Challenge 8.1 Toronto Maple Leafs discussion

Post by **CatchUp** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:30 am

I noticed the same thing with my team - minus the consistency of Mats. He got dealt after contributing 6 points in 8 games to start the year.
But yeah - totally up and down. For the majority of the year, my PP was totally useless - then in the last 22 games I scored 25 times on the PP. Without making any personnel or tactics changes. I had given up on the PP clicking by that point and then all of a sudden....

Post by **batdad** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:50 am

Heh. Game 61 PP 2/4, PK 8/8, including a major and a two minute 5x3. christ. one game fluke I bets. Against Philly too!!!

Post by **batdad** » Fri May 18, 2007 5:12 am

Oops//that was game 62. And in game 63...back to normal 0/7 on the pp. Won 2-0 though.

Post by **Calv** » Sun May 20, 2007 11:53 pm

so the bonus points a have been awarded as follows:
batdad 9
kennec 9
fishi 7
rookier 5
bruins72 4
Danny 3
archibalduk 3
red-dog 3
oxenhoper 2
CatchUp 2

Never seen such a spread of points before, meaning anyone could win it!
The new deadlines will be up tomorrow

Hypnotist · Post by **Hypnotist** » Mon May 21, 2007 5:17 pm

How on earth are you guys landing players like Marleau, Pitkanen, et. al.

I've made offers that would get a real GM fired in a heartbeat and still get turned away. I've made trades to position myself for future trades and still can't get them. What do you guys offer?

Post by **batdad** » Mon May 21, 2007 5:21 pm

You have to do it right at the start of the game.Otherwise it gets hard. Literally day 1. Not even day 2.

That being said, I did not do that this time. And my team....it rocks, cept for that suckass poweroutage they call a powerplay. BTW I still HATE HATE HATE this team, and I am heading to the playoffs. All good things will crumble and the PP will still suck.

Post by **Danny** » Mon May 21, 2007 6:02 pm

Hypnotist wrote:How on earth are you guys landing players like Marleau, Pitkanen, et. al.

I've made offers that would get a real GM fired in a heartbeat and still get turned away. I've made trades to position myself for future trades and still can't get them. What do you guys offer?

I traded Tucker and a few AHLers for Marleau.
It wasn't even day one

I never had him before so I thought I should give it a try.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon May 21, 2007 6:57 pm

To get Pitkanen, I usually have to send out one of my top youngsters, plus some prospects and/or AHLers. In the Kings challenge, I sent Lauri Tukonen to the Flyers for Pitkanen, straight up. I didn't take Marleau in the Kings challenge or the Toronto one. I had him back in the Columbus one though. In that one I ended up getting him and Cheechoo (who I dealt shortly after) in a huge deal involving Federov, a 2nd & 3rd round pick, and some prospects. That one ended up involving so many players because of the salaries involved.

Anyhow, the point is... you can get these guys. You've just to to really try and work these deals. You can just inquire about the player and have the other team come back with a deal. Sometimes you even have to "over-pay" to get these guys. Of course, it's usually just your Assistant GM, board, and/or fans that think you've overpaid.

Hypnotist · Post by **Hypnotist** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:45 pm

bruins72 wrote: it's usually just your Assistant GM, board, and/or fans that think you've overpaid.

Does anybody actually listen to the AGM? To me it seems like the only deals they like are ones where the deal is definately in our favor. the AGM doesn't seem to take filling gaps in the lineup with surplus players. I personally love trading 20 something "prospects" playing in NA for roster players or even draft picks. It's like something for nothing, but the AGM always hates them.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:54 pm

For the most part, no I don't listen to the AGM. It's good to use them as a barometer for your deal though. But when it's all said and done, my main concerns are "Am I getting the player I want?" and "Am I okay with losing the players I'm giving in return?" If so, all is good. Keep in mind, I wouldn't do too many deals that your board absolutely hates. If you're on shaky ground already, you could lose your job.

Post by **batdad** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:18 pm

I do sometimes listen to him on big trades...but when I am in a challenge, I am highly unlikely to listen because I am not necessarily looking towards the long run for the team. At least in a 2 year challenge. In a 5 year, I will be much more likely too. I really don't care that much where I draft in a challenge, and sometimes deal all of my picks if I can get older prospects, or players who are ready to go already.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:52 am

Well...I am finally going to finish my first season of this challenge tonight.

Playoffs begin versus the Devils. Good news! The Sabres and Rangers...always my problem spots have to play each other in the first round. 4th vs 5th. Wahoo!!! That means I will only have to deal with one of them, if I get past the remarkable Brodeur.

Anyway I played most of the reg season with this lineup:

Huselius-Sundin-Cheechoo
Vanek-A. McDonald-Zubrus
Bates-Wellwood-Ponikarovsky
Boogard-Betts-Green

Kaberle-Martinek
Kalinin-Eminger
Beachemin-several different guys

Nittymaki
Raycroft

At the deadline I moved Raycroft for Van Ryn, then moved Kalinin and something (cannot recall what) for Lilja, Osgood, and Franzen. Then I sent a 2nd, and a bunch of prospects to the Isles for Asham, R. Nilsson, and J. Colliton.

