Nothing I can say that hasn't been said already. Kane and Toews have been very consistant, Frolik has seen his overall fall a bit, but I'm not worried until it becomes a pattern.
LINE 2: Oshie/McNeill/Hayes
A very nice 2nd line that is similar to the old one, it consists of two PWFs and a TWF, but they can all score as well. Sounds good to me.
LINE 3: Vachovec/Walch/Shaw
Walch should be higher but he is blocked, but hopefully he can bring out the best in Shaw and Vachovec. I may end up trading Shaw as he is getting older and is really nothing special.
LINE 4: Volek/Strome/Brewer
Congrats to Brewer for making the team out of the draft. One the LW prospects I took in the draft start to develop, Volek will be gone, and if Strome starts to falter, I have Loiseau just waiting to fill his spot.
D-PAIR 1: Keith/Leddy
Leddy just keeps getting better playing with Keith, so I'm going to keep them together.
D-PAIR 2: Glebov/Seabrook
My defensive pairing. Nothing spectacular, but should be able to put up about 20 points each.
D-PAIR 3: Siemens/Morrow
Along with Glebov (and Leddy, probably) these two are the future of the blue line for me. They are high potential players and unless they cannot reach that potential I see them sticking around for quite a while.
GOALIES: Simpson/Kasik
Kasik was signed to a one year deal this offseason to back up Simpson. I hope by next offseason one of my AHL goalies will be ready to step up and back up Simpson.
Nothing I can say that hasn't been said already. Kane and Toews have been very consistant, Frolik has seen his overall fall a bit, but I'm not worried until it becomes a pattern.
LINE 2: Oshie/McNeill/Hayes
A very nice 2nd line that is similar to the old one, it consists of two PWFs and a TWF, but they can all score as well. Sounds good to me.
LINE 3: Vachovec/Walch/Shaw
Walch should be higher but he is blocked, but hopefully he can bring out the best in Shaw and Vachovec. I may end up trading Shaw as he is getting older and is really nothing special.
LINE 4: Volek/Strome/Brewer
Congrats to Brewer for making the team out of the draft. One the LW prospects I took in the draft start to develop, Volek will be gone, and if Strome starts to falter, I have Loiseau just waiting to fill his spot.
D-PAIR 1: Keith/Leddy
Leddy just keeps getting better playing with Keith, so I'm going to keep them together.
D-PAIR 2: Glebov/Seabrook
My defensive pairing. Nothing spectacular, but should be able to put up about 20 points each.
D-PAIR 3: Siemens/Morrow
Along with Glebov (and Leddy, probably) these two are the future of the blue line for me. They are high potential players and unless they cannot reach that potential I see them sticking around for quite a while.
GOALIES: Simpson/Kasik
Kasik was signed to a one year deal this offseason to back up Simpson. I hope by next offseason one of my AHL goalies will be ready to step up and back up Simpson.
Halfway point and we're sitting at 26-19-3, sitting one point out of a playoff spot. There hasn't been much player movement, so this will be a pretty short update. The only thing I've done is claim Vinny Lecavalier off of waivers. I was planning on trading him, but can't find a trade partner :(. I'm going to stop giving injury updates since they're stupid and since I post stats, you can see games played anyway.
Anyway, leaders at the half:
G: Patrick Kane 28
A: Jonathan Toews 35
+/-: Jonathan Toews 15
PIMS: Brent Seabrook 65
W: Kent Simpson 24
Summary:
- Claimed C Vinny Lecavalier off of waivers.
Halfway point and we're sitting at 26-19-3, sitting one point out of a playoff spot. There hasn't been much player movement, so this will be a pretty short update. The only thing I've done is claim Vinny Lecavalier off of waivers. I was planning on trading him, but can't find a trade partner :(. I'm going to stop giving injury updates since they're stupid and since I post stats, you can see games played anyway.
Anyway, leaders at the half:
G: Patrick Kane 28
A: Jonathan Toews 35
+/-: Jonathan Toews 15
PIMS: Brent Seabrook 65
W: Kent Simpson 24
Summary:
- Claimed C Vinny Lecavalier off of waivers.
The second half of the season started with the allstar game, as it always does. I had two representatives in Kane and Keith. The season went on, and I did not make any trades, this may be the first season since I took over that we had not made any trades. I did manage to pick up two players from waivers:
RW Joel Armia
and
LW Troy Bourke
Both are young high potential guys that will probably slot into a bottom six role next season. The season then ended (sorry it was such a boring season, hopefully the next one will be good). The Blackhawks finished the season at 44-32-6 for 94 points, which put us at 11th overall and the 3rd seed in the conference (we won the weak Central division, we only had the 5th highest points in the conference).
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Rocky Brewer/LW/80/9/6/15/12/0
Michael Frolik/RW/37/10/25/35/11/13
Vladimir Glebov/D/79/2/15/17/22/-15
Jimmy Hayes/RW/82/16/17/33/79/-5
Patrick Kane/C/80/49/38/87/20/23
Duncan Keith/D/80/11/37/48/16/21
Nick Leddy/D/47/8/16/24/0/0
Alexis Loiseau/C/45/6/11/17/0/-2
Nathan MacKinnon/C/3/1/0/1/0/2
Mark McNeill/C/78/18/35/53/8/-13
Joseph Morrow/D/82/10/14/24/30/-9
Jamie Oleksiak/D/38/0/0/0/26/-2
TJ Oshie/RW/79/15/25/40/50/-19
Bernd Schauer/C/54/7/6/13/9/8
Brent Seabrook/D/75/3/18/21/93/17
Andrew Shaw/RW/80/6/11/17/53/-4
Duncan Siemens/D/82/0/3/3/86/-4
Ryan Strome/C/82/10/9/19/7/6
Jonathan Toews/C/79/19/65/84/60/27
Michal Vachovec/RW/55/5/8/13/4/-5
Dominik Volek/LW/81/5/11/16/6/1
David Walch/C/78/11/14/25/15/-16
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Libor Kasik/7/3/3/0/2.82/.909/0
Kent Simpson/77/41/29/6/2.34/.924/5
Summary:
- Claimed RW Joel Armia from waivers.
