Playoff time, however since my starting goalie is hurt we will enter the playoffs with Martin Biron between the pipes.

First Round, vs Los Angeles Kings

Game 1: 6-2 L
Game 2: 3-1 W
Game 3: 3-2 L
Game 4: 4-3 W
Game 5: 3-2 L
Game 6: 7-2 L

No doubt we were hurting without our starting goaltender. During the series Marcus Kruger got hurt for a week and Brandon Pirri went down for five weeks. We were eliminated much too early, I feel with a healthy Crawford we would've went much further. Anyway Pittsburgh won the cup.

The next thing to do was to enter the draft, before making my first round selection I was able to swing a trade:

TO CHI
--------
C, Vincent Trocheck

TO FLA
--------
LW, Rostislav Olesz

I feel like the salary relief alone was enough to make this a decent deal. Olesz was stuck behind my forward depth (many of whom, such as Frolik had grown much better in the offseason). Initially the computer offered this deal with a 23 year old winger instead, when I countered with Trocheck, a 19 year old center, I was very happy with the deal when it was accepted.

Round 1 (23): C, Aleksander Barkov

Easily the best available player, not only is he young (17) but 3.5 POT is good.

Round 4 (113): D, Slater Koekkoek
Round 5 (143): RW, Connor Brown
Round 6 (173): D, Kyle Hope
Round 7 (203): LW, Dominik Volek

None of these guys will be difference makers for the team, Koekkoek was drafted on name alone and the other three were simply the best listed players.

The resign phase and free agency were then set to begin.

But first progression, this is how my players progressed (and regressed):

Patrick Kane: 86 -> 87
Brent Seabrook: 86 -> 85
Michael Frolik: 79 -> 84
Niklas Hjalmarsson: 84 -> 83
Nick Leddy: 79 -> 82
Shane Doan: 82 -> 81
Marcus Kruger: 74 -> 76
Mark McNeill also increased from whatever he was in the AHL to 73.

I released goaltender Alexander Salak, hopefully clearing up the logjam of goalies I had in the minors, defenseman Joe Lavin, left wing Brandon Bollig, winger Michael Ryder, winger Bryan Bickell, and defenseman Mark Streit (I regret that, I wasn't sure how good the defensive FA crop would be, which as it turns out wasn't that good. I tried to resign him but he chose elsewhere). After that I signed some important players: goalie Corey Crawford, defenseman Nick Leddy, center Marcus Kruger, winger Kyle Beach, winger Ben Smith, defensemen Shawn Lalonde and Ryan Stanton and goalie Martin Biron. First round pick Aleksander Barkov was also signed to an entry level deal.

This was another quiet free agency period. After losing out on Mark Streit, I signed defenseman Marek Zidlicky to replace him.

The final thing to do before next season was to plan my lines.

LINE 1:Frolik/Toews/Kane.

Having the two snipers play alongside a playmaker (Toews) will hopefully fuel the offense. With this line being so young (25/25/24) if everything holds up this can be my main line for years to come.

LINE 2: Sharp/Bolland/Hossa

I moved Sharpie down to the second line and now he is in the same boat as Hossa, being better overall than the player above them in the depth chart, but serving a better purpose on a lower line. In this case the whole line is made up of TWFs. I hope this line serves as my defensive line but they also have the potential to be extremely deadly offensively too.

LINE 3: Carcillo/McNeill/Doan

My PWF line and although Carcillo is a GRN I think he still fits in nicely with this line. Hopefully McNeill meshes well with the older guys and will be a big producer next season at age 21. I don't expect major offense from this line, although 20-25 points each should be attainable.

LINE 4: Beach/Kruger/Hayes

This is my line of younger guys, since I think my other three lines look very good I won't mix and match these guys in other spots unless someone starts struggling really badly. Hopefully they play well enough to bump their OVRs slightly and maybe play a bigger role in the future.

D PAIR 1: Keith/Seabrook

The go to D-Pair for the Hawks will remain the same with Keith being solid offensively and Seabrook, although a DFD will be able to chip in offensively as well.

D PAIR 2: Hjalmarsson/Oduya

Although Oduya is my worst top 6 D-Man in terms of overall, I think it will help chemistry to have the two DFD on a pair together and the 2 OFD on a pair together. Hjalmarsson still has room to grow, and both players put in double digit points last year. All I'm asking of this pair is to be strong defensively, we have enough offense on the rest of the team.

D PAIR 3: Leddy/Zidlicky

Two OFD, Leddy is still 22 and with **** POT should hopefully grow even more this season, possibly moving to a spot on the second pairing next season.

GOALIES: Crawford/Biron

Same as last year. Both are on two year deals and hopefully by the time their contracts are up Kent Simpson will be ready to be a starter in the NHL.

SUMMARY:
- Eliminated in the 1st round of the playoffs by the Kings.
- Traded LW Rostislav Olesz to the Florida Panthers for C Vincent Trocheck.
- Drafted C Aleksander Barkov at 23rd Overall.
- Drafted D Slater Koekkoek at 113th Overall.
- Drafted RW Connor Brown at 143rd Overall.
- Drafted D Kyle Hope at 173rd Overall.
- Drafted LW Dominik Volek at 203rd Overall.
- Released G Alexander Salak, D Joe Lavin, LW Brandon Bollig, RW Michael Ryder, LW Bryan Bickell, and D Mark Streit.
- Resigned G Corey Crawford (4.365M/2yr)
- Resigned D Nick Leddy (1.65M/2yr)
- Resigned C Marcus Kruger (1.095M/1yr)
- Resigned LW Kyle Beach (1.33M/2yr)
- Resigned RW Ben Smith (.74M/1yr)
- Resigned D Shawn Lalonde (.595M/2yr)
- Resigned D Ryan Stanton (.535M/2yr)
- Resigned G Martin Biron (1.335M/2yr)
- Signed C Aleksander Barkov to entry level contract.
- Signed D Marek Zidlicky (2.85M/2yr)

2013-2014 season will be updated tomorrow.