Challenge 16: Edmonton Oilers (Discussion Thread)

Post by **Lidas** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:28 am

Just started S4.

Traded Hemsky + Nilsson for Corey Perry and picked upp Stajan and Avery on UFA.
Couldnt fit Moreau in my budget, so he is down in Springfield.

Biron/JDD
Souray/Visnovsky/Cogliano/Marleau/Perry
Grebeshkov/Gilbert/Penner/Gagner/O'Sullivan
Hannan/Smid/MPS/Stajan/Comrie
Avery/Halpern/Pisani

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:54 pm

Just won the cup in season two like alot of other people have done and I have to write a quick note about the big surprise performer for me - Robert Nilsson!

After dressing for only 30 games in the regular season, Mini Magic played all 21 playoff games scoring 7G 12A +6 and finishing with a 7.52 AvR. Needless to say he earned himself a contract extension.

A honorable mention also goes out to JDD who came on in relief of Lehtonen in the final game after Lehtonen had let in 3 goals on 11 shots. JDD stopped 18 of 19 shots for the Stanley Cup win! I'd like to reward him with an extension as well but he doesn't want to sign right now so we'll see if I can sign him as a RFA or if I'll have to go with Bjurling next season.

I'll make a more complete writeup with awards and draftees when I've made it to July 1st for screenshots.

Since someone asked about lineups here's what I used for most of the playoffs:
Lehtonen
JDD

Souray-Visnovsky
Grebeshkov-Gilbert
Smid-Staios

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
Moreau-Gagner-O'Sullivan
Mikhnov-Stone-Nilsson
Boulton-Potulny-Pisani

Cogliano started the season in the NHL but went down with a three month injury about 20 games in and has been in the AHL since, I expect him to knock someone out of the lineup again for next season.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:47 pm

Awards:
Bill Masterton - Souray
Conn Smythe - Penner, Souray, Hemsky
Selke - Moreau 3rd
Jack Adams - Renney
Norris - Visnovsky
Hart - Penner
Lady Byng - Hemsky 3rd
Rocket Richard - Penner 3rd
Plus-Minus - Horcoff, Penner, Hemsky
First All-Star - Souray, Penner

Draft:
#30(30) RW Barclay Goodrow, like David Backes
#60(56) RW Brett Ritchie, more talented Lee Goren
#90(197) C Antonio Asplund, more talented Ben Guite/poor man's Manny Malhotra
#104(94) RW/LW Max Görtz, more talented Blake Comeau
#120(93) C Marcus Idoff, bigger, better Brett McLean
#150(124) LW MacKenzie Royer, like Cristoph Schubert
#180(162) RW/LW Michal Murcek, like Ryan Keller
#210(N/A) RW Michael Hasson, like Fabian Brunnström

Anyone see a pattern in the player comparisons? I figured this team is pretty loaded when it comes to skill right now so my focus for this draft was role players. Pick #180 breaks the pattern though - Murcek is an overage, undersized sniper.

The third pick was a ridiculous reach and in hindsight probably a mistake, I'll just have to hope he develops into the perfect checking center every team needs.

My fourth and fifth picks were made by recommendation from my Scandinavia scout Kenta Nilsson who claims they both have second line potential. The other scouts rank them as busts-3rd liners so it will be interesting to follow their development.

Ended up with a ton of right wingers, would have been nice to get a LD in there somewhere but you can't have everything I suppose. RD should be set for 15 years or so between Fowler, Gudbranson and Plante (not to mention Petry and Motin who seem to have depth potential).

MPS, Lander and Weigel have not progressed the way I hoped after I brought them over early so I'll leave this batch of Europeans in their home countries until they turn 20.

UFAs: Pitton, Staios, Strudwick, Wild, Chorney, Bendfeld.
RFAs: Deslauriers, Mikhnov, Jacques, Stortini.

I hope to re-sign all the RFAs. Mikhnov wanted a new contract already but he was asking for 1.7M and I'm not prepared to pay that for someone who isn't likely to get any special teams time next season with Cogliano returning.

I probably won't be making any UFA signings or trades, the team looks pretty set for another cup run the way it is. Could possibly use a better 3rd/4th+PK C than O'Marra/Potulny, guess I'll see what's available for cheap.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 10:06 pm

Ugh, again with the UFA youngsters. Alzner, Anisimov, Bodker, Luke Schenn, Okposo, Bailey, Turris, Berglund and the list goes on... It's painful to see.