- Claimed LW Troy Bourke from waivers.
The second half of the season started with the allstar game, as it always does. I had two representatives in Kane and Keith. The season went on, and I did not make any trades, this may be the first season since I took over that we had not made any trades. I did manage to pick up two players from waivers:
RW Joel Armia
and
LW Troy Bourke
Both are young high potential guys that will probably slot into a bottom six role next season. The season then ended (sorry it was such a boring season, hopefully the next one will be good). The Blackhawks finished the season at 44-32-6 for 94 points, which put us at 11th overall and the 3rd seed in the conference (we won the weak Central division, we only had the 5th highest points in the conference).
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Rocky Brewer/LW/80/9/6/15/12/0
Michael Frolik/RW/37/10/25/35/11/13
Vladimir Glebov/D/79/2/15/17/22/-15
Jimmy Hayes/RW/82/16/17/33/79/-5
Patrick Kane/C/80/49/38/87/20/23
Duncan Keith/D/80/11/37/48/16/21
Nick Leddy/D/47/8/16/24/0/0
Alexis Loiseau/C/45/6/11/17/0/-2
Nathan MacKinnon/C/3/1/0/1/0/2
Mark McNeill/C/78/18/35/53/8/-13
Joseph Morrow/D/82/10/14/24/30/-9
Jamie Oleksiak/D/38/0/0/0/26/-2
TJ Oshie/RW/79/15/25/40/50/-19
Bernd Schauer/C/54/7/6/13/9/8
Brent Seabrook/D/75/3/18/21/93/17
Andrew Shaw/RW/80/6/11/17/53/-4
Duncan Siemens/D/82/0/3/3/86/-4
Ryan Strome/C/82/10/9/19/7/6
Jonathan Toews/C/79/19/65/84/60/27
Michal Vachovec/RW/55/5/8/13/4/-5
Dominik Volek/LW/81/5/11/16/6/1
David Walch/C/78/11/14/25/15/-16
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Libor Kasik/7/3/3/0/2.82/.909/0
Kent Simpson/77/41/29/6/2.34/.924/5
Summary:
- Claimed RW Joel Armia from waivers.
- Claimed LW Troy Bourke from waivers.
Sorry that it's been a while since my last update...
We made the playoffs and I was all ready to go as the third (I think) seed.
Series 1 vs St. Louis:
Game 1: W 6-3
Game 2: W 5-2
Game 3: W 9-2
Game 4: L 3-2
Game 5: W 2-0
Series 2 vs Dallas:
Game 1: L 2-0
Game 2: W 3-1
Game 3: L 3-2
Game 4: L 1-0
Game 5: W 3-2
Game 6: L 1-0
The three shutouts in the series killed us, especially since two of them were 1-0 games and the other was 2-0. Had we been able to win just one of those I could've seen us winning the series, but I guess that just wasn't in the cards. The Capitals won the cup.
After the postseason, I was offered a three year contract renewal with the Blackhawks, of course I stayed (speaking of which I'm still debating how long to do this, part of me wants to do all 25 years, but another wants to stop if/when I don't get a renewal from Chicago, or possibly once I win the cup/all non CPU-generated players are retired.)
Before the draft Vinny Lecavalier retired, I claimed him off of waivers to trade but found no partners, so he just stayed in the AHL (he was better than some of my NHL guys, but I didn't want to make a roster move and I'd rather have had my young guys progress. I should have brought him up for playoffs though, wasn't thinking).
On to the draft, I only had 5 picks this year (no 2nd or 3rd) so I was really only able to snag one good prospect.
1(22): Doug Wiseman, C
4 (112): Bob Primeau, LW
5 (142): Justin Reed, D
6: (172): Charles Kato, D
7: (202): Milan Bilik, C
Even before re-signing players I had a look and saw that I have a lot of prospects, I'll probably look to move a few in the upcoming season, depending on how well we start.
I was quite surprised by how some of my players progressed/regressed:
Brewer 69 -> 75
Vachovec 76 -> 80
Leddy 85 -> 80 (How in the hell does this even happen?)
Morrow 76 -> 82
And Wardley went from whatever he was in the AHL (73?) to 80. Everyone else either only moved by a point or two or stayed put.
Anyway I released D Brent Seabrook, G Libor Kasik, and LW Dominik Volek and resigned G Kent Simpson, G Brandon Hope, G Marcus Johnsson, D Joseph Morrow, D Evan Wardley, RW Joel Armia, LW Troy Bourke, C David Walch, C Ryan Strome, C Nathan MacKinnon, D Jamie Oleksiak, and D Vyacheslav Tursumbayev.
As I head into free agency I'm not really looking for anything in particular. I now have three line full of guys 80+ in OVR, most of them with room to grow. I'm deep at Center, Defense, Right Wing, and pretty well off at goalie. I also have enough Right Wingers to comfortably fill my Left Wing as well. The only moves I really see myself making are to move some redundant pieces and to possibly sign a backup goalie for the AHL.
Into free agency: I was actually surprised at the quality of players available, usually its older guys and bottom six guys, but along with Seabrook (who I cut) both Chris Stewart and Michael Grabner were availible, both are 30 year old solid second liners, however I am not in the marker for a Right Winger, so I let them go, also there were two 4 star POT goalies on the market, I found my AHL backup, who was my lone free agent pickup: G Vince Weller. I wasn't able to find a deal that I liked right now, I did edit my block to include Shaw and Strome, and if I don't get a good deal in the season, I hope to find one during the deadline.
SUMMARY:
-Released D Brent Seabrook, G Libor Kasik, and LW Dominik Volek.
- Resigned G Kent Simpson (1.565M/2yr)
- Resigned G Brandon Hope (730k/2yr)
- Resigned G Marcus Johnsson (590k/1yr)
- Resigned D Joseph Morrow (4.285M/2yr)
- Resigned D Evan Wardley (3.28M/2yr)
- Resigned RW Joel Armia (2.4M/3yr)
- Resigned LW Troy Bourke (850k/2yr)
- Resigned C David Walch (3.755M/2yr)
- Resigned C Ryan Strome (815k/1yr)
- Resigned C Nathan MacKinnon (585k/2yr)
- Resigned D Jamie Oleksiak (780k/1yr)
- Resigned D Vyacheslav Tursumbayev (530k/2yr)
- Signed FA G Vince Weller (650k/2yr)
Sorry that it's been a while since my last update...
