How's it going in EHM 1? What team are you?

[batdad]

Team was doing well at 6-2-0....then we played the Leafs. Um...wow. Lost 11-3. Line brawl including goalies. Markstrom got suspended.

[rmt_1982]

Think Robert Farmer may be in trouble after this goon show...


Got a 5+10+2, then a 5+2, then Game Misconduct, and Match Penalty.

[Vadim10]

Isn't that what a goon is supposed to be? Making most possible impact in the smallest amount of time? Or did I get something wrong?

[rmt_1982]

Isn't that what a goon is supposed to be? Making most possible impact in the smallest amount of time? Or did I get something wrong?

You're right, but he fought straight from the opening face off, then fought again in the 3rd...

[Vadim10]

Must have been something personal ... or he had a bad day. Or he was replaced by aliens and a clone tried to sabotage your game plan ... who knows

[MWE]

Season 7 with Vancouver didn't go as planned

No players left us in the off season, I signed Filip Forsberg from free agency and Gurican was from the draft the year before

[lemming3k]

Well despite finishing the season 64-15-3 with a record 131 points and some individual record points scorers the playoffs didn't go to plan, partly due to losing Ekman-Larsson for 8 months(breaking points records by January before getting injured), and Spooner was out for the conference finals.

Opened with a record 9-2 win against the Wild and won that series 4-1
Came back from 2-1 against the Ducks to win 4-2.
Broke the previous record win with a 9-0 against the Stars in the conference finals, and lost the series 4-1. Managed more goals in one game than the next 4 put together.
Scratching my head a bit on that one. Stars went on to blow a 3-0 series lead against the Caps in the final and there were a lot of road wins in the playoffs again.
I will now be losing Moore and Murphy as they're refusing to even negotiate contracts, no idea why as they're both "happy to stay at the team" so next year could be interesting.

[Primis]

So I traded for David Backes and Ondrej Palat at the deadline.

Palat was in the doghouse in TB and scratched. Not sure what happened there, but I've bounced between 6th and 8th in the East all season long and needed reinforcements. Was super-important because Viktor Stalberg just up and Vopatized badly in like only a week, and Palat is obviously better anyways.

Backes solidifes my shaky center group even though I overpaid for him and my fans and the Board were unhappy with the deal. They'll like it better come playoffs, I'm sure. I had a surplus of 2nd and 3rds I could part with, and while the prospect was a good one, I'm deep there too. I also sent my 3rd goalie (Matt Hackett) away in the deal (per their request/interest).

However... much like while I was on a roll earlier in the season and so the game suspended Kindl and MArc Stall both at the same time.... I can't have nice things. And so Marc Staal is now out 2 weeks. Both Ryan Suter and Danny DeKeyser were available at the deadline and I tried, hard... DET wanted nobody I could offer no matter what, and shipped him to BUF for Jack Johnson straight up instead. Suter stayed in Minny, and there were even other good offers for him I thought. So now comes the challenge to my def. corps.

As always, I'm going for the triple. I want my NHL team, my AHL affiliate, and my ECHL affiliate all to win Cups. If one team gets eliminated, I filter what players I can to the other one or two, to bolster their lineups.

Already a big turn-around from being a completely blank team, and 30th overall for 2 years in a row, to being hopefully a playoff team.

[madball1982]

Decided to play as the Bruins.
(Did one edit in the database, made Shawn Thornton a Bruin again and only 25yo - just because)
1st pre-season managed to snag Perry from the Ducks for Lucic, Erickson 1st and one a prospect.
Got Cody Ceci from Senators.
Traded for Michael Ferland.
Best trade though was Soderberg and Paille to CGY for Gaudreau (he had 45-14-11-25 for CGY, went 34-16-16-32 for me).
Got Harrington from PIT for Warsofsky.
Lindbland to LAK for Nolan (He went nuts too, 27-25-7-156PIMS)
We finished 5th in the East and lost to DET 4-2 in playoffs.
Bergeron won the Selke. Both Miller (7mths) and Seidenberg (5mths) lost significant portions of the season.

Off-season I made offer sheets to Mark Stone ($2.03/3yr and Emerson Etem ($1.74/3yr) - and got them. A few AHL-calibre players were signed and Jay Beagle.
So far, year two, we're 6-1-1. Gaudreau (who I've noticed is an absolute gun in this game) has 6-6-12 so far, Etem and Stone are playing strong, Rask has 1.68GAA in 7GP.
Looking good for season two so far.

