New York Islanders - Challenge 12 - Discussion Thread

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:45 pm

Last time we did an NHL challenge, many of us chose to play NTNB, so we're used to not making trades. I made very few trades in the Saint John challenge too. Still, I'm looking forward to finishing my first season with the Islanders. I want to do some drafting and start developing my own talent. I'm not so thrill with many of the prospects that the Islanders have under contract right now. Okposo doesn't look that great. Comeau and Joensuu don't look so hot either. One of them will be a dead weight 4th liner for my first homegrown.

Post by **batdad** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:55 pm

Comeau is okay for me. The other two look horrid. Comeau made AHL all star team. Only guy down there with over 7.5 rating

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:11 pm

Okposo is pretty good in my game, his stats are developing well, and he's playing RW on 2nd/3rd line for me. He was top 5 in points for my team in his first complete NHL season. The real problem is when you have to choose two HGs for third season. Islanders' default youngsters are almost abysmal, and recently drafted players are not quite ready. I chose Kirill Petrov and Bailey, Petrov is out 'till December, have a screenshot in case he will not reach 50 games, and Bailey is my 3rd centre playing along Marcus Nilson and Blake Comeau (substitute for Petrov).

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:12 pm

I've got plenty of guys on the farm with over a 7.5 average rating. 3 of them have better than an 8 rating. None of them are going to be worth anything to me on the NHL roster though.

Post by **batdad** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:29 pm

Nah, my farm team sucks.

In fact, my big team sucks. No freaking scoring out of em at all. Winning 2-1, 1-0, 3-1 games constantly.

Comrie just tied what Guerin had in goals. At game 53. All 17 goals. And Weight only has 56 points. So only 11 in his last 16 games. Ugh.

But I am winning so whatever.

Crayn · Post by **Crayn** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:41 pm

I'm in last place, and have begun the fire sale.

Doug Weight was moved early in February to Ottawa for prospects Peter Regin and Ilya Zubov.

Now I'm a dilemma with Bill Guerin.. I have two options sitting right now..

To San Jose for Lukas Kasper (7G 11A in 47 games with San Jose, 6.54 avg) and junior d-man Jason Demers (85 pts in 50 games with Victoriaville, 8.50 avg as a 20 year old)

or, To Calagry along with Andy Sutton and Yann Danis for Robyn Regehr, Leland Irving d-men Ryan Wilson.

I like Regehr

Post by **batdad** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:51 pm

SO I have made my one more deal, and it was within my division, something I rarely if EVER do.

To Philadelphia: Peter Mannino, Andy Sutton
To Long Island: Scott Hartnell

Not exactly what I was looking for but getting Brodziak, Sutherby or Begin was gonna cost me too much as far as I was concerned. Prospects and draft picks hindered me big time at the deadline as I approach it. Cannot get involved without em as far as I am concerned. So I am uninvolved.

Had one other deal accepted...

To NYI: Alex Edler, Taylor Pyatt
To Van: Freddy Meyer, Richard Park, Rob Hennigar.

However, just as the Canucks accpeted that they also accepted a deal with Phoenix.

to Phx: Alex Edler, 1st
To Van: Oli Jokkinen

So the Canucks now have Mats playing LW with Oli and pavol. They are 1 point behind me for first overall. Could this be a repeat of 1982 final? Isles-Nucks?

So my final lineup for season 1:

Michalek-Weight-Hartnell
Tambellini-Comrie-Hunter
Booth-Kozlov-Stewart
Fritz-Talbot-Park
Colliton

Witt-Streit
Schultz-Martinek
Meyer-Cullimore
Hillen

Dipietro
Danis

Post by **batdad** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:52 pm

Oh and in 4 games: Hartnell: 3-5-8

eric1985 · Post by **eric1985** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:19 am

I know what you mean about trading though...I did the phoenix challenge and fought through to barley make playoffs but it was honest...Now we have freedom and im trading left, right and center...I think once i pass the trade deadline and dump some hefty contracts im gonna stop trading altogether...only free agents

Post by **batdad** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:51 am

I think it is kind of funny that I have made more trades than I have since way back when I did my first challenge. Yet, other than the Michalek one I think everyone is somewhat realistic. And when I made the Michalek one, I thought it was. Til B72 ruined the fun.

