Continuing the Challenge - Carolina Hurricanes

[bruins72]

I'm calling this story/dynasty "Continuing the Challenge" because this is the team I've been using for the Carolina Hurricanes challenge in the Challenge Forum. I'm starting this story in the 07-08 season. If you'd like details of the 05-06 & 06-07 season, read my posts for the 2.1 and 2.2 challenges in the chat threads in that forum. You can see what's happened up to this point. For the most part, I've gone into great detail. I'll start off by giving an overview of my team at the moment.

Roster:

Goaltending
Henrik Lundqvist - acquired via trade 11/16/05 (Cam Ward, Jack Johnson and 2006 1st round pick to NY Rangers for Lundqvist)
Maxime Ouellet - signed as a UFA 7/5/07

Defense
Tim Gleason - acquired via trade 8/14/05 (Glen Wesley, Jesse Boulerice, and rights to Ryan Bayda to LA Kings for Gleason and Dustin Brown)
David Hale - acquired via trade 8/22/05 (rights to Tim Kunes, 2006 4th & 5th round picks to NJ Devils for Hale)
Mattias Ohlund - acquired via trade 7/16/07 (Paul Mara and rights to Akim Aliu to Detroit Red Wings for Ohlund)
Ossi Vaananen - signed as a UFA 9/26/06
Nick Boynton - acquired via trade 1/8/06 (Rhett Warrener, rights to Justin Peters, and 2006 4th round pick to Boston for Boynton)
Brad Stuart - acquired via trade 10/12/05 (Craig Adams, Danny Richmond, and Bret Hedican to Sharks for Stuart)

Forwards

LW
Erik Cole - drafted by Carolina - 3rd round (#71 overall) 1998 NHL Entry Draft
Colin Forbes - unknown (was with team when game started)
Ladislav Nagy - acquired via trade 11/1/05 (Andrew Ladd, rights to Joe Barnes & Casey Borer, and 2006 2nd round pick to Phoenix for Nagy)
Jay Pandolfo - signed as a UFA 7/4/07
Josef Vasicek - drafted by Carolina - 4th round (#91 overall) 1998 NHL Entry Draft

C
Mike Fisher - claimed off waivers from Ottawa 10/11/06
Olli Jokinen - signed as a UFA 7/4/06
Eric Staal - drafted by Carolina - 1st round (#2 overall) 2003 NHL Entry Draft
Yan Stastny - acquired via trade 11/23/06 (Colby Armstrong and 6th round pick in 2007 to Edmonton for Stastny and Columbus' 3rd round pick in 2007)


RW
Oleg Saprykin - acquired via trade 2/16/06 (Gordie Dwyer, Radim Vrbata, and rights to Jakub Vojta & Nicolas Blanchard to Phoenix for Saprykin)
Scott Hartnell - acquired via trade 10/29/05 (Ray Whitney, rights to Kyle Lawson, Sean Curry, & Risto Korhonen, and 2006 3rd round pick to Nashville for Hartnell)
Dustin Brown - acquired via trade 8/14/05 (Glen Wesley, Jesse Boulerice, and rights to Ryan Bayda to LA Kings for Gleason and Dustin Brown)
Jed Ortmeyer - acquired via trade 1/23/06 (Justin Williams to Calgary for Ortmeyer)


Farm Team - Lowell Lock Monsters of the AHL (players who Carolina owns the rights to only)

Goaltenders
Kevin Nastiuk
Aaron Rock (on loan to Houston Aeros of the AHL)

Defensemen
Aaron Dawson
Niclas Wallin
Anton Babchuk
Chris Gravelding

Forwards
Richard Clune
Tomas Svoboda
Adam Taylor
Michal Krupka
Anton Skorykh


Unsigned Prospects (drafted by me only, most others are gone)
C Rastislav Konecny
C Aleksei Mikov
LD Ryan Kerr
RW/LW Dale Mitchell
LW/RW Patrick Leonard
RW Tomas Striz

Draft Picks in 2008
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3 4ths (Carolina, NJ, & Anaheim), 5th, 6th, and 7th

Personnel
GM - Bill McConnell (me)
Asst GM - Lorne Frey
Head Coach - Peter Laviolette
Asst Coach - Chad Allen
Asst Coach - Ted Nolan
Asst Coach - Steve Stirling
Asst Coach - Dave Whistle
Asst Coach - Neil WIlkinson
Head Scout - Ross Mahoney
Scout - Hakan Andersson
Scout - Bo Berglund
Scout - Tim Bernhardt
Scout - Scott Bradley
Scout - Paul Castron
Scout - Bryce Ftorek
Scout - Randy Peterson
Scout - Mike Rooney
Trainer - Peter Friesen
Trainer - Glen Kinney
Trainer - Stu Lempke

At the end of the preseason, my team was ranked #5 in the season preview and Lundqvist was among the top 10 goaltenders. Last season's Stanley Cup winning Dallas Stars were ranked 11th. Despite not having a strong looking roster, the Calgary Flames were ranked #1 in the predictions. Go figure!

That's what my team looks like at the start of the 07-08 season. Like I said, if you want to know more about how I got here, check the Challenge Forum and look at the two Carolina Hurricanes challenge threads. I'll probably update here every 10 games or so. Check back if you're interested!

[archibalduk]

You've made some pretty top notch signings in your defence. I'm interested to see how your C's perform as I don't really see anyone big in there apart from Staal. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and I'm underestimating them.

