Challenge 13: Nashville Predators (Discussion Thread)

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:32 pm

I've had Wilson as a regular since season two and he has put up majorly solid numbers for me. I started him off on the third line with 2nd unit PP time. Now in season five, he's replaced Arnott as my first line centre between Kovalchuk and Dumont. At 37, I felt Arnott should play fewer minutes and take a less prominent role in the offense.

His career so far:

2007-08 82g 21-31-52, +1 78PIM, 7.55
2008-09 82g 26-43-69, +11 62PIM 7.82
2009-10 82g 20-43-63, +5 90PIM 8.37
2010-11 29g 10-26-36, +30 35PIM 8.86

His career AvR is 8.01.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:39 pm

batdad wrote:
there's my draft. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to recognize these guys because I'm pretty sure they're all regens.
Nope..Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the 1st overall pick in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft by the Red Deer Rebels. He is amazing in real life. Played 5 games with Red Deer as a 15 year old and had 9 or 10 points. Ray Ferraro whose boy Landon played in Red Deer with Ryan has referred to him as possibly the "next one" already on TSN. If he is projected only as a 2nd liner, with what people are saying about him here...he is underrated in 1st go around in Lidas DB 1.3. He is not in 1.2 as I don't think manimal had the WHL updated yet. He is going to be a STAR. In real life.

That makes sense that he's real. He's my 1 North American player taken in that draft. Most of the Euros are regens at this point though.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:44 pm

Marsac wrote:So, I'm about to wrap up training camp for season two and the biggest question mark is Colin Wilson... My scouts say he's ready for a regular role and his camp/exhibition performance certainly indicates that he is but would it hurt his development to start at second line LW? With the Ekman signing falling through my second best option seems to be Jordin Tootoo since I want Ellison on the third line.

I've taken a slow approach with Colin Wilson. I signed him as soon as I started the game but I sent him to the WHL for development. I let him play 2 seasons of Junior and then I sent him to my AHL affiliate for 1 season where he got top line minutes and was the second leading scorer in the AHL. I'm starting season 4 and I'm planning on finally bringing him on to my NHL roster after he came in during the playoffs when I had injuries. I'm going to put him on the either the 2nd or 3rd line and the 2nd PP unit. I was worried about rushing him too, so I figured that a patient approach was best. I'd hate to ruin his potential.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:41 pm

I was looking at available UFAs and saw a couple guys I wanted to add to my team. I had already had to release a couple players because after signing my prospects (to avoid losing their rights) I was over the reserve limit. It was time to make a trade. I start looking around a bit. July 10th hits and I make my 2 trades.

1st trade...

Jason Arnott, Hugh Jessiman, and Teemu Laasko to the Ducks for Ryan Getzlaf

I've never had Getzlaf before and now looked like the perfect opportunity. He was one of a handful of players that met my search criteria, especially in the Mental attributes. I'm fanatical about those. Arnott was "The Man" for us. He lead the league in points a couple seasons and won tons of awards including our Fan's Player of the Year. Still, he's 36 years old and making $4.6M a year for this coming season and the next one. Getzlaf is making $5.325M per season for the same duration but he's 10 years young. Jessiman never really "did it" for me. He had no future on our NHL roster and he was just taking icetime away from young prospects down in Milwaukee. So he sweetened the pot. I probably could've made the deal just with these two but I added in Laasko because he was making $1.1M to play in the minors and I had others I wanted to play ahead of him. So adding him took some of the load off my payroll.

2nd trade...

Jordan Tootoo, Dan Hinote, and Pekke Rinne to the Kings for Dustin Brown

This move is one that I was looking to make so I could knock some players off the reserve list but I ended up with an upgrade to my second line. I was looking for a young but talented prospect that I could trade 3 players for and then send to the minors. I was coming up empty there when I came to the Kings, the weren't opposed to trading Brown and he's a player I've always liked. I could've went with just Tootoo and Hinote for Brown but Rinne was wasting space in the AHL. He wasn't going to get any better and I really wanted Pickard to take the reins down in Milwaukee. So I added Rinne to make sure the deal went through. Tootoo had become the odd man out on our team during the playoffs. He seemed to not do much besides get penalties, so he sat until I had injuries. He had a good value. Hinote was a decent 4th line guy that could fill in on the 3rd line in a pinch. He was another guy that had some value to other teams but at 34 years old, I found him a little old. I'm going to miss his versatility. He played all 3 forward positions well. With Brown I'm getting a fast and gritty goal-scorer for my 2nd line.

