Challenge 13: Nashville Predators (Discussion Thread)

Post by **timmy_t** » Tue May 26, 2009 5:47 pm

jbsnadb wrote:I'm still upset over some of the deals people have been able to pull off. I offered WAY MORE for Fluery, and couldn't get him

A lot of the time trades come down to "need" and "timing." The other team has to feel like they need what you are giving more than what you are trying to take. And, the timing for said trade has to be "right."

Even untouchable players and future franchise prospects can be picked up if the the above criteria is met. (And I'm not talking about picking up Ovechkin when he blows his ACL out!)

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:30 pm

It's just frustrating, that's all. Only having two weeks to try to get a front-line goaltender is a daunting task.

Meanwhile, Colin Wilson is the man! He has 14 pts. in 27 games playing purely 3rd line minutes. He also just scored a game-tying goal with :01 left, leading to my first OT victory!!!

Unfortunately, Dan Ellis just went down for three weeks.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue May 26, 2009 7:51 pm

If you can't square away a deal during that 2 week window in July, maybe you're better off going into the season with a bit of a question mark in net and trying to land something in a trade then? You might have a bit better luck.

I've finished my second season (the regular season) and now I'm in the playoffs. I'm currently in the Western conference finals against the Calgary Flames. We're leading the series 3-0. Luckily for us, Jokinen is injured. He played the first game, played about 10 minutes of the second game and went out injured. He should miss game 4 but might return if the series goes further.

I'm really happy with my team's playoff performance. Howard has been rock solid. Kesler and Dumont, my top 2 RWs, are leading the team with 11 goals each. Erat is actually doing pretty well and only trailing Arnott in assists (Erat has 14 and Arnott has 15). Really, out of my top 2 lines, only Legwand is a bit disappointing so far. he's only got 11 points in 13 games. That doesn't sound so bad in and of itself but the rest of the forward from the top 2 lines have between 18 and 20 points.

I'm really hoping I can pull off a season 2 Cup victory! Then it's draft time. I'm hoping to get to that point by the end of the day (about 2 hours from now) so I can get my stats logged. If not, tomorrow morning.

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 26, 2009 8:18 pm

I'm in the last quarter of season 3 and my team decided to go into a slump now before the playoff, actually we can miss the playoff thanks to it.

I'm in 6th with 78 points and Blues in 9th 71!

I will need to look over my tactics...

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue May 26, 2009 9:23 pm

Of course I talk about being up 3-0 on the Flames and then they proceed to win the next 3 straight to tie the series up and give me a heart attack! Thankfully, we were able to hang on and win game 7! We're going to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!! We'll be playing the Florida Panthers. The finished the regular season 4th in the East and beat Tampa, Washington, and Buffalo to get to the Finals.

pforsbergfan9 · Post by **pforsbergfan9** » Tue May 26, 2009 9:56 pm

After my first 3 regular season games I had Dan Ellis as my leader in PIM's!!! The man is a goon!!! He gets roughly a penalty a game for me. Usually something like tripping. And in the first game he fights the opposing goalie 5 minutes into the game. After which we had a huge brawl. Then in game 3 of the season he decides he wants a piece of that goalie. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen on this game.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Tue May 26, 2009 10:28 pm

pforsberg what are your tactics like for him?

Captcrunch · Post by **Captcrunch** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:03 pm

pforsbergfan9 wrote:After my first 3 regular season games I had Dan Ellis as my leader in PIM's!!! The man is a goon!!! He gets roughly a penalty a game for me. Usually something like tripping. And in the first game he fights the opposing goalie 5 minutes into the game. After which we had a huge brawl. Then in game 3 of the season he decides he wants a piece of that goalie. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen on this game.

Lol!

While we are covering the subject, anybody knows how to reduce the penalty numbers? I'm seeing a wild variation in penalty minutes in my team and I'm really at loss to know how to tighten things up...

Just this last game (a 4-0 win against Toronto... woohoo! There's a worst team than me!), I've had the following penalties:

-Weber: 2 minutes for holding
-de Vries: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for slashing
-Jessiman: 2 minutes for roughing
-Bonk: 2 minutes for slashing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for hooking
-Nichol: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Weber: 2 minutes for roughing

16 minutes of penalties is way too much. Weber and deVries are on 2 different lines. Jessiman and Bonk are on the third line but Nichol is centering my fourth line. Most of these guys are pretty meek aggression-wise, the worst being Nichol with 15 but then he only played 11:50 minutes.

I don't have any aggressiveness setting higher than "normal" (again, to reduce the advent of penalties). The only thing that might provoque penalties is the "high tempo" setting and, then again, I want my guys to skate so as not be behind the play. Then again, most of them have decent skating and speed so its not like they were slow goons.

Maybe Nichol is acting like a bum because he's got low morale?

