Challenge #37 Discussion - Blowing Up The Canucks!

[Unknown User]

Season 3 recap

So after trading both goalies (Markstrom and Eriksson) along with almost everyone else that was eligible to be traded other than Tommernes for Alexander Barkov, I was pretty happy with my top 6. I also was down to 3 goalies so I used my underage trade to trade Adam Clendening for a almost given up on prospect Garret Sparks. His stats weren't the greatest but I needed a 3rd string goalie. Going into season 3 I had Demko, Vladar, Sparks, and Fucale. First quarter was going extremely well... Demko was undefeated 13-0-0 until his four month ACL injury... So we manage to get out of the first quarter with only one loss.. Sparks got called up and Vladar was pretty inconsistent. We were struggling for the next 2 quarters going down a bunch but the offense usually was there to make a comeback.. After losing a bunch of games and Sparks outplaying Vladar in the third quarter Vladar also gets a 4 month injury...

This season was the worst I've seen for injuries. Everyone on my top 6 got injured for at least 3 weeks and Bartschi got injured twice for a month or so... As soon as Demko got removed from injured reserve the team exploded with a 9-3 win then a 12-3 win. I was using Demko sparingly because I was afraid of him getting injured again. Once we got to the playoffs things were settling down still had some inconsistency but I felt the team was coming around and most people were coming off their injuries. Demko dominated the playoffs allowing 2 or more goals only 5 times and losing once to the Penguins in overtime 2-1... The team was playing really well and scoring a lot while allowing not many shots against. Bartschi was injured for about 3 weeks at the start of the playoffs and Shinkaruk got injured for 4 months in the first series..

I think if you add up all the injuries I had about 8 guys injured for over 2 years total time... Sparks also did pretty well for being an almost washed up prospect expected to play in the ahl all year, to beat out my first round pick in Vladar before Vladar got injured going 20-5-5. Let's just say I'm glad this season is over and the Canucks are 3 time repeat champs... I had expected to struggle a bit but not the amount of injuries I had this year. Losing my 1-2 goalies for 4 months each was hard to swallow. Tommernes turned into a pretty good player almost surpassing Trouba for the Norris. Didn't expect him to play on the first line but he roared up my depth chat in the past few years.. Sam Steel my first rounder in 2016 beat out Kyle Connor for a spot on the roster... Which was pretty surprising. All in all I think the core and depth of this team is excellent and I look forward to next year. Also what is up with Horvat?

[radiskull]

Oh, funny game. Season 3 after 36 games we lost our last year's PP. Only 10% now. Game 37 vs Rangers? 6 out of 8. Oh, come on!

[Peter_Doherty]

20 games into season 3 and the team is doing well, sitting 2nd in the West with a 13-7-0 record. My PK is up by alot (close to 87%) this season and that pleases me. At the same time my PP started out like batdads It's going up now though after i tried to fix it.

Both goalies are producing good numbers with Demko at 0.913 SV%, 2.65 GAA and 7.38 AvR in 16 games, great numbers considering where my goaltending has been in the first 2 seasons (around 0.900 SV%). Markström is beasting it as my backup though with 0.928 SV%, 1.90 GAA and 8.00 AvR in 5 games, will give him a few more games next quarter to see if it's just a coincidence.

My D-men have been very inconsistent individually but as a group they have been good, a new pair steps up each game it feels like, would like some more consistency but hey, can't have it all The stand out performer is rookie RD Jesper Lindgren with 2+10, +6 and 7.30 AvR, he's amazing. Kylington has taken a small step back but i trust that he will bounce back

My top-6 is still producing really well, i changed up the winger-pairings for this season to Bärtschi-Jensen, Kreider-Conacher, we'll see if i keep them like that. All 4 have over 7 goals and 15 points so i'm happy Down the middle there has been a role reversal, now it's Bonino struggling with around 6.50 AvR and Bjugstad doing well with around 7 AvR, i just can't get a grip of these 2 guys. My bottom 6 is a mess, especially down the middle. Both Girgensons and Tierney have been HORRIBLE, both just over 6 AvR. I gave Tierney every opportunity to succeed but he just stinks, had him on the first line and with solid PP-time for 5+ games and he still sucked. I have given up on both of them and will probably look to trade one of them closer to deadline. On a more positive note i'm happy with Shinkaruk, he started out on the 4th line with some PP and has climbed in ice-time for every game, he hasn't scored a bunch like he did for batdad but he plays really well, 2+4, +6 and 7.16 AvR. My other wingers in the bottom-6 are just inconsistent, Virtanen started out really bad but he was on a line with Tierney, when i moved him away from Tierney his game picked up, 3+1, -5, 6.50 AvR without PP. Lowry broke his leg after 14 games, he was also on the line with Tierney to start so his stats suck because of that aswell, he picked up his game aswell when i moved Tierney away from him. Blomstrand and Kassian just does their job every game, they are both solid.

