Challenge 6: Columbus Blue Jackets Chat Thread

[mark_htfc]

Thanks for that Bruins72. I was going to try it tonight but I forgot that I have to go see my neice as it is her birthday today.

Will give it a go tomorrow and let you know feedback.

[CatchUp]

I really dont think I have masterd tactics what so ever.

I have now played 4 and lost in 4. I have lost in 2 shootouts in my last 2 games. In my last game though I should of beaten Minnesota Wild as I was winning 5-1 after 40:35 on the clock. Drew 5-5 though then lost in the shootout.

Hi mark, I'm relitively new to EHM as well, and this guide really helped me figure out tactics.


Tactics guide


Cheers.

[mark_htfc]

I forgot they did Tactics already I thought that was a later one. I will take a look if Bruins advice does not work.

[mark_htfc]

I'm assuming that's Pascal Dupuis that you've got centering your second line? He's a winger (and not.

No it isn't. I have Philippe Dupuis. He is a Centre. Pascal is at Minnesota.

[mark_htfc]

Passing + Creavtivity = 30+ = Set Passing to Creative (or Adventurous if they're well over 30) For example, Vyborny is definitely a guy to set for creative.

Hitting > 15 = Set Hitting to Hard. Hitting <10 = Set Hitting to Easy.

Passing > Wrist or Slap Shot = Set Shoot/Pass Tendency to Pass. Wrist or Slap > Passing = Set to Shoot

If Deking, Getting Open, and Stickhandling are all fairly high and a player is a good skater, set them to carry the puck.

Players with high Strength, Hitting, Aggression, and Bravery (say Jody Shelly) set Fighting to Allowed. If you want them to really fight a lot, set Fighting to Encouraged.

Anyone with Passing < 10 = set Passing to Safe.

I assume with all that you have used 1-100?? As I am using the traditional 1-20 stats. If you are using 1-100 how do I know what the stats mean in 1-20 from the 1-100 format?

[bruins72]

Passing + Creavtivity = 30+ = Set Passing to Creative (or Adventurous if they're well over 30) For example, Vyborny is definitely a guy to set for creative.

Hitting > 15 = Set Hitting to Hard. Hitting <10 = Set Hitting to Easy.

Passing > Wrist or Slap Shot = Set Shoot/Pass Tendency to Pass. Wrist or Slap > Passing = Set to Shoot

If Deking, Getting Open, and Stickhandling are all fairly high and a player is a good skater, set them to carry the puck.

Players with high Strength, Hitting, Aggression, and Bravery (say Jody Shelly) set Fighting to Allowed. If you want them to really fight a lot, set Fighting to Encouraged.

Anyone with Passing < 10 = set Passing to Safe.

I assume with all that you have used 1-100?? As I am using the traditional 1-20 stats. If you are using 1-100 how do I know what the stats mean in 1-20 from the 1-100 format?

I'm using 1-20 also. Did you think that I was using 1-100 because of the "Passing + Creavtivity = 30+ = Set Passing to Creative" bit? That's Passing and Creativity combined to equal 30 or more.

[mark_htfc]

oops. Thanks for clearing that up.

After 15 games im still in 15th but after changing my tactics and players to what you said (Bruins) I seem to be doing better. I was in 14th but I just lost to Blackhawks who was in 15. I have won a few more games but getting too many penalties so im just about to tune it down. Im hoping I can pick up as im not doing too well at the moment.

[bruins72]

Were you able to swing a deal for a second line center? That should help your scoring.

What kind of penalties are you getting? This could be due to a combination of hard hitting and aggressive play. Or it could be players hooking and such out of desperation. Is your defense slow? If they don't have at least a 14 in Speed and Acceleration, I would go into their personal tactics and set the Gap Control to Normal or Relaxed. That might help.

[bruins72]

I just finished the regular season of the second year of the challenge and Ovechkin was THE MAN for us! Going into the final game of the season he was tied with The Great One for the single season goal record. In that final game he was able to get 1 goal to just barely squeak ahead. I never thought I'd see this record beat!

I've got an insanely offensive line-up. I've got the top 3 point producers in the league (Ovechkin, Marleau, and Nash)... all with well over 100 points. I've also got 2 50+ goal scorers (Ovechkin with 93 and Nash with 65), plus Marleau coming just a few shy of that mark (47). Brad Stuart has the most points of any defenseman in the league (94), with the next closest being over 20 points behind. Due to the team playing such an offensive game, the goaltenders stats don't look at that hot... except in the win column.

