How's it going in EHM 1? What team are you?

[batdad]

Only one point for Tiny Tom? Probably Even in the game right? Should he not be on the Sedin line?

[MWE]

Only one point for Tiny Tom? Probably Even in the game right? Should he not be on the Sedin line?

Haha he's 3rd line

[Laanorfa]

I'm about to start a new game managing a team in need of a rebuild. I got a couple of players of my own added to the database because I'm a junkie for career stories (both probably 1st round picks, named after me of course).

Some rules I've set for myself:
1. 5M+ contracts are allowed only for players I've drafted or who are playing in the team on game start date
2. Not allowed to sign/trade the players I added to the database
3. Draft McConnor (not really a rule but a thing everyone attempts to do in every game they start )

Any ideas which team I should pick? I have a thing for Canadian franchises but I'm open for suggestions.

[batdad]

Cool. except point 3. Not true. Lots of people rather play against him

[helmespc]

Okay.... I'm hitting the point where the salary cap is keeping the best players stuck in the free agent pool. Is there a saved game editor where I can bump the salary cap a few million to try to help the situation a bit?

[Marmoset]

I'm about to start a new game managing a team in need of a rebuild. I got a couple of players of my own added to the database because I'm a junkie for career stories (both probably 1st round picks, named after me of course).

Some rules I've set for myself:
1. 5M+ contracts are allowed only for players I've drafted or who are playing in the team on game start date
2. Not allowed to sign/trade the players I added to the database
3. Draft McConnor (not really a rule but a thing everyone attempts to do in every game they start )

Any ideas which team I should pick? I have a thing for Canadian franchises but I'm open for suggestions.

I'm playing as the Devils, since I believe they have one of the worst current circumstances in terms of outlook for the future. In my 2014-15 season they finished 3rd worst. Strange thing is, they actually made the playoffs in 15-16 and went to game 7 of the second round. Ryane Clowe returned to being a 50-point player, and a couple of waiver castoffs such as Luke Adam ended up becoming solid players.

Since you mentioned rules, I have a 'rule' that I won't exploit certain mistakes by the computer, such as teams failing to sign very highly rated prospects (e.g. Haydn Fleury was not signed by Carolina, Anthony Duclair not signed the previous year). However, I allow myself leeway with guys who aren't blue-chippers or first-rounders.

[Blue @ngel]

After losing the Stanley Cup Finals to the Lightning in our second season, we've finally put 40 years of mediocrity behind us and won Lord Stanley.



I'm hoping for another push this year, it's the last contract year for the declining Twins, so I'd love to win them another one before we continue the rebuild I've started since day 1

Current Team Report:

[dabo]

In my 4th year in Toronto I managed to bring the cup home. Marlies won the Calder Cup too so it was a very successful season.

[MWE]

3rd season done with Vancouver made it to the second round of the play-offs

[daim9900]

Im playing devils. And im currently in 2017. I have gone crazy with the trades for a rebuild so I havent made it to playoffs. But the future look brigth. Heres my team

http://gyazo.com/a8880a4d7f51eeeaf69686153b7611c5

[Duranium]

Im playing devils. And im currently in 2017. I have gone crazy with the trades for a rebuild so I havent made it to playoffs. But the future look brigth. Heres my team

http://gyazo.com/a8880a4d7f51eeeaf69686153b7611c5

nice one....Eichel, Hanifin, McDavid, Seth Jones & Sam Reinhart - Lou Lam would be proud of you

[CanucksFan1993]

Haven't updated anything in a while, but I restarted the game as unemployed and after one whole season, I was able to sign with the Ottawa Senators (they missed the playoffs as the 10th seed). However I'm about 4 seasons into my save.

I relieved Cameron and his staff of their coaching duties and hired Todd McLellan along with a few assistant coaches one of them being Patrick Roy.

At the NHL Draft, I acquired Gabriel Landeskog from the Avs in exchange for Curtis Lazar.

I traded Bobby Ryan + Draft Picks to the Blues in exchange for Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz.

I acquired Mark Scheifele from the Jets in exchange for Cody Ceci.

My last trade prior to the draft was acquiring Justin Schultz from the Oilers in exchange for prospects.

Our 1st line for the next 3 seasons was

Landeskog - Schwartz - Tarasenko

In the 2016-17 playoffs, we were up against the Bruins in the 1st round. We were down 3 -1 in the series and this line stepped up its game big time. The Bruins had no answer for it and we ended up taking the series in 7.

