Challenge 42 - 98 TB Lightning - Discussion Thread

[Peter_Doherty]

Okey, so first season is a wrap. Started out terribly and barely won games at all, i didn't really adjust my tactics though because i just wanted to get through the season more or less. Halfway through Puppa got back and we actually started winning a few games here and there, even posted a winning record in Q3 (12 Wins i think, might have been 11) which i'm happy about. Scoring was an issue all season though which shows in the fact that Langkow was my best scorer with 26+28.

My goal with the off season was to make this team younger, faster and more skilled and i feel like i succeeded pretty well with that. I'm very happy with the Cross for Poti trade and the Kelly for Savard trade. These are my trades:





At the draft i purposely got quite a few overagers since i needed depth on the team and in AHL. This is my draft:



Still think i might need to make a few more trades to fix some depth issues but overall i'm happy with this rebuild, the team is much faster and much more skilled now.
A _VERY_ preliminary lineup for 99/00 season:

Tucker-Langkow-Renberg
Zamuner-Lecavalier/Savard-Daigle
Schaefer-Bonk-Andersson
Påhlsson-York-Selivanov

Poti-Kubina
Dykhuis-Lydman
Galanov-Wilkie

Puppa-Schwab

As i said, this is very preliminary, especially on F. Still unsure how to handle Vinny, Richards and Savard. I also drafted Heatley who i'm not completely sure how to handle either, we'll see I really like my depth at C and a few of them can play wing, even still i'm not super happy with my depth wingers.

[bede420]

The regular season is over, we finish 7th and face Ottawa in the first round.. They have Yashin, Alfie, Prospal, Hossa as their top players..
And once again, we are a highest scoring team and 6th most conceling team.. Art Ross goes to Mikael Renberg (94p) and runner up in scoring (46g). Darcy Tucker our second best scorer with (42g), and Lecavalier makes 10p more than in his rookie season and reaches (82p).

Edit: It didnt go well.. 1-4 to Ottawa, and we lost the biggest game, 10-3.. Maybe need some tweaks on the defence.

Edit 2: Going into the third season with a new keeper setup, Wilkinson & Bierk. Feels it doesnt matter who i have in goal.. Also Richards made a big jump, and is ranked my number 2 center, behind Savard.. My problem is were to play all my centers, maybe trade Savard for a winger or a keeper?

[Asher413]

My regular season was a terrible one- finishing 3rd from the bottom (even the Jets beat me). The only three goals were click through as fast as possible, keep the waiver eligible guys up to hopefully make them more trade attractive and resign everyone so they can be traded.

Goaltending:

Puppa owned the net. He ended up with 40 games, a 90.2% and has made my long term planning hard: He's no all star- but I think he'll do the job unless one pops open in the next two seasons or so. He is old and may be traded if the right deal appears.
Ranford was terrible, outplayed by Schwab. Because Ranford only had 28 games, he refused to resign as he thinks his 85.8% was worth a starting role. Schwab stayed up because Ranford was terrible, received 15 games at 86.4%. He may be traded if the right deal pops up as he and Wilkinson have similar attributes. Wilkson owned Cleveland, 90%, 3 shutouts and a 2.61 GAA- enough to be a 20 game backup in TB next season (or to trade maybe).

Defense:
It was Kubina, and everyone else. No one had decent stats outside of Kubina, but Cross, Dykhuis and Cullimore showed enough to maybe be part of the team until I can get better. The rest will (hopefully) be packaged for better assets. Mara doesn't look to be ready for next season, so no real prospect help on the way.

Forwards:
Vinny and Richards developed well in the juniors. Those two are the only ones written in pen. Pretty much everyone else was 20-40 points, 2nd line support/bottom 6 kind of guys. Zaumner, Zazaov, Anderson, Kelly, Langkow and Delisle right now are penciled in for long term use, but hardly untouchable. The rest will be packaged as fast as possible. Like on the blue line I need a couple of impact guys to bring up these role players (and a real PK guy! Zamuner couldn't man both PP and PK, and needed help when on the PK)

Around the league:

CBJ, WPG and MIN had 20 player rosters around Thanksgiving (American), Jan-4 and Feb-1. I can't remember which was which. Mogilny lead the league in points, Drury lead all rookies. The Beezer was clearly the #3 goalie behind Roy/Brodeur. One of my favorites the Net Detective went down to Providence. Looks like the only Vezina winner in history to wash out so fast in this game as well as real life.

Goals for the offseason:

Really just to turn over talent. Need top talent in pretty much every position, so it will be a game of upgrade when I can for cheap (waiting for guys to be out of favor or on the block). Try to turn two role players into top line or 2nd line guys, hopefully draft well (go lottery!), and start to build the team the way I like it.