Do any of you have any tips beside reducing the penalty level (is there a way to do that anyways?). Its getting a bit weird to have one to two periods dedicated to special teams every game...

fz50 · Post by **fz50** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:10 pm

If it helps, I have also been plagued by incredible amount of penalties. In the middle part of my second season, it had about 7-8 (!) two minute penalites a game. Lost a heap of games, and by the looks of it, that's going to cost me the playoffs this season. In some games if was so mad, that I almost threw my laptop out the window!

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 26, 2009 11:32 pm

I made it to the playoff in season 3, but it wasn't thanks to good goalkeeping by Pickard who replaced a injured Varlamov, instead Dumont and Getzlaf was having fun in the end. For example in a game against Blues, which was the team that threaten my playoff spot, in the last 5 minutes we were down by 4-5, but then Dumont and Getzlaf score one goal each, assisting eachothet and we win 6-5 and the next game we secure our spot in playoffs.

We ended in 7th and in the first round we got Red Wings, why can't this game help me a little?!

Well at least we got Varlamov back from his injury on April 10th, the first game against Red Wings is 12th. I've been the better team in our games against eachother this season, I won 5, 3 was at Joe Louis Arena, while they won 3. Hopefully we can keep that up and make our way to the second round.

mustardstew · Post by **mustardstew** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:02 am

Looks like I'll have to sit the rest of this one out...

I had just got the team to 6-4, and saw the discussion here about trades in July, and realized that my 2nd trade was AFTER July 15

- and I mean well after...

I have a save from June 30, but seems pretty unfair to restart from there, as I've learned things about my team, even reconstructing exactly what I did...

So have fun - I'll play along in spirit!

joehelmer - good luck - way to overcome adversity and make it in, but we've got a little more adversity for you

...

B72 - nice work - way to get back in form LOL

I've found that I could reduce my penalties looking at the combination of puck pressure, hitting, and aggression... mainly pressure and hitting (for me)...
Are your highlights showing you anything? I found that I could not maintain possession in the 1st season, leading to long stretches of my team running around in my zone.

Of course, I ended up living with 7-8 penalties / game as it was the only way I could sustain an attack of my own...
Lately it seems as though one team starts off committing penalties, and then makeup calls ensue...

and I think I'll make a habit of talking about only the bad stuff here, as there's a bit of a TBL jinx going on

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:23 am

Mustardstew, I'd talk to B72/Archi/Calv about it as you may be able to continue but just take a penalty.

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:33 am

Well, what can I say.

The Red Wings really learned us a lesson, I went with a defensive tactic in the first 3 games and changed to a offensive one in the fourth, but lost 3-4 in OT. So once again I was out after 4 games.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Wed May 27, 2009 10:02 am

For those of you relying on sad here is a thought to balance your scoring. It's something I've tried with good results.

Sullivan Legwand Dumont
Jessiman Arnott Erat

My 3rd and 4th lines vary depending on opponents and what I want to do.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:12 pm

Captcrunch wrote: While we are covering the subject, anybody knows how to reduce the penalty numbers? I'm seeing a wild variation in penalty minutes in my team and I'm really at loss to know how to tighten things up...

Just this last game (a 4-0 win against Toronto... woohoo! There's a worst team than me!), I've had the following penalties:

-Weber: 2 minutes for holding
-de Vries: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for slashing
-Jessiman: 2 minutes for roughing
-Bonk: 2 minutes for slashing
-Nichol: 2 minutes for hooking
-Nichol: 2 minutes for elbowing
-Weber: 2 minutes for roughing

16 minutes of penalties is way too much. Weber and deVries are on 2 different lines. Jessiman and Bonk are on the third line but Nichol is centering my fourth line. Most of these guys are pretty meek aggression-wise, the worst being Nichol with 15 but then he only played 11:50 minutes.

I don't have any aggressiveness setting higher than "normal" (again, to reduce the advent of penalties). The only thing that might provoque penalties is the "high tempo" setting and, then again, I want my guys to skate so as not be behind the play. Then again, most of them have decent skating and speed so its not like they were slow goons.

Maybe Nichol is acting like a bum because he's got low morale?

Do any of you have any tips beside reducing the penalty level (is there a way to do that anyways?). Its getting a bit weird to have one to two periods dedicated to special teams every game...

You should check the Tactics thread in the EHM Game Knowledge thread. I'm guessing some of these penalties are happening because guys are getting stuck in a situation where's they're being caught off and they're doing whatever they can to break up the play. If you have a slower player set to play a tight gap control against a faster player, he might hook him to slow him down. Maybe they're playing too aggressive? That sort of thing.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:15 pm

mustardstew wrote:Looks like I'll have to sit the rest of this one out...

I had just got the team to 6-4, and saw the discussion here about trades in July, and realized that my 2nd trade was AFTER July 15 - and I mean well after...

