EHM The Blue Line

Okay in your game maybe. In mine he reeks.

You're just not using him properly.

In this kind of team there is no other way than learning to like guys like Zigomanis or Kapanen. I decided before the season started that I'm gonna figure out how can I take the most out of Kapanen and (if possible) keep him in good mood at the same time. So I just decided to like him. But he is the only Finn in the team, that makes it a lot more easy to me.

bruins72 wrote: As great as those trades look, NTNB is turning out to be a lot of fun.

Not only those trades. Trades. Trading. You know what I mean, huh?

Nope. I just have to put up with all 3 of them til the end of the season. Then they all play for San Antonio, Phoenix Roadrunnners or that central league team. Or .... they are not going to be resigned. Kap and Tjarnquist are gone for sure at end of season.

And yes I use him properly B72. He is usually in the stands or on the bench scouting the opponent for me. And in the intermission I let him on the ice to entertain the crowd.

He sings a mean "I want to drive the zamboni"

Season one is in the books for me. And it turned out as bad as expected, with a 14th place in the West, 29th overall. Only the Wild somehow managed to do worse than me.

The guys wanted to end the season in a good way though, with back-to-back shutouts (one for Auld against the Kings, then one for Aebischer versus Vancouver)!

Kaigorodov had a few NHL games, and had 2 goals, 3 assists, a +1 rating and 6 PIM in 7 games. No doubt he'll be my season 2 HG. But for now, he'll end the season with San Antonio and make the playoffs there.

As for Zigomanis, he wasn't really brilliant for me... Sure, he scored 13 goals to be 5th in the team, and added 22 assists for 35 points, but he ended with a horrible -28 and 6.90 AvR. He'll be there next year though, as some of my core guys were even worse than him.

2007 Entry Draft is done. Thanks to my pathetic season, i had high picks, and ended pretty happy with what i get, even if i stupidly missed one guy i wanted. Here's the recap:

#3: Logan Couture (C; 6 ft; 191 lbs; Ottawa 67's; OHL): 77 pts (34+43) in 62 games; 19 pts (4+15) in 11 playoffs games; projected to be a smaller but better version of Olli Jokinen.

#22: Nick Petrecki (LD/RD; 6 ft 3; 211 lbs; Omaha Lancers; USHL): 53 pts (16+37) in 60 games; projected to be a bigger, better, but slower version of Nicklas Kronwall or a slower but better version of Phillipe Boucher.

#32: Tyson Sexsmith (G; 6 ft; 185 lbs; Vancouver Giants; WHL): 40-19-4 record; 2.42 GAA; 0.910 SV% and 10 shutouts in 63 regular season games. 4-6 record in the playoffs, along with a 1.76 GAA, 0.925 SV% and 1 shutout. Projected to be like Robert Esche.

#53: Eric Doyle (RD/LD; 6 ft 2; 187 lbs; Swift Current Broncos; WHL): 47 pts (16+31) in 72 games. Projected to be a more talented version of either Christoph Schubert or Christian Bäckman. I should have picked Akim Aliu here. I thought about picking him early in the 3rd round, but realised too late that i actually had no 3rd round pick I would have picked him #62, and he gone #66... My calculation was good... well... nearly good...

#110: Nick Palmieri (RW/LW; 6 ft 2; 200 lbs; Erie Otters; OHL): 54 pts (27+27) in 60 games; 6 pts (3+3) in 7 playoffs games. Projected to be like Shane Doan, or like Vladimir Orszagh, but with a bigger frame. Pretty interesting for a 4th round pick

#122: Brian Lebler (LW; 6 ft 2; 205 lbs; Michigan Wolverines; CCHA): 11 pts (6+5) in 44 games, but with only 7 minutes per game. Projected to be like Mark Bell. If he does, it's a steal! Kyle Turris was still available for this pick (although he was ranked #50), but well... With Kaigorodov, Mueller, and now Couture, i just didn't see the point of having another talented center guy...

#152: Alex Lamontagne (RD; 6 ft 4; 211 lbs; Cape Breton Eagles; QMJHL): 79 pts (28+51) in 70 games; 7 pts (4+3) in 7 playoffs games. Not bad offensive numbers for a stay-at-home defenseman! My scouts see a Christian Bäckman in him. They mostly rate him as a future depth player, and some even rated a potential core or key guy. Although i doubt he'll be that good, he is a huge machine that worth the gamble of a 6th round pick. Plus, i love how his name corresponds to his physical aptitudes ("La montagne" means "the mountain" in French)

is this not one scary deal

Scary Deal

of course i had to say no or i would violate the rules

Even without the rules issue, i would have refuse this deal. Grossman is a future 5-6, Leighton is garbage, Forrest not so interesting, and a 2nd + 3rd + 4th don't really compensate for a potential future star like Mueller. Especially when the 2nd round pick is in 2008, which is a pretty weak draft in the game.

So, in the end, it's a depth Dman + two 3rd round picks + a 4th round pick for a future franchise center. Not so tasty IMO...

Wow,I can't believe this.
If someone remembers I lost Stanley Cup-final last season in game 7 OT.Now I loose in Conference finals ,also game 7 and 1 second before the full time of regulation.Can't believe my luck..Seems I never get it



PHO @ CAL Game 7 Western Finals

ouch! That has to sting.