We made the playoffs and I was all ready to go as the third (I think) seed.
Series 1 vs St. Louis:
Game 1: W 6-3
Game 2: W 5-2
Game 3: W 9-2
Game 4: L 3-2
Game 5: W 2-0
Series 2 vs Dallas:
Game 1: L 2-0
Game 2: W 3-1
Game 3: L 3-2
Game 4: L 1-0
Game 5: W 3-2
Game 6: L 1-0
The three shutouts in the series killed us, especially since two of them were 1-0 games and the other was 2-0. Had we been able to win just one of those I could've seen us winning the series, but I guess that just wasn't in the cards. The Capitals won the cup.
After the postseason, I was offered a three year contract renewal with the Blackhawks, of course I stayed (speaking of which I'm still debating how long to do this, part of me wants to do all 25 years, but another wants to stop if/when I don't get a renewal from Chicago, or possibly once I win the cup/all non CPU-generated players are retired.)
Before the draft Vinny Lecavalier retired, I claimed him off of waivers to trade but found no partners, so he just stayed in the AHL (he was better than some of my NHL guys, but I didn't want to make a roster move and I'd rather have had my young guys progress. I should have brought him up for playoffs though, wasn't thinking).
On to the draft, I only had 5 picks this year (no 2nd or 3rd) so I was really only able to snag one good prospect.
1(22): Doug Wiseman, C
4 (112): Bob Primeau, LW
5 (142): Justin Reed, D
6: (172): Charles Kato, D
7: (202): Milan Bilik, C
Even before re-signing players I had a look and saw that I have a lot of prospects, I'll probably look to move a few in the upcoming season, depending on how well we start.
I was quite surprised by how some of my players progressed/regressed:
Brewer 69 -> 75
Vachovec 76 -> 80
Leddy 85 -> 80 (How in the hell does this even happen?)
Morrow 76 -> 82
And Wardley went from whatever he was in the AHL (73?) to 80. Everyone else either only moved by a point or two or stayed put.
Anyway I released D Brent Seabrook, G Libor Kasik, and LW Dominik Volek and resigned G Kent Simpson, G Brandon Hope, G Marcus Johnsson, D Joseph Morrow, D Evan Wardley, RW Joel Armia, LW Troy Bourke, C David Walch, C Ryan Strome, C Nathan MacKinnon, D Jamie Oleksiak, and D Vyacheslav Tursumbayev.
As I head into free agency I'm not really looking for anything in particular. I now have three line full of guys 80+ in OVR, most of them with room to grow. I'm deep at Center, Defense, Right Wing, and pretty well off at goalie. I also have enough Right Wingers to comfortably fill my Left Wing as well. The only moves I really see myself making are to move some redundant pieces and to possibly sign a backup goalie for the AHL.
Into free agency: I was actually surprised at the quality of players available, usually its older guys and bottom six guys, but along with Seabrook (who I cut) both Chris Stewart and Michael Grabner were availible, both are 30 year old solid second liners, however I am not in the marker for a Right Winger, so I let them go, also there were two 4 star POT goalies on the market, I found my AHL backup, who was my lone free agent pickup: G Vince Weller. I wasn't able to find a deal that I liked right now, I did edit my block to include Shaw and Strome, and if I don't get a good deal in the season, I hope to find one during the deadline.
SUMMARY:
-Released D Brent Seabrook, G Libor Kasik, and LW Dominik Volek.
- Resigned G Kent Simpson (1.565M/2yr)
- Resigned G Brandon Hope (730k/2yr)
- Resigned G Marcus Johnsson (590k/1yr)
- Resigned D Joseph Morrow (4.285M/2yr)
- Resigned D Evan Wardley (3.28M/2yr)
- Resigned RW Joel Armia (2.4M/3yr)
- Resigned LW Troy Bourke (850k/2yr)
- Resigned C David Walch (3.755M/2yr)
- Resigned C Ryan Strome (815k/1yr)
- Resigned C Nathan MacKinnon (585k/2yr)
- Resigned D Jamie Oleksiak (780k/1yr)
- Resigned D Vyacheslav Tursumbayev (530k/2yr)
- Signed FA G Vince Weller (650k/2yr)
Frolik went up 1 OVR last season, so now this whole line is 85+ OVR, not too shabby.
LINE 2: OSHIE/MCNEILL/HAYES
Again, same as last year, Hayes could be shipped off for the right price though.
LINE 3: VACHOVEC/WALCH/ARMIA
Walch could be a second liner, but is blocked while after a year of progression, Armia and Vachovec could be as well, but still a very solid third line.
LINE 4: BREWER/LOISEAU/BOURKE
Young guys looking to grow, same as most of the fourth lines I've ever rostered.
D-PAIR 1: KEITH/MORROW
The OFD pair of Keith and Morrow replaces the pair of Keith and Leddy that I had used for a few seasons, but with Leddy's immense drop in OVR and Morrow's rise, hopefully this is an even better pair.
D-PAIR 2: LEDDY/WARDLEY
How the mighty have fallen, Leddy dropped 5 OVR this season. He now lines up with the first player I selected as GM making his long awaited debut.
D-PAIR 3: GLEBOV/SIEMENS
Good defense to round it out. Siemens is probably going to end up as my PIMS leader with the loss of Seabrook (when I've had him in past GM's he would often top my team leaderboard when I was without a tough guy).
GOALIES: SIMPSON/HOPE
Hopefully Simpson continues to grow, but I have some great depth at goalie, so if he doesn't this could be Hope or Johnsson's team in a few years.
Frolik went up 1 OVR last season, so now this whole line is 85+ OVR, not too shabby.
LINE 2: OSHIE/MCNEILL/HAYES
Again, same as last year, Hayes could be shipped off for the right price though.
LINE 3: VACHOVEC/WALCH/ARMIA
Walch could be a second liner, but is blocked while after a year of progression, Armia and Vachovec could be as well, but still a very solid third line.
