Challenge #37 Discussion - Blowing Up The Canucks!

[batdad]

I know i wouldn't trade Demko atleast, a good goalie seems too important in this game for everyone except batdad who could probably get Vezina with a random AHL goalie

I have. Some sieve Carolina had, some sieve Columbus had. And well.....Markstrom, and without Demko Nedeljkovic would have. Come to think of it, think he won won for me in the CArolina challenge.

[batdad]

Time for another installment of WHERE ARE THEY NOW? What happened to all those Canucks who have been moved out of the team in the last few seasons, and lost their chance to be a 4 time Stanley Cup champion, and leaders on a dynasty team?

Frank Corrado-now age 26-has spent his entire time since 2014-15 with Slovan of the KHL. Best season was lsat year 9-23-32 in 48 games.
Daniel Sedin--Now an UFA waiting for someone to sign him. Daniel spent the full 4 seasons with the WInnipeg Jets, and his best season there was 2017-18 where he scored 41 goals. At age 38, he has slowed down dramatically, and may be interested in retiring.
Henrik Sedin-AFter three seasons in Winnipeg, he joined the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL and had a decent season for them, scoring 44 points in 49 games. On verge of retirement?

Jannik Hansen-After two 20 goal seasons, and a 17 goal season Jannik was not re signed for 2018-19 by Columbus and is currently playing for Frolunda in the SHL. Scored 17 for them last season.
Chris Higgins-is starting to look like Brent Ashton. Higgins spent 2 seasons in Ottawa (was immediately dealt to Sens by CBJ after Canucks dealt him), two in St Louis, and is now with the Flyers.At age 36 he is starting to slow, but got a 1.5 mill per year 2 year deal with Flyers. Has not scored 20 goals since left the Canucks. Playing mainly 3-4 line and PK min.
Ryan Miller Retired and in HHoF after the 2016-17 season.

Alex Burrows 2 years in Anaheim, 2 in Montreal. Habs sent him down to Hamilton half way through last season, and he has been let go. Now he has signed with the EC Dorbirn Bulldogs of the Austrian League.
Radim VrbataRetired after 2017-18 season. Not in the HHoF.
Kevin Bieksa Retired after 2018 season. Not in the HHoF
Dan Hamhuis1 year on Long Island, then UFA to Montreal, 2 seasons there, and then UFA to New Jersey for one. He is currently UFA at age 36 and is very very slow now.
Alex Edler After a stellar 4 years with the Sharks, has just signed an UFA deal for 5.5 mill in New Jersey. One year. No trade.

Bobby Sanguinetti After a great rookie season with Vancouver in 2015-16 sold him on a high to Avalanche for a 2nd and a 3rd round pick. Those turned out to be Raina Gibson and Henry Jackson. Gibson scored 38 for London Knights, and Jackson was the Q Dman and most sportsmanlike player of the year last season. Both are looking to crack with the Canucks, but most likely GIbson will play in Utica and Jackson back to junior for one more year. Gibson is a goal scorer, Jackson a stud prospect on the blue line. Sanguinetti spent 2 years with the Avs and just signed for 1.5 with Washington for next season.

Eddie Lack Traded to Carolina following the 2017-18 season, Lack played one game, was sent down to the farm and is now starring for MODO in the SHL. Well, not starring..just playing okay. Dealt for my backup Nedjelkovic and Madison Bowey who will likely be my 7th or 8th dman this season.

Brandon McMillan Sent to Tampa for Nic Petan, who is looking very strong for this coming season. McMillan played only for Syracuse before being let go. Has played the last two years with Chicago and has now somehow managed to wrangle a 5 year contract out of the LA Kings. He is at best a 4th line guy.

Cory Conacher after three seasons in Vancouver was moved to Columbus as part of the Eriksson Ek deal (with Sbisa). He was immediately moved from there to Toronto having never played a game in CBJ uniform. He is now with Montreal, and scored 16 for them last season. Montreal has him under contract for another 4 years.

Luca Sbisa Currently UFA, played one season in CBJ before being dealt to Toronto for 2 4th round picks. Leafs are trying to get him back under contract as an UFA right now.

Shawn Matthias After 18 games in MOntreal when dealt for Fucale, he has been toiling for Hamilton in the AHL. Still there, doing nothing for them.

Yannick Weber After putting in good work in Vancouver, was dealt to the Rangers for prospect Henrik Neubauer. Weber played two seasons for a struggling Ranger team, and is now UFA with an offer from Detroit on the table.

