Wendel Clark

"Lesser extent" embarrassing manager reporting. What is embarrassing is generalizing and blaming someone with speculative or nonexistant reasons. Yes, I "hoarde" players for a full AAHL roster. Not for the idea of hoarding, not for the idea of ripping other managers though. If I have "no intention to trade them", that's something to be blamed? If I had, I'd get the blame for ripping other managers. My AAHL players are generally open for trades. And why are they in my AAHL roster in the first place? Because no SHL managers are offering them contracts. If they would, most players would choose one-way SHL contract over two-way GHL contract. As for the reasons for my "hoarding". I like a full AAHL roster for mainly two reasons. 1) Having backup players and securing them gaining and maintaining perfect confidence by having good linemates and 2) Good full AAHL roster stats are fun. And Like Paul T pointed out, much more pressing issue is the ridiculous salaries of top players combined with the fact you don't even need four lines or three pairs of D to be succesful. FA market is dead because you can have 90+ overall third liners because salaries are no issue and you don't even need a fourth line. Priorities to fix: 1) The best thing should ALWAYS be having 18 skaters playing. No NHL team ever dresses less and even the lesser guys play a couple of minutes, Stanley Cup finals included. 2) Salaries UP UP UP making it necessary to choose who to have in your roster and not just pile up 90+ overalls any which way you can get them. 3) Roster limit would probably be a good idea too, if we're not supposed to have a full AAHL rosters for fun

Let me know if there are some mistakes or adjustments to make them more accurate. I only used one for my own team and other for a team having only 5 defenders.

Eastern Conference 1. Slaughterville Red Tide (Alexander Rasputin) OFF: 88,5 DEF: 88,7 SG: 93 OVR: 88,9 2. Sheshegwaning Dragons (Ives Pa) OFF: 88,0 DEF: 88,8 SG: 91 OVR: 88,6 3. Big Delta Stealheads (Paul T) OFF: 88,2 DEF: 88,3 SG: 88 OVR: 88,2 4. St.Thomas Stray Cats (Erzac Ray) OFF: 86,1 DEF: 88,8 SG: 96 OVR: 88,1 5. Sault Ste Marie Battlin Bears (Joe Leconte) OFF: 87,3 DEF: 88,0 SG: 88 OVR: 87,7 6. Lake Viking Bulldogs (Max Mol) OFF: 86,1 DEF: 88 SG: 94 OVR: 87,6 7. Rome Trojans (Yann Rock) OFF: 85,4 DEF: 88,5 SG: 92 OVR: 87,3 8. Maxville Vortex (Tyrod Gibson) OFF: 86,7 DEF: 86,0 SG: 91 OVR: 86,7 9. Kingston Kamikaze (Antti Hänninen) OFF: 85,0 DEF: 87,0 SG: 93 OVR: 86,5 10. Mango Duhawks (Dr. Jones) OFF: 85,8 DEF: 85,3 SG: 91 OVR: 86,0 Tied 11. Bodmin Bangers (Sakari Lindholm) OFF: 85,3 DEF: 86,2 SG: 87 OVR: 85,8 Tied 11. Cedar Rapids Minutemen (Richard Armour) OFF: 85,5 DEF: 86,2 SG: 86 OVR: 85,8 13. Mount Airy Savage Storm (Jason New) OFF: 84,3 DEF: 85,3 SG: 86 OVR: 84,9 14. Frains Golden Bears (Computer) OFF: 79,8 DEF: 84,2 SG: 82 OVR: 82,0 Western Conference 1. Kegashka Prairie Stars (Ferris Mason) OFF: 87,8 DEF: 91,3 SG: 94 OVR: 89,9 2. West Chicago Hawks (Richard Feynman) OFF: 87,0 DEF: 88,2 SG: 95 OVR: 88,2 3. Scandinavia Steelers (J Jono) OFF: 87,3 DEF: 88,0 SG: 92 OVR: 88,0 4. Vauban Tomahawks (Ben \) OFF: 87,5 DEF: 87,7 SG: 92 OVR: 87,9 5. Eastern Outlaws (The Champ) OFF: 86,3 DEF: 88,2 SG: 92 OVR: 87,6 6. Eldred Elite (Steven Bennett) OFF: 87 DEF: 87,8 SG: 87 OVR: 87,4 7. Ithaca Ricochet (Marc S) OFF: 84,6 DEF: 89,2 SG: 93 OVR: 87,3 8. Enigma Rage (Wendel Clark) OFF: 87,4* DEF: 86,7* SG: 88 OVR: 87,1 (*Used two D as F) 9. Yonker Wolverines (Jiri Heikkala) OFF: 85,7 DEF: 87,8 SG: 88 OVR: 86,8 10. Rycroft Red Thunder (Torbjörn Johansson) OFF: 86,8 DEF: 85,2* SG: 87 OVR: 86,1 (*Used 13th C/F as 6th D, since there is only 5 D) 11. Richibucto Masons (Dr. Wendt) OFF: 84,3 DEF: 85,8 SG: 90 OVR: 85,5 12. Pittsboro Plastic Attack (Makate Naekfor) OFF: 83,8 DEF: 86,8 SG: 86 OVR: 85,4 13. Blenheim Pirates (Martin J) OFF: 82,1 DEF: 84,7 SG: 88 OVR: 83,7 14. Thetford Mines Pegasus (Jeff Hamm) OFF: 82,3 DEF: 82,0 SG: 83 OVR: 82,2 Calculated on day 8 of S4, using: Team OVR = (OFF + (DEF*2) + (SG*2))/26 where OFF: ovr sum of best 12 centers/forwards DEF: ovr sum of best 6 defenders SG: ovr of starting goalie