But yeah, no way Sharks move Michalek for Guerin and a farm team guy.

Oh, and I think part of the reason I have had troubles scoring is I have made so many changes to this team. Usually I only make one or two per year. Even way back.

hartmans · Post by **hartmans** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:37 am

End of my first regular season. Total makeover of my lineup, including a trade deadline deal that was two weeks in the making (Witt and Bell for Ladd).

Turned out to be the right deal, as I went 8-1-1 down the stretch and snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season, finishing in 7th.

Here's my lineup for the last for the last quarter of the season...

G - Dipietro (played all games from the trade deadline on)

1st Line - Andrew Ladd/Michal Handzus/Erik Cole
2nd Line - David Booth/Stephen Weiss/Anthony Stewart
3rd Line - Garth Murray/Brian Sutherby/Trent Hunter
4th Line - Sean Bergenheim/Mike Sillinger/Jamal Mayers

D1 - Scott Hannan/Derek Morris
D2 - Paul Mara/Fedor Tyutin
D3 - David Hale/Alexei Semenov

Spares - Blair Betts, Radek Martinek

Injuries just about did me in earlier in the season (January/February). Aside from the ones we started with, at one point I had 8 or 9 regulars out at the same time.

So, off to face the Rangers in the first round!

Crayn · Post by **Crayn** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:49 am

I have assembled a very solid d core.

Regehr - Streit
Keith - Witt
Meyer - Martinek
Davison

All signed except for Davison. Lepisto is sitting patiently on the farm and should be good to go next season.

I will finish in the bottom of the standing this year, but my d and goaltending is set for next season, so I can focus all my attention on forwards.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:59 am

I tried to pick up Hartnell too, but Philly traded him to Atlanta the same moment they placed him on the block.

I've too have tried very hard to keep my moves as realistic as possible. Could be the reason I'm entering the home stretch of season one at the bottom of the barrel, but my tactics are still shoddy at best. Still trying to find my groove without messing around with them too much all at once.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:46 am

Two truly amazing things have happened since the trade deadline: the Islanders came back from a three-goal deficit to win the game (albeit in a shootout) and they've won three games in a row for the first time all season!!

In the month leading up to the deadline, I tried to shore up my defense, both on the blueline and on my third and fourth lines. Sent Richard Park to Anaheim for Todd Marchant, then sent Jon Sim (who was atrotious for me, a sub 6 AVR) to New Jersey for Pascal Rheaume to center the fourth line. Weight and Marchant both went down for a few weeks with injuries, so I finally landed Kyle Brodziak in exchange for Josh Bailey (scouts only had him as a potential 4th liner). Then I finally pulled off a deal with Pittsburgh, shipping out Campoli and MacDonald for Hal Gill and Eric Godard.

Final roster for season one (keep in mind Weight and Marchant are still out):

Tkachuk - Comrie - Guerin
Hilbert - Rheaume - Hunter
Tambellini - Brodziak - Mayers
Godard - Colliton - Fritz/Jackman

Gill - Streit
Witt - Martinek
Sutton - Meyer
Trembley

DiPietro
Danis

Salming · Post by **Salming** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:09 am

my challange so far

seson 1

trades

Pöck for Parent. pöck wasnt wanted in my team and was shipped away for young dmen Ryan Parent

Hot prospect Okposo was traded for a Blueline prospect Jack Johnson. I didnt have any young dmen in organization and thought i needed one to build my team around.