Pretty much everyone except Puljujärvi and Rasmus Andersson are disappointing so far down in Utica, especially Marner is having a rough rookie season down there Hope they pick up their game, Horvat isn't developing at all and looks unlikely to ever become what he should be. I might try him in my bottom 6 later in the season when i trade Tierney or Girgs just to see if all he needs is to get to the big club but i'm not optimistic. Puljujärvi looks great though, he will be in NHL next season.

[Peter_Doherty]

LOL, 6 games into Q2 and almost all of the players i critiqued have stepped their game up, Kylington has 5 points, Bonino 4 points and better AvR, Virtanen 3+1, Girgensons has 4 points and 7 AvR over these games, and even Tierney is playing like a NHL player with 6.50 AvR (not good but it's better and i'll take it.)

I also brought Horvat up when Bärtschi got injured for a few weeks and he's playing on my 3rd line (Horvat-Girgensons-Virtanen right now) with some PP-time aswell on my 2nd unit, he's 1+3, 7.67 AvR in 3 games, there is still hope for him

[batdad]

Vey coming back to life. 5 points last 3 games. Bonino as well. And Rakell now has 10 points in last 7 games. Trouba is back to normal. At least I hope. Now just to get Hunter going again, as have brought him back up (actually brought all 3 I sent down back up and sent the other three down)

Alex Grenier is doing well on 4th line for me as well. He has only played 23 games but has been with the team all season and has a 7.00 AvR. 5-5 in fights, and 3 goals (2 of them in one game---it seems since he had the hatty last season for me in that one game he may be a bit of a streaky performer like Vey)

[batdad]

trade deadline day Year 2

Buffalo is stacked with D prospects--They have Theodore, Zadorov, Ristolainen, Jake McCabe and Noah Hanifin.

I was originally going to work out a deal with them for one of them, but changed my mind, and will stick with my lineup for the remainder of the year.

Sabres...

Deal Ristolainen, 1st round ,and 2 second round picks to Detroit for DAVID BACKES
Deal Theodore, Zadorov and Grigorenko to Winnipeg for Blake Wheeler


Sabres line up now looks like this:


Kane-Ennis-Radulov
Moulson-Backes-Wheeler
Reinhart-Vermette-Stewart
Hodgson-Girgensons-Foligno
Desjardins Upshall

Paul Martin-Erhoff
McCabe-Bogosian
Pysyk-Trotman
Barbeiro-Hanifin

Hackett
Ullmark
Neuvirth

They basically sold their future for a run today, now their D looks horrid to me, and they still have no real depth up front. They are also going to have to waive someone as they have 3 goalies and 26 guys on roster. They are at least in a playoff spot--but they are 7th. What a waste of what would have been the best defense in NHL history.

[Peter_Doherty]

Managed to find a trade for Tierney i was happy with, apparently Hawks lost hope for Ryan Hartman (3*) so i sent them Tierney I love the way Hartman plays IRL (wished Rangers would have traded up to get him 2013), hopefully he does well for me here aswell, he will start on the 4th line alternating between C and RW.

Edit: Horvats stint in Vancouver is over for now, he will be back though. He got injured for 3 weeks after playing 13 games and i need the roster slot so he will play for Utica when he's back from his injury. He managed to get these numbers, 1+8, +2, 26 PIM, 6.85 AvR, much better then i anticipated. His ratings dropped when i moved him to C and removed him from the PP after 9 games (Bärtschi came back).

[batdad]

Jeremy Morin...well what do you know. This guy seems to perform in the 2nd half of seasons way better than in first. He missed 2 weeks with an injury and came back. Played 4 games in his first week back. .....

