Year 3 of Anaheim's rebuild (TBL Roster) went
real well lol.
Minimal save scumming cause I wanted to see how Celebrini would impact Anaheim's rebuild (not much as it turns out) but the one roll I ended up getting Anaheim first overall, they also won the lottery for second overall (from 11th overall because no one bothered to change the lottery rules) and Eiserman's development spike was
insane (54 points in the AHL the year prior)
So, a couple other notes. I went into the year 3 FA fully expecting to be snubbed by Draisaitl who was available for some reason, but he signed first. I figured I'd dump cap and chase a starting goalie to replace Gibson who I traded for the Eiserman first rounder but no one was biting. Decided to roll with it and see if Dostal could hold it down. Towards the end of the offseason I notice that a number of big name FAs are still unsigned because (presumably) the rest of the league burned all their cap which has stayed static at 83 million (I don't know how nor want to use EHM editor or whatever). It was so bad that Marner and Ullmark's (among others) agents asked me if I'd invite them to training camp. Ullmark was so desperate for a contract with the season starting he was willing to do 3.01x1 but for whatever reason the Ducks board rejected it as "unrealistic" even though they gave me authority to sign Ullmark for more. Marner was willing to sign for 5m for 1 year at the signing page, but he rejected the contract once training camp ended and he was back in FA asking for 11.5x7. A week or two go by and I go to see what he's asking for again and he dropped his ask to 8.6x5 which I obviously jumped at. I released Strome from his contract (since buy outs aren't required) and I was barely under the cap. What I wasn't expecting was Eiserman to just go absolutely sicko mode and blow the Calder competition right out of the water. I was just looking to guarantee myself a playoff spot to satisfy the board and not get fired after two brutal rebuild seasons.
Replaced Cronin with DJ Smith mostly because he had a better "works with young players stat"
Replicated the Drysdale for Gauthier trade almost immediately but unlike real life, I had to add the rights to an unsigned prospect and a third rounder to make Philly accept it. So far Gauthier hasn't been worth the trade as Drysdale outscored him by 9 points (though Gauthier is a third liner on this team).
I'm already seeing the cap hell from the Draisaitl and Marner pick ups. I got Carlsson, Mintyukov, McTavish, and Zellweger under some fairly reasonable deals. But Fowler wants 6.5 m for four years, Zegras wants 9.8 for 7 (f*** outta here with your 68 points), Gudas wants 3 million for four years even though he's knocking on retirement's door, Ullmark wants 10.6 million or he's walking. Probably going to have to drop Terry and Fowler to make room for the extensions and maybe Zegras. He's an RFA so I can probably wait him out, but now I have to hope Dostal's 5 stars actually works out for me.
Tristan Luneau (44pts) outscoring Zellweger (26) and Mintyukov (37) was unexpected (and he paced them in playoff points, but big ups to Mintyukov for scoring the game winner to win the cup.
Reinhart and Hanifin were early FA pick ups.