EHM 07 - Part 11: "Wants a new challenge"

[hoyster]

I have had dmen in the 3-10 point range in my league win the norris all the time with a rating of 0.5 less than the points leader.

I play with the original db or with one of the earliest updates. I can't even remember.

 

[irunthepeg]

Me too, keep us posted. It's tough to recall the original DB any more, but I recall Clymer (can he play D and F?) being a useful player and Sutherby once winning the mystical Selke Trophy...the Selke selections being one of the more eyebrow-furrowing things in the NHL portion of the game...

Unfortunately, I went from the 3rd seed to the 7th seed. I gotta tweak the system and get used to it and start bringing in guys better suited for it. Luckily, most of my defensemen are fairly quick so they can run the tighter gap system.

I realized I patched the original DB with the realism for the weight thing so that's the only difference. Clymer is just a winger in this, I believe, he's my 3rd line RW behind Steve Sullivan and Scott Hartnell. I might trade Sullivan in the off season. I'll only keep Kariya for offensive studs. And yes, Sutherby is a beast. He is the perfect 3rd line C in most of my files with the original DB. I always trade for or sign him. I can usually keep his contract going between 900-950k a season.

Underdogs won the first round in 6 games against the Stars... then in the second round, got swept and scored 1 goal all series (can't remember who I played) Yeah I need some work. Niittymaki had a .950 SV% in the playoffs though. Interested to see what I can do with him in a full season.

I have had dmen in the 3-10 point range in my league win the norris all the time with a rating of 0.5 less than the points leader.

Wat! Never seen that.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, the award scoring process was something I always wanted to tweak with the old game as some categories were prone to some odd selections every now and then.

The only real, real oddball for me has been the Selke. Guys that were scratched for 50 and 60 games out of the year have won it before...

And the Vezina includes playoff stats, or so it seems, which is regrettable. But you know a game is good when you're pointing out things like this as noteworthy issues...

 

[irunthepeg]

The only real, real oddball for me has been the Selke. Guys that were scratched for 50 and 60 games out of the year have won it before...

And the Vezina includes playoff stats, or so it seems, which is regrettable. But you know a game is good when you're pointing out things like this as noteworthy issues...

Pretty much this. The only real fixworthy things are individual trophies, which lets be honest, aren't that important. I love that the 50k salary bug is there. I don't use it any more, but I think it's good to have for new players who can't quite grasp or hold down the team without a little cheating. When I first started playing and found that out, I did it with every star player otherwise I would have too much stress with all the goes on in that game.

When I started I never even scouted any players I would just try trade up for 1st OVR and get the best looking prospect.

 

[Iceman]

I never thought about it, but why does my AHL team always suck balls? The goalie I have there always win like 2 games and lose 50. All skaters have OK morale there. Skaters have no issues producing though but I could put a Hasek regen in AHL and still lose 50+ games.

 

[Iceman]

Wat! Never seen that.

Why I remember that is because my 2 dmen were battling for most points and highest rating most years and they won perhaps 40% of the trophy over a period of 10-13 years.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I never thought about it, but why does my AHL team always suck balls? The goalie I have there always win like 2 games and lose 50. All skaters have OK morale there. Skaters have no issues producing though but I could put a Hasek regen in AHL and still lose 50+ games.

Of all the things that could be wrong, I'm going to go way out on a limb first...you have too many players with "veteran status" (they have a blue 'V' next to their name in the American version, can't speak to other versions or if that changes) and since only 5 can play, you get depleted teams that are filled with fake/gray players who suck and you lose as a result...

 

[Sanderson]

I'm pretty sure the Norris always goes to the highest scoring defenseman (in 07, it was different in 05). At least I have never seen anyone but the topscorer win it, with the second and third best scorer following right behind as well, and I'm talking about at least 100+ seasons when combining all the different saves.

 

[Iceman]

Of all the things that could be wrong, I'm going to go way out on a limb first...you have too many players with "veteran status" (they have a blue 'V' next to their name in the American version, can't speak to other versions or if that changes) and since only 5 can play, you get depleted teams that are filled with fake/gray players who suck and you lose as a result...

That's actually right now that I look at it. Is there any way to plant players there or do I have to have a dozen of prospects there?


I have a tenancy to operate a relatively small roster/player bank.

 

[Michael Farkas]

That's actually right now that I look at it. Is there any way to plant players there or do I have to have a dozen of prospects there?


I have a tenancy to operate a relatively small roster/player bank.

It's strange to me that you wouldn't have at least 12-15 of your own players down there. I normally have 42-48 contracted players, or thereabouts...

Where do all your draft picks go...? Do they all suck for two years and then you just let them go...?

Two options really, assuming your reserve list doesn't have a bunch of overage junior players and college seniors (or super seniors) and young RFAs that are pondering signing in Europe: Sign some young players to one year deals, or two if you think they really have a shot and put them in the AHL (with two-way deals, so you don't spend $10 million to field an AHL club). Make sure that they don't have 240 (or is it 320? I can never remember) pro games...that's NHL/AHL/ECHL/SHL/Luga/KHL/etc....and throw them down there so you have a working farm, so your players can develop. Tough if you have young wingers trying to develop if they don't have a center. Tough for a young goalie to develop if they don't have a defense...