Salming · Post by **Salming** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:04 am

Marsac wrote:Ugh, again with the UFA youngsters. Alzner, Anisimov, Bodker, Luke Schenn, Okposo, Bailey, Turris, Berglund and the list goes on... It's painful to see.

AI should sign up those players way earlier for lower wage ,then let em go rfa-ufa

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:22 pm

Marsac wrote: Draft:
#30(30) RW Barclay Goodrow, like David Backes
#60(56) RW Brett Ritchie, more talented Lee Goren
#90(197) C Antonio Asplund, more talented Ben Guite/poor man's Manny Malhotra
#104(94) RW/LW Max Görtz, more talented Blake Comeau
#120(93) C Marcus Idoff, bigger, better Brett McLean
#150(124) LW MacKenzie Royer, like Cristoph Schubert
#180(162) RW/LW Michal Murcek, like Ryan Keller
#210(N/A) RW Michael Hasson, like Fabian Brunnström

Anyone see a pattern in the player comparisons? I figured this team is pretty loaded when it comes to skill right now so my focus for this draft was role players. Pick #180 breaks the pattern though - Murcek is an overage, undersized sniper.

My first two picks were exactly the same as yours! I went with a similar type of plan as you in the draft too. This team needs role players and grit. I'd like to think that I addressed that with my draft.

So I finally made my trade for season 3. Maybe I should have waited until the deadline and acquired a big player but I kept things kind of low key. These guys could probably help me this season but I'm starting them out in the AHL. I traded Eberle and Pouliot to the Sharks for Couture and Petrecki. My head scout projected Eberle as a poor man's Svatos with a slower stride. His report card made him look like a one way player. All offense, no defense. Pouliot was 26 years old already and playing 3rd or 4th line. He just wasn't that special. Couture is a 2-way forward with second line potential. My scouts compare him to RJ Umberger. He's also only 22 years old. Petrecki is also 22 years old. He's a big, strong, and hard-hitting defenseman. He's also got a nice slap-shot. My scouts can't seem to decide on his potential though. I've gotten comparisons to Kubina, Rathje, and Aucoin. They've also varied from 1-2 potential to 5-6. However he turns out, I could probably start him now and he's add some nice grit to my blue line.

tksolway · Post by **tksolway** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:27 pm

Salming wrote:
Marsac wrote:Ugh, again with the UFA youngsters. Alzner, Anisimov, Bodker, Luke Schenn, Okposo, Bailey, Turris, Berglund and the list goes on... It's painful to see.
AI should sign up those players way earlier for lower wage ,then let em go rfa-ufa

The problem is, the DB has their total cap hit from the current NHL rules. The game doesn't understand the new rules though, in the olden days of EHM Rookie bonuses did not count towards the cap. These guys should have their actual salary (875k) set as their cap hit rather than 3-4 mil for some of them. The game can't handle these salaries, the AI just dropps the player rather than paying them 5 mil a year for their second contract.

Post by **batdad** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:27 pm

As long as you let Petrecki fight, he will do well for you. Anywhere from 7.5 ratings ( on third pair, 2nd pp) to 8.5 ratings depending on how he does fighting...

Post by **visualdarkness** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:44 pm

bruins72 wrote:
Marsac wrote: Draft:
#30(30) RW Barclay Goodrow, like David Backes
#60(56) RW Brett Ritchie, more talented Lee Goren
#90(197) C Antonio Asplund, more talented Ben Guite/poor man's Manny Malhotra
#104(94) RW/LW Max Görtz, more talented Blake Comeau
#120(93) C Marcus Idoff, bigger, better Brett McLean
#150(124) LW MacKenzie Royer, like Cristoph Schubert
#180(162) RW/LW Michal Murcek, like Ryan Keller
#210(N/A) RW Michael Hasson, like Fabian Brunnström

Anyone see a pattern in the player comparisons? I figured this team is pretty loaded when it comes to skill right now so my focus for this draft was role players. Pick #180 breaks the pattern though - Murcek is an overage, undersized sniper.
My first two picks were exactly the same as yours! I went with a similar type of plan as you in the draft too. This team needs role players and grit. I'd like to think that I addressed that with my draft.

