Coyotes Challenge 10 Discussion Topic

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 4:02 pm

I globaly do the same as B72, and rarely have big injuries either. Tired players are way more injury prone, so you'd better take care of your guys' condition if you don't want to have to play with your AHL squad...

Loosie · Post by **Loosie** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:09 pm

I'll keep that in mind then.

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:26 pm

The 41-60 games must have been the worst segment for me ever.

I had a chance for playoffs and now I'm 14th place.

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:42 pm

Mike York is out for 4 month in my game, fortunately it's in the end of the season.

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:13 pm

Mike York is no longer a Coyote for me. He never stepped up this season. The only time he deserved a 1st line spot was when Sjöström was injured. And he doesn't want to re-sign so far. So he's gone just before the deadline: Mike York + Travis Roche (lifetime AHLer at best) to Calgary for Robyn Regehr... This will probably solidify our defense (29th in the league

). Plus, Regehr is under contract for the next 5 seasons at a reasonnable 2.1M$ per year, which is really cap friendly

OttawaSenatorsRule · Post by **OttawaSenatorsRule** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:55 pm

Not a bad deal.. I've been trying to score Regehr for a while now.. he's excellent for the money.

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:10 pm

Yeah, he's excellent for the money. I'm not 100% happy with the deal though. I wanted a young LW, but there was very few stuff available. My n°1 choice was Andrew Ladd, but Carolina didn't want to hear anything.

I had other deals to get rid of York:

- to Anaheim: Mike York, Chris Chelios and Travis Roche. To Phoenix: Chris Kunitz and the rights to Bobby Bolt. Kunitz is locked long-term at 3.7M$, but is already 27 and pretty average defensively in my game. Not exactly what i want. Bobby Bolt is a giant at 6-foot-4 and 222 lbs with a 3rd line potential. I lack size and power, so i may try to get him in another deal... Not sure though...

- to Los Angeles: Mike York. To Phoenix: Mike Cammalleri. I was close to choose this one... Cammalleri is only 24yo. But he makes 3.3M$ and will be RFA next year. He could then ask for very big money and i may not be able to re-sign him. Risky. Plus, he isn't really strong.

- to Dallas: Mike York. To Phoenix: Jeff Halpern. Sure, i need centers able to win faceoffs, and Jeff is excellent to do that. He is locked for 2 more years at 2M$, so it should have been interesting, even if he's 30. But well, Kaigorodov and Mueller will soon arrive, so i don't need a center right now. It will come from within. Plus, i already had Halpern in the Blackhawks challenge. And Dallas is a division rival.

So i ended with the Regehr deal for York and Roche. Not exactly what i wanted, but i won't complain. Jovanovski + Regehr + Morris + Boynton... We've seen worse

Loosie · Post by **Loosie** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:48 am

So Morris is finally back, and after he got back we went 4-0-1...which means with him in the lineup we are 6-0-1. This is a good sign.

I may have some interesting seasons ahead though, there are a lot of guys who don't want to sign with us.

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:01 am

I just finished training camp for season two. I'm bringing up Joey Tenute to center my 3rd line. I want to give Dan Carcillo another year in San Antonio. (San Antonio is ranked #1 in the AHL this season)

My lineup is basically the same as last year. I hope I can be a better coach and get a little farther in the playoffs. I would like my team to be like batdad's, but I'd like them to score some goals, so I don't know what's gonna happen.

York-Reinprecht-Doan
Sjostrom-Kaigorodov-Vrbata
Murley-Tenute-Zigomanis
Gratton-Tjarnqvist-Kapanen

Jovanovski-Boynton
Ballard-Morris
Michalek-Helmer

Aebischer/Auld

One thing I'm really going to try to do is limit the ice time of my big guns. They were totally wiped out by the time the playoffs started and that hurt our team. I'm going to try to have all of my 3rd and 4th line guys concentrate on defense and stick them on the PK. I'm also going to rotate my #1 PP unit with the #2 unit each game for the first set of games.

Finally, I brought in Kevin Constantine to be my head coach over the summer. He's defense oriented and technique based. (here comes the batdad-like defensive numbers ::crosses fingers:: )

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:47 am

I finally made a last deal at the deadline... With York gone and Hanzal a few years away from making the big team, the left wing looked a bit weak. I had a talented prospect in Blake Wheeler (or something like this) that i absolutely didn't want in my team, because of his splendid 6 in workrate, 7 in teamwork and 8 in determination. Sure, he was drafted 5th overall in 2004 by the Yotes, but there's absolutely no way i bring that kind of guys to my team. Many teams in the league were interested by him though.

I finally concluded a deal with LA.
- to LA: the rights to Wheeler + Chris Chelios (upcoming UFA retirement) + Niko Kapanen (naff upcoming UFA with ECHL level of play)
- to Phoenix: Mike Cammalleri!