Two, you can add a GM, be the AHL GM, sign some AHL-only deals and manage things that way...but that's a touch messy and limits your options because not all players will sign AHL-only deals...

I also can't help but note that you are Swedish, if you are at all unfamiliar with how the levels below the NHL work or whatever, feel free to ask, I'd be happy to give a brief overview...

 

[irunthepeg]

It's strange to me that you wouldn't have at least 12-15 of your own players down there. I normally have 42-48 contracted players, or thereabouts...

Where do all your draft picks go...? Do they all suck for two years and then you just let them go...?

Two options really, assuming your reserve list doesn't have a bunch of overage junior players and college seniors (or super seniors) and young RFAs that are pondering signing in Europe: Sign some young players to one year deals, or two if you think they really have a shot and put them in the AHL (with two-way deals, so you don't spend $10 million to field an AHL club). Make sure that they don't have 240 (or is it 320? I can never remember) pro games...that's NHL/AHL/ECHL/SHL/Luga/KHL/etc....and throw them down there so you have a working farm, so your players can develop. Tough if you have young wingers trying to develop if they don't have a center. Tough for a young goalie to develop if they don't have a defense...

Two, you can add a GM, be the AHL GM, sign some AHL-only deals and manage things that way...but that's a touch messy and limits your options because not all players will sign AHL-only deals...

I also can't help but note that you are Swedish, if you are at all unfamiliar with how the levels below the NHL work or whatever, feel free to ask, I'd be happy to give a brief overview...

I'm always at 38-42 contracts (45 absolute max). I don't know why but I always limit myself to less in case I actually want to sign all the prospects I have expiring so I have breathing room. Whenever I take up a team, I will release a ton of guys just to get rid of dead weight

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, I used to be 2, 3, 4, contracts over from June 1 to July 1 in the past. Just had a regular rotation of 96-hour waivers and what not until I could finally get to the end of deals.

Now, I'm a touch lower. As I'm much more inclined to not sign draft picks, much more inclined to let RFAs walk unqualified, let UFAs walk, as it's much more realistic. In the game, almost everything can be parlayed as an asset. So, it's important to just move on from the struggling 24 year old AHLer, instead of giving him a QO and swapping him for a 2nd round pick from some team that is just going to waive him in two months...at least for me, I have zero interest in exploiting the game. I'm the human player, I already have the advantage

But yeah, you sitting at 40 is fine. 20 NHL/20 AHL. 22 NHL/18 AHL, whatever it is. That's fine. Sending players down to the ECHL is often a headache anyway. I normally will keep a goalie down there, but not much else any more...

 

[Iceman]

It's strange to me that you wouldn't have at least 12-15 of your own players down there. I normally have 42-48 contracted players, or thereabouts...

Where do all your draft picks go...? Do they all suck for two years and then you just let them go...?

Two options really, assuming your reserve list doesn't have a bunch of overage junior players and college seniors (or super seniors) and young RFAs that are pondering signing in Europe: Sign some young players to one year deals, or two if you think they really have a shot and put them in the AHL (with two-way deals, so you don't spend $10 million to field an AHL club). Make sure that they don't have 240 (or is it 320? I can never remember) pro games...that's NHL/AHL/ECHL/SHL/Luga/KHL/etc....and throw them down there so you have a working farm, so your players can develop. Tough if you have young wingers trying to develop if they don't have a center. Tough for a young goalie to develop if they don't have a defense...

Two, you can add a GM, be the AHL GM, sign some AHL-only deals and manage things that way...but that's a touch messy and limits your options because not all players will sign AHL-only deals...

I also can't help but note that you are Swedish, if you are at all unfamiliar with how the levels below the NHL work or whatever, feel free to ask, I'd be happy to give a brief overview...

Yeah... I just tend to let them go back to Europe or whatever when their first contract runs out but I got a lot of picks for next draft so I'll just sign a dozen and throw them in there. ;-)

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah... I just tend to let them go back to Europe or whatever when their first contract runs out but I got a lot of picks for next draft so I'll just sign a dozen and throw them in there. ;-)

Careful. 18 or 19 year old players drafted out of Canadian Major Juniors (QMJHL, OHL, WHL) are not eligible to play in the AHL right away. In general, 18 or 19 year old players shouldn't play in the AHL regardless.

So, if you intend to use the draft to fill your AHL club (which, frankly, I would not recommend - at least not more than one pick), you might want to send a scout out and set the age restriction from 20-22 to find undrafted college players, Europeans and Major Junior overagers that can reasonably turn pro their first season out of the draft.

Or, for every pick that you were going to use in the draft on a farm player, you could simply exchange them straight across for a player currently in the minors that you like.

