Anyone play the AHL?

puckman16 · Post by **puckman16** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:52 am

I've just got into a season with my hometown Rochester Amerks. I haven't played the AHL since EHM2005 since I would get bored/frustrated with the little less control you have over your roster.

I decided to try again and I've found it more entertaining this time......
-using what little $$$ you have to sign a few complimentary players
-bringing in a good staff
-dealing with constant roster change
-losing your players and staff that improve to NHL clubs at anytime
-etc.

I've been doing well but with Rochester dual affiliation with Sabres/Panthers my talent pool is twice as deep as most other teams. I did take a big blow when Buffalo traded my #2 and #4 scorers to Nashville for a NHL player. Luckily Florida aquired a top 20 league scorer less than a week later!!

Anyone here have a lot of AHL experiences. I'm interested to see how it pans out after season #1

Hypnotist · Post by **Hypnotist** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:49 pm

Back in EHM 05 I wanted to start out small and try and work my way up to the NHL. With the Toledo storm, I was tearing up the league, despite losing top talent to NHL & AHL contract offers. About 1/2 way through the seaons I ws offered the GM position with Providence. I took this job but soon realized how little control over the team that I had. I had something like three or four players on AHL contracts (all depth guys with little trade value). In EHM 05, the Bruins prospect depth wasn't all that great and I didn't have the budget to sign any impact players. I played this for about a month and was so bored that I loaded a save game prior to me taking the AHL job and played the Toledo Storm again like it was all a bad dream.

So to answer you question, no I don't play in the AHL. The exception being if I play as an NHL GM, I ususally take over the AHL (and sometimes ECHL) affiliates to better control my prospects development.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:49 pm

Yup, I'm managing the San Antonio Rampage as well as the Coyotes. For the '07-08 season, I got them a complete makeover bringing in a few UFA guys from Europe as well as a couple of prospects of my own. Won the Calder Cup in '08 and I'm looking to defend it this year as I have a 2-0 lead in the Finals.

My current line-up:

Martin Hanzal - Ville Leino - Kristian Kuusela
Dan Carcillo - Jukka Voutilainen - Enver Lisin
Jan-Mikael Juutilainen - Alexander Nikulin - Tim Stapleton
Kevin Cormier - Ryan Garlock - Patrick Kaleta

Scott Jackson - Keith Yandle
Wes O'Neill - David Schneider
Logan Stephenson - Jonas Ahnelöv

With Joel Gistedt and Leland Irving forming a platoon in net. Stapleton is the only regular with an AHL contract. I have a couple of more forwards with AHL deals, but they're ripping it up in the ECHL (Sébastien Bordeleau being the best with 225 points in 122 games). My top-2 lines occupied the six top spots in the AHL's regular season scoring race.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:04 pm

I played one game where I started out in the WHL, ran the Vancouver Giants for almost 2 seasons before accepting a job GMing Worcester of the AHL. I think I played about 2 seasons there before moving on to a new game. It was interesting though. Usually, I GM NHL teams and just set up a dummy AHL GM that I keep on vacation most of the time.

rjw8625 · Post by **rjw8625** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:26 pm

So far this is all I have done. I was very excited to see that you could be an AHL GM in this game.
I took over the Wilkes/Barre Scranton Penguins and am doing pretty good so far. Having dual affiliation with Pittsburgh and Edmonton is nice though Edmonton doesn't supply as many players and I can't do anything (loan to ECHL) the ones that they have supplied.

The great (challenging?) part about running an AHL team is that even if you're winning, there's a constant struggle to get your players ice time and avoid violating the veteran dress rule. I had a decent sized roster when I started, but the Penguins have sent me a lot of veteran defensemen and I've been forced to do the dance.

-Bob

Post by **Tasku** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:38 pm

I'd imagine finding ice time for all those players coming from two teams would be a serious task for any manager

In updated rosters they have only one NHL affiliate, so if you're... umm.... Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fan (is there a quick way to say that?), you'll have easier task when you update...

mcworrell · Post by **mcworrell** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:17 pm

I am like a couple of people I only play the AHL to help with developing my players for the NHL. It has worked out nicely and the little rule change, like the vetern limit, make for an interesting game at times. The few times I have tried to play an AHL game only I was too frustrated with the NHL team leaving me with nothing to work with. This was with the original roster that came with the game so maybe now with some of the updates that are out there it would be a little better.

Anybody know what other teams other then Wilkes-barre Scranton had two NHL afiliates?

rjw8625 · Post by **rjw8625** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:34 pm

Rochester has Florida and Buffalo
Albany has Colorado and Carolina I believe
I'm pretty sure that's it since there are 27 AHL teams in the game and 30 NHL.

targetthyself · Post by **targetthyself** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:17 am

ran about 3 games with the various updates with my home town Portland Pirates had a blast being mind numbingly awful in the playoffs 3 years i got bounced by Manchester before i got bored with it.

rjw8625 · Post by **rjw8625** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:23 pm

update to mcworrell's question. Grand Rapids also takes a small number of Edmonton players in addition to their primary affiliate, the Detroit Red Wings.

Iceman90 · Post by **Iceman90** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:36 am

I've played around with the Omaha Knights a little, never finished a full season though.

red-dog · Post by **red-dog** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:02 pm

I've played more AHL seasons than NHL seasons! I've coached mostly Hamilton and Norfolk. With Norfolk I had a game in which I played three seasons, won the Calder Cup and advanced to become the head coach of both Team Russia and the Boston Bruins. Right now I'm exploring Bridgeport Sound Tigers. I like the challenge of having to develop and get the most out of the players made available to you with just a few free agent additions to the squad. It's a very good way to learn the game inside out, especially concerning tactics and training, and it's also a good way for developing an eye for good prospects and learning about those hidden gems in the lower leagues as well. When I took over the job at Boston for example, I already had a good idea of who I'd wanted to sign in the off season and who I'd wanted to draft in the later rounds.