Days 3, 4, 5 and 6 now. How long are you gonna let this continue?

Days 3, 4 and 5 now and still not running. This is not good at all.

As pre-season is well on its way and last player acquisitions for the season are on the works, this situation can be critical especially to the promoting teams. Waiver claims haven't been happening neither on day 3 (for example Caza) nor day 4 (for example Foy). This I think needs to be addressed quickly to make the situation as fair as possible for everyone. If the waivers are not happening and no one knows when they will again, this kind of situation probably hurts the promoting teams the most, and they are already in a very tight spot generally speaking.

It's probably gonna sort itself to its right duration of 3 years. If it doesn't, then of course something is still wrong. I remember having similar issues in the beginning of the last season, entry level contracts showing one year less than they should have for several players. I was monitoring the situation and it got/was corrected at some point, quite early too if my memory serves me right.

I'm not gonna try to trade with them at least. Not today, not in three days, not in... well you get the picture.

Gratz Peek!

Uuno Järvenpää, 27y, playmaker center with good faceoffs. Looking for two-way/powerforward type of player in return, preferably center but winger might also do. Might consider prospect as well. https://gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=925-A

Yeah, looks like the weakness of the current system is the vulnerability to abuse (which could easily be countered by disabling inter-league trades of picks) and not the switching of the picks itself. The first one to me seems obvious and the latter debatable.

Wick, I get your point, but I don't exactly understand how that would be any more "incentivising failure" if they would get that top pick one draft later. As it is now, sure it is for sure faster reward of promotion, but that doesn't make the top pick one season later "incentivising failure" in my opinion.

