Steve

Dude, your team is stacked and probably better than it was at the beginning of the season, especially with all the draft picks you will get this year. See you in GHL in Season 12!

Sorry to see you go, it's been fun since we came into GHL the same season, but based on your moves, I think you will be back soon!

Have two great veterans that can contribute to a playoff team. Forward - Aitken - 88ovr at 33yo. Natural at Playmaker, Sniper, Power forward, and Grinder. In the last year of his contract. Defenseman - Coburn - 87ovr at 37yo. Yes, at the end of his career, but has been a solid 1st or 2nd line D-man for many seasons for me. Want him to get a chance before he hangs them up. Also in the last year of his contract. Looking for prospects, draft picks and/or a cheap player under 2M.

Like rainsilent stated above, Anders has always wanted to do this, but it has likely slipped in his list of priorities. Personally, I would prefer this to the current format and would probably leave my current world based on all the reasons above.

Obviously, I can't use promotion as my excuse any longer, haha. But what I think would help reduce this 'unfair GHL promotion' bias that some state is inherent in the system and the CPU trading abuses is if we were to have a non-promotion, NHL style league. No ups or downs (could lock CPU rosters, perhaps) and each season, we know all the 16-32 (whatever) teams in our league will be and the pool of players we are up against. It's the same game, but gets rid of the biggest complaints players have with the current design.

Also, I think this shows the true difficulty new teams coming into the GHL from SHL face trying to be competitive. Had you run these numbers on Day 1, I guarantee Pegasus and Heroes would have been much lower averages. Maybe it is too much to expect newly promoted teams to be competitive in Season 1, but this really quantifies the uphill battle they face on Game 1.

Well, we can dream!

Haha, you say that now until you play him in a few days! ;-) But honestly, a solid team and season he built this year, even if I was not successful in trying to sabotage it with the trade he accepted, haha.

I feel the same way. This season is the first that I hadn't fallen and I got exactly where I finished with that pick. Unfortunately, I think Grizzlies will benefit the most from my luck this season, ha!

Pearl had one good season in the last four (hasn't played any better for Vandals either) and I easily found as good or better replacements on his line. Lack of skill isn't the problem and Pearl only had a handful of points when I sent him packing, the primary reason I did, but I agree, my team has been a big funk ever since. Who knows, maybe the best thing to do is get relegated and start fresh. I know I have learned a good bit more about how to build a solid team (present results not included!) than I did with the team I came into the GHL with. But honestly, starting literally from scratch (say for my starting G) sounds exhausting during free agency, haha.

And once you figure out that goalie, can you figure out my entire team! At one point about 10-15 games in, I was in 6th. Now I am worried about losing what looks likely to be a relegation series, haha. This season can't end fast enough!!!

Looking to take offers for my #1 Prospect Kraig Aldaco (http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=34661) who is currently sitting at 79ovr, started season at 76, and has put up 125 points in less than 2 seasons in the DEHL. I'm looking for either 1) similar level Center prospect, 2) very high draft pick or 3) in combo with some players.

Looking to move my backup Goalie Olexandr Duranichev. (http://www.gameplanhockey.com/goalie?gpid=447). He is 87 OVR and has increased his rating this season again, even at the age of 34. He has 2 yrs remaining on a $2.85m GHL/$712k SHL contract. When he was last in the SHL, rating of 84, he went 33-5-1 with a 2.52 GAA and SV% of .924. Open to all offers, but hoping for a GHL level 2nd-3rd liner in their mid to late 20's in return.

Big match in GHL tonight with Elite (11th) going against Minutemen (8th)! Elite seem kind of rudderless this season, but not out, and Minutemen seem to have found their magic just in time! But with 3 teams (Oilers, Wolf Pack, Elite) within 6-8 points of the 8th seed and a win by all of them tonight cuts Minutemen's grip on the last playoff spot by half! All three teams find themselves in the awkward position of cheering for each other whenever the others match up against Trojans and Minutemen to try and make up some points. Just like the last couple of seasons, it might come down to the last two matches of the season to determine who gets the 8th slot. MInutemen's opponents? Elite and Sabercats...

Clearly, I need to try harder with my CPU trades as evident by my naivete and place in the standings! :-P Actually, thanks for starting this thread. It's been fun to blow off some steam and realize, afterall, this is just a game and a fun little time waster break in my day. A fun one at that! So, who wants some high priced 35-year olds?!?!?

