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

[Grentroz]

What did you do with Nielsen's contract? It was a mind boggling move for me to trade for him and his big contract... In all my Red Wings saves, Nielsen is the first to go out of the door for picks...

Kept him in the line-up for the first season. But for the second, he was a replacement for injuries. Now, I wanna trade him...anywhere honestly...for anything. If I can't get rid of him by the first game of the third season, I'll waiver him to send him down to the AHL. If I lose him, meh, ain't care. But yeah, he taught me one good darn lesson : Check the darn contracts before trading for someone

EDIT rather than make a new post :

I ended up sending Nielsen to Laval. 5 millions in the AHL. Great management here!!

Not much happened in the summer. Signer Jordan Eberle (He's my favorite player) and currently trying to sign Tyler Seguin. I think I made over 20 offers to him during the summer. Kinda surprised he hasn't simply banned me from contacting him
Otherwise, I got rid of Schlemko and Alzner for prospects and draft picks.

Drafted :
Ryan Suzuki (1st round, 17th total - Center)
Jack Hale (3rd round, 79th total - RW)
Linus Nassen (4th round, 110th total - Forward)
Milos Koblisek (6th round, 162nd total - Center - Traded his rights to NJ)
Andrei Pavlenko (7th round, 203rd total - RW)

Time to see where this 3rd season will lead me

Are you the only team who is in play with Seguin? I got him for 7.5M a year with a 7 year contract in early September 2019 (a two months long negotiation). He was asking for 10M a year initially but I was able to bargain it down with a consistent and constant effort. Many big name free agents were left unsigned because they are asking more than what the AI teams can afford... I also grabbed Blake Wheeler at 5M a year on a one year deal as well. AI teams will come into play in later September/early October and make offers to these free agents. Just be mindful about that.

Tampa Bay was also in the race for Seguin. We both offered 1 year contract. Mine was at 6.2 and TB was at 5.9...and he went with them

There aren't any interesting forwards available in the FA, so I'm gonna stick to what I got now

[philou21]

My 4th season with MTL is about to start. Still ranked last in the pre-season ranking....

On the bright side, alot of new blood has made the team. I have four rookies in the line-up. Boqvist, Newhook, Ikonen and Wise.

So here's the line-up:

Drouin-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Zadina-Wise-Marchesseault
Newhook-Danault-Lekhonen
Deslauriers-Froese-Ikonen

Girard-Weber
Alzner-Boqvist
Mete-Jerabek

Lindgren
Johnson

To replace Montoya who retired, I signed Chad Johnson to a one year deal. There was alot of good goaltenders in the UFA market but I still hope that I can raise my own goalie from the draft. Langford during the summer has shown a great progression despite not player for a whole year so maybe he'll become something. I won't lie though, I'm keeping an eye on the good prospects around the league to maybe realise a trade if I can. During the summer I pushed hard towards Carolina for Nedeljkovic since they keep letting him in the AHL but no, they really don't want to trade him, which is really annoying. What a wasted of talent.

[uknownick]

My 4th season with MTL is about to start. Still ranked last in the pre-season ranking....

On the bright side, alot of new blood has made the team. I have four rookies in the line-up. Boqvist, Newhook, Ikonen and Wise.

So here's the line-up:

Drouin-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Zadina-Wise-Marchesseault
Newhook-Danault-Lekhonen
Deslauriers-Froese-Ikonen

Girard-Weber
Alzner-Boqvist
Mete-Jerabek

Lindgren
Johnson

To replace Montoya who retired, I signed Chad Johnson to a one year deal. There was alot of good goaltenders in the UFA market but I still hope that I can raise my own goalie from the draft. Langford during the summer has shown a great progression despite not player for a whole year so maybe he'll become something. I won't lie though, I'm keeping an eye on the good prospects around the league to maybe realise a trade if I can. During the summer I pushed hard towards Carolina for Nedeljkovic since they keep letting him in the AHL but no, they really don't want to trade him, which is really annoying. What a wasted of talent.

Jordan Binnington of the Blues (had 187PA in one of my saves), Juuse Saros of Nashville, John Gillies of Flames, Korpisalo of the Blue Jackets are not bad options. There are also three Russians: Samsonov of Capitals, Sorokin of Islanders, and the Russian goalie of Rangers (playing in the KHL). They all have great potentials (PA between 140 to 190 depending on luck and randomness). But the best of the best young goalies are definitely Vasy and Murray.

I think Nedeljkovic has very high potential but his mentals are not too good...