LINE 4: BREWER/LOISEAU/BOURKE
Young guys looking to grow, same as most of the fourth lines I've ever rostered.
D-PAIR 1: KEITH/MORROW
The OFD pair of Keith and Morrow replaces the pair of Keith and Leddy that I had used for a few seasons, but with Leddy's immense drop in OVR and Morrow's rise, hopefully this is an even better pair.
D-PAIR 2: LEDDY/WARDLEY
How the mighty have fallen, Leddy dropped 5 OVR this season. He now lines up with the first player I selected as GM making his long awaited debut.
D-PAIR 3: GLEBOV/SIEMENS
Good defense to round it out. Siemens is probably going to end up as my PIMS leader with the loss of Seabrook (when I've had him in past GM's he would often top my team leaderboard when I was without a tough guy).
GOALIES: SIMPSON/HOPE
Hopefully Simpson continues to grow, but I have some great depth at goalie, so if he doesn't this could be Hope or Johnsson's team in a few years.
I'm at the allstar game sitting at 21-19-10, the 52 points leave me in 9th place, but I'm only 3 points out of 5th. There has been some movement with the first being a waiver pickup, I was able to get C Mikhail Griorenko from Detroit. After that I made a trade (I really needed to clear up the logjam of RWs I have).
TO CHI
--------
2019 2nd
TO WAS
--------
RW Andrew Shaw
Shaw just wasn't up to par with the rest of my guys. The 2nd rounder is pretty good for a player like him, so I'll take this deal.
I know I said I'd not do injury updates anymore, but I had so many injuries and a lot of them were long term that I think it at least deserves a mention. In the first half, I lost Kane, Frolik, Walch, Leddy, and Siemens for extended periods of time (Month+).
My leaders at the half were:
G: Kane 17
A: Armia 27
+/-: Armia 14
PIMS: Siemens 53
W: Simpson 18
Summary:
- Claimed C Mikhail Grigorenko from waivers.
- Traded RW Andrew Shaw to the Washington Capitals for their second round pick in the 2019 draft.
I'm at the allstar game sitting at 21-19-10, the 52 points leave me in 9th place, but I'm only 3 points out of 5th. There has been some movement with the first being a waiver pickup, I was able to get C Mikhail Griorenko from Detroit. After that I made a trade (I really needed to clear up the logjam of RWs I have).
TO CHI
--------
2019 2nd
TO WAS
--------
RW Andrew Shaw
Shaw just wasn't up to par with the rest of my guys. The 2nd rounder is pretty good for a player like him, so I'll take this deal.
I know I said I'd not do injury updates anymore, but I had so many injuries and a lot of them were long term that I think it at least deserves a mention. In the first half, I lost Kane, Frolik, Walch, Leddy, and Siemens for extended periods of time (Month+).
My leaders at the half were:
G: Kane 17
A: Armia 27
+/-: Armia 14
PIMS: Siemens 53
W: Simpson 18
Summary:
- Claimed C Mikhail Grigorenko from waivers.
- Traded RW Andrew Shaw to the Washington Capitals for their second round pick in the 2019 draft.
Second half of the season, and I messed up pretty badly towards the end, but that will have to wait.
My lone allstar was Joel Armia.
I picked up two players from waivers, D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna and C Jusso Ikonen. Both have 3.5 star potential and are 75 OVR, either they'll make the team or I'll explore trading them. At the trade deadline I made one move:
TO CHI
--------
LW Adam Brodziak
TO NYR
--------
RW Jimmy Hayes
Brodziak is young and has 3 star potential, so he's slightly above average, but I really needed LW depth and I needed to lose RW depth, so I guess this works both ways. It also freed up money for this offseason. I noticed my contract with Nick Leddy was going to be up after this season and with how he's regressed and how many of my defensive prospects have progressed I planned on moving him, but his value was near non existent, so I held on to him.
Now here's how I messed up: First some background, this was a hard fought year, I was teetering between playoffs and missing them back and forth. As such, I played Kent Simpson, my starting goalie most of the games, well I didn't want him to play all of the games (I usually switch on back to back games and when I feel it's been a while) but near the end of the season Hope had only played a handful of games. Before my last game I checked the standings and saw myself in a playoff spot by 3 points and I thought I'd give Hope the game both to let Simpson rest, and to play Hope another game. Well, stupid me forgot to factor in games remaining and with the expected loss, I dropped from 7th seed to 11th, where I finished at 36-32-14 (86 points).
Draft+ resign+ FA will be up later tonight.
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Joel Armia/RW/82/18/43/61/20/14
Troy Bourke/LW/82/6/16/22/12/-3
Rocky Brewer/LW/79/12/8/20/12/2
Michael Frolik/RW/43/15/25/40/14/15
Vladimir Glebov/D/75/4/20/24/16/12
Mikhail Grigorenko/C/36/1/2/3/4/-8
Patrick Kane/C/71/33/26/59/12/7
Duncan Keith/D/82/5/23/28/21/-4
Nick Leddy/D/80/5/20/25/6/9
Alexis Loiseau/C/63/5/11/16/4/-5
Mark McNeill/C/67/20/22/42/17/9
Joseph Morrow/D/72/12/19/31/37/1
Jamie Oleksiak/D/40/1/5/6/55/2
TJ Oshie/RW/81/17/37/54/68/8
Adam Pelech/D/13/2/1/3/4/4
Duncan Siemens/D/67/3/1/4/75/14
Ryan Strome/C/43/5/6/11/4/-6
Jonathan Toews/C/82/19/59/78/70/0
Michal Vachovec/RW/81/12/24/36/12/8
David Walch/C/52/16/20/36/6/14
Evan Wardley/D/76/6/5/11/29/8
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Brandon Hope/8/3/2/1/2.42/.918/1
Kent Simpson/78/33/30/13/2.48/.917/8
Before I get to the summary can I talk about how ridiculous injuries are? Now I'm not saying that there shouldn't be injuries, I just think they should happen to injury prone guys. Last season (in the real NHL) the Blackhawks had only 2 players play all 82 games, Kane and Leddy. It seems to me that those two (along with Frolik) are the most injury prone players in this Be a GM. What the hell gives? Meanwhile a guy like Toews who has played 1 full year out of 5 almost never gets hurt, and when he is it is never severe? Is there an injury stat or am I just unlucky?
