Steve

Day 61 update: With the StrayCats win over the Sabercats last night, they actually pounced (see what I did there?!?) to 6th place! Also, Vandals slid into the #1 spot again. Tonight's key matchup: #2 Pegasus (105) vs #4 Rebels (103) with either team potentially in first place with a win.

Sorry I missed that amazing stat and know it was not on purpose. Maybe it is better to fly under the radar so teams aren't always gunning for you! haha.

With only 7 games remaining (21 max points), thought it'd be fun to track teams chances going forward. I don't have one of those fancy simulators to give % chances (feel free to add below if you do), but will at least highlight key games and when teams either clinch or get eliminated. 1. Protons (103 pts) - Have clinched a playoff spot for the 132nd straight year. 2. Vandals (102) - Are in. 3. Pegasus (102) - Are in. 4. Rebels (100) - Are in. 14-16, Breakouts (59), Indians (59), and Tomahawks (55) are eliminated from Top 8 but neck and neck in the battle to avoid automatic relegation. Key Matchup tonight: Stray Cats (78, 9th) vs Sabrecats (77, 10th). A win by either could catapult them into 7th place.

Have a few available that could go to GHL or SHL teams. Looking for a Center with good puck and speed ratings, a 2nd or 3rd Line D-man. Would consider moving a pick or prospect, but am tight against cap. Almost to the point to consider doing a full FRANCHISE swap. You take my team and I take over your team in BHL or below. If that intrigues you, send me a PM.

Great! Now I know how long I can go on my end of season bender to try and forget about this season!

A quick scan of the world shows that every team has a human manager! First time ever in Biscuit!

Agreed. I think you have to keep it at max of 32 teams. Even then, you are either going to have to play 62 games (twice each), but I prefer the idea of playing certain teams more. If there is too much demand for 32 teams, a 2nd NA would could be created.

I am 100% in support of NA style world. I love Biscuit, but I feel the bad data from a few drafts, the extremely high level of players at the GHL level, and not quite rectifying the affiliate "hoarding" system have done more harm than good and at the slow speed will take too long to rectify. However, I do love this game so I think a reset is all that is needed and I prefer the NA style of leagues to the Euro up and down style. As for the break for playoffs, I kind of like the breaks. It gives me a chance to look at my team, scout, think about long term contracts, etc. I'm not against a consolation playoff, but having a week or two off isn't make or break for me.

Maybe the solution to both our scoring woes is just to have Stray Cats and Elite play each other for EVERY game! A real barn burner last night!?! Now it's my defense the past week that looks horrible too!

This makes sense because Anders greatly modified the draft settings about 1-2 seasons back, so no more mutant draftees that are better than current starters. This is why I'm considering moving down a couple leagues or so and hoping the North American style league will come online soon because with so many amazing players around for literally the next 3-4 years, it makes the GHL level less interesting as a hockey simulation when these outliers are part of the formula. It's starting to feel a lot like the KHL; a handful of teams with All-Stars and everyone else. Granted, by now we ALL have All-Stars, so maybe it feels more like the Olympics; Canada, US, Russia, Finland or Sweden, and the occasional other team every so often. Honestly, this isn't a complaint against the good and consistently good teams in our league. They ARE good managers, but the bad data in the roster data makes for a less than ideal playing environment.

Although not with me the longest straight, I do have Cummins (http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=4445) who started in Season 1 with me in BHL, was traded to Stray Cats in Season 7 in GHL, then traded back to me in Season 10 and no plans anytime soon to send him elsewhere. Funny, this exercise showed at least 8 players on my team that have been in the game since Season 1, way more than I would have guessed. I also have 1 player that has ONLY ever been on my team since he dates back from the pre-draft days when players were "born" with random ages and he has been with me since Season 5.

I've been in the bottom 3 in scoring for each of the past 3-4 seasons and again this one (dead last currently!)! I'm actually scoring HALF as many goals as I did in early seasons in the GHL when I was facing relegation. Part of that is probably due to updates, but also the goalies in GHL now are all Hall of Fame level and I don't understand how any of our games have people scoring more than 2-3 goals a game. In fact, the obscene goalie levels is exactly why I think so many other settings are less important now. Each game seems to mostly come down to which goalie is going to have the worse night. It's starting to take the fun out of the game for me and creates these wild swings and streaks for each team, yet we are all mostly pretty even in talent AND standings. I'm looking forward to when we get back to only 6-10 90+ovr goalies in the league, but not sure it will ever happen. Look at Yu on the Vandals. Isn't he like 23 and already 93ovr or something?!?! It'll be 4 years in real time before he flushes out of the game, at least! And there are lots of "Yu" types out there that aren't going away anytime soon. At least this year's (and last's) draft looks more human.

