Eastside Hockey Manager

[JasonM]

I got Satan to sign!!! (one day after the final game of the 99/00 season >_>)

Another season of suffering and semi-tanking, although the Jackets/Jets/Wild still take the cake due to them having zero roster. And I somehow managed to be better than the Canes too, by four points. So I finished 26th out of 30, 13th out of 15, 65 points in 28 wins.

Team Stats:

Spoiler

Overall standings:
 

Spoiler

TL;DR, we had a p. bad time...

One team that didn't have a bad time, the Devils who got to start their legacy a few years early

Ferraro and Ellett are retiring, but they didn't add much beyond me not having to throw way too young prospects on the bench.

----

As expected, didn't get a top 3 pick in the draft (#5 and #23), so I missed out on Gaborik, Frolov, Lundqvist, Sharp... So I ended up going with Christian Ehrhoff who can hopefully be the #2 next to Kimmo Timonen in the future. And with my #23 I got Mike Cammalleri who is going to the NCAA first. But beyond the first round, the draft was very very light on talent I felt.

But hey, I got Roman Malek, Toni Lydman, and Brian 'fuckin' Rafalski out of Europe! So i'm slowly becoming less shit.
 

[Ruki]

22 minutes ago, Jasonmufc said:

I got Satan to sign!!! (one day after the final game of the 99/00 season >_>)

Another season of suffering and semi-tanking, although the Jackets/Jets/Wild still take the cake due to them having zero roster. And I somehow managed to be better than the Canes too, by four points. So I finished 26th out of 30, 13th out of 15, 65 points in 28 wins.

Team Stats:

  Reveal hidden contents

Overall standings:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

TL;DR, we had a p. bad time...

One team that didn't have a bad time, the Devils who got to start their legacy a few years early

Ferraro and Ellett are retiring, but they didn't add much beyond me not having to throw way too young prospects on the bench.

----

As expected, didn't get a top 3 pick in the draft (#5 and #23), so I missed out on Gaborik, Frolov, Lundqvist, Sharp... So I ended up going with Christian Ehrhoff who can hopefully be the #2 next to Kimmo Timonen in the future. And with my #23 I got Mike Cammalleri who is going to the NCAA first. But beyond the first round, the draft was very very light on talent I felt.

But hey, I got Roman Malek, Toni Lydman, and Brian 'fuckin' Rafalski out of Europe! So i'm slowly becoming less shit.
 

I managed to get Rafalski and Visnovsky in the same off season, they make such a beastly pairing. Vis actually turned out pretty good for me (a few teams consider him a 5 star player).

 

Also! If you can, get your hands on Mironov. He went over a point per game for me...a first for a defenseman for me. 

[JasonM]

6 minutes ago, Ruki said:

I managed to get Rafalski and Visnovsky in the same off season, they make such a beastly pairing. Vis actually turned out pretty good for me (a few teams consider him a 5 star player).

 

Also! If you can, get your hands on Mironov. He went over a point per game for me...a first for a defenseman for me. 

Mironov is at the Oilers, and they're never ever gonna give him up to me. And there's nobody I can really offer them to even remotely interest them in a trade.

But at least my defense is starting to look p. good, with Vokoun/Lalime between the sticks, and Timonen/Visnovsky/Berehowsky/Rafalski on the blue line, I got something to feel remotely encouraged by.
And I still got the rights to Commodore/Bergeron/Ehrhoff, so it's gonna get deeper as time continues.

The only thing I really need is a few more superstar forwards to start banging them in, and maybe i'll have a playoff bound team on my hands.
But that has to happen through the draft, because the board simply won't allow me to break the bank for anyone. With Miro Satan being the best paid guy at 1yr/1.9M, and he's no doubt going back into restricted hell after 00/01.

At the same time, other teams are able to throw triple those figures at players, and as such I'm left in the dust in free agency. Which is very fun for a change, because it really requires me to think long term and cut my losses and trade away people that I know won't stick around.

[Ruki]

What's his contract? I think I got him in free agency.

 

Also, for a superstar...might want to look into Peca. I was able to get him relatively cheap in the first season.

[JasonM]

 

 

1 hour ago, Ruki said:

What's his contract? I think I got him in free agency.

 

Also, for a superstar...might want to look into Peca. I was able to get him relatively cheap in the first season.

