EHM The Blue Line

I am undecided of which league i want to play... I want to play OHL as the Niagara IceDogs because im from Ontario but i also like WHL because of the fact that the draft prospects get a yr to develop plus then you can only carry 3 16 yr olds so gives them another yr of development... Not sure which league i want to play as... anyone else have their own point of views on these two leagues

Maybe toss a coin?

I am a Calgary boy, and a big WHL fan (Go Hitmen!)

I've always found the WHL more interesting to play in EHM because of the reasons you mentioned.

UNfortunatley, the WHL is not updated in Manimal 4.0.
We are currently working on it so it will be in a future release

Manimal wrote:UNfortunatley, the WHL is not updated in Manimal 4.0.
We are currently working on it so it will be in a future release

Yay!!!

I usually start in one of these two leagues, and the only thing I can think to add to this thread is that in the WHL the draft is at a somewhat inconvenient time, if you're a good team.

I made it to the finals 7 years in a row in the WHL, and each time I had to break in the middle of the Finals in order to conduct the draft. I like to take my time while drafting, and often find myself arguing in my head and spending 20 minutes on each pick, so to have to stop playing the Finals to do the draft is a pain lol

hockeysauce wrote:I usually start in one of these two leagues, and the only thing I can think to add to this thread is that in the WHL the draft is at a somewhat inconvenient time, if you're a good team.

I made it to the finals 7 years in a row in the WHL, and each time I had to break in the middle of the Finals in order to conduct the draft. I like to take my time while drafting, and often find myself arguing in my head and spending 20 minutes on each pick, so to have to stop playing the Finals to do the draft is a pain lol

The OHL is the same, the draft is usually between games 2 and 3 of the final. Only the QMJHL has its draft after the post-season is over.

And partly because of that inconvenient draft time, if you are in the finals or go to the memorial cup you have a very hard time staying under the 50 player limit as you can't remove your overagers who you will lose anyway, or extra 19 year old players who may be 4th line or spares and who you can't keep for the next year. The only way is to dump prospects which can really come back to bite you as developement in junior is,shall we say, rather unpredictable. Once I actually dumped some older players and went with rookies in the Mem cup rather than lose too many prospects. Just not very realistic. The solution would be either to have the draft later or not have the recently drafted players need to be protected till your season ends.

CeeBee wrote:And partly because of that inconvenient draft time, if you are in the finals or go to the memorial cup you have a very hard time staying under the 50 player limit as you can't remove your overagers who you will lose anyway, or extra 19 year old players who may be 4th line or spares and who you can't keep for the next year. The only way is to dump prospects which can really come back to bite you as developement in junior is,shall we say, rather unpredictable. Once I actually dumped some older players and went with rookies in the Mem cup rather than lose too many prospects. Just not very realistic. The solution would be either to have the draft later or not have the recently drafted players need to be protected till your season ends.

This is why I got into the habit of skipping my late-round picks. I would usually only draft 7-8 players each year, depending on how much space I had on my reserve list, and then forfeit the rest of my picks.

Junior Hockey is all about cycles though, and you see it IRL too. Windsor loaded up for the year they first won, but still had a strong enough core to repeat, but now they are struggling, or at least not as strong. That's why you have never seen a team win the Mem Cup three times in a row. (The closest is the Blazers winning 3 in 4 years) And it is very hard to win it twice in a row.

In my current career I have had some consistent success. I'm in my 8th season, the first two were with the Prince Albert Raiders, and the last 6 with the Ottawa 67s. I've made the playoffs every year. In my WHL years i was bounced in the first round, but in Ottawa i've always made at least the second round, and 3 out of the 5 years (again 6th year is the current season), I've lost in the OHL final.

What I ususally do when dumping players is I dump players who have been 'bit players' that will be overagers the next year, or the year after. So far I've been able to remain very competative, this current year is the first year where I seem to be struggling slightly.

Guys...in the WHL you have to have things planned out. YOu have to watch your players and know who you are going to release after the draft if you are still in the playoffs. If not...the 20 year olds go, and that is a start. I have never ever drafted all 15 rounds or whatever it is. Neither does ANY WHL team in real life

SO if you are drafting all 15 rounds you are nuts. You will never have 15 kids from one birth year playing for you any way. I have drafted as few as 6 guys and as many as 10. But never all of them. It makes no sense.

