Steve

I know it is late in the season, but looking to move 20yo 81OVR giant (6'7" 234lbs) Forward Douville who is signed through end of season for $500,000. http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=36725 Looking for prospects and/or pick(s). Also, anyone looking for a true veteran presence for the playoffs, I will trade my team's leading scorer whose contract is up at the end of this season. http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=24749 Same, pick or prospect in return.

Thanks for doing the computations on this. My guess is this is pretty close to how it is coded in the engine. Also nice to know that a little bump is nice (and realistic), but it isn't insurmountable or too large. I felt like my team has never really enjoyed a Home advantage, but the numbers say otherwise. Using your methodology, over 11 seasons, my overall win % is 54% but my home win percentage over 11 seasons is 61%. But like all averages, there are good seasons and not so good. For instance, my SHL numbers are insane, but over the past 7.5 seasons in GHL, my HW% is slightly over 50%, which is probably why I feel playing at Home hasn't always mattered. But in no season has the number of Home Wins been less than 50% of total wins, going to show how important those home wins are to your final point total.

I'm shocked you found Eldred (my hometown!) even on a Google map! I'm more shocked that it was included in Ander's name list since I think it might be about the size of Defereit with zero hockey connection.

Are any teams actually getting any streaks (besides cold) this season? I'm wondering if it is because GHL teams, with only a couple exceptions on both ends, are fairly equal. I also feel like no matter what I do at this point, I'm going to get the same results.

You must have given your bug to my team. I've lost five different players for various lengths this past week.

Would love to see #1, #5, and #6. #3 would be nice, but isn't essential. I usually search the Trade Block list to find willing partners, but it isn't usually better than sending out PMs to managers.

It happened again, but this time he played 30 seconds on the PP.

To confirm, this only was on your PK units or other lines?

During Day 29 in Biscuit, my assigned player Tornqvist received stats in my GHL game, yet I had no injuries and he was assigned to my AAHL team. It only appears he played on PK, but still... I can't do screenshots on this device, but here is the link. I even double checked my lineup from my team screen, just in case, but he is clearly assigned and is not in my PK lineups. http://www.gameplanhockey.com/game?gpid=170009click on stats and line-up http://www.gameplanhockey.com/team?gpid=136click on roster

Talk about finding a diamond in the rough! This was from pre-draft days and he entered ranked as a 63OVR 19yo. Looks like he got demoted on a team once and/or picked up in the appropriate league once or twice, but then in Season 9, once he actually started playing as a starter, has increased by 20 OVR in 2+ seasons. He's in the last year of his contract, so Scorpions better hope they promote in hope to keep him!

Speaking of injuries, training, and affiliate teams... Do you all find your assigned players to be either "tired" or even "exhausted"? I've been keeping their training on "easy" to try and keep them from getting too tired and injured, but still no luck. Anyone have any idea why this is the case? It makes them almost unusable for a call up since they will likely sleep through their pre-game wake-up call since they are so tired!

Now is the time of the season when teams' confidence starts to hit Perfect, chemistry is clicking, and we are about to cycle back through the schedule. I feel like most teams aren't at 100% until about game 20 anyways, so I wouldn't worry, unless you are looking to trade your 1st Rounder for one of my guys? haha.

Same here, lost a guy for 10 days last night.

Agreed, I think they are more common and I can confirm, your players can and WILL get hurt while playing in AAHL as well. But I think it appears to be slightly more realistic and a good part of the game. As for the Dirty tactic, I've used this a handful of times in the past and agree that your players are more likely to get hurt than the opponent's.

Clearly you didn't need him to beat me last night! ha! No worries. I too thought it was odd, so glad I didn't add to the mistake.

I think I will just lie low until game 35 again. It almost worked last season as I was the only team to beat the Champs in a Playoff game! Another goal in Game 3 and who knows what could have happened!?!?

My standing dropped! Guess I shouldn't have slept through free agency, haha.

I'm curious how this will work out at the end of the season and hope someone from Mitts or Lumber can tell us. All these contracts have to be paid (in full) as of the first day of the season, correct? So even if you pay six players peanuts at 10%, on Day 1 you have to be able to pay all of them full price before you can even send them down. I think teams that are pushing hard against the cap in current season and have prospects beyond 1 season will see the math come back to bite them when they need to resign current players for next season, the full demoted player's salary is eating into the available cap (at least that is how I understand it). If I am correct, then these "hoarders" will be stuck with a lot of prospects, but can't resign any players asking for a raise. Not saying that is a bad strategy, only time will tell, but I think it is a built in penalty for the demoted player contracts. Can anyone from one of the Fast leagues comment on this?

I was just thinking this too, if I sign a multi year contract, does the full salary need to fit under next season (i.e. automatically recalled at end of the season) or will they remain in the affiliate level between seasons? I think you addressed this already, but wanted to highlight it with Bob's comments too.

Happy to see Miners and Breakouts back in GHL. Expect it to be another very competitive season! Justina - BTW, Faneuf wanted that same contract with me last season, but I couldn't see keeping him on my team until he is 39. ;-)

rainsilent, all good points! I hadn't looked to see how other players were using the affiliate teams yet. Even if a manager hoards players, yes he is taking them out of the pool for others, but eventually, to get those good players into his regular lineup, he is going to have to promote and pay them full. Unless he demotes others (presumably older players, but I would suspect they would be on 1W contracts), he isn't going to have the cap space to keep them all anyways unless he times his contracts just right. I think it will depend on the strategy of the Manager just like it does in the NHL. Some teams bank on long term contracts, others prospects, others a combination, and other teams seem to be reinventing every season with only short term contracts. No one strategy is more perfect from what I can tell in GPH at the moment, although we do seem to have a dynasty 'problem' in GHL. Not sure if the new affiliate teams can help alleviate or promote it going forward. I think letting it play out for a couple seasons (just a couple of weeks in the fast worlds) and see what those managers think before a decision is made.

You know what would also be interesting is you compare the payrolls to outputs (wins, goals, standings, etc). I do this similar with my guys when looking at contracts, but have never looked outside my roster. Curious which manager got the "most bang for the buck" with someone and who overpaid for a big dud! After all, those are the fun real life hockey stories each season.

If the reason is to prevent people from hoarding players on their farm teams, then perhaps the minor league contract should just simply count for more than the 10% it currently does to the primary team. Hoarding isn't "free", it still costs 10%. However, if it were 25% (pick any number higher than 20%), then I think it would be hard for a manager to hoard. (3-4 farm players equal 1 primary contract). That's not exactly hoarding. Plus, I like the idea of having fluid and experimental lineups. If I have to worry every time I send down a 24+ old player about waivers, then it defeats the purpose of having the farm team for anything other than prospects who already play in appropriate level leagues. I'm not 100% against waivers, I just haven't yet been convinced how it would be more fun than hassle in our leagues.

If I follow, you are trying to change next year's salary limits based on moving players up and down this season? I believe that you can actually go OVER your cap for next season with players on your top team this season (taking into account those in minors and pending contracts), but at the start of next season, you will be required to send down players to ensure you are under the cap. So in your case, you will need to free up an additional $40k (60-20) to keep Kussi up at $60k.

Agree with Matt. Since PP and PK aren't going to be a large percentage of your total ice time, taking the time to change it to a better one is worth the up and down potential while they team learns it. Changing special teams tactics isn't as painful as changing your offensive tactics.