Summary:
- Picked up D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna from waivers.
- Picked up C Jusso Ikonen from waivers.
- Traded RW Jimmy Hayes to the New York Rangers for LW Adam Brodziak.
Second half of the season, and I messed up pretty badly towards the end, but that will have to wait.
My lone allstar was Joel Armia.
I picked up two players from waivers, D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna and C Jusso Ikonen. Both have 3.5 star potential and are 75 OVR, either they'll make the team or I'll explore trading them. At the trade deadline I made one move:
TO CHI
--------
LW Adam Brodziak
TO NYR
--------
RW Jimmy Hayes
Brodziak is young and has 3 star potential, so he's slightly above average, but I really needed LW depth and I needed to lose RW depth, so I guess this works both ways. It also freed up money for this offseason. I noticed my contract with Nick Leddy was going to be up after this season and with how he's regressed and how many of my defensive prospects have progressed I planned on moving him, but his value was near non existent, so I held on to him.
Now here's how I messed up: First some background, this was a hard fought year, I was teetering between playoffs and missing them back and forth. As such, I played Kent Simpson, my starting goalie most of the games, well I didn't want him to play all of the games (I usually switch on back to back games and when I feel it's been a while) but near the end of the season Hope had only played a handful of games. Before my last game I checked the standings and saw myself in a playoff spot by 3 points and I thought I'd give Hope the game both to let Simpson rest, and to play Hope another game. Well, stupid me forgot to factor in games remaining and with the expected loss, I dropped from 7th seed to 11th, where I finished at 36-32-14 (86 points).
Draft+ resign+ FA will be up later tonight.
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Joel Armia/RW/82/18/43/61/20/14
Troy Bourke/LW/82/6/16/22/12/-3
Rocky Brewer/LW/79/12/8/20/12/2
Michael Frolik/RW/43/15/25/40/14/15
Vladimir Glebov/D/75/4/20/24/16/12
Mikhail Grigorenko/C/36/1/2/3/4/-8
Patrick Kane/C/71/33/26/59/12/7
Duncan Keith/D/82/5/23/28/21/-4
Nick Leddy/D/80/5/20/25/6/9
Alexis Loiseau/C/63/5/11/16/4/-5
Mark McNeill/C/67/20/22/42/17/9
Joseph Morrow/D/72/12/19/31/37/1
Jamie Oleksiak/D/40/1/5/6/55/2
TJ Oshie/RW/81/17/37/54/68/8
Adam Pelech/D/13/2/1/3/4/4
Duncan Siemens/D/67/3/1/4/75/14
Ryan Strome/C/43/5/6/11/4/-6
Jonathan Toews/C/82/19/59/78/70/0
Michal Vachovec/RW/81/12/24/36/12/8
David Walch/C/52/16/20/36/6/14
Evan Wardley/D/76/6/5/11/29/8
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Brandon Hope/8/3/2/1/2.42/.918/1
Kent Simpson/78/33/30/13/2.48/.917/8
Before I get to the summary can I talk about how ridiculous injuries are? Now I'm not saying that there shouldn't be injuries, I just think they should happen to injury prone guys. Last season (in the real NHL) the Blackhawks had only 2 players play all 82 games, Kane and Leddy. It seems to me that those two (along with Frolik) are the most injury prone players in this Be a GM. What the hell gives? Meanwhile a guy like Toews who has played 1 full year out of 5 almost never gets hurt, and when he is it is never severe? Is there an injury stat or am I just unlucky?
Summary:
- Picked up D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna from waivers.
- Picked up C Jusso Ikonen from waivers.
- Traded RW Jimmy Hayes to the New York Rangers for LW Adam Brodziak.
It was a long offseason knowing I cost us a chance at the playoffs, but I suppose it is time to move on. I entered the draft and immediately made a trade:
TO CHI
--------
2019 1st (5th OA)
TO BOS
---------
G Kent Simpson
CHI 2019 2nd
WAS 2019 2nd
Simpson has stayed static as far as overall goes while both Hope and Johnsson grew immensely during the offseason (sorry I started the season already so I don't have progression numbers, but right now Hope is 80 and Johnsson is 82). The second rounders were an acceptable loss I felt. Onto the draft I selected:
1(5) Jerry Polacek C
1 (11) Brock Modano D
3 (71) Jimmy Melnik G
I'm going to stop listing picks that are inconsequential, so I won't be listing my 4th-7th rounders in this draft, if they end up doing anything (Like Volek) I will edit my post.
I then entered the resign phase and released LW Brandon Saad, D Nick Leddy, and D Jamie Oleksiak. I then resigned C Mark McNeill, C Brend Schauer, RW Michal Vachovec, D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna, D Morgan Reilly, G Marcus Johnsson, C Jusso Ikonen, C Alexis Loiseau, C Mikhail Grigorenko, C Ryan Strome, C Aleksander Barkov, RW Marc Chartrand, RW Samu Pirnes, and D Adam Pelech. I also signed C Doug Wiseman, C Jerry Polacek, LW Gibert Dupont, D Brock Modano, and G Jimmy Melnik to entry level contracts. In free agency I acquired LW Matt Moulson. I was then ready to enter the season after one last trade:
TO CHI
---------
2020 1st
TO EDM
---------
C Aleksander Barkov
C Ryan Strome
It kind of hurt to get rid of Barkov since he was a first rounder, but he was a longshot to crack my roster with my center depth. Strome was another high 70's low 80's center that I seem to have hordes of and won't be missed.
Summary:
- Traded G Kent Simpson, Chicago's 2nd round pick, and Washington's 2nd round pick to the Boston Bruins in exchange for their first round pick.
- Released LW Brandon Saad, D Nick Leddy, and D Jamie Oleksiak.