Both are locked in for 3-4 years, both are like a million above my maximum wage allowed too >_>

Well at least I got Miro Satan, and 19 year old Dany Heatley coming off a ROTY in the AHL (and being ranked the #1 LW on my team).
Also picked up 39 year old Mark Messier off free agency with a 2yr/2,6M deal. And other than not being speedy, he's got quite a bit to give just yet, and can hopefully provide a solid presence on the first line, whilst Pahlsson and Marek continue to grow.

EDIT: Well, the team has survived pre-season and we went 4-1, so that no doubt means we go .200 during the main season...

So like last season, here's my opening 23

 

Dany Heatley** (R) - Mark Messier - Miro Satan*
Andy Brunette - Sam Pahlsson - Scott Walker*
Ville Peltonen - Mike Sullivan - Ulf Dahlen
Jan Hlavac - Darren Turcotte - Alex Daigle
Backup: Peter Shaefer & Michel Pivonka

Kimmo Timonen* - Drake Berehowsky
Lubo Visnovsky - Brian Rafalski (R)
Greg de Vries - Toni Lydman (R)
Backup: Jeff Brown

Tomas Vokoun
Patrick Lalime

AHL Players:
G: Roman Malek
D: Jamie Heward
D: Joel Bouchard
D: Oleg Orekhovsky
D: Marc Moro
LW: Jeff Daniels
LW: Pascal Dupuis
C: Jan Marek
RW: Marian Cisar

Noted non-signed prospects:
G: Niklas Bäckström
D: Christian Ehrhoff
D: Mike Commodore 64
D: Marc-André Bergeron
LW: Johan Franzén
LW: Mike Cammalleri
C: Jarret Stoll

* Star players as assigned by the game
** see next blurb

The only one i'm still doubting about is Dany Heatley, sure he's graded as the #1 Left Winger on my team, and he had a stonking 85 point season in the AHL last year. But on the flipside he's still only 19 years old, and he's the only left winger in the top 5 I can ship to the AHL without risking waivers. So I wonder if I should play it safe and have him murderstomp the AHL one more season, and reserve his rookie campaign for 01/02 (like in real life!)

EDIT: Added links to player profile pages, since I got no life...

Edited October 19, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[JasonM]

Soooo, it's the first of januari and it's now 2001... And well, the season has gone pretty goddamn swimmingly to date. So much so, that I'm afraid i'm no doubt gonna miss my chances to catch a few big fish in the next draft.

Currently 7th in the west, with a record of 23-14-1 and a bunch of games back from the people around me. Even had a few early moments where I was third in the conference!
We have the strongest powerplay in the league with a ridiculous 30% whilst at the same time having the second worst PK at 71.4%, basically throwing away all points won on the PP.

But despite that dreadful PK, the team's defense has put us ahead of the curve, being third in the league with 2.5GAA, and being 11th on offense with 3.26 GFA.

No players in the top 50 of points, which is par for the course for me... But Timonen is once again killing with 29 in 38, with Visnovsky having 27, and Rafalski 21, my defenders adding a crazy offensive spark.
Satan has 25 in 38, which could be a bit better, but he's doing his thing. Pahlsson has been the biggest revelation though, having already surpassed last season's tally and sitting on a nice 22 points and a +9.

Dany Heatley had a late start to the season, as I got cold feet and put him in the AHL. But after 16 games the dude had 31 points, and was turning it into a shooting gallery. Up to the majors he went, a slow few first games, then he really got going, and is now sitting at 12 points in 18 games with a 7.33ovr, top 10 points amongst rookie skaters, but he's had half the amount of games than they had, and he's well on track of surpassing all of them before the season is done. Those rookies includes both Sedin's, Marian Gaborik, and Patrik Stefan, the former two being teammates too at the Jackets.

At the same time, Marek and Cisar are still down there. And as is Schaefer who I sent down through waivers after Heatley got the call. And those three are also murdering the AHL, with 54(34 games), 53, and 20(12games) points to their name. But i'm reticent on calling them up too, since I'm afraid they'll get lost on the 3rd and 4th line by the flaky AI coach.

Finally, Messier still has 'it' at 39 years of age. 20 points in 38 games, and he's just got his 1100th assist of his career. Awesome veteran guy to sit between the scorers.

