Scouts Honor - An NHL36 Story

[BKarchitect]

Sometimes I get so busy tinkering with the database I forget to take time to enjoy the game so I'm going to attempt to blog a game I just started to both just have some fun being a GM and to examine some things that may or may not be working with the DB. No promises on how long I take this but here goes...

SCOUTS HONOR - ISSUE 1.0


SCOUTS HIRE RUFF AS FIRST HEAD COACH, BACKROOM STAFF ANNOUNCED
- Veteran coach Lindy Ruff, last with the Dallas Stars in the 2016-17 season, has been announced as the first head coach in Scouts (2.0) history. Ruff arrives on a 3-year contract. Joining Ruff on the coaching staff will be Sam St. Laurent, Bobby Carpenter, John MacLean and Joel Otto. Chris Pryor will handle assistant GM duties and Gus Badali will head the scouting staff.


New head coach Lindy Ruff answers media questions at his first press conference.

OFF-SEASON TRANSACTIONS
Kansas City trades LW Matt Puempel and RW Troy Brouwer to San Jose for LW Mikkel Boedker and RW Marcus Sorenson
- Boedker was rumored to want out from San Jose and although he's a bit soft and inconsistent, his skating and potential to provide some offense made him a good target. Both Brouwer and Boedker are overpaid (both till 2020) for what they do and both Puempel and Sorenson are youngish guys with a bit of experience and some slight upside so really this swap was an exchange of pretty even personel. Sharks got bigger and tougher, Scouts got an upgrade offensively.

Kansas City trades LW Zac Rinaldo to Buffalo for LW/C Johan Larrson
- Again a case where a player (Larsson) felt unhappy in his current situation. Larsson is great defensively but provides zero offense but the Scouts start with a roster full of bangers but not a lot of "intelligence" in terms of defensive forwards so Larsson will definitely fill a role. Rinaldo is one of the better sandpaper/pest guys in the league - he will vie for a 4th line slot and add grit to the Sabres.

Kansas City trades C Jay Beagle to Washington for C Greg McKegg
- You'll notice a theme here of basically position for position swaps as we try to create an identity for the Scouts in their maiden season. In this case the Scouts give up the younger player in McKegg who is a do-everything checking line player and in return get big veteran center Beagle who we see as an ideal first unit PK pivot along with Larsson. McKegg is more talented but Beagle will fill a more defined role for us.

Kansas City trades C Carter Rowney, LW Joseph Blandisi and D Roberto Bortuzzo to Vancouver for C Henrik Sedin, LW Daniel Sedin and D Erik Gudbranson
- Welcome to crazy town! Ok - let's get this out of the way first, the Sedins aren't what they used to be. They were starting to get reduced to 3rd line type minutes in Vancouver as the Canucks add younger depth. But their arrival in KC has made headlines and quite a splash as the generally naive new NHL fanbase gets fed a great new marketing campaign centered around the (aging) Swedish wonder twins. Despite their decline, expect them to be first line players for the Scouts. The Scouts also got Gudbranson thrown in - amazingly he is still only 25...he's a slow moving battleship but will add plenty of toughness to the blueline. All three players are out of contract after this season so this may be a one-year party. Vancouver gets younger but mostly they get TONS of cap and salary relief (over $15 million combined). Rowney is a late-bloomer with a bit of talent who will likely be a 4th liner in Vancouver, Blandisi has amazing puck skills but is inconsistent...if he puts it together he could be quite a catch. And Bortuzzo is a cheaper, worse Gudbranson faxcimile for blueline depth.

Kansas City signs D Artyom Zub from SKA Saint-Petersburg (KHL)
- Zub's a promising younger stay-at-home defender whom my scouts (Scouts' scouts!) recommended to me. He may be able to step in right away but I promised him only "Hot Prospect" as a role, so we'll see how well he adapts.

Kansas City signs RW Alexander Barabanov from SKA Saint-Petersburg (KHL)
- Like Zub, Barabanov was another young SKA player who the scouts recommended and who was willing to come over to North America this season with only the promise of being a "Hot Prospect". He will battle for a right wing depth role in KC or be an important winger in OKC.

