When I read the posts in this thread regarding the two trades completed on the weekend, I almost went through the 7 stages of grief.
Shock and denial ("I'm not that much of an idiot, am I ?")
Anger ("Why the F do I have to answer to any other GM? It's my team and my players ...")
Reconstruction (" Ok, I can see why some would be upset... I should explain my reasoning...")
Both those trades are awful.
Those trades are so bad that I'm quitting as Ottawa GM effective immediately. I don't see any point in playing if deals like that are going through now.
I really hope you reconsider your decision. As others have mentioned this is a fantastic league and I'm sure you get a lot of enjoyment interacting with the fine gentlemen (and Alvaro) that are your fellow GMs ........
Should have got your ****** offers in before you were beaten to the punch
.... also you might be wise to at least rob me of someone like Tavares before you leave.
It might lessen the bitter taste in your mouth.
I agree that these deals are pretty lopsided (not quite sure what the Jets are thinking)
I thought long and hard about what was the appropriate way to describe my rationale in making these moves. I didn't want to disparage the players I traded away (Alvaro's probably already shopping Doughty), I did not want to bring up examples of other NHL players that would impact their trade value within the HFNHL for my fellow general managers.
First off, thanks to Sean K, Doug, Rich and Adil for explaining/justifying some of my reasoning behind these moves.
I made the following trades because I felt it is in my best interest to rebuild my team and to create a team that has some depth beyond an elite forward, d-man and goalie. This is a new sim to me, but from my past experiences, depth and players that play specific roles ensure the greatest success as opposed to just pure star power.
I have a multi-year plan where things will get worse before they get better, but my goal is to be competitive year in and year out once the pain subsides.
I'll address the Doughty trade specifically because I feel I can use examples of other players without negatively affecting their trade value.
A year after the 2008 draft, the consensus would have been that LA would have been mad to trade Doughty in a package that included Tyler Myers as the main piece. After Myers' rookie season, there would be some that thought that Myers plus a top ten/top five pick for Doughty, might be a bad idea for Buffalo.
Look at the other d-men in that draft, Alex Pietrangelo's breakthrough year happened two years after Doughty's. Karlsson's 3 years. Hell, Zach Bogosian might still end up being the best of the bunch.
My point is that I think with young players, it's hard to accurately gauge their value until they are 25-26. They have ups and downs.
There's an old saying that whoever gets the best player in the deal, wins the trade. Doughty is the best player in the deal today and will likely be that way in 5 years and in 10 years.
However, I'm taking a chance that having a potential top pairing d-man (but not a future perennial Norris hopeful like Doughty) in Ellis, a top line winger in Nino and a < 25 d-man in Franson who is just now finding his stride (could end up a solid #4), coupled with the financial flexibility, will be better for my team in the long run than Doughty winning multiple HFNHL Norris Trophies.
It doesn't hurt that my team is worse today, which helps my first round pick as well.
Hope that makes some sense.
