Coyotes Challenge 10 Discussion Topic

[bigargon]

Two players of mine just had record setting games, Lisin with four goals and Carcillo with 29 PIM.

On the subject of young Yotes players, how is Benn Ferriero developing for everyone else?
Here he is two months into season 4 for me:
Benn Ferriero

wow you did a good job with him. For me ferriero was a useless stooge, i put him down to echl and let him go when his contract was up. What did you do practice wise to develop him so well?

[Shadd666]

It's not necessarly the practice side... Some prospects have a very random potential and are either future NHL talent or future Hungarian Beer League talent from a game to another. So it seems Marsac had a way more talented version of this guy than yours. He has probably been develloped in a good way though, as he effectively reaches the NHL. Having a NHL potential is one thing, becoming a NHLer is obviously another one, so Marsac did a good job with this guy. But also benefited from a better luck to start with... And i'm sure some of your guys started way better than his, so things remain balanced.

[Marsac]

I'm to lazy to manage my AHL team so except for offseason and preseason practice I deserve no credit for that part of his development.

I signed him out of college when he was 20 after he had a great season there and sent him to the AHL. He also played 13 games as an injury call up in his first season. His second season was also spent in the AHL with no call ups but for season four (his third, that is) I decided to put him in the ECHL since his two AHL seasons had been pretty lousy. Once in the ECHL he proceeded to tear it up scoring 19 points in 12 games with a rating of 8.42 before I brought him back to the AHL where he has been doing well since then. He has played 7 games in the NHL so far this season but I'm hoping to keep from losing him as a HG possibility for next season in case MacLean doesn't pan out.

Just wrapped up games 21-40 of the fourth season and they were pretty similar to the first twenty except the PP started working a bit better and we had quite a few injuries (Boynton, Roche, Doan, Lisin, Vrbata, Kaigorodov plus a few minor day-to-day injuries). I'm heading on vacation starting tomorrow so the game will probably be put on ice for about a month now.

[Manimal]

What a turnaround! My Coyotes are now playing a high-tempo scoring game. I'm on a four-game winning streak and the last one was 10-0 at home to the Stars! Radim Vrbata has scored 9 goals in 8 games on a great line with Sjöström and KIlger.
I'm under the salary-cap floor so I had to make a deal. I offered my 3rd goalie Tellqvist and Joel Perreault to all but found no interesting deals. So I searched for available players and the Rangers was looking to reduce their salaries by trading Shanahan. I got him and a 6th round pick for Tellqvist and Perreault. Feels good!

[batdad]

Wow! Shanny was on the Rags that long in your game. With TBL 1.5 it seems he gets traded before alot of guys even get to camp.


Anyway...2008 NHL ENtry Draft

Went into this with one thought. Don't draft any more centers. Unless they are the best player available.

No goalies in this draft, again. Shocking.

Round 1, Pick #30 RD/LD Kurtis Decker of the Vancouver Giants WHL. Decker was ranked 15 and dropped a ton. I have no idea why. The guy looks stunning! Speed, agility, strength, stamina are all above 15. He has to work on his puckhandling, but everything else is in good shape. The scouts project him as either a 1-2 or 3-4 who is like Ryan Whitney. Big, strong mobile dman. Gotta like that.

Round 2 Pick #42 C Joel Champagne of the Chicoutimi Sangueneens. Okay...out goes the center thing. And the not drafting from the Q, cause I hate it thing. Oh well...This guy was too good to pass up. He dropped to, as he was ranked 30th (heh)...He is a boom or bust. Some say 1st line (including my head scout) Some say 3rd line, like Mark Mowers but bigger. The guys who have him as 1st line say he is big strong fast and unstoppable. Good for 90 pts. Third liners have him at 20 points. Should be really interesting to see how he develops. He has a wicked wrist shot (14) already!!

Round 2 Pick #45 AJ Jenks LW/RW, Plymouth Whalers OHL. Injured at draft time, so dropped from 1st round, ranked 19. But this guy just looks awesome! 2nd line potential sniper, with the skills of Nagy, but bigger and stronger. Not as fast. God...why do the scouts do that. Sounds like a completely different player than Nagy. He also is built and has the strength of a power forward.