So I finally made my trade for season 3. Maybe I should have waited until the deadline and acquired a big player but I kept things kind of low key. These guys could probably help me this season but I'm starting them out in the AHL. I traded Eberle and Pouliot to the Sharks for Couture and Petrecki. My head scout projected Eberle as a poor man's Svatos with a slower stride. His report card made him look like a one way player. All offense, no defense. Pouliot was 26 years old already and playing 3rd or 4th line. He just wasn't that special. Couture is a 2-way forward with second line potential. My scouts compare him to RJ Umberger. He's also only 22 years old. Petrecki is also 22 years old. He's a big, strong, and hard-hitting defenseman. He's also got a nice slap-shot. My scouts can't seem to decide on his potential though. I've gotten comparisons to Kubina, Rathje, and Aucoin. They've also varied from 1-2 potential to 5-6. However he turns out, I could probably start him now and he's add some nice grit to my blue line.

I think most of us went for the big mean guys. I need the tough players for my forechecking tactics, ideal would be two checkers and one really skilled guy on each line for me.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 2:16 pm

So I just logged my first 20 games for season 3. It was an improvement over the last 2, so that's a good thing. Also, my team isn't all that different from what we started with. There are very few players that weren't Oilers when we started the game. Anyhow, even though we were winning, I didn't like the way the team was playing towards the end of that 20 game segment, so for game 20 I decided to bring up Couture and Petrecki. I sat Ericsson because he hadn't been performing all too well. Then I moved Smid over to the right side (3rd pairing) and put Petrecki as my LD on the second pairing. Stone had been my 4th line center and was on the PK but his morale was very low, so I sat him and put Couture in his place. Petrecki had a great first game but Couture didn't. We'll give it half a dozen games at least and see how they work out.

My current lines...

Moreau - Horcoff - Hemsky/Penner
Abdelkader/Cogliano - O'Sullivan - Penner/Hemsky
Cogliano/Abdelkader - Comrie - Pisani/Brule
Carcillo - Couture - Brule/Pisani

Souray - Gilbert
Petrecki - Vishnovsky
Grebeshkov - Smid

Toskala - JDD

Scratches:
Jonathan Ericsson (D)
JF Jacques (LW/RW)
Ryan Stone (C)

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:34 am

I just wrapped up my first 20 games of season three as well and I sure didn't improve over last season. The first 10-12 games were fine but then things fell apart and the team went on a 5 game losing streak. Special teams went from something like 25/85 to 13/80 in no time flat.

Horcoff has been a huge disappointment so far only picking up 3G 4A. Nilsson is also back to his terrible old self with a team worst -4, his last game was huge with 2G and a 10 rating though so maybe he's about to go hot again. And finally Cogliano is playing himself right off the team with 2G 5A -1, he brings nothing but scoring to the table and he isn't scoring.

Lander, Goodrow and Fowler were excellent in camp. Fowler should spend a year in the AHL and Goodrow is even further away but I'll try to fit Lander on the team for next season.

I lost Brule on re-entry waivers when I called him up as an injury replacement but he pretty much burned his last chance of making the team with a horrible camp and pre-season anyway.

Post by **visualdarkness** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:09 am

Marsac wrote:I just wrapped up my first 20 games of season three as well and I sure didn't improve over last season. The first 10-12 games were fine but then things fell apart and the team went on a 5 game losing streak. Special teams went from something like 25/85 to 13/80 in no time flat.

Horcoff has been a huge disappointment so far only picking up 3G 4A. Nilsson is also back to his terrible old self with a team worst -4, his last game was huge with 2G and a 10 rating though so maybe he's about to go hot again. And finally Cogliano is playing himself right off the team with 2G 5A -1, he brings nothing but scoring to the table and he isn't scoring.

Lander, Goodrow and Fowler were excellent in camp. Fowler should spend a year in the AHL and Goodrow is even further away but I'll try to fit Lander on the team for next season.

I lost Brule on re-entry waivers when I called him up as an injury replacement but he pretty much burned his last chance of making the team with a horrible camp and pre-season anyway.

Horcoff played brutal the first games of the season for me too and was nearly traded, but he found his game and is better than ever!
Cogliano doesn't do anything besides scoring for either, heck, even Nilsson plays better despite his checking-role.
The biggest surprise for me is the top notch play by MPS. I've pased the midseason and MPS the best +/- on the team, top, 20th point-scorer in the league and has won all the Rookie of the Month Awards.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:14 pm

Finally hitting my stride in season two. Second segment was much more successful than the first. Although we're sitting in ninth place, we are tied in points with the 7th place team and only 2 points out of 5th. Hemsky has been a monster, posting 69 points in 40 games.