Well, I'm going to go start the playoffs and see if my boys can walk away with The Cup again. Then I'll head to the draft. I'm not sure if I'll play them for a third season. I'm wondering if it might be more interesting to walk away from the best team in the league and try to take the job at the worst. Is that possible? Or would I have to make a new GM to be able to do that?

[CatchUp]

Hi All,

As Minstrel suggested to me, I'm going to post a little recap of what I did with my Jackets team when I got a hold of them.
___________________________________________

I did a lot of housecleaning the first day on the job. This included firing 6 scouts and a trainer. Unfortunetly for the old Blue Jackets organization that was only the beginning of my axe-swinging.

Over the next few days I scouted my team and swung some major trades including:

Anson Carter and the 2007 5th Round pick to CAR for Erik Cole
David Vyborny to BUF for their 2007 1st round pick
Ty Conkin and 2 2007 4th Round picks to PHI for Antero Niittymaki
A 2007 2nd pick and 2007 3rd round pick to NYR for Marc Staal (I feel this is the best trade of the bunch - long term anyway!)
2 2007 1st round picks to ANA for Bobby Ryan
Bryan Berard to BOS for Brad Stuart
Fredik Norrena and Filip Novak to OTT for Alexei Kaigorodov

I also traded some minor players for picks (obviously!).

Also fired in the month of September were Asisstant GM Jim Clark and Head Coach Gerard Gallant. I hired Frank Provenzano and Robbie Ftorek (respectively) to replace them.

I went 3-3-1 in October losing 2 of those 3 games by one late goal. Hence, I made some more moves to trim the fat off the team, including:

Alexander Svitov and the 2007 7th round pick to BUF for Paul Gaustad
Manny Malhotra, Jason Chimera, a 2007 6th round pick and the rights to Kirill Starkov to SJ for Milan Michalek and a 2007 3rd round pick
Ron Hainsey to COL for Ossi Vaananen (sweet!)
Fredrik Modin to SJ for a 2007 1st round pick

Through the 22nd of November I'm 6-3 including 3 solid thumpings of Nashville that I was very satisfied with.

Currently my lines are:
Nash-Fedorov-Cole
Balastik-Kaigorodov-Zherdev
Michalek-Gaustad-Ortmeyer(he was on waivers!)
Fritsche-Brule-Ryan

Suart-Foote
Vaananen-Klesla
Kloucek-Staal

I'm pretty happy with the lineup overall, but I have some more moves to make. I want to send all the kids back down to the farm, or possibly back to juniors, so I'm looking at some trades for 3rd and 4th liners. But can you imagine that 4th line in 3-4 years? Mind blowing.

I'd also like to trade for a 2nd line LW. I like Kaigorodov and Zherdev together, but Balastik don't have the goods. I know somone will tell me that I had a perfect 2nd line LW in Modin, but his 8 pts(2-6) and -4 in 18 games just didn't cut it for me. I can use the 1st round pick to acquire someone worthy of a spot on my (possibly!) All-Russian line. I've considered moving Zherdev to the LW and moving Bobby Ryan up to the 2nd line RW spot, but at 19 I don't think he can fly with the big boys. Soon Bobby, soon.

Stats-wise, Zherdev leads the way with 11 goals. Nash leads in Assists, with 18 and Points with 28.
Surprisingly enough, Fedorov has played very well for me with the highest average rating on the team, a 8.38. He's got 17 pts(8-9) in only 13 games played due to injury (pulled groin). I'm expecting him to tear every muscle in his body and retire any day now, so he doesn't have to do much to exceed my expectations.

On the defense, Stuart has looked like a good move racking up 22 pts (5-17) in his 20 games with the team.
Klesla has looked just awesome defensively with a +13 rating.
Actually, now that I look at it, none of my D-men have a minus rating which is pretty awesome.

Niitty has been typically naff (as he usually is in his first season) going 12-8 with an ugly 3.25 GAA average and a save perventage of only .880. I'm on the hunt for a goalie/defense coach to improve his positioning.

As I said, I'm not done tinkering...I have things in store for both the players and some of the coaching staff.