Your team is pretty much your work. I see that you've traded away most of the original Canes. How have they gelled (I should probably read the Challenge threads but I thought you could tell me in a nutshell!)?

[flea]

Nice job!!

I wonder how it turns out!!

I have special interest in knowing how Anton Skorykh is playing for u!! I have drafted him in the 2006 draft with the 29th pick of the 3rd round. Now Iam in the preseason on the 2008-2009 season and he has played very well in the QMJHL with PEI, so I signed him and Iam still deciding if I give him out for loan or mantain him in Providence in the AHL...

Any suggestion about Anton???

[bruins72]

You've made some pretty top notch signings in your defence. I'm interested to see how your C's perform as I don't really see anyone big in there apart from Staal. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and I'm underestimating them.

Your team is pretty much your work. I see that you've traded away most of the original Canes. How have they gelled (I should probably read the Challenge threads but I thought you could tell me in a nutshell!)?

My centers do pretty well for me. Staal has done okay but he hasn't exploded yet. He's my 2nd line center. In previous seasons he's done well for a string of games and then struggled for a bit. His technical abilities look great but his physical abilities haven't done as well. He really needs to get stronger and faster. My #1 center is Jokinen. He's been awesome! He was my best FA signing. I picked him up before starting the 2nd season. He works well with Saprykin and Nagy. Sometimes I drop Nagy or Saprykin down to the second line and bring up one of Staal's wingers (Cole or Hartnell). I only do that if one of the lines isn't producing for a few games. Fisher is my checking line center. I've had him play center or wing on one of the top two lines when I've had injuries though.

The defense was one of the first things I started working on when I took over the team. My thinking is, you have to build a team from the net out. I got Lundqvist to make my goaltending solid and then I started strengthening the defense. It took some time though. I barely made the playoffs in my first season. The next season I made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals (and lost in game 7).

I think my team is gelling pretty well. Most of my guys have been with the team since the first season or early in the second season. I've kept my lines pretty consistant. I've tried not to make too many moves once I got the guys that I wanted. There are still a couple of guys that I'd trade for in a heartbeat but I haven't been able to get them away from their teams. Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned it in this thread but I mentioned it in the challenge forum... my board has given me a budget of $39M this season, the maximum allowed under the salary cap. They raised me a million or two after the first season but after making it to the finals, they decided to give me full power!

[bruins72]

Nice job!!

I wonder how it turns out!!

I have special interest in knowing how Anton Skorykh is playing for u!! I have drafted him in the 2006 draft with the 29th pick of the 3rd round. Now Iam in the preseason on the 2008-2009 season and he has played very well in the QMJHL with PEI, so I signed him and Iam still deciding if I give him out for loan or mantain him in Providence in the AHL...

Any suggestion about Anton???

Well, I left Anton with PEI until this season. I just signed him during the summer and assigned him to my farm team. I usually keep guys with their junior team until they're 20, unless they're ready to play regularly with my club before then. Skorykh had a couple of good seasons with PEI. In 05-06, he had 98 points in 70 games. He only played 60 games in 06-07 but still had 84 points (and a better +/-). Unfortunately, my scouts only predict him to be a depth player. He's great physically but his technical abilities haven't really developed yet. He's got a 15 in stickhandling but everything else is around 10 (plus or minus a bit). As the season goes on, I'll report how he's doing in the AHL.

[bruins72]

My Carolina Hurricanes just completed the first 10 games of the regular season. They did well but because of the Eastern Conference being top-heavy, they're sitting in 3rd place with a record of 7-2-1. The Senators are ahead of us by 1 point but they've also played 1 more game than us. The Flyers have played 10 games but have 2 more points, with a record of 8-1-1. So far our special teams are doing okay. The power play is much better than it has been in the past. We're currently 25%. The PK isn't terrible but it could use some improvement since it's only 81.8% at the moment. In these 10 games we've got 38 goals for and 26 goals against.

Lundqvist has had the vast majority of starts so far, playing 8 of the 10 games with a record of 6-1-1, a 2.33GAA, and a .918SV%. Ouellet hasn't done as well as I had hoped. He's got 2 losses in the 2 games he's started. His GAA is 3.50 and he's got a .894SV%. I'm hoping he's just adjusting to the team. I need him to be a reliable backup. If not I'll have to hit the market.

We've had a few short term injuries so far. Pandolfo missed 3 games with a twisted knee. He's only been playing on the 4th line, so it didn't matter much. I was also missing Stastny for 4 games. He been out since the the last week of the preseason with a groin strain. Colin Forbes filled in for each of these guys when they were out (fortunately not at the same time). Oleg Saprykin also missed 3 games at the start of the season. I moved Dustin Brown up to the top line to take his spot during those games and he did quite well. He had 2 goals and 2 assists in those 3 games. He hasn't done as well since dropping down to the 4th line. He seems to thrive on more ice-time. I might have to move him up to the 3rd line and move Ortmeyer down to the 4th. It won't hurt Ortmeyer as much since he gets PK time at least.