Special teams are finally beginning to come together. After falling to a season-low 13.4% on the power play, I shuffled things up and added Nilsson (who was injured for most of the segment) in place of Cogliano. We've improved 4 percentage points and now have one of the top PP's in the West.

The Kobasew-Penner swap is proving to be not so hot in hindsight. Penner has twice as many points as Kobasew does (to be fair, Chuck doesn't see the icetime that Penner does) but Boogaard adds some grit to my third line and the two of them have made a player out of Gilbert Brule.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:30 pm

Horcoff hasn't been as dominant in the early part of the 3rd season as he has been in the past but he's still awesome. His average rating is still above 9.00 but he's not leading the team and league in points like he usually does. Cogliano is always effective for me. The key with him is his personal tactics. Don't ask him to do things that he's not good at. Have him play to his strengths (speed) and he'll put up good points. In 26 games so far he's got 36 points (18G18A) and a +16 for me.

I've never been able to get anything out of Nilsson. He's an unsigned RFA for me now and he's playing with Timra instead. He's got really good technical attributes (18 in Deking, Passing, and Stickhandling) but I've never been able to get a good game out of him. Anton Lander doesn't look all that special in my game. I'll probably trade him in season 4. Season 3 is his first in North America in my game. Before that he had 2 seasons at Timra with with Average Ratings below 7. In 22 games with our AHL affiliate he had just 2 assists and a -2. I just sent him down to the ECHL. MPS is doing excellent in his first AHL season though. He's got 31 points in 22 games, good enough for 2nd on the team behind Gagner's 33 points. I'll probably trade Gagner (maybe packaged with Lander in season 4?) but MPS looks like a keeper. Brule has been a disappointment in his first NHL season in my game. He's floated between the 3rd and 4th lines and had PK time. His morale is low, he's got 5 points in 26 games, is a -5, and has a 6.38 average rating. He's just not good enough to crack the top 6 or warrant any PP time. Unfortunately, he plays the type of game where he's only going to be effective on one of those top lines. I don't know how long he'll be able to stick with us.

mustardstew · Post by **mustardstew** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:06 pm

Well, FINALLY finished the 1st regular season - made the playoffs which I never expected - 8th seed going against the 'We always kill the Oilers Flames

.' I had gotten up to 6th, but the night I clinched the playoffs I had Smid, Grebeshkov, Radunske and Stone go down.

This was my worst injury season in any challenge - lost Pisani 3 games in for 7 months (just coming back now) - that made it VERY difficult to put together a 3rd line worth a darn. Staios went down for 3 months TWICE

, making Strudwick indispensible. Various 3 week injuries as well.
As had been noted, guys were really inconsistent - Gagner, O'Sullivan and Comrie were really frustrating. Penner would always play great ( > 8 rating) but not score. JDL played well in net though... well enough for me to win haha.
All I can say is HORCOFF. If he doesn't get MVP I quit. He (league leader in Pts. and Assists) and Hemsky (2nd in Goals) rocked.
So I'm just getting guys back in time for the playoffs. Would rather have drawn the Blue Jackets, but... cheating game...

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:21 am

Just had a game that broke the trend of weak PP and useless Cogliano, 5/12 PP and 2G 3A for Cogliano in a 9-0 spanking of the Ducks. Let's hope Cogliano is about to turn his season around.

This will probably be the most challenging season so far GM-wise, tons of key/core contracts expiring to try to puzzle into a contending team for seasons to come with currently only 800k of cap space:
Cogliano, Gagner, Grebeshkov, Hemsky, Lehtonen, Nilsson, O'Sullivan, Penner, Souray.

And a bunch of future core/key players (according to scouts):
Smid, Plante, Eberle, Lander, MPS, Rajala.

Might have to make a trade just to dump salary, we have an embarassment of riches at RW but no hot LD prospect beyond Smid so that's probably what I'll be looking at.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:07 pm

Game 60 o season 2 was our best yet. We capped off a 10-2 drubbing of the then-4th place Kings with a 7-for-11 power play performance. Kobasew notched 6 points (2g-4a-+2) in just over 11 minutes of ice time. After not scoring a goal in 56 games, Souray netted one in consecutive games.