Dump and chase is pretty good and is a great counter to the common defense most players choose, your league may vary! Also, it does work well if your playing less skilled defensemen and have fast and strong players. But they need to be faster than the defenseman they are racing against!

I've done this a few times and it takes 30-40 games. However, I've noticed that green versus red doesn't always matter that much. I've won games in the red and had long losing streaks in green. I am starting to believe that having the correct matchup of tactics to your opponents is more important than if you are red or green. I've heard of 1-2 teams trying to keep 2 tactics in the blue and play that way successfully, at least at SHL and below levels.

Looking to move some SHL level contracts and prospects. Looking to get SHL or lower GHL draft picks in return. Other package deals are always considered: Centers: Ale Jarvelainen, 78OVR, 25yo, last year of GHL contract, but has put up consistent AAHL numbers: http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=34631 Forwards: Ivan Routier, 84ovr, 30yo, right hand shot. 3 years remaining. Has put up good GHL and AAHL numbers, but currently odd man out on my roster: http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=33411 Defense: Aydin Pearl, 79ovr, 23yo!!, super cheap $500k contract. http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=36744 Goalie: Valle Carleman, 86ovr, 24yo!, last year of contract, good backup or starter in SHL, and still improving! http://www.gameplanhockey.com/goalie?gpid=5507

I hear you. Last season I was pretty even, never winning or losing 3 or more in a row. This season, six games in, I've already done both!

Just noticed that those of us that have been in since the beginning and/or have a lot of playoff games are surpassing 1,000 games played! Hard to believe but shows the staying power of this game since each match is no more than once a day!?!? What have I been doing with my life?!?! Haha.

I currently have 30 + 4 prospects. I don't think prospects should count against your roster limit since they are unsigned. It'd also encourage those prospects that are turning 21 to either be dealt or released to proper leagues instead of signing and burying in the minors for less than a $200k per season. I'd be fine with a limit of 35 at GHL level. I think most of us would, but this would also unfairly disadvantage newly promoted teams who might be carrying salaries from even two leagues below. If they cut them, then that counts against their cap, only making it more difficult for them to compete. Plus, it wipes out a lot of their insurance salaries if they get demoted in their 1st or 2nd season at the higher level. Maybe promoted teams could be given a 1-season time frame to meet the new league's roster limit?

I love/hate this post each year. My team has improved quite a bit in the past two seasons, but clearly, so has everyone else just as much!

I know Anders is always tweaking, but one thing I noted this free agency season is 90 plus old guys are still going for super cheap, like 2M for one year. Maybe because there are so many high ovr old guys (supply and demand, too much supply here), this just makes it easier to sign and assign good mid and low level players. I am actually for roster limits. Every professional league of every type of sport has roster limits, why not us? Plus, it'd have a domino effect when teams promote. Why keep lower level players that are several seasons from your current league? Releasing them will allow lower leagues to get them, where they belong, and it would cascade all the way down to LIHL. Rainsilent, per churning and burning draft picks, I am ok with this. I have never been a fan of the 3rd pick teams get anyways, they are mostly used to steal decent players from the lower league anyways since it becomes better than a 2nd pick at that level. Regardless, some moderation on limit size, tweaking draft picks (maybe), waiting a few more seasons for the over rated players to cycle out, and moving to a North America style league all could help alleviate this problem.

Adding to what rainsilent said, I'll only add that you as a manager have two options. Choose a tactic and try to build a team around it or keep the team you have (with minor changes) and find the tactic that works best for it. Neither is right or wrong, but it is easier to decide this first than change your mind later since one requires a complete rebuild that can take a full season or longer to accomplish and no guarantees that it will work or you can find the players you need.

Following up on my comment since I have a whole new season of data. I agree with rainsilent here. About half way through the season when my team was dead last in scoring, I started trying to not only match my tactics based on my opponents and history, but also my team's focus as needed. For instance, against high scoring teams, I had to choose between trying to outgun them or play boring shutdown hockey. Although I never won more than 2 games in a row, I only lost more than 2 in a row once and finished 6th with minor improvements in my GPG total in the latter half of the season. Did I find a magic formula? Far from it! If anything, what I noted is exactly what rainsilent stated, that you truly have to manage your team on a daily basis and try to out manage your opponent.

No easy fete to win it this year, so well earned!

Ah, you are correct! I think I was thinking it feels like it should be 3 in a row for them since they have been so good for that long. I'm always jealous of that kind of consistency.

I think at this point, Pegasus are the new Patriots. If they win this series, that'll be 3 in a row!