So far I've made 1 UFA signing. I was able to sign Luke Schenn for 3 years at $750k per season. He was a "Good" rep player when I made him the offer and after signing he dropped down to just "Ok". That doesn't make sense to me. Why should his rep drop by being signed by the Stanley Cup champs? Anyhow, Toronto had sent him back to the WHL for 2 seasons and then sent him the AHL for a season. After that they let his contract expire. I don't get it. I signed him to plug a hole on my defense (I let Hamhuis go UFA) but he doesn't have to clear waivers so I can send him down to Milwaukee if he struggles. If that happens I can always bring up Petrecki.

I've got an offer out to Kyle Turris. He was also listed as a UFA. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. He's got a lot of teams interested. If he signs with us I think I'll scratch Tarnasky (keeping him available in case of injuries) and plug Turris in on the 4th line, maybe moving him up to the 3rd once in a while, unless I can send him down without having to clear waivers. Turris is a "Very Good" player, so if he signs he'll complete my UFA signings and lock me in to Tier 2. If he doesn't, I can look for another "Very Good" or go Tier 3 and sign 2 more "Good" players .

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:10 pm

Turris ended up signing with Calgary. So much for that idea. I might just go into the season without making any UFA signings besides Schenn. I'm not going to sign players just for the sake of signing them.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:56 pm

Even though I traded him last season, I was surprised to see that Steve Sullivan retired.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:47 am

Ten games into season two and we seem to be off to a better start than last year. So far we are 5-5-0 with PP at 16.4% and PK at 81.8%.

The SAD line had a sad start to the season with a team worst +/- and Sullivan's avg. rating below 7 after five games but they seem to have picked up their play after I changed their offensive positioning from triangular to overload slot.

I decided to send Wilson back to the WHL for one more season where he has 19 points and a 9.23 rating after thirteen games so far. Speaking of the WHL, third round draft pick Vitaly Karamnov has 11G 11A in 13 games played but that's not the most impressive part. Somehow he has also managed to get a -4 +/- rating... Two-way forward, huh?

I guess it's time to start looking for a trade that will bring us a LW to play with Legwand and Erat this season. Trade bait will primarily be a bunch of depth RWs and anyone above the age of 23 who's still stuck in the AHL.

I won't be rushing out to trade for a starting goaltender yet as Weekes and Ellis are doing ok so far. Weekes is at 90.9% and 2.67 GAA after six starts. Ellis is 88.1% and 3.75 GAA after four.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:40 am

So far I've had two trade offers for potential second line LWs accepted:
Scott Nichol for Mikhail Grabovsky
Joel Ward and Ryan Jones for Peter Schaefer

My scouts aren't very high on Grabovsky saying he only has third line potential but they do claim that he's a natural scorer. Apart from the claims of his limited potential I dislike the fact that he can't play in his own end at all and my second line is intended to play a two-way game. There's great value in the trade though with Scott Nichol playing in the AHL this season and stealing minutes from Hörnqvist.

On the other side of the coin we have Peter Schaefer who put up a +24 rating last season along with 29G and 30A. But I'd have to move Ward who would be a good fit for the energy line if he was freed up from second line duties.

Has anyone had either of these in the current DB and had success with them?

Post by **Manimal** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:48 pm

I'm halfway into the second season and finally had a winning segment. Still, the team is playing really bad and I decided to wake them up by firing Barry Trotz. I will be naming Glenn Patrick head coach and I will take on a more offensive approach to my tactics. It has worked in the past (other teams) and I think that when healthy I have a good enough squad tobe an offensive force.
No individual players have stood out for me other than the usual (Arnott,Dumont,Suter). Tristan Grant had made my team but now he seems to slow down. He has been a good checker but might need some more time in the AHL.
My drafted prospects are looking good. Tavares,Dale Hunt,John Moore and Ben Chiarot looks like stars and others like Erik Haula and 20-year old last round draftee Keith Bombaugh might turn out to be regulars as well. I signed Bombaugh and he is playing well in Cincinatti.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:11 pm

