EHM The Blue Line

peachesgp wrote: So this question is noob as all hell, but where is this page? I've been wanting something like this but haven't found it to date.

Do you got an assistant GM? You need one to see it.
Then you go here:

visualdarkness wrote:

peachesgp wrote: So this question is noob as all hell, but where is this page? I've been wanting something like this but haven't found it to date.

Do you got an assistant GM? You need one to see it.
Then you go here:

I do, so thanks. That's what I'll be checking out promptly. I've been thinking there must be something like that since FM has something like that.

On your team page on right corner in top, you have the "Action" thread. Click on it, and there's "View team report", and there you go.

The Yakupov experiment failed, but I gotta give him kudos for his determination. How many released players begs to get another shot?
I almost feel sorry for him.

visualdarkness wrote:

peachesgp wrote: So this question is noob as all hell, but where is this page? I've been wanting something like this but haven't found it to date.

Do you got an assistant GM? You need one to see it.
Then you go here:

Found it, awesome. This is quite helpful.

60 Games down..

Team went on a 4-game win streak with the highlight being a 4-3 Win over Pittsburgh that resulted in Mike Johnston being fired by Brent Sutter who then hired Rich Sutter (LOL). Kids are still killing it, Gold came back from injury with a vengance(5-2 in ten games). Stalock has kinda calmed down, but still swiss cheese

Trade Deadline
Pavel Datsyuk was placed in the minors
Flyers were busy trading Burns(Buffalo for Zadorov/Asplund) and Pavelski(N.Roy, C.Dvorak, and B.Perlini) but traded the almighty LIam Zetterberg to Nashville. But the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are in shambles(Apparently signed NO ONE to help the team and are running with 15 players on their team and three are injured)

Draft looks quite solid and I've got my eye on a few late round players. Next draft already has a consensus #1(Joseph Veleno) and then Oliver Wahlstrom the year after.

Definitely going after a goalie for this next batch of trades. Ullmark is KILLING IT in Buffalo 18-2, 1.80GAA and 93SV% (Sabres are 38-13)

Well it ain't getting any better after 40 games........... On the bottom of the league which has it's blessings (1st overall pick)(hopefully)Still no better on the PP and the PK.......... Had both goalies injured for a spell in that time but Bergvik came up from the minors with his sub 2.00 avg and did an admirable job.... Looks like either Grubauer or Stalock will be leaving for another 1st rounder next spring...... Had some whiners that didn't like getting fined for poor performance ..... so on top of the fine there in the minors as well.....
WE'll see how the next 20 go..........

Smylie wrote:Well this is who made it to the starting game for the first season..... The only surprise was Konecny.... but of course he hasn't played nearly as well as he did in the preseason...... Bergman got injured right off the hop and now Grubauer is out for 10 days as well..... We have a 5.9% PP average which puts us dead last and a PK of 83.9% which is surprisingly 12 best......

35 Grubauer, Philipp G
32 Stalock, Alex G
41 Muller, Mirco LD
33 Bergman, Julius RD-LD
26 Bowey, Madison RD
13 Doherty, Taylor RD
6 Johnson, Erik RD-LD
30 Regner, Brent RD
5 Tennyson, Matt RD
12 Fiala, Kevin LW-RW
78 Goldobin, Nikolai LW-RW
83 Nieto, Matt LW-RW
9 Zolnierczyk, Harry LW-RW
39 Couture, Logan C-LW
14 Couturier, Sean C-LW
48 Hertl, Tomas C-LW-RW
25 Viedensky, Marek C
31 Hartman, Ryan RW-C
18 Hayes, Eriah RW
8 Konecny, Travis RW-C
21 Smith, Ben RW-C
79 Tarasov, Daniil RW-C
57 Wingels, Tommy RW-LW-C

Random side thought (and potential spoiler alert)- Just starting my serious scouting for the 2018 draft- Joesph Veleno is worth tanking for! He already has man attributes (I would find room for him in the top 6 at 17) in August 2017. Make me wished I had looked closer when I made my July 1 trades- could've loaded up on chances at the #1 pick.

So, season 1 ended with the same whimper it came in with. I'll admit, I wasn't hoping for wins, but to finish tied for last place, then end up with the #3 pick stinks a bit.

Draft: One pre-draft trade- Stalock to the Ducks for a 2nd and a 3rd. Simply needed to make room for Ullmark, and Grossneick doesn't turn 28 until training camp.

