EHM The Blue Line

nino - Aight, so it's OK even though i think atleast some of them should be -15 but as i said, it's nitpicking

Ok sorry, thanks

I'm playing with MODO and I go into my 4th season of SHL I believe. My budget is still relatively small so I tried to get a lot of young talented players. However I have a really hard time to really get them going and make them better, can anyone who plays in the EU leagues a lot tell me how I develop them the best way possible? For example I have a young goalie who got his fair share of playing time and I have a good goalie coach, but he didnt get better at all during the past 2 years (age 20-22). Would be thankful for anything you can tell me about the development of young players ^^

I'm working on updating the NHL draft prospects with Alessandro. This is my first test of simulating the 2017 draft. Updated most players CA/PA etc. Edited top prospects attributes manually.
PS: No GK has been edited yet, as I'm doing them last. They are different than players.

Here are the first 2 rounds...





PS: Sorry for the 1998 db logos.

That looks pretty darn good, i don't agree with all of it but it's very very good.

Edit: One guy that's not on there who's a big riser lately is Cale Makar, you should look at him

Peter_Doherty wrote:That looks pretty darn good, i don't agree with all of it but it's very very good.

Edit: One guy that's not on there who's a big riser lately is Cale Makar, you should look at him

I know him. He went 4th round (107th total), that's why he isn't there. He was ranked 85th though. I'm pretty sure he would go higher if I'd simulate again, I'm surprised he didn't go in the first two rounds. Must have been dealt a bad hand in PA?!

Daeni10 wrote:I'm playing with MODO and I go into my 4th season of SHL I believe. My budget is still relatively small so I tried to get a lot of young talented players. However I have a really hard time to really get them going and make them better, can anyone who plays in the EU leagues a lot tell me how I develop them the best way possible? For example I have a young goalie who got his fair share of playing time and I have a good goalie coach, but he didnt get better at all during the past 2 years (age 20-22). Would be thankful for anything you can tell me about the development of young players ^^

I admittedly don't play Euro leagues, but I would guess he is either at his peak or needs to play in a better league (i.e., NHL).

I drafted this guy, with my #29 pick the first year.. My scout calls him a poormans Victor Hedman, but who is he? Cant find him on elitprospects..

Probably a prospect the game created.

He has been reborn maybe http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=27980

Found a Polish kid with first line potential. Has 175 PA according to the assistant. Not really thrilled with his speed or work rate, but I found it very cool that a player from a lesser hockey nation has that much potential. Reminds me of Slovenia producing Kopitar.

I also had Spain qualify for the Olympics in this file, maybe they'll give me a franchise player too.

Effigy wrote:Found a Polish kid with first line potential. Has 175 PA according to the assistant. Not really thrilled with his speed or work rate, but I found it very cool that a player from a lesser hockey nation has that much potential. Reminds me of Slovenia producing Kopitar.

I also had Spain qualify for the Olympics in this file, maybe they'll give me a franchise player too.

He looks like he's a somewhat finessy role and has 11 acc at 16, that means at least 17 acc by the time he's 20. Don't worry about his pace. His workrate might go up by one, but even if it doesn't you can get a lot of juice out of a player with 10-11 work rate. Had one get 71 points from 3rd line+PP2 last season.

Speaking of Slovenians, there's a pretty cool prospect called Jan Drozg from Slovenia playing in Sweden for Leksand (last i checked) that they claim are "better than Kopitar at the same age". Probably a bunch of hot air, but if you like prospects from smaller nations that's a nice place to look.

Back to playing EHM again after a year or so away from it. Just had my second draft with the Flyers (finished last in both seasons ), anyways, i'm trying to shift around prospects and what not.



Ollie Wahlstrom was one of my picks, and he went off to college to play for Harvard. All well and good, he went out for 3 months but that didn't seem to stifle his progress either, he looks to slowly be turning into a very big offensive player. His flexibility being very awesome so that he doesn't get stuck in a logjam at center (not that he'll ever be a center with that awful faceoff skill), since the Flyers have plenty of those already

I'm wondering though, Cape Breton still hold his rights in the QMJHL, and I was thinking about signing him and sending him down to the CHL instead of letting him play in the NCAA. What do people feel about the NCAA compared to the CHL in terms of player development? If they have CHL rights, sign them or send them? Or just let them do their thing in the NCAA and let them improve in college?