2nd Season went a lot better for us - won the President's Trophy and then the Stanley Cup. Had the most GF, 3rd least GA, 1st PP, 7th PK.
Gaudreau was 2nd in points and fourth in goals. Perry was up there. Rask finished third in voting.
Off-season notables - McQuaid went to FA due to K. Miller's play and his cost
Traded J. Beagle, 1st and 3rd pick to MIN for Dumba
Had a bit of Cap issue so both Reilly Smith and Marchand (two unpopular trades) and got J. Virtanen, J. McCann, 2 & 3rd picks for them in two separate trades.
Was hoping Chara would retire, but he didn't haha

Third season is just past Christmas, we're on top of the league by 14pts right now.Pastrnak (rookie) is E-1st pts, Perry 3rd, S. Bennett 5th. Perry 2nd goals, Pastrnak is 6th. Rask has 2.01GAA, 924%, 4 SO.

[Primis]

And so, my Devils bowed out in the 1st round 4-2 to Washington. A couple of my guys that had played well all year started tossing 5 Game Ratings across the board for the entire series. I apparently have much work left to do still. Marian Hossa, Mike Fisher, Viktor Stalberg, Jakub Kindl, and Jan Hejda are all guys that I should probably move on from. I do have Eichel and Duclair on the way up next season, in all likelihood.

EDIT: Victory is trading Hossa away for a 2nd to NAS, and then Hossa retiring a week later. Didn't see that coming, thought he had another year or two left yet.

[kyleevs48]

Just started as the Devils. Probably going to blow it up.

All I've done so far is move Dainius Zubrus for the Sharks' 2015 1st.

[Primis]

Maaaaaaan is LA is a bad place with their cap in my game.

Several teams have $0 for cap space in the offseason prior to Season 4. All are floating around $70-72m still though.

But not the Kings. Someone forgot to tell them to stop. So they sit at $83m and are now trying to offload Anze Kopitar and his $10.5m/yr, even for poor returns, and even though it alone won't fix their problems. They fired Lombardi and hired Ken Holland (who DET fired after missing the playoffs finally, but not before firing Babcock too), and I'm not sure even he can clean up their mess. They have nearly $10m in two players down in Manchester right now between Richards and Martinez, and of course they went after and got Rick Nash and his $7.8m.

I've seen some cap quandries before in EHM , but never quite like this one.

[lemming3k]

Has anyone actually got the cap space for Kopitar?
The AI does have bad cap management and hordes players a bit - but it does show one thing the AI is actually clever with - not picking up a player knowing you'll have to waive them, or when you might have to release them to free agency!

[Primis]

Has anyone actually got the cap space for Kopitar?
The AI does have bad cap management and hordes players a bit - but it does show one thing the AI is actually clever with - not picking up a player knowing you'll have to waive them, or when you might have to release them to free agency!

Me (NJD), CGY, and ARI.... that's about it. Everyone else is either over the cap or within $3m or under cap space left.

I'm toying with pulling the trigger, but I already have Backes, O'Reilly, Neilsen and Sheahan at center... with Eichel and Matthews both maybe going to make the big club this next season. So I'm toying with sending Backes over for Kopitar, but not sure I want to take on the $10.55m cap hit myself. I slept on it overnight and am still unsure to be honest. It seems like a no-brainer (Kopitar is younger and better), but adding Kopi's cap hit to my team is a bit scary. And sending Backes gives LA only a bit of relief, and still leaves a ton of salary for them to fix or move.

I'm also toying with taking over ARI myself and getting him. The Coyotes have been truly awful for 3 years now and are completely mismanaged. Poor OEL, wasted on a truly horrid team otherwise. Kopitar would really help them. Shoot, even with an offseason roster of like 30 guys up to artificially inflate their cap hit, they're still nearly $10m under the cap.

I'm also considering doing absolutely NOTHING and just seeing how the AI will fix its own mess. Because I'm kind'a fascinated to see who they might waive (I'm betting Gaborik and Kopitar both, to add to Richards and Martinez who have already been so). That's kinda' mean though.


EDIT: Typos....

[Jykä_90]

Has anyone actually got the cap space for Kopitar?
The AI does have bad cap management and hordes players a bit - but it does show one thing the AI is actually clever with - not picking up a player knowing you'll have to waive them, or when you might have to release them to free agency!

The AI in my game just traded someone for a 2nd pick and straight away put him on waiver where he got taken lol. Happens alot when they trade for depth players that must go trough waivers.

[Primis]

I simmed a bit ahead and LA didn't do anything move-wise to fix the problem, so I finally just traded David Backes (1C) and Matt Greene (7D) to them for Kopitar and they immediately accepted. The cap relief for them is still not anywhere near enough though.

[Primis]

Just have to follow this up.

LA just couldn't make it work. So they re-waived Martinez, and then also waived Matt Greene. But that's not enough. So they just waived both also David Backes and Marian Gaborik as well. And it still may not end there.

Florida claimed Backes of waivers and is now rolling Barkov, Backes, and Bjugstad down the middle. Gaborik cleared (he's fairly old now and lost a lot of his physical abilities).

