EHM The Blue Line

So since we haven't had anyone set forward and offer to write up a guide to playing one of the European leagues that were suggested, I'm leaning towards an All-Nordic countries team challenge. It would work pretty much like the current challenge but we'd only be allowed players from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway. Are there any players from Iceland or Greenland? If so, they could be included.

I was looking at teams that we hadn't hadn't used in a challenge recently that might have a heavily Nordic roster. Of course there's Detroit but I wasn't so sure about using them. Zetterberg might just put them over the top. Of course, the many of their Nordic players are older and could be at a point where their attributes take big drops. Still, I wasn't so sure about either of them. The two best candidates, IMO, were the Minnesota Wild (which is kind of fitting due to that state having a lot of people with Nordic ancestry) and the Anaheim Ducks. Both of these teams already had about 6 or 7 NHL players on their roster that fit the challenge. As much as I like the Wild for theme purposes, the Ducks had players that interested me more.

What about thoughts on how we should run this challenge? Do you guys like starting out with a team that's already composed of all Nordic players or would you rather have to trade your other assets for Nordic players? I can see pros and cons for each method. Or would people prefer going back to our "youth" challenges where you must trade all of your older players to start and can only acquire youth? Are you interested in starting with the 2015-2016 season or starting with a game that's been simmed ahead a certain number of years? Do you think we need to reign in trades again, maybe limiting the number per season (to 4 or 5 maybe)? Would you be interested in just doing a Canadian juniors challenge with slight trade limitations?

Disclaimer- I probably can't do the next challenge.

I preferred starting with a set roster already, at least gave less variance in the first season and the starting point. If we did do trade your own, I think that there should be more restrictions on the trades for that initial team setup (same if it goes with a youth movement again) I also would prefer if we all started our own games so PA's would be different, but that's just my opinion. I agree that trades need reigned in a bit, although I loved that the rules were more simple (I can remember in the old days having printing out a cheat sheet next to the computer for each season to take notes of what I can and can't do).

Selfishly, I'd like to see the junior challenge in the summer (as a teacher... I know I'll have time for that!)

Thinking aloud: If we could get guides for the European leagues, I would prefer some sort of rotation of the variety, so for example challenge 41 is a 'county' team, 42 is KHL/Europe, 43 is juniors, 44 is straight NHL, 45 is future then for 46 it returns to 'country'. For me, doing two of the same thing in a row doesn't get me as excited for the second time. But, I'm one person and there's a lot here

That's great feedback, Asher. Thanks!

I pretty much agree with most of what you said there. the one place I differ is that I like when everyone starts from the same save and gets the same PA's. I think that just seems more fair. It stinks to be the guy that got cheated by the random numbers. It can really be a bummer for other people to have gotten great potential out of a guy and then you get a bum.

It would be great if we can get somebody to help out with a guide for a foreign league. I'd also love to do another challenge with a retro DB. Nino's 74 DB was a whole lot of fun when we used that one. I loved that Retro Red Wings challenge.

I'm hoping for a challenge where we pick a team that needs a lot of help and implement the core players and Homegrown rules with strict free agent and trade limitations like before. I think it'd be a lot of fun again but combine it with the idea that we can only spend to a certain limit on the cap as had been suggested by Peter.

When will the next challenge be announced?

MWE wrote:When will the next challenge be announced?

Soon






In case it was missed in the Challenge Questions & Feedback Thread.....

nino33 wrote:In responding to a comment on the HF EHM Board (wondering if the game makes it easier to win for human controlled teams) I used some data from recent Challenges, and I thought it might be interesting to Challenge participants, so I'm sharing it here

Rangers Challenge Year 1
- 11 of 22 made the playoffs
- No team won the Cup (one team lost in game 7 of the SCF)
Rangers Challenge Year 2
- 8 of 15 made the playoffs
- 4 teams won the Cup

Bruins Challenge Year 1
- 6 of 19 made the playoffs
- 1 team won the Cup (two teams made the SCF)
Bruins Challenge Year 2
- 5 of 13 made the playoffs
- 3 teams won the Cup

Sharks Challenge Year 1
- 11 of 21 made the playoffs
- 3 teams won the Cup (4 teams made the SCF)
Sharks Challenge Year 2
- 6 of 14 made the playoffs
- 2 teams won the Cup (3 teams made the SCF)

Canucks Challenge Year 1
- 7 of 28 teams made the playoffs
- 4 teams win the Cup
Canucks Challenge Year 2
- 9 of 22 teams made the playoffs
- 3 teams win the Cup (5 teams made the SCF)


Seems to show that while some can win right away the majority don’t, which seems right/OK to me.....