Also to give an idea of how crazy the 2001 draft will be...
Pekka Rinne, Spezza, Keith, Weiss, Plekanec are the top 5.
Ilya Kovalchuck is rated #12!

TL;DR, I need to trade to get my hands on Ilya, at (nearly) all costs.

[Meacon Keaton]

I got both Sedins and signed Satan to a crazy deal. I'm suppose to give up first round picks in the next three years, I think, but those were traded away anyway in my successful attempts to get the top two picks.

I struck out tremendously on defense in free agency though. That's easily my weakest spot as we prepare for training camp prior to season two.

[Draevyn]

So are the guys who worked on EHM now working with Franchise Hockey Manager?

[JasonM]

19 minutes ago, Forky said:

So are the guys who worked on EHM now working with Franchise Hockey Manager?

Nope, FHM is a whole different development group that's part of the group that made OOTP. Who are joined by a bunch of old Sports Interactive guys from the days they made/published EHM07 and OOTP.

EHM1 (Which released 2015) is SI's attempt to test the waters for a rebirth of the franchise. It's heavily based on the old EHM07 framework, as such it doesn't have the fancy stuff FHM has or the new FM's have.

EHM1 was made by a small team basically on those guys spare time, and it ran as EHM:EA (early access) for a good year or so before being released as a full 1.0 around the end of last season. And despite very strong sales (apparently), there's sadly been little in terms of future releases for EHM, with only the odd patch and hotfix being released for EHM1.

At the same time, FHM3 has been announced after the gruesomely bad FHM1 and the much improved yet flawed FHM2. And it's clear that they want to use EHM's good sales yet extremely slow updates into finally getting a better market share with a new game.

Anyways, stupidly long answer to say 'no, FHM and EHM are two different beast with two different developer groups'

Personally am pretty interested in what FHM3 will bring to the table, because I actually enjoy FHM2 despite all of its flaws. That game is just great if you're a stat-whore and like to fly through like 5 seasons at a reasonably quick pace.

[Draevyn]

I have EHM 1, but haven't played it in awhile. I've heard a lot of bad things about the FHM series so I've never bought that but it appears that FHM 3 is going to be licensed by the NHL. If FHM 3 has the ability to load retro rosters with just a couple of clicks then I will be all over that. EHM 1 takes a bit too much time to import databases and get everything up and running for my liking.

[JasonM]

FHM2 had the ability to go back to like the 70s and play with the WHA and whatnot. I think FHM3 will have the same ability.
I feel the FHM series (same with the OOTP games) has so much more going for stat junkies, historical nuts, and generally depth that I feel EHM still lacks.

EHM is more polished and generally a tougher game to get right (Unless you download barrage tactics), and has a smarter AI that plays hardball and doesn't just give up 1st round picks unless it can get things in return that help them in their current plan (e.g. skilled vets for title pushes)

FHM on the other hand has a bit less polish in that sense, having weird quirks, some near game-breaking bugs, and general nasties that can sour a good save. And the AI is a bit push-overy too.

Also, EHM is still headed by Riz (Risto Remes) who created the very first version back in 2001, and he's practically one-manned the EHM1 project in his spare time when he isn't working on Football Manager. And seeing what he did to turn EHM1 into an extremely well polished upgrade of EHM07 is extremely admirable, and shows how much they could do if they had a decently sized group of people working on it.

But yeah, with the lack of development on the game, and SI's reticence to commit to any sort of new EHM franchise really makes me impatient as a fan. And if FHM3 can deliver on the bugfixes, and polish the game in such a manner that it can get close to EHM's level of play, jumping ship seems like a plan for sure.

Maybe i'll even make a diary when the day comes

[Meacon Keaton]

You'd like an update on my game, you say?! Well ok!

So I pretty much breezed through the first season. We were not good. I traded older pieces and future draft picks to secure the top two picks of the draft which I used on the Sedins. I also signed Satan to a big contract in free agency. I went after every defenseman that knew how to so much as poke check, but struck out on every. single. one. It was maddening, honestly.

So before preseason camp, I send out invites to anyone and everyone that played defense and wasn't on a squad. Cuts during camp were quite easy as the vast majority of my invitees sucked hugo wang. Like, hardly seemed to know how to skate, bad. We were awful in our exhibition games, and I prepared myself for the worst and decided to start unloading some older players. 

