Steve

Let's trade, you take Vandals and I'll take Grizzlies tonight!?! haha. Congrats on making it in! For once, our last game of the season didn't matter!

With an assist by Elite who beat Wolf Pack, knocking them out of the 8th and final spot. Elite is also back in the GHL playoffs for the first time in three seasons after barely surviving relegation last season!!! Hope I can follow up on your stellar work against the Vandals, my first round opponent and always tough playoff team!?!

Don't worry, the other 5 teams battling with you for that last playoff spot will all be rooting against you! Go Elite! haha.

Re: Old Guys, I think this is just a case where an adjustment inadvertently went too far the other way. Not that I should complain with my Centermen all using walkers to get down the ice, haha. Before, you could set your clock to a 37 year old being worthless at the end of a season. Now some of these guys are pushing 40 and playing like they did 5 seasons ago (or better!). However, I have noted that there appear to be more retirements, which is a good thing.

Here's the forward that will put you over the edge going into the playoffs. 90ovr, 25yo Erwann Richard! http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=34879 Dude's got it all: 99 spirit, 97 physical, 94 shooting, 92 skating, 90 passing! Was #4 pick overall in Season 5! Having a bad year stats wise, but this season my team couldn't even score with the Protons' wives! Looking for a reasonable 2nd line Center or a 1st round pick in return.

Soliciting offers for 31 year old Top Defenseman Zavon Mellor http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=4522 He is currently ranked #7 in GHL defenseman with a 95ovr and likely to be 96ovr by end of season (#2 ranking). His defense, physical, and spirit are maxed at 99. He plays offensive, twoway, and Stay at Home. He has been with Elite for 9 seasons and probably has at least 5 seasons left, at a minimum. He had his best stat season last year, but this year, he is having a very off year, but I believe this is due to my changes with the team and not him. He doesn't come cheap, currently getting $5.2M this season, but he is able to be talked down based on past results. He is currently "happy" with his current contract, but would assume he'd ask for $5M for any renewal for next season. Looking for a 1st Line Center or 1st Round Draft Pick or any player that could qualify as such. Open to more than one player coming to me if the salary works to make up the difference. Feel free to PM me.

I too have noticed this and was wondering if I was trying to fix something for no reason and focus on something else. Like I said above, comparing only my players against each other, some of my best consistent performers (all relative) are "nervous".

Paul, my assumption is along your thoughts. My winner instinct as a team isn't ideal and I wonder if my scoring is so low due to their nervousness. I don't see any correlation between the nervousness and performance. Some are high, some low.

Anyone figure out ways to improve nervous players? Somehow I have amassed a team over time that is all bed wetters. Is it best to try and keep them apart as linemates or group them together to try and limit the fear?!? "Not in the face!"

So last season I tried an experiment and I barely avoided being relegated. I tried new tactics. 40 games is about right from low red to full bar. Also, using a ruler on my monitor and measuring progress up and down, I confirm that dropping happens faster than increasing, but not always. There was a period when I switched when my old tactic barely dropped and the new one barely increased. After about 5-8 games, they started trending in the anticipated direction. I want to switch my tactic, but after a couple of seasons of horrible results with playing with it, I'm too scared to try again unless I am already relegated and rebuilding. As for the Team Focus, I'm not sure what to do with those. I've heard some managers say NEVER mess with them, but I like the theory that you can mix them up based on your opponent. I'm focusing on trying to understand this more this season since I've decided to not try to change my offense or defense tactics again after last season. But I think all of this is slightly more complicated. There isn't a magic formula, since your opponent changes every night, but having your offense/defense tactics, your team focus, and line settings be consistent and make the most of your players' skills is difficult. For example, having Stay At Home Defensive Line and Checking Lines play Very Offensive just doesn't make sense. So there has to be some sort of alignment. What that is will probably change from team to team and the effectiveness against each team will also vary based on everything we all just said. So, I guess it depends on your manager strategy. Do you start with a offense/defense plan and build a team around that or vice versa? No right answer, but I think until you decide on one or the other, you'll be doing a lot of soul searching, haha.

Ah, the old Rhinos team. They've had a rough few years with some controversies, hope you can revive the franchise!

Welcome to the slowest, but coolest game world! haha. Which team did you take over (old name)?

All my Affiliate players are blue and they haven't played a game, yet the ones that played the friendlies (same training level) are still all green. Can't be a coincidence.