[madball1982]

At the end of the Bruin's 3rd season, they ran away with President's Trophy with a 62-12-8-355-209-132pts record (2nd was DAL w/109pts). 4.33GF (1st) 2.55GA (2nd) 3rd PP, 10th PK, but only 4th PIM (I normally take pride in 1st PIMs).
Perry E-1st w/64G (Pastrnak 6th 47, Bennett 13th 44)
Bennett 1st w/112pts (Perry 2nd 107, Pastrnak 4th 96 - also 1st rookies)
Bennett 1st Av R w/8.28
Rask 2.16GAA (2nd to Rinne 2.03), 1st 47WIN, 8th S/O

Dumba turned out really well for us 69-9-39-48-7.58
Nathan Walker became the first Australian in the NHL getting 54-3-1-4-60pim-6.67

Off-season is going to be interesting with Spooner and Bennett needing new deals. Bennett will surely require a BIG raise? Thankfully Hamilton signed for 3.8M/3yr (Stats 79-15-49-64-7.44)
Might have to look at waiving Chara or trading Krejci/Bergeron to free up some money.

Playoffs to come.

[madball1982]

Qtr Finals: vs. TOR W 4-1
Biggest takeaway was losing Hamilton for this series, still having Dumba on IR and then Krejci getting injured in game 5 and being out for 3mths.
Semi Finals: vs. MTL W 4-1
Hamilton and Dumba back for game 1. Nothing else of major note.
EC Finals: vs. CAR L 4-3
Lost first two games.
Gaudreau and Bennett injured after Game 5. Chara and Hamilton after Game 6.
Injuries took their toll in this one. Disappointing end to the season.
CAR take on LAK in SCF - CAR Win 4-2.

Bennett re-signs $4.1M/2yrs.
Bennett - Art Ross, Byng, Clancy
Perry - Rocket, Hart
Krug - Norris,
Bergeron - Selke (again)
Pastrnak - Calder

[MWE]

Season 8 just missed out on the play offs

Klinberg, Chirkov and Tarasov were the only ones in.

Subban out as he wouldn't agree to a new contract

[CaptainM]

Well, I decided to play as the leafs. I am about half way through the second season. At the draft in 2015 I picked up Mcdavid, Noah Hanifin, Lawson Crouse and Callum Booth in the first round. Halfway through the second season, we are 29th in the league and only the Flyers are worse.

I hired John Tortorella as head coach. I had Tim Thomas as a back up goalie for a while, but he retired. Then I noticed that he had a 99 in the two scouting attributes. So, I hired him as head scout. (four of my other scouts had retired) I am really doing a rebuild. I no longer have: Kessel Reimer Gardiner Robidas Polak Ashton. I traded Bernier away but signed him again in the off-season. ( good way to get a free first rounder. )

And players I have picked up. I got the Schenn brothers. Signed Michael Garnett. Nail Yakapov, Cal Clutterbuck, Rene Bourque, Luke Glendening are some others I picked up. (Mostly to keep my team losing until my prospects develop.)
EDIT: Here is some screenshots.

[lemming3k]

Finished season 5 last night with a NHL record points total and points %. Also a record positive goal difference though didn't beat the highest scoring record.
Whole team has been very productive with many players over 80 points and Ekman-Larsson getting a +/- of +82!
This year we breezed through the playoffs dropping only one game against the Flames, sweeping the Stars and Avs before a third Yotes vs Lightning final in 4 years. Sweeping the series to take a second cup.

Having added Ryan Murphy for a couple 1st rounders on draft day the year before knowing I would lose other Dmen I used what was left of my cap room to pick up Carey Price and Jamie Benn at the start of the season for free - big contracts but worth taking on as they've helped a lot and enabled me to trade Gibson and Gagner.
Now I just need to tie up some new contracts. OEL wanted a big raise and would only sign for 2 years. Kapanen is demanding a lot too and hasn't signed yet. Might not have a choice but risking an offer sheet/arbitration on that. I will probably then trade Bodker to free up the cap room for Ryan Murphy next year as his contract expires. Tough times ahead and perhaps Price will have to make way as Allen isn't so bad and has re-signed for the same money so I have him for a while.
Will have to post some screenshots tonight.

[Primis]

Hmmm.

My Board was cool with me spending 2 years finishing 30th overall and not making double-digits even in wins. They were somewhat irked in Year 3 when I dared make the playoffs in the East as a 6 seed. And now in Year 4, with me sitting #1 in the East, (and me the #1 GM in the US and #2 Globally) they're downright angry and threatening me.

[CaptainM]

Wow. You have a strange board.

[batdad]

Well Primis...you are in New Jersey, and well....I dunno, I believe it is self explanatory.