Comeau,Gervais,Hilbert went to toronto for Hollweg.toronto was very pleased with this trade and i could add grobovsky to trade wich they ranked very low and didnt wanna keep.

tkachuk was placed on waiver. i waited for him to clear waiver and and traded 2 poor players for him
colliton,mannino - tkachuck

spezza trade :
Weight guerin played very good and with another good left winger they could make Islanders to a playoff team. We traded for powerforward Tkachuck. 10 days after the trade me and Ottawa got involved in transfer talks after several of their best players been linked with other clubs including mine. Spezza ended up in Islanders jersey after weight mclean and tkachuk went other way to senators.

Meyer,Nielsen,Tambellini, Streit was traded to Devils for Parise.

Ossi väänenen was placed on trade block and was traded for with oldie Park

Matt cooke was also made avaible and was unwanted in Pittsburgh and was traded for with Hillien Bentoviglio

A few more trades was done and biggest one was for Joni Pikänenen .

Islanders continued to play bad and in the end we had lost hope of playoff spot and fans intrest was fading big time. Di Pietro was back after the long injury and in 2nd game after comeback he snapped up some old injurie and was out for another month.

When transfer windowed opened we shipped away Guerin. He is one of my favorite players but only played 35 games during seson due to 2 big injuries.

draft 2007
Islanders won lottery and drafted future superstar John Tavares. With 4 picks in 2nd round we where able to pick up a few good defenders wich with luck can be 3-4 defenders when they have boomed out. Erik Haula was snapped up with a 3rd pick and are projected as a 2nd line skilled forward.

Seson 2
Mike Comrie was shipped out to atalanta for a 2nd pick. He had way to high wage and didnt perform good with either Spezza or Parise.

Jack Johnson was injuried for 3rd time since arrival at Islanders and are now out 4 months.

I dont plan to make any more expensive trades couse i want my team to gel togheter and i dont have anything to trade with at the moment.

lines

Islanders 2007-2008

Parise-Spezza-Ruutu
York-grabovsky-hunter
hollweg-Cooke-Guthrie
Thompson

Pitkänen-Whitney
Campoli-Martinek
Kohn- Johnson

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:35 pm

Crayn wrote:I'm in last place, and have begun the fire sale.

Doug Weight was moved early in February to Ottawa for prospects Peter Regin and Ilya Zubov.

Now I'm a dilemma with Bill Guerin.. I have two options sitting right now..

To San Jose for Lukas Kasper (7G 11A in 47 games with San Jose, 6.54 avg) and junior d-man Jason Demers (85 pts in 50 games with Victoriaville, 8.50 avg as a 20 year old)

or, To Calagry along with Andy Sutton and Yann Danis for Robyn Regehr, Leland Irving d-men Ryan Wilson.

I like Regehr

Even though you're giving up more in the Calgary deal, I think you're getting better quality back. The question is, what are your team's needs?

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:39 pm

batdad wrote:Til B72 ruined the fun.

Mission accomplished!

batdad wrote:Oh, and I think part of the reason I have had troubles scoring is I have made so many changes to this team. Usually I only make one or two per year. Even way back.

Honestly, I think this plays a big part in things. I may be suffering from the same problem. Too many changes disrupt team chemistry.

Crayn · Post by **Crayn** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:38 pm

bruins72 wrote:
Crayn wrote:I'm in last place, and have begun the fire sale.

Doug Weight was moved early in February to Ottawa for prospects Peter Regin and Ilya Zubov.

Now I'm a dilemma with Bill Guerin.. I have two options sitting right now..

To San Jose for Lukas Kasper (7G 11A in 47 games with San Jose, 6.54 avg) and junior d-man Jason Demers (85 pts in 50 games with Victoriaville, 8.50 avg as a 20 year old)

or, To Calagry along with Andy Sutton and Yann Danis for Robyn Regehr, Leland Irving d-men Ryan Wilson.

I like Regehr
Even though you're giving up more in the Calgary deal, I think you're getting better quality back. The question is, what are your team's needs?

