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

[lemming3k]

Yep. Let see...scouts make a report on a player when that player has not played any games? Maybe GM fault for sending em to scout while not playing? What did the scout get an accurate read on? The guy .... eating??? Working out in the gym? Practicing? Yeah....those would I expect be VERY accurate reports.

So we're in agreement then? The reports built up over the course of a season shouldn't be changed two weeks into the off-season.
I'm not sure why you agree and then insist on arguing the point at great length afterwards.

[batdad]

LOL Lemming. Some of them change, not all of them. ANd they players change, so SOME reports will change. And whether a game was actually seen will change it. Have a look at the scouting thread.

[Kopi]

Started to play in EBEL (Austrian championship) with my home town team Olimpija Ljubljana. Having fun so far! Just hope that roster update comes soon!

[lemming3k]

LOL Lemming. Some of them change, not all of them. ANd they players change, so SOME reports will change. And whether a game was actually seen will change it. Have a look at the scouting thread.

I never said they *all* change, just the scouts seem to be more often wrong than they are right and mysteriously change their minds. I do scout through the season for draft players because that's really the only time to do it and I'm sure I saw a limited potential Sid Crosby at one point.
Unless the player comparison is purely based on styles/personalities rather than a comparison of potential then those two statements are completely incompatible - he's exactly like Sid Crosby, if he was rubbish. If a scout can't figure out if the guy is like Sid or a no-hoper then he's a pretty pointless scout! The information has to be consitant but maybe the issue is there's too much of it, it inevitably contradicts, changes etc.

Are the comparisons even that accurate? I think they could take those out - potential 1st liner is a broad enough, I may be getting a Sid, or a first liner at the Panthers....

When I finish having fun on my current game I may start a new one without scouts and see how far I get picking on draft order, reputation, current ability, team needs etc

[batdad]

It is funny that you are upset scouts change their minds on a player or two or 10. Scouts always change their minds. They do not have blinders on. They are ALWAYS refining their opinions so of course they change. If they did not...we would have one boring scouting situation that gave us static opinions. That would be no fun whatsoever and like EA Sports. All you have to do is look at Hanifin and how he has dropped off in so many opinions. Originally thought to be one of top 3, then down to definitely third and now in some minds not even in top 10. Things change, things change. They are not always right and that is good.

Again if you expect scouts opinions to be bang on right off the hop, you need to find another game.

[Asher413]

My Canucks personal challenege went south (Game crashed on my computer going to sleep- hadn't saved for two months, lost motivation)

So I went forward to '17-18 with the default database, and wanted to start at the bottom and see where I could go. I am the GM of Kalajoki in Finland 3, who had a fine history of 8th, 15th and 13th before I got there (but they avoided relegation!). The team had no talent compared to other finland 3 teams, only one category was over 2 stars, and most were one star.

Boy, was the first season a challenege, salaries were an issue: At the level I'm allowed to offer most of my contracts, I calculated I could afford 26 players under contract, unless loans bail me out some. So I'm wayy over budget, but the goal was to go over, win and try to increase the budget by ticket sales (highest attendance in team history, within 400 of a full house average). Brought in 14 players, and testing a theory that Determination seems to have a VERY high correlation with AvR at this level (only 57 of the players in the league have passing above 10 for example)

Managed to save from relegation in the first playout round (best of 3 for 6 of the bottom 7 teams, the losers go to a group play or something, I don't recall but I'll see soon. It's interesting that every team is either in the playoffs to promote or the playouts to be relegated. We'll see if I ever get anywhere.

A couple of odd AI things: 1. The Olympic hosts (South Korea) were not in the Olympics.
2. Almost EVERY contract in Finland (haven't found the exception) is a one year deal. Some have options, but all seem to be one year deals. Not saying its unrealistic, but makes it very interesting to see.
3. The European Free Agent date (April 30th) doesn't line up with the end of season routine, so teams that will be promoted aren't at the time of free agency. Not sure what that impacts, but it took away my first choice of team (wanted a freshly promoted team, but didn't want to miss free agency).
4. The media questions me playing 17 year olds in the lowest rated playable league in the game . If they can't play in Finland 3... I'm wondering if the penalty for overplaying youth exists even down here? One guy has over a 7 Average rating, and it's only a 36 game season, but I'm wondering how that works.