And for my second trade of the season:

To Philadelphia:

D Brent Burns
LW Peter Holland
D Alexandre Moison

To nashville:

C Mike Richards

I just finished Burns get (no pun intended) burned on three power play goals, and Roman Josi showed major progress as an injury fill-in earlier in the season for Suter. Holland was my second round pick in the first draft, and while I had high hopes for him, he seems to be a depth player at best. 15 games this season in a Preds uniform, no points. Decent numbers in Milwaukee, but he's been downgraded in the scouting reports to third line potential, a poor-man's Shane Doan. Not bad, but that year's first round pick, Brett Connolly, has emerged as my young, talented left wing. Moison was a throw in mobile d-man, a 6th rounder who showed improvement in Milwaukee.

In exchange, I get a captain and a replacement for a 38 year old Jason Arnott.

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:49 pm

So which trade did I end up making? Well, I started thinking about what I would use my second trade for and came up with two main targets: a starting goaltender or a new defence partner for Suter. Then I looked at what I had: Weekes who is now 2.44 GAA .912 SV% and deVries who is +22 in 19 games played... Do either of those really look in need of an upgrade?

So I ended up pulling the trigger on both trades and improving both my second line/PP (Grabovsky) and my checking line/PK (Schaefer). As an added bonus I got to kick Ellison from my lineup who was really nothing more than a spare part at this point.

Since joining us Grabovsky has 2G 4A +2 in 9GP and Schaefer has 3G 3A +3 in 9GP.

Now I just have my fingers crossed that none of my stars suffer major injuries.

It's December 1st, time for a top 12 prospect (according to my AGM) update:
#1 LD Victor Hedman, Milwaukee-AHL, 22GP 1G 4A -6 7.55
#2 C/LW Colin Wilson, Kelowna-WHL, 25GP 21G 21A +14 9.36
#3 LD/RD Tim Erixon, Skellefteå-Swe, 17GP 4G 14A +4 7.29
#4 RD Philip Samuelsson, Oswego-OPJHL, 22GP 12G 31A +17 9.09
#5 C Joonas Nättinen, Blues Jrs-Fin Jr, 14GP 8G 18A +18 8.43
#6 RW Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulajev-RSL, 17GP 12G 7A +6 7.65
#7 C/RW Vitaly Karamnov, Everett-WHL, 23GP 20G 35A +5 8.91
#8 RD Dalton Prout, Kitchener-OHL, 26GP 9G 12A -4 7.58
#9 C Jacob Josefson, Djurgården-Swe, 23GP 1G 3A -2 6.43
#10 RD Michael D'Orazio, Owen Sound-OHL, 24GP 3G 6A -5 7.21
#11 RD/LD Simon Jodoin, Moncton-QMJHL, 26GP 6G 14A +5 7.19
#12 RD/LD Chad Lowry, Peterborough-OHL, 22GP 10G 11A +10 7.68

In hindsight it might have been a better idea to leave Hedman in Sweden for a year where Tim Erixon is performing well above expectations while Jacob Josefson is disappointing. On the other side of the ocean Karamnov and Wilson keep tearing up the WHL and Chad Lowry is putting up an impressive amount of goals from the point.

As for the guy we passed up to take Hedman? Brayden Schenn has 18G 40A +19 9.31 in 26GP... damnit.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:52 pm

Well the Nashville Predators finally repayed the Dallas Stars for knocking them out of the playoffs in season 1. Dallas was playing for the 8th seed and all they had to do to get it was win their last game. Their last game happened to be against the President trophy winning Predators. Although since securing the Presidents trophy Rask, Arnott, and Legwand were resting they played for one final game before the playoffs. Dallas lost the game losing any playoff hopes. Although in hindsight if we had thrown the game we would have atleast 4 games to beat the snot out of them.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:08 am

I've got 2 preseason games left and Luke Schenn already has 3 games in suspensions to start off the regular season due to incidents in the preseason. Is this normal for him, a freak occurrence, or maybe due to my tactics? I'm not running into problems with anyone else though.

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:06 pm

Predators – Admirals – Cyclones News, February 4th 2010

Organizational review

All three teams are doing well this season. Predators is near winning the Presidents' Trophy, Admirals is aiming into playoffs and Cyclones is steadily on second place in ECHL.

