EHM The Blue Line

When managing an NHL team, I always try bringing in the following players:

Jukka Voutilainen, center, from HPK (FIN)
Good offensive center with nice scoring touch. Mainly a third-liner, Voutilainen can easily jump into your top lines at injuries. Did wonders for my Caps team in Challenge 1, posting like 35 goals and 30 assists.

Jan Novak, defenseman, from Pardubice (CZE)
Novak's an offensive-minded defenseman with a good right-handed shot. Will nicely quarterback your 2nd power-play unit as well as playing on your third defense pairing.

Tomas Kloucek, defenseman, from Atlanta (NHL)
Novak's perfect defense partner, also from the Czech Republic. In Kloucek you get a solid, young stay-at-home guy that will be able to play on the top-2 defense pairings when you're having injury trouble.

You got any players you always try to get your hands on?

Mod note: have a question about a player? This thread is for you.

Not a player, but I almost always sign Paul Maurice (Toronto Marlies) as an assisstant coach.

Hi,

in earlier versions of EHM 2005 I tried always to get the rights of Roman Kukumberg.
He is goal-scoring RW, who is good for around 15-20 goals per season.
Could be a solid third-liner.In patch 2.02 he is signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and
relatively easy to get.

Dader

Okay, here's some of my main targets, most valuable guys are mentioned first:

IN GOAL:

• Henrik Lundqvist, NYR Harder to attain now that he's signed by the Rangers but still worth it, was the goalie for my Cup winning Washington Challenge team.
  
  John Grahame, TB Very good guy you can get usually without paying a rediculous price for, contract is manageable too.
  
  Alex Auld, VAN and Antero Niittymaki, PHI probably a year or two from being true NHL starters but you can get both for a few prospects and a pick and have them around very cheaply.

ON DEFENSE:

• Marek Zidlicky, NAS Another who is harder to get in 2005 but is still worth it in spades. Cheap contract for a guy who can be a #2 Offensive d-man
  
  Joni Piitkanen, PHI and Dion Phaneuf, FLA Both are awesome, young and signable for serveral years under a mil. Make offers and see if you can get 'em.
  
  Ossi Vaananen, COL Haven't been able to actually attain him this year but is a great sign if you can grab him.
  
  Radek Martinek, NYI A real solid 3-4 guy and the price is usually right.
  
  Mike Commodore, CAR You can get him about nothing and he's a very solid #5-6 stay at homer at near a minimum salary.
  
  Bryan Allen, VAN and Jason Seabrook, CHI Young talented offensive d-men a year or two away from being NHL ready but great to have in the system.
  
  Michal Barinka and Duncan Keith, CHI Probably another year yet behind Seabrook but should become really good NHLers.

Since I play a team that is two lines of offense and two lines of defense here's some good CHECKING LINERS guys that can also hold their own offensively:

• Alyn McCauley, SJ My first choice usually, can anchor your checking line. I used to say Steve Konowalchuk but he's become too expensive and is bordering on too old now too...
  
  Matt Cooke, VAN Another prime target, Cooke can even fill in on top lines in case of injuries.
  
  Vaclav Varada Like Cooke can spell a top liner if needed but is fantastic on a checking line. In my WAS game he was matched up in the Final with Jerome Iginla and pretty much shut him down cold.
  
  Mark Bell and Kyle Calder, CHI My two favorites from the hometown squad, both have offensive skill but can hold their own on d.
  
  Just above waiver-level talent but if you want someone to throw out some beatdowns and still do well as a checker you can grab Darcy Verot, WAS or Chris Dingman, TB and they'll get you a couple hundred PIM

TOP LINERS:

• John Madden, NJ Expensive but not elite level contract, you can get him for a pick as NJ needs to shed salary to get under The Cap. The ultimate checking center but he's so good he anchored my WAS first line, getting over 50 assists.
  
  Eric Cole, CAR My top target, young power forward you can usally get reasonable and not pay an elite price tag on for several years.
  