In my save with MTL I kept him in the NCAA and he developed well enough plus one year in the AHL.

Any advice on how to draft/develop goalies? I don't think I've ever had a starting goalie that I drafted in this game...

Aladyyn wrote:Any advice on how to draft/develop goalies? I don't think I've ever had a starting goalie that I drafted in this game...

First off, Shindigs 'Scouting and You' is a great resource for scouting in general, so be sure to read that if you haven't already

But finding the right goalie to draft is a very hard task in EHM, as it is in real life too. A goalie that looks like a future stud can bust really quickly, just as an unimpressive goalie can become a good/great starter all the same given enough time.

A few things I pay attention to.

- Don't put a lot of stock into scout stars, they tend to always be around 3* and never more even if they're obvious future franchise goaltenders. Potential ratings are wacky, so try to ignore it.

- Look into scout reports, and most importantly look at what they say about the mental aspects of a player. Is he a consistent player (ex. rarely has a bad game), can he handle pressure (Ex. produces when the heat is on), is he a professional (ex. Is a model pro), and so forth.

A good goalie with a great head on his shoulder is infinitely more treasured than a phenomenal goalie who chokes every time things are tough. A goalie needs to obviously be the most level-headed and coolest customer on your entire team, the guy that can deal with setbacks and stay calm. A guy that you can rely on to be good every game, rather than every third. Most of those hidden mental attributes take a long time to improve, and some like consistency never really do. So if you see a highly rated goalie with bad hidden mentals, he'll never be a guy you'll want between the sticks.

- Not just hidden mentals are important, the ones you can see are important too! Anticipation, Bravery, Determination, Work Rate are all important attributes for a goalie to have, they're slow to grow and they're super important.

- On the physical side, he can be as slow as a mountain (as long as he stays in his crease), as long as he's agile and has good stamina that can allow him to perform for 60 minutes or longer. Low stamina means he gets progressively worse as games linger on, and thus can cause you to suddenly drop 3 goals in the final 5 minutes making you lose a game you had won. Physicals can grow, but a guy that's not a natural athlete won't ever become a freak athlete regardless of how hard you drill him in practice. So remember that.

- Technical wise, young talent can grow the most. But be sure they aren't utterly terrible at all attributes but Passing/stickhandling. Those two are optional, and whilst they help a goalie be more technical and brodeur-like, they won't make him more capable at stopping shots. Remember that Goalies grow a tonne, so don't go looking for all 10+ technicals in the draft, because odds are they won't be found unless they're a future super goalie, but even then the odds are super slim.

- Don't expect a 20 year old to be starting in the NHL, or even the AHL. Goalies are the one position that need a lot of seasoning before they become good, and they're the one position that you can only have one off on the ice in any game. And even in games where your starter doesn't play, you want to have a good backup goalie, so a 20 year old that hasn't put it all together yet isn't a good backup goalie either.

If they want to play college hockey, let them and preferably let them stay for the full ride until they're 21/22/23 years old. Then if they're not ready, put them in the AHL and let them sit there for a few more seasons. If they're in the CHL, let them hang out in the CHL until the team they're on revoke their rights, or he becomes too old and has to find a different league to play in. If he's in Europe, let him play there for as long as you can. Look at when your rights expire, and if at the end of the road he's not AHL ready, let his rights go and just keep an eye on him for longer.

- There's so many cases in EHM (and in real life) where a goalie just doesn't progress at all, goes abroad to play in Sweden or in Russia, and then when he's 27-28 you look at him and go 'Wow, why isn't this guy in the NHL?!'. And it'll happen to you plenty. Unless you want a god-goalie that's going to break every franchise/league record in his career, there's no reason not to sign a guy from abroad. Other than personal pride, there's no reason to draft the next superstar unless you're really confident he's the next Carey Price.

- And ultimately be prepared to go through a boatload of goalies until you finally get your franchise guy, Goalies are valuable but at the same time also pretty interchangeable. If he's not a superstar goalie, there's no reason to throw a huge chunk of money at him if he becomes greedy, replace him with the next 'best of the rest' guy who is a few million cheaper, and shuffle an AHL guy into the backup if needed. Look around in other leagues for failed talents that have hit an NHL level peak and sign them for cheap, and just keep looking. Once you finally get that franchise tender, you're gonna feel great!