Ronalds Kenins, Zach Kassian and Brendan Dillon all played last year for the Sabres after being dealt there in exchange for NOah Hanifin. All struggled.

Jacob Markstrom also part of that Sabre deal was released by the Sabres, and signed last season in Florida. Played average hockey for them. Not the Vezina trophy winner's best season.

[batdad]

I am a sad man. Just made a trade because I needed to. Neubauer deserves to be on my team. With Virtanen, Morin, Vey, Jensen on the right side it was hard for him to get any ice time. Jake needs to be at least third line.....so I have moved...

my pet...Linden Vey to Columbus in exchange for....


LD Sean Day.


Allows me to have some more depth on the left side, and keep Neubauer on the roster for 2019-20

So your 2019-20 Vancouver Canucks

Bartschi-Eriksson Ek-Jensen
Shinkaruk-Sheifele-Morin
Nelson-Petan-Virtanen
Kyle Connor-McCann-Neubauer
Horvat- Roy

Hanifin-Trouba
Tommernes-Tanev
Pedan-Clendenning
Day

Demko
Ned

[kennec]

I know i wouldn't trade Demko atleast, a good goalie seems too important in this game for everyone except batdad who could probably get Vezina with a random AHL goalie

I decided not to do the trade. However, I was able to make an amazing trade (in my eyes) . I got Rasmus Ristolainen and a 1st round pick for Oliver Kyliington . I think that this deal was a steal because Ristolainen has some experience in the NHL. He has a shot and is a shutdown d-man. And I get a first round pick that I can take another defenceman. I also have Lindgren who is ready to make the jump this season.

Very nice trade this if u can use the pick. I got Kylington also and he won 2 norris trophys for me and plays on 3-4dmen spot with Lindgren and does it amazingly well with nice numbers and AVR.

Altough Ristolainen is very good to. I have tryed to trade for him at least 20 times but couldnt pull it off. Plz update whut u got for that pick later on after the draft.

[Shanedawg]

And much like the real Canucks of history... we just miss the playoffs. 11th place instead of 14th, though! Baertschi had a great 102-point season and Jensen was 3 points shy heading into the final game. Sadly, he finished with 99 points, although 62 goals is a fantastic stat! Hopefully they can keep this pace for a while. I have under contract until 2022 right now.

I'll have to make a decision on Markstrom. He only saw action in 20 games, while Demko had 71 appearances. Thatcher had 3-rated games in the last 20, so I think next year I'll keep him to 50-60 games. Markstrom is listed at #3 on my depth chart, but the idea of having my starter being 22 and my backup (Matej Tomek) aged 20... I'd rather have him continue to develop in Utica. Somehow(?), Utica only dressed him for 17 games all season, while Skapski (my #4 goalie) dressed for 47. Maybe he gets the opportunity if I move Markstrom. My #5 goalie (Fucale) spent the season with Rockford.

[cstorring]

Another last place finish. I'll learn this game one day, seriously...

Improvement across the board though, according to the challenge stats, so that's better than nothing.

Trades this season:

Weber to PHI for T Leier and a 5th Rd Pick

- Lindgren made the team so a D became expendable. Leier played some 3rd line minutes and was decent, but nothing special of course.

T Rieder to WPG for Axel Blomqvist (UNDERAGE TRADE)

- Blomqvist was at 2 points per game in the AHL, but has atrocious defensive attributes. He put up a point per game with Utica and a 7.50 rating, so at the very least he's a very interesting study. I'm sure it won't translate to the NHL but maybe we'll see next year with a call up or two.

Bonino to NYR for Eriksson Ek and a 3rd Rd Pick

- EE was looking pretty good and of course I was tainted by how good he is in many of your games, but Matthews had basically taken the #1 C role, so having EE as 2nd line C was a good option, allowing for young decent C and Samuelsson to stay down on the 3rd line comfortably.
- Also had offers of Mason McDonald, a 1st, and a 3rd (CGY) and Yakupov and a 1st (EDM). Decided to go this route because I wanted a C that could step in right away.
- I've got some work to do to get him producing properly, but this was his first NHL season after 1 great season in the AHL.

Sbisa to NYI for Chad Krys

- Much younger D, some of my scouts see him as a 1-2 guy, had great AHL numbers at only 19 years of age. Put up 14 pts in 23 games with a 7.48 rating in Utica. I see big things for this kid, though I hope his technical attributes creep up a bit.

