I'm new - can someone rate my trades?

[azairvine]

Hey guys,

As a long time Football Manager fan, and a Leafs tragic I been wanting to give EHM a go for a while. Got it a few weeks ago on the Steam sale and have sunk way too many hours into it. Now as you could understand, being a Leafs fan I've saved myself from a lifetime of misery by not really following hockey for a number of years. So when I started playing the game it was all a bit over my head! Hopefully someone out there can get a laugh out of the trades that I have pulled off so far in the first season, and give me some constructive criticism of where I went wrong!

START OF SEASON
Leo Komorov <> Curtis Lazar
Daniel Winnik - 3rd rd 2017 (TOR) - 3rd rd 2018 (TOR) <> Rights to Callum Booth - 2nd rd 2016 (CAR)
Brad Boyes <> 2nd rd 2016 (DAL)
Rights to Jeremy Bracco - Rights to Andrew Nielsen <> 1st rd 2017 (ANA) - 1st rd 2018 (ANA)
Rights to Martins Dzierkals - Rights to Dmytro Timashov <> 1st rd 2016 (TB)
Antoine Bibeau <> Brett Kulak
Rights to Nikita Korostelev <> Rights to Daniel Vladar
Chris Brown - 4th rd 2017 (WSH) <> Matt Frattin - 6th rd 2016 (TOR) - 6th rd 2016 (STL) - 7th rd 2016 (TOR)
PA Parenteau <> 2nd rd 2017 (ARI)
Stephane Robidas <> Austin Watson
Rights to Daniel Vladar <> Rights to Nikita Korostelev *** YES - I did just complete a reverse trade to get Korostelev back without even realising it
5th rd 2016 (ANA) - 5th rd 2016 (TOR) - 7th rd 2017 (TOR) - 7th rd 2018 (TOR) <> Chris Summers
4th rd 2016 (TOR) - 6th rd 2017 (TOR) - 6th rd 2018 (TOR) - 7th rd 2019 (TOR) <> Korbinian Holzer

JANUARY
Rights to Callum Booth - 4th rd 2017 (TOR) <> Rights to Andrew Mangiapane
Dion Phaneuf - Joffrey Lupul <> 1st rd 2016 (ANA) - 1st rd 2019 (ANA) - 1st rd 2020 (ANA) - 2nd rd 2018 (ANA)

I was thinking (without know whether it's true or not) that I would hold onto Phaneuf and Lupul until the deadline to get more for them than a midseason trade - but 3 first rd picks and a second seemed a little too good to let go.


DRAFT PICKS
So now I'm set for my rebuild, I have the following picks available:

2016
1st rd (ANA)
1st rd (PIT)
1st rd (TB)
1st rd (TOR)
2nd rd (CAR)
2nd rd (DAL)
3rd rd (NJ)

2017
1st rd (ANA)
1st rd (TOR)
2nd rd (ARI)
2nd rd (TOR)
4th rd (WSH)
5th rd (TOR)

2018
1st rd (ANA)
1st rd (TOR)
2nd rd (ANA)
2nd rd (TOR)
4th rd (TOR)
5th rd (TOR)

2019
1st rd (ANA)
1st rd (TOR)
2nd rd (TOR)
3rd rd (TOR)
4th rd (TOR)
5th rd (TOR)
6th rd (TOR)

2020
1st rd (ANA)
1st rd (TOR)
2nd rd (TOR)
3rd rd (TOR)
4th rd (TOR)
5th rd (TOR)
6th rd (TOR)
7th rd (TOR)


So I now OWN the future of the Ducks - but the Anaheim Maple Ducks have sold their soul for a championship. I hope they go bust and break up the team, I need to get value for all those picks!

I presume this is about as video-game as you get when it comes to trades - that there's no resemblance of reality here, but still I'd like to know where I went right and where I went wrong with my trades if possible. I don't rate any draft picks lower than 3rd round - I even expect they're not going to return much - so I'm happy to trade them away for established fringe players where I need them.

I plan to fill out the 3rd and 4th lines with gritty veterans, and bring in the top prospects on the 2nd line where I need to fill gaps - hopefully accelerate their potential. I'm a bit worried that I've got so many top draft picks I'm going to completely blow up the salary cap in a 5+ years with the amount of talent that will be coming in. I've been thinking about trading up to get some higher picks come draft time - but I'm not sure how many low 1st round picks you'd need to trade for a top 5 pick.