- Resigned C Mark McNeill (4.315M/4yr)
- Resigned C Brend Schauer (2.5M/3yr)
- Resigned RW Michal Vachovec (4.455M/2yr)
- Resigned D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna (1.525M/3yr)
- Resigned D Morgan Reilly (1.495M/3yr)
- Resigned G Marcus Johnsson (1.665M/2yr)
- Resigned C Jusso Ikonen (2.23M/2yr)
- Resigned C Alexis Loiseau (2.53M/2yr)
- Resigned C Mikhail Grigorenko (975k/2yr)
- Resigned C Ryan Strome (975k/2yr)
- Resigned C Aleksander Barkov (615k/1yr)
- Resigned RW Marc Chartrand (620k/1yr)
- Resigned RW Samu Pirnes (610k/2yr)
- Resigned D Adam Pelech (815k/2yr)
- Signed C Doug Wiseman, C Jerry Polacek, LW Gibert Dupont, D Brock Modano, and G Jimmy Melnik to entry level contracts.
- Signed FA LW Matt Moulson (3M/2yr)
- Traded C Aleksander Barkov and C Ryan Strome to the Edmonton Oilers for their first round pick in 2020.
It was a long offseason knowing I cost us a chance at the playoffs, but I suppose it is time to move on. I entered the draft and immediately made a trade:
TO CHI
--------
2019 1st (5th OA)
TO BOS
---------
G Kent Simpson
CHI 2019 2nd
WAS 2019 2nd
Simpson has stayed static as far as overall goes while both Hope and Johnsson grew immensely during the offseason (sorry I started the season already so I don't have progression numbers, but right now Hope is 80 and Johnsson is 82). The second rounders were an acceptable loss I felt. Onto the draft I selected:
1(5) Jerry Polacek C
1 (11) Brock Modano D
3 (71) Jimmy Melnik G
I'm going to stop listing picks that are inconsequential, so I won't be listing my 4th-7th rounders in this draft, if they end up doing anything (Like Volek) I will edit my post.
I then entered the resign phase and released LW Brandon Saad, D Nick Leddy, and D Jamie Oleksiak. I then resigned C Mark McNeill, C Brend Schauer, RW Michal Vachovec, D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna, D Morgan Reilly, G Marcus Johnsson, C Jusso Ikonen, C Alexis Loiseau, C Mikhail Grigorenko, C Ryan Strome, C Aleksander Barkov, RW Marc Chartrand, RW Samu Pirnes, and D Adam Pelech. I also signed C Doug Wiseman, C Jerry Polacek, LW Gibert Dupont, D Brock Modano, and G Jimmy Melnik to entry level contracts. In free agency I acquired LW Matt Moulson. I was then ready to enter the season after one last trade:
TO CHI
---------
2020 1st
TO EDM
---------
C Aleksander Barkov
C Ryan Strome
It kind of hurt to get rid of Barkov since he was a first rounder, but he was a longshot to crack my roster with my center depth. Strome was another high 70's low 80's center that I seem to have hordes of and won't be missed.
Summary:
- Traded G Kent Simpson, Chicago's 2nd round pick, and Washington's 2nd round pick to the Boston Bruins in exchange for their first round pick.
- Released LW Brandon Saad, D Nick Leddy, and D Jamie Oleksiak.
- Resigned C Mark McNeill (4.315M/4yr)
- Resigned C Brend Schauer (2.5M/3yr)
- Resigned RW Michal Vachovec (4.455M/2yr)
- Resigned D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna (1.525M/3yr)
- Resigned D Morgan Reilly (1.495M/3yr)
- Resigned G Marcus Johnsson (1.665M/2yr)
- Resigned C Jusso Ikonen (2.23M/2yr)
- Resigned C Alexis Loiseau (2.53M/2yr)
- Resigned C Mikhail Grigorenko (975k/2yr)
- Resigned C Ryan Strome (975k/2yr)
- Resigned C Aleksander Barkov (615k/1yr)
- Resigned RW Marc Chartrand (620k/1yr)
- Resigned RW Samu Pirnes (610k/2yr)
- Resigned D Adam Pelech (815k/2yr)
- Signed C Doug Wiseman, C Jerry Polacek, LW Gibert Dupont, D Brock Modano, and G Jimmy Melnik to entry level contracts.
- Signed FA LW Matt Moulson (3M/2yr)
- Traded C Aleksander Barkov and C Ryan Strome to the Edmonton Oilers for their first round pick in 2020.
Honestly, most of my lines won't have commentary anymore because they're pretty self explanatory, if I feel something has to be said, I'll say it otherwise if you want to know you can ask.
LINE 1: Frolik/Toews/Kane
If everyone can stay healthy this line will be fine, but that's getting harder to ask for each year...
Honestly, most of my lines won't have commentary anymore because they're pretty self explanatory, if I feel something has to be said, I'll say it otherwise if you want to know you can ask.
LINE 1: Frolik/Toews/Kane
If everyone can stay healthy this line will be fine, but that's getting harder to ask for each year...
Ok, at the end of the first half of the season, I'm second in the conference with 64 points (29-15-6). Not much has changed for my team except for one trade:
TO CHI
--------
LW Thomas Vanek
TO OTT
--------
LW Adam Brodziak
While I do enjoy prospects, when I have a chance to trade one for a solid second liner in a position I'm thin at talent wise I'll make that deal 9 out of 10 times. Vanek is 83 overall, and while he is up there in age, I feel like he can help us make a push this year, however once he was added, I had to move someone to the AHL and had no one that wasn't waiver eligible. If I were to do this again I might have though about it more, but I lost Matt Moulson on waivers. I figured I was paying him too much to be a third liner, oh well.
At the half my leaders are:
G: Kane 26
A: Toews 35
+/-: Armia 7
PIMS: Siemens 81
W: Johnsson 22
Summary:
- Traded LW Adam Brodziak to the Ottawa Senators for LW Thomas Vanek.
- Lost LW Matt Moulson on waivers.
Ok, at the end of the first half of the season, I'm second in the conference with 64 points (29-15-6). Not much has changed for my team except for one trade:
TO CHI
--------
LW Thomas Vanek
TO OTT
--------
LW Adam Brodziak
While I do enjoy prospects, when I have a chance to trade one for a solid second liner in a position I'm thin at talent wise I'll make that deal 9 out of 10 times. Vanek is 83 overall, and while he is up there in age, I feel like he can help us make a push this year, however once he was added, I had to move someone to the AHL and had no one that wasn't waiver eligible. If I were to do this again I might have though about it more, but I lost Matt Moulson on waivers. I figured I was paying him too much to be a third liner, oh well.