Conacher and Cannata to CHI for MO Roy and R Hartman

- Gave me a couple of options for lines 2 and 3 and these guys are very versatile in terms of positioning. Both were having good seasons with Chicago. Roy didn't play great for me on my third line, but my AGM thinks Hartman is my #1 RW, above Jensen...He did play well, 14 pts (5 PPP) in 22 games, 6.95 rating

Late in the season lines looked like:

Dahleck - Vatanen
Muller - Lindgren
Ouellet - Stanton
Tanev (out for a few months and came back playing horribly)

Bartschi - Matthews - Jensen
Crouse - Eriksson Ek - Hartman
Roy - Samuelsson - Trocheck
Kenins - Richard - Vey
Leier
Kassian
Szwarz

Demko - Markstrom

Hoping next year some of these guys will solidify, but I'm looking for a first pairing LD.

Utica went 61-12-3 but got knocked out in the second round.

On to the offseason!

[cstorring]

Florida gave up Werenski for Tanev and Archibald. Hopefully he grows into a #1-2 LD.

Avs won the cup over Pittsburgh in game 7.

Annnd I finally won the lottery.

[visualdarkness]

Finally got my PP back, went from slow to very fast and it exploded! Also I had Pokka accidentally taking faceoffs on my second unit for some reason, dunno for how long.
We are fighting for a playoff spot 49 games in, currently in the 11th spot but with the same points as the 8th.

My goalies were useless for a while and both Lehner and Demko dived from respectable numbers to sub .900 but is slowly climbing back up now.

Yakupov is a beast, especially on the PP. He almost gets no assists but is currently on a 47 goal pace and red hot. He also is one of the best in the league in GW. Not bad for a supposed 15-15-30 3rd liner.

Steel was a major Steal indeed for Nelson. Nelson had 7 points in his last season on he team season despite PP and top line time. Steel is a puck magician that at only 21 years old grabs the puck in the d-zone, dekes the whole team and scores at full spead.

Since getting the crazy fast Novak for my second line instead of the always crying and now non-performing Scheifele my second line can spurt past any defense in the league. They suck at defense but as long as they score more I don't care.

Hischer is developing into a nice 1st line playmaking centerman. He thrives playing with speedy wingers and is my franchise centerman.

You guys weren't kidding about Blomstrand, he performs so well in an all defense role. Together with 21-year old stud Leifvenius he carries basically all the defensive responsibility for my forwards.

Demko
Lehner

Theodore - Pokka
Sean Day - Ken Hill
Lindbohm - Andersson
Petrovic

Steel - Hischer - Lazar
Bärtschi - Novak - Yakupov
Shinkaruk - McCann - Görtz
Horvat - Leifvenius - Blomstrand
Virtanen
Grigorenko

[jesterx7769]

Gosh dammit bruins, I have stayed away from EHM now that regular season was over and I come back and........THIS IS JUST WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR IN A CHALLEGE WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO


but now I only have like 10 days to play it gah my fault

[bruins72]

Go ahead and start it. We might have to extend it a little longer. Get what you can done. Even if you don't get that far, it'll be some practice for the new rules and the new version of EHM.

[visualdarkness]

it'll be some practice for the new rules and the new version of EHM.

Boy was that part brutal for me....

[batdad]

Wow. I could have a different Stanley Cup final opponent in Season 5. Tampa IN THE SAME GAME...Lost Drouin for 4 months, and Vasilevskiy for 4 months. Mid December

[bruins72]

Ouch! That's got to hurt them!

So I'm close to finishing the regular season in season 4. I'm leading the West with the Oilers nipping at my heels. Tarasenko's scoring is down from previous seasons. With 6 games left he's sitting at 48 goals (2nd in the league). His 81 points aren't even in the top 5 in the league. I do think my scoring is a little more spread out now though. Merkley has had a good rookie season, as has Chychrun. Werenski has struggled. Thilander has been okay. Virtanen has been plugging away on the 4th line. Krieder is a 30 goal scorer with only 3rd line and PK duty! Anyhow, I hope to wrap this season up with Tarasenko leading the league in goals.

[CeeBee]

nice avatar Bruins

[bruins72]

Thanks. Fitting. Right?

[jesterx7769]

too fitting

[visualdarkness]

I hate facing the Flames, they kill us every game. Right now it's 9 straight losses to them with most of them being blowouts in the likes of 1-4, 0-7 and so on. This is despite have completely different tactics and new play players over the time.