Looking forward to season 2!

[lemming3k]

It is funny that you are upset scouts change their minds on a player or two or 10. Scouts always change their minds. They do not have blinders on. They are ALWAYS refining their opinions so of course they change. If they did not...we would have one boring scouting situation that gave us static opinions. That would be no fun whatsoever and like EA Sports. All you have to do is look at Hanifin and how he has dropped off in so many opinions. Originally thought to be one of top 3, then down to definitely third and now in some minds not even in top 10. Things change, things change. They are not always right and that is good.

Again if you expect scouts opinions to be bang on right off the hop, you need to find another game.

*sighs* Once more, I've not said bang on or no changes, I like them being dynamic like FM and they should be - but too often they can be very wrong, not just one scout but all of them; not a difference of opinion between them and then drastically all changing their minds weekly even with no games observed is crazy. The inconsistancies within the same report makes no sense. It's annoyingly frequent and seems to go beyond just 'refining' results/players crumbling to pressure like Hanifin/being a bust pick.
Maybe this is realistic, but I'm not sure why anyone would bother hiring scouts if it was. I'd say it needs work, or the results need to be broader at first so they can accurately refine the results or give a confidence rating for how accurate scouts believe they are. At the moment I seem to be guessing on whether or not my scout was guessing. That's a bad system.

Or alternatively oh woe is me how will I survive without EA Sports and spoonfeeding information. Happy?

[batdad]

They are right or close to right about 75-80% of the time.

[Kopi]

Started to play in EBEL (Austrian championship) with my home town team Olimpija Ljubljana. Having fun so far! Just hope that roster update comes soon!

Ha this is fun..have lowest budget in the league with around 700 000 $ (all other teams way abouve 1mil or even 2mil) for salaries and i finished 3rd and now playoff time. Love it! Really got me back to the game as with Philly Challenge i kinda lost it for playing EHM but now with home town team i back and addicted Hope i can get some better budget next season due to this years success.

Sign Randy Jones as former NHL guy for small bucks (30k per season) comparing to other former NHLs in the league and great prospect who is doing well with me and hope can push him in a year or two to NHL (Tyler Biggs).


One thing..my hall accept 4500 people and max i saw around 1700 people and average i have it around 1000...i forgot a bit how is at EHM but does with success also fans arrive back?

[Asher413]

Disclaimer- default database so names might as well be gibberish unless you're up to date on your lower Finnish league players)

A great second season in Finland. Picked up 4 Americans (graduated from Bowling Green (Miles Gendron?), Brown, Michigan State and Princeton) and a Sweede, which opened up this offense, also brought in a young center/left wing combo , the LW (Henri Levonen) who doesn't have good attributes, but were point a game players together. Brought in a couple of defenders (again, one with attributes, the other with nothing (no 10's except 20 in determinination). My young goalie, who is paid by the umlat: Aijala- (put umlats on EVERY vowel- first stats are 15-16 so game generated I think) also stepped up to the plate in the playoffs (was only 2.63 GAA 88.6% in the regular season) and went 9-3 with a 1.84 GAA and 92% in the big show (didn't count the promotion final... hmmm).

Finished 4th in the regular season after they believed we were a 2nd to last (14th) team, and had quite the playoff run. Won the first round in game 5 (of 5), and in the second round took on the #1 seed- who's all world goalie (best in the league by attributes and stats) went down in game 2, so we easily shelled the backup to win the series in 3 straight wins. Swept the division 3 finals, and wen to the best of 7 with the last placed team in division 2. We alternated games until game 7. The game started 2-2 after 1 period, then I guess my coach yelled the right thing... we won 7-2. Onto division 2!

A couple of small issues with come up with the roster, and I desperately needed to promote to be able to attract more talent as I'm over budget, and simply can't accommodate the raises my whole core wanted. It's unfortunate timing where we will have to do free agency opening before the promotion, not sure if we'll have the bump in prestige or not by then.

Now to see if somehow I can make the money or get the board to expand our rink- 800 seats, 800 standing and we averaged 1414 attendance two seasons ago and 1570 last season. So far it's a good ride... too bad I have to go to my in-laws the rest of the week, I'm getting into it!