  Michal Handzus, PHI Won't come cheap but is as good as it gets as a second line center who's good enough to play first line if you need him too.
  
  Oleg Kvasha, NYI Big tough and skilled, but increasingly difficult to pry away... so I always grab
  
  Trent Hunter, NYI who can play first line and can play even play as a checker and do it for cheap. Had 26g 23a for my Washington team.
  
  As a good target on a rebuilding team as a "poor man's 2nd liner" you can get Petr Tenkrat 's rights from FLA I think it is and sign him to play second line RW and he has the skill to put up 20-30 goals with the right linemates, he's fast and has a big shot.

Boooooo one russian only!!!
Good list though

Heh. I could always take him out if you'd rather And actually I forgot about Anton Babchuk, D, CHI who is a great prospect you can get cheap and has a rediculously large shot (though in real life needs to figure out that he needs more than just that to stay in the NHL).

With his real-life injury woes I actually forgot to mention CHI's best prospect health issues aside in Tuomo Ruttu who I've seen thrive as a third line checking center. He should be able to become a first liner though. Such is the state of the Chicago system darn this game and it's accuracy to real life!!!

My list could be:

Ilya Kovalchuk
Stan Chistov
Aleksandr OvechKING
John-Michael Liles
Joni Pitkanen
but as i said this is the list as it could be...only could because i'm yet to GM a NHL team...i started in russia and if they offer me a position in the off season it's ok but i'm not willing to left my team with playoffs about to start (as Providence offered me their GM/HC position )

PS Minty, Chicago owns Istomin he rules

Chris Drury: One of my favorite players in rl, always plays with intensity and clutch, normally sign him when he becomes a ufa though as he can be hard to trade for. Prefer to use on the left wing as he seems to be more effective there, but that might just my imagination based on rl play and the game describes him as center though.
Phil Kessel(he has many alias in this game): Always make sure to secure the first over all draft pick somehow, so I can get my hands on him. Very gifted offensive player but in the NA version he seems like a very complete player, in 2012 with the ducks he is the best player on a star studded offense, one of the most dominant young players in the game. He has too low face off skills to play the center imo, but he has wicked scoring and perfect for the pp and first line, he scored 6 goals in 1 regular season game for me once hehe. He is very good for his age when you draft him, but normal for young players to struggle abit early on, but dont worry he has never failed me so far in any version, considering I drafted him 5 times now with 5 different teams thats pretty solid hehe.
Cam Barker: Excellent Offensive d-man, young and cheap with huge potential.

I'm telling you, always get Paul Gaustad from Buffalo. This guy's great.

Ya I had Barker for 10 years in Chicago on less than 1 mil. Absolute stud.

Another guy I always wind up with is Scott hartnell. He's a 2/3 line guy, and maybe a tad pricey, but he is rock solid on penalty kills, and he chips in offense when needed.

Somehow, I always wind up chasing Marc Savard through free agency come the end of first season.

I try getting Erik Cole & Jed Ortmeyer and that's about it, the rest change so much depending on what team I play. Those two can be had so cheap that there simply isn't one team that I wouldn't use their services with.

I always seem to end up with Konowalchuk and Jay Pandolfo on the left wing. I try to get Allen from Vancouver, often end up with Radoslav Suchy as well. Generally, any good value defensive forward will play for me at some point in their career! My current Hawks career is the only EHM ever I've not had Fleury in goal as well.

In the early going, Erik Cole seems pretty impossible to obtain. What'd it take you guys to get him?

Systemfel wrote:In the early going, Erik Cole seems pretty impossible to obtain. What'd it take you guys to get him?