The team's current leading scorer is Ladislav Nagy. He's got 7 goals and 6 assists in the 10 games. Olli Jokinen has 4 goals and 6 assist. Cole has 3 goals and 6 assist. My highest scoring defenseman so far has been Tim Gleason. He's got 9 assists (no goals) in 10 games. He's a -1 though. Ohlund has 1 goal and 5 assists but he's also got a +5. Erik Cole is leading the team in PIMs with 12. I'm hoping I can find somebody else to take on more of an enforcer role because Cole serves the team better on the ice than in the box. Nagy is currently #25 in the league in scoring. The top spot is a 3 way tie between Tanguay, Naslund, and surprisingly Kim Johnsson (playing with the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Stars... who are tied for 1st in the West with the Wild!).

An update on Anton Skorykh for flea: So far he's not doing so well with Lowell in the AHL. In 7 games he's got 1 goal and 1 assist. He's only averaging under 9 minutes of icetime per game though. I'm wondering if I should try loaning him out or sending him back to junior? There is no room on the ECHL affiliate's roster for him. I think I'll give it a bit longer and see what happens. Richard Clune and Tomas Svoboda are doing much better though.

That's it for now. We'll see how the next 10 games go.

[flea]

Well, I left Anton with PEI until this season. I just signed him during the summer and assigned him to my farm team. I usually keep guys with their junior team until they're 20, unless they're ready to play regularly with my club before then. Skorykh had a couple of good seasons with PEI. In 05-06, he had 98 points in 70 games. He only played 60 games in 06-07 but still had 84 points (and a better +/-). Unfortunately, my scouts only predict him to be a depth player. He's great physically but his technical abilities haven't really developed yet. He's got a 15 in stickhandling but everything else is around 10 (plus or minus a bit). As the season goes on, I'll report how he's doing in the AHL.

LOL, that sounds EXACTLY as "my" Anton Skorykh in the game....excellent two seasons with PEI (around 90 points both seasons), but my scouts only see him as a depth player!!!
I have signed him for my Bruins, because if I didnt I would have lost the rights on him, but I gave him out for loan to the ECHL (togheter with C: John Hughes, another of my draft picks...like this they can play togheter in the minors and get used to each other....they will have to carry my future Bruins team to the playoffs ). Iam planning to call him up to the AHL or NHL next year...hopefully he will be ready!!!

Thanks for the info bruins72!!!

[bruins72]

At the 20 game mark, my Hurricanes are still sitting in 3rd place in the conference. They've struggled a bit a time so far this season, going 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and 12-5-3 for the season so far. So it looks like they're getting worse, not better. Part of the problem has been injuries. Guys haven't been playing at full strength. There have been a couple of times that Brad Stuart has had a potential injury after a game and then the next day his condition is bad. Then he's had to sit a game out or play at less than 90% condition. Ortmeyer has been out 4 games so far (he's still day-to-day at this point) with olecranon bursitis. Vasicek is currently day-to-day with a neck strain. He'll probably miss a game or two. The oddest thing I've seen so far has been the situation with Oleg Saprykin. He had been having condition problems since training camp. He was always more tired than he should've been after games. At first I thought it was just a little leftover from his thigh strain he had in camp. Then I get a message that he's going to be out a few days while he gets accupuncture! I've never seen this in the game before! This was a first for me. So I have my trainers report on him and they say they have concerns about his long-term health due to arthritis early in his career. I had never heard anything about him having that. So he undergoes his treatment (which his injury history lists as being out for 4 days for faith healing). Now my trainers have no problems with him. It must've worked. I'm stilling trying to shop him around though.

Even though Saprykin has been deemed healthy and he has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in 16 games, something about him isn't sitting right with me. He's a great skater and he has good offensive abilities but he hasn't developed anymore as a player. He's only 26 years old in November of 2007. He's been with my team since he was 24. You'd think he would've gotten a little better. Maybe his wrist shot might have improved? Something! Nope. Another thing that has made me consider this is Dustin Brown. He's done well in games where he got a good amount of icetime and no so good with less. Of course, a good part of this has to do with his linemates but it's still telling. Brown is 23 now and I can't send him down to the AHL with passing him through waivers (and he'd get plucked in a second). Maybe now is the time to make a move? To kind of find a balance for now, I've moved Brown to the RW on the top line while moving Saprykin to LW on the 3rd line. Saprykin is still RW on the top PP lines though.

Before deciding to move Brown up into Saprykin's place, I tried to make a few deals for RWs while shipping out Saprykin. No luck. I did find that Jeff Halpern was still a UFA. I offered him 1 year (plus a team option) deal for $1.2M and he took it. He's been with the team for 7 games now, playing on the checking (3rd) line on the RW. He's still getting into game shape because he hadn't been playing since last season. I expect him to be a force on the PK and checking line once he's found his stride. So far, he's just been okay.

Nothing all that special is going on with my farm team. In fact, a few players aren't getting any icetime. I have already loaned out Aaron Rock to the Houston Aeros. He's had 9 starts with them so far. He's 4-3-2 with a 2.42 GAA and .909 SV%. Not too shabby! I just offered Kevin Nastiuk out to the Hamilton Bulldogs. He hadn't gotten any starts (or playing time in general) all season. I also offered out Chris Gravelding to the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL. He's a young defenseman and really needs to play... which he hasn't done in Lowell so far. He's not that great of a prospect, so I offered him to an ECHL team rather than an AHL team. I figure he's more likely to play there. Of course, my ECHL affiliate doesn't have any room on their roster. I must share that affiliate with some other team or something. I'm waiting to hear back on these two loan offers.