Spoiler: Click to reveal

deknegt's post was a real reality check here. Somehow reading a seasoned vet's opinions on a subject has more effect on your choices than your own deductions. Been thinking those thoughts for a while but still looked for that "goalie to break the game" -prospect. Thanks for a good post.

mantyomena wrote:deknegt's post was a real reality check here. Somehow reading a seasoned vet's opinions on a subject has more effect on your choices than your own deductions. Been thinking those thoughts for a while but still looked for that "goalie to break the game" -prospect. Thanks for a good post.

I wouldn't call myself a 'seasoned vet', but I've played enough EHM (and other management sims) to know that some positions are just really really hard to hit a homerun with. NHL star Goalies are the toughest of the tough to draft/scout because there are so many variables that can make or break a prospect, and true 'can't miss' goalie prospects are extremely rare. You need to get a perfect storm of talent/skill/development to get your hands on the next super-goalie.

More often than not it's not something to ever bank on, I don't with my Flyers. Carter Hart is a big talent, but in the third season he's 21 and he's still very up and down in the AHL. Until he gets there, Michal Neuvirth and Felix Sandstrom are going to be doing their thing. If Carter never pans out, i'll cut my losses and find a new project.

And that's what goalies really are, projects. 9/10 won't pan out, that one goalie in 10 will, but the odds of being the team to draft him is admittedly very small. And there will be plenty of seasons where there won't be star goalies at all.

I hae a doubt about how to handle the future pospect. I should send them to ECHL o back to juniors? I should take the risk and sen it to waivers to make him eligibly for the AHL? SHould i split my Hot prostpects to AHL and the less promising to ECHL? or Maybe by age? I usually do it "ramdom" and sometimes i hit the spot and other times the players never develope to the fulles, or they were bad and the scout overrated them.

Never send prospects in the ECHL IMO except if they're like 25 years old and you have no hope from them. If he over perform in juniors it's AHL time but if it's the opposite, another year in the juniors will be good for him. Most of the time in EHM the ECHL teams don't have a full roster or pretty bad coaches. So he's going to play an insane amount of time and it will do him no good.

I have an unusual prospect; 1st round pick and now at 19 years old doing 2 ppg in the ECHL. Thing is, he's classified as a RW/RD, and the (very skilled) scout puts his predicted role as a defenseman! He does have incrediblt good stats for defence, but as you can see he's also scoring very well. Do you think it would be more beneficial to let him play as a RW (natural) or as RD (recommended)?

FWIW his offensive attributes are rocketing now that his playing his second EHCL season, but he already has some of the defensive atts at 20...

Ideas?

I tend to value defenceman more than winger. I find there are fewer elite defenceman than elite winger and that even a good winger can perform like an elite one if he is well surrounded (good playmaking center and good def).
So if he performs well as a def, I think i would play him there

I would put him on defense but IF your defense is already pretty good why not trying him as an attacker. You should definitely put him on the PP as an attacker.

Yeah, just put him on my NHL roster; playing him as a D on even strength and already put him as a winger on PK. Will try the PP too, first gonna have to get his offensive skills into the green a bit. On PK winger he's a beast already (avg of four different defensive stats is 19.5 lol)

Was planning to play him as a D until his offensive skill gets good enough and then play as a winger. Will see how that works as I have an oversupply of D prospects.

TurboJ wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 7:54 pm Yeah, just put him on my NHL roster; playing him as a D on even strength and already put him as a winger on PK. Will try the PP too, first gonna have to get his offensive skills into the green a bit. On PK winger he's a beast already (avg of four different defensive stats is 19.5 lol)

Was planning to play him as a D until his offensive skill gets good enough and then play as a winger. Will see how that works as I have an oversupply of D prospects.

Well, at 20 years old I put him in the NHL and after the first couple of games he started struggling as a D. So I put him on 2nd line with a playmaking C, and also some PP time. Calder Trophy after winning the Stanley Cup
But, his offensive attributes are stagnating now and it looks like the game treats him as a D progression-wise; he even got chose to the rookie Allstars lineup as a D.

Now my question is does it effect his offensive attribute development whether I play him as a D or a winger? He's franchise player material if I only can get those offensives up somewhat. Defensive and teamwork attributes look like 20/20/20/20/19/17..... Offensives are 10...13