Challenge #43 - 2003 Blackhawks Discussion Thread

[bruins72]

So who won the Cup in everyone's game?

EDIT: Penguins won in my game.

[stone169]

So who won the Cup in everyone's game?

EDIT: Penguins won in my game.

The Leafs won in mine, so right there I know something is wrong with the rosters and the saved game.

[nino33]

The Leafs won in mine, so right there I know something is wrong with the rosters and the saved game.

I'll add this bug to my list of things to report to Riz

[m0fownz0r]

I presume, I had as much trouble with my 1st pick as the rest of you. I went with Getzlaf 1 OA.

[sao.phim]

Great idea for new challenge! Haven't played EHM for few months, but this one should hook me up.

In my game also Leafs won SC - beating Flames 4-0 in the final series. They eliminated TBL(4-1), Pens (4-2) and Devils (4-0). Little curiousity, they won all games, which have reached overtime in these playoffs. Pretty dominant team with Sundin, Fedorov, Satan, Johnson, Sullivan. They are also quite strong in the crease with Joseph, Hnilicka, DiPietro.

Now heading into the draft.

[sao.phim]

2003 Draft

1. Bergeron (CHI)
2. E. Staal
3. Weber
4. Fleury
5. Richards
6. Carter
7. Eriksson
8. Burns
9. Seabrook
10. Crawford
11. Perry
12. Phaneuf
13. Callahan
15. Getzlaf
19. Sutter
20. Buff

My other picks:
22. Goligoski
31. Elliot
61. Fehr
91. Mantymaa
121. Winnik
and then some scraps...

Awards:
Art Ross - Lindros
Maurice Richard - St. Louis
Norris - Lidstrom
Vezina - Brodeur (I voted for Hasek)
Selke - Linden
Calder - Nash
Hart - Lidstrom
Conn Smyth - Joseph

Busy July 1st coming now

[Canadian Passport]

The picture in the challenge thread says Challenge #34, not Challenge #43. Not a huge deal, just pointing that out.

[stone169]

So if we sign free agents, can I assume that we'll have to create a new screenshot to show how much they are making?

[Peter_Doherty]

Okey, so pretty much done with the roster shuffle now, the turnover was pretty big - especially on D.
My first mission was to re-tool that defence to make them more mobile and better at moving the puck, no pylons allowed in my Hawks. Started by sending out some contract offers to several UFA D-men, got snubbed by all but 3 of them, Stanislav Neckar, Ken Klee and Patrick Traverse. After some deliberation i decided to go with Klee here.

Then we have the trades;


Very happy with my trades actually, only downside is that i didn't find a trade for a first pairing D-man, only found good depth guys so we'll see how that plays out. Really like how i managed to 'fix' the Center position, Drury and Green should be a solid 1-2 combo until Bergeron is ready. Was working really hard on that J-Bouw trade, wanted a creative C to complement Bergeron for the forseeable future, had a few other trades lined up with some 29-32 yo C's (Nedved was one) but wasn't happy with it, then i found Drury and managed to strike a deal. My board was outraged about the trade though, they seemed to love J-Bouw

Also completely reworked the front office, only Tretiak stayed. Added Jim Schoenfeld as my Ass. GM, Larry Robinson as my Head coach then added Dean Evason, Dave Farrish, Curtis Fraser and Ron Low as my Assistant coaches.

Overall i'm very happy with this first off season, i'm sitting at exactly $34m right now but my squad is still in camp size so it should be fine. Starting lineup prediction:

Dazé-Drury-Rosa
Sturm-Green-Cleary
Bartecko-Brown-Brylin
Guolla-Påhlsson-Korolyuk
McNeill

Phillips-Clark
Tverdovsky-Klee
Laukkanen-Spacek
Wilkie

Thomas
Snow

Keeping Hartnell and Ott in AHL to start, they might be promoted early though, we'll see.

[Aladyyn]

I'm really not sold on Bergeron, haven't had much success with these types of players... Leaning towards taking Carter at the moment. Still need more scouting though.