I think I fell, but these numbers are crazy! We are all more or less equal. It's amazing ANY goals are scored with how high the ratings are on all our defense and goalies. The parity is awesome and annoying!

With Biscuit about to start back up, would be good to keep track again. I agree. I often beat the top 8 teams, but struggle against the bottom half. And when I do win, it is usually when I have less than stellar stats. I once had more than 100 shots NOT go in over the course of 5 games, then the next game I put up 5 goals. It is frustrating when you are just looking for consistency so you can try and adjust accordingly.

I can't say I have a 100% philosophy I use, but generally I focus more on certain traits that matter to my team and a bit more on rating progress over the past 1-2 seasons instead of stats.

I like the loan option. I would love to loan a few of my current SHL ready players to SHL managers for nothing in return with the caveat being that when I need them, I can recall them at will. Although implementing a 12-24 hour (game world) window would be more realistic. It seems to be a win-win for all managers involved. I'd drop the current affiliate system in favor of this. Also, this could create more trades up and down since a lower level team would know what they are getting and a GHL team could more easily offload a proven player. Any thoughts on how a loaned player would affect salary cap for both teams?

I admit I made an offer to a BHL level starting goalie for my affiliate. Mostly because I prefer to grow my team from FA instead of drafting, for better or worse. However, due to the coding updates, the player chose a lower level contract to my GHL offer. Obviously, this could be unique to this player, but maybe there is more going on behind the scenes to encourage players to not accept contracts if they know they will be low or off the depth chart.

At this point, I have decided loaning players to other teams/players is a better way to go instead of the affiliate system. At the start, Anders was debating the merits of both systems and ultimately, I think due to public opinion, chose our current system. Now that we all have seen it in action, I think loaning players would be more fun and create a lot more player interaction and create more of a win-win situation. That said, I don't know the difficulties in coding such a major change.

There was an old NES sports game that ran a headline after each game that was sort of related to how well you are performing. With Anders' much more sophisticated system here, it would be a fun little addition: "Elite lose 6th straight, fans want the manager fired!" It'd be even better if it was customized some how about how so and so had a great game, Player X was booed loudly, and The Goalie had the best game of the season! It'd add more fun than the Asst Reports, I think, but maybe that is what I am doing wrong! haha.

What's everyone think of Elite's new look?!?! I think it is the missing piece I finally need to get out of the basement in the standings! haha.

Tonight's game (Dec 31) is make or break for Elite and if this rotten season continues on trend, there will be a few very good players still on contract that I will be looking to trade for draft picks, prospects, and two way forwards and centers that can help me down in SHL. With only four days left in the season, I won't want to wait to the last minute to act. Feel free to send me offers even before tonight's game, but I won't act on any of them unless I actually lose and get demoted. As always, PM me with thoughts too.

I agree that these are still not clear to me as well. I did a minor trade the other day and my Winner Instinct dropped from Heroic to blue OK. I traded a 3rd line Dman (a couple AAHL players and a prospect and a pick) for another 3rd line Dman and a draft pick. Shouldn't have caused that big of a drop?!?! Earlier in the season, all of my starters were in the Green "Perfect" confidence, yet my team's bar lagged by a couple weeks before it got into the green shade as well. Maybe these bars are more general trend guides? It should be noted that last year's Biscuit GHL winner ran through the playoffs with both Teamwork and Winning Instinct in the blue, so I am starting to think these are kind of irrelevant when it comes to winning or losing long stretches of games.

Looking to shore up your 1st or 2nd line defense down the stretch, I have two veterans that can fit that bill.... 86ovr, 37yo, McGovern: http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=3731 Dude is a work horse, no injuries in 6 seasons, and a solid 95 in Defense. Likely to resign for another season too, if wanted. 90ovr, 37 yo, Combrink: http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=3730 Stays healthy (1 missed game in 5 seasons), can put up goals in the right setup (14 goals three seasons ago), no drop in ratings, and a solid 99 in defense. Open to offers, but prefer draft picks or 3rd line defenseman or Centers.

Even after all these seasons, not sure I am using my players identified on their profile under Dirty as "agitator" and "Tough" to their full potential. Do you all use these to help guide your offensive tactic or your Fair Play Tactic? To me I would think Tough would like the more physical playing styles of dump and chase, power forward or grinder or enforcer, and checking or two way lines. Agitators seem to be the type to draw penalties, even if not playing on the "dirty" tactic but the rest don't matter as much. Am I missing something?