Is Jake Wise the answer for the second line center spot? Do you think you can train Drouin to become a first line center like Seguin? Then you can move Zadina to first line to play with Drouin and drop Galchenyuk to be the second line center?

[philou21]

I had a deal with Saaros...until I realised that he wanted to stay in Finland instead of playing in North America.

So far Wise is doing good but I never make my rookies play first line time at their first NHL season. It's always second or third line time with quality PP time. I'll never train Drouin to be a center. I prefer him where he is. If Wise keeps developping well there's no doubt that Galchenyuk will drop. Even Drouin's spot is unsure depanding on how well the others will do....I planned to build around them but maybe I will not need them anymore.

[SadSleeper]

Hi Guys,

Can you please let me know which NHL team I should manage.
I am huge hockey fun withoun any favourite team but I always start play one season with a team and then it looks I do not have mood to play?
Can you please let me know which team should I choose not to stop playing?

[Ukko]

I suggest a Montreal/Ottawa/Buffalo/NYRangers rebuild !

Also, Vegas must be fun to play with !

[SadSleeper]

I started all four already and did not get into season 2.
Maybe I am missing inspiration..I do not know..

[philou21]

Man Gallagher is asking a 6.750 millions salary for his next contract is he crazy?!? For him I wouldn't go over 5.5 millions but he seems really stubborn. Seems like I'll need to trade him at the dead line. That's too bad.

[uknownick]

Man Gallagher is asking a 6.750 millions salary for his next contract is he crazy?!? For him I wouldn't go over 5.5 millions but he seems really stubborn. Seems like I'll need to trade him at the dead line. That's too bad.

~7M is how much I will pay my second line center... Gallagher is a great PP and PK specialist but he is probably worth about 5.5 - 6 at max. I am sure you can find some replacement at half of that price. Maybe you can see there is any young prospect you can trade him for. I assume his trade value might be at 4 stars. You can make something happen there. Man, your goalie sucks... really need upgrades.

[philou21]

Man Gallagher is asking a 6.750 millions salary for his next contract is he crazy?!? For him I wouldn't go over 5.5 millions but he seems really stubborn. Seems like I'll need to trade him at the dead line. That's too bad.

~7M is how much I will pay my second line center... Gallagher is a great PP and PK specialist but he is probably worth about 5.5 - 6 at max. I am sure you can find some replacement at half of that price. Maybe you can see there is any young prospect you can trade him for. I assume his trade value might be at 4 stars. You can make something happen there. Man, your goalie sucks... really need upgrades.

Like I said my goal with this save is to build by the draft. With Langford in the AHL developing well I might not need to trade for a goalie. I'll just need to wait another year or two for a good starter. I'll see what team are interested in him and if one has a good goalie prospect, I might take my chances!

I'm currently sitting 4th in the east right now so even if my goalies are average the team is doing the job.

[uknownick]

Man Gallagher is asking a 6.750 millions salary for his next contract is he crazy?!? For him I wouldn't go over 5.5 millions but he seems really stubborn. Seems like I'll need to trade him at the dead line. That's too bad.

~7M is how much I will pay my second line center... Gallagher is a great PP and PK specialist but he is probably worth about 5.5 - 6 at max. I am sure you can find some replacement at half of that price. Maybe you can see there is any young prospect you can trade him for. I assume his trade value might be at 4 stars. You can make something happen there. Man, your goalie sucks... really need upgrades.

Like I said my goal with this save is to build by the draft. With Langford in the AHL developing well I might not need to trade for a goalie. I'll just need to wait another year or two for a good starter. I'll see what team are interested in him and if one has a good goalie prospect, I might take my chances!

I'm currently sitting 4th in the east right now so even if my goalies are average the team is doing the job.

I am starting a new save with Montreal and might actually keep Carey Price. His contract might burn me in a few years but I think I can have him for 4-5 productive seasons.

[philou21]

Fourth season with Mtl is over and we made it back to the playoffs! We lost in the first round against the Maple Leafs but it's like I was expecting the team to go very far.

We finished with a record of 43-31-8 good for 94 pts and the 8th spot in the east. Our playoffs appearance was decided at the last game of the season with a defeat of Detroit and a win for us. With who we were fighting for the last spot since february. So it was a close call!