[cecede123]

I'll give a try to this challenge ! Might be tough considering I'm born in 1997, and didn't saw plenty of those players actually play !!!!

[MWE]

Im at 60 games at the moment will upload my stats for that when I get home from work

The mrs is going to watch Beyoncé tonight at Old Trafford so should be able to get a solid 6 hours of gameplay in

[Peter_Doherty]

I'm confused, did i miss something about updated rules? I see people upload screenshots from the 'transaction' screen instead of the 'trade' screen.

[m0fownz0r]

I just qualified for the playoff in the 82nd game of the season, after dropping out of the 8th by losing my 81st game

Nabokov, even though somewhat inconsistent, is still better than Puppa. I missed on Lundquist in the draft since I got the 4th pick 2years in a row and I wasn't able to trade for Luongo who was my top choice. (he was even rated 3 stars for a brief period)

JP Dumont proved to be a solid acquisition, leading the way with 32 goals.

Ryan Malone was another surprise. He was brought up early in the season because of injuries. He took off in his first game with a goal and assist, finishing the season with 15g 37a and with the 3rd best rating amoung the team.

The defense is largely unimpressive. Not a singel Dman above 7.0 AvR. However, they are all young, aside from Cory Cross.

Lecavailer had 66 pts, most on the team, but his rating is only 6.8.

I fear now that I have sifled the development of most, if not all, my rookies, by getting rid of all the experienced vets. I think that by icing such a young team, I won't be able to get the most of my players. Only a handfull appear to be developing properly. Hopefully, I'm wrong and they'll get better with age.

Let's see what happens in the post season!!!!

Edit: We beat the Maple Leafs in the 1st round on the back of several brilliant performances by Nabokov who was rocking a .938 Save%.

We got elliminated by the Capitals in the 2nd round. Even though F.Potvin was doing very poorly (below .890), so was Nabokov. However, we started him in all 4 games and pulled him in the last two.

[bruins72]

I'm confused, did i miss something about updated rules? I see people upload screenshots from the 'transaction' screen instead of the 'trade' screen.

It's not exactly the right screen but it's close enough if it includes the actual trades. It's just much simpler if people include the trades screen.

[bruins72]

So I had my first draft. I didn't do as well as I had wished. Some guys got scooped up before I could grab them. I may have missed out on someone better but I really wanted to make sure I got a goalie for the future. I used my 2nd pick (3rd round) to land one. It may have been a mistake.

Rd1 4th Henrik Zetterberg
Rd3 64th Illya Bryzgalov
Rd5 124th Ryan Malone
Rd6 179th Samuel Pahlsson
Rd7 184th Mark Streit

I had planned for Zetterberg to be my 2nd line LW for this season but his technical attributes just aren't there yet. He's got the physical and mental attributes but I think he just might need a season or two in the minors first. I've got Bryzgalov agreed to a contract but he can't come until next spring. I left Malone in college for this season. Pahlsson and Streit are both signed and on my NHL roster. They've had some struggles but really, the whole team has.

So I've made a few trades, one or two (I can't remember now) were even celebrated as "steals". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get everyone I wanted to agree to stay with the team so I could use them as trade bait. I had a lot of guys walk away for nothing. Ranford, Zamuner, Hogue, Andersson, and a bunch of minor leaguers. So my trade assets are very limited! This is what I was able to pull off before the start of the season...

Wendel Clark to the Blackhawks for JP Dumont and a 3rd rounder in 2000
Stephan Richer to the Panthers for Oleg Kvasha
Drew Bannister and Jason Bonsignore to the Canucks for Matt Cooke (yes, I feel dirty for that)

I wish I could have gotten more for Clark and Richer but their value was lowered because of their contracts. Due to the new patch, players being overpaid de-values them in trades. It makes sense. I consider it an improvement to the game. Dumont and Kvasha have fit nicely into my top six. Cooke is on my third line.

Then less than a month into the season, I saw some news of the Bruins struggling and one news item singling out Kyle McLaren. So I offered the Bruins a deal for him

Jassen Cullimore to the Bruins for Kyle McLaren

The board and the fans celebrated this one. McLaren is valued as one of my best players now.

My team is still struggling now though. We're one position higher in the standings at this point than we were last season. Renberg's production has really dropped off. I guess he really clicked with Janney. Neither Langkow nor Lecavalier have stood out as a clear first line center yet. Maybe it's just a matter of finding the right tactics?

My lines...