I've yet to be able to pry him away in a 2005 game and not for lack of trying... some people say he's easy to get and for cheap but I haven't found that to be the case in my games and then some 'puter team snags him for an offer that makes me So, I have seen him moved just not to my own roster

Since I'm posting to this thread I want to add that if you want a very reliable #5-6 dman you can get for a song inquire about Duvie Westcott from Columbus. He's not ancient at 28, is only on a $500,000 salary and can play both RD and LD. So far in my Carolina game he's gone 39 games with a 7.27 rating and he performed similarly on my Washington Challenge team.

Cole can be had instantly when the game starts for 2nd 3rd and 3rd rounders. If you try to give players instead of picks, then it becomes much more difficult.

Considering how easy it is to get 3rd round picks in the game for cruddy prospects, I don't think that's much for a guy who's young and who can play both SH and PP depending on your teams needs, not to mention that he has the stamina for 1st line duty otherwise also.

I allways sign Marius Holtet from the dallas stars..Young winger with great talent... made 15 points( 9+6) on 67 matches..and that was in my 3rd line in my penguins team...i only won 20 matches this season...and crosby only did 40 points... All my coaches recomend me to give holtet more icetime this season( season 2) and i think he will becom a superstar in a couple of years.

Holtet always seems to end up in the NLA in my games.

I always end up getting Chris Drury at some point or another. Not intentionally, but he seems to be easy to acquire at the time when I am looking for a good second line wing or center.

I always get Kloucek to shore up my defense.

Forsberg wrote:Chris Drury: One of my favorite players in rl, always plays with intensity and clutch, normally sign him when he becomes a ufa though as he can be hard to trade for. Prefer to use on the left wing as he seems to be more effective there, but that might just my imagination based on rl play and the game describes him as center though.

Uffff....Chris Drury!!!! I picked him up in the beginning of my fourth season as my biggest adquisition.....and waived him after 18 games and 0 goals, 4 assists, a -7 and a rating under 7!!!!
I had to waive him because absolutely nobody wanted him....then afortunately the Sharks picked him up in waivers...after declining a 7th round draft pick that I offered one week before
Chris Drury NEVER AGAIN!!!

I picked up Filip Kuba and Radoslav Suchy in my second season for about 1,4 millions each in free agency and they turned out to play really good for me!!

Chistov was absolutely brilliant in my third year!!! 130 points in 80 games!!! A guy that I also like very much is C: David Legwand...he turned out to be an excellent 2line center for me!!! Just re-signed him for 2 more years!!

Greets

Just curious, what line was Drury on and who were his linemates?

He was on my third line with Mike Knuble and Sami Kapanen during the first season. He had 16 points in his 23 games that season. I won the cup this season. He had 3 goals and 9 assists in 23 games in the playoffs. Not as clutch as he was in Colorado...but he wasn't third line there.

In 2006-2007 he was second line left wing with Mike Richards and Hugh Jessiman. He had 28 goals and 34 assists in 77 gamesin 2006-2007.

In the 2007-2008 season he was put back on the third line with PJ Axelsson and Milan Bartovic. He sucked, so I traded him, with PJ Axelsson (a 2006 UFA signing) to Nashville for Todd Marchant and the rights to Scott Hartnell. I won the cup this season.

In 2008-2009, for the Predators, he has 23 goals and 52 assists in 60 games (at the trade deadline).

I've had the best luck with Drury on the 1st or 2nd line. Like your game, every time I put him on the 3rd line he stunk. (Maybe he needs the playing time?)

timmy_t wrote:Just curious, what line was Drury on and who were his linemates?

In my game he centered Chistov and Patrice Bergeron in my Bruins game....but after 10 games and nearly no points I started to play him also in second line with Ryan Malone and Brandon Bochenski....then also third, or fourth line with Kostyukhin/Mike Fisher in third and Vermette/Gionta in fourth....

I just finished my fourth season and I checked out who Drury was doing with the Sharks: 49 GP, 10 Goals and 4 Assists, +3 and a Avg. Rating of 6.82....not much better than with me...

Greets

Yeah, flea, he really stunk. He should have played well with Chistov and Bergeron; those kids can score some goals.