At the half my leaders are:
G: Kane 26
A: Toews 35
+/-: Armia 7
PIMS: Siemens 81
W: Johnsson 22
Summary:
- Traded LW Adam Brodziak to the Ottawa Senators for LW Thomas Vanek.
- Lost LW Matt Moulson on waivers.
With how well I was playing I was surprised to only have one allstar on the team: Patrick Kane.
The one roster move I made was a waiver pickup: G Dwayne Rabbit who is 65 OVR with 4 * POT. He was St. Louis' 8th Overall pick in the 2017 draft, so getting him for free is great!
We finished the season up at 46-25-11 giving us 103 points, which left us as the second seed.
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Joel Armia/RW/79/12/34/46/14/-5
Matthew Berry-Lamontagna/D/82/2/14/16/12/0
Troy Bourke/LW/82/6/27/33/12/-6
Rocky Brewer/LW/63/12/7/19/8/0
Michael Frolik/RW/43/12/22/34/4/0
Vladimir Glebov/D/79/4/7/11/34/-7
Juuso Ikonen/C/41/4/16/20/0/-1
Patrick Kane/C/82/34/47/81/12/1
Duncan Keith/D/82/5/19/24/14/8
Alexis Loiseau/C/64/13/15/28/4/3
Mark McNeill/C/82/23/20/43/17/-4
Joseph Morrow/D/69/8/16/24/15/5
Matt Moulson/LW/10/2/4/6/8/0
TJ Oshie/RW/82/13/22/35/52/-4
Adam Pelech/D/3/1/1/2/0/3
Morgan Rielly/D/36/6/4/10/4/3
Bernd Schauer/C/78/5/14/19/10/2
Duncan Siemens/D/77/2/3/5/145/3
Jonathan Toews/C/82/22/57/79/80/1
Michal Vachovec/RW/56/19/23/42/14/13
Thomas Vanek/LW/63/15/14/29/16/3
David Walch/C/60/9/14/23/4/1
Evan Wardley/D/81/4/15/19/27/2
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Brandon Hope/14/10/3/1/2.34/.917/0
Marcus Johnsson/67/35/22/10/2.31/.920/8
Vince Weller/2/1/0/0/1.15/.952/0
With how well I was playing I was surprised to only have one allstar on the team: Patrick Kane.
The one roster move I made was a waiver pickup: G Dwayne Rabbit who is 65 OVR with 4 * POT. He was St. Louis' 8th Overall pick in the 2017 draft, so getting him for free is great!
We finished the season up at 46-25-11 giving us 103 points, which left us as the second seed.
Skater Stats:
Name/Pos/GP/G/A/Pts/PIMS/ +/-
Joel Armia/RW/79/12/34/46/14/-5
Matthew Berry-Lamontagna/D/82/2/14/16/12/0
Troy Bourke/LW/82/6/27/33/12/-6
Rocky Brewer/LW/63/12/7/19/8/0
Michael Frolik/RW/43/12/22/34/4/0
Vladimir Glebov/D/79/4/7/11/34/-7
Juuso Ikonen/C/41/4/16/20/0/-1
Patrick Kane/C/82/34/47/81/12/1
Duncan Keith/D/82/5/19/24/14/8
Alexis Loiseau/C/64/13/15/28/4/3
Mark McNeill/C/82/23/20/43/17/-4
Joseph Morrow/D/69/8/16/24/15/5
Matt Moulson/LW/10/2/4/6/8/0
TJ Oshie/RW/82/13/22/35/52/-4
Adam Pelech/D/3/1/1/2/0/3
Morgan Rielly/D/36/6/4/10/4/3
Bernd Schauer/C/78/5/14/19/10/2
Duncan Siemens/D/77/2/3/5/145/3
Jonathan Toews/C/82/22/57/79/80/1
Michal Vachovec/RW/56/19/23/42/14/13
Thomas Vanek/LW/63/15/14/29/16/3
David Walch/C/60/9/14/23/4/1
Evan Wardley/D/81/4/15/19/27/2
Goalie Stats
Name/GP/W/L/OTL/GAA/SV%/SO
Brandon Hope/14/10/3/1/2.34/.917/0
Marcus Johnsson/67/35/22/10/2.31/.920/8
Vince Weller/2/1/0/0/1.15/.952/0
Playoff time! First series was against San Jose:
Game 1: W 4-3
Game 2: W 4-3
Game 3: W 2-1
Game 4: W 5-2
So far so good.
Next Series against St. Louis:
Game 1: L 2-0
Game 2: L 3-1
Game 3: L 4-0
Game 4: L 3-2
Not as good...only managing 3 goals in 4 games is awful, we should have done better.
Toews won the Selke and Edmonton ended up winning the cup, which upset me since I had their first rounder. Onto the draft, before picking I moved that first rounder:
To CHI
--------
D Brett Dingman
TO VAN
--------
EDM 1st (30th)
Meh, I think Dingman (**** POT) is better than anyone I could have got at 30th, plus I still had my first rounder.
1(25): Pavel Sundukov D
2 (55): Orlando Huxley LW
3 (85): Nicklas Lidstrom D
Everyone else is inconsequential.
Onto resigning, I did not release anyone this season, however I did make some moves, stay tuned. I started off by resigning all my UFAs and sending qualifying offers to my RFAs, I was planning on resigning everyone, but I needed cap room. I will first break down the trades, then I'll post everyone I resigned.
TO CHI
--------
BOS 2021 1st
TO BOS
--------
C Mark McNeill
RW Joel Armia
Despite good seasons from both McNeill and Armia, they were projected fourth liners on my team and both were done with progression around 80 OVR. They also play the two positions that I (arguably) have the deepest talent pool at. I chalked this up to acceptable losses and moved on.
TO CHI
--------
LA 2021 1st
TO LA
-------
C Bernd Schauer
First of all, I think Bernd is a dumb name. Second he was nearing the end of his progression years and still was only a fourth liner. Good deal I think.