Here are the players stats for the season:


As you can see, my line of Zadina-Wise-Marchessault had alot of success! With a bit of luck I hope Wise can clinch the Calder. Boqvist also had a good first NHL season. I wasn't sure if I would let him stay with us because of his bad defensive stats but he did really well! On the other, my first line was very disappointing this year. I dunno if it's because I reduce their ice-time and change the team tactics a bit but they struggled alot. Both Drouin and Galchenyuk are a good -20 pts from last season and Lekhonen is a good -35-40 pts down! Anyway Lekhonen's futur is very uncertain with us with all the prospects taking more places.

Gallagher got traded at the deadline since he never wanted to sign with me. I gave Gallagher, a second round pick and the right to Ryan Poehling to the Rangers for their first round pick in 2021, which had a good chance of becoming the 1st overall. Anyway the draft looks weak but still, it's a nice opportunity.

So next season is going to be interesting! I've got two nice prospects coming from Europe in june that could probably have a spot right away with the team plus two defensemen playing in the OHL that will probably have a spot in the team too and on top of that Whalstrom just burned the AHL and will probably come up next season. I will have by far the youngest team in the NHL for sure.

[Grentroz]

3rd season with Montreal is now over

We had a much much better season, finishing 4th in the Eastern confenrence!

Some stats :

Top points : Drouin at 80, Galchenyuk at 71 and Gallager/Nugent-Hopkins both at 66. I really more offense
Goalies : Price had a 37-18-5 record with a 0.920% and a 2.36 GAA. Not bad...but I need more defense it seems

I was hired for Deutshland cup and won that. Went to World Juniors and we finished 3rd and was promptly fire

Made no trades and no free agent signing throughout the year.

In the playoff, we got demolished by Buffalo in 4 games. Doesn't help that Price thought getting injured on the last game of the season was a good idea Lindgren, Booth and Fucale never managed to do anything. Claude Julien didn't seem to understand that his job was on the line and got the boot after the season. Guy Boucher was hired in his place.

Meanwhile, the Cup was won by Washington who had a 14 wins streaks. They faced off Winnipeg (Won against them in 4). Winnipeg had a 12-0 record before the finals.

Tried to snag the 1st draft choice from LA....but the cost was too high. I'm gonna hope to snag Lafrenière a bit later in his carreer.

Onward to the draft and Free agency !!

[Jetstone]

I was hired for Deutshland cup and won that. Went to World Juniors and we finished 3rd and was promptly fire

Yeah, WJC GMs are immediately released from their teams once the tournament is done. Just a fyi.

[uknownick]

3rd season with Montreal is now over

We had a much much better season, finishing 4th in the Eastern confenrence!

Some stats :

Top points : Drouin at 80, Galchenyuk at 71 and Gallager/Nugent-Hopkins both at 66. I really more offense
Goalies : Price had a 37-18-5 record with a 0.920% and a 2.36 GAA. Not bad...but I need more defense it seems

I was hired for Deutshland cup and won that. Went to World Juniors and we finished 3rd and was promptly fire

Made no trades and no free agent signing throughout the year.

In the playoff, we got demolished by Buffalo in 4 games. Doesn't help that Price thought getting injured on the last game of the season was a good idea Lindgren, Booth and Fucale never managed to do anything. Claude Julien didn't seem to understand that his job was on the line and got the boot after the season. Guy Boucher was hired in his place.

Meanwhile, the Cup was won by Washington who had a 14 wins streaks. They faced off Winnipeg (Won against them in 4). Winnipeg had a 12-0 record before the finals.

Tried to snag the 1st draft choice from LA....but the cost was too high. I'm gonna hope to snag Lafrenière a bit later in his carreer.

Onward to the draft and Free agency !!

It is almost impossible to get a first overall pick from the AI. I did it once by offering Nyqvist and FOUR 1st round picks for the 1st overall in the 2018 draft from Vegas. It is actually cheaper to trade for the recently drafted players (during or right after the draft). I think you can try offering a four star player (four dot in trade value) and a 1st round pick to get the conversation going. When players are just drafted, their trade value starts at 4 star or 4 dots. I was able to get Svechnikov (3rd overall) for Nyqvist (you can tell I really like trading him) and a 1st round pick from Hurricanes.

[uknownick]

Fourth season with Mtl is over and we made it back to the playoffs! We lost in the first round against the Maple Leafs but it's like I was expecting the team to go very far.

We finished with a record of 43-31-8 good for 94 pts and the 8th spot in the east. Our playoffs appearance was decided at the last game of the season with a defeat of Detroit and a win for us. With who we were fighting for the last spot since february. So it was a close call!