I'm 100% happy with that deal! I get a young talented guy on the left wing, i get something in return for a prospect i don't want, i get rid of Kapanen, and i won't have to worry about Chelios' bones!

LA is happy either... They wanted a RW prospect and a depth Dman... they get a naff center as a "bonus".

Time to end the regular season... Will i finish 29th or 30th? The Wild is my big concurrent for this 30th place... And i think they'll get it, although we're tied in terms of points. We'll see. Anyhow, it seems i'll have a high draft pick.

I hope season 2 will be better... This one is clearly my worst EHM season ever

The new rules had a real impact on me

And i really enjoy this!

Post by **CatchUp** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:40 am

Everyone who has submitted stats for Season One should now see them reflected in the Challenge Stats section.

Post by **batdad** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:52 am

Please note..those numbers do not reflect any penalties anyone may have incurred for season 1. And if you did incur a penalty you have been informed. (however, we reserve the right to award further penalties if necessary. These would only come for stats that have not been checked.)

Catchup is just doing the numbers B72 and I go through all the screenshots and info. So just in case we are behind Cup..thought you should know.

bigargon · Post by **bigargon** » Thu May 08, 2008 11:31 am

hey may latest blog entry ... a wild and crazy off- season with some screw ups on my part

Bigargon's challenge 10 Blog

Post by **batdad** » Thu May 08, 2008 5:30 pm

Nick Petrecki update...Dude is playing for Plymouth. Signed him away from uni and sent him back to juniors. 2-18-20 in 21 games. Bunch of PIMs and 5 for 6 in fihgts.

Then...Partially torn ACL out for 4 months. Already had a physio out for 3 weeks...but not sure what that injury was. Game just says physio.

Other drafts--Chad Greenan averaging a point per game in Kootenay and has a 7.5 rating.

Tasaka sucks. Corey is 6.5 rating so far this season.

Hanzal-Mueller-Lisin are lighting up the AHL. Each is either a goal or assist per game...and almost 2 points per game. Mueller is averaging 9.35.

All have played 1 call up game for me. Mueller was great, the other 2 so-so.

My other drafts are fair to middlin for what they are and where picked. Tasaka is the only dissapointment so far.

Gotta get another goalie. Both Auld and Aebs are up this year. Both want at least 1.6 mill. Oh and LeNeveu is up as well, and kicking but in San Antone.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 08, 2008 5:44 pm

Has anyone tried LeNeveu in the NHL for more than a few games yet? The kid tore it up in the ECHL for me in season 1 and in season 2 he's one of the top goalies in the AHL. I'm seriously considering bringing this kid up. Auld keeps getting injured for one to two weeks. He's been out at least a week 4 times since September (and I'm in early February in my game). So he's not seeming very sturdy. I've got Aebischer under contract for 2 more seasons and Auld hasn't been re-signed yet. His deal is up after the season.

I'm already thinking about who I'm going to replace in the off-season. I think I'm going to show Sjostrom the door. I've got him under contract for one more season but I might just send him to San Antonio. He's not as effective this season as he was in the first season and he looks like he's peaked at 24 years old. I can bring up Hanzal next season to replace him. I think Yandle might be brought up to replace Roche but I'm still not sure. Yandle could still use some improvement. I think Mueller might stay down in San Antonio for another season. This is his first season in the AHL and he's averaging a point per game but I think he can do better. He needs to play a lot down there and maybe I'll bring him up for the season after next.

I've been struggling in my 3rd segment of season 2. I've had a lot of OTLs. I'm still in 1st place in the conference but overall I'm not very pleased.

tabascoward · Post by **tabascoward** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:20 pm

Is it too late to start the challenge?

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:25 pm

Nope. Read all the challenge info and you'll see that there is a deadline for when the entire challenge ends (in August). We will count whatever seasons people have in the books by that point. If you have just 1 season, then we count that. Some people might have 7 seasons done by then. Just please make sure to read all of the rules and notices posted about this challenge. There's a lot of rules, especially if you've never played in one of the challenge before.

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Thu May 08, 2008 9:24 pm

I have a random quesetion concerning well, i guess Challenges (since it's not specific to this one)

I know you can assign yourself as GM of the AHL team if you choose, I guess my question is how does one go about running both teams without pulling your hair out?

I would assume you would re-vamp the coaching staff to be most effeciant for your guys, set the trainint etc. Do you then put the team on vacation? Vacation for 2-4 weeks and check up, or just run both teams?

If I'm not sure if I want to run both teams, how bad of a hit am I looking at as far as my talents progression? I don't know if any experienced guys who have done multiple multiple seasons have ever let the AHL team run itself to kind of see how much of an impendement the AI is?

Post by **batdad** » Thu May 08, 2008 9:28 pm

Generally I go on vacation every week. And then check up.
It really does not add much time

Oh and darn....In one game for san Antone...Hanzal out for 10 days, Mueller out for 10 days.

Yikes!