What do you think about this challenge , to win SC with players from nations outside of top 7 (max. 2 svk players on roster) ?

Just a quick heads up. We'll try to kick off the new challenge soon and it will be using a league we've never used in a challenge before.

bruins72 wrote:Just a quick heads up. We'll try to kick off the new challenge soon and it will be using a league we've never used in a challenge before.

Uh-oh, our first AHL challenge?

Nope. This one will be outside North America.

I once set a challenge for myself (back in EHM 2007 v3.0.4, original roster ) to try and win the Stanley Cup only with players drafted in a certain year. I decided the year to be 2007 so i traded all my picks not in 2007 to other teams for 2007 picks and traded away all my players and prospects for 2007 picks too. The goal was when the challenge really started i would only have players from 2007 draft on my team, even the depth players for injuries. Took some time for players to develop, 2-3 years till most of them came into lineup.

I have to say i was actually pleasantly surprised by the ammount of quality players that i was provided with. I got some quality defenceman and quite deep offensive (easily enough for 3 offensive lines) and qute good depth for both offense and defense, but goalies in the draft were very poor versions of what the usually are/can be. The truth is i never really got around to actually wining the cup or even getting into the playoffs. I simmed to start of 2010/11 season but my poor tactical skills showed when i couldn't make the team tight enough defensivly to make up for poor goaltending. I was gonna try with players from other drafts too after i won this but as i mentioned i never even got around to completing that

So something like this could be a challenge for some here if you haven't done it already.

Or run a 93-94 challenge doing the Wild?

Think a KHL one would be awesome.

That or an EIHL (British Elite League) one?

Wonder when the next challenge will be released...

Well the current challenge doesn't end until the 23rd of this month, so not before then.

bruins72 wrote:Well the current challenge doesn't end until the 23rd of this month, so not before then.

Any idea if we are going back to the NHL or we can try the KHL, or some other euro league? Maybe some junior league team?

We've got something planned for the next challenge but it's top secret at the moment.

I'm reluctant to go back to any of the European leagues any time soon. The current challenge in Sweden is generating almost no discussion in the forums. It kind of defeats the purpose of our challenges.

Yeah.. I guess, the NA leagues are far more appealing but still it was a nice change of pace..

I couldnt take part for reasons but I wanted to join. One issue I see is that most seem to have had way too little of an actual challenge. The problem that the game is too easy without restrictions is apparent.

visualdarkness wrote:I couldnt take part for reasons but I wanted to join. One issue I see is that most seem to have had way too little of an actual challenge. The problem that the game is too easy without restrictions is apparent.

While it wasn't that hard.. it was still a challenge. I, for one, didn't win the euro cup even once in 5 seasons. Also, the roster overhaul from season to season was challenging, albeit tedious.

I also thought that whenver I bring a guy I heard from NA he was going to dominate the league, needless to say, I got burned on more than one ocassion.

While maybe it could've been more challenging with some restrictions added, this was meant to introduce many of the users here to playing in that kind of league. We did get some participation but not like we have with other challenges and the discussion thread was dead from the start. One of the major purposes of the challenges is to foster discussion. This one just didn't do it.

I know, I am really surprised that it stopped at two pages and that only four continued beyond season one.

visualdarkness wrote:I know, I am really surprised that it stopped at two pages and that only four continued beyond season one.

I sadly deleted my save file on accident...

I will also say that this challenge was a bit too easy although it just was an introductory challenge.

bruins72 wrote:We've got something planned for the next challenge but it's top secret at the moment.

I'm reluctant to go back to any of the European leagues any time soon. The current challenge in Sweden is generating almost no discussion in the forums. It kind of defeats the purpose of our challenges.

Any chance the secret gets revealed soon ? Something to keep us busy during the off-season?

It's running a little bit late. Maybe in a couple weeks.