Sometimes the issue is, and I think this is FTW's this season, unless you actively look, you might not know that a manager was fired, quit or non-existent. I'm not trying to make excuses, but it took me a few days after Skyhawks vacated before I even noticed. And no, that isn't an excuse for the S8 "rape" Big-Bobby referenced about me earlier. That was more a "she had a few too many drinks" situation, but I justified it by saying it was a team that was clearly, like Skyhawks, going to be relegated, the player was on the trade block and 1W. I gave the team 3 pieces to rebuild with and be competitive with at the SHL level if a real manager came along. To be honest, I am not even sure it has been worth it given the final result thus far. Even though we all complain about CPU trading, it always seems to be a very short term victory. In the long run, a team might get one or two pieces, but usually those 1-2 players aren't enough to move them more than 1-2 positions in the standings. Especially at the GHL level, you really need 3-4 lines of quality players and goaltending (and probably a good understanding of the tactics and lineup mechanics) to be in the top 8. I still think we should just block it, but not sure it truly impacts the overall gaming experience in the long term (2-3 seasons).

Well, I think you can count Elite out this year. Thought I had found the magic and it turned out to be only magic beans. My team is in a tailspin (bad karma for trading with Vandals? hahaha) 2-0-0-7 in my last 9! Half my team doesn't have time to rebuild since they are so old. Looking forward to beating up on an SHL team to stay in, ha.

I don't recall the exact trade you are referring to in Season 8, but it would be hypocritical to suggest I have never tried to push the envelope with a CPU trade (not sure last time I did one, but am sure I have in the past) or even a trade with a fellow manager. But this goes to the point right, we either need to rely on some generally reasonable self policing (I don't trade with SHL teams unless I feel what I am offering is something that can help them immediately) or just prevent CPU altogether. Honestly, since it is such a hot button issue and creates a lot of bad blood between each of us, I say just ban it outright. All CPU rosters should be locked. Seems like it would put an end to repetitive conversations like this, no?

If someone is just blatantly reporting people for cheating just because other teams beat him or won't trade with him, then he should also be blocked for some time since it does interfere with the games and people's reaction to the game. I doubt the system masks the accuser from Anders. At some point, Anders probably needs to tell him to knock it off, go or flat out block him for a few days.

I wonder if Anders has a method where he can turn off trades of computer teams? They can't trade at all, that would solve 90% of trade issues we talk about.

I had noticed this as well on day 77. It allowed me to offer contracts to new FAs the last few hours of Season 8. In my case, no one signed until season 9, so no cap issues. It became apparent because my players I chose not to resign (Villasenor was one, coincidentally) were released about half way through day 77, freeing up cap space in Season 8.

I got reported yesterday (two days ago/Tuesday night EST), which was odd since the only trade I did was with Kim (Vandals, he twisted my arm, haha) which was pretty even up. Personally, I would rather just have someone message me if they felt I was doing something wrong and hell, maybe offer me a more fair trade, or explain why they feel I am cheating. I do find that our self policing mostly works, but there are times when it just makes sense to do a "bad trade". For instance, my goaltending situation has hardly improved in the past 2-3 seasons for despite my best faith in my guys, find myself wanting to find an out. If I am willing to sweeten the deal to get a deal through, neither I nor the recipient should be blamed. I realize this is different than some of the matters discussed above by Rich, but perhaps we need to start naming names to give people a chance (both parties and jury members) to explain why they believe it is or isn't an unfair trade. I have seen that blow up here, most notably with SHL teams and certain team hopping managers, but to get an email from the system accusing me of cheating and/or my account locked for just making an offer, feels a lot like being "guilty until proven innocent." We're all adults here and if you can't defend your trade, even if lopsided, then we probably don't want you in Biscuit anyways.

Hurja, my thoughts exactly...

Anyone know the new manager of the Rhinos in GHL? Talk about walking into a good situation...

Well, Vandals squeaked by GKs in a SO, Oilers handled Trojans, and Rhinos sent Protons packing, so this season is truly wide open! Here are tonight's key contests: Oilers 3rd VS Protons 4th -- Another big test for Oilers, but if they pass it, does this represent the changing of the guard in GHL? Or do Protons still have a few tricks up their sleeves for the upstarts! Two other teams to watch tonight are Grizzlies 14th and Minutemen 10th. Both are playing teams in the lower half of the standings, which have always been typical easy wins for both. If one or both continue their slide tonight, how long until we see some big moves?