Round 2 Pick #60 Danick Hudon-Paquette LW, Lewiston Maineiacs QMJHL. Power forward who can skate. He is apparently like Ryan Smyth or Chris Higgins, but bigger. All scouts agree this guy is gonna get 60-80 points in the league eventually. He is a second liner, BONE-A-FIED. Again, a Q guy, but darn too good to pass up this low in the draft. he was ranked 57.

Round #3 Pick #90 Jarrod Drummond,RD, Kingston Frontenacs OHL. Very similar to Decker. Cannot believe I got him here. But he was ranked 101..still surprised. He was the last guy left with a 3-4, core potential, and like Decker my scouts say he is a mobile skilled defenseman (Speed is already 19). I think this guy and Decker will be running my pp for years to come! I am sure he is a steal. He had 38 points in 68 games with Kingston in his rookie year! Not bad!!!

Round #4 Pick #120 Brett Breitkreuz, RW, Kelowna Rockets WHL. NASTY! MEAN! NASTY! And can skate a bit. Scouts say either 2nd or 3rd line power forward. They cannot decide if he is Aaron Gavey or Keith Tkachuk. But he is mean. Hits everything in sight. And he can score too.Popped 32 playing mainly on the 3rd line in Kelowna with some pp time last season.

Round #6 Chad Beal Pick #180, C/LW, Peterborough Petes OHL. yeah another C, But he is an accomplished LW so I could handle this. Boy is a skater as well. The scouts have him in the 3rd line projection, like Radek Bonk. He has to work on his shot, and strength. But Chad could be a great pick this late in the draft.

Round #7 Sergei Korostin #210 RW, Dynamo Moscow-2 Russian 2nd div. Not really much hope here, but cannot trade can't pass. 1 guy said he could be a 3rd liner, rest say not much hope of making the league. There was really nothing left except 19/20 year olds who I did not want to take, so took a chance on this guy instead. Sucks in his own end, but can skate.


That is it. I really like my first 7 picks but that last one...ick.

[bruins72]

Wow! Shanny was on the Rags that long in your game. With TBL 1.5 it seems he gets traded before alot of guys even get to camp.


Anyway...2008 NHL ENtry Draft

Went into this with one thought. Don't draft any more centers. Unless they are the best player available.

No goalies in this draft, again. Shocking.

Once again, the players' abilities and potential is drastically different in our two games. I'm currently in April of 09 in my game. So I'm already a good ways past the 08 draft but not enough that my scouts' take on the players should've changed much from the time of the draft. Take a look...

Round 1, Pick #30 RD/LD Kurtis Decker of the Vancouver Giants WHL. Decker was ranked 15 and dropped a ton. I have no idea why. The guy looks stunning! Speed, agility, strength, stamina are all above 15. He has to work on his puckhandling, but everything else is in good shape. The scouts project him as either a 1-2 or 3-4 who is like Ryan Whitney. Big, strong mobile dman. Gotta like that.

He went undrafted in my game. He's 18 and eligible for the upcoming 09 draft. He'll be 19 (or just days shy of it) come draft day. My guys say he's a limited potential 2-way d-man who could be like Nolan Baumgartner. For me, it's his (3) in anticipation that makes him useless.

Round 2 Pick #42 C Joel Champagne of the Chicoutimi Sangueneens. Okay...out goes the center thing. And the not drafting from the Q, cause I hate it thing. Oh well...This guy was too good to pass up. He dropped to, as he was ranked 30th (heh)...He is a boom or bust. Some say 1st line (including my head scout) Some say 3rd line, like Mark Mowers but bigger. The guys who have him as 1st line say he is big strong fast and unstoppable. Good for 90 pts. Third liners have him at 20 points. Should be really interesting to see how he develops. He has a wicked wrist shot (14) already!!

Another guy that went undrafted in my game. He's 19 and eligible for the 09 draft. My scouts say he's a limited potential skilled forward. They compare him to a slower Mike Zigomanis. He's got horrible (3) positioning. Both his bravery and balance are low (6). He's just not very good at all.

Round 2 Pick #45 AJ Jenks LW/RW, Plymouth Whalers OHL. Injured at draft time, so dropped from 1st round, ranked 19. But this guy just looks awesome! 2nd line potential sniper, with the skills of Nagy, but bigger and stronger. Not as fast. God...why do the scouts do that. Sounds like a completely different player than Nagy. He also is built and has the strength of a power forward.