Ex. 3rd round pick to Tampa for Vladislav Namestnikov or what have you.

 

[irunthepeg]

Yeah, I used to be 2, 3, 4, contracts over from June 1 to July 1 in the past. Just had a regular rotation of 96-hour waivers and what not until I could finally get to the end of deals.

Now, I'm a touch lower. As I'm much more inclined to not sign draft picks, much more inclined to let RFAs walk unqualified, let UFAs walk, as it's much more realistic. In the game, almost everything can be parlayed as an asset. So, it's important to just move on from the struggling 24 year old AHLer, instead of giving him a QO and swapping him for a 2nd round pick from some team that is just going to waive him in two months...at least for me, I have zero interest in exploiting the game. I'm the human player, I already have the advantage

But yeah, you sitting at 40 is fine. 20 NHL/20 AHL. 22 NHL/18 AHL, whatever it is. That's fine. Sending players down to the ECHL is often a headache anyway. I normally will keep a goalie down there, but not much else any more...

I agree with this. These days I let a lot of guys just walk without QOs otherwise I can get so many mid round picks for them or like you say, second round picks. If I know a guy isn't in my plans, I generally let him walk now unless it's a deal that seems "realistic." Similarly, I will try get guys on multi-year deals and if they only want one-year deals I may let them walk.

At your bolded, I truly hate that about the ECHL and CHL (central), which is why with the newer DBs I double up AHL teams just so teams like the Habs, Flyers, Panthers (and I think one more) have an AHL affiliate so they can move their players without having to waive and have players stolen.

 

[Iceman]

Careful. 18 or 19 year old players drafted out of Canadian Major Juniors (QMJHL, OHL, WHL) are not eligible to play in the AHL right away. In general, 18 or 19 year old players shouldn't play in the AHL regardless.

So, if you intend to use the draft to fill your AHL club (which, frankly, I would not recommend - at least not more than one pick), you might want to send a scout out and set the age restriction from 20-22 to find undrafted college players, Europeans and Major Junior overagers that can reasonably turn pro their first season out of the draft.

Or, for every pick that you were going to use in the draft on a farm player, you could simply exchange them straight across for a player currently in the minors that you like.

Ex. 3rd round pick to Tampa for Vladislav Namestnikov or what have you.

Ah, thanks for the tip.

 

[Iceman]

Btw, why does Jagr regen always want to be traded to seek a new challenge if he has won the Cup with you? Do they actually program that kind of specific "personality"?

 

[hoyster]

This is my guy who always finishes top 3 in Selke and usually wins it. I assume he'll win it again this year. He also leads the league in hits and has over 100 blocked shots. This season he became #1 in career penalty mins.

And here's my Norris race which I assume that I'm gonna lose.

 

[Michael Farkas]

It does seem like a high concentration of roughians win the Selke. Hard to believe that a guy with so little hockey sense and positioning could be that good defensively. But hell, he better win the Selke, because he ain't winnin' the Lady Byng...

That's the fourth ever season of a d-man getting 40 goals, I'm not sure I've seen that before in the game. Even on the hyper-speed sims that some people do...

Single season 40-goal scoring d-men, all time:
Paul Coffey (1985-86): 48
Bobby Orr (1974-75): 46
Paul Coffey (1983-84): 40

 

[hoyster]

That's the fourth ever season of a d-man getting 40 goals, I'm not sure I've seen that before in the game. Even on the hyper-speed sims that some people do...

Single season 40-goal scoring d-men, all time:
Paul Coffey (1985-86): 48
Bobby Orr (1974-75): 46
Paul Coffey (1983-84): 40

His previous best were 32 and 30 but now as a 37 yr old he was able to reach 40. Seems like the next goal will be 48

 

[kulenova seka]

Btw, why does Jagr regen always want to be traded to seek a new challenge if he has won the Cup with you? Do they actually program that kind of specific "personality"?

Not just Jagr regen, I had multiple players (not all of them were regens) that "seek a new challenge" after they won multiple cups with me.

 

[riz]

And the Vezina includes playoff stats, or so it seems, which is regrettable. But you know a game is good when you're pointing out things like this as noteworthy issues...

If we ever get to do another EHM, I'll promise to finetune the awards scoring and try and fix any old annoyances.

 

[riz]

Not just Jagr regen, I had multiple players (not all of them were regens) that "seek a new challenge" after they won multiple cups with me.

A lot of players used to get complacent after winning everything there is to win with one team. Maybe something that could have been finetuned a bit back then, but I would say many ambitious personalities would want to seek new challenges in situations like that.

 

[Iceman]

Chris Kreider is a 5 time Hart trophy winner on this save, good performance but not high end caliber - he gets smoked on points, +/- AND rating.

 

[Michael Farkas]

If we ever get to do another EHM, I'll promise to finetune the awards scoring and try and fix any old annoyances.

Thanks, Riz.

Honestly, I'm surprised that it's not more rating-based. Like, I'm very surprised the Norris doesn't just go to the highest rating every time. As "boring" as that might sound or be...