Depth Free Agent Signings & Waiver Claims
- The Scouts worked the waiver wire and signed some younger unsigned prospects to help fill out their AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons. In net the Scouts signed former Sabres prospect Jason Kadorf who will split time with Nick Ellis in net for OKC. Ryan Mantha, a former Edmonton prospect was added on defense. Former Sharks prospect Alex Schoenborn was signed up front and the Scouts also claimed Ben Smith from Toronto and Teemu Pulkkinen from Vegas off of waivers.

2017 Opening Night Line-Up

D. Sedin (A) - H. Sedin (C) - Di Giuseppe
Boedker - Tierney - Chiasson
Larsson - Sundqvist - Sorenson
Clifford (A) - Beagle - Tanev

Hickey - Gudbranson
Enstrom - Zub
Rosen - Murphy

Ward
Hutchinson

Injuries: None
Scratches: Wingels, Gryba


The Sedins will be the star attraction at the Sprint Center for the hometown fans.

Thoughts: Well if this was 10 year earlier, the core of Sedin, Sedin, Ward and Enstrom would have been quite the star-studded group. Instead, these vets are approaching the end of their careers and yet will still be counted on for one last ride into the sunset to help the fledgingly Scouts off the ground and to help sell them and NHL hockey to the people of Kansas City.

Up front, young Phil Di Giuseppe will get the first shot as a trigger man on the Sedin line. The second line brings a bit more youth and speed while the third line "the Euro line" is kind of an all-weather line. The fourth line features plenty of grit and checking.

On the blueline, Hickey and Gudbranson will bring experience to the first pair while the vet Enstrom will team with young stay-at-home blueliner Zub, a KHL import. The third pair lacks muscle but is a smooth-skating duo with a bit of offensive flair.

Ward starts in net but expect the team to split his workload fairly evenly with the young Hutchinson who has proved a competent NHL netminder himself.

The Hockey News 2017 Top Players
- The Hockey News has released this years list of top players by position. Note that this is only THN's prediction for this up-coming season and certainly subject to debate!

GOALIES
1. Sergei Bobrovsky (CLB)
2. Corey Crawford (CHI)
3. Jonathan Quick (DAL)
4. Braden Holtby (WAS)
5. Matt Murray (PIT)
6. Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL)
7. John Gibson (ANA)
8. Carey Price (MON)
9. Cory Schneider (NJD)
10. Matt Jones (SJS)

DEFENSEMEN
1. Erik Karlsson (OTT)
2. Victor Hedman (TBL)
3. Drew Doughty (LAK)
4. Alex Pietrangelo (STL)
5. Seth Jones (CLB)
6. Duncan Keith (CHI)
7. Roman Josi (NAS)
8. P.K. Subban (NAS)
9. Hampus Lindholm (ANA)
10. Colton Parayko (STL)

LEFT WINGERS
1. Alexander Ovechkin (WAS)
2. Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)
3. Brad Marchand (BOS)
4. Claude Giroux (PHI)
5. Taylor Hall (NJD)
6. Filip Forsberg (NAS)
7. Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA)
8. Jaden Schwartz (STL)
9. Artemy Panarin (CLB)
10. Nikolaj Ehlers (WPG)

CENTERS
1. Connor McDavid (EDM)
2. Sidney Crosby (PIT)
3. Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
4. Steven Stamkos (TBL)
5. John Tavares (NYI)
6. Austin Matthews (TOR)
7. Jamie Benn (DAL)
8. Tyler Seguin (DAL)
9. Aleksander Barkov (FLA)
10. Anze Kopitar (LAK)

RIGHT WINGERS
1. Patrick Kane (CHI)
2. Nikita Kucherov (TBL)
3. Vladimir Tarasenko (STL)
4. Blake Wheeler (WPG)
5. Patrik Laine (WPG)
6. Mark Stone (OTT)
7. Leon Draisatl (EDM)
8. Phil Kessel (PIT)
9. Jakub Voracek (PHI)
10. Clayton Keller (ARI)

PROSPECTS
1. Clayton Keller (ARI)
2. Brock Boeser (VAN)
3. Matt Barzal (NYI)
4. Nico Hischier (NJD)
5. Charles McAvoy (BOS)
6. Mikhail Sergachyov (TBL)
7. Igor Shestyorkin (NYR)
8. Jesper Bratt (NJD)
9. Kyle Connor (WPG)
10. Samuel Girard (COL)

2017 Opening Night - First Game in Franchise History - First NHL Game in Kansas City Since 1976!


Opening night at a sold out Sprint Center.