I also made a move to get Ortmeyer off waivers and then sent him to Calgary with Pothier for Warrener and a pick. I felt my blue line was not strong enough with tthe guys I had. Weak, but fast...changed to bring in some vet help

Trade deadline on roster was:

Huselius-Sundin-Cheechoo
Vanek-A.McDonald-Zubrus
Bates-Franzen-Ponikarovsky
Boogie-Betts-Asham

Wellwood was in and out of the line up playing on all 4 lines, and not really doing anything special. Each time he came into the lineup he would have a good game...then suck. Also had Travis Green as a guy who moved in and out.

Defense

Kaberle-Van Ryn
Eminger-Martinek
Beauchemin(Lilja)-Warrener (Lilja)

Nitty
Ozzie

This lineup played some amazing defense, and as you will see had some amazing stats when I post at the end of the season. Yet for some reason I feel it will all fall apart in the playoffs.

(To be honest I have started the playoffs and am in the middle of the 2nd round vs the Rangers right now)

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 23, 2007 6:20 am

Ok..they easily won the cup. Like never been so easy for me. But I was lucky we swept Calgary, because half way through game 4....Mats Sundin...out 10 dayswith a knee injury. Sheesh. yet the power play....10.8% in the playoffs. Ick.

However... my crazy players Huselius (50-71-121) Cheechoo (51-41-92) Zubrus (40-55-95) and the unreal superstud Sundin (52-98-142) were not the playoff leaders. Andy Macdonald, Thomas Vanek, and Antero Nittymaki won the playoffs for the Leafs. Cheechoo had 4 goals, Huselius 6 and Sundin 4. Zubrus had all of 2 (although missed some games re injury) Vanek 12 goals, McDonald 9-13-22, and Nitty with 4 shutouts, a 1.76 GAA and a .940 save percentage were the real stars.

How in god's name do I get 3 50 goal scorers, a 40 goal scorer and 2 20 goal scorers...with the power play I had? Christ almighty this team 5x5 was awesome. I also had 4 guys with between 10 and 20 goals.

Need I say who I think will win the Conn Smythe? yeah Nitty was unbloody believable. And I never went after him...Philly came to me offering me Nitty for Bryzgalov and something somewhere around November/December...I had listed Bryz as available. I did not even negotiate...just did it!!

Anyway, on to year two.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:59 pm

It sounds like your playoff scoring was similar to mind. The first line is pretty quiet (or maybe defensively smothered) and the second line guys are the heroes.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:53 pm

Yeah it was definitely line 2. Save Zubrus.

Nitty did not win the Conn Smythe. Sundin was third. Guess who won it? Brian Rolston of the Calgary Flames cause he scored 13 goals. Eh.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:26 pm

That's lame. How often does a player for the losing team win the Conn Smythe? In my game, Bobby Ryan won it. He was on the winning team but he was second in playoff scoring. I can accept that. I would've been pretty upset if somebody from the other team had won.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:22 pm

No biggie. I think he scored almost all of the Flames goals against me. Cause I just shut down Iggy...Boogie fought him twice. Heh. I knew that if Iggie could not score, the Flemmes would not win. So Rolston probably got lots of ice time where he had chances. He did miss on a penalty shot though. Should have slapped it.

Hypnotist · Post by **Hypnotist** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:15 pm

I am currently sitting 30th in the league at the half-way point.

Question - as the trade-deadline draws nearer. I'm getting some crazy offers for players like Tucker, O'Neil and Kilger. Can I pull the trigger on these deals? or would it be considered "tanking" for season 2? I don't plan on resigning any of these guys and I think I could turn it around by getting younger players in return, but I don't want to break the rules.

Post by **Calv** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:36 pm

If you're going to offload them anyway that's ok, we only have issues with draft picks

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:57 pm

Yeah. Several off us unload guys like Tucker, O'Neil, and Kilger before we even play a preseason game. Plus, real teams do this. They trade off veteran guys with higher salaries when the team looks like it's going to have to go into a rebuilding phase. I wouldn't suggest trading them for bad players if that's what you mean about tanking. You can actually get a decent return on them if you try. Like Calv said, just don't trade any of your draft picks beyond the ones for the present year.

Post by **Danny** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:17 pm

bruins72 wrote:I wouldn't suggest trading them for bad players if that's what you mean about tanking. You can actually get a decent return on them if you try.

Absolutely, Tucker got me Marleau, O'Neill Zetterberg and Kilger Ehrhoff, whom I then traded for Niedermayer. Of course all paired with a few average AHLers mostly, but still

Post by **Calv** » Fri May 25, 2007 10:55 am

The next set of deadlines are up

chans8 · Post by **chans8** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:35 pm

Is it too late to start on the challage now?

Post by **Danny** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm

Well the deadline for the first 40 games has already passed.

chans8 · Post by **chans8** » Fri May 25, 2007 6:48 pm

well i guess i will have to just wait for the next one then.