For the first season I thought I did quite well, especially compared to the real life struggles that the Pens have had. While I didn't make the playoffs (3 points short), I did manage to keep the board delighted during the whole season and I also managed to "drive in" some of the players who were to become my key players for years to come. The obvious names there are Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin, who both were thrown in the fireline as 1st and 2nd line centers straight away. Mario Lemieux's fitness was a concern right from the start and while some might think of it as heresy, I played him in the fourth line almost constantly, only giving him PP time on the blueline, a job which he did rather well. I also dumped Gonchar and Pirjetä for Dion Phaneuf at the trade deadline, which upset the board but is still The Best Trade I've made for this team. The team evolved only a bit in the first year. David Tanabe was brought in to reinforce the blue line before the season started, in the end he only played as the 7th defenseman as he just wasn't good enough. Jason Smith was also brought up to give some extra leadership on the blueline and that was a move that I liked very much. I was already very deep with centers so I gave up the rights for Milan Kraft, who had declined my offer previously. Smith served as my captain ever since Lemieux retired after the 2005-2005 season. He was traded for picks just before 2009-2010 season started as he was starting to decline and I had some problems with salaries at the time. Other acquisitions were Erik Cole, who became one of the key players for years (still is), Samuel Påhlsson and Scott Nichol who became my 3rd and 4th line centers and SH specialist, Niklas Hagman who has been solid in the 4th line and getting recognition in the form of being a Selke runner up on the 09/10 season. Also brought in were Derian Hatcher, who was acquired to be the replacement for Orpik after his 6 month injury, Hatcher was sent packing along with Thibault later for Raycroft. At around the same time I brought in Hatcher I got Joni Pitkänen who was to become my #1 defenseman. Little did I know that it was one of the worst trades I had made, more of that later.
The 2006-2007 season started off great, I won games at around 0.700 pace right until the christmas break, which also marked the first sign of my team breaking apart. Joni Pitkänen was injured for 6 months. I credit alot of the early success there to the bigname UFA signing of Brad Richards and couple of solid signings of Tomas Holmström, Andreas Lilja and Kirk Maltby. Mark Parrish was also signed to replace an aging Recchi. This season I managed to get the 8th playoff spot by a safe margin of 8 points. I lost the first round of playoffs in 5 games due to injuries and lack of depth on the blueline.
By the start of the 2007-2008 season I had dumped Palffy and Recchi, and brought in Guerin, Klesla, Halpern and Gionta. Apparently those were all great moves as I ended up winning the presidents trophy despite another batch of serious injuries to Pitkänen, Whitney, Orpik, Påhlsson and Nichol. I went all the way to the stanley cup finals this time, lost to Calgary 4-2.
By the start of season 2008-2009 I had cut loose Påhlsson & Nichol. Brought in Craig Adams, Ryan Miller, Anson Carter, Jonathan Cheechoo and traded for Jed Ortmeyer and Jay Pandolfo. The season hadn't gone even a full month before Joni Pitkänen was injured for 8 months, which meant pretty much that his season was over, as was my patience with the injury prone weight dragging my team down. To cover up for the loss, I traded Klesla straight up for Barrett Jackman, another trade I later regretted despite Jackman's defensive capabilities. Jackman and 2 2nd round picks was traded at the end of the season to Jack Johnsson at the proposal of Hurricanes. This ended up being another Big Trade for me. This season also ended up with presidents cup and a loss in the stanley cup finals.
2009-2010, as it became more and more apparent that I couldn't keep both Brad Richards and Crosby, not to mention Malkin in the team, I traded Richards for the rights to Vanek. Vanek refused to sign for me so I let him rot in DEL for the season. I also signed up Daniel Alfredsson (now that I had the money again) to be my new captain, and traded for Gilbert Brule (Parrish & 3rd pick) by the suggestion of Columbus, this trade is also one of the key trades as it revived the Cole - Crosby line entirely. Other signings were Keith Primeau and Bryan Allen at january to replace injured players again. With these changes the team skyrocketed into total domination. 1st line guys had 120-130 points, second liners got 90-110 and even the third liners were at 70-90. I had a winning streak of 48 games, Miller ended up winning 53 starts out of 54 and rewriting history.
Team lineup for 2009-2010:
Cole - Crosby - Brule
Malone - Malkin - Alfredsson
Carter - Primeau - Cheechoo
Hagman - Arnott - Ortmeyer
Phaneuf - Johnsson
Whitney - Orpik
Coburn - Hickey (2007 pick #4, no regen)
Miller - Fleury
This lineup with the help from backups Bryan Allen, Nick Foglino & Andy Rogers finally did what I had tried to do for so long. We went to the Stanley Cup finals undefeated. Won the cup in 6 games against the Flames. Also on the side I managed Team Finland to Olympic bronze, dropping some favorites such as USA and Czech out of the medals entirely
Prizes for my team:
Ronning - Jack Adams, for the third time in a row
Cole - Conn Smythe runner up, Bill Masterton runner up
Crosby - Art Ross, Conn Smythe, Hart runner up
Malkin - plus minus award
Miller - William M. Jennings, Vezina third placed
Hagman - Selke runner up
Ortmeyer - Selke
After the Stanley Cup victory, I was facing a situation where I would've lost both Miller and Malkin if I didn't do something fast. The move I did was release Alfredsson, despite his 110 point season. The 5.5M he was making was way too much. This was the second move I made that the board didn't like one bit. Also let loose were Carter who was a stellar pointman in my PP, and not too shabby 3rd liner either. Cheechoo and Arnott who I just couldn't afford at the time and Keith Primeau who retired. By dropping Alfredsson I was able to sign Miller to a 3+TO year deal for 3M, Malkin went out as RFA however and ended up wanting 7M a year despite the big star Crosby only making 3.5M. It was rather obvious that I was facing some huge problems. Ortmeyer was my only real right wing player, though I did still have Brule who had already played a whole season on the side of Crosby. I also only 1 center (plus Brule if needed) on the payroll, Crosby, but my left wing was still strong so I chose to work a bit with what I had. After moving Malone out for Anthony Stewart (a move that made the board hate me), signing Vanek for a 3 year bargain deal (that's what you get for demanding too much and sitting in Europe for a year), Olli Jokinen as a 2nd or 3rd line center (unsure at this point), and Yelle as the 4th line center. I was still trying to sign Malkin. In the end I did get Malkin but it required some bad luck (or good, depending on how you look at it). He was injured for 2 months in practice for the Russian National Team, so I offered him a job as a core player. He took the bait
for 3.5M.
2010-2011 season roster:
Vanek - Crosby - Stewart
Cole - Malkin - Brule
Vandermeer - Jokinen - Lapointe
Hagman - Yelle - Ortmeyer
Phaneuf - Johnsson
Whitney - Orpik
Coburn - Hickey
Miller - Fleury
Vandermeer = 2010 #5 pick, regen of someone, haven't bothered to check
Time will tell how this younger reincarnation of the team will do. I believe my most obvious problem is the lack of leadership. Another worry might be that Fleury still hasn't played that many games in the NHL, and the ones he has, he hasn't been impressing. I just hope Miller can hold on for few more years. Martin Lapointe is a good leader but considering that he's a fringe player at best currently and only declining, I doubt he'll keep the spot on the roster for long. Malkin, Stewart and Phaneuf are candidates for captaincy but I consider all those too young for it. Jokinen on the other hand, while a captain in real life, doesn't have it in the game.
If there's any questions about the team, tactics or how I acquired the guys etc, just ask, I can dig up the info from my game