Kansas City 1 : Nashville 0
- The Scouts won the first game in their reborn franchise history in front of the hometown fans at a sold out Sprint Center! It was a tight affair throughout. Chris Tierney gave the Scouts the lead with the first goal in franchise history n the first period; the Predators tied things up in the second period and then the goalies and defense took over as the score remained kotted at 1-1 through regulation and the end of overtime. An epic and tense shootout went 9 rounds before Alex Chiasson ended the game with his shootout goal as the crowd erupted in cheers to celebrate the win.

[BKarchitect]

SCOUTS HONOR - ISSUE 1.1


SCOUTS GM DEALING WITH A COUPLE PLAYER ISSUES
- Shortly after the start of the season, a couple of the Scouts' more prized prospects threw a monkey wrench into the team's long-term personel plans. Offensive defenseman Andy Welinski was AWOL after being sent down to Oklahoma City after barely missing out on making the Scouts. He was subsequently fined for poor behavior but has still refused to play or be with the team (either KC or OKC). Welsinki is rated the Scouts' #3 prospect and was being looked at as a key piece as soon as next season but the biridges appear to be burned.

- To make matters worse, Alexander Barabanov, the recent signing from the KHL and the Scouts' #1 prospect has not been adapting to life in the Midwest of North America well and has asked for a trade. Unlike Welsinki, he has not gone AWOL and is playing for OKC so there may be hope that he adjusts and the situation resolves itself.

SCOUTS TRANSACTIONS - FIRST HALF 2017
Kansas City trades D Andy Welinski to St. Louis for a 2018 2nd Round & 2019 2nd Round Draft Pick
- With Welinski resolved to not suit up for either KC or OKC, the Scouts had to cut their losses. St. Louis came to the table with two 2nd round picks...they will likely be late 2nds but that is still good value at this point for a guy who will never play in Kansas City. With Vince Dunn, Jordan Schmaltz, Jake Walman and now Welsinki, the Blues have stockpiled quite a nice group of younger, more offensive-minded blueliners.

Kansas City trades RW Alex Chiasson and LW Johan Larrson to Pittsburgh for LW Conor Sheary and RW Carl Hagelin
- On paper this season, this doesn't look great for KC. Chiasson has really blossomed in a top 6 role for KC with 15 points in 16 games while Sheary has a mere 2 points in 17 games for Pittsburgh. Hagelin has been more productive than Larsson but he comes with a rather hefty contract for a third liner. In fact, Pittsburgh will save over $5 million each of the next two seasons with this deal. But from the KC perspective, we really like the speed and forechecking that Hagelin and Sheary will bring and view it as a talent upgrade; in addition having them locked in for 2 and 3 more years respectively isn't a bad thing for a team so far under the cap. Expect Sheary's production to skyrocket back up in a bigger role in Kansas City.

OTHER NHL TRADES - FIRST HALF 2017
Philadelphia trades LW Michael Raffl to Vancouver for C Michael Chaput
- Better upside in this deal for Vancouver as Raffl can still be a solid depth winger in the NHL - he just got soured on by Philly brass for whatever reason. Chaput is pure depth material; he can play spot games at the NHL level and not hurt you but he's probably never a regular.

Anaheim trades a 2018 2nd Round Pick and 2018 4th Round Pick to Pittsburgh for D Chad Ruhwedel
- Amazing value for Pittsburgh who parly a fringy AHL/NHL defender in Ruhwedel into nice picks. Anaheim is currently devastated by injuries on defense and want youngsters like Larsson and Pettersson to grow with big ice time in the AHL so Ruhwedel will definitely get a shot at regular ice time in Anaheim as a stop-gap measure.