TO CHI
--------
NYI 2021 1st
TO NYI
---------
D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna
G Brandon Hope
Hope was nearing the end of progression and with so many high potential goalies in my system, I felt it was easy to let him go. Berry was looking at a spot as the 7th D-Man, and I felt I should trade him while I could still get something for him.
With those deals done, I had enough cap space to sign everyone I wanted: C Patrick Kane, C David Walch, LW Thomas Vanek, LW Troy Bourke, RW Rocky Brewer, D Evan Wardley, D Joseph Morrow, D Duncan Siemens, D Vladimir Glebov, Tursumbayev, LW Dingman, RW Marc Chartrand, G Dwayne Rabbit, Konowalchuk, and signed Huxley, Sundukov, and Lidstrom to entry level contracts.
Also Patrick Kane is my new assistant captain with the loss of McNeill, also considered were Morrow, Siemens, and Frolik.
Summary:
- Traded 30th overall pick in the 2020 draft to Vancouver for D Brett Dingman.
- Traded C Mark McNeill and RW Joel Armia to Boston for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Traded C Bernd Schauer to Los Angeles for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Traded G Brandon Hope and D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna to New York (Islanders) for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Resigned C Patrick Kane (10.15M/7yr)
- Resigned C David Walch (4.615M/3yr)
- Resigned LW Thomas Vanek (5.27M/2yr)
- Resigned LW Troy Bourke (2.63M/3yr)
- Resigned RW Rocky Brewer (1.695M/2yr)
- Resigned D Evan Wardley (6.32M/3yr)
- Resigned D Joseph Morrow (5.45M/3yr)
- Resigned D Duncan Siemens (5.12M/2yr)
- Resigned D Vladimir Glebov (2.49M/2yr)
- Resigned RW Marc Chartrand (2.535M/2)
- Resigned G Dwayne Rabbit (590k/2yr)
- Resigned Konowalchuk (705k/2yr)
- Resigned Tursumbayev (810k/2yr)
- Resigned Dingman (620k/1yr)
- Signed D Pavel Sundukov, LW Orlando Huxley, and D Nicklas Lidstrom to entry level contracts.
Playoff time! First series was against San Jose:
Game 1: W 4-3
Game 2: W 4-3
Game 3: W 2-1
Game 4: W 5-2
So far so good.
Next Series against St. Louis:
Game 1: L 2-0
Game 2: L 3-1
Game 3: L 4-0
Game 4: L 3-2
Not as good...only managing 3 goals in 4 games is awful, we should have done better.
Toews won the Selke and Edmonton ended up winning the cup, which upset me since I had their first rounder. Onto the draft, before picking I moved that first rounder:
To CHI
--------
D Brett Dingman
TO VAN
--------
EDM 1st (30th)
Meh, I think Dingman (**** POT) is better than anyone I could have got at 30th, plus I still had my first rounder.
1(25): Pavel Sundukov D
2 (55): Orlando Huxley LW
3 (85): Nicklas Lidstrom D
Everyone else is inconsequential.
Onto resigning, I did not release anyone this season, however I did make some moves, stay tuned. I started off by resigning all my UFAs and sending qualifying offers to my RFAs, I was planning on resigning everyone, but I needed cap room. I will first break down the trades, then I'll post everyone I resigned.
TO CHI
--------
BOS 2021 1st
TO BOS
--------
C Mark McNeill
RW Joel Armia
Despite good seasons from both McNeill and Armia, they were projected fourth liners on my team and both were done with progression around 80 OVR. They also play the two positions that I (arguably) have the deepest talent pool at. I chalked this up to acceptable losses and moved on.
TO CHI
--------
LA 2021 1st
TO LA
-------
C Bernd Schauer
First of all, I think Bernd is a dumb name. Second he was nearing the end of his progression years and still was only a fourth liner. Good deal I think.
TO CHI
--------
NYI 2021 1st
TO NYI
---------
D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna
G Brandon Hope
Hope was nearing the end of progression and with so many high potential goalies in my system, I felt it was easy to let him go. Berry was looking at a spot as the 7th D-Man, and I felt I should trade him while I could still get something for him.
With those deals done, I had enough cap space to sign everyone I wanted: C Patrick Kane, C David Walch, LW Thomas Vanek, LW Troy Bourke, RW Rocky Brewer, D Evan Wardley, D Joseph Morrow, D Duncan Siemens, D Vladimir Glebov, Tursumbayev, LW Dingman, RW Marc Chartrand, G Dwayne Rabbit, Konowalchuk, and signed Huxley, Sundukov, and Lidstrom to entry level contracts.
Also Patrick Kane is my new assistant captain with the loss of McNeill, also considered were Morrow, Siemens, and Frolik.
Summary:
- Traded 30th overall pick in the 2020 draft to Vancouver for D Brett Dingman.
- Traded C Mark McNeill and RW Joel Armia to Boston for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Traded C Bernd Schauer to Los Angeles for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Traded G Brandon Hope and D Matthew Berry-Lamontagna to New York (Islanders) for their first round pick in the 2021 draft.
- Resigned C Patrick Kane (10.15M/7yr)
- Resigned C David Walch (4.615M/3yr)
- Resigned LW Thomas Vanek (5.27M/2yr)
- Resigned LW Troy Bourke (2.63M/3yr)
- Resigned RW Rocky Brewer (1.695M/2yr)
- Resigned D Evan Wardley (6.32M/3yr)
- Resigned D Joseph Morrow (5.45M/3yr)
- Resigned D Duncan Siemens (5.12M/2yr)
- Resigned D Vladimir Glebov (2.49M/2yr)
- Resigned RW Marc Chartrand (2.535M/2)
- Resigned G Dwayne Rabbit (590k/2yr)
- Resigned Konowalchuk (705k/2yr)
- Resigned Tursumbayev (810k/2yr)
- Resigned Dingman (620k/1yr)
- Signed D Pavel Sundukov, LW Orlando Huxley, and D Nicklas Lidstrom to entry level contracts.
Duey
![[Image: Q4Adkgo.png]](https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/83ZlIMZ3mLSWhH9XphtXhNn05ELHNL5XuzIKSJcJhDY/https/i.imgur.com/Q4Adkgo.png)
![[Image: NCQjJT2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/NCQjJT2.png)
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