Challenge 7: LA Kings discussion thread

Post by **Calv** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:15 pm

As you already know this challenge is LA Kings, thought I'd open up the chat thread for it now. Please read all rules threads as well as the announcement at the top of the page for the rules. The threads haven't been updated to include all of the rule changes yet but to summarise:
1) You must coach games yourselves
2) Custom TBL budget for the first season in $36mil
3) You must set your experience to automatic - New Rule

Please make sure you read all threads and are aware of all rules before posting your stats.
Database is Patch 3.0.2 only, no unfaking.

As always we encourage you guys to tell us how its going so feel free to post your stories in here!
Good Luck!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:35 pm

I start working on this one today. I'm closing in on training camp now (I'm in the first week of September) and I've already made 14 trades and replaced most of my staff. It looks like my opening night roster is going to have 6 players that were on the team when I took control. The rest have been brought in by me. The only unsigned prospect who was safe from my trading frenzy was the Jack Johnson fake. Everyone else was fair game. I've also acquired a couple of really good prospects that might be used in season two if I play it. The average age on my roster is 24 years old. My oldest player is 31! Up until just recently I didn't have anybody signed for more than $4M but then I traded that guy in a package for a $7M a year guy. I had to do it though. I was getting to close to the salary floor.

This should be an interesting season to say the least...

Post by **Minstrel** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 12:51 am

Heh, I think this could be our first Challenge to creat potential "salary floor" problems, true.

I predict even more than the usual amount of trades for Jagr.

And Calv is the contact for Challenges now, I'm just going to be a player so I can focus on other stuff at the site so I didn't want to post feedback in the new rules thread, but let me say that while I knew that in particular people that usually like to play at a quicker pace might not be too fond of the 'coach' change it really does have to be done to assure people are on even terms as far as results go.

With 2005 it didn't make a difference but with the introduction of the 2d engine it does things very differently than the 'quick sim' engine. It has a lot more layers to it and really I don't know if that would be an advantage or disadvantage either way, it's probably a mixed bag. But whatever those advantages/disadvanteges of runnign games through the 2d vs the Quick Sim engine are they should be evenly applied to all players. So that's why we had to make the change, so we're not comparing apples to oranges.

The heart of the Challenge Rules are to make sure people are competing on as even a playfield as possible and the heart of the scoring system is statistical comparisons so it wasn't fair to either group to have people simulating their games with two different systems.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:16 am

Well I think my team is ready for the season.

With a very tight salary total of $36,845,000

Here we go

Centers: Marleau, Conroy, Kopitar, Avery

Wingers: Zetterberg, Froloz, McCauley, Cowan, Brylin, Willsie, Balastik, Brown, Kostopolous, O'Sullivan

Defense: Visnovski, Morris, Leopold, Norstrom, Vaananen, Morrisonn, Dallman

Goalies: Nittymaki, Johnson

I think defense is my strong point, although I think I'll have a very strong first, and not so bad 2nd line on offense as well.

I tried real hard to get rid of Norstrom and his salary, but hes too expensive for all the teams I guess.

Unfortunatly, some of my trades such as Zetterberg and Marleau cost me some major draft picks, and so I'm left with only a 3rd and a 5th round trade pick. But oh well, we were ranked as the 2nd best team in the league.

So here we go, good luck everyone!

Krieger99 · Post by **Krieger99** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:20 am

Well, I've made a whole ton of trades and I haven't even started preseason. I dumped salary, and brought in some good players as well. I'm approaching this challenge a little differently, seeing as they normally last only two years and I can go ahead and say "See ya" to my prospects and picks. Rumour has it the Manchester Monarchs won't be operating this year.

