EHM The Blue Line

I restarted the challenge and I'm having two quite different experiences so far. Players that didn't perform last time around are now leading my team and those who did score a lot before, now are pretty quiet.

Also, having a goalie vs not having one, obviously makes a huge difference, since I acquaired Vasilevsky, and I'm leading the league right now.

I guess teh added depth also proves usefull, since I brought in 7 players instead of 3. Two fo them are the same, but instead of Ehlers, I got bunch of depth guys.. and Vasilevsky obv

edit: I posted this and immediately lost 6:0 to Dallas...

So... I went to the playoffs and after a dominant performance in the 1st round vs the Red Wings we qualified for the 2nd round, where the Penguins were awaiting us.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be, after a hard fought series and two overtime loses in a row, we were eliminated.

What I find troubling now is taht Vasilevsky was less then stellar in the playoff, I just hope it's growing pains and lack of playoffs experience, rahter than the pressure got him...

Now, to the draft we go, while we also try to acquaire a skilled RW and RD.

Mid-season report

What the heck is wrong with these guys, they are a bunch of losers destined to lose. The first 20 games they were in the playoff hunt but the next 20 games they forgot how to play hockey. I absolutely hate this team and almost deleted the game in rage.

Goal scoring sucks, goals against sucks, PP sucks, PK sucks, goaltending sucks, they simply suck. They always find a way to lose, always. If the offense is there and they score four goals, they goalie lets in three in the last five minutes. If the goalie saves 37 out of 38 shots they refuse to score. PP and PK was good the first 20 games and since then non-existent. This is mission impossible.

Sprong is my only really good forward with 42 points in 40 games. Murray is my only consistent D. Klefbom sucks. Patrick is a bust, I should have drafted Kovac. Pastrnak should retire from hockey.

Just like the last couple of challenges I feel playing is chore rather than fun. I think I got an addiction to the game even though is just ruins my day.

Season 1 is complete. Awesome 4th quarter....DEFENSIVELY...not Offensively. Scoring was totally spread out, but not much of it.

Finished 4th and drew Buffalo round 1...Lost the first two games, then came back and won the next 4. Both losses were in OT.
Round 2 Tampa...SMOKED them 7-3 in game 1, lost game 2 in OT, and it was back and forth the whole series, until I won game 7 4-1.
Round 3 Rangers--Lost game 1, won a couple...lost in OT and took them out in game 6.
Round 4---OILERS....Lost the first one badly. Subban played his only bad game of the playoffs.won game 2...then lost 2 games in OT(one went to double OT), and then won game 5, only to lose game 6.

THe Oiler rebuild is complete. They have their STanley Cup.


This is what their roster looked like. Interestingly McDavid dominated the playoffs, but it was RNH And Yakupov who destroyed me. McD only had 3 points in the series.


Hall-Mcjesus-Eberle
Pouliot-RNH-Yakupov
Korpikoski-Draisaitl-Pitlick
Bournival-Lander-Justin WIlliams
Letestu-Gazdic

Roman Josi-Justin Schultz
Sekera-Wiedman
Reinhart-Ness
Davidson Klefbom

Talbot
Nilsson

In the playoffs...my team was led by Beleskey with 23 points, and then Marchand and to some extent Spooner. Horvat was really disappointing in the playoffs. Played every bit of his young age. Lots of inconsistency...At one point had ratings in consecutive games of 7-5-8-5-8-5

Zboril was a total stud in the playoffs, where my PP actually clicked at a rate of 20%. Zboril playoff stats:7-8-15 7.3 AvR

Providence in the AHL playoffs has been awesome
Led by Gillies, Shinkaruk and a demoted Pastrnak (I had Bjorkstrand back up) the Baby B;s are currently up 2-0 in the Calder Cup final over Charlotte.

Pastrnak, Shinkaruk, Gillies, and Colin Miller look like they have shots at the big squad next year. I am not signing Rinaldo...so we shall see.

Also, Novikov has played 16 playoff games since signing and the kid has done well with limited 3rd line ice time. 16 games 3-4-7 7.4 AvR. Like him and he has actually shot up on the depth chart ahead of Rinaldo, Shinkaruk, Klimchuk and Debrusk into the third spot.