[Peter_Doherty]

I thought i would be alone in not taking Weber/Staal honestly

[Aladyyn]

I thought i would be alone in not taking Weber/Staal honestly

I find skating way too important in the new EHM to bother with guys as slow as Weber. Staal looks good but god, Carter looks amazing. Definitely NHL ready if anyone's looking for that kind of thing. I'm probably going to stink up the joint for one more year to try and get a proper foundational defenseman in the next draft, if I can't get Burns/Buff/Suter here. J-Bo isn't gonna cut it, not enough offense.

edit: The closer to the draft I get, the more I like Eric Staal as a fit for the team... I'll have to do some trade to really build the team around Carter, so I'll probably go with the more fun option

[Aladyyn]

So my picks ended up being:

#1 Jeff Carter
#23 Travis Zajac
#31 Sami Lepisto
#61 Eric Fehr
#91 Dan Fritsche
#121 James Thomas
#151 Tero Konttinen
#181 Stanley Hale

As a result, I'm going to be looking to change out some of our shoot-first wingers for playmaking types. Probably going to trade Dazé for a defenseman and then go from there, we'll see.

[bruins72]

The picture in the challenge thread says Challenge #34, not Challenge #43. Not a huge deal, just pointing that out.

Ugh! I can't believe I did that. My brain is fried!

I should be able to fix that without much effort.

[bruins72]

So if we sign free agents, can I assume that we'll have to create a new screenshot to show how much they are making?

Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea.

[bruins72]

I presume, I had as much trouble with my 1st pick as the rest of you. I went with Getzlaf 1 OA.

I seriously contemplated going with him. Jeff Carter looked good too but he was more of a shooter than a passer. In the end, I couldn't pass up Bergeron. It's the Bruins fan in me.

[stone169]

What to do? What to do?

Patrice Bergeron, Jay Bouwmeester, Scott Hartnell, and Steve Ott are 4 of my best young players that I can either send to back to the AHL to develop a little bit more or, in the case of Bergeron and Bouwmeester, I can send them back to junior.

On the other hand, I really don't want to tank this season. The biggest thing I do need is a backup for Thomas. Snow is horrible. I'm working hard right now to have a decent backup in place before the season starts.

And I'll probably give Bergeron and Bouwmeester their 9 game try-out and at the same time I'll make my decisions concerning Hartnell and Ott.

[bruins72]

I'm slow as usual with playing my game. Here is my draft...

1. Patrice Bergeron
20. Dustin Byfuglien
31. Travis Zajac
61. Nicklas Grossman
91. Jonas Gustavsson
121. James Thomas
151. Zoltan Christie
181. Igor Zakharov

[stone169]

Season Opener Lineup:

Daze - Pahlsson - Cleary
Sturm - Fisher - Rosa
Vesely - Bergeron - Hartnell
Guolla - Ott - Bartecko

Phillips - Dean
Tverdrovsky - Clark
Nasreddine - Westcott

Thomas
DiPietro

Bouwmeester is out with a hip flexor should be back in a few days though.

[Canadian Passport]

I presume, I had as much trouble with my 1st pick as the rest of you. I went with Getzlaf 1 OA.

I took Getzlaf too and then Byfuglien later in the first. I was really tempted to take Staal and Carter was in the mix too but I thought Getzlaf would fit my tactics better in the long run. I had no interest in Bergeron at all, watch him burn me in the playoffs later on.

[Aladyyn]

I presume, I had as much trouble with my 1st pick as the rest of you. I went with Getzlaf 1 OA.

I seriously contemplated going with him. Jeff Carter looked good too but he was more of a shooter than a passer. In the end, I couldn't pass up Bergeron. It's the Bruins fan in me.

I personally see no reason to pick Getzlaf over Staal. That speed just kills any appeal for me

[m0fownz0r]

I presume, I had as much trouble with my 1st pick as the rest of you. I went with Getzlaf 1 OA.

I seriously contemplated going with him. Jeff Carter looked good too but he was more of a shooter than a passer. In the end, I couldn't pass up Bergeron. It's the Bruins fan in me.

I personally see no reason to pick Getzlaf over Staal. That speed just kills any appeal for me

At first, I was sure I was going to pick Staal but a second look at their stats and scout reports got me thinking and in the end I went with Getzlaf.

[Aladyyn]

Funnily enough, Getzlaf fell all the way to #16 in my game, getting drafted by none other than Anaheim

[bruins72]

Funnily enough, Getzlaf fell all the way to #16 in my game, getting drafted by none other than Anaheim

Same here!

[stone169]

12 games in and Bergeron finally scored his 1st goal of the season. He also has 9 assists and he's a +7 with an average rating of 7. Yeah, I decided to keep him in the lineup. I also decided to keep Bouwmeester as well. The team lost our first two games with him out of the lineup and seem to be one of the best teams with him in the lineup, despite the fact that he really hasn't been that spectacular.

It's like having the Senators in EHM2007...Volchenkov was never really that spectacular, but every time I traded him, the team would just go downhill.