Round 1 (3)- Mikhail Zubarev, C 5'10" 196. This may have been the longest I've ever had to think about a draft pick. The scouts all say he has potential, but he's a 3rd line checking forward type with the #3 pick. The scousts also all thought he was ready for the show (as I forgot to check... doesn't have a Foreign release clause!). I wanted to sign him as the 3rd center and PK master, but he'll spend another season in Russia. Either I just made a brilliant move to finish a team with 3 centers... or blew a pick.
Round 2 (32)- Jonny Kilstrom, RW/C 5'9" 178. A faster Jeremy Morin my scout said. Far from ready, so he'll probably be in Europe for a couple more years.
Round 2 (51) Hans-Goran Ericson C/LW 5'11" 174. Fast, and can shoot. Compared to Tyler Johnson. He should be a nice compliment to a passing center to rack up 30 goals in time.
Round 3 (62) Asko Peltonen LW 6'6" 191 Projects to be a bigger Benoit Pouliot. Another quick shooter.
Round 3 (90) Nikita A. Popugayev LW/RW 6'6" 198. 3rd line/Mikahlek type. Hoping he'll make the show.
Round 4 (92) Jonas Siegenthaler LD 6'4" 220 (20 years old). At this point, I shifted to current ability, hoping to either beef of Worchester or fill in gaps while legit prospects develop. Looks like a 3rd pair guy long term, will be in a battle this year to stay in San Jose.
Round 5 (122) Jason Fuchs C 5'9" 191 (22 years old). Skills lead to be more of a winger than a center. Scouts think he'll score points 35 in San Jose.
Round 6 (152) Albin Wallin C 6'4" 189. Scouts say no potential. Skills are AHL ready, so maybe he'll get just enough development to be worth it.
Round 6 (177) Malte Carlsson C 5'11" 178. A couple of scout think he's second line material, so I took a flyer. Potential PK guy in reality.
Round 7 (182) Otto Makinen C/LW 6'3" 191 (19 years old). Had mental attributs, and skating ability. No real skills, and very little real hope.
Round 7 (200) Tobias Liljendahl LW 6'2" 198 (22 years old). Concussion issues, and unless he's a late bloomer not enough talent. Could serve as a call up that you don't worry about losing on waiver down the line, or a nice AHL scorer to make young centers feel good.

Pre-season: Eric Johnson was killing me. With his stamina, I couldn't use him very well, so I sought to replace him. Regner cleared waivers, and Zolnierczyk wasn't a long term anwser, so the three went to Philly for Rasmus Andersson. He's ready for first pair I think, so even if he's done at 20, he'll stick a long time. Sent Oleksuk (C) to Colorado for a 2nd rounder (teams were jerking me around on him before the draft, loving the deal then complaining about overcrowding), so I waited until July.
You know this isn't going to be a great season when you lose 2-1 to a North Korean team.

Here's the idea going forward:
Couture-Johansen-Wingels
O'Regan (his feet may kill him.)-Girgensons-Nieto
Goldobin-Fuchs-Smith
Hertl-Carlsson-Hayes
Boyko and Liljendahl will be first call-ups.

Muller-Andersson
Morrissey-Oleksiak
Doherty-?
(Looking at Pomerleau and DeMelo, Tennyson is waiver eligible so he may get time)

Ullmark
Grosenick

Here's to not last place! (Although Veleno looks nice...)

Yeah Veleno does look nice

Season 1 is done. Finished with the worst record, but we were solid in the last 20 games since we shifted tactics. Nieto was on fire towards the end with an 11 game point streak. Goalies still sucked. Got hit with a late season injury bug as Stalock and Wingels went down with long term injuries. Baby Sharks were swept by the Baby Devils who have a stud russian goaltender by the name of Ilya Sorokin.

Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 6 over the Washington Capitals.

Time for my trades and Draft...tbd..

Freaking Sabres!?!??! Traded Ullmark with another player, a prospect, and a 2nd to Winnipeg for Blake Wheeler.....Offered them Couture and EJ buuuut noooo

And I lost the Lottery

Trades
Travis Oleksuk to Boston for 3rd
Stalock to Philly for 2nd
Wingels and Harry Z to Philly(again) for Zadorov and two 4ths
Couture, Hayes, Warren(UA) to Tampa for Andrei Vasilevsky(Desperate)

Draft
#2 Gabriel Vilardi(Better Getzlaf)
#31 Igor Zenchikov(1st Line Pot)
#38 Adriaan Bean
#61 Juho-Tuomas Levo
#74 Dustin Becker
#91 Vanya Lodnia
#93 Kevin Dahlberg
#98 Reid Weller
#121 Bernard Wegmuller
#151 Jakob Ringsby
#163 Jonas Siegenthaler
#181 Jason Fuchs
#204 Lubor Hajek

Did anyone get hit with the "Not reaching the Cap floor" penalty yet? I'm paying $462,000 a week...... Good update to the program but it hurts the bottom line.....