NY Islanders trade rights RW Logan Cockerill to Philadelphia for rights to LW Carsen Twarynski
- Swap of long-shot prospects. Cockerill was just drafted in the 7th round and is a freshman at BU in Hockey East while Twarynski is a 2016 3rd rounder who is currently struggling with Regina in the WHL.

Vancouver trades D Jordan Subban and a 2018 5th Round Pick (COL) to Colorado for D Patrik Nemeth
- Nemeth is solid if vanilla and got pushed down the pecking order in Colorado - he should easily be a third pairing regular for Vancouver. The Avs get their own 5th rounder back and a younger project defenseman in Jordan Subban who probably will amount to nothing at the NHL level.

Los Angeles trades a 2018 1st Round Pick to NY Islanders for G Jaroslav Halak and a 2018 2nd Round Pick (CGY)
- Needed move by LA who lost Quick for 3 months minimum due to a UCL tear. Halak isn't what he once was but should help hold the fort down with Kuemper in net for LA while Quick recovers. Interesting swap of picks; getting a 1st rounder (even if a late one) for Halak is quite nice for the Isles but getting a 2nd rounder thrown in with Halak helps the deal go down smoother for LA. The Isles have tons of picks to deal after the Hamonic deal in the off-season.

Washington trades a 2018 3rd Round Pick (NJ) to Anaheim for RW Jared Boll
- Boll is a tough guy plug with just enough talent to remain relevant (perhaps) at the NHL level but kinda stupid for the Caps to give up a 3rd round pick for that.

Washington trades a 2018 3rd Round Pick and 2019 3rd Round Pick to Winnipeg for LW/C Michael Sgarbossa
- Sgarbossa was basically the 23rd man / perpetual healthy scratch in the Winnipeg line-up so to get two decent draft picks for him via a trade is quite something. The Caps are kind of sputtering along and need more depth so he should play more in Washington. Still - the Caps are dealing picks depth players very rapidly and have the air of desparation to them at this point.

Winnipeg trades a 2018 2nd Round Pick to Toronto for D Martin Marincin
- Marincin was squeezed out of relevance in Toronto as they have a glut of defenders but Winnipeg is relatively thin in defensive depth so he should see his role grow, potentially back to being a regular top-6 defender with the Jets. Toronto's rebuild looks complete but extra picks never hurt either.

Los Angeles trades a 2018 2nd Round Pick (CGY) to Ottawa for D Johnny Oduya
- Oduya is a depth move for LA as the fight to remain in the playoff picture out West. Extracting a 2nd round pick for the fading defender is a great value move for Ottawa.

Nashville trades D Alexandre Carrier to San Jose for the rights to C Scott Reedy and rights to RW Joachim Blichfeld
- Carrier is an underrated prospect who was already seeing substantial time on the Predator's defense so he is likely to step right into the Sharks blueline and provide good puck movement and upside. Reedy is a young 2017 4th rounder who has been a depth player for the Minnesota Golden Gophers thus far his freshman year while Blichfeld is a Danish scoring winger and 2016 7th rounder who is having an excellent season with Portland in the WHL. Neither is listed in the Predators' top 10 prospect while Carrier, who still has a few games of prospect eligibility is already ranked #1 in the Sharks system so this looks like quite a coup for San Jose.

2017 Mid-Season Standings Report



Thoughts: In the West, the Blackhawks are holding back father time and continuing to excel this season with a bit of youthful influx. No surprise to see the Jets climbing the ladder as they had all the makings of a powerhouse now that they have found their goalie in Connor Hellebuyck. After that it is a bit of a cluster with upstarts like the Coyotes and Avs mixed in with traditional powers like the Blues and Ducks. The Oilers have definitely been a disappointment and so have the Stars and Wild. The Golden Knights are the top expansion team but barely over the surprising Scouts. The other three expansion teams out West have been cannon fodder as expected.

