Well I decided to start a new game after a long time not playing and to give myself a challenge I decided to take the talented but lacking New York Islanders...
82 games later I win the Atlantic Division, becoming the number 2 seed in the east and yeah... getting the Islanders to their first playoffs in 5-6 years.
As you can see I finished 4th in the whole NHL, which all in on itself is absolutely crazy and the complete opposite what I myself expected to do.
Also going to show you the best scorers of the league underneath.
As you can see Tavares is an absolute beast who completely dominated most of the Eastern Conference this season, And Okposo was legendary himself too becoming the 3rd best scorer behind Semin and Zetterberg.
Also the reason Ovechkin is so low is because he broke his leg and had to sit out 20 something games, that kills your chances for the Rocket for sure. Semin was a beast though.
And here are the stats for my own team, Pretty much anyone on that minus the guys who played less than 5 where part of my main team
As you can see I have Voracek, Pronger and Meszaros. I managed to snag them from the Flyers who had to cut a lot of costs before the start of the season. So I got an ace scorer in Voracek and two beastly defenders in Prongszaros. Eminger got injured after his first game for the team and he got claimed off the waivers when I wanted to return him to the main roster at the end of the season (Torn ACL stole 8 months of his career).
And I am also a bit pissed because Kotalik and Knuble got traded because they didn't want to resign, Knuble wasn't that bad but Kotalik was a big part of my team. And I will also most likely lose Nielsen because he also does not want to resign with me.
At least I am keeping hold of my stars in Tavares, Okposo, Voracek, Grabner etc.
Also Di Pietro ended up sitting the pine for most of the season when Al Montoya impressed a lot in training camp and just stole his spot and he never looked like losing that spot. After the playoffs I decided to trade away RDP and a buttload of picks for the first overall (which I used on Grigorenko)
Enfin, time to talk about the playoffs, because that's where my mind literally exploded into a thousand of bits...
QF East:
(1) Sabres b. (8) Capitals 4-1
(3) Hurricanes b. (6) Bruins 4-1
(5) Penguins b. (4) Devils 4-0
QF West:
(8) Ducks b. (1) Kings 4-1
(2) Flames b. (7) Blackhawks 4-0
(6) Sharks b. (3) Blues 4-2
(4) Canucks b. (5) Red Wings 4-2
My Quarter Finals: (2) Islanders Vs. (7) Canadiens
Game 1: 0-2 Islanders
Game 2: 4-5 Islanders
Game 3: 5-2 Islanders
Game 4: 2-3 Canadiens
Game 5: 4-6 Islanders
So yeah, I won the first round and never really looked like losing it. The Canadiens managed to take one game but we immediately fought back with a 4-6 win.
Time for the Semi Finals, it's the Hurricanes!
SF East:
(1) Sabres b. (5) Penguins 4-1
SF West:
(2) Flames b. (8) Ducks 4-1
(4) Canucks b. (6) Sharks 4-2
My Semi Finals: (2) Islanders Vs. (3) Hurricanes
Game 1: 3-5 Islanders
Game 2: 3-4 Islanders
Game 3: 6-3 Islanders
Game 4: 3-1 Islanders!
And against all odds I manage to sweep the Hurricanes. So yeah against all odds I manage to get into the playoffs, win the quarterfinals and then sweep the Hurricanes in the Semis... Now it's time for an even bigger chore, the number one seeded Sabres look like they want to take my young team down like... 15 pegs.
Conference Finals West:
(2) Flames b. (4) Canucks 4-2
My Conference Finals East: (2) Islanders Vs. (1) Sabres
Game 1: 2-4 Sabres
Game 2: 3-1 Islanders
Game 3: 2-4 Islanders
Game 4: 5-3 Sabres
Game 5: 3-2 Islanders
Game 6: 4-3 Sabres
Game 7: 5-0 Islanders!!!
And once again I manage to beat all the odds by taking out the Sabres in a 7 game thriller, it wasn't pretty in the least and I can't count how much minor injuries both teams suffered. But one thing I never saw coming is a 5-0 shutout against the number one seed in the decisive Game 7... I really had to look twice really, I never expected to get into the playoffs but right now I was standing in the middle of the freaking NHL Finals. One hurdle away from the gold and in front of me stood the Western Champions the Calgary Flames, who wanted to take the gold back to Canada.
NHL Finals: (2e) Islanders Vs. (2w) Flames
Game 1: 3-5 Flames
Game 2: 5-1 Islanders
Game 3: 1-4 Islanders
Game 4: 4-2 Flames
Game 5: 3-1 Islanders
Game 6: 0-4 New York Islanders!
Trust me, I ran a lap through my house and I think my housemates thought I had suffered stroke or something. In my first season I have gone from being the projected worst team to the very best one in the NHL and I did so with a team which you can't call Finals material. Tavares and Okposo really dragged my team to the finals and beyond with their brilliant scoring and Voracek also had a big Finals when he showed up ready to go as he, Nielsen and Grabner helped the team lift their first trophy in 20 years. And the way we finished it off with a 0-4 blowout at home just made it all the more sweeter.
So yeah I was the NHL Champion and Tavares went home with the deserved MVP trophy as he played like a god every single game, he was on fire all off season long and even though Voracek had one more point... Tavares was the catalyst for my team...
Below I am going to post the playoff stats of all players and also my own team, just to show you how amazing my extremely young attack was.
Playoff Stats:
NYI Playoff Stats:
As you can see Rick Di Pietro played almost the whole playoffs, that was because Montoya suffered a bad tigh injury leaving him out of contention, but RDP never fucked up and I am glad he was on my bench for that playoffs.
Voracek was decent in the regular season but in both finals he stepped up his game big time as he suddenly started to score points like there was no tomorrow and he certainly was the star in the Conference finals, but of course John Tavares was the true star of the show with his awesome passing game setting up even the worst of players.
The playoffs weren't a showcase of great defensive action due to me just instructing the young players to go out there and shoot a buttload of shots at the goalies and it clearly worked as we overloaded their defenses with Tavares and Nielsen being the set up men and the likes of Okposo, Voracek, Kotalik, Grabner banging them in.
(Zherdev and Emeleev came over from Russia when their contracts ended in April and I signed them, and they where also eligible so I put them on the fourth line not to eff with chemistry.)
So yeah, that is pretty much my first season with the Islanders, I expected to be among the bottom teams and with a bit of luck getting 8th seed or something... But I never expected to get to the playoffs and then win it all. Every round I was going ''they are going to kill me'', but that never happened. Can't complain with the result, I can't wait for next season... The team is only getting better.
If you guys got any question or want to see some other stats feel free to ask and I will try to deliver. If you want to see player attributes or a statline or whatever, ask and I will post some pictures.
Also questions about the game, tactics, Practice etc. is also a-ok, ask away.