Challenge 13: Nashville Predators (Discussion Thread)

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:57 pm

Big ouch!

It will be a miracle if you pull that one off!

I'm in early July and it's looking like I'll be saving my UFA signing and going for a waiver claim. I've got bait out for a couple of long shots but I'm offering much less than they're asking and they're big players. I'll be surprised if they take the bait.

It's also looking like I won't get my trades in during that early July window. I'll probably have to wait for October 15th.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 27, 2009 8:33 pm

Right now, the deal is looking terrible. These injuries have absolutely killed my offense, especially since I no longer have Erat to fill the void. Wilson and Jessiman are doing everything they can, but Nabokov has been inconsistent. He's 2-5-0 since joining the team, with a 3.50 GAA (that includes a 5-0 shutout WIN, BTW), and the defense has a big hole now, that I am struggling to fill.

I should have stuck with Ellis and saved some trade bait for a strong d-man. Live and learn, I guess. My tactics and coaching staff and geared for total offense, but I'm not getting it with three of my top goalscorers are out for at least another week (Arnott's done for the season no matter what happens).

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 8:57 pm

It's looking like I might have a UFA signing after all. It's not one of the big Tier 1 longshots I was hoping for but an interesting player became available about a week after the UFA frenzy started. He's a "very good" player but I don't know if I can find a "good" player that I want to sign along with him.

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:03 pm

bruins72 wrote:
Captcrunch wrote: While we are covering the subject, anybody knows how to reduce the penalty numbers? I'm seeing a wild variation in penalty minutes in my team and I'm really at loss to know how to tighten things up...

Just this last game (a 4-0 win against Toronto... woohoo! There's a worst team than me!), I've had the following penalties:

-Weber: 2 minutes for holding
-de Vries: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for slashing
-Jessiman: 2 minutes for roughing
-Bonk: 2 minutes for slashing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for hooking
-Nichol: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Weber: 2 minutes for roughing

16 minutes of penalties is way too much. Weber and deVries are on 2 different lines. Jessiman and Bonk are on the third line but Nichol is centering my fourth line. Most of these guys are pretty meek aggression-wise, the worst being Nichol with 15 but then he only played 11:50 minutes.

I don't have any aggressiveness setting higher than "normal" (again, to reduce the advent of penalties). The only thing that might provoque penalties is the "high tempo" setting and, then again, I want my guys to skate so as not be behind the play. Then again, most of them have decent skating and speed so its not like they were slow goons.

Maybe Nichol is acting like a bum because he's got low morale?

Do any of you have any tips beside reducing the penalty level (is there a way to do that anyways?). Its getting a bit weird to have one to two periods dedicated to special teams every game...
You should check the Tactics thread in the EHM Game Knowledge thread. I'm guessing some of these penalties are happening because guys are getting stuck in a situation where's they're being caught off and they're doing whatever they can to break up the play. If you have a slower player set to play a tight gap control against a faster player, he might hook him to slow him down. Maybe they're playing too aggressive? That sort of thing.

Yeah, I was something like that. I was running a tight gap until I realized some other teams were running pass my D like you wouldn't believe. Now all my gap control are set to "normal". That's the hardest thing with this game, its sometimes hard to figure out all the results of your button pushing and meta reasoning (applying your general knowledge of hockey to these button) sometimes does not work.

I'll roam the General Knowledge thread.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:13 pm

Did manage a second trade at the deadline:

Sent D Greg De Vries and RW Andreas Thuresson to Vancouver for D Willie Mitchell.

Dropped about 5 years from my defense with the deal, and Thuresson had been disappointing relative to the skill he had shown the year before in Milwaukee. My scouts had downgraded him as well. He was the only throw-in the Canucks would accept.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:27 pm

jbsnadb wrote:Did manage a second trade at the deadline:

Sent D Greg De Vries and RW Andreas Thuresson to Vancouver for D Willie Mitchell.

Dropped about 5 years from my defense with the deal, and Thuresson had been disappointing relative to the skill he had shown the year before in Milwaukee. My scouts had downgraded him as well. He was the only throw-in the Canucks would accept.

Not bad a bad deal. Not to rain on your parade but I'm in the midst of the 2008 UFA signing period and Mitchell was a UFA. The Blues signed him to a 3 year deal for $1.6M per year. Still, de Vries is getting old and you made sure you kept some talent on your defense. I know what you mean about Thursesson. He's looks talented for his age but doesn't seem to develop past where he is.

Oh yeah... my Tier 2 "very good" UFA signing is Milan Lucic! I don't know why the Bruins let him go. I also saw Sam Gagner available as a "very good" but I really wanted Lucic. I'm going to have a hard time finding a "good" or lesser player to sign with him.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:54 pm

And Kassian is my "good" or lesser. He was "good" when I offered him the deal but "ok" after accepting. The Islanders had signed him to a 1 year deal, then extended him when it was up, and then released him. I don't get it.

