by then but it's likely that we'll get a new DB 2 weeks after the challenge than we will at the set challenge end date.

Does that make sense?

[Manimal]

I think we're going to extend the challenge for a couple weeks so that people can try to finish and we can give some extra time for the DB guys. I'm not trying to set a deadline for them or say that they'll be done by then but it's likely that we'll get a new DB 2 weeks after the challenge than we will at the set challenge end date.

Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense to me!
The next release isn't too far away (unless we run into any kind of trouble)

Also, since we've just released that version and the next won't be until next season, I've got time to play!

[bruins72]

Excellent!

[jesterx7769]

yay new db! I'm excited to see uber Nyquist

[batdad]

Nyquist sucks in the new DB too. We are all biased against you and primis. Hagelin though...scores 200 points per year, and Lundquist did not allow a goal for the first 79 games of the season. But then let in 1 for the next 3 games each before 16 straight playoff shutouts.

But man you should see how good the 2019 draft class is now. We sorted 2014, 2015 and 16...but then after that wow.


Oh wait.."we" ...sorry I did nothing in it. I hear the best league in the world is now in England though.

[jesterx7769]

I think we're going to extend the challenge for a couple weeks so that people can try to finish and we can give some extra time for the DB guys. I'm not trying to set a deadline for them or say that they'll be done by then but it's likely that we'll get a new DB 2 weeks after the challenge than we will at the set challenge end date.

Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense to me!
The next release isn't too far away (unless we run into any kind of trouble)

Also, since we've just released that version and the next won't be until next season, I've got time to play!

What is the best thread to follow for the db updates? I got lost in how many amounts of roster threads there are

[Manimal]

What is the best thread to follow for the db updates? I got lost in how many amounts of roster threads there are

There is no good thread to follow. We post things here and there. Most guys ask for news in the mistakes, omissions and tweaks thread but that is not really what that thread is forhttp://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 27#p170927
The few of us that works on it, works as hard as we have the time for.