Jenks was taken in the 2nd round (52nd overall) in my game. My scouts all say he's a quick forward with 3rd line potential but they compare him to Ryan Smyth... so take that how you will. I hate his anticipation (6)... that's just a killer for me. Otherwise he looked like a great prospect and I probably would've taken him.

Round 2 Pick #60 Danick Hudon-Paquette LW, Lewiston Maineiacs QMJHL. Power forward who can skate. He is apparently like Ryan Smyth or Chris Higgins, but bigger. All scouts agree this guy is gonna get 60-80 points in the league eventually. He is a second liner, BONE-A-FIED. Again, a Q guy, but darn too good to pass up this low in the draft. he was ranked 57.

This guy looks good! In my game he was taken 9th overall. My scouts all say he's a power forward with 1st line potential. They see him as a more talented version of Greg Campbell. He's still fairly raw at this point though. He's going to take some time to develop. I have one question though. What province is AZE? He's a Canadian from Qax, AZE. I can't figure that one out.

Round #3 Pick #90 Jarrod Drummond,RD, Kingston Frontenacs OHL. Very similar to Decker. Cannot believe I got him here. But he was ranked 101..still surprised. He was the last guy left with a 3-4, core potential, and like Decker my scouts say he is a mobile skilled defenseman (Speed is already 19). I think this guy and Decker will be running my pp for years to come! I am sure he is a steal. He had 38 points in 68 games with Kingston in his rookie year! Not bad!!!

I can't even find this kid in my game.

Round #4 Pick #120 Brett Breitkreuz, RW, Kelowna Rockets WHL. NASTY! MEAN! NASTY! And can skate a bit. Scouts say either 2nd or 3rd line power forward. They cannot decide if he is Aaron Gavey or Keith Tkachuk. But he is mean. Hits everything in sight. And he can score too.Popped 32 playing mainly on the 3rd line in Kelowna with some pp time last season.

Not drafted in my game. He's a limited/4th line potential quick forward, according to my scouts. They figure him to be like Darryl Bootland.

Round #6 Chad Beal Pick #180, C/LW, Peterborough Petes OHL. yeah another C, But he is an accomplished LW so I could handle this. Boy is a skater as well. The scouts have him in the 3rd line projection, like Radek Bonk. He has to work on his shot, and strength. But Chad could be a great pick this late in the draft.

Hmmm... he's 20 and undrafted in my game. My scouts must not have really paid any attention to him because I can't even see all of his stats. He had only 13 points in 50 games with Erie so far this season though. Not so impressive. From what I can see of his abilities, he does seem like a pretty good skater though. I'll scout him and get a better look.

Round #7 Sergei Korostin #210 RW, Dynamo Moscow-2 Russian 2nd div. Not really much hope here, but cannot trade can't pass. 1 guy said he could be a 3rd liner, rest say not much hope of making the league. There was really nothing left except 19/20 year olds who I did not want to take, so took a chance on this guy instead. Sucks in his own end, but can skate.

My scouts say he'll be a 3rd or 4th line skilled offensive forward. They compare him to Jiri Hudler. Great skater but horrible aggression (6) and strength (5). He's a good stickhandler too.

That is it. I really like my first 7 picks but that last one...ick.

Once again this game amazes me at how different things can turn out from game to game. That's why EHM has such high replayability.

[Manimal]

What an unbeleivable game!
This game had everything. The top teams in the division duking it out. High tempo. LOTS of scoring. A couple of fights and some sloppy defensive play.
Sharks@Coyotes

The season is going very good for me.Now I just have to find a way to beat the Sharks. BTW, Vrbata (30) is two goals after Ovechkin for the league lead and he's first in plus/minus.

I'm looking to shore up my D at the dead-line. Perhaps even the goaltending. I don't wanna mess up the team chemistry too much, though. And it would be too boring to go after Nittymaki so I'm thinking something else

[bruins72]

So I finally wrapped up the 08-09 season by winning the Stanley Cup. It was especially gratifying after coming within one win in the previous season. We had some tough matchups in the playoffs but our second round opponents, the Avalanche did us a huge favor by knocking off the Sharks. We had problems with them all season long and I didn't want to face them in the playoffs. In the end, we took the Cup in 6 by beating the Capitals.