Salming · Post by **Salming** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:52 pm

Marsac wrote:Just had a game that broke the trend of weak PP and useless Cogliano, 5/12 PP and 2G 3A for Cogliano in a 9-0 spanking of the Ducks. Let's hope Cogliano is about to turn his season around.

This will probably be the most challenging season so far GM-wise, tons of key/core contracts expiring to try to puzzle into a contending team for seasons to come with currently only 800k of cap space:
Cogliano, Gagner, Grebeshkov, Hemsky, Lehtonen, Nilsson, O'Sullivan, Penner, Souray.

And a bunch of future core/key players (according to scouts):
Smid, Plante, Eberle, Lander, MPS, Rajala.

Might have to make a trade just to dump salary, we have an embarassment of riches at RW but no hot LD prospect beyond Smid so that's probably what I'll be looking at.

Its very challanging keeping the squad as the players want more and more in wage and they cant be released as RFA. i am into seson 11 and are now reguarly releasing very good players and each year i trade for a young cheap player.

When i started challange 16 i thought it would be very hard but after some time when the draft players start to knock on door to oilers dressing room and UFA and trade players joins every year the competion for the spots are tough. I now play players on 3rd line sometimes and remove PP time just to keep their production down to hopefully limit their wage demands when i have to negotiate new contracts.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 3:10 am

Finished the second season as the 7th seed in the West (was tied with Nashville for points at 96) and a first round date with the Red Wings. Thought I might be sunk, but was able to split the first two games in Detroit as well as the next two in Edmonton. Stole game five in Detroit 6-4 and thought we'd broken them, but they roared back and drubbed us 7-1 in front of our hometown crowd. A hard-fought game seven ensued, but the Wings couldn't solve Toskala that night, and we moved on with a 3-1 victory in Hockeytown.

Round two set us against Luongo and the canucks. Unlike last season, we were 5-2-1 against them in the regular season. Our fortunes continued into the playoffs as well, as we swept Vancouver easily, winning the first three games 4-1.

The Avalanche were next (ironic, eh?). Much like the Detroit series, we swapped games for the first four. Then, our world fell apart. Horcoff went down early in game five, and Toskala and the team fell apart. Then we lost Souray in the first period of game six, and I knew we were sunk for the series. We're watching the Sabres-Avalanche championship series from home.

MPS showed he could play at the NHL level. I brought him up with 14 games left in the season when O'Sullivan was out for a few weeks. He put up 12 points in those games and added 15 more in the playoffs. I wanted him to spend the whole year in the AHL, but I couldn't stand using Nilsson on my second line. Smid was disappointing with a -21 rating in 62 games, but he was better in the playoffs. Having some trouble resigning him for now, but I've qualified him, so he isn't REALLY going anywhere, and I should get him at a discount if he doesn't sign before camp begins.

Staios is done, after being a healthy scratch for most of the season. Deslauriers is as well (8-9-1, 4.10 GAA as the backup) since I have Bjurling and Roy now under contract. Anton Lander - who played amazingly in the U20 tournaments - and Cam Fowler have also signed entry deals. On to the draft, but I'm not optimistic since I'll be picking somewhere around 27th. I still need to beef up my blueline with a true defensive d-man and a two-way center to bolster the PK.

Post by **visualdarkness** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:11 am

Can anyone explain to me why Avs traded away Wolski and a 2nd pick for Prucha in my game? Well, they have built a great team but that trade was just plain stupid...

eternium85 · Post by **eternium85** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:13 am

jbsnadb wrote:On to the draft, but I'm not optimistic since I'll be picking somewhere around 27th.

I have not really paid that much attention to it, but doesn't the draft pick be determined by your regular season standing, in exception the Stanley Cup champions who will be last of course? But It doesn't matter how far you go in the playoffs if you don't end up as winners, you will have the pick based on your standings in the regular season. So in your case jbsnadb, you'll have your pick around 15th to 20th because you were 7th seeded in the conference.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:50 pm

Avs won the cup.

Art Ross - Hemsky. Horcoff was runner-up
Hart - Horcoff with hemsky as runner-up
Lester B. Pearson - Horcoff
Richard - Hemsky

Horcoff made the first All-Star team. Souray was second team and Alex Plante was on the rookie squad. Ironic, since Souray was the only one representing Edmonton in the actual All-Star game for the second straight season.