Results? 5-5-10 NHL POW, NHL Off POW.
He has had a much better season than season one, and is now 17-26-43 in 60 games. 18 of those points are in his last 15 games and as you saw 10 in his last 4.

[cecede123]

That's what we call a choke lol

[ismael8]

Trade Season 1


Burrows waivers and release

Draft pick

[bruins72]

For some reason your screenshots are tiny and low resolution. I try to zoom in but they're too blurry once I do.

[cecede123]

Same thing for me

[ismael8]

and now ?

[bruins72]

So January rolled around and I was looking at players whose contracts were running out. So I started making my offers for new deals and most players have been receptive. Tarasenko just signed a nice 5 year extension for a moderate pay raise. Bonino wasn't interested. I didn't want to re-sign. I figured I'd wait until closer to the deadline to deal him. I can't afford to just let him walk away. Well shortly after seeing that Bonino won't re-sign, I see that the Kings have put Tanner Pearson on the block. Even though the Kings are currently 4th in the West, there seems to be a lot of unrest there. So they've got Pearson valued at one or two stars. So I look for some other guys on their roster that are 24 or under and not highly valued. I add Jordan Weal and Zac Leslie. They accepted. So I've traded Bonino for 3 young players. I'm just not sure how well Weal will work out as a second line center. I think I'm going to be rotating Weal, Burmistrov, and Tierney to see who performs the best. Conacher is benched again and we're looking pretty strong up the left side. Leslie was sent down to Utica. They needed some help on defense down there.

[bruins72]

and now ?

Much better! One problem seems to be Cal O'Reilly. IIRC, he's not at the tradeable age. He could be re-signed and traded in season 2, I think.

[ismael8]

and now ?

Much better! One problem seems to be Cal O'Reilly. IIRC, he's not at the tradeable age. He could be re-signed and traded in season 2, I think.

And I cant fix it .... dammit ...

[visualdarkness]

Darnit, I was joining the challenge but have to restart if I want to join since I traded for two guys turning 25 before the season starts....
We'll see if I got the motivation to do so.

[bruins72]

and now ?

Much better! One problem seems to be Cal O'Reilly. IIRC, he's not at the tradeable age. He could be re-signed and traded in season 2, I think.

And I cant fix it .... dammit ...

We can just add a small penalty to your score if you want to continue with that one or you can restart.

[bruins72]

Darnit, I was joining the challenge but have to restart if I want to join since I traded for two guys turning 25 before the season starts....
We'll see if I got the motivation to do so.

I made that mistake when I was running my tests.

[ismael8]

And I cant fix it .... dammit ...

We can just add a small penalty to your score if you want to continue with that one or you can restart.

yeah maybe no underage trade next season ?

[visualdarkness]

Darnit, I was joining the challenge but have to restart if I want to join since I traded for two guys turning 25 before the season starts....
We'll see if I got the motivation to do so.

I made that mistake when I was running my tests.

Gabriel Bourque was a decent one as a checker but to have a bad trade as a Ball (I think it was?) that might ave ended up in the farm for his career ruining things is brutal.

[bruins72]

And I cant fix it .... dammit ...

We can just add a small penalty to your score if you want to continue with that one or you can restart.

yeah maybe no underage trade next season ?

Sounds more than fair to me.

[Peter_Doherty]

Hey b72, how is Tierney doing for you? For me he was so bad i just had to trade him, i gave him 8+ games each season (if i remember correctly) with decent ice-time and he did nothing but suck. This season he had to go through waivers to go to Utica so i just gave up on him and traded him He was good in Utica but he just couldn't make the step to the big club.

Edit: I like your trade with Kings, it does leave you vulnerable down the middle though, hopefully someone steps up for you

[ismael8]

OMG my team suck right now ... after 20 games i'm 13th in Western ... but my future look bright hahaha


Kuznetsov,Bukarovsky,Marner,Crouse,Griffith, but I really need to improve my defense

[Peter_Doherty]

OMG my team suck right now ... after 20 games i'm 13th in Western ... but my future look bright hahaha


Kuznetsov,Bukarovsky,Marner,Crouse,Griffith, but I really need to improve my defense

Look at the standings for season 1, almost everyone was having rough seasons

Crouse looks really good in my game, i also drafted Marner and he's a slow one. I'm in season 3 and he's atleast 2 seasons away from NHL.