We took home some awards this year. Last year's Calder winner, Enver Lisin, won the Ross this year, with Doan and Reinprecht nipping at his heels. Lisin was on pace to score a lot more than he did but his production really slowed down in the second half of the season. Still, he was awesome, especially considering he is a 2nd year player. Lisin was also a runner-up for the Hart trophy. Lisin finished 3rd in the Rocket Richard trophy race. From the looks of things early in the season, he was on pace to score over 80 goals but his production tapered off. He finished with 55 goals, behind Kovalchuk (62) and Gagne (61). Lisin won the Plus-Minus Award for this season.

Keith Yandle surprised a lot of people by winning the Calder this year. I really don't understand this one. Voloshenko of the Panthers lead all rookies in scoring with our own Peter Mueller 5 points behind him. Yandle wasn't even the lone highest scoring rookie defenseman. Erik Johnson played less games (62 compared to Yandle's 82) and tied him in points while maintaining a higher average rating. The one area that he did excel was +/-. He ended the season with a +23.

Team captain, Shane Doan, won the Conn Smythe trophy.He had 30 points in 21 playoff games. Lisin and Vrbata were the runners-up, both with 28 points.

Our head coach, Ville-Veikko Mustonen, won the Jack Adams trophy this year. Personally, I felt it was a long time coming after the way he has transformed this team.

Derek Morris was the first runner-up for the Norris trophy. Frankly, I think he was robbed. They gave it to Berard. He had one more point than Morris but Morris blew him away in +/- and average rating. Morris was a stud this year and he really deserved that trophy.

Morris and Lisin made the NHL First All-Star Team. Surprisingly, both Reinprecht and Doan were left off despite the fact that they finished right behind Lisin in points and Doan was the Conn Smythe winner. Go figure! David LeNeveu and Peter Mueller were named to the NHL Rookie All-Star Team. Despite winning the Calder trophy for NHL Rookie of the Year, Yandle was left off. That makes a lot of sense!

Okay, I'll make another post with my draft results...

[bruins72]

For the 2009 draft we had the standard 1 pick per round. This is the first draft where we didn't inherit any extra picks or lose any picks from the dealing of the old regime. We picked last in every round because we won the Stanley Cup. I found this to be a pathetically weak draft. It was really bad. There were some players that looked good but they didn't have a head for the game. They all had low, single-digit Anticipation ratings. That's a killer for me. If I wasn't playing NTNB, I would've unloaded a lot of these picks. But that's not the case, so here goes...

1st round (30th overall) Jared Prokopetz RW 6'1" 194 lbs Seattle-WHL

I'm not really sure how to read this one. My scouts say he's a 2-way forward with 1st line potential but then I get "a slower, but more talented version of Alexandre Daigle" as a player comparison. So I really don't know what to expect. He was ranked 39th but I didn't really see anyone else available that looked worth taking. He plays a gritty game, which I like, but other than that he need time to develop. He's a project in my mind. I don't expect him to make the roster for at least 4 more years.


2nd round (60th overall) Steve Chaffin LD 6'5" 190 lbs Regina-WHL

Here is another project. Chaffin needs to fill out his frame some more but he also needs to develop his skills. Right now he's a decent skater. His strong suit is character. He's aggressive and brave, which is always nice to see. From those traits I'd think he would be a good physical defenseman. But due to his high Flair rating, my scouts see him as a skilled defenseman with 3-4 potential. They predict he could be like a more talented version of Christian Backman.


3rd round (90th overall) David Conrad RW 6'2" 183 lbs Red Deer-WHL

Another project. Conrad is a guy my scouts consider a "flashy forward" but his attributes make me think of him more as a defensive forward. He's flashy because of his high Flair rating. He's a good skater with high Aggression and Bravery ratings. So far his Checking and Hitting are his highest technical attributes but they still need a lot of work. He's another guy that is going to need a lot of time to develop.


4th round (120th overall) Ryan Bourque RW/LW 5'11" 174 lbs Boston University-HE

Okay, I took this kid because he's Raymond Bourque's youngest child. I remember seeing the kid on tv with tears of joy in his eye when his dad won the Stanley Cup. Call me sentimental but I had to take a chance on him. He's not the biggest or best but he seems like he might turn out okay. My scouts say he's a skilled forward with 3rd or 4th line potential. Most of my scouts compare him to Adam Hall but says he's like Shane Doan. How can that scout say that when he says he's got 4th line potential? Anyhow, everything else that the scouting reports say leads me to think he'll be better than a 4th liner. His "report card" is all B's (-'s and +'s included) except for an A- in Size/Strength. Anyhow, the kid has some flair but he's also got some grit. I'm really interested in watching his development. Ryan Bourque could be a hidden gem!