My line up at the end of the season looked like this

Beleskey-Spooner-Connolly
Marchand-Horvat-Toffoli
Klimchuk-Khoko-Hayes
Rinaldo-Kampainnen-Ferlin
Randell-Bjorkstrand (guys got a ton of games in playoffs..moved Ferlin/Rinaldo/Klimchuk in and out of lineup)

Krug-Morrow
Cross-Pokka
Zboril-K Miller
Irwin (played half games...in and out with Miller and Cross)

Subban
McIntyre

I have signed Sinyshin, Novikov Debrusk and Visuri and let 3 guys go as well (Rights)...cannot recall their names.

Sinyshin is up to third spot on depth on Right side, and Visuri is 5th among centres.

Before the draft will be looking to move out Irwin or K Miller (likely Irwin), and Kempainnen. Not sure I will make a youngster trade before the draft though...although Jimmy Hayes may be packing his bags. He does not do enough for me.

off the draft! Screenshots will come once i hit July 1.

Okay...because I am insane I made the following two trades leading into the draft....

Kempainnen, Irwin to Islanders for Matt Barzal

Then I Traded my one youngster allowed...usually I wait forever, but wanted to shore up my D, and with Marchand, Beleskey, Klimchuk, Shinkaruk, Bildh already on the left side and Horvat, Connolly, Hayes, and Pastrnak all okay to play there....

I dealt my 4th round pick from last season, who i signed immediately to Buffalo for Jake McCabe.


So now my team should be set for 2016-17....but we shall see if Fabbro, Senyshyn or someone sticks out at camp and replaces anyone from last season.


Looking like this though...

Beleskey-Spooner-Connolly
Marchand-Horvat-Toffoli
Klimchuk-Barzal-Hayes
Shinkaruk-Khoko-Bjorkstrand
Pastrnak...and then Phillips or Griffith or Randell Ferlin or Senyshyn.


Krug-Morrow
Zboril-K Miller
McCabe-Pokka
Cross-Trotman

Subban
McIntyre
Gillies
Vladar


Providence lost in the final to Charlotte, losing game 7 in Overtime. Freaking McGinn and Tolchinsky.

Final season two report

I can sum this team as "frustrating". Things started out pretty well at the start of the season, only to succumb to brutal slumps of 5 game losses.
As I said before, this team got a talent for losing, I know the symptoms too well considering I am an Oilers fan. How is it possible to have 10(!) OT losses in the last 22 games?

Not much positive to write about for the team stats. Maybe that my PIMs were really low?
I cant coach a PP, never could and never will. Not even guides help me. I sucked on the PP back in the days I played floorball too so I think I just cant understand it.



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SPRONG! That is the name on all the fans lips right now. 35-38-73 +12 in 79 games as a 20 year old, not bad considering I got him for Kevan Miller.
Marchand is consistent but seems to hamper the offense.
Kochlachev put in a decent season at last and so did Spooner, they just arent good enough for their roles.
Patrick was a huge bust both in NHL and in AHL but he is good in the ECHL. I knew he was a bad pick, he always struggles for the AI in my games with the older rosters.
Yakupov was disappointing but not even close to Pastrnak who cant play hockey from time to time. The inconsistency is frustrating.
Stransky had his cinderella story last year and wasnt even close this year.

Murray was my best D, by far!
Krug got a couple more points but was a liability at best.
Klefbom, meh.
Zboril, meh.



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Trades

I shook things up a lot for the next season and made all my trades already.

Marchand - Rinaldo - Randell FOR Phil Di Giuseppe - Nikita Korostelev
Marchand was a tough choice but Korostelev is a big prospect, possibly ready for NHL. Board and fans hated it.

Cross - Hayes FOR Scott Harrington - Brendan Perlini
Two rejects for two 1-2 line potential prospects, cant complain.

Krug FOR Sean Day - Darren Dietz - 3rd round
I got so many young D and Krug is more of a win-now guy. Day is 1-2 potential and Dietz 3-4. I think it was a steal but I got even more hated.

Subban FOR Glenn Gawdin
Fitzpatrick is nr 1 in my rankings now so I had to get rid of a goalie so I stole a great prospect from Jets. Everyone were celebrating!


