Challenge 15: Colorado Avalanche (Discussion Thread)

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:08 pm

Círyatan wrote:
bruins72 wrote:I really hate Hensick. He's so close to being a useful player but not quite.
I use Hensick as a first sub, he fills in whenever any of my top 3 centres or left wingers is out. That means he's usually somewhere there in the lineup. He's been doing OK, but definitely not great. I wonder whether he really has the potential to develop into a solid 2nd line centre... At least that's how my scouts rate him.

I think that Hensick might be a "all of the tools but no toolbox" kind of player. He's a good skater, has great stamina, and is an awesome passer. He's even good with the stickhandling and deking. He just can't put it all together. His first problem is that he's a wimp. His bravery is a 6 and his hitting a 6. And his anticipation is only 9. He's a totally one dimensional player. My scouts compared him to a smaller Michael Nylander. Sounds about right.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:28 am

That may be my worst 20 game segment ever in a challenge game. 9-7-4. Ick. Dropped from well ahead in 1st place to 4th. Why? Could get nothing to work. My tactics dried up. Injuries played a role too. Hensick and Wolski did not play a game in the twenty. Wolski is still 3 weeks away, Hensick about 4 months. Also had injuries in this time that caused missed games to

Stastny, Durno, Hannan, Quincey, Koci, Ruutu, Duchene.

Thank god not all at once, but still at one point I was missing Stastny, Hensick, Hannan, Koci and Durno. that was a tough roster to dress.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:05 am

Well I just finished my second draft and moved into the free agent season. Thought I would see what kind of D I could add before the 15 July no trade deadline this season, as Liles was just taking up very expensive space on my roster. He just never seemed to fit in and played terribly every chance he got, so I offered him out to a few teams in return for some defensive defenseman and ended up getting Regehr from the Flames, which will hopefully help me out as I try to play a more defensive system this third season. The draft was pretty weak, but I got offers for my second round choice recently, so maybe there's some potential there.

Thinking of signing one good checker this year to try to shut teams down and let my first/second lines score once in awhile. It clearly won't be as successful as the crazy results from batdad but hopefully I won't have such a bad season as my first two.

Anyways, excited to have Regehr on the team, now to find a good checker

outdooral · Post by **outdooral** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:21 pm

Hi ,
I am new to Ehm Tbl challanges but have been checking out the site occasionallly for the past year.I think I am too late to join in on this one but am playing along with your rules and finding out just what a challange it is.
Just a few questions.
Are you allowed to run a Gm for your AHL team, and is it benificial to do so ?? Then what restrictions are there on staff hirings.
Also can your gm go on vacation between games .(to speed things up) if no changes are allowed ?

Thanks Al
Hope to join you for the next challange.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:31 pm

Hi outdooral! No, it's not too late to join the challenge. It runs until January 18th. I suggest you give the rules a good thorough read because all of your questions are answered right in there. Once you've read the rules, if you still need clarification on any points of the rules, you should put your questions in the Challenge Questions and Feedback thread found here...

http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... php?t=4465

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:16 pm

Rolled to a 107 point season and my second consecutive President's Trophy into a first round matchup with the Flames who I had manhandled this season to a 5-1-2 record (both losses in OT were shootouts, IIRC). Thought I would have an easy time of it, but we came up small in the playoffs once again!!!!!!!!!!

Brett Clark went down in the season finale for three weeks, just as Liles and Duchene retuned from injury in time for the playoffs. However, my offense decided to pack things in. Lost the first two games in OT (3-2 and 2-1 respectively). Hejduk didn't make it through the second game. Neither of my top two lines did much of anything. No single player scored more than a single goal all series long, and my top offensive player was the defensive defenseman Jonas Holos with three assists, followed by Wolski with three points as well (1G,2A). Anderson was solid, ending up with a 2.60 GAA, but it wasn't enough to prevent the sweep. My powerplay was a woeful 7.9% (not that it was spectacular during the regular season, but it was much improved in the second half of the year).