5th round (150th overall) Brent Raedeke LW 5'10" 171 lbs Regina-WHL

Raedeke is my only pick this year that is older than 18. He's a great character guy that was too hard to pass up in the 5th round though. My scouts say he's a skilled forward with 3rd line potential. They compare him to RJ Umberger with a smaller frame. His skills may never develop much but his character was just too good to pass up. He's the type of player you want on your team. His Bravery, Determination, and Teamwork are all exceptional (18-20 range) and his Teamwork is high as well (15). He already a very good skater with exceptional Agility (19) and Stamina (18). If he can develop his defensive abilities we'll have an excellent PKer on our hands and maybe even a future Selke winner.


6th round (180th overall) Mike Martin RD 5'9" 158 lbs Augsburger EV Pro-Juniors

This tiny German defenseman projects to be an offensive defenseman with 5-6 potential. They say he could be like Nolan Baumgartner with a smaller frame. I'm figuring he'll be a career AHLer if anything but it's the 6th round and he was worth a shot.


7th round (210th overall) Roger Isaksson RD/LD 6' 158 lbs Malmo Redhawks

This young Swedish defenseman is another longshot. But hey, it's the 7th round. Most picks are at this point. He's got decent speed but really needs to work on his Acceleration and Balance. My scouts say he's a mobile defenseman with #7 potential. They say he's a poor man's Niclas Havelid. I'll be very happy if he turns out anywhere near that good. His Creativity as well as his Shooting (both Slapshot and Wristshot) and his Passing are already looking pretty good. So who knows?


And that wraps up my draft. As you can see, I mostly tried to focus on character and grit. I also seemed to draft mostly from the WHL. Like I said before, this was an extremely weak draft once you got past Tavares but all things considered, I think I did pretty well.

[bruins72]

I love it! Even though my team just won the Stanley Cup, when the NHL Season Preview for 09-10 comes out, the rank us #28. Yeah... I'm sure we'll finished near the bottom.

[bruins72]

Well this is where I'm glad I went NTNB! Going into season 4, I am finally reaping it's benefits! All through the preseason, I was over the cap. My Total Annual Salaries were over $52.5M and my Averaged Club Salary was about $51M. Finally once the pre-season ended, my Averaged Club Salary dropped down to $49M! If I wasn't playing NTNB, I'd have to strip my team down to nothing! As it stands, I'll probably have to waive a big money play next season to get under the salary cap (unless a contract expires and I can let a person go).

[batdad]

Ha on you. My team in year 3 after winning the cup in year 2 moved ALL THE WAY UP to 26th in the rankings! I AM BETTAH THAN YOU!

[bruins72]

Raising a team's reputation is hard! I know my GM reputation is way up there. Only Lou-Lam is higher.

I'd love it if we were using the current Coyotes roster on this challenge. Can you imagine having Jokinen on your roster?

[archibalduk]

Just so everyone knows: All of the challenge stats posted in the Stats Recording Thread have been added to the Challenge Stats Page.

[Manimal]

All going good! (Well,almost)
I'm currently ranked #1 in the conference at the 60 game mark. The team is really playing good. The only bad thing is I lost league-leading goal scorer Radim Vrbata to a one-month injury. The rest of the team is picking up the slack, though and I'm scoring the most goals in the league.
Trading deadline is coming up and I really want to go for the cup so a couple of additions are coming. Not sure yet.
Has anyone won the cup in the first season in Challenge 10?

[bigargon]

Just so everyone knows: All of the challenge stats posted in the Stats Recording Thread have been added to the Challenge Stats Page.

what is the difference between the stats record thread and the Challenge stats page?
where can i view the Challenge Stats page??

[bruins72]

Look at the very top of the page, up by the TBL banner. Do you see a button that says "Challenge Stats"? Click it and take a look. The stats recording thread is where everyone logs their stats. If you wanted to see how you were doing compared to others, you're not going to be able to make out much there. If you got to "Challenge Stats" you'll see it all laid out in table format, by season, and you'll know exactly where you stand.