Overall record through 20 games 12-7-1 81GF 65GA 13.5%PP 74.7%PK

Hope you enjoyed my update.

Cheers.

[bruins72]

That's was a good read, CatchUp. I always enjoy seeing what others do in their games. Sometimes you learn a few things. Sometimes it's just fun to see things from a different perspective. Thanks!

[Minstrel]

Nice work CatchUp! Very well done.

Okay, so ever since my Montreal team "did the Red Wings thing" and won the President's then got knocked out in the first round after talking about how well we were playing all year I don't talk specifics of my Challenge Teams during the year, it's become a superstition of sorts...

So, this year was by far my best Challenge Team ever, and but for key injuries sustained in the playoffs I think we'd have been sipping from the Cup... but Ottawa was just too much for us and while the games were close they ended up sweeping us in the Cup Final

I feel just a bit short of my ultimate goal I have going into every EHM team I play; I want to score the most goals and allow the least. I actually got the most scored accomplished by some 20+ goals and I was I think 6th in goals allowed which is pretty cool actually. First Challenge I've had a player score over 100 points as Marleau had some 70+ assists playing on a line centering Nash and Balastik.

Strangely enough it ended up being Ilya Bryzgalov that won the goaltending honors though I kept trying to push others into the role.

I have all but one key member, Shane Doan, under contract for next year and I have some interesting newcomers on the way as well... but more about that in a later post

[bruins72]

I feel just a bit short of my ultimate goal I have going into every EHM team I play; I want to score the most goals and allow the least. I actually got the most scored accomplished by some 20+ goals and I was I think 6th in goals allowed which is pretty cool actually. First Challenge I've had a player score over 100 points as Marleau had some 70+ assists playing on a line centering Nash and Balastik.

Isn't Marleau the man? I've had him on a couple different teams I've played now and he always delivers. Give him a good winger or two and he's going to rack up the points. I almost shipped him out half way through my second season of this challenge though. His contract was up at the end of the season (don't get me started on all the contracts that end so soon... some players have longer contracts than the game has) and he didn't want to talk about a deal. I finally got him to agree to a 1 year deal (IIRC). I was about to trade him for Tim Connolly. I can't remember what else was involved in the deal. Maybe a 2nd rounder (from Buffalo)? I delayed the deal though and Marleau ended up taking my offer.

Hopefully I'll finish up the playoffs before the weekend.

[mark_htfc]

Im currently recording my stats for games 1-20. Could someone please tell me what Team PIM means and where to find it??

Thanks

[mark_htfc]

I also have one more question. I just want to be certain so I don't post the stats wrong.

In the payroll section where you put the amount. is the bit ive highlighted below in the image the total amount I put??

Finances

Thank

[bruins72]

The total amount you're supposed to record is the one that shows up when you trade. This is what the challenge stat recording thread says...

"About Finances in EHM 2007: Finance views have changed since 2005 (I'll update the above screenies when I get a chance) the figure for budget that should be used is the one that displays when you offer a trade to a team. This is also listed on your Finances page as "Est. Averaged Club Salary (p/a)". The 'Total' amount is now total for your entire roster so we'd be forcing people to slash salaries unnecessarily if we asked people to get that number down to the Board Budget."

As for the "Team PIM", it's found in the same place as the PP and PK info. From the Front Office screen, click "Team Statistics". Go to the "View" drop-down, then "Special Teams", and then click "Penalty Minutes". You should be going here to get PP Opportunities, PP Goals, Times Shorthanded, and PP Goals Against when you record your stats too.

[bruins72]

Urrrrrrggggghhhh!

BUFFALO! I killed all season long! Ovechkin broke one of The Great One's records. I cruise through the playoffs and then... BUFFALO! They sweep me in the finals (and these games weren't all that close either) and walk away with The Cup. I am soooo mad right now.

Oh well! Other than losing in the Finals, it was a great season. I'm going to run my draft and then put this team on the back burner for a bit. Maybe I'll try another team? Maybe someone I've never played before?

[CatchUp]

Urrrrrrggggghhhh!

BUFFALO! I killed all season long! Ovechkin broke one of The Great One's records. I cruise through the playoffs and then... BUFFALO! They sweep me in the finals (and these games weren't all that close either) and walk away with The Cup. I am soooo mad right now.