We're drafting 18th:

18. D Mitch Topping (9) Spokane (WHL) - A more talented Lukas Krajicek
48. RW Tyler Biggs (55) NTDP (USA) - 2nd line potential, more talented than Frederick Sjostrom
78. D Zahar Arzamastszev (72) Metallurg SK (Rus) - Like Ladislav Smid
107. LW William Wallen (NR) Mississauga (OHL) - Poor man's Kris Versteeg
108. LW Brendon Veilleux (131) Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) - Poor man's Jussi Jokinen
138. C Miika Salomaki (99) Karpat Jrs. (Fin) - More talented version of Ryan Craig
168. D Scott Harrington (108) Belleville (OHL) - Poor man's Paul Ranger
198. G Jared Coreau (NR) Mississauga (OHL) - Bigger, better Mike Valley

eternium85 · Post by **eternium85** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:30 am

Oh, just great... I lost Halak for 4 months in the game 59 of season 3. So I just have to go with Galimov the rest of the season, I tried to recall JDD from Springfield but he had to go with re-entry waivers and Devils waived him. Just hoping that Galimov will stay healthy 'cause I don't have any other goalie signed at the moment. I did sign Roy, but I send him back to minors for the season. Although Galimov has played fairly well in the few games I've started him, I still have my concerns about him especially when playoff time comes.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:40 pm

This is always entertaining to see in the highlights.

Made my trade for season three: Hemsky for Colby Armstrong and Victor Öhman. Apart from being a salary dump giving me room to re-sign my large number of RFAs, adding Armstrong provides a much cheaper and younger replacement for Pisani on the PK next season. Öhman was Ottawa's third round pick in 07, #68 overall. He is an offensive minded winger with good puck handling and playmaking skills, my scouts see him as a potential second liner. So far he has 33G 60A in 122 AHL games with a +23 rating.

I expected the fans and board to hate my guts since Hemsky had Star reputation but they seem to be ok with it. He has now signed a one year extension with the Sens for 5.3M. On the subject of wingers wanting big money Penner does not want to negotiate right now but the default offer is 6.2M for two seasons. I'll probably end up paying something like that too since he is far and away my best forward, though he has slowed down after I've scrambled my lines trying to find combinations that work without Hemsky.

Gagner does lead the team in points right now but I think I broke him when I got tired of losing in the first season and gave him too much responsibility early on, his technical attributes are barely second line worthy and seem to have stagnated. Did anyone else break their (non-drafted) prospects, or are they already first line/top-pairing studs?

Right now I'm using:
O'Sullivan-Horcoff-Nilsson
Cogliano-Gagner-Penner
Moreau-Stone-Armstrong
Mikhnov-Pouliot-Pisani

Souray-Visnovsky
Grebeshkov-Gilbert
Smid-Plante

The only minus player on the team after 60 games is Nilsson with -2, I'm very pleased with that. As for "rookies" (neither is Calder eligible) Smid and Plante are doing fine in their first full seasons. Smid has 2G 11A +18 28PIM 83HT and 71SB. Plante has 1G 8A +18 160PIM 184HT and 90SB. With the exception of a few injury replacements they have no offensive duties but are the top PK pairing. If I'm forced to let Souray go (his acceleration is already down to 11) Smid might play the PP next season which should suit him better.

outdooral · Post by **outdooral** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:06 pm

Just wrapped up season 2.After finnishing dead last in season 1 we got the 2nd pick.Atlanta won the lottery and got the first pick (Hall).I got Fowler with the 2nd pick.Traded Nilson and Staois to St louis for Ty Conklin and Tyson Stachan.Conklin was just OK 3.04 GA and 89.99%.The season didnt start too well but really picked up from the 2nd quarter on.We finnished 5th overall,and got to play the canucks.Just before the playoffs O'sullivan became unhappy and wants to be traded.
We didnt have a good series and lost in 6 to Vancouver,still a great improvement from season 1.
Not sure what to do now with O'sullivan, he was 20g ,40a,-16,7.27 and got lots of ice PP,Pk and 2nd line.he a group 2 RFA,he doesnt want to negotiate but Im thinking of making him an offer just over 3 million.
Im also tempted just to let him sit out and save some money.
I'll try to speed things up and get in part of the 3rd season before the deadline.