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bruins72 wrote:OUCH! After finally getting my team back on track by acquiring Derek Roy, we lose Shane Doan for 2 months with a broken arm. It's February 1st, so in two months time we'll be gearing up for the playoffs. At least we'll have him back for that. Until then, Bobby Ryan is getting some serious ice time with the Jets.
I lost Doan for 8 months in Feb 23.. He was leading the nhl in goal and Points..
In the first season i lost toews for 4 months right when it seemed he was a lock for the calder..
Other than that going great in my second season, especially after I got Hossa, So far he has 62 pts in 33 games.. Yay.
Thanks B72 for this challenge
Meh, I gave up on my overload slot reliance and rearranged the lines a bit and results are much improved. The only line still playing overload slot is the checking line, the others are playing positional.
Current lineup and stats:
G
Bäckström (25-14-6 3.12 0.896%)
Mason (11-2-2 3.43 0.887%)
The future is looking bright too, I really love the prospect pool of this team. Frolik is leading the QMJHL in goals and points, Latendresse leads the AHL in points, Strålman leads the AHL in +/- amongst defensemen, Gagner leads the OHL in assists, Bernier leads the QMJHL in goalie ratings... Yeah, the future looks bright.
bruins72 wrote:OUCH! After finally getting my team back on track by acquiring Derek Roy, we lose Shane Doan for 2 months with a broken arm. It's February 1st, so in two months time we'll be gearing up for the playoffs. At least we'll have him back for that. Until then, Bobby Ryan is getting some serious ice time with the Jets.
I lost Doan for 8 months in Feb 23.. He was leading the nhl in goal and Points..
In the first season i lost toews for 4 months right when it seemed he was a lock for the calder..
Other than that going great in my second season, especially after I got Hossa, So far he has 62 pts in 33 games.. Yay.
Thanks B72 for this challenge
Glad you're enjoying it. A big thanks goes to Lidas too. He got the idea going and he made the custom database for this challenge.
I'm really enjoying this challenge, as are a few others, but I wonder if we would have had more participation if this was done at a different time. Seems like a lot of people are busy at this time of year and not playing EHM as much.
My biggest interest in EHM is in winter/spring , usually its boosted by start of the NHL season. Then there are other factors as well, now it's last year of high school and guitar, which is pretty much time consuming. But new Lidas 2.0 will really make me play EHM again. I am not saying that I don't enjoy this challenge, I really do actually, but there's not enough time and motivation...I mean future is priority. Fun in school is over, since the big ass finals are in next spring. I want to rock the world the Crue style...or Aerosmith style...or any other toxic style (ey, B ? ), and it's not gonna happen by setting my defensive faceoffs for 4th line as lopsided. Really isn't. And in case my rock career never pulls off, I have to be well educated.
I am sorry to say, but this challenge is over for me. I don't want to demotivate guys who are behind the challenges, maybe a extended deadline would make more players play. In this year time, anyway. Like 4 month challenge would a) attract more players, b) players will achieve more seasons, and therefore some of the young talent will actually have an impact on the roster
We actually tried an extended challenge last time with the Predators. There was hardly any activity during that extension time. It appears that 2 months is a good length of time for the challenges. No worries though. We'll start up another challenge once Lidas' roster update comes out. Between the start of the NHL season and new Lidas rosters, there will be plenty of interest in a new challenge.
I haven't been playing lately as I have spent all my EHM time on research for Lidas 2.0. Training camps are around
the corner(the juniors are into pre-season now) and there is lots of info to gather.
I will probably not play anymore with the Jets, but I liked this idea a lot. Thanks guys!
Hey guys. As B72 says, traditionally the summer months have not been conducive to playing in challenges. I would have played in this one if I had been interested. Honestly, although the work was a ton on this one and the boys (B72 and Lidas) put a tonne of time into it, and did amazing work, this one did not interest me. Why? Because it was too easy. Although the older guys on this team were old, the first two seasons were pretty much guaranteed Pres Trophy and Stanley Cup for me.
The Nashville challenge was much better, and I wish I had gone in that one, but at that point I had no time.
I think this concept is AWESOME! But next time, the replacement players should be guys that are realistically let go by the other teams, not guys as experienced and solid as Selanne. I would love to see this done with a much much tougher pool of players to get going.
Even when the older ones retire guys like Toews and Ryan turn into stars....I know B72 acknowledged that Ryan was a bit too much, but in the future there should not be any potential young first liners in this type of a draft. Including a guy like Toews.