[hockey17jp]

I'm having so much fun with my Blue Jackets game, I just started the 17-18 season with a vengeance after losing game 7 of the finals last year. 14 games into the season I'm 12-0-2!

I had signed two random free agents, Andreas Johnson and Kevin Darcy, a couple of seasons ago when other teams expressed a lot of interest. Turns out they are complete studs! Johnson scored 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points in his first 4 games (8 points in the last 2 games ) before going down with a hip injury, and Darcy is super close to a PPG.

Boone Jenner, Ryan Johansen, Andreas Johnson, Jack Eichel, Gustav Nyquist, Mirco Mueller, and William Karlsson are all scoring at a PPG right now which is crazy awesome!

I had to waive Fedor Tyutin and Scott Hartnell because they both had big untradeable contracts. I was kind of bummed to lose them for nothing but I needed cap room and to be honest they aren't that much better than my prospects. I also traded Kadri for a first because I didn't need him and I'd hate to scratch a 3 million dollar contract.

I have so many talented prospects it's actually kind of annoying.
Alex Wennberg, Anton Forsberg, and Mirco Mueller are in their second seasons, Jack Eichel, Andreas Johnson, Kevin Darcy, Oscar Dansk, and William Karlsson are in their rookie seasons, and I still have Sonny Milano, Marko Dano, Kerby Rychel, Auston Matthews, Connor Murphy, and Curtis Lazar waiting in the minors.

[rancer890]

Just going into the off-season with the Sheffield Steelers after 3rd season with the club. We won the EIHL final, but missed out on the double in the Challenge Cup. Kept a lot of the core together but had some new signings as well. Probably won't recognize a lot of names, but I'll type them anyway.

Key players:

G - Jake Smith (23) - Was the Jets 2015 4th Round Pick but got released for some weird reason (had a very good 15/16 campaign with the Adirondack Flames and Ontario Reign). Signed with DEL team Nurnberg but they released him somehow as well...so then we signed him! Had a fantastic season (31-12-2, 2.17 GAA). Had several NHL teams interested in him near the end of the season but he's still a Steeler for now (July 30). Also got a young Finnish backup.

D - Alain Goulet (29) - Just finished his 3rd season with Sheffield and has always been reliable. Had career highs in assists (39) and points (44) this past season.
D - Kevin Larsson (21) - Guy I scouted from the Swedish U18 leagues. Solid first season (2-12-14 in 51 games). Even got drafted by Detroit in the 7th in the 2018 Draft. They keep finding their Swedes.
D - Michael Paliotta (25) - Spent a couple years in Denmark before coming to Sheffield. Was a part of a very good D-core with 38 points (2 G, 36 A) in 52 games in his first season with the club.

LW/RW - Fabian Brunnstrom (33) - He actually went down to Swedish 3rd tier and got released before I signed him. Nearly averaged a PPG in England (21G, 27A in 51 games).
LW - Omni Toivanen (25) - Founded him in Milton Keynes and finished up 2 seasons with Sheffield with 43 and 42 points in the last couple years.
LW/C - Nathan Walker (24) - Picked him up after Washington released him. Had 28 goals and 15 assists last season.
C/LW - Vern Cooper (27) - Was one of the league leaders averaging a point a game (56 points).
C - Matt DeBlouw (24) - More than doubled his output in his second season at Sheffield (26G, 26A in 51 games) from his first (12G,12A in 44 games).

Also made some good signings and even our British kids are pretty good and developing nicely, so I'm really hoping to build on the past season to the 2018/19 season. Still trying to get Sam Duggan from the EPIHL. Also have one of my former youngsters in Moose Jaw in the WHL on my shortlist, so I'm hoping I can sign him when he finishes his junior career. Not very good mind, but you can never have enough British players for depth.

[lemming3k]

Managed to finish my 8th season and take a 5th cup for Arizona, despite losing OEL (top points scoring and top rated defensemen) before the season started, we finished top by a distance again and this time went unbeaten in the post-season.

Another tough off-season ahead with Malkin and Benn demanding huge contracts, both long-term which at their age is not a good idea. Yakupov is also heading for UFA so that's 3 of my top 6 I need to re-sign or replace. Time for a few prospects to step up.