This has been in my mind for a while now. Good that Peekaboo now brought it up, so I have to do the same as well. The way I see it, stopping pick switching would solve/help with many problems while creating very little, if any. First, the downside, if it even can be called that: the reward of promotion would come one season later. As the system is now, when you promote (and have your picks left), they turn very valuable and usually usable right away and helping in that next level you just reached (and are even highest overall picks in GHL). If those picks would not switch, when you promote (and have your picks left), those picks would come at the later end of the level you are about to leave, making them much less useful. But then to the upsides, that also make that one downside very questionable or at least very much outweighs it in my opinion. I think it's quite safe to say that the current system's weaknesses culminate into one thing: the huge value change of picks in case of promotion/relegation. Huge value change on relegation: It is already very hard to keep your place in the new league level after promotion. Or if for some other reason (like a re-building) you think you are in risk of relegation, it is a big stress factor in itself. In addition to that, you now fear your future picks will lose a lot of their value (even "crumble into dust" if I am allowed to exaggerate a bit here), and you will have to decide whether you just submit to this, or will try to trade them for something (probably for a discount since others will understand your tough situation as well). Huge value change on promotion: This is even bigger problem because of how this is abused and in all likelihood will be even more so in the future. If you keep your picks and promote, fantastic and I don't have anything against it. But there are other issues about this. Like Peekaboo already wrote, it is "super abusable". It's easy to trade for these picks away from higher league level. And if (probably not if but when, as the worlds before this reset showed) this becomes more and more common practice, it will be very bad for the game, even ruin it for many. It comes down to "if everyone else is doing it" factor. I'll use SHL/GHL as an example, but I think the principles are the same for every league level. If you play in SHL and want to promote, it is tempting to offer your picks to GHL team to get players that would otherwise be harder or even impossible to get. You would get an advantage. Then if someone else would do this, but you wouldn't, you would be in a disadvantage. From GHL perspective: top picks are very valuable, and very hard to get, and the promotion SHL picks have the highest odds of becoming the most valuable picks in the world. So it is obvious anyone in their right mind would want them. But how to get them in the current system is very vulnerable and let's say it as it is: abusable. And then what applies to SHL, applies to GHL: if others do it, you have to do it too, or be in a disadvantage. So it can easily become "racehorse betting" that no one really likes but are half-forced to do anyway: offering scrape (for GHL-level) players to SHL teams they think or hope to promote and it becomes a race of who bets the right team and who gets accepted first. I personally hate it, and I know I'm not the only one. Probably most of us do. Upside then for stopping the pick switches: the value of picks would be predictable. That is core reason that leads to other (all?) upsides. If you promote to GHL (other levels as well, this is just my example), it is already tough enough to stay up. Even if you would relegate, you would know your pick to be great. If you opt to keep it, you will have a strong future asset almost certainly. If you opt to trade it, its great value is obvious to everyone, and the one wanting it would need to give really valuable price for it. If you are promoting (to any level), you know your current picks are not too valuable, but the real reward comes later. You can also trade them, they still have value at least to the level you are currently playing and soon leaving behind. Most importantly this change would reduce the very questionable and abusive practices from becoming more and more common and hurtful for the entire game and making the game fairer for everyone. Secondly, it would hugely help the teams that are in the risk of relegation (after promotion or for other reasons) since they would know that their picks would keep their high value. So I would say this subject and post would better belong to suggestions category really. Stop pick switching! Or at least consider the ups and downs very carefully. Opinions?

Gratz to bouncer and West Chicago Hawks. Game 5 and series win 3-2 for them. Nothing miraculous about losing to Hawks but the series was a bit of a weird one and I can't but be a bit of annoyed about the very ending. Series breakdown: Shots: WES 169 ENI 138 This number shows edge on Hawks. They won shots in 3 games and the rest of the 2 were tied. Power play: WES 5/29 ENI 4/10 These numbers tell several tales and there I also see one factor to my demise. I scored all my 4 PPG during one 5-minute major, and went 0/9 after that. Hawks on the other hand had me taking too many penalties and I was playing half of the games 3 and 5 in the penalty box. Both teams also scored one shorty. Individual games: Game 1: Dream start for Rage, 4 power play goals during one penalty. Pettigrew didn't know what hit him and Hawks never recovered. 0-5 and series 0-1 for Rage. Game 2: Gibazov is injured and is replaced by Lantaigne in the first line. Line gets butchered with -4 alongside -3 by 1st defense pair. 5-2 Hawks and series tied 1-1. Game 3: Penalties ruin the game for Rage. Spineless effort from them. Shutout for Pettigrew and showdown for Hawks powerplay. 3-0 Hawks and they take the series lead 2-1. Game 4: Hawks powerplay continues strong, but Rage wins this one due to even strength domination. 4-3 Rage and series tied 2-2. Game 5: Penalties again troubling Rage, who take first 6 penalties of the game but still manage 2-0 lead but Hawks quickly make it 2-2. The downfall of Rage comes in the third, with a total meltdown, losing shots 17-4 and allowing 4 goals, two of them by an unexpected hero Ventura, who only had 4 goals in the entire regular season. Rage is beaten and Hawks advance to 3-2 series win with 6-2 game 5. For Rage the series started like dream and ended like a nightmare. But in conclusion, the better team won. I took way too many penalties and Hawks depth players stepped up (Journeau 25 points in the regular season, 7 in this series). Regular season was 2 wins each (one of mine overtime) and this one went to game 5 so I managed to fight as the underdog in the playoffs too. And game 4 win was by strong even strength effort, so I was not only one-powerplay-wonder in this series. Season over. Now a breather and focusing on next season. Good luck to all the remaining teams.

Nico Gut, 33-year old, 90 overall goalie. Cemal Nießeler, 20-year old grinder/prospect, 82 overall. Both have excellent trading value. Transfer needs: Powerforward, preferably center but maybe winger as well. Defenseman, two-way or stay at home. Playmaker-type or at least puck skilled center or forward.