Wallin is still on the farm and not doing anything special. I just offerded him to the Lightning and the Avalanche. Both teams were listed as interested. We'll see what happens. Babchuck is still with Lowell and doing pretty well. He's got 10 points in 16 games with them. He's still not good enough to claim a spot on my roster though. I might have to trade him after this season if he's still not ready. He's 23 years old right now. Clune, Svoboda, and Skorykh are all doing so-so with Lowell. They're all in the single digits for scoring (5,9, & 7 points respectively) but at least they're playing.

My unsigned prospects are doing well. My 1st round pick, Tomas Striz, is doing great. The media has been impressed with him latel. In 25 games he has 17 goals, 18 assists, and a +22 for Red Deer. His Red Deer teammate and fellow Hurricanes prospect Ryan Kerr is doing well with 5 goals, 13 assist, a +16, and 55 PIMs. Patrick Leonard is doing okay in his first season with Rennselaer. He's got 6 goals and 4 assists in 15 games for them. Aleksei Mikov is tearing it up with the Quebec Remparts! He's got 24 goals, 24 assists, and a +26 in 22 games with them. He's also been named QMJHL Offensive Player of the Week twice (10/1/07 and 11/1907). His best game of the season came 11/13/07 against PEI. He had 4 goals and 1 assist, earning the 1st star of the game. Not bad for a 3rd round pick! I'm really excited about this player! Dale Mitchell of the Sarnia Sting is doing pretty well. He's got 10 goals, 20 assist, and a +25 in 24 games so far this season. My 7th round pick in the last draft, Rastislav Konency is doing okay with Povazska. He's got 4 goals and 9 assists in 16 games for them so far.

I'm hoping my team gets it together in the next bunch of games. I'm also hoping to deal away Saprykin for a good prospect and/or a draft pick. I'm also trying to bundle him with other players to get one of the players I covet but haven't had any luck so far. If I do, I'll go into more detail on that.

[bruins72]

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I've just moved and took a few days off to do pack and unpack. I still don't have internet access at home but I'm back to work today and I'll try to get things going again.

[bruins72]

I finally had some time to work on my season. I just hit the 40 game mark. The 07-08 Hurricanes are currently sitting at 2nd in the Eastern Conference. We're 5 points behind the Flyers and they've played 2 less games than us. They must have some great chemistry because I don't see any other reason for them to be doing so well. With the roster I have, I honestly expected my team to be dominating this season. I've had some serious injury troubles though. I'm also thinking I might have some problems re-signing a couple of players, so I may have to move a few players at the deadline rather than risk losing them and getting nothing in return. Anyhow, at the 40 game mark, we have a record of 26-10-4 with 142 goals for and 110 against. We've been about .500 in our last 10 games.

Again, injuries are hurting our team. Nagy went out for 12 days with a neck strain. He was the team's leading scorer at the time, so it really hurt. I've also had problems keeping Ohlund healthy. I haven't lost him for more than a game at a time but it always seems like he's got some sort of potential injury after a game. He's only missed 2 games out of the 40 so far but he's played at low condition a couple of times because other d-men have been worse off. I lost Hale for a couple of weeks in December due to a groin strain. Due to all the defense juggling, I've kept both Babchuck and Gleason playing most of the time. It seems like somebod is always sitting and one of these guys is playing in their place. I brought Brown up to the top line when Nagy went out and put Stastny back in on the 4th line in his place. Brown really didn't do much with the icetime he was given. He had 1 game where he had 3 assists but other than that he wasted his chance. Saprykin has done much better since his "faith healing" though. Maybe I'll get rid of Brown instead?

I've only made 1 trade during this timespan. I sent Wallin to the Lightning for their 3rd round pick. This works for me because I get another pick while dumping his salary. He wasn't doing me any favors playing in the AHL. I managed to loan out a bunch of my AHL players that weren't getting icetime. The only players of mine that are currently in the AHL are Clune, Mitchell, Svoboda, and Skorykh. Striz, Mikov, and Kerr are all doing well in juniors. Leonard and Konecny aren't really impressing much. I didn't expect much from Konecny but Leonard is a 1st round pick. I'm thinking of signing him to get him out of college hockey and sending him to Guelph of the OHL (they own his CHL right) instead.

I'm still trying to make deals but nobody is biting on my offers. Hopefully I can make some deals before the deadline!

[bruins72]

Another 20 games in the books and it's been pretty much more of the same. My Hurricanes went 13-4-3 over this stretch for an overall record of 39-14-7. We're still #2 in the conference behind the Flyers and we've got the second best record in the league as well. Despite all of this, I'm still not happy with the team. We should be better than this. We're still struggling with injuries. Mostly it's just guys out for a game or two. I actually lost Nagy for a bit again. He got a hip flexor strain in practice. He's missed a couple of weeks already and he's no day to day. Of course, this made me juggle the lines a bit. If he hadn't have missed all of this time (11 games so far this season), he'd probably lead the team in points. He's only 9 points behind Jokinen and he's played 11 less games.

I've actually made some moves during this stretch. I wasn't happy with what I was seeing out of Dustin Brown. He just never seemed to get it together enough to be successful at the NHL level. He was 23 years old and hadn't really improved over the last year or so. I packaged him up with the rights to Tyson Strachan and sent him to the Coyotes for Enver Lisin. Lisin is a great skater with excellent stamina. My scouts project him as a key player with 1st line potential. They compare his to Trent Hunter. And he's only 21 to boot! I was very happy with this move.