[Vadim10]

So the one with the worst win percentage gives it another try after a break. This time I'll try my luck with the Sabres, not hoping to win anything but to improve my understanding of the game and maybe improve my percentage too.

For the first year I didn't trade any players, but got Scott Stevens and Joel Otto as assistant coaches. My first preseason test failed with a 2-5 defeat at Edmonton, but maybe I have just to make a few minor changes in my lineup. My lines look like this:

Moulson - Ennis - Gionta
Deslauriers - Girgensons - Stafford
Larsson - Hodgson - Stewart
Foligno - Grigorenko - Armia

Gorges - Ristolainen
Benoit - Myers
Weber - Strachan

Neuvirth - Enroth

Maybe I'll put Risto in 2nd D and Foligno in 3rd F, if Larsson doesn't play good enough in the 3rd. So far my plans for this season...

[Prowl]

So with the Flames, I got off to a ridiculous 15-4-2 start thanks to some decent goaltending from Hiller and Ramo along with the top line producing big time.

Here's my team:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Raymond-Backlund-Colborne
Bouma-Jooris-Jones
Ferland-Stajan-Bollig

Russell-Wideman
Brodie-Weber
Schlemko-Engelland

The Devils claimed Setoguchi off waivers while I picked up Yannick Weber as he was a decent upgrade over Diaz. I was right as Weber has been a nice pickup. Diaz became expendable so I shipped him off to Philly for Coliaccovo and 2 4th round picks. Not too shabby for a guy I played 1 game. I would talk about the success of the top line, but it has been the solid play of Mason Raymond (can't believe I said that), along with timely scoring from my 3rd and 4th lines that have allowed me to dominate. I like normal and balanced line use so it was great to see the bottom 6 guys respond. I'm not looking to be adding anything other than waiting for Giordano to come back. I may have to unload another d-man at that point to free up room, but overall, I'm happy. Klimchuk and Bennett have also been doing well so I'm hoping that trend stays the same

[Stormsky]

Playing the UUDB for EHM:EA as the 2006-07 Canucks.

Started out very well, but the play got a little rough around Christmas time. Was sitting 6th in the West at the deadline. Decided to hedge my bets and add a few players I liked while also trading away two guys that other teams wanted. Post-deadline lineup:

Sedin - Sedin - Knuble
Naslund - Morrison - Cooke
Soprykin - Kesler - Linden
Burrows - Avery - Ortmeyer

Ohlund - Salo
Mitchell - Bieksa
Edler - Semenov

Luongo
Sabourin

Went on a tear. Finished the season 50-24-8, good for 2nd in the West. Then beat the Flames, Red Wings (close one), Predators, and Sabers to win the Stanley Cup (!). In large part thanks to an insane performance by Luongo (8.72 average rating in the playoffs).

Now to see if I can keep most of the team together for next year.

[nickflyers]

So finished up my first season with the Flyers, struggled mightily but managed to move the rubbish contracts. (http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 90&t=14468)

Main thing I'm posting here for is this..........................


Draft lottery time comes I'm sitting in 14th place with NJ and Buffalo below me, Isles, Leafs, Bruins in 11-13 in the East while Calgary, Arizona, Vancouver and Colorado are the bottom feeders in the West. So chances are pretty solid for Buffalo/NJ/VAN/COL right??? Well guess who wins......NEW YORK ISLANDERS...guess who has the Islanders pick and also had the worst record...YUP you guessed it THE BUFFALO SABRES

LEAGUE's REACTION:
BUFFALO'S REACTION:

[Prowl]

The way the game can mimic fan reactions sometimes is uncanny:

[batdad]

What a deal!

[lemming3k]

So finished up my first season with the Flyers, struggled mightily but managed to move the rubbish contracts. (http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 90&t=14468)

Main thing I'm posting here for is this..........................


Draft lottery time comes I'm sitting in 14th place with NJ and Buffalo below me, Isles, Leafs, Bruins in 11-13 in the East while Calgary, Arizona, Vancouver and Colorado are the bottom feeders in the West. So chances are pretty solid for Buffalo/NJ/VAN/COL right??? Well guess who wins......NEW YORK ISLANDERS...guess who has the Islanders pick and also had the worst record...YUP you guessed it THE BUFFALO SABRES

LEAGUE's REACTION:
BUFFALO'S REACTION:

And I thought McDavid and Hanifin was lucky. Eichel didn't turn out great at NJ though.