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Wed May 27, 2009 10:10 pm

I hate the Blue Jackets! They always beat me by one goal! They are my division's hurricane, pests I tell you!

Following injuries:

Sullivan
Pihlstrom
Weber
Tootoo

I'm particularly widdled about Sullivan and Pihlstrom as they were the triggermen of my first and second line respectively.

Sullivan is out for about 2 weeks... 47 goals, 52 assists for 99 points in 64 games. 1st in the league and on pace for a 60 goal season! Aaargh! Jessiman did a great job by getting 1 goal and 2 assists as Sullivan's replacement but my left wing is seriously hurt...

Pihlstrom is having a surprising season for someone I never expected to do anything good. 19 goals, 15 assists for 34 points in 54 games. Out for 3 weeks.

Oh well... I'm in the bottom of the league anyways. I'm going to mix up my lines something bad. Tavares here I come!

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Wed May 27, 2009 10:50 pm

Captcrunch wrote:I hate the Blue Jackets! They always beat me by one goal! They are my division's hurricane, pests I tell you!

Following injuries:

Sullivan
Pihlstrom
Weber
Tootoo

I'm particularly p***** about Sullivan and Pihlstrom as they were the triggermen of my first and second line respectively.

Sullivan is out for about 2 weeks... 47 goals, 52 assists for 99 points in 64 games. 1st in the league and on pace for a 60 goal season! Aaargh! Jessiman did a great job by getting 1 goal and 2 assists as Sullivan's replacement but my left wing is seriously hurt...

Pihlstrom is having a surprising season for someone I never expected to do anything good. 19 goals, 15 assists for 34 points in 54 games. Out for 3 weeks.

Oh well... I'm in the bottom of the league anyways. I'm going to mix up my lines something bad. Tavares here I come!

Ok... errr... we just won the following game against the Sharks 4-1.

Ellis got a 10,
Arnott, Dumont and Hornqvist got a 9
Jessiman and Bonk got a 8

If this team is performs better without Pihlstrom, Sullivan and Weber... I don't know what I'll do. lol.

pforsbergfan9 · Post by **pforsbergfan9** » Wed May 27, 2009 11:18 pm

To any mod who notices the error I made in the Recording thread. I didnt posted the trades screenshot on a date before July 1st. Do not fret as soon as I get there, shouldnt be too much longer, and I will post another screenshot of the trades with the date of July 1st.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:17 am

Well, unlike Bruins and Lidas we didn't take the Stanley Cup final to 7 games. We finished off the Devils in 6. Thats right the Predators won the cup.

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:23 am

thunderbug wrote:Well, unlike Bruins and Lidas we didn't take the Stanley Cup final to 7 games. We finished off the Devils in 6. Thats right the Predators won the cup.

Wow! Kudos!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:53 am

thunderbug wrote:Well, unlike Bruins and Lidas we didn't take the Stanley Cup final to 7 games. We finished off the Devils in 6. Thats right the Predators won the cup.

Good job! Congrats!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:54 am

pforsbergfan9 wrote:To any mod who notices the error I made in the Recording thread. I didnt posted the trades screenshot on a date before July 1st. Do not fret as soon as I get there, shouldnt be too much longer, and I will post another screenshot of the trades with the date of July 1st.

In the coming seasons, please hold off on posting your last segment of data until you've gotten to July 1st and done your shot of the trades screen. It gets a bit confusing to keep track of if it's not all kept together.

pforsbergfan9 · Post by **pforsbergfan9** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:37 am

Yeah I know, Ill try my best to remember in the future.

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:27 am

I'm guilty of that too bruins72, and I should have known better.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:04 am

Hey I just thought you guys would like to see how the preseason is going.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l218/ ... gegame.jpg

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu May 28, 2009 7:09 am

thunderbug wrote:Hey I just thought you guys would like to see how the preseason is going.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l218/ ... gegame.jpg

That is out of control!!

Congratulations on your cup win as well !!

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:40 pm

Beware the huge preseason wins. I find that when I have an ultra-successful preseason, my season falls apart in the first ten games.

Then again, that happens a lot when I have so-so preseasons as well.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:06 pm

My final 22 games were - in a word - excruciating.

At any given time, either Arnott, Sullivan, Legwand, Dumont and Nabokov (or any combination thereof) were injured and unable to go. I ended the season just as I had the last, at 30-43-9. We ended up 14th in the West and 29th overall, so we do stand look to pick in the top three come June.

To make matters worse, the farm is looking dreadful. Milwaukee finds itself 60 points out of the playoffs, with fewer than 10 victories on the season. Jonathon Blum is a whopping -68 through 70 contests. Patric Hornqvist holds the top +/- rating of all of my prospects at -14.