My second deal was a prospect swap for the most part. I sent Anton Skorykh and the rights to Konecny to the Blackhawks for Michael Blunden. My scouts didn't think Skorykh was going to develop into more than a depth player and Konecny was a 7th round pick. Blunden has great skating and stamina, plus he's killer on deflections. My scouts compare him to Jere Lehtinen but with a bigger frame. The projections vary between a core 2nd liner to a key 1st liner. Either way, I see this an an upgrade.

The last move I was able to make was sending Richard Clune (he hadn't been developing much in the AHL for me), my 2nd round pick in 2008, and the 2 3rd round picks I had for 2008 (the second 3rd rounder came from dealing Wallin earlier this season) to the Rangers for Jack Johnson. I've been wanting to get him back since I dealt him in the package for Lundqvist. I didn't want to lose him back then (in my first season) but I needed Lundqvist. Johnson wasn't ready to help my team then. Now he is.

I'm still trying to make some more moves. Believe it or not, I'm trying to get rid of Ohlund. He's played well for us (39 points in 55 games with a +24) but his salary is killing me! He's making $5.25M a season. Unforunately, there aren't many teams that could afford to add his salary under the cap. I've still got some room under the cap but not enough to resign some of my players, namely Lundqvist and Saprykin. I don't mind dealing away Saprykin but I need Lundqvist. He's probably my most important player on our team. Oddly enough, he won the goalie competition at the All-Star Game Skills Competition but then didn't get to play in the All-Star game (EHM only has 1 goaltender play the game rather than splitting the time like they do in the real ASG).He wants $3M a season but my board is only letting me offer him $1.5M. That's a long gap to bridge! So I figured if I unloaded Ohlund, they'd let me offer Lundqvist more. I'm also looking at shipping out either Gleason or Babchuck. Neither one has been all that great for me. Gleason puts up points but he tends to be a defensive liability. He's got 31 points in 45 games but he's even in +/- right now (and it took him a while to get back up to even). Babchuck has done okay but he's nothing special. He's 23 now and hasn't developed enough. I'm also looking at getting rid of either Nagy or Saprykin. I'll only get rid of Nagy if the right deal comes along but I'm really trying to get rid of Saprykin before I lose him to free agency without getting anything in return. I'd also consider packing my 1st round pick with one of these guys if it got me what I wanted. I'm really not too impressed with the players I see ranked around where I'd pick.

Striz is still killing in junior hockey. He's got 67 points in 50 games for Red Deer so far this season and the media has been praising him quite a bit lately. My Asst GM rates him as our best prospect. If he turns into a more talented version of Todd Bertuzzi like my scouts say, I can see why everyone is so high on him. For some reason, my Asst GM still likes Patrick Leonard. I'm not so impressed with him anymore. He didn't do all that well for Rensselaer this season. I wasn't able to get him to sign with me earlier in the season because he didn't want to be just a decent young player. I just tried offering him another deal as an excellent prospect. He said he didn't want that status either but I made the offer anyway. Mikov has done great for the Remparts but the scouts projections aren't that impressive. I'm sending out a scout to look at him again though. I'm thinking that maybe they just looked at him last during a bad game. Kerr and Mitchell are still doing well for their junior teams too. Kerr is currently projected as a better but smaller version of Kubina and Mitchell is projected to turn out like JP Dumont. Not too shabby.

Well, we've got 22 more games to go and I've got to rack up some wins so we can finish the season strong (hopefully taking the President's trophy from the Flyers). I've still got to make a couple of deals. Hopefully they won't hurt the team.

[Systemfel]

This is always fun to read. Keep it up.

[bruins72]

Thanks for the kind words. I'll be finishing up this season but I'm not sure if I'll continue into the next or not. I'm kind of itching to start up a new team. This is my 3rd season with this team and I rarely go much further than that without starting a new game. I usually go with the Boston Bruins but since I started doing challenges (I did a couple back at susie) I've enjoyed trying out other teams that I may not be as familiar with. I'm thinking about starting a game with the Florida Panthers. They've got some guys that I'm always trying to trade for (and most of the time I can't get!).

Keep an eye out for my next update. I've only gone 3 games beyond my last update but I hit the trade deadline and there was lots of activity on my part! Let's just say I've addressed several of the situations I mentioned in my last update and got a player I had wanted for a while now (plus some picks). My future looks bright! I just hope my team is experienced enough to do well in the playoffs and that I didn't mess with the team chemistry too much.

[bruins72]

Well, I've finished the regular season! I'm happy with the way this last segment of games went for my team. First and foremost... we won the President's Trophy! We put together a good string of wins and the Flyers took enough losses for my Hurricanes to take over the top spot! The Canes finished with a record of 55-20-7 for 117 points while the Flyers finished just behind them with 114 points. It was a tight race at the end but I attribute the success to my tweaked roster.

How was my roster tweaked? By some nice trades at the deadline! I made 3 trades and they accomplished exactly what I needed. The first was a salary dump. I sent Ohlund to the Rangers for their 1st round pick in the 2008 draft (which is this off-season). I needed to shed his $5.25M a year salary. Even though I was below the cap and the team's budget, they wouldn't allow me to offer enough to Lundqvist to re-sign. The Rangers finished 9th in the conference, so the pick will be somewhere in the middle of the 1st round.