[batdad]

That avatar made me laugh. Should make it purple, and adorn it with Hello Kitty emblems. Wonder how PD would feel if I brought that out of the closet hey B?

[bruins72]

Nah. Simple and understated with a simple message.

[Devils88]

First season is in the books. Ended better than expected. We finished with a 43-31-8 record (8th in the Conference) and made the playoffs. At the end of the season we hit a cold streak and lost 5 of our last 6 games. Also Yakupov(92Pts.), who was the league leading scorer after the 80 game mark, went dry and finished second behind Ovechkin(97 Pts.). Sven Bärtschi was 4th with 89.Pts.

At the end all new-aquisitions not named Yakupov, Lazar and to some point Despres were average at best. Especially my "new" defense corps with Gudbranson, Cowen and Despres did not provide the defense i thought i would have. I tried pretty much to shut the opposition down, even with a neutral zone trap at some point of the season, but it hasn't changed the GA by any number. We gave up 266 Goals against (3.24 per Game). that's way too much, especially when you have teams like San Jose, LA, Chicago and Anaheim in your Division or Conference. At the moment i have no idea, how i can do better on defense in season 2.

Lineup at End of Season - 2nd Line Center changed all season cause no one wanted to grab the job, til Lazar took over at the 60game mark.
Markström
Lehner

Gudbranson - Weber
Despres - Cowen
Stanton - Tanev
Sbisa

Bärtschi - Bonino - Yakupov
Conacher - Lazar - Jensen
Sekac - O'Reilly - Vey
Lowry - Burmistrov - Kassian
(Matthias - Trocheck - MacMillan)

At the end of the Season my 2nd Line and Starting Goalie Markström went so COLD, that i decided to shake things up at the start of the Playoff-series against San Jose (1st). i split up my top-line to seperate the fire power and sent Yakupov to the 2nd line. Jensen came up to the top-line. Lehner took the starting job and did really well against San Jose.
Boys did very well against a highly favored Sharks team. Series was tied at 2 when we got to OT in Game 5 (3-3). There i was INFURIATED with the ref, when he called a TRIPLE Penalty (Trocheck, Gudbranson and Lowry at the same time). Never had this before in my EHM Career.


Referee was McGeough. Wonder if i should suggest to Riz, to implement a "Tim Schoenfeld rant" option - just to criticize the refs,
SJ scored on the 5 on 3 PP. That was the turning point in the series. Game 6 was tied at 2 when Pavelski scored at 58:51 and clinched the series for the President Trophy Winners.
I'm moving to offseason, looking to improve the center position and find a way to bring my defense to life.

[bruins72]

Good luck on improving at center! That's one thing pretty much all of us have struggled with in this challenge.

[batdad]

Nah. Simple and understated with a simple message.

Such a Bruin fan. Dump, chase, hit, dump, chase, hit. Same old same old.

[bruins72]

Yeah, pretty much.

So we're in the season 4 playoffs . We beat San Jose in the first round 4-1. In the second round we got the Oilers. I was worried about facing these guys. They were nipping at our heels in the standings the whole year. We ended up taking the series 4-2. The final game of the series was a blowout! We beat them 9-2 in that game. Just about every other game in the series had been pretty close. In that 9-2 game, Chychrun had a hat trick! Bartschi had 6 points! We had to play the last two games of the series without Lazar. He's out for 10 days due to a groin strain. Horvat was called up and put in his spot. He didn't do that great in his first game but put in a good game in that last one. He had a goal and an assist and was 75% on faceoffs. I hope he keeps it up for the next round!

[batdad]

Horvat is one great game, one terrible game for me. At least in general, but somehow still has a close to 7 avg rating in his sophomore season.

Devlis--that penalty situation is brutal.

And yeah C seems to be a real problem in the game for anyone under age of 25 at game start up. Weak position. Not sure why, but there is just NOTHING out there really that makes a ton of sense for that position.

[bruins72]

Yeah, Horvat really isn't a part of my long-term plans. I'm playing him a little in the playoffs now. Once Lazar returned, I put him on the third line and he hasn't done much. He played 5 regular season games for us in season 1 (due to injuries) and these 7 (so far) playoff games are the most action he's seen in the NHL. Shinkaruk hasn't seen much action either and in my game he doesn't look very good. He projects to a third line guy.