However Schwartz demanded a massive pay raise at the end of the season. I wanted to keep him, but ultimately decided to give in a different direction. So I decided to trade him to the Kings in the off season for Tanner Pearson.

My top two lines at the moment look like this:

Landeskog - Scheifele - Tarasenko

Pearson - Zibanejad - Stone

Scheifele and Zibanejad both raised their level of play after the departure of Jaden Schwartz. Scheifele ended the season with 22 goals and 49 assists in 81 games played.

Zibanejad ended the season with 25 goals and 25 assists in 82 games.

Pearson also had a solid year with 26 goals and 41 assists in 77 games.

In the 2017-18 playoffs, we were up against the 7th seeded Capitals in the 1st round. We got swept and the Capitals went on to the Stanley Cup FInal, but lost to the Avs in 6 games.

I'm currently a week away from the draft right now and I've acquired Shea Theodore from the Hawks in exchange for Oliver Kylington (My 1st round pack of 2015).

I also acquired Ryan McDonagh from the rebuilding Rangers for my 2017-18 1st round pick (28th overall) and a goalie prospect.

Ryan McDonagh and Erik Karlsson will be a solid pairing.

I'm hoping this team can win the cup this season because a lot of my players are going to be wanting a raise by the end of the season. I've already spent to the cap and a ton of tough decision are going to have to be made in the off season. I already locked up Karlsson to a 5 year contract. So I'm going to try and maintain the core players if possible.

[ismael8]

Probably the best team ever





Duchene/McDavid/Forsberg
Kovalchuk/Staal/Nyquist
Lucic/Scheiffle/Wheeler
Lowry/Yakimov/Zykov

Karlsson/Doughty
Trouba/Chabot
Kylington/Fantenberg

Allen
Vasilevski

Young gunz : Strome,Zacha,Matthews,Duclair,Ehlers,Laine,Crys Rydberg,Petan,De Leo,Glover,Heetirington,Wiliams

[lomekian]

So I decided to start again as the red wings, with my very basic unit tactics, and try to resist too much exploitation of the ai or missing roster limits. But also to try to make vaguely realistic moves.

As observed before, if you get decent momentum its easy to turn into an unstoppable machine if you keep making the odd tiny tweak, as long as you have a couple of franchise players...

Accordingly we went a ridiculous, 81-1 in the regular season...before 16-0 in the playoffs. Bear in mind that this isn't a roster full of all stars...it helps that my special teams were great, with 4th best power play and best PK.

Nyquist 79-60-47 won all the scoring trophies and got 25 points in the playoffs. The game seems to favour shifty wingers who can finish a little too much. That and offensive d-men with Kronner getting 78 pts in 82 games.

Apart from doing the usual and picking up Enroth when released and the oilers offering me Nurse for Gustavsson after he had a poor training camp, flipping Cleary to the sharks along with a rubbish prospect for a 2nd Rounder, the only significant roster changes were approaching the deadline.

I started trying to keep on message flipping an ok performing Weiss and Kindl for an underperforming Phaneuf. The Leafs fire sale continued so I managed to snag Bozak for Louis-Marc Aubry, the non developing Darcy ashley and Chris porter, which was a steal and a half, especially as Sheahan was struggling for consistency. Bozak played twice, stank out both games and got suspended, but just as I was starting to wonder if the cap hit was not so wise, Andy Greene wanted out of the Devils who were ever worse than the leafs, so Bozak, the rights to Mitchell Wheaton and Andy Miele went there and I got Greene and a couple of one star pieces back. Even better as Greene's cap doesn't go up until next year...

So that was the backline sorted, but left us a bit light up front and with a 4m Dman too many (Quincey/Ericsson). I offered Quincey out, and although had some equal offers, sent him to the hawks for a 4th and a 3rd, partly to compound their cap hell next year!

Erik Cole, who had been mediocre, was offered out and got some interest from the collapsing Sabres, and I knew that they were after Brian Lashoff too,so with them, and a couple of other poor prospects they gave me Evander Kane in exchange, a week before he came off IR.