Signed:
Forsbacka Karlsson
Jonathan Ang
Logan Brown
Kristian Vesalainen
Petrus Palmu
Evan Fitzpatrick
Aslan Volkov
Pirkka Lyytinen

Out:
Trotman (refuses to re-sign)

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Prospects

My prospect pool is huge! So many 1st line potentials in there.

Goalies:
Fitzpatrick - Was the best goalie by far in the QMJHL, dominant!
Vladar - Is doing fine in the ECHL.

D:
Aslan Volkov - 1-2 potential now after 55 points in 40 MHL2 games. Getting high in my depth chart.
Siegenthaler - 3-4 now, consistent and got a couple of NHL games.
Chad Krys - 5-6, decent offense in college.
Josh Brook - 3-4 decent offense but liability in WHL.

LW:
Sonny Milano - 30 goals and 56 points in AHL, looks like a second liner.
Lawson Crouse - Same as Milano but 1st line potential.
Debrusk - Just falling down quickly.

C:
Eemeli Visuri - 2nd, solid defensive C in AHL with 24 points.
Nolan Patrick - Huge disappointment in NHL with 11 points -14 in 41 games. AHL 12 games 6 points -5. Finally got going in ECHL 24 points in 21 games.
Philips - 64 points in 76 games in AHL.
Logan Brown - Wow! 101 points +34 in Windsor!
Jonathan Ang - Got back to 1st line potential with 66 43-41-84 +10 in OHL.
Nathan Noel - 3rd now, 42 points +17 in AHL.

RW:
Senyshyn - 1-3 potential, expected more than 43 points from him in AHL. Top RW in my team report.
Vesalainen - 1st lines but didnt do much in Fin.

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Draft

I really wanted Veleno but only got nr 4.

#4 Kristin Neundorfer - 1st. Playmaking LW with nice goalscoring.
#31 Mario McNeely - 1st. Ranked #13, a speedy pointscoring LW.
#61 Sebastian Gröhn - 2nd. Big defensive LW, lacks a bit smarts and skill.
#77 Doug Lane - 2nd. Flashy and smart very offensive RW. No defense and a real gamble.
#91 Tuomo Jalava - 2nd. Offensive playmaking C with 15 points in 29 games in the Finnish top league.
#121 Rudy Lariviere - 2nd. Defensive C with no offense.
#151 August Barrling - 1-Limited. 20 year old checking C that my scouts dont know where to place.
#181 Machal Wener - Backup. Needed a new goalie prospect so I got this 19 year old with a couple of good games in the Swedish second league.

Season 3 opening day roster:

Fitzpatrick
Domingue

Klefbom - Murray
Zboril - Dietz
Harrington - Johns
Davidson

Milano - Brown - Sprong
Korostelev - Patrick - Yakupov
Pastrnak - Spooner - Jurco
Connolly - Khokhlachev - Stransky
Janmark, Senyshyn

2017 NHL Entry Draft..yeah it is BAD.

25th-Kristian Vesalainen-RW/LW 6'4 196 HIFK Jr Finland-Most scouts call him Troy Brouwer, one Drew Stafford. Just a decent player.
55th-Aslan Volkov LD 5'11 205 SKA Kereliya MHL2 Russia- Scouts say good skating offensive defenseman 3-4 potential, like Brendan Smith.
115th-Pirkka Lyytinen C 6'5 205 KalPa Finland-Kid is huge, kid skates well. That is all.
139th Stefan Bogosian C 5'11 189 Princeton USA-Kid is just a decent skater, checker type. Likened to Adam Henrique.
145th-Lukas Henze LW 6'1 178 Vasteras Sweden--FAST...period! Scouts all say will score...plays like Loui Eriksson
175th-Anton Andersson RD/LD 6'5 213 Lulea Sweden Poor man's Jonathon ERicsson...yeah so he won't ever play.
205th-Gert Bystrom C 5'9 202 AIK J20 Sweden-Had 50 pts in 40 games for this team last season, so can play offensively. But not exactly gonna be a PK guy .... EVER.

So yeah....
3 Swedes, 2 Finns, a Russian and an American in my draft. I am sure that went well......Ugh.

batdad wrote:2017 NHL Entry Draft..yeah it is BAD.