In the East, there is a group of four teams really steam-rolling opponents and none are that surprising. The Lightning and Blue Jackets are simply building on outstanding previous seasons as are their new Eastern Conference rivals and 2017 Stanley Cup runners' up, Nashville. And the Maple Leafs have officially finished their rebuild as they look to be a serious contender. Elsewhere you have the Devils shooting up the standings led by a devasating offense while strong teams last year like Washington and Ottawa kind of sputter along. But there are big surprises at the bottom with the defending Cup champs Pittsburgh struggling mightily and the tradition-rich rivals Boston and Montreal really bottoming out - saved from the basement only by the newby Nordiques.

2017 Mid-Season Top Scorers Report


Thoughts: Unbelievably, at the halfway mark of the season, there are two rookie phenoms leading the scoring charts in Clayton Keller and Nico Hischier. We shall see if they can keep up the pace and not hit a "rookie wall" in the second half but their impact has been tremendous. Right behind is of course Connor McDavid and his teammate Leon Draisatl. Hischier's linemate Taylor Hall leads the league in goals at the moment. Some surprise on the list include Marcus Johansson who is riding shotgun with Hischier and Hall, Matt Duchene who is making a big impact on his new team Ottawa and the Coyotes' underrated sophomore Christian Dvorak.

2017 Mid-Season Goalies Report


Thoughts: The Russians are coming! No surprise that Sergi Bobrvosky continues to reign as the NHL's best in net but his younger compatriot Andrei Vasilevskiy looks to be hitting his stride as a star in his own right. Mostly tradition names at the top of the goaltending ledger although Scott Darling really is taking his chance with Carolina and running with it, posting excellent numbers while Carey Price looks like he's falling from the ranks of the elite. Completely falling off the map and thus not shown here are the likes of Craig Anderson and Tuukka Rask who are just having awful seasons.

2017 Rookies Report


Thoughts: We've been over the supernovas that Keller and Hischier have been but they are joined by many others in a ridiculuously good rookie class. Brock Boeser is on pace for 40 goals while the likes of Sonny Milano, Kyle Conner, Alex DeBrincat and Matt Barzal are also having amazing season. Charles McAvoy is playing over 24 minutes a game on the Bruins defense while Julius Honka, Samuel Girard and Mikhail Sergachyov have been offensive sparks from the blueline for their respective clubs.

2017 Mid-Season Kansas City Scouts Statistics



Thoughts: The goal in the first half of their inagural season has been for the Scouts to be good enough and have enough star power to win the hearts and loyalty of a new NHL fanbase. To that end, the first half of the season has been a great success. Make no mistake, this isn't even close to being a playoff team but a veteran coach in Ruff has a squad of some veteran players who are playing hard and loose and giving the fans a good product.

Key of course are the Sedin twins. On the last years of their current contracts and having been given up for dead (or decaying at least) in Vancouver - they have responded with big ice time and responsibilities on a brand new team like the true class veterans that they are. Mikkel Boedker has also responded positively with an expanded role while young Phil Di Giuseppe has ridden the Sedins' wings to a career season thus far. The blueline has been solid if unspecatcular with Thomas Hickey probably being the most consistent defender while Michael Hutchinson has blossomed into the main starter in net, relegating Cam Ward to veteran backup.

The second half of the season could get interesting because it may very well be that the Scouts change direction. With the fans now hooked, expect the Scouts to be sellers at the deadline to start building for the long-term future. While we probably won't see the Sedins moved, some of the other veterans could be made available to contenders come February.