[bigargon]

thanks!

[Manimal]

And so the season ends...

The surprisingly good Coyotes finished 2nd in the conference behind the Flames. At the deadline I aquired depth for my special teams (Brunette and Mair) and wanted to improve my defense. I didn't want to give up much youth so I couldn't find any good deals. HOwever I did trade for Francis Bouillon, but he never really fit in on my team. Also, I picked up Patrick Sharp on waivers. Too good not to.
In the playoffs I met the Canucks and they took me to seven games but we beat them. Then came my nemesis, the Sharks. The games were close, but when I lost my captain Doan to injury in game six it was lost. Seven games, though. Doan had scored 14 goals in 13 PO-games.
Now it's on to the draft and then deciding which two FA can help my team the most. I want to improve my defense and goaltending. Aebischer is great but not good enough to win the cup. No FA-goalies are better so I'm looking for a trade.
Hopefully I'll have the time to finish another season before the dead-line. It's been a blast!

[bigargon]

hey i wounder if many people are still active in this challenge....it seems the posts have kind of died out. I was season 6 but it seems mostly everybody is still in season 3 for the last month or so.

[Lidas]

I got stuck between season 5 and 6. Ran into some financial problems, need to decide who gets to stay and who goes. Some good players will be waiver/released since I cant trade them away.

It also seems to me that the attribute-dropping but is still there, but in a smaller version. The mental attributes of a couple of my players hit rock bottom between seasons. Many players (especially keepers) suffered a great loss in creativity. Most keepers went down to "1". I guess it shouldnt effect the play too much. Best non-goalie that got effected was Blake Wheeler, but he is just a 3/4th liner, so its not the end of the world. Been focusing most of my time on the Roster update too.

[bruins72]

I kind of put this game aside. I've got 20 games logged into season 4 but I was losing interest. I ended up playing with the save that Calv posted from the Create A Star thread and messing around with that instead. I think this challenge is winding down anyhow. IIRC, it was supposed to run until August, although I'm not sure when in August.

[bigargon]

i'll finish off season six..then call it done...(got try to win the cup)

Lately i have been busy with OOTP ..in two internet leagues include one starting in 1870..deadball baseball..

I am looking forward to the CHL challenge ...that should be different.

[Marsac]

Whew, finally wrapped up season four and actually managed to win the cup!

The conference quarter finals and conference finals were both thrilling seven game series versus the Flames and the Oilers respectively but in the finals we ended up sweeping the Flyers in four games. Powerplay production was nowhere to be found in the playoffs however so that's certainly something I need to look into.

I think I'll settle for four seasons for this challenge since I won the cup but I find it amazing that I'm still finding new things to learn and explore in this game. I think the biggest thing I take away from this challenge is prospect development and I believe that I would treat some of my prospects alot differently if I were to start over. Also very noticable is the huge difference in prospect abilities between games as has been illustrated in the draft analysis posts of this thread. In my case I believe I got an unusually weak version of Hanzal compared to what I've seen in other games but Ferriero developed way beyond expectations.

Another thing to take notice of would have to be the fact that some players can really surprise you. Sjöström, Zigomanis, Carcillo, Winnik and probably others which I forget were all pleasant surprises at some point. Meanwhile the streakiness of Vrbata and York were not so pleasant.

Carcillo finished the season at 18+21, not bad for someone who played mostly 3rd or 4th line and spent 235 minutes in the box. Sjöström got to return to the first line alongside Kaigorodov and Doan during the playoffs when York was out with an injury and again produced some sweet numbers for someone with fourth line attributes. He was moved down when York returned but still finished the playoffs with a team leading +/- of +10. Winnik was called up due to injuries pretty early in the season and turned out to be such a good fit for the fourth line that he replaced Redenbach (after he had played his required HG games ofc) for the end of the season and the playoffs.

I had alot of fun with this challenge and I look forward to learning even more about this great game in the next one.

[Manimal]

My 2nd seasn has started really bad. I'm at .500 and losing.
I'm gonna have to wake my team up with a trade. Since this is the last season I'm playing with the Coyotes I might try something big. Don't have much cap space, though so we'll see.

I've got quite a lot of spare time in the next weeks so I think I can get it done before the deadline