EHM The Blue Line

I'm pleased to announce Challenge #37! In this challenge we're going to do something a bit different than we normally do with the challenges and we're also going to simplify the rules for all of the folks that don't normally participate in the challenges. For this challenge we're going to provide everyone with a saved game that I have simmed through to April 15th 2015. When you load this game, you'll retire the temporary GM I made (named TBL Challenge) and add your GM, taking over the Vancouver Canucks. At that point, you'll want to immediately send your scouts out to scout the NHL Draft. You should have just enough time to scout for the draft. You'll also want to scout the NHL and maybe the AHL and ECHL too because we're going to blow up the Canucks!

DO NOT FOLLOW THE STANDARD CHALLENGE RULES! THIS CHALLENGE WILL USE THE RULES DETAILED IN THIS POST ONLY!

The one exception is the stat reporting and screenshots found HERE!

This is how it will work...

Download this saved game. Put it in your \Documents\Sports Interactive\EHM\games folder. Load the save. There will be a place-holder GM named "TBL Challenge". Retire this GM and add yourself, taking over the Vancouver Canucks. At this time you can also add a GM to take over their AHL affiliate too if you wish.

Once the Stanley Cup Finals are done (the game starts early in the playoffs and the Canucks are on the outside looking in) and trading has opened up again, you're going to trade away every player on your team that is 29 year old or older! You're going to trade them for draft picks and young players. Anyone not traded before entering the draft has to be released.

• All players aged 29 or older must be traded or released before entering the draft. Player's age is as of the start of the season. i.e. Alexander Edler is 28 when you load the save. He will be 29 before the start of the 2015-2016 season. He counts as being 29.
• You must trade these players for draft picks or young players under contract (or a combination of the two).
• Incoming players must be aged 24 or younger! Look at the player's birthdate. He must be 24 or under at the start of the regular season. Don't trade for a guy who is going to turn 25 before the season starts.
• You may not trade for unsigned players/prospects!
• You may not send draft picks out in a trade. They can only come in.
• You can package multiple 29 or older players in a deal.
• You must trade the Sedin twins together in a deal.
• You may not trade for draft picks for future drafts, only the 2015 draft.
• You may not re-sign players aged 29 and over so that they'll get trade interest. In this challenge, that's Brad Richardson. He'll have to be allowed to go for nothing.
• You may re-sign any other players with expiring contracts.
• You may sign any of your unsigned prospects but you may not trade them.

To keep things clear, the following players have to be traded or let go:
Ryan Miller
Daniel Sedin
Henrik Sedin
Alex Burrows
Radim Vrbata
Kevin Bieksa
Dan Hamhuis
Chris Higgins
Jannik Hansen
Alexander Edler
Brad Richardson*

* - Brad Richardson has an expiring contract and won't/shouldn't generate a return in trade, even if teams are interested.

Once July 1st comes around you're allowed to hire and fire non-playing staff freely. Put the staff that you want in place. Find staff that work well with youngsters so that you'll be able to develop all of these young players you have. Find good scouts for the coming years. Going in to season 1 (the 2015-2016) season, you can sign any of your prospects that you like but you are not allowed to sign any UFAs. You're also not allowed to make waiver claims. You won't be able to make any more moves in this first season. Play it out and develop your young players.

Season 2 and on

Each season on June 15th the veteran age will drop. You'll have the option of trading away these veteran players or keeping them. The same restrictions apply here that applied the when you first took over the team but the age will drop

2016-2017: Players aged 28 or older may be traded
2017-2018: Players aged 27 or older may be traded
2018-2019: Players aged 26 or older may be traded
2019-2020: Players aged 25 or older may be traded

Also, each season you may trade one players under the veteran age. You may not package this player with a veteran. They must be traded on their own.

In this challenge you are not allowed to:
Trade away your draft picks.
Sign UFAs.
Claim players from waivers.

Some words of advice!

Start scouting immediately! Scout the draft and also scout AHL and NHL so you'll have scouting reports on player you draft and players you might trade for.
Make sure to re-sign your players that are under the veteran age! You don't want to lose them by accident.
You'll need to discipline your players with NTCs so that they'll want to agree to be traded. Don't make them demand to be traded too soon though or they might decide they want to stay again. It can get messy.
Make sure to Disable Human Manager Sackings. You're going to make some deals that will enrage both the fans and the board. You're dealing away this team's stars. To disable human manager sackings, tick the box in Preferences.


All challenge talk goes HERE!