EHM The Blue Line

Hi all ehm gamers,

im new to this gameand have chosen to start a season with the phoenix coyotes just because most of the news from this site say they rubbish. Thinking it could be a great challange.

So anyway jsut wondering if anyone has used the coyotes before and could give me any tips bout improving them in the game (players or staff).

Cheers,


Any help would be great guys

First of all, welcome to TBL! You could go introduce you in our "Arrivals" section

The Coyotes were close to be our challenge team in Challenge 9 (actually running), but the Blackhawks finally edged them in the poll.

I've never played them, but can see two main points to deal with. CuJo is pretty close to retire, and i don't think that the Yotes have any other goalie ready to take the starter job. Several options are up to you... Wait around April that the Habs release their rights to Carey Price, wait the off-season to sign Biron, try to deal with the Flyers to land Niittymäki (the biggest overachiever goalie of the game), or play it soft and wait to find a good goalie in the draft, even if it means a few struggling years at the goaltending position.

Second concern (IMO) is the contract of Jovanovski. He is a good defenseman for sure, but clearly doesn't deserve such big bucks. Derek Morris is doing about the same job in the team at a way more reasonnable cost. You should try to deal Jovanovski away around the deadline for either a cheaper guy, or a more talented guy. The big bucks of Chara are generally available in Februray if the Bruins struggle (that's to say pretty often ).

I think the offense is okay for the top lines, even if not outstanding. But you should focus on depth for the third and fourth lines, and maybe defensive depth, i don't recall exactly who's in the team. A sure bet is to sign free agent Chris Dingman. He can be a formidable force on your third line and on your penalty kill.

Anyhow, your main concern remains the goaltending position. CuJo is usually pretty solid, but he is so old that you'd better find someone to replace him fast...

thanks for your help,

i download the latest roster, which probley makes my team even worse, goalies are aebischer and tellqvist. but i also picked up biron on waivers from flyers, so thats pretty good.

im 50 games through the first season. shane doan is leading goals on 20 and mike york is leading points on 53, after that its pretty poor. we are on 16 wins 27 losses. so yea.

team is as follows

york reinprecht doan
murley redenbach vrbrata
fischer zigomanis sjsotrom
willis latendresse perrault

jova morris
Ballard michalek
westcott boynton

aebischer
biron

so im sorta looking forward to next season as i have signed hanzel, lison and mueller (who dominate usa under20s) but sent them all back to there juniors for the 1st season.

Minors players our:
tjarnqvist
lehoux
Disalvatore
gratton
winnik
tenute
leavitt
caricillo
thomas
kapanen
weller

caldwell
jones
roche
yandle
sullivan
stephenson
helmer

leneveu
tordjman

also how do u join the challanges? and wats the deal with them

I play as Coyotes as well at the moment.
Shane Doan is injured at the moment so my first line is a little different than it use to be.

I've also signed Mueller and Hanzal, at first I sent Hanzal down to San Antonio, which I also controlled, but they had other good players so he didn't played much, so I sent him back to Red Deer. Lisin is going to join me the next season.

I've also signed Jason Wiemer as a free agent, signed Luke Curtin from Fresno Falcons in ECHL, I've claimed Eric Cairns, Wes Walz and Brad Ference of waivers.

Here's my line up at the moment, Doan use to play as right wing in the first line:

York-Reinprecht-Vrbata
Sjöström-Wiemer-Walz
Curtin-Kaigorodov-Thomas
DiSalvatore-Kapanen-Fischer

Jovanovski-Morris
Ballard-Boynton
Bell-Ference

Aebischer
Auld

I've also signed Brian Boucher to be third goalie, but in San Antonio Tellqvist has put him on the bench, so Tellqvist is now number three. I also got Sigalet in a trade with Boston, so now I'm in the position of having too many keepers.

My players at San Antonio:

Goalies:
Boucher
LeNeveu
Sigalet
Tellqvist

Defense:
Caldwell
Jones
Stephenson
Yandle
Roche

Forwards:
Carcillo
Gratton
Latendresse
Lehoux
Perrault
Redenbach
Tenute
Tjärnqvist
Winnik
Zigomanis

Any help with the team is much appreciated.

CoyotesGM: Interested by the challenges? Check the challenge forum for more infos, and post your questions there, as it's the appropriate place to do so

Other than that, i recommend you to have Biron as your starter over Aebischer...

Joe: Boucher sucks. Excepts once or twice a month when he has the illumination... if he has it...