I'm not even sure i'm going to make the playoffs this year at this rate.... the season is turning into a disaster. After jumping out 14-5 record.. I've gone 5-8-4 since.... I can't seem to keep the puck out of the net I have no idea what is wrong I'm hoping it is a slump.. but I think i messed my tactics..and now I can't remember what I changed.

Happens to me sometimes too...The best thing to do in my opinion is to mix up tactics a little bit,but it doesn't effect right away.That would be my suggestion from my own experience.

Btw before that last game vs Flames,2 guys got injured in game 5,Leneveu,Boynton and also Hanzal got suspension.
Aebischer couldn't handle it,and without Boynton..well got a little bit scre wed after that,Hanzal is my second best PP guy.

So you could say injuries caused this,Leneveu was the biggest loss..

Oh well...better luck next season,hopefully
And I hope you get out of the slump soon..It will happen,and then you're back on track

How has Leneveu been playing for you... his projected status got downgraded to 'backup' in my game... so now I'm left with the possibiity that I dont' have a goalie coming up anytime soon

Word to the wise... make sure that you have a centreman with ACTUAL FACEOFF skill on each line... ESP on the pk

I think its time for a coaching change.

OttawaSenatorsRule wrote:How has Leneveu been playing for you... his projected status got downgraded to 'backup' in my game... so now I'm left with the possibiity that I dont' have a goalie coming up anytime soon

I brought him up in the third season..His work rate and determination are very good.So he kept winning games for me and got better.
This season he has played in over 70 games,and every playoff game except these last two.He's been great for me.

I've been reading about everyone elses injury woes, and hjave to add some of my own. Midseason I lost Morris and York for three months each. Then at the 70 game mark I lost Tallider for a Month and Jovocop for Three Months. What is with those Fractured shins anyway?

And gee tk...I wonder why you might have lost them.

Sorry..but not much sympathy for imjuries suffered l/t to players who are playing extreme amounts of ice time. That is the most clear reason why it is happening guys.

Injuries occur

1. Cause you use guys too much, and for too long on a shift, or they average more than 22 minutes per game for dmen, or 19-20 minutes for a forward.

2. Cause you do the above and practice too hard.

So...until I see guys with a ton of injuries who do not play their players to death...well then I will feel some sympathy.

Me--I use a copule forwards too much..and Doan and Reinprecht and York have all had too many injuries. SO I have eased up ice time. That simple.

I think the longest I have lost anyone was Reinprecht for 3 weeks... (7 games). Most of time its 10 days or less. I know I replaced all my trainers with three ones that had 20 in therapy... did everyone else do that?

If you overplay your players...won't matter a dang what trainer you have. And yeah, virtually everyone does that.

I've always left them on normal... except I have my defense on equal... else Morris gets way too much time since he's on power play and penelty kill. Mostly he' stays under 28 mins.. unless he spends 15min on special teams!

Listening to everyone's fun with NTNB, I'm almost jelous. I will definatley be giving it a try next challenge. Almost feel guilty for not taking it myself. Then I see Grabovsky with a point per game, and feel less guilty .

Batdad, I'm rolling four lines. York is the only one off of my top line that has been injured (Reinpruckt has a 5 day injury of something small like that once in the season, but that doesn't really count). Jovocop is playing big minutes, but I expect my no 1 defensemen to play 25min a game. I'm specifically not running a tough pratice on my team becuase I don't really have any developing players (except kaigorov) everyone else is pretty much at their peak. At one point I was running a totally AHL defense. I think I've gotten all the Fractured shins because I block 10-15 shots per game.

Well you are not rolling 4 lines very well, cause your ice time in your screen shot suggest othewise.

tksolway avg ice times

Jovonovski 33:39
Morris 30:54
Jones 27:53 (1 game)
Doan 26:47
Reinprecht 24:09
York 25:21
Zigomanis 6:35
With 4 other players averaging less than 8 minutes per game.

So honestly, not sure how you can say that. Unless of course you are averaging 20 minutes of pp time, AND 20 minutes of pk time. And if that is the case, you need to switch up your pp and pk players a whole lot more.

If you were rolling 4 lines, in most cases your lowest players would get between 10-15 minutes of ice time per game. Your top players would at best be 22 minutes.

So, no I don't think you are rolling the lines like you claim. You may be on "normal" with Jovo, Doan, Reinprecht, Morris and York on top pp units and top or 2nd pk units (for the forwards) but you are not rolling...no way, no how.

Sorry for pointing this out, and using your #s as an example. But it is pretty clear.

By no means am I an angel that way either. When the rule comes in I have to play with mine a bit too. But noone plays 30 minutes ON AVERAGE. Occasional games ... yes. But not always.

My stats

Forwards--This is the most I have ever played my top line. For the reason that jdh79 describes. the rest of the team sucks, so I end up more often switching...but only for the 3rd...

At the beginning of the game my team is run on normal, and in the third (only the third) I will move to overload or to just three once in awhile. Last 3 shifts of the game are up for grabs.

I have a rule as well...as soon as I am up 3 goals, I switch to EQUAL (no matching) on off/def...change my pp and pk guys...and then play.

SOmetimes...this lets the other team back in the game..and I have to change again. But not always.

So I cannot claim to roll 4...and I do not. Rolling 4 is EQUAL no line matching. period.

I am getting a lot of Penalties, How do I stop my players from taking them though?