EHM The Blue Line

Hi Everyone I was wondering if there is anyone that uses spreadsheets while playing thus using a team DNA or trying to introduce a culture. Everyone seems to being talking about it every where now a days but its something that's been used for years. I have tried to use these philosophy's in my saves and was wondering what everyone else likes to do and what attributes they use to build there teams and the vision they go forward Have a nice weekend everyone and happy coaching

P.S Sorry if i have posted in the wrong chat.

What kind of things are you tracking on your spreadsheet?

@ManagerTus

If I may weigh in on your topic regarding the use of spreadsheets. For my part I have frequently over the years spent considerable time & energy constructing & then maintaining spreadsheets of varying degrees of complexity as a personnel aid to helping develop a team identity, and which I used for scouting, drafting, trade evaluations, player development & evolution, contract considerations, line formations, and player & team strategies and tactics and so on.

But in the end, I was always left with the sense after playing the game for awhile in this fashion was apart from the considerable time it often took to maintain this effort to create a plausible mathematical roadmap to improved team management & coaching. In practice it always felt more like I was gaming the game itself rather than enjoying simply playing the game, if you understand my drift. Plus, any success I might enjoy, then felt more like a function of my clever data entry and formula construction within the spreadsheet than my own ‘feel’ for the team.

The other issue of course is in constructing all these data points and various cross-connections within the spreadsheet, was the awareness that given the conclusions that were derived were simply the result of my own assumptions of what these numerical relationships should be, that the reality of the old garbage in – garbage out cliché was also highly likely and in fact probable to be present in the conclusions I arrived at.

Bottom line is that I’ve largely given up on this practice and found much more enjoyment and pleasure in organically managing & coaching my team using the tools present in the game itself. Plus, it is also a lot less typing intensive …

Still the one thing I do see some value in having a spreadsheet available to review, was the ability to organize my roster and in particular view my various line combinations in a fashion that allowed for a more accessible and in-depth breakdown comparison of player attributes etc than the game currently provides.

Of course, your mileage may vary…

For what its worth, the DNA philosophy I choose for my team was to attempt to construct a team that placed a premium on skating (speed, acceleration & balance), combined with strong puck control ability (passing), and supported by a strong character base (determination, teamwork, professionalism).

Cheers and good gaming !

I tend to geek out on spreadsheets and I had to back off of that a bit to find the right balance between just rolling with the game's tools and turning the whole thing into a spreadsheet monster.

Now I use the spreadsheet for the following things:

- Each year I take a "snapshot" of all my players' abilities, so it's easier to see who is improving or fading.
- I took the 27 different characteristics and distilled them into six (scoring, playmaking, defense, grinding, athleticism, and intangibles) so it's easier to see what a player brings to the table.
- I keep a "cap chart" that mimics the one seen on capfriendly.com, so that I can more easily plan ahead.
- I keep a draft board and enter the characteristics I care most about along with the "hidden" characteristics of consistency, decision-making, and big-games, as well as the scouts' star-ratings.

That's basically it, other than some ad hoc stuff like keeping track of what my coaches are good at teaching so I can set practice schedules.

How do I use it to "enforce" a team DNA? Mainly through the draft board. I want my players to shoot like mad and backcheck like crazed bats. I want my team at or near the top of both the shots-per-game list and shots-allowed-per-game as well. I also want them to be hockey-smart and play to the best of their ability. So when GMing in the NHL, my draft board includes the following mental traits:

- Aggression
- Anticipation
- Bravery
- Determination
- Teamwork
- Work Rate

I weight Anticipation, Determination, and Work Rate heavier, and Bravery and Teamwork a little lighter, and ignore the rest. I add them up and get a total. Aggression subtracts from the total by the amount distant from 12 (so a player with 14 or 10 Aggression subtracts 2.)

I also take into account all physical traits but weight Stamina heavier and Strength lighter. So each draft prospect ends up with a Mental score and a Physical score, and I do my best to draft the highest available (who also, the scouts like - I don't draft anyone who is a consensus three-star or lower.) Also taking into account if the scouts have highlighted a player's consistency, decision-making, and big-gamesmanship. (Naturally, also taking into account if a player might still be available in the next round.)