25th-Kristian Vesalainen-RW/LW 6'4 196 HIFK Jr Finland-Most scouts call him Troy Brouwer, one Drew Stafford. Just a decent player.
55th-Aslan Volkov LD 5'11 205 SKA Kereliya MHL2 Russia- Scouts say good skating offensive defenseman 3-4 potential, like Brendan Smith.
115th-Pirkka Lyytinen C 6'5 205 KalPa Finland-Kid is huge, kid skates well. That is all.
139th Stefan Bogosian C 5'11 189 Princeton USA-Kid is just a decent skater, checker type. Likened to Adam Henrique.
145th-Lukas Henze LW 6'1 178 Vasteras Sweden--FAST...period! Scouts all say will score...plays like Loui Eriksson
175th-Anton Andersson RD/LD 6'5 213 Lulea Sweden Poor man's Jonathon ERicsson...yeah so he won't ever play.
205th-Gert Bystrom C 5'9 202 AIK J20 Sweden-Had 50 pts in 40 games for this team last season, so can play offensively. But not exactly gonna be a PK guy .... EVER.

So yeah....
3 Swedes, 2 Finns, a Russian and an American in my draft. I am sure that went well......Ugh.

Vesalainen was underperforming bad in Finland after being drafted and even worse now in AHL. He seems to lack any offense.
Volkov is great! he got 14 points +5 in 20 games in AHL as a 20 year old rookie. I got him in the 6th round though.
Lyytinen, meh....

Umm...yeah so I just blew it! Forgot to save when I closed out my game, and well...get to do the draft over. Going to try and get exactly the same guys.

Been there, done that.

Phew...got all the same guys in the same spots. Never looked at anyone else. WOnder if there was something better....oh well

batdad wrote:Phew...got all the same guys in the same spots. Never looked at anyone else. WOnder if there was something better....oh well

Well, you could have grabbed Aslan at round six....

I just had one of the most stressful games I've had in a while. Game 82 of the regular season. I need a win to make the playoffs after this kind of season, it was a rough one.

Both Makarov and Fitzpatrick (my 2 goalies) got injured in game 81, I had to play Makarov through an injury to make the playoff. I was up against a powerful Tampa and it was 3-2 for them after the 2nd period. Senyshyn (my favorite player) ties the game at 41:00 and Crouse scores the GWG assisted by Senyshyn!

As for my season report, Fitzpatrick was a huge letdown, 19 wins, 18 losses, 10 OT. 2,73GAA and .901% Sv he was much worse than last season. Luckily Makarov decided to take the spot and he was 21 wins, 8 losses and 3 OT with a 2,72GAA and .908 Sv. Can't say I'm too happy with it but hey we made the playoffs! Also my team sucks in shootout, I was 4-13 this year. My goal differential was always pretty solid, even when I was dead last. It's now 251 GF and 228 GA. my top 4 all cracked 40 points and my top scorer was Clayton Keller with 25 goals and 69 points. I had a lot of depth though, Dal Colle is an amazing 4th line he always gets 7 AvR and 20~ points.

Round 1 is against the Caps who's #1 seed and no they do not have Ovechkin anymore. However they have Holtby! Oh and also that Vanacek guy who's better than Lundqvist according to my scouts, no big deal.


Edit: Welp I lost in 4... Keep in mind that Washington won the previous 3 cups and their 2 last playoff run had a grand total of 0 losses in regulation. They were something like 16-0-2 and 16-0-1 I think

visualdarkness wrote:

batdad wrote:Phew...got all the same guys in the same spots. Never looked at anyone else. WOnder if there was something better....oh well

Well, you could have grabbed Aslan at round six....

Not likely in my game since he was ranked 31st.

batdad wrote:

visualdarkness wrote:

batdad wrote:Phew...got all the same guys in the same spots. Never looked at anyone else. WOnder if there was something better....oh well

Well, you could have grabbed Aslan at round six....

Not likely in my game since he was ranked 31st.

So you got an even better Aslan? Wow!
He already got 33 points halfway into to the AHL season for me.

HE is okay.. 5-5-10 7.75 with his Russian team SKA Kareliya... cannot get him til year 3 as he had no release clause.

batdad wrote:HE is okay.. 5-5-10 7.75 with his Russian team SKA Kareliya... cannot get him til year 3 as he had no release clause.