[lemming3k]

I traded Price to open up cap room, then lost OEL, Benn, Yakupov, and Malkin(who seems to prefer to be unemployed than join the Stanley Cup champs). I'm now below the darn cap floor again!

Can I get a hold of Prongers contract?....

[Prowl]

I traded Price to open up cap room, then lost OEL, Benn, Yakupov, and Malkin(who seems to prefer to be unemployed than join the Stanley Cup champs). I'm now below the darn cap floor again!

Can I get a hold of Prongers contract?....

Hilarious

End of November with the Flames and continuing to dominate. I have lost 3 times all year (2 in shootouts) and doing well. I was using the Barrage tactic but tweaked it so I wouldn't concede so many goals. While I score less, I have been giving up far fewer goals than I was at the beginning of the season.

Johnny Gaudreau and Marian Gaborik are tied with 37 points a piece while Hudler has 19 goals to lead the league. Monahan is 4th in scoring while Hiller and Ramo continue to be adequate in goal. After I signed him to a 3-year deal, Backlund has played much better and Colborne and Raymond continue to impress. No one gets too tired as I roll 3 lines with 40 sec shifts while my 4th plays less at 30 secs a shift. Less fatigue has been great for the health of the team overall.

Yannick Weber continues to be my best addition as he has chipped in with 1 goal and 12 assists in 24 games. His mobility has made the loss of Gio easier to stomach. The question now is who gets bumped when he gets back from injury. At this point, I'm pretty happy with the shape of the team, but hey, if Dougie Hamilton becomes available for a 1st, 2nd, and 2nd, I'll listen

As for strange trades, the Wild traded Keith Ballard to the Habs for a 1st round pick.....Wowzers

[stagbeetle59]

I had to start a new game after having to reset Windows so I started another save with Vancouver, as well as my farm team in Utica.

In Vancouver, I changed my Head Coach from Willie Desjardins to Glen Gulutzan so I could add Randy Carlyle and Cory Clouston to my staff seeing as they are good assistants to have and in Utica, I somehow managed to bring in Marc Crawford as Head Coach. Also, I changed the DB to remove Miller, Bieksa and Burrows because I really don't like NTCs and also I wanted to develop some of my own players.

I'm in December at the moment with a record of 16-12-2 in Vancouver and 19-5-3 in Utica.

Here's my lines for Vancouver (equal minutes in case anyone wonders why top prospects are on the 3rd/4th line):

D Sedin - H Sedin - Higgins
Horvat - Bonino - Hansen
Dorsett - Matthias - Kassian
McCann - Cassels - Virtanen

Edler - Tanev
Hamhuis - Sbisa
Stanton - Weber

Markstrom
Lack

Scratches: Macmillan, Dorsett, Richardson

And in Utica:

Conacher - O'Reilly - Jensen
Bartschi - Hamilton - Archibald
Kenins - Acton - Grenier
Zalewski - Friesen - Shinkaruk

Huskins - Sanguinetti
Biega - Clendening
Corrado - Erdhart

Demko
Ericsson

[lemming3k]

Another Yotes vs TBL final and another win 4-1 to bring the cup finals head to head series to 4-1 as well. Some good talent coming through though so expect them and the Devils to be fighting it out for a few years in the East, so far haven't met anyone else in the finals.
McDavid over 100 points and 3 from leading the standings despite missing 18 games. Kapanen still scoring plenty and Domi stepping up to 1st line.

For once there are no contract worries this year... as they all left already.
Hanifin and Jones re-signed which will take me above the salary floor and stop me getting fined again. Apart from that it's all young players unless I can pick anyone up from free agency.
Current lines looking good. Guentzel was free last year and doing well. Have to see who I can pick up for this year.

[Cod]

Just finished pre-season w/ the Red Wings. Still learning my way around the game, but I think I've got some good tactics figured out for this specific team. I went from one goal in the first two games to average three goals a game. I think I'm that good, but I'm sure the other team was probably playing some backup to the backup in goal.

Oh well, its fun anyways!