Oh, and you really both need a solid second line center. Vrbata can have a real offensive impact on the wing, but it would be good to find someone to feed him. Maybe Mueller will do it next year... Maybe not yet...

Btw, you both have pretty weak teams overall, which is pretty normal as it's the Yotes I'd suggest you to ship out Jovanovski and his big bucks at the deadline for a highly talented prospect, maybe on the left wing, as you're pretty weak there. It would give you young talent to rebuild with, and a lot of room under the salary cap when heading into the free-agency market to sign either a big star or 2-3 very solid players to srengthen your team.

I have tried the Coyotes in the past and they are a bad team but they're nowhere near the worst in the game (if you want the most difficult teams, try the Islanders, Blues (default database) or Predators (TBL updated rosters).

The one challenge with that team is you have a low budget the first few years, and it's very hard to attract UFAs to Phoenix, because of very low team reputation and city attraction rating. That basically means you can't get top tier FAs and you will generally be the destination of last resort. That means you need to focus on retaining your core players and building through prospects and/or trades. It also means that you shouldn't automatically dump Jovanovski's contract just because he's expensive. He generally plays like a franchise D-man and it isn't like you can dump him and get a top UFA to sign with the cap space. With Jovo, Morris, Boynton, you have a very solid D-core, which is the strength of your team.

York is one of my favorite players in the game; he is reasonably cheap, and has great attributes after a year. Lock him up immediately on starting the game for 3-4 more years if you can even if it costs like 2.5/year to do it. Doan is very solid, not an Iginla/Gagne/Marleau level franchise forward, but great first liner. Where you really need to work on is getting cheap secondary scoring, so try and pick up or sign cheap 2nd line type players. If you are early in year one, look at signing Chistov.

In goal, I would just roll with Aebischer for the time being. He's a solid goalie that will hold down the fort, and the Coyotes probably are 2-3 years from going on a serious run. I'd only consider an upgrade if you can get a true franchise goalie signed (unlikely to be able to get one to sign with you). Guys like Esche, Biron, Khabibulin, Lalime, etc are all comparable to him anyway.

You'll also want to immediately can almost your entire staff, because the Coyotes have one of the worst coaching staffs in the game. For a head coach, look at hiring Gregg Poss from Mannheim; excellent attributes.

i usually play with the coyotes but fiarly new to the game so not the greatest. still my current game i've done some trading to improve a bit. i can list what here. oh and yeah the staff (scouting, coaching, trainers, assist. GM everything) is complete rubbish, Malone is the only scout i ever keep.

For me i've found if you're willing to give up some picks in later drafts and a few players, you can bring in some decent guys, and look for bargin FAs or guys on the block

right now my current coyote team (in year 06) is

York-Lecavalier-Doan
Grabovsky-Reinprecht-Svatos
Sjostrom-Richards-Vrbata
Carcillo-Kaigorodov-Thomas

Nitty in Goal

Matvichuk-Morris
Michalek-Boynton
Cairns-Warrener

course i'm over budget (hardest thing with the team is being good and staying under budget)

jdh79 wrote:You'll also want to immediately can almost your entire staff

I do this with almost ANY team. Other than the Red Wings and New Jersey, the entire scouting staffs wouldn't be hired at an ECHL team I was running much less than a NHL one. Depending on the team most of the coaches aren't all that great either. If you dig a little and don't mind paying some transfer fees, there are all kinds of great staff available to NHL teams right from the start.

fo anyone who is playing the Coyotes, how is your game going so far?

I'm entering my third year with them after getting knocked out in the Western Conference finals last year.
The team looks like it should be competitive this year as well (i hope)

Grabovsky-Lecavalier-Lisin
Chistov-Lombardi-Svatos
Tootoo-Mike Richards-Landon Wilson
Monych-Nedved-Vrbata

on D its
Matvichuk-Morris
Morrison-Boynton
Cairns-Eskelinen

Holy rubbish, is that Tuomas Eskelinen you have there on the third pair?

He's one of my all time favourite Espoo Blues D-men.

He's actually retired now, due to injury, and won't be around anymore when I get the Finnish update done, but nevertheless, a great player.

You also have Landon Wilson. He used to play for Blues too. I think it was in EHM 2005 that he was a key player for the team. He's a bit overrated in the game though, but nevertheless, always welcome back to Espoo.

I like Landon as he was a former coyote and one of the one i remember.

As for Eskelinen i had to bring him in has he had good numbers the year before and seem like he'd be a pretty good addition without paying like 4 mil. plus my 3rd line is a good spt since it and the first line get the longest shifts (60 seconds).