Tucker - Langkow - Dumont (recently moved up)
Kvasha - Lecavalier - Renberg (recently moved down)
Cooke - Pahlsson - Selivanov
Nazarov - Petrovicky - McCarthy

McLaren - Kubina
Dkyhuis - Sykora
Cross - Streit

Puppa - Schwab

I've been unsuccessful in attempts to land a new goalie. I'd also really like to find a replacement for Selivanov.

[CJ]

Jassen Cullimore to the Bruins for Kyle McLaren

The board and the fans celebrated this one. McLaren is valued as one of my best players now.

Wow, that was a steal!

[Peter_Doherty]

Nice trade for McLaren, really rough to lose Zamuner though, he's really good for me.

[MWE]

Just finished my first season

finished 13th in the east thought I did ok with what I had alot of players wouldn't sign new deals so alot of them I have released a few were claimed off waivers

just getting towards june now so will be trading soon hoping to pick a few up

[MWE]

Jassen Cullimore to the Bruins for Kyle McLaren

The board and the fans celebrated this one. McLaren is valued as one of my best players now.

Wow, that was a steal!

Cullimore wouldnt sign a new deal for me so I released him after the last game of the season

[bruins72]

You still had time to re-sign him. Why both releasing him? He'll just leave on his own on July 1st if you don't re-sign him.

[Peter_Doherty]

Made a few more trades to adress depth (AHL team doesn't sign players it seems, so depth was very needed) at F. First i sent Sykora to Ducks for Davidsson then i made two deals each with Sharks and Red Wings, from the Sharks i got Samuelsson, Milne and Myhres for Betik, Kos and a 7th. From Wings i got Warriner, Kinney and Suursoo for a 3rd and Larocque. Warriner is the only player from these trades that will start in the NHL.

My confirmed lineup to start the season:
Tucker-Savard-Renberg
Zamuner-Lecavalier-Daigle
Bonk-Langkow-Selivanov
Warriner-York-Andersson

Poti-Kubina
Lydman-Dykhuis
Galanov-Wilkie

Puppa-Schwab

I feel pretty good about this team for now, we'll see how long that feeling stays true

Edit: Funny thing i just noticed, i don't have a single right handed forward Samuelsson is the only RH F even close to NHL, might have overlooked something when i traded, oh well

[CJ]

As this is the place where everyone plays this DB. I have a quetion for the mass.
Can you report to me what happens to Mario Lemieux in the future, will he retire or continue to play (I think that should be around year 2000)?

No idea if it's determined already for everyone as you have the same "save" what Mario's fate will be!?

[Peter_Doherty]

He's already quit for me, i'm in October 99.

[bruins72]

I can't recall exactly when it happened but I want to say it happened in season 1, maybe in the off-season though? He's definitely retired already and I'm about 30 games into season 2.

[MWE]

I drafted

Tim Connolly
Sean Avery
Joel Ward
Alexandre Burrows
and Josef Boumedienne

[MWE]

You still had time to re-sign him. Why both releasing him? He'll just leave on his own on July 1st if you don't re-sign him.

I just like releasing players if they wont re-sign

[Primis]

As this is the place where everyone plays this DB. I have a quetion for the mass.
Can you report to me what happens to Mario Lemieux in the future, will he retire or continue to play (I think that should be around year 2000)?

No idea if it's determined already for everyone as you have the same "save" what Mario's fate will be!?

He retired midway through the first season for me.

[ClassicSwarley]

Can you report to me what happens to Mario Lemieux in the future, will he retire or continue to play (I think that should be around year 2000)?

I have played two saves with this DB(Challenge and with the Red Wings) and he retired 1st season, around January, for both of them.

[MWE]

Swapped Langkow and Ciccone for Manny Fernandez and traded Bryan Berard for a second and a third. Seems to have done me ok as i've gone 10-8-2 at the beginning of the second season.

[Asher413]

As this is the place where everyone plays this DB. I have a quetion for the mass.
Can you report to me what happens to Mario Lemieux in the future, will he retire or continue to play (I think that should be around year 2000)?

No idea if it's determined already for everyone as you have the same "save" what Mario's fate will be!?

Last third of the first season- I want to say March '99.

[CJ]

Intersting. I have seen him continue his NHL career in 2000. And did GREAT numbers with the Penguins. Seems like it's unlikely though. And he'll lose a lot of attributes while injured also.
I think I should reduce his injury (but that's not realistic) so we can get him to play in more "saves"?! What do you think?
_____________________________________-

A few of you draft Avery. I would never touch that that piece of garbage. Always hated him.

And I heard today in the "news" that he's walking around messing with the homeless (making fun of them and filming/recording the situation). REALLY mean person off the ice also it seems. *sorry this is off-topic*