My next move delighted me! I never expected it to get accepted. I sent goaltender Kevin Nastiuk (who's contract expires at the end of the season), Anton Babchuck (who wasn't really panning out for me), the rights to Patrick Leonard, and a 4th round pick in 2008 to the Canadiens for Peter Mueller! My scouts say Leonard could become a bigger, better version of Naslund but I don't see it. Montreal had been mis-using Mueller. He only had 19 points and a -3 in 81 games with Montreal in his first season. In his second (the current one) season, he had 16 points and a -8 in 54 games with the Canadiens. Once he came over to my team he had 20 points in 19 games (but was still a -1). Look for him to start to get it together now.

My last trade was to send Oleg Saprykin packing. He was giving me trouble re-signing and I didn't trust his "faith healing" to correct his arthritis. I sent him to the Blackhawks for their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2008. That's a deal I was very happy to take! I was kind of surprised when they accepted it. The funny thing was, when I made him available, everyone's interest in him was 3 stars. When I took the "available" tag off, everyone had 4 star interest. Go figure! The even funnier thing is that Chicago waiver him less than a month later. He was playing LW on their 2nd line and had 8 points in 14 games for them. I tried to claim him off waivers so I could have him as insurance in the playoffs but the Boston Bruins got him. He played 4 games as their 2nd line LW but didn't put up any points. We'll see if they re-sign him. He's on a line with Bergeron and Ruutu. That could be a dangerous line! Anyhow, the Blackhawks finished 6th in the West. Still, it's a 1st round pick!

Jokinen lead the team in goals, assists, and overall points for the season. He had 45 goals, 48 assists, 57 PIMs, and a +33. Hartnell was 2nd in goals scored with 38. Nagy was 2nd in assists with 46. Hartnell lead the team in +/- with a +40. Hale was the team PIM leader with 99. Lundqvist was 35-13-10 in 58 games with a 2.63 GAA and .915 SV%. He had 2 shutouts. Another thing to note is that I was able to re-sign Lundqvist at $3M a season for 2 more seasons, plus an option for another.

We're set to play the Thrashers in the 1st round of the playoffs. They're the 8th seed but we had some trouble with them this season. In 6 games they out-scored us 20-16, winning 4-2-0. They're not a team to be taken lightly. I'll give an update once I've finished the playoffs!

[timmy_t]

Hey bruins72-

I have continued my Carolina game also, but I haven't posted it. I kept all of the same rules from the challenge (regarding trades) and even though I am doing great in the 3rd season, I am looking for a new challenge (like you). I like reading about your team, so keep it up!

[bruins72]

Thanks for the nice words, timmy_t. I appreciate everyone who is reading this. It's always nice to share with other people. I can't wait to read what you do in your third season.

****

The Playoffs!

So like I said... my first round opponent was the Atlanta Thrashers. Going into the playoffs, I was concerned about facing these guys. They beat me 4 games to 2 in the regular season. They were a strong 8th seed. Fortunately, my boys were up to the task. We won the series 4 games to 1. Our only loss was in game 4 when they squeaked by 3-2 in OT with a goal by Bryan Berard.

The next round we faced the Florida Panthers. I wasn't as worried about this team as I was about the Thrashers. We faced them 6 times during the regular season and came out with a 4-1-1 record, scoring 24 to their 19. So in the conference semi-final round, we took the first two games at home, winning by scores of 4-2 and 4-1. Game 3 in Florida was a tough one. The teams were tied 2-2 until the 3rd OT when Eric Daze scored for the Panthers. Fortunately, my boys didn't let that get them down. They won the next two games by scores of 4-2 and 3-2.

In the conference final we faced the Philadelphia Flyers. This is the team that we were chasing for the confernce lead (and league lead for that matter) all season long. We ended up passing them at the end of the regular season to win the President's trophy but could we beat them in the playoffs? We played 4 regular season games against the Flyers and they outscored us 15-10 for a 3-1-0 record. The playoffs would be different for us. This turned out to be the easiest round for us. We swept the Flyers, winning 4 straight games to take the Eastern Conference title. We won the games by scores of 4-2, 3-1, 6-4, and 3-2. We were heading to the Stanley Cup finals! Unfortunately, we lost Jeff Halpern to a rotator cuff strain in the final game. He'd be out for a month.

Our opponent in the Stanley Cup finals was the Calgary Flames. The beat the Minnesota Wild 4 games to 1 in the first round. In the second round they beat the Vancouver Canucks games to 1 as well. Their toughest battle was beating the Chicago Blackhawks (lead by Joe Thornton) 4 games to 3. We went into the Stanley Cup finals with a healthy team except for the loss of Jeff Halpern. Of course, this concerned me because Halpern was my 3rd line center and he was my big face-off man. I wanted him there to help shut down Iginla and Calgary's top line. Other than Halpern, my only injuries during the playoffs had been losing Staal, Boynton, and Hale for two games each (not at the same time). I wouldn't have Halpern for the whole series.