Here are all the trades I've made so far:

1. Kings traded Dan Cloutier, rights to Derek Nelson (Jack Johnson), Kings 1st round pick in 2007 and Kings 7th round pick in 2007 to Sharks for Patrick Marleau, Vesa Toskala and Devils 1st round pick in 2007

2. Kings traded Rob Blake to Capitals for Ben Clymer and Dainius Zubrus

3. Kings traded Mattias Norstrom to Capitals for Shaone Morrisonn

4. Kings traded Lauri Tukonen, Kings 5th round pick in 2007 and Devils 1st round pick in 2007 to Rangers for Jaromir Jagr

5. Kings traded Brent Sopel and Kings 6th round pick in 2007 to Avalanche for Brett McLean and Ossi Vaananen

6. Kings traded Aaron Miller to Capitals for Jamie Heward

I'm guessing my lines will look something like this:

Frolov-Marleau-Jagr
Cammalleri-Conroy-Zubrus
McCauley-McLean-Willsie
Armstrong-Kopitar-O'Sullivan

Vaananen-Visnovsky
Tverdovsky-Clymer
Morrisonn-Heward

Toskala
Garon

Although I'll definitely consider sending Kopitar and O'Sullivan down to Manchester for more ice time.

Post by **inSTAALed** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:12 pm

Jagr and Marleau are the players to get in this game, eh?

I'll start mine up when I reinstall the game. My computer broke and I have to fix it.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:57 pm

I haven't had a chance to try it out but I actually passed on Marleau for my team. I had two deals working, one for Marleau and on for... another guy. I went with the other guy since I had used Marleau a few times already. I've never had a team with this other guy. When I got back to work Monday and start playing we'll see if this was the right way to go.

Post by **CatchUp** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:44 am

So I'm up to training camp and there are a lot of new LA Kings! I'm going to pull a bruins72 and not tell you who I traded for, but rather who I traded away!

Former LA Kings:
Mattias Norstrom
Lubomir Visnovsky
Mathieu Garon
Rob Blake
Tom Koustopoulos
Aaron Miller
Dan Cloutier

So basically I've completely replaced the Kings defense.

D is now the strong point of my team and just glancing at the units now, I don't have a single line with less than 3 stars in Defense.

Not that I'm hurting at forward either. The Kings actually have an awesome crop of forwards and you could maybe get 100 pts out of Frolov-O'Sullivan-Kopitar right off the bat.

With the right tactics of course.

Enjoy the Challenge kids, it's a celebration!

Post by **CatchUp** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:45 am

Hi Calv,

no rush, but when do you expect to have the updated excel file online?

I'm closing in on game 20 and the Kings are cruising so I don't want to stop.

thanks in advance.

cheers mate.

Post by **Calv** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:31 am

Get the new excel sheet here: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com//forums/d ... &file_id=5

mark_htfc · Post by **mark_htfc** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:35 am

I think I will give this a god when I have got through the Blue Jackets season. I have currently played about 54 games in that.

I think this could be more of a challenge. Will see if I have time though.

Krieger99 · Post by **Krieger99** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:11 pm

Ugh... My LA Kings game file just got destroyed somehow. It says "Fatal - v3.0.2 database.cpp 4133". Do I have to start again, or is there some way I can fix this.

Post by **Calv** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:00 am

Post it on the SI boards they're gonna have a better idea than us unfortunately

By the sounds of things you may have to start again

Krieger99 · Post by **Krieger99** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:14 am

Thankfully, I remembered I saved another file just a week (in game time) before, so I was able to continue!

Right now, I'm 9-3-1. Things are going quite well so far. I was also shocked at some of the blowouts I've accomplished. First one was 10-1 over the Wild. A couple games later, I was expecting a very tough game with Dallas. They scored 27 seconds in, and I didn't expect to win. However, the Kings bounced back very nicely by scoring 12 unanswered goals to win 12-1. Conroy had 6 points in that game, Marleau had 5 points, Frolov had 5 points.