Make it hard. That Nashville one looked like everyone loved it.
bruins72 wrote:OUCH! After finally getting my team back on track by acquiring Derek Roy, we lose Shane Doan for 2 months with a broken arm. It's February 1st, so in two months time we'll be gearing up for the playoffs. At least we'll have him back for that. Until then, Bobby Ryan is getting some serious ice time with the Jets.
I lost Doan for 8 months in Feb 23.. He was leading the nhl in goal and Points..
In the first season i lost toews for 4 months right when it seemed he was a lock for the calder..
Other than that going great in my second season, especially after I got Hossa, So far he has 62 pts in 33 games.. Yay.
Thanks B72 for this challenge
Glad you're enjoying it. A big thanks goes to Lidas too. He got the idea going and he made the custom database for this challenge.
I'm really enjoying this challenge, as are a few others, but I wonder if we would have had more participation if this was done at a different time. Seems like a lot of people are busy at this time of year and not playing EHM as much.
And of course big thank you to Lidas for all the work he did for this challenge and the updated rosters!!! Sorry to have forgot about you.
batdad wrote:Hey guys. As B72 says, traditionally the summer months have not been conducive to playing in challenges. I would have played in this one if I had been interested. Honestly, although the work was a ton on this one and the boys (B72 and Lidas) put a tonne of time into it, and did amazing work, this one did not interest me. Why? Because it was too easy. Although the older guys on this team were old, the first two seasons were pretty much guaranteed Pres Trophy and Stanley Cup for me.
The Nashville challenge was much better, and I wish I had gone in that one, but at that point I had no time.
I think this concept is AWESOME! But next time, the replacement players should be guys that are realistically let go by the other teams, not guys as experienced and solid as Selanne. I would love to see this done with a much much tougher pool of players to get going.
Even when the older ones retire guys like Toews and Ryan turn into stars....I know B72 acknowledged that Ryan was a bit too much, but in the future there should not be any potential young first liners in this type of a draft. Including a guy like Toews.
Make it hard. That Nashville one looked like everyone loved it.
Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, this one did turn out a bit too easy. When I picked the players to include in the polls, I just eyeballed them. I looked for players that looked around the same age and skill level as the players they were replacing. Once Lidas got into editing the roster he saw that the PA on many of them was much higher than the player they were replacing. He edited several of these players so that their PA was closer to the player they replaced but I guess it still wasn't enough. We'll just chalk this one up as a learning experience for future challenges of this sort. Still... even though it was easier than some of the others it was fun.
Moving forward I think we'll have to go with either a challenge in a different league (like our QMJHL challenge with the Sea Dogs) or another edited team for the NHL. I've looked through the working versions (not that they're complete but close enough to get an idea) of Lidas' new DB and it's hard to find any exceptionally weak teams that we haven't used yet. I've had some ideas though.
bruins72 wrote:
Moving forward I think we'll have to go with either a challenge in a different league (like our QMJHL challenge with the Sea Dogs) or another edited team for the NHL. I've looked through the working versions (not that they're complete but close enough to get an idea) of Lidas' new DB and it's hard to find any exceptionally weak teams that we haven't used yet. I've had some ideas though.
You don't really have to start with a weak team though. IMO the deciding factor as far as difficulty is concerned isn't the quality of the team but the rules. I didn't run any tests, but there are certain requirements that can make the game pretty challenging even with the best team I suppose. Like, compile a list of the top 8 players from that team based on attributes but allow people only to keep 3 or 4 of them and trade the rest as salary dumps for rookies only. Or start with a team that's right at the cap but set an internal cap that's just 1-2m above the floor so people are forced to trade some key/core players, maybe in combination with a rule that doesn't allow to "mix" in trades, just roster player for roster player, or prospect for prospect, or pick for pick. So you might end up having to trade Chara for Wellwood and Vandermeer There are more limitations needed of course, just thinking out loud.
I hear what you're saying Danny but we've found that overall, the more complicated the rules, the more reluctant people were to join the challenge. Our challenge rules had gotten a bit messy and not only was it difficult for new participants to join in, it was also a nightmare for the mods to keep track of everything required from everyone as proof that they were following the rules. We've really got a simplified set of rules now that seems to be working out. We've just got to make sure we use teams that don't have any real "game changers".