In game 1 our teams skated to a 2-2 at the end of regulation. 1:27 into OT, Scott Hartnell went off for a high-stick. About a minute later, Robin Regehr scored on the PP to win the game for the Flames. That was the last game the Flames would win. My boys came back and took the next 4 games straight. They won by scores of 4-3, 2-1, 3-2, and 2-0. Games 2 and 4 went to overtime. I thought it was especially sweet to win game 5 and the Stanley Cup with a shutout. Olli Jokinen was our leading scorer in the playoffs with 20 points. He lead the team with 12 goals, 4 of them game winners, including the one in game 5 of the finals. David Hale was out playoff assist leader with 13. Mueller had the best +/- (centering Jokinen helped that) with +13. Jack Johnson was the PIM leader with 32. Both of my late season acquisitions did well for me in the playoffs. Johnson had 2 goals and 9 assists to go with a +7 and his 32 PIMs. Mueller was second on the team in playoff points. He had 7 goals and 10 assists to go with his +13 and 14 PIMs. The real star of my team's playoff run was Henrik Lundqvist. He had a record of 16-3 in the playoffs with a 1.84 GAA and .937 SV% including the shutout to win the Stanley Cup. I'm very happy I was able to deal Ohlund so I'd have enough money to re-sign Lundqvist!

The awards rolled around and my team came home empty handed. Even though we won the Stanley Cup, Jerome Iginla won the Conn Smythe trophy for Playoff MVP. He had 26 points in 22 playoff games, 19 of them goals. Lundqvist and Jokinen were 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The only other awards any of my players were in the running for were the Vezina and the Saving Grace. Lundqvist came in 3rd in Vezina voting and 2nd in the Saving Grace. He was also named the the NHL Second All-Star Team.

So that wraps up a great season for my 07-08 Hurricanes. I'm going to do the draft and I'll report back with my picks. I'm still up in the air as to whether or not I'll be carrying on to the 08-09 season.

[flea]

Congrats bruins72!!!!

Nice season u did there!!! Some good trades, good chemistry in your team, good coaching = Stanley Cup!!!

How did Skorykh finish the season?? I my game (5th year) hes now playing with Providence and hes not doing bad at all!!! I hope I can call him up for some game in the NHL....

Congrats again for your Stanley!!! Feels good when u win it, right???

Greets

ThaFlea

[bruins72]

Thanks, flea!

Yes, it feels VERY nice to win it all. I've done it with the Bruins in the past. I think this might (I can't remember for sure though, I've been playing the game since it came out and played the old versions as well) be the first time that I've won the Stanley Cup with another team though.

I traded Skorykh to the Blackhawks in January of 2008 (the current season). He wasn't doing very well with my AHL affiliate. In 35 games he only had 17 points. In 42 games with Chicago's AHL affiliate, Norfolk, he had 29 points. That's a good improvement. He must fit in better there or be getting more icetime. He also had 4 points in 6 playoff games for Norfolk. I hope he continues to improve for you on Providence and eventually for the Bruins!

[bruins72]

So I've come back from the weekend and run my draft. I had 3 1st round picks, 1 2nd, 2 4ths, and my 5th, 6th, & 7th rounders. The first round of the draft was kind of strange. The first few picks were exactly as ranked but after that it was all over the place. I attribute that to this draft not being very strong. There were several guys that should've gone in the 2nd round based on ranking picked in the 1st instead. There was even an un-ranked guy (AJ Jenks) taken #10 overall!

My first pick of the 1st round was #14 overall. I picked Aleksi Laaksonen. He's a center from Finland. I'm guessing he's a regen because he's got a mental characteristic listed (poor self-confidence). Despite that mental characteristic, he looks pretty good. He's 6' tall but on the light side. He's projected as a goal-scoring forward with 1st line potential. My scouts say he could become a more talented version of Doug Weight. Everything is an A or a B on his report card except Defense, which is a C. He's already got 19s for Acceleration and Speed and a 16 for stamina. Other notable abilities are a 20 in Teamwork, a 16 in Passing, and a 19 in Faceoffs. He played for Ilves Jrs of the Finnish Junior League this season, notching 86 points in 36 games with a +96. I'd like to sign him and send him to a Canadien junior team but nobody has his rights yet. I'm not sure how that will work.

My 2nd pick of the 1st round came 19th overall. With this pick I chose Matt Belich. He's a Canadian RW/C who might not be that big or strong but he's one fiesty SOB! My scouts project him as a skilled forward with 2nd line potential. They say he could be like Shane Doan with a smaller frame. What I really liked was what I saw on his report card. Everything was either an A or a B. He had A+'s in Poise, Leadership, and Skating. Some of his current high attributes are 17's in Balance, Bravery, Teamwork, and Work Rate. He's got an 18 in Aggression too. In 71 games with the Kootenay Ice he had 59 points and a +77. He also had 120 PIMs. He played as their top line RW along with Drayson Bowman and Ben Maxwell. Maxwell is set to join the Bluejackets this season, so Belich might be working with a new center unless Maxwell is returned to the team. Belich also had 26 points in 20 playoffs games for the Ice before ending up President's Cup runners up. Belich was also selected to Team Cherry for the Top Prospects game, which they won.

My final pick of the 1st round was #30 overall. I selected Tony Oak of of the Red Deer Rebels. He's a LW/C with decent (6'3" 194 lbs) size. My scouts have given me some strange reports on him. They've changed back and forth over the season. As it stands after the draft, he's projected as a goal scoring forward with 3rd line potential. Normally I wouldn't chose someone like that with a 1st round pick but like I said, it was a weak draft. What made me pick him was the player comparisons. Two of my scouts said he could be like Dany Heatley while another said he could be like Zetterberg with a bigger frame. Not too shabby! He has A's in Size, Skating, and Scoring. He also has B's in Hockey Sense and Poise. They gave him C's in Defense, Leadership, and Puckhandling. This one could go anywhere. He'll either be a bust or a a steal (he was ranked #23). I was debating between Oak and Chris Dyer at this pick but thought Oak had more going for him. He's got an 18 in Deking, a 17 in Stamina, and 16's in Speed and Wristshot. In 69 games for the Rebels he had 85 points and a +60. He also had 19 points in 15 playoff games.

