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Challenge 16: Edmonton Oilers (Discussion Thread)
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visualdarkness
- Stanley Cup Winner
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- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:14 am
- Location: Surahammar, Sweden
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Marsac
- Fringe Player
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:41 am
- Location: Haninge, Sweden
I finished my fourth season in a rush the night before I left for an extended weekend in Prague so I didn't have time to write anything interesting. I guess I can atleast load up the game and talk about my trade and player stats now.
As I stated in an earlier post I went looking for a defensive defenseman to improve on my PK numbers but after making several offers around the league noone really wanted to play ball. I eventually ended up making a pretty bad trade of Fernando Pisani and Jeff Petry for an incredibly overpaid borderline NHLer in Rob Scuderi who ended the season as my worst rated defenseman. I think my PK improved by a few percentage points though so it wasn't all bad.
Scuderi's huge contract also forced me to waive Robert Nilsson for cap reasons when injuries hit and he was quickly claimed by the Sharks to be their #1 RW. He played 23 games for the Sharks in the regular season with 8G 14A +2 7.43 AvR.
Pisani and Nilsson's departure meant that Stortini got another shot on the NHL roster. He played 25 games with 2G 4A +5 and 82 PIM. I'm not sure I'll keep him around for next season since I already have Plante for dropping the gloves, but I suppose trying to keep Plante on the ice for the PK might be a better idea.
The main injury callups last season were Fowler (17GP 6A +6) and Rajala (6GP 4G 2A +4). They played only even strength and so did MPS (82GP 21G 23A +29), I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with some PP minutes at the expense of Cogliano (82GP 20G 24A +3).
I decided to keep Visnovsky around for another year so Fowler is the only D-prospect likely to make the team out of camp next season. Goaltending is set with Lehtonen and Deslauriers, neither Sedlacek or Roy look ready for a shot at the NHL.
With the departure of Moreau a spot has sort of opened up at LW but the Penner-Horcoff-O'Sullivan line has worked so well that I'll probably keep playing Penner there. That leaves me with Penner, MPS, Mikhnov and Cogliano at LW which should be fine but I might try to pick up some depth and leadership from free agency.
At C I currently only have Horcoff and Gagner (whose technical attributes are still stuck at 2nd/3rd line levels even though he led the team in points last season). Stone is a RFA and will probably be brought back, Lander suffered a 7 month injury at the end of the season so he might not recover in time to battle Nash for the fourth spot.
O'Sullivan, Armstrong and Stortini make up the RWs and they will probably be joined by Rajala after his 49G 49A AHL season plus strong injury callup.
Likely lineup:
Lehtonen
Deslauriers
Grebeshkov-Gilbert
Smid-Visnovsky
Fowler-Plante
Penner-Horcoff-O'Sullivan
Mikhnov-Gagner-Rajala
MPS-Nash-Armstrong
Cogliano-Stone-Stortini
I'll probably keep playing this save after I've gotten things settled back down at work. I feel that I still have alot to explore at the NHL level and right now I don't think I'll play the major junior challenge.
Here's the team report from the end of season four. If anyone wants to see a screenshot of how a specific player developed feel free to ask, I try to always keep a save from the end of a challenge.
As I stated in an earlier post I went looking for a defensive defenseman to improve on my PK numbers but after making several offers around the league noone really wanted to play ball. I eventually ended up making a pretty bad trade of Fernando Pisani and Jeff Petry for an incredibly overpaid borderline NHLer in Rob Scuderi who ended the season as my worst rated defenseman. I think my PK improved by a few percentage points though so it wasn't all bad.
Scuderi's huge contract also forced me to waive Robert Nilsson for cap reasons when injuries hit and he was quickly claimed by the Sharks to be their #1 RW. He played 23 games for the Sharks in the regular season with 8G 14A +2 7.43 AvR.
Pisani and Nilsson's departure meant that Stortini got another shot on the NHL roster. He played 25 games with 2G 4A +5 and 82 PIM. I'm not sure I'll keep him around for next season since I already have Plante for dropping the gloves, but I suppose trying to keep Plante on the ice for the PK might be a better idea.
The main injury callups last season were Fowler (17GP 6A +6) and Rajala (6GP 4G 2A +4). They played only even strength and so did MPS (82GP 21G 23A +29), I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with some PP minutes at the expense of Cogliano (82GP 20G 24A +3).
I decided to keep Visnovsky around for another year so Fowler is the only D-prospect likely to make the team out of camp next season. Goaltending is set with Lehtonen and Deslauriers, neither Sedlacek or Roy look ready for a shot at the NHL.
With the departure of Moreau a spot has sort of opened up at LW but the Penner-Horcoff-O'Sullivan line has worked so well that I'll probably keep playing Penner there. That leaves me with Penner, MPS, Mikhnov and Cogliano at LW which should be fine but I might try to pick up some depth and leadership from free agency.
At C I currently only have Horcoff and Gagner (whose technical attributes are still stuck at 2nd/3rd line levels even though he led the team in points last season). Stone is a RFA and will probably be brought back, Lander suffered a 7 month injury at the end of the season so he might not recover in time to battle Nash for the fourth spot.
O'Sullivan, Armstrong and Stortini make up the RWs and they will probably be joined by Rajala after his 49G 49A AHL season plus strong injury callup.
Likely lineup:
Lehtonen
Deslauriers
Grebeshkov-Gilbert
Smid-Visnovsky
Fowler-Plante
Penner-Horcoff-O'Sullivan
Mikhnov-Gagner-Rajala
MPS-Nash-Armstrong
Cogliano-Stone-Stortini
I'll probably keep playing this save after I've gotten things settled back down at work. I feel that I still have alot to explore at the NHL level and right now I don't think I'll play the major junior challenge.
Here's the team report from the end of season four. If anyone wants to see a screenshot of how a specific player developed feel free to ask, I try to always keep a save from the end of a challenge.
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jbsnadb
- Checking Line
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- Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:44 am
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Just in case anyone is interested, Jordan Eberle is WHL Player of the Year
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visualdarkness
- Stanley Cup Winner
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:14 am
- Location: Surahammar, Sweden