Challenge 15: Colorado Avalanche (Discussion Thread)

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:01 pm

No, sent him to Brampton before I thought clearly.

I hate myself right now.

Why do I do this to myself?!

Post by **Danny** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:03 pm

joehelmer wrote:
Why do I do this to myself?!

Because every challenge needs bottom feeders !

Post by **batdad** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:04 pm

Oh Danny...that was evil. Evil. Ban him Joe..

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:06 pm

I kept Duchene in the first season (I'm still not finished with it). He's been my #2/#3 center. He's averaging 17:21 minutes per game (I didn't realize it was so high) and he's got 58 points in 77 games so far. 20 of those points are on the PP. He's also got 3 game winners. He's also a +17 and has 139 hits and 48 blocked shots.

Post by **Danny** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:09 pm

He's done well for me too. Around a point per game all season long, can handle lots of ice time, able to kill penalties etc. He broke down in the playoffs though. And why does stupid David Jones have to clear waivers ?

Batdad, I try my best

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:10 pm

Yeah, I will think about banning him..

One of the reason I didn't keep was that his stats aren't that great so I thought if I keep him in OHL for one more season he might develop even more. But now I realize I should have keep him and have a run at my regular team practice.

Post by **Danny** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:51 pm

Lidstrom became an UFA and signed with the Yotes. Guess they had to replace Van Ryn

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:53 pm

Lidström is in Bruins in my game.

Now they have both Chara and Lidström, poor teams in Eastern.

Post by **batdad** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:02 pm

Kaberle-Streit. Straight up Loaf-Isle deal.Interesting only because the Laffs are 14th in the East, and the Isles are 15th.

Just finished my 60 games. hejduk is back. Svatos has stopped scoring (none in his last 10 games). Stastny is picking up. In his last 15 games my good friend Kyle Quincey has 12 points. So my PP is starting to click a bit. It is 15% over the last 20. But in the last 10 it is 25%. So my team has also started to score a little.

Duchene is in Lake Erie. Point a game down there. Have called him up here and there to fill in when Hensick or Durno morale goes low. He has played 20 games for me and is just 3-5-8. All but 2 of those points are on PP.

And in game 60...only his 26th game of the year...Darcy Tucker scores his first goal into an empty net. What the heck was he doing on the ice?

Post by **Danny** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:15 pm

batdad wrote: Duchene is in Lake Erie. Point a game down there. Have called him up here and there to fill in when Hensick or Durno morale goes low. He has played 20 games for me and is just 3-5-8. All but 2 of those points are on PP.

Maybe it's your coaching that limits his production

I'm only two games into the season and I've already lost Hannan, Svatos, Hejduk and Tucker. And I just dropped a bottle of wine...which broke and proceeded to flood the kitchen floor...which resulted in me getting yelled at by the wife. So it seems there is a god and he's only looking when I say evil stuff on teh internetz

Post by **batdad** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:24 pm

I want wine. And beer.

Likely is my coaching that is limiting Duchene. Or maybe it is Wolski or Svatos. My leading goal scorer in the last 20 games is Stewart...he has 12. Next closest is Stastny with 5.

Post by **batdad** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:37 pm

Hawks are weird. On deadline day:

Hawks send Byron Froese and 2nd round pick 2007 to Minnesota for....

You guessed it...Martin Havlat.

hawks lineup now:

kane-Toews-Hossa
Havlat-Bolland-Versteeg
Ladd-Bergfors-Burish
Eager-Downie-Ebbett
Skille

Barker-Seabrook
Sekera-Byfuglien
lalonde-Hjalmarsson
Some guy named Jeff Brown

Huet
Mikka Noronen (FA signing at start of year)

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:40 pm

I'm 8 games in on season 2, had awful start with 5 losses in 5 games and changed to a more defensive tactic and now I have 3 wins in a row.