Phaneuf had an immediate impact on the top line, PP & PK with 29 points in 30 games, and then 9 points in the post season, posting 7.7 and 7.13 averages respectively.
Greene was solid, but not spectacular with 10 pts in 28 games on the second line, averaging 7.2
Kane ousted Abdelkader from Zetterberg's wing, and put up 23 in 19 and 15 in 16 in the post season.

Interesting decisions ahead, but from a position of strength.
Probably one of Greene or Phaneuf will go, with 12m in cap in the 15-16 season for 2 2-4 D men, and experience has taught me on this and EHM 07 that Abby NEVER renews his contract!
Howard has been great, but Mrazek is pushing hard...not a decision for this year, but it will be an interesting situation to watch.
Potential logjam next year, with Marchenko and Oullette at D, and Jurco and Pulks looking ready to step up from Grand Rapids, and Mantha and AA looking promising too. As in reality, the big question is can we grab a 1st line centre before D & Z fall off a cliff, and also, can Franzen stay healthy, with so long on his contract.....with his cap hit and diminishing returns, his next injury may see a LTIR situation!

[lomekian]

Probably the best team ever





Duchene/McDavid/Forsberg
Kovalchuk/Staal/Nyquist
Lucic/Scheiffle/Wheeler
Lowry/Yakimov/Zykov

Karlsson/Doughty
Trouba/Chabot
Kylington/Fantenberg

Allen
Vasilevski

Young gunz : Strome,Zacha,Matthews,Duclair,Ehlers,Laine,Crys Rydberg,Petan,De Leo,Glover,Heetirington,Wiliams

Well I may have got more points, but you got 100 more goals! Gosh! Your defensive record suggests a balanced tactic...
Thought that is a seriously stacked line-up!

[Peter_Doherty]

Probably the best team ever





Duchene/McDavid/Forsberg
Kovalchuk/Staal/Nyquist
Lucic/Scheiffle/Wheeler
Lowry/Yakimov/Zykov

Karlsson/Doughty
Trouba/Chabot
Kylington/Fantenberg

Allen
Vasilevski

Young gunz : Strome,Zacha,Matthews,Duclair,Ehlers,Laine,Crys Rydberg,Petan,De Leo,Glover,Heetirington,Wiliams

Is it even fun to play when you abuse the game so much that you can get a team like that? I sure wouldn't have fun doing that.

[Koekenbakker]

Neither would I. Started over with the pens three times just because I disliked my own trades. I mean. Nieto for bennnett is awesome but unrealistic (CPU offered this)

[Peter_Doherty]

Yeah, i really try not to take advantage of the AI. In the challenge i did trade Raffl and Akeson for Brodie but i gave myself some leniency because Raffl had scored 85 goals in 2 seasons

[stone169]

Restarted again as the Sens. Made the Stanley Cup in my first season. No one was really as shocked as I was. Lost in the Eastern Conference final to Carolina the following season and lost in the 2nd round to the Rangers last season. Made a couple of changes and traded for Tartar and signed Dwight King and I am, for the first time, expected to be one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup this year.

Also started another new season where I've taken control of Evansville, Binghamton, and the Senators. Almost through November and Evansville is 8-2-1 (1st in their division), Binghamton is 9-5-1 (3rd in their conference), and Ottawa is 11-4-3 (7th in their conference). No big trades to talk about other than acquiring Jordan Nolan for a 4th rd pick.

[pantsukki]

How enjoyable is the game at the moment? I've a save in EHM2007 going that I've invested far too much time in, but am still considering starting anew with EHM:EA (bought it weeks ago to give my support). Just wondering how good it is in its current state.

[Primis]

How enjoyable is the game at the moment? I've a save in EHM2007 going that I've invested far too much time in, but am still considering starting anew with EHM:EA (bought it weeks ago to give my support). Just wondering how good it is in its current state.

It's as enjoyable as 2007 is. You have to remember, the game is built upon what 2007 already had/was. They didn't start back over from scratch.

However, if you're *really* into your 2007 game I'd say stick with it for now, and maybe just spend a little time on a new EA game and learning its quirks and changes. I happened to not have a current 2007 game going when it released, so I just jumped right into EA.

[Peter_Doherty]

Think of it as a patched EHM07 atm, thats basicly what it is.

[Laanorfa]

NEW GAME

I started a new game with the first Canadian team I got from spamming the Pick a team for me -button and the team I got is... *DRUM ROLL* ...Toronto Maple Leafs!