So I think I'm going to try to squeeze in a third season in my game. I wrapped up season 2 with another Stanley Cup win and had a decent draft considering how weak the draft pool was. Now I'm sitting at July 1st debating on what to do. Selanne has left the team and is about to retire. Steen and Ference wouldn't re-sign. Ference is now a UFA but I still hold the rights to Steen. I've brought up Ryan and Latendresse with the intention of making them full-time regulars. Calder was a pretty disappointing UFA signing last season but Warrener was very good defensively (only put up 9 points but put up 355 hits). Wisniewski came back from a long injury during the playoffs but didn't look very impressive. Montador really looked good playing in his place. I've got enough players on my NHL roster to have 1 extra forward and 1 extra defenseman. Do I bother making any UFA signings? I'm thinking I might might not. Maybe I'll not sign any UFAs and hold the right to make a waiver claim. And I think I'm going to hold off on doing any trades until later in the season.
I'm in similar situation. On free agent market I ran after Saku Koivu, Patrick Marleau or Jeff Halpern. None of them signed with me. So I tried to get solid 3rd liner: Laperriere or Yelle, but again with no success. It seems that I will stay where I am. On the other side, I'm quite comfortable with my team and despite of Selanne's retirement I can still think of the Cup for upcoming season.
Generally, I'm looking for 2nd-3rd line defensmen and 3rd line center/RW. Both of some gritty physical parameters. Maybe I'll try to make a trade with some of my prospects.
There were a lot of big names available on the UFA market but many (guys like Kovalchuk) of them were going to be looking for more than the $4M max we're allowed. As for some of the others, I'm not going to make changes just for the sake of changing.
I also found out that I'm going to arbitration with Steen. He hasn't done much for me, so if they rule to give him much, I think I'll just let him walk.
I really don't understand the computer GMs' thinking sometimes. The Bruins frustrate me. They let Wheeler, Lucic, Rask, and and Gagner (who was the center-piece of the Chara deal) walk away as UFAs because they didn't offer them qualifying contracts. And to make matters worse, they let go veteran UFAs like Savard and Pothier. So now they're sitting there like idiots with only 16 players on their NHL roster in mid-July and I don't think they're going after anybody big. They'll have to add some salary though. They've only got about $38M against the Cap.
So I ended up with only minor trade: Gagner for Dustin Brown and Dmitri Kalinin. I like the deal because I was looking for 3rd D and 3rd FW, so I finally got them both. I didn't use Gagner a lot and even didn't intend to call him up for this season. He's just not good enough for our roster and I don't want him to play in 4th line, averaging some 3-4 minut per game.
It's September 2nd so signing UFA isn't allowed no more. Therefore I'm going with the Waivers tier. I'm sure there will be some hot goods on the waiver list during the season.
Now let the exhibition games begin
I didn't like Gagner either. That's a great deal you made there! Dustin Brown can fit nicely as a 2nd line RW and put up some points if you need him to (in case of injury). He's a physical player and he's got some speed with an offensive touch. Kalinin is a reliable defenseman too. Excellent deal!
Finally finished up season one - in a crash and burn manner. The team went on a five game losing streak in late March and never recovered, they were eliminated in five games by the Flames (yeah... I still f-ing hate the EHM Flames) who went on to win the cup. The injuries to Påhlsson, Mair and Bäckström didn't help any.
Atleast the Rampage won the Calder Cup with the help of Mason, Toews and Bäckström when he returned from injury.
So, let's look towards a brighter future instead!
Trophies:
Sam Gagner - 3rd Red Tilson, 3rd Eddie Powers Memorial, Emms Family
Kirill Tulupov - QMJHL Best Defensive Defenseman, QMJHL Karcher Plaque
Michael Frolík - QMJHL Offensive Player of the Year, QMJHL Jean Bëliveau, 2nd QMJHL Karcher Plaque, QMJHL Michel Bergeron, QMJHL Michel Brière, 2nd QMJHL Star Player Award
Jonathan Bernier - QMJHL Jacques Plante
Ladislav Smíd - Les Cunninghamn Plaque, Eddie Shore Plaque, AHL First All-Star Team
Guillaume Latendresse - 2nd Les Cunningham Plaque, Red Garrett Memorial, 2nd John B. Sollenberger, 3rd AHL Leading Scorer Award, 2nd AHL Best Forward, 3rd Willie Marshall Award, AHL First All-Star Team
Bobby Ryan - 3rd Red Garrett Memorial, AHL Second All-Star Team
Kenndal McArdle - 2nd AHL Leading Scorer Award, 2nd Willie Marshall Award
Keith Aucoin - 3rd Yanick Dupre Memorial Award
Anton Strålman - AHL Rookie All-Star Team
Teemu Selänne - 2nd Hart Memorial, Lady Byng Memorial, 2nd Maurice Richard, 2nd NHL Plus-Minus Award, NHL First All-Star Team
Draft:
#26 LW/C/RW Anton Lander, 1st line pot.