My team scores a lot, so I went with the Calgary deal. Sutton didn't impress me much, so replacing him with Regehr is just fantastic. That lessens the load on Keith who was playing big minutes in all situations. I now have a "big four" in Regehr, Witt, Keith and Streit. Leland Irving is a great goalie prospect too, and looks pretty far ahead at a young age.

This gives me free reign to focus on forwards come FA time, because my goaltending is set, and my defense is set.

I locked up Comrie, who I consider a top-6 forward (After Weight was traded he turned on beast mode), and I also have Trent Hunter and Jess Tambellini locked up. Peter Regin looks like he can play on the second line now, as does Bergenheim, but I'm not sold on them, and if I ahve to push them down the depth charts I don't mind.

I was going to re-sign Sillinger for the third line but he wanted more money than he was already making.. being out for 6 months does that to you, I guess

Post by **batdad** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:42 pm

Jess Tambellini. Yep..he plays like a Jess for me. Jess---ica.

I had a deal to send Weight straight up for Andy Macdonald. I really thought about it, because I have had Macdonald before. But Dougie leads me in a couple categories by a long way. So I delayed the deal for a week to think. I decided I was not going to do it, and low and behold I delayed it past the deadline day.

Interestingly, St Louis had about 100 offers for Andy in the meantime, but never did anything with him. Oh well.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:58 pm

Even though he's missed 8 games so far (out of 33), Tambellini leads my team in goals. Don't ask me how. He's not the greatest player. He's only got a 7.40 average rating. I think it's strictly due to being on Weight's LW. He's got 20 goals in 25 games. Guerin has 19 goals in 33 games. Weight has 17 and Bergenheim has 16. The rest of the team is all in single digits.

Hunter has been a bit of a disappointment. He's got 32 points in 31 games but only 9 of them are goals. He's been 2nd line and 2nd PP the whole season, maybe a few games on 1st line and 1st PP. He should be doing more. He's got the two-way game but he doesn't have the speed for the style of game I play. I need fast wingers. Richards has been awesome since joining our club. Richards has 16 points in 12 games. He's been C on my 2nd line and LW on the 2nd PP unit. I've had Lombardi centering the 2nd PP unit. Lombardi hasn't been as hot since joining our club. He's got 5 assists in 5 games but he's a -4. Knuble has been a rock! He's got 13 points in 13 games but he's got a 8.85 rating! I've kind of got Knuble all over the place. I've got him as my 2nd line LW. He's also on the 1st PK unit. I've also got him playing RD on the 2nd PP unit.

Still waiting for DiPietro to come back. I just hit the X-Mas roster freeze.

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:06 pm

Just one question, I gave a trade proposal to Toronto for Hagman, who was available on Trading Center, but they didn't want my player, just a 4th round draft pick for him, is it okay to do the trade?

Post by **batdad** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:07 pm

If you move that pick Joe, you cannot get one in another deal, nor can you trade out any more for the rest of the season.

You can either trade a draft pick out, or get one in per season. You cannot do both.

hartmans · Post by **hartmans** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:13 pm

Hagman will disappoint. I've had him in a couple other games and always underperforms.

Good luck though!

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:13 pm

batdad wrote:If you move that pick Joe, you cannot get one in another deal, nor can you trade out any more for the rest of the season.

You can either trade a draft pick out, or get one in per season. You cannot do both.

I got that part of the, read them like three times before asking to see if I had missed something.

I will continue from pre-trade and try to get another deal, but if they don't I will probably trade away my draft pick as Hagman is a good player to have, especially when the rest of my team, except the top two lines, sucks.

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:16 pm

hartmans wrote:Hagman will disappoint. I've had him in a couple other games and always underperforms.

Good luck though!

I've had him in another game before and with good line mates he did pretty well, don't see him as a top two line player though, not with a Tambellini and Bergenheim who are performing well for me.