REGULAR SEASON

After putting Clarkson on the block and hiring some new staff the team stormed in to the regular season by winning the first eight games. The rest of the regular season wasn't that gorgeous and despite a short winning streak in early January, The Leafs ended up being 14th in the Eastern Conference when the trade deadline hit.

Here is a recap of the most notable trades I made during the season:

- Before the beginning of regular season David Clarkson packed his bags and moved to Carolina. In exchange The Leafs got Chris Terry, who ended up playing 68 games in the left wing of 3rd line.

- A week before trade deadline the Avalanche GM showed interest in acquiring Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf had not played like I expect someone with over $5M payroll to play, so I traded him for a late round draft pick and Jan Hejda. The Czech defenceman's visit to Toronto was quick, as two days later he was traded to Oilers for a late round draft pick and blueline prospect David Musil. So basically I traded Phaneuf for a couple of late round picks, Musil, and a lot of room below the salary cap.

- Two days later I received a text message from the Oilers' GM.

"LETS TRADE MOAR LOL HOW ABOUT LUPUL -> DRAISAITL ??? I REALLY WANT THE CUP xD JUST AN IDEA LOL"

I took a sip of my morning coffee and thought it would be friendly to help a fellow canadian franchise that's in the first position of the Western Conference, and clearly a serious contender for the cup, so I answered him

LOL OK BUT U MIGHT REGRET DIS L8R xD

The Oilers ended up losing to San Jose Sharks in the Conferece Finals but they succeeded to push the series to game seven even though they lost the first three games. During that three game push Lupul scored five goals and assisted four.


PLAYOFFS

Despite beating the Oilers and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals, The Sharks got a serious pain slap on the cheek when Tampa Bay Lightning took the cup in four games.


DRAFT

The Draft Lottery was won by the New Jersey Devils. Surprisingly, they drafted Connor McDavid.
The obvious 2nd overall pick Jack Eichel was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks.
Next player drafted was Noah Hanifin who was picked by the Buffalo Sabres.

I could go on with this for whole seven rounds but instead I'll just list my own top 3 picks:
- Dylan Strome, 9th overall
- Lawson Crouse, 22nd overall (was going for Maxim Tretyak but The Canadiens picked him 21st overall /___\)
- Maxim Lazarev, 98th overall


GETTING READY FOR 2015-2016 SEASON

- Signed D-men Andrej Meszáros and Matt Bartkowski, both for three years.
- Signed Finnish wingers Teemu Hartikainen and Antti Pihlström from KHL team Salavat Yulaev.

I believe the Leafs is still some years away from being a serious Stanley Cup contender, so the season will be just chilling and letting the young guys develop.

L.A.A. N'orfa out, see you next year.

EDIT:

Forgot to add a screenshot of team overview for the upcoming season

[Koekenbakker]

So, my first season was quite good, ended up 2nd in the league standings, but unfortunately got kicked out of the playoffs by Boston in 7. Somehow we couldn't score (this game is SOOO realistic!)

Anyhow, the only trades I did during the season was Nieto for Bennett (cpu offered this, tried to trade back, cpu didn't want it, so figured it was ok) and Scuderi for a 6th rounder. I gave Martin an extension but was confident with how good my youngsters were performing so tried to offload him. Wilds were happy to help out and traded Justin Fontaine for Martin.

Figured I needed a replacement for an aging Kunitz so I went hard for Andrew Ladd. Gave up Downie, two 2nds and a 3rd to get him. Hopefully he makes a good pair with Malkin and Hornqvist. Trade Duper to Canadiens, that's a great end to his career! And Gave up a 4th for Joe Vitale.

In FA I tried hard to push for a right handed RD, cause I only have Letang, Cole and Lovejoy and the latters are.. well... Lovejoy and Cole. Green wouldn't sign with me, went to Coyotes. Michalek went to Devils. It was hard, but I managed to sign Colby Robak at least. Also signed Bodie (some strength) and Derek Roy, possible as a substitute for Sutter who's been nothing than Adam Oates despite his stats.

[Alessandro]

How enjoyable is the game at the moment? I've a save in EHM2007 going that I've invested far too much time in, but am still considering starting anew with EHM:EA (bought it weeks ago to give my support). Just wondering how good it is in its current state.

If you want to play in the KHL, you may want to hold on for a bit.