Smylie wrote:Did anyone get hit with the "Not reaching the Cap floor" penalty yet? I'm paying $462,000 a week...... Good update to the program but it hurts the bottom line.....

You are better off then me - I pay 517,000 a week

I'm just paying 300k something, all my long term contracts at slightly higher salary pays off.

visualdarkness wrote:I'm just paying 300k something, all my long term contracts at slightly higher salary pays off.

(Puts on his Reporter hat)......... So that seems like a good short term fix but what's gonna happen when you have all those youngsters wanting 5 mil a year when these contracts are done?

Smylie wrote:

visualdarkness wrote:I'm just paying 300k something, all my long term contracts at slightly higher salary pays off.

(Puts on his Reporter hat)......... So that seems like a good short term fix but what's gonna happen when you have all those youngsters wanting 5 mil a year when these contracts are done?

They are all bargains in the long run!

Well after 60 games the song remains the same..... In the basement with the Flyers hounding my every step for the shot at #1 draft pick...... PP under 10% but the PK is hovering around 85% so that's a positive...... Had a modest 2 game winning streak and have been a little more competitive when I changed from the Dump tactic to the Line Matching.... Need an upgrade on defense when trade season rolls around after the end of the playoffs..... Stalock will be heading out for sure as Berkvik in the minors is just killing it with a sun 2.00 average with a mediocre defense there.....

Trade question:
after season 1 (You won't be able to make any more moves in this first season. Play it out and develop your young players.) are we allowed to trade players after July 1st??
ie: i'm in season 2 / november and could trade johnson (29). the rules don't say no, but i wanna ask first.
i remember in the canucks challenge, i traded in the middle of the season (couture for bonino) and saw some sreenshots of others doing the same.

Yes, you should be fine to trade Johnson in season 2.

So far I've gained a great new problem in season 2- special teams look nice, but we are losing SO many one goal games its sick. Over half my losses are one goal so far... if we only had some clutch play, or a better coach!

56 games in the 18/19 season and some games ago were one of the best teams in the league, but crashed and burned lately and currently on a 8(!) game losing streak. I've tried a lot of shifting around the last games but nothing works.

I've been busy at work (moving offices) and home (just life in general) that I haven't had time to play this challenge. I finished the first regular season but haven't gotten through to the draft or off-season. I missed the playoffs, finishing last in the conference, as expected. Hopefully I'll have some time to devote to this again soon.

This is the 1st time I've tried out a challenge, and its definitely living up to its name! I'm now in my 2019-2020 season, and have yet to make the playoffs. I've been finding playing the game normally without any limitations to be too easy and gets boring before long, so playing with the challenge rules definitely adds to the fun.

I finished the previous seasons with the following records:

2015-16: 76pts (36-42-4)
2016-17: 79pts (35-38-9)
2017-18: 78pts (34-38-10)
2018-19: 89pts (38-31-3)

Things are looking way, waaaay up now, though. I'm 17 games into the season with a 14-1-2 record! I guess I'm excited enough about this hot start to post on these forums for the 1st time in years, so here are some of the key things over the seasons that got me here (ie. the big trades and the draft picks that have made any impact at the NHL level/look like they will make an impact*):

2015-16 Key Trades:
Antti Niemi, Matt D'Agostini, Mike Kostka for Andrei Vasilevsky (TB)
Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Brent Burns for Gabriel Landeskog (COL)
Joe Thornton for WPG 1st round pick
Patrick Marleau for Austin Watson (NSH)

2016 Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - 6th overall - Logan Brown
Round 1 - 21st overall - Luke Green
Round 2 - 36th overall - Chad Krys

2016-17 Key Trades:
Logan Couture, Erik Johnson for Zemgus Girgensons, Jake McCabe (BUF)
Alex Stalock, Ben Smith, Eriah Hayes for Sean Couturier (PHI), CBJ 2nd round pick
Tommy Wingels for Anthony DeAngelo (TB), TB 3rd round pick
Matt Nieto for Robby Fabri (STL)

2017 Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - 7th overall - Antoine Crete-Belzile*
Round 2 - 38th overall - Colton Scott*
Round 2 - 46th overall - Reid Weller*
Round 7 - 188th overall - Grant Randall*

2017-18 Key Trades:
Sean Couturier for Juuse Saaros (NSH), MTL 4th round pick
Daniil Tarasov, Melker Karlsson for CHI 1st round pick, CHI 4th round pick, CHI 5th round pick, CHI 6th round pick, CHI 7th round pick