Oh well! Other than losing in the Finals, it was a great season. I'm going to run my draft and then put this team on the back burner for a bit. Maybe I'll try another team? Maybe someone I've never played before?

ooo, that's a b.

Speaking of Ovechkin, since I got the patch installed I've been itching to try to break some of Gretzky's records, and I figured AO would be the guy to do it with. So I drafted a fantasy team which inlcudes my dream first line:

Ovechkin - Koivu - Arnott

I figured AO makes room for himself, and Arnott opens up ice for Koivu to make pretty passes.

It's worked pretty well so far. Their stats through 35 gms are:

Ovechkin - 33 Goals (Leauge Leader) 23 Assists for 56 Points.
Koivu - 12 Goals 28 Assists for 40 Points.
Arnott - 23 Goals 51 Assists for 74 Points.

I'd like Koivu to pick it up a bit and was wondering what tactics and players you use on your first line with Ovechkin.

Cheers.

[bruins72]

Urrrrrrggggghhhh!

BUFFALO! I killed all season long! Ovechkin broke one of The Great One's records. I cruise through the playoffs and then... BUFFALO! They sweep me in the finals (and these games weren't all that close either) and walk away with The Cup. I am soooo mad right now.

Oh well! Other than losing in the Finals, it was a great season. I'm going to run my draft and then put this team on the back burner for a bit. Maybe I'll try another team? Maybe someone I've never played before?

ooo, that's a b.

Speaking of Ovechkin, since I got the patch installed I've been itching to try to break some of Gretzky's records, and I figured AO would be the guy to do it with. So I drafted a fantasy team which inlcudes my dream first line:

Ovechkin - Koivu - Arnott

I figured AO makes room for himself, and Arnott opens up ice for Koivu to make pretty passes.

It's worked pretty well so far. Their stats through 35 gms are:

Ovechkin - 33 Goals (Leauge Leader) 23 Assists for 56 Points.
Koivu - 12 Goals 28 Assists for 40 Points.
Arnott - 23 Goals 51 Assists for 74 Points.

I'd like Koivu to pick it up a bit and was wondering what tactics and players you use on your first line with Ovechkin.

Cheers.

I've had Ovechkin playing with Marleau (he has been THE MAN for my team in this challenge and some other games) and either Zherdev or Ryan. I kept swithing the RW back and forth between those two every so often, just to mix things up a bit. Read back a little bit in the thread (maybe the last page or so). I laid out my offensive line tactics for Mark. This is what I used with Ovechkin.

[Minstrel]

Sounds like what happened with me with my Columbus in the first season but for me it was Ottawa I couldn't beat; I had big injuries on D though

Mark, no matter if you have the Excel sheet or my image-based recording sheets there is a full page of instructions with each that tells you exactly where to find every stat you will need. The only "out of date" portion is due to the changes in Finances between 2005 & 007. You want to report your 'Averaged Club Salary" amount for finances.

[mark_htfc]

I worked it out now Minty. The only thing I didn't get was PIM as I didn't know that meant minutes.

just wanted to make sure i did the stats correct.

[Calv]

Please note: The new stats page calculates total points, PP % and PK% automatically so there is no need in posting them in the recording thread
Thanks

[Krieger99]

Anson Carter and the 2007 5th Round pick to CAR for Erik Cole

How the hell do you guys always pull off trades like that? I was trying to get Erik Cole all season, but the Canes just said "Screw you" ever time.

[CatchUp]

Anson Carter and the 2007 5th Round pick to CAR for Erik Cole

How the hell do you guys always pull off trades like that? I was trying to get Erik Cole all season, but the Canes just said "Screw you" ever time.

I find the best thing to do is offer your trades on the very first day you take over the team (ie. BEFORE you click Continue even ONCE). Maybe it's a bug, but it seems that most of the deals that go down for me on the first day are the ones that would never happen through the season. Maybe it's because the other GM's haven't had a chance to evaluate what they've got, who knows?!

It also varies from game to game for me. Sometimes I'm able to trade for Cole for example, and sometimes the 'Canes won't give him up.

Give the start of the season thing a try. Best of luck in your trades!

Cheers.

[timmy_t]

I do the same thing as CatchUp on the first day. I do so much my first day, it probably takes me around 6 hours to hit 'continue' the first time each game.