I have a save from June 30, but seems pretty unfair to restart from there, as I've learned things about my team, even reconstructing exactly what I did...

Hold onto that save from June 30th. I'll discuss it with Archi and we'll figure out some sort of penalty and most likely you'll be able to go back to that old save.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:19 pm

thunderbug wrote:For those of you relying on sad here is a thought to balance your scoring. It's something I've tried with good results.

Sullivan Legwand Dumont
Jessiman Arnott Erat

My 3rd and 4th lines vary depending on opponents and what I want to do.

I really think Arnott thrives as a 1st line center. I don't know if he'd be quite as effective on the second line. I would seriously consider switching up the RWs and moring Dumont down to the second line. If my team is having trouble scoring I often swap my top two RWs (Dumont and Kesler) for a handful of games. It's a way of infusing new life into a line. I've actually had Erat playing LW for pretty much the entire challenge so far. I'm thinking I'm going to get rid of him in season 3 though.

mustardstew · Post by **mustardstew** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:41 pm

B72,

Will hold onto the save - thanks! I really am enjoying the challenge and the rules... just got crossed up, LOL

I've found that Sullivan and Legwand is really working (Legwand is Sulli's fav player) and Arnott and Dumont work well together... my lines 'were'

Erat-Arnott-Dumont
Sullivan-Legwand-Jessiman

3rd and 4th fluctuated, but Belak was the best performing of the bunch - I guess he likes the 'go get your fight and 10-minute misconduct, rinse, repeat, and sit down for the remainder of the game' LOL

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:43 pm

I'd love to know how the game calculates the game ratings. To me, Jason Arnott is the Marleau of the Central Division. In a recent game, he was given a ten with no points and a -1 rating, 2 PIM and 11 hits in 21 min. He was named first star.

Meanwhile, Colin Wilson played just over 19 min., scored a goal and added and assist, with a +1 rating. He was only given a nine. The only major difference is the hits. Wilson had a better faceoff percentage and more offensive production. PIMs were equal.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 4:10 pm

I think the hits really do make a difference... at least when you get that many.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 4:58 pm

Ugggh! What a heart-breaker! I lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Panthers won the Cup.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:09 pm

Congrats on making it that far!

With the deadline three weeks away, I was finally able to land a real starting goaltender. Having let up 4 or more goals in each of the last five games, it was time to make a change:

Nashville acquires G Evgeni Nabokov from San Jose in exchange for G Dan Ellis, D Shea Weber and RW Martin Erat.

The Sharks wanted a goalie back and I would have had to waive Ellis anyway (since Kolzig could not be moved - and he'd been the better option recently). Weber has been solid for me this season and will be missed. Erat, while decent for me is highly overpaid, and for far too long. It was between him and Legwand, and I see he has a much higher long-term upside than Erat.

I'm just glad I didn't have to give up anyone from my top line.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:13 pm

Post season awards my team won or were runners up for...

Art Ross : Dumont won, Sullivan runner-up
Calder : Jimmy Howard
Conn Smythe : Jason Arnott runner-up
Jack Adams : Bobby Carpenter runner-up
Lester Pearson : Jason Arnott
Rocket Richard : Steve Sullivan
Plus Minus : Dumont, Arnott second runner-up
Second All-Star Team : de Vries and Dumont
Rookie All-Star Team : Jimmy Howard

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:20 pm

jbsnadb wrote:Congrats on making it that far!

With the deadline three weeks away, I was finally able to land a real starting goaltender. Having let up 4 or more goals in each of the last five games, it was time to make a change:

Nashville acquires G Evgeni Nabokov from San Jose in exchange for G Dan Ellis, D Shea Weber and RW Martin Erat.

The Sharks wanted a goalie back and I would have had to waive Ellis anyway (since Kolzig could not be moved - and he'd been the better option recently). Weber has been solid for me this season and will be missed. Erat, while decent for me is highly overpaid, and for far too long. It was between him and Legwand, and I see he has a much higher long-term upside than Erat.

I'm just glad I didn't have to give up anyone from my top line.

Good job landing Nabokov! Dealing Weber though? Ouch! That's going to hurt! I'm sure you were glad to unload Ellis. Erat is definitely overpaid. Good job getting rid of him! I'll be looking to that too.

Overall, it could be a good deal but Weber really sticks out here. Good luck! I hope the trade works out for you.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 27, 2009 7:40 pm

Ouch!

Just lost Sullivan (2 wks), Legwand (2 wks) and Arnott (4 mos) to injury.

Now my top three lines look like this:

Jessiman - Wilson - Dumont (C)
Jones - Hornqvist - Ward
Pihlstrom - Murray - Thuresson

Only 5 pts out of a playoff spot, but the postseason looks like a pipe-dream now.