So in summary I'm loving the 1st rd picks I've got, but I'm worried that they're all going to be late-rd picks. Even the Leafs are outplaying expectations (of 30th preseason) and are 10th in conference and 20th overall. Hopefully the recent trade of Phaneuf (who was stinking up the joint) and Lupul (who was not) will get me a little higher in the draft. I go out to win every game, but I'm not too bothered when we lose

[philou21]

I can't find it right now but we are supposed to have a thread for trades. With the search option you should be able to find it. Also, we have the "Ehm EA: What team are you?" thread if you want to talk about your team.

Also welcome to TBL!

Also, that Phaneuf, Lupul trade is so unrealistic my eyes hurt!

[azairvine]

Thanks mate!

The Ducks are going for Lord Stanley! Phaneuf and Lupul both went straight to their respective top lines. Fine with me, I've got Arcobello scoring a PPG and I need to drop in the standings a bit anyway!

[cm_spitfire]

Just laughing at the 1st round picks you have from Anaheim! '16, '17, '18, '19 & '20! That's brilliant!

[CJ]

Just laughing at the 1st round picks you have from Anaheim! '16, '17, '18, '19 & '20! That's brilliant!

That's not brilliant, that's pure evil!

Also, that Phaneuf, Lupul trade is so unrealistic my eyes hurt!

Should never be possible in a game like this. Maybe it should be checked out/reported that these kinda trades are possible!?

[philou21]

I dunno CJ. That always depends on how high the value of the players is. I guess if they were younger and still hot prospects the trade would make sense but knowing how those two are right now, it's far from been realistic!

[azairvine]

A bit of an update. I shifted most of those ANA picks for Edmonton's 1st rd pick and ended up with the 3rd pick in the lottery where I went for Matthew Tkachuk (mainly cuz his old man was so awesome back in the day).

Anaheim keep ofering me up stupid trades, so I take them. Also, CBJ are getting on that bandwagon a bit when I traded my 1st rd pick and TB's 1st rd pick this year for CBJ's 1st rd picks 2017-2020! I'm a bit concerned late season they might make the push for the playoffs, but I'm currently 1st overall, and the Lightning aren't far behind.

I think if I can turn the Leafs into an NHL leading team within 2 seasons having never played this game before, it definitely needs some investigation! My lines are:

Forwards
JVR - Stamkos (we all know he's coming to TO!) - Nylander
Tkachuk - Kadri - Lazar
Klinkammer - Wennberg - Arcobello
Tanguay - Wennberg - Peluso

Defense
Reilly - Marincin
Kulak - Gardiner
McCabe (I pretend he's B-Mac!) - Schenn

Goalies
Neuvirth (got him for 2 x 4th rd and 2 x 5th rd picks and a dud prospect)
Bernier

Reimer was traded to........the Ducks for a 1st rd pick


If we're talking about tinkering with the game to make trades more legitimate - I'd like to point out some of the plays I see on the ice. Defensemen getting the puck near their own net and firing it into the corner boards so the offense can pick up the puck and score? I see that way too often!

Still, it's a bloody addictive game - I think I've sunk over 4 days of game play into it already....

[azairvine]

I've been worried about William Nylander and signing a contract extension. On the top line he's scoring at a point per game, and declined to negotiate at the trade deadline - so I simmed through to the end of the season just to see what would happen. I sure as hell didn't want all my time invested in him end up with me losing him in FA. I really have very little idea how the FA market in NHL works, but I figured being a RFA I might still have a shot at keeping him.

End of the season, he wants 7.5m and my board will only allow 2.5m - so I sim through to after his contract expires - and I find that I can offer him up to 6.5m per, but he only wants 2.5m per. What's with that?! Is it best to let ALL RFA contracts expire and hope someone doesn't put out a ridiculous offer sheet for them? I'm a little confused.

There was a plethora of guys who went to FA - including Bernier who refused to resign. John Gibson was let walk by the Ducks, and Kuznetsov refused to resign with the Caps. He accepted my offer sheet and for compensation I'm due to give up 2 first rounders, a 2nd and a 3rd. I'm debating whether that's a good deal or not - but when one of those first rounders is going to be a really late pick (and maybe the 2nd if the Jackets get their Adam Oates together) then it looks like a pretty good deal!

[Rosenvold]

It was surely very risky to let Nylander out as an RFA, but good to hear that it worked out!

I managed to pick up Jamie Benn as a UFA with the Leafs - what a great player.

You should really consider bringing up Mitch Marner - he is doing wonders for me.

Another tip is Philip Larsen. You can get his trade rights relatively cheap and he is a very good offensive D-man who will not expect large wages. He is on my 1st D-line alongside Morgan Reilly and they are doing wonders.

[philou21]

Just a heads up that we have this thread http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =3&t=13587 if you guys want to share your team stories with the others.