T.J. Hensick is hot for me he's got 6+6=12 in 8 games and he's now in the first line with Wolski and Svatos. My second line is okay as well with McLeod (the weak link)-Stastny-Hejduk.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:03 pm

These success stories make me feel even more awful about my inability to get these guys clicking. Stastny, Wolski and Svatos are doing pretty well (Hejduk is out for awhile, but i'll plug him in second line when he gets back), with Wolski on a 10 game point streak, but once again, my special teams are definitely the death of me most games. I am not even double digits in PP and my PK is hardly over 75%. Frustrating, as i've never had many problems with special teams. There was a time I looked through the PP/PK thread and got most teams i played clicking at least top 10 in the league, but for some reason I can't find what will work for the Avs. Funnel, umbrella, going back to positional, nothing seems to work. Oh well, last few games i've had 90%+ pk so hopefully that means a few minor tweaks just recently done are working.
Should probably have signed someone around 2 mill, but instead picked up Jaspers and Landon Wilson to try to get my third line into a somewhat checking line. Also made the awful trade of Tucker for Comrie, I need to stop rushing things. At least Comrie is playing whereas Tucker was scratched and played terribly last year.
Anyways, hopefully things come together, I keep my eyes open for anything I can deduce from the successful people here when you explain your winning ways

eric1985 · Post by **eric1985** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:48 am

I'm part-way through the third season and it looks as if I well have to call it quits I think. The save has become corrupt and the only other saves i have are at the beginning of the season, Unless I can roll back the clock. If not oh well I guesss, was doing great this year too

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:11 pm

I'm not someone deduce from, as my Avs struggled very badly in games 41-60 in season 1

In the first half of the season there were some minor injuries which luckily took place one at a time and therefore didn't effect on team's play so much. From the end of August to the end of the year there were six injuries, none of them lasted more than 2 weeks. Longest injuries were Stastny's olecranon bursitis (12 days) and Hejduk's moderate concussion (2 weeks). After the turn of the year it has all been harder. Team started losing games first and only after we were about to get it all clicking again came the injuries. Five of all twelve injuries of the season have happened during February and three of the five are in-game injuries caused by opponents' actions. For instance Paul Stastny got injured on 1st of February (twisted knee, 4 days) after hit by Bouchard in Wild game and again on 18th of February (MCL sprain, a month) in Canucks game because of a hard and illegal hit by Salo. I wish there was a instant revenge button here somewhere...

I'm pretty sure Avs don't make it in the playoffs, so badly the team has struggled. Our power play production dropped to .112 % in the last segment (in games 1-20 it was .177 and 21-40 .172) and in the same time our PK% dived to .796 (41-60) from .864 (1-20) and .804 (21-40). And while Duchene & Hensick are our top-two centers for the next month or so, we just have to concentrate on basic play and not losing our morale.

Stastny is (was

) the only one who competes from the top spots in scoring in the league and he too does it only in assists. The best goal scorer of the team is Svatos with 32 goals, Wolski is one goal behind him and Hejduk's got 30 goals. Svatos is 9th in the league, Hossa and Iginla are leading with 36 goals. Crosby and Stastny have most assists, 53 and Crosby is leading in points with 81 points in 59 games. Hossa is four points behind him and Spezza is third with 74 points.

In Western Conference Flames are leading with 82 points in 61 games, Blue Jackets come next (76/60), then Ducks (71/61) and Canucks (77/60). And our five last games are Ducks 6-4, @Flames 2-3, @Flames 2-3 ot, @Canucks 3-7 and Flames 4-5 s. Kind of hard program, eh?
In East leading teams are 'Canes (78/62), Flyers (77/60), Habs (70/62) and Bolts (70/61) (somebody please pinch me and make me wake up!). From the bottom of the list can be found Kings (48/61), Oilers (51/60) and Coyotes (52/60).

ratedrbear · Post by **ratedrbear** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:25 pm

I just went 19-3 in the last quarter of my 3rd season to win the Presidents Trophy

Beat of the Canucks by 2 points to take it. And yet it says my fans support is wavering and as recent as 2 games ago i was at slightly insecure job security

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:34 pm

eric1985 wrote:I'm part-way through the third season and it looks as if I well have to call it quits I think. The save has become corrupt and the only other saves i have are at the beginning of the season, Unless I can roll back the clock. If not oh well I guesss, was doing great this year too

How far into the season are you? Maybe we can work something out.