First to go was Kirk Muller. I hadn't even intended to trade him, but Washington offered me a first, third, and fourth round picks in 2000 for him. Considering I had like a 3rd, 5th, and 6th prior to that, I accepted. And despite my defense being atrocious already, I sent one of my only decent defenders, Gord Murphy, to Phoenix for their first and fourth round pick in the 2000 draft. Both over thirty-two years old. There's a youth movement in Florida!

So training camp continues and we don't win a single stinking game. I'm likely close to being fired. Not due to exhibition performance, but I'm already on a short leash from last year's poor performance, and I traded away Gord Murphy, who apparently the board and fans adored. I continue looking for any way to improve this team, without giving up too much of the future, even though I may not be around to enjoy it.

Four days before our opening day, I get an e-mail saying that Los Angeles has put an unhappy Chris Tamer on the block. Chris Tamer? He'd definitely help my defense. So I send them an offer of like a third (2000), fourth (2001), and fifth (2002). They don't totally poo-poo it.  They don't think it's enough, but there's enough there that I get another shot. I throw in another fourth rounder (2003) and they accept! I go through and sort my lines and he's immediately one of my two best defensemen. Score.

So I go in to the season with this ragtag team:

LINE 1: Whitney (LW) Kozlov (C) Satan (RW)

LINE 2: Parrish (LW) Niedermayer (C) Dvorak (RW)

LINE 3: Lambert (LW) Olczyk (C) Nemirovsky (RW)

LINE 4: SEDIN (LW) SEDIN (C) Mellanby (RW)

Defensive Pairings:

Jovanovski - Svehla

Tamer - Boyle

Bergevin - Warrener

Goalies:

Burke - Hnilicka

I got Lambert off waivers and Olczyk in free agency. We go into the season and beat the Capitals in the first game! Hey alright! They were good last year. But if we beat them, then they're probably pretty bad, right?

Wrong! I'm taking things slower now that I've "built" the team. I'm through the month of October and we're sitting 7-1-3, good enough for the second most points in the Eastern conference.  We can't win a shootout to save our lives (0-3 in them), and our one loss was a 3-2 rematch against the Capitals, who turns out, are the best team in the East.

Ray Whitney is leading the way with eight goals in eleven games, followed by Jovanovski with six. Kozlov has nine assists, followed by Svehla with eight, and Danny Boyle with six. Chris Tamer has more than two times the second most player on the team when it comes to his twenty-one penalty minutes.  Sean Burke is ruling you with a 1.82 GAA and saving 94% of all shots. 

So that's where things stand as of November 1st. I've never been good at the Eastside games, and I fully expect an implosion at some point. But I'm going to enjoy being toward the top of the table at the moment. Especially after the abysmal season we had last year and my firesale during the offseason. The goal with these two first round draft picks is to try to get Lundqvist (not likely) or Scottie Hartnell. 

Any other suggestions for good guys to target in the 2000 draft, in like the third or fourth rounds, @Ruki @Jasonmufc @Forky?

 

[Draevyn]

If they last that long Paul Martin should be part of that draft. As well as Antoine Vermette. John Michael Liles might be also worth a look. 

I downloaded this scenario after everyone started talking about it. I might see what I can do with the Avs which were my favourite team at this time.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Avs, like they were in reality, are loaded. I know, because I keep trying (failing hard) to trade for Forsberg or Sakic.  

[Draevyn]

1 minute ago, Meacon said:

The Avs, like they were in reality, are loaded. I know, because I keep trying (failing hard) to trade for Forsberg or Sakic.  

Yeah, it's one of the things that make me think I need to try another team. No sense in playing as a team that is really already at the top of their game but damn it, I was such a huge fan at this point in time.

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm sure I'll fire up a game at some point as the Penguins, because having Super Mario and Jagr is just too good to pass up. 

But I'm enjoying this Florida game. I've got a lot of young, good talent, and I had no attachment to any of the guys on the team, which made it much easier to ship their asses out for draft picks.  

[Draevyn]

Decided to fire up a game with the worst team the year before....so it looks like it's time to rebuild The Tampa Bay Lightning.