#56 LW/RW Matt Brown, 3rd-2nd line pot.
#86 LD Tyler Schmidt, 7th-3rd d-man pot.
#116 C/RW Kyle Palmieri, ltd-3rd line pot.
#146 C Travis Toomey, 3rd-2nd line pot.
#176 RD David Foucher, 6th-5th d-man pot.
#206 LD/RD Fredrik Styrman, ltd-5th d-man pot.
I think I managed to avoid any player I've drafted in other games.
Prospect signings:
C Zack Torquato, LW/RW Matt Brown, LW/RW/C Yuri Cheremetiev, RW/LW/C Maksim Pestushko, LD/RD Ian Cole, LD Yann Sauvé, LD/RD Kirill Tulupov
Notable UFAs:
Parker, Numminen
Notable RFAs:
Talbot, Hilbert
Plan A
Sign a key/core RD. Make Smid third LD and make Ference #7 D. Have Chipchura and Thornton replace Talbot and Hilbert. Have Orr replace Parker.
Plan B
Sign two veteran grinders to replace Talbot and Hilbert. Have Smid replace Numminen. Have Orr replace Parker.
I'm following Plan A with some modifications after signing Derek Morris to a four year deal and having Orr play terribly in camp. Right now I'm sitting at final cut day and essentially have 8 guys fighting over the bottom six forward slots after waiving Talbot and Bayda (realized right after I did it that I could have fit them onto a 23 man roster but whatever, no big loss if they get picked up).
I'm leaning towards giving Latendresse and Ryan another year in the minors to hopefully squeeze atleast one them right into a top six spot next season when they should be competing with Gagner for second line RW. I find myself wishing I could trade Selänne and Tkachuck, I'm not a big fan of 35+ guys on the top two lines.
Tentative lineup:
G
Bäckström
Mason
D
Pitkänen-Morris
Keith-Wisniewski
Smid-Montador
(Ference)
F
Doan-Toews-Ruutu
Tkachuk-Steen-Selänne
Battaglia-Påhlsson-Brouwer
Thornton-Chipchura-Mair
Oh, the Jets were ranked #2 behind the Flames in the season preview so I guess there's nowhere to go but down.
I'm in preseason for season 3 right now but I have no idea if I'll finish the season. How many people are playing season 3? I wonder if we'll even have enough for it to be counted?
With a year of my practice regime under their belts I decided that the team were ready for my Predators tactics, the only change I made was switching the PP setup from 2-1-2 to umbrella because Doan and Ruutu were great in front of the net last season. The team handled it well and got off to a wonderful start going 6-0-1 before a stretch of injuries to Toews, Påhlsson and Ruutu caused a four game losing streak.
A bunch of rookies have been bounced between the AHL and the NHL in an attempt to avoid playing them at low morale and most of them performed well, the ones who seem to have stuck with the big club for now are Latendresse (18GP 3G 4A +0 7.17 AvR) and Chipchura (19GP 0G 4A -4 6.34 AvR, forced to center the checking line for the 11 games that Påhlsson missed). My only issue with playing Latendresse in the NHL is that there's no regular spot on the PP for him this season which could hinder his development. Another notable not-quite-a-rookie is Steve Mason who has been the better goaltender so far.
Smid's morale was crushed in the losing streak so Ference has started 10 games and played well (1G 1A +6 6.90 AvR). I expect to return Smid to the NHL soon as he has rebounded to Good morale after 5 games (0G 4A +3 7.40 AvR) with the Rampage.
Meanwhile the AHL club was also devastated by injuries to Gagner (8GP 7G 7A +5 8.5 AvR), Ryan (6GP 2G 8A +7 8.83 AvR) and Frolik (9GP 5G 13A +5 8.56 AvR).
At the 20 game mark we are 14-5-1 with Tkachuk and Chipchura on IR. Toews looks set to be the face of the franchice going forward, he has scored 7G 17A +6 8.47 AvR in 15 games and is currently one of our alternate captains.
bruins72 wrote:I'm in preseason for season 3 right now but I have no idea if I'll finish the season. How many people are playing season 3? I wonder if we'll even have enough for it to be counted?
I'm going to finish season 3. I've started postponing my work already
), and it's not gonna happen by setting my defensive faceoffs for 4th line as lopsided. Really isn't. And in case my rock career never pulls off, I have to be well educated. 
There are more limitations needed of course, just thinking out loud. 