Post by **McQwak** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:51 pm

So I'm just 10 games before 1st season playoffs, currenty 2nd in conference (but just 3 points ahead before 8th place), and my IR looks like this:
P. Stastny - 1 week off
M. Svatos - 5 month off!!!
S. Hannan - 1 month off
T.J. Hensick - 1 month off

This doesn't look like successfull playoff run for me

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:57 pm

It looks like your minor league prospects are going to get some playoff experience!

ratedrbear · Post by **ratedrbear** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:59 pm

The wings beat me in game 7 of the confrence final to end my year.

Still that was so suprising i made it that far let alone pushed to 1 game from the cup finals

Post by **Lidas** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:55 pm

Short recap:

My first season went well above expectations. Defeated Flames and Red Wings in the playoffs - mainly due to awesome play by Craig Anderson, but lost the 7th game in the third round against the (Mighty) Ducks. Ducks later fell in the final against the Hurricanes (!)

Hejduk got Art Ross, Lady Byng, Maurice Richards, and Plus-Minus trophies.
Wolski got Calder trophy, and was 2nd runner up for Art Ross.
Stastny was 1st runner up for Calder and Lester B. Pearson.

Joe Sacco was 2nd runner up for Jack Adams trophy, but I fired him anyway and signed Weinstock.

Had 23rd pick in the draft, and picked defensive defenseman Jon Merrill (more talented Dan Hamhuis).

Stastny has developed his skills quite well in the off season, and I expect big things for him in the upcoming season.

New players - just one so far. I picked up Josef Vasicek on a free transfer. Didnt do my trade yet.

Just about to start 2nd season - off we go...

Post by **McQwak** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:04 pm

bruins72 wrote:It looks like your minor league prospects are going to get some playoff experience!

Hm, may be not. 5 games to go and I'm ninth

I fell from 2nd conference rank to 9th in 7 games (5-2-0)...

Post by **McQwak** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:11 pm

McQwak wrote:
bruins72 wrote:It looks like your minor league prospects are going to get some playoff experience!
Hm, may be not. 5 games to go and I'm ninth I fell from 2nd conference rank to 9th in 7 games (5-2-0)...

Sorry, the last seven games were 2-5-0, of course.

Johnnyluc · Post by **Johnnyluc** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:41 pm

Lidas wrote:Short recap:

My first season went well above expectations. Defeated Flames and Red Wings in the playoffs - mainly due to awesome play by Craig Anderson, but lost the 7th game in the third round against the (Mighty) Ducks. Ducks later fell in the final against the Hurricanes (!)

Hejduk got Art Ross, Lady Byng, Maurice Richards, and Plus-Minus trophies.
Wolski got Calder trophy, and was 2nd runner up for Art Ross.
Stastny was 1st runner up for Calder and Lester B. Pearson.

Joe Sacco was 2nd runner up for Jack Adams trophy, but I fired him anyway and signed Weinstock.

Had 23rd pick in the draft, and picked defensive defenseman Jon Merrill (more talented Dan Hamhuis).

Stastny has developed his skills quite well in the off season, and I expect big things for him in the upcoming season.

New players - just one so far. I picked up Josef Vasicek on a free transfer. Didnt do my trade yet.

Just about to start 2nd season - off we go...

Merrill that low is a great pick up, he should be a one - two.

I am starting to regret trading Anderson, im starting to realize how hard it is to trade for a top end goaltender.