In the second round I took a goaltender with the 49th overall pick (Chicago's pick via trade). I took Latvian goalie Eduards Mironovics. He was ranked 92nd overall but he looked like a good goaltending prospect and I didn't have another pick until the 4th round. He's on the small side (5'8" 174 lbs) and appears to be a regen with Sporting and Independant mental characteristics. 4 of the 5 scouts I had watch him say he'll be a backup but one of them says he'll be a starter. Two of them compare him to Manny Legace, 2 compare him to a poor man's Marty Turco, and the one that says he could be a starter compares him to Curtis Joseph. His report card is all A's except for a B in Hockey Sense and Puckhandling. At 18 years old he's already got a 14 in Blocker and a 15 in Glove. Other high ratings are 19's in Bravery and Recovery, 18 Stamina, and 17's in Strength and Agility. His only weak marks come in Flair and Creativity. Not a big deal. I think he could be something special. In 55 games with St Thomas of the Western Junior B League, he had 26 wins, 19 losses, and 10 ties with a 1.73 GAA and .956 SV% with a whopping 15 shutouts! I'll be keeping an eye on this guy!

In the 4th round I took American defenseman Kale Perry with the 93rd overall and Canadian center Kyle Beach with the 103rd overall pick. Perry is a bit of a long shot. Pokecheck, Influence, and Stamina are his strong suits. Beach looks a little stronger. My scouts compare him to Henrik Sedin and Mike Fisher. He's got all A's and B's on his report card. He's got a 19 in Determination, which I really like.

In the 5th round I took American defenseman Max Nicastro. This guy could be a bit of a hidden gem. He's only projected as a 5th or 6th defenseman but he's got A's in everything except Hockey Sense and Size/Strength on his report card. His Hitting and Checking ratings are already both 20's! He's got an 18 on Determination, 17's in Balance and Aggression, a 16 in Stamina, and a 15 in Wristshot and Bravery. That's pretty darn good for an 18 year old in the 5th round. In 60 games for Toledo of the the North American Hockey League he had 56 points, a +46, and 103 PIMs.

My 6th round pick was a 19 year old that I wanted to take last draft but ran out of picks. He's a bit of a longshot but there was something I liked about him. He's Jordan Nolan (related to Ted Nolan maybe? He's a real player with a pic). Nolan is a 6'3" 207 lbs center playing for Kingston of the OHL. He's not projected to be much but he's got decent size, skating, and defense. I'm hoping he could end up being a 4th line agitator.

My last pick, the final pick of the 7th round and last of the draft, was Olivier Fortier. He's a 19 year old center playing for Victoriaville. He a decent pick for a 7th rounder. He's got 14's, 15's, and 16's in various attributes already. He lead Victoriaville in scoring this past season with 69 points in 70 games. He was a +35 with 89 PIMs.

Overall, it wasn't a bad draft. Before the draft started I tried to trade a couple of my first rounds with a roster player for a couple of different players that I really wanted. I tried a couple of 1sts with Nagy to see if I could get Bergeron or Kessel from Boston but had no luck. I also tried a couple of 1sts and Tim Gleason for Phaneuf but Calgary wasn't biting either.

I'm still debating on starting a new game but I might enter the Free Agency period with this game and see what I can get. If they don't decrease my budget, I should have almost $10M to work with. If I make any good signings, I'll report back.

[bruins72]

Well I went through the July free agent frenzy and only picked up 1 player. I signed Jordan Leopold to a 2 year deal worth $2.4M each year, plus an option year. By signing him it will allow me to keep Tim Gleason as an extra defenseman to use when one of my others is hurt. Gleason is all offense but weak on defense. Leopold will give me more stability.

I made one other move in addition to this. I traded Maxime Oullet and a 4th round pick in the next draft or Cam Ward. Ward was another player I traded in my first season (along with Jack Johnson) for Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers weren't really using him and I thought he looked like he could be better than Oullet, so I figured I'd swap them and throw in a pick to sweeten the deal. It worked!

The only other difference in my roster is my 4th line center. I didn't resign Stastny or Forbes, so I called up Enver Lisin. I figure some time playing with two defensively solid guys like Pandolfo and Ortmeyer could do him some good. Plus, if one of my guys on the scoring lines has to sit a game or two, I can use Lisin's speed.

[timmy_t]

You know that Latvian goalie is Arturs Irbe..??

Good pick up!

[bruins72]

Is that who it is? I can never seem to figure out who these regens are. He looked like a good pick though.

[Systemfel]

He looked like a good pick though.

Of course he did. Just checked the editor, and he had a PA of 158.

[bruins72]

Sweet! I've never used the editor. I'm too afriad of screwing up my game. Plus, I like a little surprise.

So I started a game with the Panthers just to try something different. I haven't deleted my Hurricanes game yet. I'm just going to take a little break (maybe a week) from it. If there is still interest, I'll carry on this diary.