[BKarchitect]

SCOUTS HONOR - ISSUE 1.2


2018 WJC TOURNAMENT RECAP

TEAM AWARDS:
Gold: Canada
Silver: Finland
Bronze: Russia
4th Place: United States
Relegated: Norway

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
Tournament MVP: Carter Hart, Canada
Top Scorer: Jack Hughes, USA
Top Defenseman: Cale Makar, Canada
Top Goalie: Carter Hart, Canada

FIRST TEAM:
Jack Hughes (USA) - Alexis Lafreniere (Canada) - Andrei Altybarmakyan (Russia)
Ty Smith (Canada) - Cale Makar (Canada)
Carter Hart (Canada)

SECOND TEAM:
Brady Tkachuk (USA) - Sam Steel (Canada) - Akil Thomas (Canada)
Quinn Hughes (USA) - Miro Heiskinen (Finland)
Jakub Skarek (Czech Republic)

THIRD TEAM:
Owen Tippett (Canada) - Igor Shvyryov (Russia) - Aleksi Heponiemi (Finland)
Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden) - Ryan Merkley (Canada)
David Hrenak (Slovakia)

QUARTER FINAL RESULTS:
Canada 11 - Switzerland 1
Russia 3 - Slovakia 2 (OT)
Finland 2 - Czech Republic 1 (OT)
USA 5 - Sweden 2

SEMI FINAL RESULTS:
Canada 4 - Russia 2
Finland 6 - USA 3

BRONZE MEDAL GAME:
Russia 4 - USA 3

GOLD MEDAL GAME:
Canada 6 - Finland 3

[BKarchitect]

So I got bored and just simmed way ahead on a few different NHL36 sims and instead of trying to finish a season by season story (that I will never ever finish ) - I thought I'd just share some interesting nuggets from various sims I have been doing that have progressed well into the future. Posted these in the HFBoards EHM thread to so if you've already read them, nothing new here.

Pretty interesting EHM moment in my latest game that is one of the reasons I love this game.

So the 2020 NHL draft has a couple of franchise-caliber center prospects in Alexis Lafreniere and Quinton Byfield. I've loaded their ratings up in the NHL36 database so they are real phenom type prospects. They almost always in my sims turn out to be star players.

Funny thing though in my latest game...a couple years into their NHL careers and they look...rather undwhelming. But it's the circumstances which I find amusing and which could easily be real life tales:

Alexis Lafreniere
Lafreniere was the consensus #1 pick heading into the 2020 draft and Quebec, after two historically bad seasons had the #1 overall pick. Match made in heaven, right? Poor Nordiques team looking for an identity and a Quebec-native, French-speaking superstar center prospect is sitting there for them. The Nords pick Lafreniere, sign him straight out of juniors and in the 20-21 season, and he has an excellent rookie season with 25 goals and 60 points, only losing the Calder because Igor Shestyorkin finally came over from Russia and was a beast for the Rangers in goal.

So, heading into his sophomore season in the NHL in 21-22, huge things are expected from Lafreniere and the Nordiques are really improving as a club. They've made some astute free agent signings and have a wave of youngsters coming up. Lafreniere is the crown jewel. But then - something happens. First, Lafreniere gets off to a cold start and then he says he is "Unhappy" and has "Personal Problems". Midway through the season and he has a mere 3 goals and 8 points in 38 games, he's being demoted to the 4th line and benched and his attribute ratings, while still good, start to stagnate.

And then - just a year and a half after making him the face of the franchise and after a great rookie season - everything has gone south and the Nords trade Lafreniere to...the Edmonton Oilers, straight up for Ryan freakin' Strome. That's how bad Lafreniere had been. But, get this - despite their franchise star basically being non-existent, the once poor Nordiques are crushing it as a team and sit atop the entire Eastern Conference after 60 games. Lafreniere has been slotting as the #2 center in Edmonton behind McJesus and has 4 points in his first 6 games but it seems highly unlikely he will become the player he should have.

Quinton Byfield
So right after the Nords picked #1 in the 2020 draft, the Habs had the second pick. Although they too desperately wanted Lafreniere (who is from the Montreal region), the Nords of course would not entertain any trade so the Habs picked Byfield. Now Byfield is a dynamic, potential franchise star center so he is a very, very awesome consolation prize it would seem. He too signed straight after the draft and suited up for Montreal in 2020-21. Montreal was a bit deeper than Quebec so Byfield's rookie season role was more as a secondary player and he had a solid, if slightly disappointing rookie output of 16 goals and 39 points in 69 games.