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Thu May 08, 2008 9:33 pm

Makes sense Bat. I guess worst case scenario if I don't like it I can just have that GM resign from the AHL team.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:08 pm

Well it's not looking like I'm going to have one of my guys leading the league in scoring this season! Doan spent a little bit of time leading the league but now Forsberg is pulling away from him. He was signed by the Capitals last season but only had 97 points in 72 games. This season he's really clicking with Ovechkin. He's got 100 points in 63 games so far. Ovechkin is 2nd in the league in scoring with 89 points (1 more than Doan). Those two are on fire. Hopefully I can make up some ground in the last block of games.

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:49 pm

I was first going to play this challenge in normal mode, but then I suddenly decided to try the NTNB rules. And now, reading other guys making delicious deals I'm starting to regret...

Anyhow, pre-season went pretty well, we won six out of the nine exhibition games we played. Also there wasn’t any bigger injuries so preparing to the season was good.

After training camp I offered contracts to Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal and Enver Lisin. After some negotiations Mueller and Hanzal agreed to join the organization, but Lisin was asking too much, so we were not able to make a deal satisfying both sides.

Both Mueller and Hanzal started the season in the big team and in the beginning the lines looked like this:

Hanzal – Reinprecht – Doan
Sjöström – Kaigorodov – Vrbata
Gratton – Kapanen – Carcillo
Mueller – Tjärnqvist – Zigomanis

Jovanovski – Boynton
Michalek – Morris
Jones – Helmer

Aebischer
(Auld)

As you can see, York and Ballard weren’t playing. They both suffered minor injuries in the end of September and needed some three weeks in recovering. York missed first six games and Ballard four.

After ten games we were leading the Conference and had played 7-3-0. The way we played wasn’t so good still. Our second line was the only part of the team that really worked – oh and Aebischer too. And of course I picked Auld in my core.

Mueller and Hanzal started properly but struggled every now and then and their morale began to drop. Especially Mueller’s rating was low all the time. So in the beginning of November I sent him back to juniors. In his 11 games with Everett he has been in fire scoring 9+9.
I was hoping to be able to keep Hanzal playing in Coyotes, but his morale was suffering too much so I sent him to San Antonio, where he has cheered up. In 10 games with S.A. his scores are 7+7 and average rating is 8.00 – and his morale is now very good.

Games 10-20 went 4-5-1 and I couldn’t get the team playing well. The same thing has happened to my teams nearly every season, but now it took place earlier than usually. I’m convinced that part of the reason is that other teams strengthened their rosters while we were... well... watching. One good example is Anaheim. They gave up Schneider (traded with Penguins for the rights to Brian Strait). Then we win them 4-1. Now they have added Bryan Berard and Duncan Keith in their defense and I believe we are not going to win them 4-1 any more.

Now we have played 27 games (14-10-3) and are 6th in the Conference. Our lines are now like this:

York – Kaigorodov – Vrbata
Perrault – Reinprecht – Doan
Gratton – Zigomanis – Kapanen
Carcillo – Tjärnqvist – Thomas

Ballard – Morris
Jovanovski – Boynton
Michalek – Helmer

Aebischer / Auld

Sjöström is going to be out for a while now, that’s why he isn’t dressed. There was some other lines I tried before these, but they didn’t work out so well (well, nothing has after the first ten games).

By the way, there was a little but annoying injustice another day. If I remember right when my player is penalized in the end of OT he can’t be chosen to be a shootout shooter. In a game against the Blackhawks we were leading 1-0 in third period when ref started putting our guys in the box one after another. Finally, at 58.45 he gave 2+2 to Morris for high-sticking. Chicago pulled Khabibulin from the net and at 59.13 Lang assisted Havlat’s tying goal. We continued shorthanded in OT too, but Blackhawks couldn’t score again. 3 seconds before the OT ended, referee put Lang out for hooking. But in the shootout competition Lang was third shooter and scored giving Blackhawks a chance to win in the next pair of shooters.
I didn’t complain of the referee – I just screamed and shouted for a while to get my temper down.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:01 pm

Keep plugging along, kuulapaa! As great as those trades look, NTNB is turning out to be a lot of fun.

You know what player I'm starting to like? Zigomanis! Even though he'll be lucky to break 20 points for me this season, I really think he adds something to the team. He's a really good skater and he's a good 3rd/4th line character/energy guy. His stats really don't give him enough credit for what he does. So far in 71 games this season (he hasn't missed a game this season), he's only got 14 points but he's got 201 hits and 127 blocks. He's averaging 7.14 this season (up from 6.97 last season). I really think he adds something.

Post by **batdad** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:09 pm

yep he adds something alright. He adds the odor that is the Phoenix Coyotes.

That odor is eau de dung! He is right up there with Kapanen and Tjarnquist on my hit list.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:14 pm

I'll agree with you on Kapanen and Tjarnquist but Zigomanis is okay. I actually had a Carcillo-Tenute-Zigmanis line going for a while and they were fairly effective.