Here are the players stats for the season:


As you can see, my line of Zadina-Wise-Marchessault had alot of success! With a bit of luck I hope Wise can clinch the Calder. Boqvist also had a good first NHL season. I wasn't sure if I would let him stay with us because of his bad defensive stats but he did really well! On the other, my first line was very disappointing this year. I dunno if it's because I reduce their ice-time and change the team tactics a bit but they struggled alot. Both Drouin and Galchenyuk are a good -20 pts from last season and Lekhonen is a good -35-40 pts down! Anyway Lekhonen's futur is very uncertain with us with all the prospects taking more places.

Gallagher got traded at the deadline since he never wanted to sign with me. I gave Gallagher, a second round pick and the right to Ryan Poehling to the Rangers for their first round pick in 2021, which had a good chance of becoming the 1st overall. Anyway the draft looks weak but still, it's a nice opportunity.

So next season is going to be interesting! I've got two nice prospects coming from Europe in june that could probably have a spot right away with the team plus two defensemen playing in the OHL that will probably have a spot in the team too and on top of that Whalstrom just burned the AHL and will probably come up next season. I will have by far the youngest team in the NHL for sure.

How did your goalies do? What are their stats? With Boqvist, maybe you can try playing him as a winger? I think Lekhonen's PA is probably not that high, maybe 140 to 150.

[philou21]

Goalies were still mediocre. Boqvist will stay in defense, he did very well! Lekhonen never improved honestly. I'm a bit disappointed but at least I have plenty of guys to replace. Maybe I'll try to trade him or simply end his contract and let him go.

[uknownick]

Goalies were still mediocre. Boqvist will stay in defense, he did very well! Lekhonen never improved honestly. I'm a bit disappointed but at least I have plenty of guys to replace. Maybe I'll try to trade him or simply end his contract and let him go.

Boqvist has a 15 in +/- and it is not that bad. His speed might make up some of the defense flaws/weakness.

Good goalies are hard to come by. It also takes them longer to develop and mature. I usually try to get a good potential starting goalie in year 1 or 2. I don't know if you want to draft a goalie and develop him for 5-6 years...

[Shindigs]

The most efficient way to try and get a top 3 draft pick is to do what I did in the Jets save earlier, you look at all teams at the start of the season and then trade for the 1st round picks of 2-3 teams that you know will finish near the bottom based on their rosters; Since the AI doesn't know they will suck you'll get them on the cheap. The way the lottery works you're quite likely to end up with multiple very high picks. If you really, really need the 1st overall and don't luck out in the lottery you can trade down one of your high (but not #1) picks for a boatload of 1st round picks from another AI team and then turn around and use some of those 1st round picks and whichever your highest 1st round pick is for the 1st overall and still end up with a net gain of 1st round picks while also picking at #1. It's really gamey but it works. There's a reason you're not allowed to trade for 1st round picks in challenge saves.

On another note Lafreniere has been a bust in every single save I've done where he went 1st overall, just putting that out there. He starts with so much reputation for his age that scouts will overvalue him immensely both at the ISS level and at team levels.

[Grentroz]

Time to start the 4th season!

Major acquisition!! Taylor Hall from the FA. Seguin was also available, but he went to Edmonton for 10.5 millions per years for 7 years...
Also got Shea Theodore in a trade with Vegas

Lastly, Ikonen got himself a spot on the line-up at 21 y/o. He'll stick to the 3rd line unless I have an injury on the top 2 lines. Take it slowly with him.

Hopefully we'll have a good year. I feel much more confident with my current line-up than the ones I had in the first 3 seasons. Will I win a Cup faster than Philou?

Quick Edit : Got the NHL preview. Them journalists are placing me in 30 outta 31 teams. Time to prove them wrong. CHAAAAAAAARGE *smacks in the window*

[uknownick]

Time to start the 4th season!

Major acquisition!! Taylor Hall from the FA. Seguin was also available, but he went to Edmonton for 10.5 millions per years for 7 years...
Also got Shea Theodore in a trade with Vegas

Lastly, Ikonen got himself a spot on the line-up at 21 y/o. He'll stick to the 3rd line unless I have an injury on the top 2 lines. Take it slowly with him.

Hopefully we'll have a good year. I feel much more confident with my current line-up than the ones I had in the first 3 seasons. Will I win a Cup faster than Philou?

Quick Edit : Got the NHL preview. Them journalists are placing me in 30 outta 31 teams. Time to prove them wrong. CHAAAAAAAARGE *smacks in the window*

Great offseason! I guess it will be difficult to fit both Hall and Seguin into your team with their salaries. Hall is not a bad pickup at all (might win you some first overall draft picks in the next few seasons ).