So, again, like Lafreniere, big things are expected from Byfield in his sophomore season. And while his production is still ok, if not great (27 points in 50 games) - EVERYTHING starts to go sideways with his situation. Montreal continued to struggle and the Montreal media began to criticize Byfield. His GM apparently did not defend him and he become "Unhappy" and "Feels the Media is Treating Him Unfairly". And now, as we approach the trade deadline, Byfield "Wants to Be Traded". How true to life would it be for the Habs to pick a young franchise center only to have the Montreal media run them out of town? A have to admit, I LOL-ed hard at this development.

So there you go - these are prospects who, in the NHL36 database, I have given every advantage with huge boosted ratings and attributes, great determination and great under pressure and who in other sims with the exact same database become superstars and sometimes Hall of Fame players. And yet in this particular instance, within less than 2 seasons, both have failed hard. I find that to be...awesome...because it's so "real feeling".

[BKarchitect]

From another sim, this one I am now in 2065 with the NHL36 v1.2 database!

I've got one sim in 2050 right now and I've seen a mixed bag with young players developing...some have really good ratings pretty early but still take time to make a big impact. Some late bloomers. And some stars right out of the starting blocks. And I had a pretty interesting situation with Casey Mitteldstadt - in 2018-19, he was signed by Buffalo and played with Eichel and scored 89 points and won the Calder. The next year he scored 65. The third year he scored 48. And the rest of his career he was around a 50 points on average player. Then I had Andrei Svechnikov and Patrik Laine both beat Gretzky's 898 career goal mark with Laine getting 918 goals and Svechnikov a mind-boggling 1008 goals. Nobody has come close yet to Gretzky's point mark (2857) but both McDavid (2088) and Matthews (1930) edged past Jagr for 2nd and 3rd place. Jakub Skarek ended up beating Brodeur's wins record (718 to 691) while a few other guys have passed Roy's current second-best mark of 551 (Vasilevskiy, Murray, future Czech prospect Nick Malik and Caps prospect Ilya Samsonov).

[BKarchitect]

On old players hanging around too long in EHM...to me this is a bit of an issue but I can also rationalize it!

Here's an example...again this is 2050 so all the players are fake/regens. They do have a few younger guys on the team but they get scratched constantly. Look at that average age...really really old overall and this is common.



Here's a team who has embraced youth a bit more but again, it's a bit deceiving. Perry was the #5 overall pick 2 years ago and he's a second pairing defender for them which is cool but the other 19 year old is a constant healthy scratch, the young goalie is a backup who barely plays and three of the most important players on the team (the captain who is their #1 defender still and two assistant captains, one of whom is their #1 RW and the other who is their #1 center and top scorer) are 38, 37 and 37 respectively.



I actually have a reasoning though why this all could be explained - as we go into the future, people find ways to stay healthier, longer so maybe a 40 year-old in 2050 is like a 30 year-old now! Imagine if Jagr or Chara had all their current knowlededge and experience but in a body from 10 years ago...they would be even more amazing so you probably would see less space for younger players.

[BKarchitect]

Hall of Fame Leaders in 2050:

Here's a look at top Hall of Fame Scorers...scoring definitely went up in my game - this may have to do with having a 36-team league, I'm not sure but just a guess. I think especially in the early years, the goalie talent is spread thin with the extra teams so star forwards got to inflate their totals a little. Kinda cool though . FYI - this is a different sim than the one I posted above with the stories about Lafreniere and Byfield. They both turned out awesome this particular time! And look at Svechnikov's NHL record 1008 goals and he did it in only 1588 games...that works out to an average of 50+ goals per season in a 20 season career from age 18 to age 38.

[BKarchitect]

An Unusual Superstar

My Japanese superstar has arrived...guy didn't even play Major Junior hockey but was drafted #10 overall in 2055 out of the GTHL.




The Sens have been to the finals 3 years in a row, winning twice with Ogino picking up a Conn Smythe in 61-62 and also has won two Selke trophies along with his high scoring. The Sens have a devastating first line that last season finished 1-2-3 in scoring and Veydarier and Mukhachyov were also 1-2 in goals.