Predators made their second trade of the season

According to the prior plan I went for a strong, experienced defensive d-man. Initially the trade was planned to be done near the trade deadline, but in December I decided to make it earlier in order to get the team more time to get their lines and tactics solidified before the playoffs.
There were three main players from Preds' organization involved in the trade talks. They were Jordin Tootoo, David Hale and Greg Zanon. Also Richard Manley and Roman Josi were on the table in different combinations.
There were three approved deals on the table to choose from. Penguins was ready to give up Matt Greene, Blue Jackets offered Karel Rachunek and Thrashers offered Cory Sarich. There would have been much more choices if I hadn't ruled all +34 years old out from the talks.
Greene was really interesting offer, but finally I dropped him out because of his age (28). He just didn't seem to bring in the experience we needed. Then there were Rachunek and Sarich. Rachunek was bit more like a leader and a team worker, but Sarich's size and his superiority in most of the crucial attributes made the decision easy. So I traded Tootoo, Hale and Manley for Sarich in December 31st.

Hots and nots

Sarich is not especially hot, but I just have to say that after 13 games with us his AvR is 7.54. His AvR in prior seasons and teams has never been over 7. He has 34 hits in those 13 games and he also has more takeaways than giveaways, which I think is a elementary thing for a defender. So I'd say he has done well.
Ryan Getzlaf was injured for over three weeks in December and January. We won the game in which he got injured and also the game where he came back. The games without him went 3-1-6. In the whole season we have been losing our OT and shootout games, we have lost 13 of them, so it wasn't only because of we were missing Getzlaf. I actually was afraid of much worse when he got injured. But anyhoo, his AvR is the best in Preds, 9.13 (2nd best in the league after Kovalchuk). Although he is just fourth in points in Preds with 71 points (30+41) after J.P. Dumont (24+52=76), David Legwand (31+44=75) and Alex Semin (35+38=73). But actually, after 56 games played and having four players over 70 points and fifth player very close (Marcel Hossa, 32+36=68) is something I'm very happy with. I like it when I have two strong and nearly equal offensive lines. Those five players are all in league's top 11 in scoring points.
I'm also pretty happy with our defense now. I managed to make it more balanced by moving Denis Kulyash from the first pair in the 3rd one. Now he plays in 1st PP line but doesn't get too much minutes. Ryan Suter - Sarich is the 1st pair, Dan Hamhuis - Shea Weber is the 2nd and Kulyash - Greg Zanon/Anton Strålman is the 3rd pair. This compilation has been good especially for Sarich and Hamhuis, they both have raised their level. In defense there is only one man below zero in +/- -rating (Strålman, 46 games played, -7), he just doesn't fit in so defensive role where he is right now. Hale would have fitted better in it. I'm still not regretting trading Hale away, I still see Strålman's future role bigger in this team than Hale's would have been.
Jose Theodore hasn't improved his playing as much I hoped, but he is better now than in last season. His SV% is still under 0.900 (0.898) and his GAA is still over 3.00 (3.07). But compared to last season's GAA 3.52 it is clearly better. Karri Rämö instead is really challenging Theodore for the place of starting goalie, his stats are quite nice as he is 14-3-5 in 24 games played. His GAA is 3.07 and his SV% is 0.895 so they are pretty much even. I don't like having two equal goalies of that level though, as it is very difficult to decide with whom to go game after game. But with those stats it really is one big thing to decide whether I offer Theodore a new contract or let him just leave as an UFA next summer.