I am in season three and you got a lot of good coming with that guy.

Season 2 20 games in. Fairly meh about this team right now. Bjorkstrand started insane with 6 goals in first 7 games. Only 3 since. Hayes is starting to play. Spooner is not, Horvat is okay. Khoko has had some big games for me, and Pokka on D is playing awesome for him.

But the team is just okay, even though the record is good. Winning lots by one goal. giving up horrible goals on giveaways.

Need some guys to wake up or may have to move Beleskey, who was my best playoff player last year.

All I have to say about quarter 3 of season 1: Where did the wheels go?

Seriously, we only won 5 games to fall to 14th. Don't know where we were in the first half, but 2-8 in OT/SO's can't help. Really wish I could actually control some tactics there. Being 24 points out of the wild card, but we're only 9 out of the division. Hopefully a few breaks can go our way (and guys get healthy) and we can get into it. I really wish I knew if we were lucky in the start, or if I did something wrong.

It seems like this team go Edmonton Oilers on most of us after a couple of games.

Finished season 1. Some fun stats that make me feel worse but better:

We gave up 1 more goal than we scored. (Good). But finished 3rd to last in the league. Salt in the wound, they decide to win the last game in OT to move up the standings after a 4 game losing streak. The PK across the league seems very low (around 80 percent average).

My top line of Landeskog (35-33-68), Spooner (19-40-59) and Rantanen (34-29-63) worked out well, and all three goalies with playing time looked like the same guy (about 2.55 GAA, 91.5%, 7.65 AvR).

Providence was terrible, so there's little hope there.

On to the draft, I just had to share that giving up one more goal than scoring meant a high draft pick. Weird.

40 game mark. Krug has been down for the entire period basically, and is out for another month. Ouch. But the other D have stepped up and played well. All 7 are either near or over 7.0 aVr. Pokka, Zboril, Morrow, Cross have done the yeoman's work and the other three Colin Miller, Jake McCabe and Zach Trotman have filled in well.

Up front, things are changing. Beleskey has been average at best, after a good 30 games Marchand is slowing down. Connolly has not been good. But after returning from his own injury and going to Providence for a few games where he scored 5-2-7 in 7 games David Pastrnak came in and scored 2-2-4 in his first 3 games with us. Since then he has not been as good only going 2-2-4 in his last 14, but playing mainly with third line minutes only.

Horvat has been horrible and have basically moved him to third line centre. From game 21-40 he had 10 points. Not strong (And alot of 6 and 5 ratings). That allowed Khoko to get some 2nd line centre time and he has done well. His stat line this season> 8-15-23 in the first 40 (He played 37 of those games)

The biggest surprise has been Oliver Bjorkstrand....he is lighting it up. Averaging only 13-14 minutes per game....after 40 games he leads the team in goals with 14 and is threatening to get more time on the PP and top lines.

Senyshyn I sent back down to the farm as I am in need of C, and Pastrnak returned. He has lit it up down there 6-14-20 in 21 games. Klimchuk was sent down too, losing his battle to Hunter Shinkaruk only because Hunter can play C a bit on the 4th line and is eligible for waivers. Klimmer is 11-11-22 IN 19 games. Totally awesome.

Lineup right now looks like this:

Marchand-Spooner-Toffoli
Connolly-Khoko-Pastrnak (Bjorkstrand)
Beleskey-Horvat-Bjorkstrand(pastrnak)
Rinaldo-Phillips-Hayes
Shinkaruk Randell

Cross-Morrow
Zboril-Pokka
McCabe-Trotman
C Millar

Subban
McIntyre

IR: Krug

Trades



Really think that I robbed Tampa on the trade, but if I had known that I would've been able to make that trade, I wouldn't have traded for Mrazek. Whatever, I will probably trade one of them away next year when I can trade 1 non-veteran.

Draft



Got extremely lucky with that trade with the Devils trade, I can't believe I ended up with Auston Matthews at 6th!!! Dante Fabbro and Fitzpatrick were also great picks imo, and for some reason even though Visuri is projected to be a first liner, he was ranked so lo and was picked lower! I am super glad with that pick.

leafsrock67--> i like your trades, without saying to much Austin Matthews and Vasilevsky will be very good Good luck