2018 Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - 1st overall - Joseph Veleno (I finished 7th last, lottery luck at the perfect time!)
Round 1 - 21st overall - Oliver Walhstrom*
Round 2 - 36th overall - Karl-Anton Ahlstrand*
Round 2 - 52nd overall - Gabriel Olsson Frommel*
Round 3- 66th overall - David Jonsson
Round 3 - 76th overall - Jayson Montgomery*
Round 4 - 96th overall - Ivan Khomenko*
Round 6 - 171st overall - Ian Blacker*
Round 7 - 201st overall - Kirk Rushmer

2018-19 Trades:
Dylan Demelo for Rasmus Ristolainen (BUF)

2019 Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - 14th overall - Rickard Nordin*

Still too close to this draft to have a good idea of who might make the NHL, so these are just the rest of my picks:
Round 2 - 44th overall - Remi Lamoureux
Round 2 - 48th overall - Will Lucia
Round 3 - 63rd overall - Spencer Desbiens
Round 3 - 74th overall - Sten-Allan Stahl
Round 4 - 104th overall - Harrison Blaisdell
Round 5 - 134 overall - Jerrycko Manning
Round 6 - 164th overall - Juraj Sisak
Round 7 - 194th overall - Rickard Hollstrom

2019-20 Key Trades (so far):
Gabriel Landeskog for Auston Matthews (FLA) (I tried to re-sign Landeskog pre-season since he would be UFA at season's end but even at 50mil/5yrs he wouldn't sign, so since he was older than 26 out the door he went!)

Current coaching staff:
Guy Boucher (Head Coach)
Joel Otto
Mike Pelino
Sam St. Laurent
Alain Vigneault
Mike Babcock

Current Lines (* denotes rookies):
Forwards:
Tomas Hertl - Auston Matthews - Nikolai Goldobin
Zemgus Girgensons - Joseph Veleno* - Travis Konecny
Jake DeBrusk - Austin Watson - David Jonsson
Robby Fabri - Logan Brown* - Ryan Hartman

Defense:
Chad Krys - Luke Green
Mirco Muller - Anthony DeAngelo
Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen

Goaltenders:
Andrei Vasilevsky
Juuse Saaros

I'm doing this challenge more out of fun for myself and don't plan on submitting it, so while I hope that I've managed to stick to the rules of the challenge, if you notice anything that slips outside of that then, 1st: my bad!, and 2nd: no worries this won't be up for official consideration anyway I plan on carrying on with this game beyond 5 seasons and have added a couple of new rules for myself. First, I plan to keep the min player age of someone that can be traded at 25 (ie. the trading age stops lowering at 25, then can never trade anyone under 25). Second, I am going to slightly relax the no trading of draft picks rule so that I can make ONE trade involving draft picks, and it has to be at the draft, and can either be multiple picks packaged for a higher pick (ie. I trade a pair of 2nd rounders for a 1st rounder) OR a pick thrown into a trade (but only in a trade involving a 25+ year old player leaving my team.)

You traded Wingels that's why you didn't make the playoffs! he's been a stud for me

So, just finished the third season and we went from an elite team to the 11th slot in the last half.

Our special teams were the worst in the league again. Our PK was one of the best until the end where we let in like 5 goals in 9 PK's every other game. Säteri is a beast in shootouts going 11-0! Can we just got with shootouts instead?



Here's my lines for most of the time. The first line is performing worse and worse and worse. The shot% is crashing for my top two lines, it's like the players can't beat a goalie anymore. Couture was awful for most of the season and I tried to trade him multiple times but getting a nr 1 C back was impossible.

The bottom six was too young and I knew it but bright spots like Kalfirt winning the league in takeaways helps a bit.

The defense was sub par except for Chychrun, even though I wish I drafted Sean Day or a center instead. Dumba is an enigma as he looks like an offensive power house but he can't perform like one, his 18 slapper is useless. Johnson and Müller (my board wants to get rid of Müller and Samuelsson) struggled bad all season long.



My coaching staff:
John Tortorella
Eric Lawson
Clint Malarchuk
Joel Otto
Alain Vigneault
Phil Walker

I blame the playoff miss mainly on my backups. As Grosenik left me cold hearted I only had a bunch of rookies to go with. None managed to even be decent, nill managed to even play well in the AHL. I tried to trade for a goalie but had too limited assets to pull it off.



And the bad individual stats:

jesterx7769 wrote:You traded Wingels that's why you didn't make the playoffs! he's been a stud for me

Haha could be! He didn't do much for me - 38 & 19 point seasons. I'd say you used him a lot better than I did! My defense was downright atrocious so dealing him for the fairly highly rated young dman DeAngelo made sense for me. DeAngelo gave me a 41pt season the year after I got him. Luke Green's rise as my top offensive dman meant a reduced role for DeAngelo but still got 28pts out of him last season (Green had 68), with a similar looking pace so far this year.