Our defensive line's forwards Blair Betts - Rob Niedermayer - Jed Ortmeyer are all more or less heavily under zero on +/- -stats and Antti Pihlström, Grigori Shafigulin and Joel Ward who have played in 3rd but most of the time in 4th line are also slightly on minus. That doesn't bother me, because they have done great job against other teams best lines. Their AvR is under 7.00 though and I hope they can keep their spirits up with the team winning although they aren't producing so much themselves.
There are also some youngsters that have to be mentioned. First of all Cole Penner, who got stuck in Nashville and has played now 27 games with us. His role isn't big, he gets just little over 6 minutes time on ice (average) but he has scored 6 goals, assisted another 6 goals and he is +5 and AvR 7.19. And because his morale is good and he is enjoying his time and role here, I haven't sent him back to Admirals. Maybe I will before the playoffs, we'll see then.
Other one to mention is our first round draft pick from last summer, Olivier McCrae. As I told, I wasn't going to pick up a defender at all, but I think I made the right decision then. He has been doing well in Moncton, got chosen to QMJHL All Stars but in the U-20 World Championships he was just magnificent! He scored most goals (7), assisted most goals (8), had AvR of 9.33 and was chosen as the First Star of the game four times. He set new records in most points in the tournament (15) and the First Stars and equalled an old record in goal scoring. Phewww!
There was another of our last summer's picks ti mention too. Sergio Burgener played as Switzerland's first line center and served as the captain of the team too. He played good tournament and I'm looking forward to seeing him in our organization in the future.
And what comes to the 'nots' of the youngsters, I'm a bit disappointed to Sebastian Dahm, who I was hoping to make a big leap here in North America. Well, maybe next year, I'm trying to get him to sign a new deal with us anyway.

Top prospects

And in the end of this review I'll put the list of our prospects as our assistant GM Norm Maciver sees it:
#1 Matt Duchene, age 21, position C, team Cincinnati
#2 Olivier McCrae, 18, LD, Moncton
#3 Alexander Freakin' Radulov, 25, RW, Salavat Yulajev
#4 Cole Penner, 21, LW, Predators
#5 Jeremy Smith, 22, G, Milwaukee
#6 Alex Theriau, 19, LD, Everett
#7 Denis Coghlan, 19, LW, Plymouth
#8 Henric Åhlund, 19, C/LW, Kootenay
#9 Sergio Burgener, C, ZSC Lions
#10 Zachary Stebner, 21, RD, Cincinnati
#11 Cody Franson, 24, RD, Milwaukee
#12 Oscar Hedman, 25, RD/LD, Milwaukee

Marsac · Post by **Marsac** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:53 pm

rubbish, league leading +/- man (+25 in 23GP, 5 points ahead of #2 Ryan Suter) Greg de Vries just went down for three weeks with a rotator cuff strain. Should be interesting to see what the D does without him since he's getting old and will need to be replaced soon anyway... If nothing else our team PIM should get a boost with Belak back in the lineup.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:48 pm

I'm rolling 4 lines pretty consistently this season. I've got the top 2 lines on 40 second shifts and the bottom 2 lines on 30 second shifts but I've got the usage set to "equal". By giving my top lines time to breath and letting my bottom 2 lines gets some playing time, it's made my top line guys more effective. I just had an 11-1 win over the Flyers in the 3rd game of the regular season!

eternium85 · Post by **eternium85** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:31 pm

I guess that's it for my Challenge. The game keeps crashing on November 19th 2010 and it hasn't helped even if I have started from an earlier automatic save. Same thing happened in the preseason on September 19th 2010 but that time I was able to go past it with starting the game over again and saving it before the date it crashes. But no luck this time. I will try reloading it one more time from an early November save but I doubt it will help.
Too bad, I was really enjoying playing this challenge...

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:42 pm

Later on when I get back home I'll post my final stats for season 3. This will also be last season with this save as I'm not happy with how the game handled Doughty. He wouldn't resign (I even offered the 5 mill that the board would let me offer). Come July 2nd the game expired his rights after he became RFA on July 1st. I figured what the hell I'll use one of my UFA spots (he was very good at the time). He signed with the Panthers almost immediately. I about threw my computer when that happened. As for the offers for good players I put out both Turris and Okposo were willing to sign and both are listed as good. I'm just mad after losing a defenseman that came in 3rd for Calder for less than 1/4th what I offered him 2 weeks prior(offered it about every week). He came in third to Tuuka Rask and Colin Wilson, 2 of my other players.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:44 pm

eternium85 wrote:I guess that's it for my Challenge. The game keeps crashing on November 19th 2010 and it hasn't helped even if I have started from an earlier automatic save. Same thing happened in the preseason on September 19th 2010 but that time I was able to go past it with starting the game over again and saving it before the date it crashes. But no luck this time. I will try reloading it one more time from an early November save but I doubt it will help.
Too bad, I was really enjoying playing this challenge...