We're scoring an average of 5.31 goals per game (1st in NHL), and letting in 3.00 per game (7th in NHL). Powerplay is okay at 20.6% (10th in NHL). PK is okay at 84.1% (13th in NHL). Patrick Marleau definitely is as good in this game as people in the Columbus challenge were saying. He now has 28 points in 13 games, and is a +15. Conroy has 17 points in 13 games, Jagr has 15 points in 13 games, Visnovsky has 7 goals and 14 points in 13 games, and he's a defenseman. Camalleri 13 points in 13 games. Scoring goals definitely isn't a problem with this team. I don't remember ever having blowouts like that so close together, except for preseason.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:36 pm

CatchUp wrote:So I'm up to training camp and there are a lot of new LA Kings! I'm going to pull a bruins72 and not tell you who I traded for, but rather who I traded away!

Former LA Kings:
Mattias Norstrom
Lubomir Visnovsky
Mathieu Garon
Rob Blake
Tom Koustopoulos
Aaron Miller
Dan Cloutier

So basically I've completely replaced the Kings defense. D is now the strong point of my team and just glancing at the units now, I don't have a single line with less than 3 stars in Defense.

Not that I'm hurting at forward either. The Kings actually have an awesome crop of forwards and you could maybe get 100 pts out of Frolov-O'Sullivan-Kopitar right off the bat. With the right tactics of course.

Enjoy the Challenge kids, it's a celebration!

I just typed this post up about half an hour ago and when I clicked the post button it timed out and I lost everything. Here goes another shot at this. Anyhow, I'm going to do as Catchup did and only tell who was shipped out. You see that it's most of the team, even some young stars. I won't list unsigned prospects though.

Mathieu Garon
Lauri Tikonen
Alyn McCauley
Rob Blake
Aaron Miller
Scott Thornton
Derek Armstrong
Tim Jackman
Brian Willsie
Kevin Dallman
Mike Weaver
Dustin Brown
Dan Cloutier
Yutaka Fukufuji
Tom Kostopoulos
Sean Avery
Patrick O'Sullivan
Mike Cammalleri
Noah Clarke
Petr Kanko
Raitis Ivanans
Mattias Norstrom
Craig Conroy

I'm sure some folks are surprised that I got rid of O'Sullivan and Cammalleri but I find them kind of soft and traded them for the kind of players that I wanted. Also, I haven't traded Richard Petiot and Jeff Cowan yet but I'm sure I will sooner or later. That will probably happen sometime after training camp.

gollum65 · Post by **gollum65** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:51 pm

To me, the Kings have 3 major holes, and I've taken solid steps to fill them, without mortgaging the future.

As others have done, I won't list who I got, but I'll list who I got rid of.

It should also be noted that not only didn't I trade any of LA's 2007 draft picks, the rights to any of it's prospects, but I also managed to recover a 2nd round pick, which they gave up for Cloutier.

So, here's who went out the door as I enter training camp....

Mike Weaver
Scott Thornton
Mathieu Garon
Dan Cloutier
Brian Wilsie
Alyn McCauley
Johnathan Bernier
Tom Kostopolous
Aaron Miller
Lauri Tukonen
Rob Blake
Matthias Norstrom
Petr Kanko
Ryan Munce
Danny Taylor
Mike Cammalleri

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:40 pm

Well, my first 20 games are in the book. Not too shabby considering Niitty went down injured for 2 or 3 weeks almost right off the bat. 4 or 5 games into the season and he's out. I had Labarbera and DaCosta as my goaltending tandem for a good long stretch. It wasn't pretty! My team doesn't play a defensive style at all! I decided to try going all offense for this challenge. I've got good defensemen... they're just more offensive defensemen. It's pretty fun though.

I was concerned that the new rules about having to watch the games was going to slow me down too much but so far it hasn't been so bad. I've just set the highlights to minimum and everything as fast as it will go. The game automatically shows the last two minutes so I'm covered for pulling the goalie. The only difference I see is that this allows me to make adjustments after each period. Not bad.

Post by **CatchUp** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:50 pm

bruins72 wrote:Well, my first 20 games are in the book. Not too shabby considering Niitty went down injured for 2 or 3 weeks almost right off the bat. 4 or 5 games into the season and he's out. I had Labarbera and DaCosta as my goaltending tandem for a good long stretch. It wasn't pretty! My team doesn't play a defensive style at all! I decided to try going all offense for this challenge. I've got good defensemen... they're just more offensive defensemen. It's pretty fun though.