[Ruki]

59 minutes ago, Meacon said:

I'm sure I'll fire up a game at some point as the Penguins, because having Super Mario and Jagr is just too good to pass up. 

But I'm enjoying this Florida game. I've got a lot of young, good talent, and I had no attachment to any of the guys on the team, which made it much easier to ship their asses out for draft picks.  

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh...............he retires in the middle of the first season.

33 minutes ago, Forky said:

Decided to fire up a game with the worst team the year before....so it looks like it's time to rebuild The Tampa Bay Lightning.

You should take the Jets, Blue Jackets or Wild if you want a real challenge

1 hour ago, Meacon said:

The Avs, like they were in reality, are loaded. I know, because I keep trying (failing hard) to trade for Forsberg or Sakic.  

In my game, they actually let Sakic walk during free agency.

[JasonM]

@Meacon

Play the sedin's on the top 6 or send them to the ahl. PT is mega important! Being on the 4th or even 3rd might shunt their development, and high minutes in the AHL or Swedish league will help them greatly.

Find older 'hard guys' for the fourth line, since the 4th line plays very limited minutes and rarely contribute points wise. Checkers, hitters, and generally physical guys like Brashear and John Scott. Just pure energy rather than offensive skill

EDIT: Got the game in front of me again, looking at the 2000 draft these guys stand out (Non 1st rounders)... I can already say that this draft is very weak compared to 99 and 01
Dont expect all these guys to be future stars, just noting standouts...
Goalies: - Filtered by AvR (in 00/01)
Nobody in the NHL or AHL
Best players from best to worst...
Lundqvist, DiPietro, Henriksson, Auld, M. Smith, Asplund

Defenders: - Filtered by AvR (in 00/01)
Nobody in the NHL - L. Kukkonen, T. Pock, R. Kiesla, O. Malmivaara, J. Oduya, G. Zanon in the AHL

Forwards: - Filtered by AvR (in 00/01)
M. Gaborik, P. Sharp in the NHL - N. Hagman, A. Murray, M. Svatos in the AHL

A bunch of standouts that might get to the NHL, but outside the first two rounds it becomes very slim pickings. Mostly Russians, a lot of Russians.
Best bet is to see what your scouts say about them, and making sure to draft people with good physicals, mentals, and pertinent technicals, and hope they improve.

Biggest thing I look out for is good personalities, since pro's tend to improve quicker and might excel if given enough room to develop.

From the people i've drafted, the only ones i'd give an ELC (rd. AHL time) would be Ehrhoff, Cammalleri, Stoll, Paroulek, Badyukov, and Koci, the latter because he's an awesome goon.
And to be honest, none of them I am planning to sign for 01/02. Stoll still has junior years, Camm is in college, and all but Koci are getting good playing time in major European leagues.

So unless they'd really make a difference, or would really need assured playing time (like I had with Heatley and Marek), they're staying put until the year their rights expire. Then I give them their ELC.
Basically doing the long game...
 

 

@Ruki

Lemmy returned from chemo in mid-00 for me like he did irl, and continued beasting with the pengs. so maybe retirement is random...

Edited October 26, 2016 by Jasonmufc

[JasonM]

Just finished the 00/01 season. Avs won it by sweeping the Sens in the final. I got 9th in the west with only 6 points between me and the Ducks, so I missed out on the playoffs by just a smidge.

I got the 13th pick in the draft, threw a bunch of loot at the Oilers to also get #12.
Draft comes around, as expected the bigger names like Ilya, Koivu, Duncan, Whitney, Rinne go ahead of me.
But I was pretty shocked to see #4 ranked Jason Spezza still on the board, so I naturally drafted him as the future center next to Heatley.
With the very next pick I get Jussi Jokinen, who lacks physical ability but hopefully will blossom into a very good top 6 winger by way of his skills.
With my pick in the second I got Chris Higgins, who my scouts see as a future playmaking winger, and he's a hard working team player too. But he's at least 4 years out due to college.

The rest I had to dig deeper in my scout logs to choose... So those are projects.

The rest of the first and second rounds... (55/60 are Ryan Shannon, Curtis McElhinney, Mark Popovich, Carlo Cola, Marvel Goc, Jay McClement)
I had wanted to snipe Ryan Shannon in the third who was unranked, but apparently Caps outsniped me.