Liles was non-existant, and he will not be back. Neither will Clark, who is just too expensive at 35 years old to hang on to. Quincey refuses to resign, but I retain his rights, so he should be pretty cheap in the off-season. Budaj was okay during the year at 14-10-1 with a 3.32 GAA, but I think Weiman may be my backup next year, since I don't feel like paying $1.5mil or more to a reserve goaltender. I'm still up in the air about keeping T.J. Galliardi. He saw limited action even after I lost Svatos for a few months in the second half. The lack of true depth on this team did me in.

A few bright spots, however were Quinton Howden (my first round selection in 2007) scored 46 points in 80 games playing primarily only second line minutes with spot PP duty (although he was scoreless with a -1 rating in the postseason) and Dan LaCouture (my UFA signing this season) really clicked with Durno and MacLeod on my third line in the absence of Svatos, scoring 16 goals with 13 assists including a few shorthanded points as well. And Mike Commodore - who came over in a deadline trade for Chris Stewart - played solid D down the stretch, but ended up -4 in the playoffs.

Prospect depth remains thin. Ryan Wilson will probably step up to the big club next season to replace Clark, and Stephan Elliot may take over for Liles. I may add another d-man through free agency. Mike Carman (3rd rd., 81st overall 2007) tore it up in his senior campaign at North Dakota) and will compete for a checking line spot next season, and Dillon Wagner (2nd rd., 59th overall 2008) had a monster overage season for Calgary in the WHL (103 pts in 71 games). He most likely will spend a year in Lake Erie. I'm going to try an pry my 2008 second rounder Mikail Anisin out of Russia since my overall depth at RW is generally weak, and it looks like last year's first rounder Austin Czarnik will spend at least on more year in college.

Time to lick my wounds, recoup, and prepare for the draft - which is much deeper this year than in previous seasons.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:42 pm

Denmark got the bronze in the World Junior Championships U-20 in my second season?

Never would have expected that!

And it's early January and I've made my trade for the season. I wasn't able to swing a deal for any of the defensemen I wanted so I jumped on another deal instead. I had seen Pittsburgh and Montreal in talks. Pittsburgh was offering Spacek for Subban and Pacioretty. Montreal was really low on both Subban and Pacioretty for some reason. I didn't really want Subban because my team already had enough defensemen like him. I ended up reworking the deal to offer Salei and Tucker to Montreal for Pacioretty and Vaananen (who they were also down on). They loved the offer but I got ripped off by bad timing. They had accepted Pittsburgh's offer. So I decided to still go after Pacioretty. I immediately approached Pittsburgh and offered them Tucker (who they had an interest in earlier in the season) and Haydar (who had been playing in the AHL for us) to Pittsburgh for Pacioretty. They accepted! I think I like him in that second LW role. We'll see how it works out.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:46 pm

For some reason in this db there is a Centre from Denmark that is a stud. I have him for the upcoming draft rated as #3. I think that may be why.

Interesting deal--I would never have thought of going after Pacioretty. He seems to be stalled in my game in Montreal..although my scouts still have him rated for 1st line potential. He has only 5 goals and 5 assists in 60 games and just does not look that solid. Okay...but not solid. And although strong..it does not appear he could hit a fly.

Let me know how he works out..that is cool.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:53 pm

There needs to be an option under discipline to beat the player in front of the team with a hose.
I started off miraculously at 7-2-1, and I thought I had finally figured things out. I was holding on to leads, scoring on the powerplay, and killing penalties. Anderson stepped up as Budaj was injured near the beginning of the season, and all was good.

The next 10 games, I have never been so frustrated. We went 2-7-1 with horrible PP, no offense from the top lines, and picking a goalie for the game was as easy as who do I want to be disappointed by today?

I have to find some way to get back on track like the beginning of the season, but its tough when you really don't change much to figure why it suddenly doesn't work.