I was concerned that the new rules about having to watch the games was going to slow me down too much but so far it hasn't been so bad. I've just set the highlights to minimum and everything as fast as it will go. The game automatically shows the last two minutes so I'm covered for pulling the goalie. The only difference I see is that this allows me to make adjustments after each period. Not bad.

Heck yes, that's what I enjoy about it too. Being able to change tactics if you get a big lead (give your rookies some more ice) or if you get down (you can crank up the heat and overload your stars) is a big help!

cheers.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:58 pm

CatchUp wrote: Heck yes, that's what I enjoy about it too. Being able to change tactics if you get a big lead (give your rookies some more ice) or if you get down (you can crank up the heat and overload your stars) is a big help!

cheers.

Yeah, like I said, it's not bad to just adjust between periods. I do that pretty often. I just don't understand how some people watch it almost in real time like they would watch a real game. I couldn't sit and watch a bunch of dots on the screen for an hour or more.

Is it just me or is there more scoring when you watch the game? I know I've got a team geared towards offense but this is a bit much. I had one game where my team only scored 3 goals. Every other game I scored at least 4 goals, often times it was 6,7, or 8.

Right now my big decision is whether I'm going to trade one of my veteran offensive defensemen for prospects/picks and bring up one of my young gun offensive defensemen from the farm or if I'll just stand pat with what I've got. I've definitely decided to keep my superstar winger in juniors for the whole season.

munky · Post by **munky** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:21 am

My roster moves as of the first twenty games.

Aug 6 - Traded Sean Avery to Philadelphia for their 2nd round pick.
Aug 7 - Hired Rick Martin as an assistant coach.
Aug 8 - Fired Jamie Kompon.
Aug 8 - Traded Rob Blake to Washington for Ben Clymer and Danius Zubrus.
Aug 9 - Signed Jacques Laperriere as an assistant coach.
Aug 9 - Fired Nelson Emerson.
Aug 10 - Signed Richard Rose as a scout.
Aug 10 - Signed Pierre-Paul Fankhouser as a scout.
Aug 12 - Fired Ari Vuori .
Aug 12 - Fired Brent McEwan.
Aug 20 - Traded Jason LaBarbara and Kevin Dallman to Philly for Antero Nittimaki
Aug 31 - Traded Dan Cloutier to Buffalo for Daniel Paille and Clark McArthur
Oct 23 - Traded the rights to to Philadelphia for Dennis Seidenberg.
Oct 26 - Traded Ben Clymer and 2007 4th round pick to Montreal for Mike Komisarek, Aaron Downey and their 2007 5th rounder.

Post by **batdad** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:10 am

Oct 23 - Traded the rights to to Philadelphia for Dennis Seidenberg.

The whole team eh? How did you get em all. LOL! And I guess that is what about all of the Flyers rights are worth. Did you try for Doan first?

munky · Post by **munky** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:42 pm

Oops.

I'll have to look that one up.

Too bad Seidenberg has been a healthy scratch most nights. I picked him up for his big shot from the point - which is of little use when the rest of his game is lacking.

munky · Post by **munky** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:06 pm

The rights are for Matt Mueller, a 19 year old goalie. Clearly he wasn't going to factor into my challenge team so no loss I guess.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:58 pm

Don't you hate when you keep tinkering with your roster because it's not quite performing how you'd like it to. Then you make 1 or 2 moves too many. I got to that point in this challenge. I was really starting to sweat it. I just made one big move that I'm hoping will put me back on track. I had to trade my brightest your star (who I was hoping to bring up to roster in the second season) but I'm really liking what I've seen for results from this move. Sure, it's only been one game but it's broken the bad trends I was seeing.

I've just got to wrap up my last segment of games and the playoffs, then I'll post my transactions and other details.

Post by **Calv** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:43 pm

Exams are over and I'm back in the game I'll be posting up some deadlines tomorrow