I think the time has come to purge the woeful goaltenders that are infesting my system. Mark Dekanich has the only sub-4.00 GAA in my entire system playing in Cincinnati.

Dreadful.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:47 pm

What a load of horse manure!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the three finalists for the Calder:

Colin Wilson - 82 GP, 21G, 31 A, 52 Pts., +1, 78 PIM, 7.55 AvR
David Jones - 69 GP, 17 G, 34 A, 51 Pts., -8, 62 PIM, 7.49 AvR
Andrej Sekera - 21 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pt., -12, -12, 8 PIM, 6.48 AvR

How the hell did Sekera win the darn trophy, with Wilson coming in THIRD?!?!?!?!?!?

That's almost as bad as Arnott being left off the All Star roster while 8th in the NHL in points, 1st in assists and 1st in AvR. He did win his second consecutive Pearson Award. Simon Despres and Colin Wilson made the Rookie All-Star Team.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:57 pm

I really don't see how the game figures out the awards sometimes. I haven't had any of my guys play in the All Star Game yet even though Sullivan, Arnott, and Dumont have all been in the top 10 in scoring both seasons I've played. I also don't understand how the league's leading scoring on makes Second All-Star Team and not the first.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:43 pm

So I never discussed my draft. I found the 2008 NHL Draft to be incredibly weak. There was really slim pickings here. Even the top rated talent wasn't very good. Here is what I got...

My top pick was Gregg McKegg (that's a fun name to say). He was ranked 17th and I got him at 26th, so that's a bonus. Still, he's a bit disappointing for a 1st round pick. My scouts say he's either a 2nd or 3rd line skilled forward (plays center). They compare him to Mike Ribeiro with a bigger frame and a slower stride. I wonder if he dives as much as Ribeiro?

My 2nd round guy was a US-born RW named Garrett Peterson. He was ranked 40th and I drafted him at 56th. They project him as a skilled forward with third line potential and compare him to a smaller but better version of Radek Dvorak.

My 3rd round pick was a 20 year old Belorussian LW named Sergei Ostapchuk. He wasn't ranked but I thought he could be useful to my farm team. The scouts all say he's a skilled offensive forward with 2nd line potential. They compare him to Chris Kunitz or Ryan Smyth with a smaller frame.

I won't bother getting into the other guys because they're really just longshots in a very weak draft.

I've got a really strong looking farm team in Milwaukee. I've got a lot of talent (drafted by me or one of our original prospects signed by me) down there now and I think they'll be one of the top AHL teams this year. I've actually chosen to have Colin Wilson spend at least 1 season down there. He dominated in the WHL for the first 2 seasons of the challenge. Now I want to let him dominate the AHL. I'm hoping to get the most out of his potential by taking his development slow. I've got Ostapshuk (the 20 year old LW I just drafted) down there. I've also got a couple centers that I drafted 2007, Thomas Frazee and Tristan King, manning the bottom 2 lines and the PK.

Here's the lineup down in Milwaukee...

On our main roster I'm going to use Erat as trade bait. I'm also looking to deal de Vries because of his age. I wouldn't mind getting rid of Hamhuis (he's not very good). Plus, I've still got Zanon and Koistinen on the roster. I'm only planning on keeping one of them, just a a replacement in case of injury. On my forward lines I'm interested in maybe dealing Sullivan if I can trade him (plus some) for a younger scoring winger. We'll have to see what's available once trading opens up on October 15th. The board has allowed me almost the full NHL salary cap ($56M out of $56.7M) and my averaged club salary is sitting at $53M, so I've got some room to take on salary.

Of course a lot of this could change if I decide Lucic isn't read to hold down the second line LW spot on my Predators squad. If that happens, I could have to bring up Wilson early or make a deal to get a better LW and keep Sullivan for another season. I know I've got Sullivan, de Vries, Arnott, and Bonk who are all getting old. I'll want to move all of them out over the next couple seasons.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 8:27 pm

The Hockey News has gone bonkers. The NHL Season Preview has come out and they rank my Predators team at #19 despite the fact that it is the same team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals the season before. Even funnier is the fact that they listed Dan Ellis as my Team MVP. Really? My backup goaltender is the Team MVP? Not the 2 time Fan's Player of the Year, 2 time Pearson Award winning Jason Arnott? Not Calder winning goalie Jimmy Howard? Not 2 time Rocket Richard winner Steve Sullivan? Not Art Ross winner JP Dumont? Nope. It's backup junk goalie Dan Ellis.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu May 28, 2009 9:52 pm

If only I had a waiver claim available to me! September 27th rolls around and some teams are trimming their rosters and putting some players on waivers. Who does Washington put up there? Oskar Osala! Ugggh!