It is so easy to work around that draft day timing. It is different in EHM from real life (not timing...but rules) as the players are not having to be dumped until after you are done in the playoffs.But I have never had to let go a player that is on my team ...and I have managed in the WHL for about 40 seasons between different games.

batdad wrote:Guys...in the WHL you have to have things planned out. YOu have to watch your players and know who you are going to release after the draft if you are still in the playoffs. If not...the 20 year olds go, and that is a start. I have never ever drafted all 15 rounds or whatever it is. Neither does ANY WHL team in real life

SO if you are drafting all 15 rounds you are nuts. You will never have 15 kids from one birth year playing for you any way. I have drafted as few as 6 guys and as many as 10. But never all of them. It makes no sense.

It is so easy to work around that draft day timing. It is different in EHM from real life (not timing...but rules) as the players are not having to be dumped until after you are done in the playoffs.But I have never had to let go a player that is on my team ...and I have managed in the WHL for about 40 seasons between different games.

I completely disagree your better off drafting every single round and making the judgement after because I have gotten some great players who helped me win Memorial Cups from the 10th and later rounds. Sometimes those players don't get drafted and stay with your team until they are 21 and have productive careers. As far as only drafting 7 or 8 picks, I drafted my best prospect in the 8th round of the OHL draft and he went #2 overall in the NHL if I hadn't drafted him he may have gone lower so I find it hard to justify not using all your available chances. Sometimes guys make leaps up or down right after you draft them and if you have to release them then oh well it is a business decision but sometimes you realize the guy you picked up in the 13th round might just be a hidden gem and that is what makes CHL GMing worth it to me.

YOu can disagree all you like, and are entitled to your opinion. I prefer to have the game be like real life...where the teams only draft to the max 50 you are allowed. Often you will see a team or two start passing on picks in the 7th or 8th round. Then almost all of them by the 10th. That is real life GMing. Then they continue to scout the players not drafted and if better...add them in and drop guys who are not as good. Just the way it works, and the way I prefer to do it. Plan things out...way more fun to play it real than to play the AI for a couple of extra days.

Plus if in the playoffs...it sucks to end up having to make a decision where you have to release a veteran player for a guy who cannot play for you even the next season.
DO it as you like, your opinion....but I prefer real life scenario. Just like how I don't make 10 trades per season in NHL or add 10 UFAs or make offers for RFAs every season.

I agree w/ BatDad, in both managing the team realistically, and the fact that I think it's better for the team to pass on later round picks and preserve the reserve list spots.

The only thing I've ever used later round WHL picks for (if I had reserve room) was to draft some of the exceptional Americans bound for US College Hockey. Every now and then I'll manage to get one to sign w/ my team and the benefits will be great. Other than that, I usually pass after 7-9 picks.

batdad wrote:YOu can disagree all you like, and are entitled to your opinion. I prefer to have the game be like real life...where the teams only draft to the max 50 you are allowed. Often you will see a team or two start passing on picks in the 7th or 8th round. Then almost all of them by the 10th. That is real life GMing. Then they continue to scout the players not drafted and if better...add them in and drop guys who are not as good. Just the way it works, and the way I prefer to do it. Plan things out...way more fun to play it real than to play the AI for a couple of extra days.

Plus if in the playoffs...it sucks to end up having to make a decision where you have to release a veteran player for a guy who cannot play for you even the next season.
DO it as you like, your opinion....but I prefer real life scenario. Just like how I don't make 10 trades per season in NHL or add 10 UFAs or make offers for RFAs every season.

Batbad what do u mean by only drafting to the max 50 are allow... I know teams only have 50 reserves list and all I normally have 20-23 singed players 7-8 players in whl verison on jr a who i have sent down and the rest are specs..

What he means is going into the draft rarely do you have a reserve list that can handle drafting every round so that after the draft you have release players or prospects to get back under the 50 player limit.

Batdad is saying that IRL teams go in knowing how many are on the reserve list (and usually have already released players) and once they reach the full 50 limit they stop drafting and start passing on the later rounds unless there is a special case (a player you werent' expecting to be avialable or something along thsoe lines)

Same witht he import draft, alot teams will not draft if they have two import players they fully expect to come back. Again IRL you may see that with the Sudbury Wolves this year as thier two imports they took last year will be back and expected to play 1st line minutes (the two Dominiks, Kahun and Kubalik)

thanks Loosie and Batbad for the ideas