Try an old save and see if it helps. If not, even though we normally don't allow you to set yourself to go on vacation, maybe try setting yourself to go on vacation just to avoid that day? On November 18th, set yourself to go on vacation until November 20th. Maybe it will slip past that problem date?

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:47 pm

thunderbug wrote:Later on when I get back home I'll post my final stats for season 3. This will also be last season with this save as I'm not happy with how the game handled Doughty. He wouldn't resign (I even offered the 5 mill that the board would let me offer). Come July 2nd the game expired his rights after he became RFA on July 1st. I figured what the hell I'll use one of my UFA spots (he was very good at the time). He signed with the Panthers almost immediately. I about threw my computer when that happened. As for the offers for good players I put out both Turris and Okposo were willing to sign and both are listed as good. I'm just mad after losing a defenseman that came in 3rd for Calder for less than 1/4th what I offered him 2 weeks prior(offered it about every week). He came in third to Tuuka Rask and Colin Wilson, 2 of my other players.

What was the required qualifying offer for Doughty? I can't understand why you would lose his rights if you at least made him a decent offer.

eternium85 · Post by **eternium85** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:54 pm

bruins72 wrote:
eternium85 wrote:I guess that's it for my Challenge. The game keeps crashing on November 19th 2010 and it hasn't helped even if I have started from an earlier automatic save. Same thing happened in the preseason on September 19th 2010 but that time I was able to go past it with starting the game over again and saving it before the date it crashes. But no luck this time. I will try reloading it one more time from an early November save but I doubt it will help.
Too bad, I was really enjoying playing this challenge...
Try an old save and see if it helps. If not, even though we normally don't allow you to set yourself to go on vacation, maybe try setting yourself to go on vacation just to avoid that day? On November 18th, set yourself to go on vacation until November 20th. Maybe it will slip past that problem date?

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try that too.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:03 pm

bruins72 wrote:
thunderbug wrote:Later on when I get back home I'll post my final stats for season 3. This will also be last season with this save as I'm not happy with how the game handled Doughty. He wouldn't resign (I even offered the 5 mill that the board would let me offer). Come July 2nd the game expired his rights after he became RFA on July 1st. I figured what the hell I'll use one of my UFA spots (he was very good at the time). He signed with the Panthers almost immediately. I about threw my computer when that happened. As for the offers for good players I put out both Turris and Okposo were willing to sign and both are listed as good. I'm just mad after losing a defenseman that came in 3rd for Calder for less than 1/4th what I offered him 2 weeks prior(offered it about every week). He came in third to Tuuka Rask and Colin Wilson, 2 of my other players.
What was the required qualifying offer for Doughty? I can't understand why you would lose his rights if you at least made him a decent offer.

Doughty was in the final year of his contract he started the DB with. It was 3.48 mill or something to that effect and so the qualifying offer was the amount of his contract. I offered him the max the Preds would allow which was 5 million and some change.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:10 pm

thunderbug wrote: Doughty was in the final year of his contract he started the DB with. It was 3.48 mill or something to that effect and so the qualifying offer was the amount of his contract. I offered him the max the Preds would allow which was 5 million and some change.

So you offered him more than the qualifying amount? So you should have still had his rights.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:15 pm

Thought this would finally be my year. We finished the regular season 5th in the West (6 teams had 100 pts or more) and faced the Canucks in the first round. After struggling in the first three games, I replaced Sebastien Caron with Jhonas Enroth and he turned us around, pulling a thrilling game seven victory in Vancouver, then sweeping the Kings in round two. We got the Western Conference Finals off to a good start, winning game one on the road in anaheim, but the Ducks took the next four to bounce us from the playoffs

Of course, injuries didn't help. We lost Jan Hejda for a few games here and there in both the Kings and Ducks. Raffi Torres and Hugh Jessiman both missed games in the finals. Both my PP and PK in the playoffs were better than in the regular season, but in the end it was not enough.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee made the playoffs for the first time since the challenge began and managed to win in the first round. Cincinnati lost in the Conference Finals, but Brandon Maxwell (4th rd 2007) had an amazing regular season and should win multiple awards in his first season in the ECHL. He'll move up next year, and hopefully be ready in 2012 to join the Preds.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:19 pm

Don't forget, the challenge end date has been extended through late July!