Stastny's also out for a couple weeks, I think he could man up a bit, always seems to be injured.

What a let down the last 10 games were!

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:59 pm

I believe the other teams are figuring out your tactics. That happened to me back in the day, because I would refuse to change my tactics. Then I began to change them too much. I usually only switch things up to start games every 5-10 games.

Círyatan · Post by **Círyatan** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:12 pm

bruins72 wrote:And it's early January and I've made my trade for the season. I wasn't able to swing a deal for any of the defensemen I wanted so I jumped on another deal instead. I had seen Pittsburgh and Montreal in talks. Pittsburgh was offering Spacek for Subban and Pacioretty. Montreal was really low on both Subban and Pacioretty for some reason. I didn't really want Subban because my team already had enough defensemen like him. I ended up reworking the deal to offer Salei and Tucker to Montreal for Pacioretty and Vaananen (who they were also down on). They loved the offer but I got ripped off by bad timing. They had accepted Pittsburgh's offer. So I decided to still go after Pacioretty. I immediately approached Pittsburgh and offered them Tucker (who they had an interest in earlier in the season) and Haydar (who had been playing in the AHL for us) to Pittsburgh for Pacioretty. They accepted! I think I like him in that second LW role. We'll see how it works out.

Pacioretty was one of the people I looked at before trading for Ladd and Seabrook. My scouts think highly of him, just as batdad mentioned. It'll be interesting to see how he does for you!

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:37 pm

Scored a bit in segment 3 of year 2. Hejduk in particular. 50 goals. That is the first time in a challenge I have ever had anyone hit 50 goals prior to about game 75. Awesome! Hopefully he stays hot and healthy. Hejduk has exactly 18 assists. What a hog!!!

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:59 pm

batdad wrote:I believe the other teams are figuring out your tactics. That happened to me back in the day, because I would refuse to change my tactics. Then I began to change them too much. I usually only switch things up to start games every 5-10 games.

This seems to be my problem indeed. During/after the losing streak I was trying to find something that would work instead of letting them get used to it. I will try to stay out of it for a few games at a time.

Do you have a certain amount of tactics that you shuffle around? For example, do you change breakouts and positioning or do you totally overhaul it?

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:02 pm

So far with this game I am really only changing my breakout, centre ice and forecheck. It seems to be working for now. I change it when I play a team a 2nd time, and then back for the 3rd time...

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:10 pm

Could be why I have had little success in the playoffs.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:25 pm

batdad wrote:So far with this game I am really only changing my breakout, centre ice and forecheck. It seems to be working for now. I change it when I play a team a 2nd time, and then back for the 3rd time...

Cool, thanks for he tips.
Have gone 3-1 in the last 4 with a blowout to the ducks stuck in there. Those 7 losses in 10 games really put me in the basement. Oh well, will keep doing this for another couple and try changing some things for a bit and see how it goes.

Post by **Danny** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:42 am

Finished my first set of games in the third season, we're leading the West with a 14-4-2 record. The switch to a more defensive minded system is turning out well so far, reduced the goals against average to a league leading 2.15, scoring hasn't suffered all that much.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:58 am

For the most part I am still playing terribly, but I thought I could get used to THIS. If only this could happen more than once, I would be set.

cstorring · Post by **cstorring** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:07 am

Maybe I will get used to it...just had an 8 goal game right after the 11 goal game.

Or else I am being set up for more major disappointment...Oh well, have to revel in the glory of 19 goals in 2 games for now

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:46 am

batdad wrote:For some reason in this db there is a Centre from Denmark that is a stud. I have him for the upcoming draft rated as #3. I think that may be why.

Interesting deal--I would never have thought of going after Pacioretty. He seems to be stalled in my game in Montreal..although my scouts still have him rated for 1st line potential. He has only 5 goals and 5 assists in 60 games and just does not look that solid. Okay...but not solid. And although strong..it does not appear he could hit a fly.

Let me know how he works out..that is cool.