NHL preview always put my team on the bottom of the league even after I won two cups in a row. Are these predictions based on player reputations?

[uknownick]

The most efficient way to try and get a top 3 draft pick is to do what I did in the Jets save earlier, you look at all teams at the start of the season and then trade for the 1st round picks of 2-3 teams that you know will finish near the bottom based on their rosters; Since the AI doesn't know they will suck you'll get them on the cheap. The way the lottery works you're quite likely to end up with multiple very high picks. If you really, really need the 1st overall and don't luck out in the lottery you can trade down one of your high (but not #1) picks for a boatload of 1st round picks from another AI team and then turn around and use some of those 1st round picks and whichever your highest 1st round pick is for the 1st overall and still end up with a net gain of 1st round picks while also picking at #1. It's really gamey but it works. There's a reason you're not allowed to trade for 1st round picks in challenge saves.

On another note Lafreniere has been a bust in every single save I've done where he went 1st overall, just putting that out there. He starts with so much reputation for his age that scouts will overvalue him immensely both at the ISS level and at team levels.

The way how PA works in this game determines a player's future when a new save is created. It is likely Lafreniere did not have very high PA in those saves. Also, I think his starting anticipation/hockey IQ is very low (6 or 8) . That might affect his performance big time (based on your scouting tips)? I really wish players can outgrow their PA or receive a boost to their PA if they perform really well (In OOTP (baseball sim), there is a talent randomness setting which can randomly affect player's potential based on their performance and some other factors). Again this might be restricted by the game engine since the FM series also use the -8,-9, or a 0 - 200 PA system to measure a player.

[Grentroz]

Time to start the 4th season!

Major acquisition!! Taylor Hall from the FA. Seguin was also available, but he went to Edmonton for 10.5 millions per years for 7 years...
Also got Shea Theodore in a trade with Vegas

Lastly, Ikonen got himself a spot on the line-up at 21 y/o. He'll stick to the 3rd line unless I have an injury on the top 2 lines. Take it slowly with him.

Hopefully we'll have a good year. I feel much more confident with my current line-up than the ones I had in the first 3 seasons. Will I win a Cup faster than Philou?

Quick Edit : Got the NHL preview. Them journalists are placing me in 30 outta 31 teams. Time to prove them wrong. CHAAAAAAAARGE *smacks in the window*

Great offseason! I guess it will be difficult to fit both Hall and Seguin into your team with their salaries. Hall is not a bad pickup at all (might win you some first overall draft picks in the next few seasons ).

NHL preview always put my team on the bottom of the league even after I won two cups in a row. Are these predictions based on player reputations?

Without any care for salary cap, Hall and Seguin both accepted my first offer...but the Board said "NO"...even though they approved the money I was offering at first. So I went with a new offer to both guys and Hall accepted while Seguin went to Edmonton.

Seguin, Draisaitl, McDavid...How the heck are they gonna fit these 3 guys under the cap and have 17 other guys in the line-up o.O

[uknownick]

Time to start the 4th season!

Major acquisition!! Taylor Hall from the FA. Seguin was also available, but he went to Edmonton for 10.5 millions per years for 7 years...
Also got Shea Theodore in a trade with Vegas

Lastly, Ikonen got himself a spot on the line-up at 21 y/o. He'll stick to the 3rd line unless I have an injury on the top 2 lines. Take it slowly with him.

Hopefully we'll have a good year. I feel much more confident with my current line-up than the ones I had in the first 3 seasons. Will I win a Cup faster than Philou?

Quick Edit : Got the NHL preview. Them journalists are placing me in 30 outta 31 teams. Time to prove them wrong. CHAAAAAAAARGE *smacks in the window*

Great offseason! I guess it will be difficult to fit both Hall and Seguin into your team with their salaries. Hall is not a bad pickup at all (might win you some first overall draft picks in the next few seasons ).

NHL preview always put my team on the bottom of the league even after I won two cups in a row. Are these predictions based on player reputations?

Without any care for salary cap, Hall and Seguin both accepted my first offer...but the Board said "NO"...even though they approved the money I was offering at first. So I went with a new offer to both guys and Hall accepted while Seguin went to Edmonton.

Seguin, Draisaitl, McDavid...How the heck are they gonna fit these 3 guys under the cap and have 17 other guys in the line-up o.O

Time to keep an close eye on Edmonton. Maybe they have to trade one of them for cap reasons in the following seasons.

[SadSleeper]

any idea where I can get alternate ottawa logos (all sizes)

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