This gets me prospects who can backcheck a ton and can play at their peak abilities consistently. Many GMs will filter their scout reports to weed out anyone with too low a number in an important trait. I don't, because I've had a lot of success with players who lacked one or maybe two of my preferred traits but were rock stars otherwise.

Currently I'm playing in the QMJHL (side note: if you want to play major juniors, avoid the Q and go with the OHL or WHL - the Q draft is a buggy mess) and since I need my drafted players much more quickly, I've added some technical traits to my draft board. Each player gets a Defensive score (Checking, Hitting, Positioning), a Scoring score (Deflections + Slapshot + Wristshot), and a Playmaking score (Off the Puck, Passing, Stickhandling) [note - these are different than the ones I use in the bullet above, for brevity's sake] and that gets added to the draft board. This gives you a fairly good idea of what type of player a guy is, and whether you can use him right away (which isn't often) or wait a little bit.

I generally use spreadsheets to track the business side of things better

Rigafan wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 1:55 pm I generally use spreadsheets to track the business side of things better

How did you get on tracking the business side. I still play the 05 default setup and found playing in the British National League you can make transfer money by staying under the wage cap. Still never found out what the budget is for staff tho lol I will try and post some stuff for my Hull Stingrays save which has hit a major slump but still holding on

ManagerTus wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:47 pm How did you get on tracking the business side. I still play the 05 default setup and found playing in the British National League you can make transfer money by staying under the wage cap. Still never found out what the budget is for staff tho lol I will try and post some stuff for my Hull Stingrays save which has hit a major slump but still holding on

I still have 05 installed as well, It's nice to go back and look around the old database, seem which teams came and went and the league set ups! I might actually load it up now.

What I do mainly is track:

Player budgets/salary caps (mainly to make sure i stay under it and it helps me when the end of season clear out comes so I don't offer every new player the top wage kinda thing)
Season tickets - just like to monitor it as a way to see the fan interest.
Average attendance - barely any teams in hockey own the rink so can't exactly build more but I like to see if its trending up/down or if there is a certain team that seems to attract a big crowd, kind of like a rivaly has grown
transfer fees in/out - I try not to go crazy with the transfers as it can be easier to poch players but its nice to see if im gaining any money from them. Its nice the AI actually uses its cash and offers money now and then

I use spreadsheets mainly to track regular and post season success, like who lead in goals for the team, assists, rounds won and who sent me packing, etc...

I also have a spreadsheet that I use to track how successful my tactics are. I have 12 that I use and usually change them each month. Then I grab the 4 that I've had the most success with and use those in the playoffs. I won a Stanley Cup with Ottawa in my second season doing that. Mind you I also made some shrewd trades as well that helped.

stone169
Do you have any of your spread sheets showing how and what you tracked. I've been trying to do it myself but head up being lazy keeping all the data for doing a excel dashboard.

ManagerTus wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:44 am stone169
Do you have any of your spread sheets showing how and what you tracked. I've been trying to do it myself but head up being lazy keeping all the data for doing a excel dashboard.

I do not as I've changed PCs since then

ManagerTus wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:44 am Do you have any of your spread sheets showing how and what you tracked. I've been trying to do it myself but head up being lazy keeping all the data for doing a excel dashboard.

The spreadsheets that I have setup for the regular season and playoffs are pretty basic. There's no formula. It all depends on what you want to keep track of. Like W-L-OTL, GF, GA. Who scored the most goals, assists, and points.

It's the tactics spreadsheet that has the formulas. My headings are:

Tactics Games Played W L OTL WinPCT

For the sake of the example, I have a formula under "Games Played" and "WinPCT"

Games Played =SUM(D2,E2,F2)
WinPCT =(2 * D2 + F2) / (2 * C2) * 100

D2 E2 F2 are the cells that I have my W L OTL numbers
C2 is where my Games Played are.

But I'm just a weird when it comes to numbers.