I think I know who you are talking about for that prospect from Denmark. He looked good in my game too but he wasn't very big and wasn't physical. The scouts liked him though. I don't think he was rated as high in my game though.

I think Pacioretty was a victim of the numbers game in Montreal in the game. He really should have been playing down on the farm but I think he had a lesser role with the big club instead. I'll check his stats in my game when I'm at work tomorrow. I don't think he was doing much. My scouts said he had 1st line potential and compared him to one of the Sedins (one scout compared him straight up and another said he was a more talented version). I figure he's worth a shot for what I gave up. He's a good skater and has strength but you're right about his hitting. Hopefully it will improve, along with his other skills. He can't be any worse than Hensick, can he?

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 6:17 am

cstorring wrote:Well I just finished my second draft and moved into the free agent season. Thought I would see what kind of D I could add before the 15 July no trade deadline this season, as Liles was just taking up very expensive space on my roster. He just never seemed to fit in and played terribly every chance he got...

I'm surprised that people find Liles to be useless, for me he leads the league in D-man scoring 16 points ahead of the next best non-Av. Then again Salei was terrible for me and I know atleast one person in this thread has said that he was solid for them so I guess it comes down to different players being suitable for different tactics.

Haven't had much time to play at work for season two so haven't got a chance to post stats, will probably hold off until the entire season is done now since I'm past 70 games anyway. Board wanted the cup so I traded O'Reilly for Lecavalier in July, waived Salei and Tucker and signed Boynton. Will post a more complete season two update when I get around to finishing it and getting the stats up.

ie99jro · Post by **ie99jro** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:10 pm

batdad wrote:So far with this game I am really only changing my breakout, centre ice and forecheck. It seems to be working for now. I change it when I play a team a 2nd time, and then back for the 3rd time...

How do you change in the playoffs? Do you change every game or do you have different for home and away or any other strategy? I usally rotate with matching lines, at home I use it quite often, always in 1 period and then depending on the outcome and the status of the personnel. Away I don't use it that often at all.

What strategy works best for you guys in offensive zone? For me it usually positional and some luck with crash the net.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:30 pm

Just back and forth from one to the other. Occasionally in game 3 I switch up. Also change from Normal-Overload at game 3. I usually only do line matching in game 4 and only in P1 and P3. NEVER P2. And only in game 4.

For me offensively I use triangular alot with this team. I used to use overload slot alot. But with this team the way it is right now...they get beat up in the slot. And no real point shooters either.

Trade Deadline year 2...Highlight is Detroit. They added Dany Heatley from SJ for 2 minor prospects, Miro Satan from NYI for a prospect, and Mike Rathje from Calgary for a prospect. Rathje still too strong in this game. Carolina got Brendan Morrow and Del Zotto in the east. Montreal went defense nuts getting Pronger and Sauve from Vancouver. They did give up Gionta in the Sauve deal. Canucks also added Brendan Witt and dumped Pavol Demitra to the Flyers.

Dead Things scare me now:

Heatley-Datsyuk-Franzen
Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary
Fedotenko-Filpulla-Satan
Begin-Leino-Eaves
Comrie-Draper

Kronwall-Rafalski
Koistinen-Kubina
Cullimore-Pilar
Rathje-Boynton (IR)

Osbad
Howard

Post by **Manimal** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:49 pm

No UFAs for me. They went elsewhere and I did not want to signe one mediocre player. Hoping I can get something good on waivers. I still haven't made my trade either. almost got Scuderi and Simmonds from the KIngs but the deal fell through

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:53 pm

The Wings signed Marleau in my game. Out in the East, the Hurricanes built up a pretty nice defense with Lidstrom, Pronger, Morris, Mara, and MA Bergeron. I'm a bit surprised with how some things have played out in the West. The Canucks are still a playoff team even after losing Luongo to free agency and being stuck with Raycroft and Ellis in net. On the other hand, Dallas is 12th in the conference at the moment even though they added Luongo in net.