EXXEO

I think it's all intended. It stems from a reduction in training that occurred in a previous update that reduced player development to make it more realistic from top to bottom. This year's top prospects look a lot different than seasons prior as well as only the top few picks really stand out in the crowd of prospects. I assume that as the slower leagues progress it will be seen on that playing field also. Overall, I'm all for it - just may take some time for everything to plane out.

I recently acquired a player (Jefferson Beals, 22YO, Ambitious Player) and noticed that this season their progress has been declining in aspects. For instance, his Defense has gone down 2 points and his Spirit and Faceoffs have also gone down a point each. He has not increased in any manner either. Anyone else seeing this? http://www.gameplanhockey.com/player?gpid=46849

MATCH 45: Lanza / 89 (+4) / 45 / 3.07 / .917 / 2 Vignaux / 84 (+1) / 38 / 1.90 / .932 / 8 At this rate my Clapper team may be vying for the top pick if we get promoted this season. Boy, there is a drastic rating difference just from the 1st rated prospect (Lanza) to the 2ndz I'd sure love to have that 1st though...

I have just updated my Tradeblock. I'm selling a lot of talent to get a more focused roster. If you have any interest in them or even players that are 'unknown' shoot me a PM

I had a message today saying that a Transfer was rejected. I had recently offered a contract extension to one of my players and it was under the cap for this season and the next but then I received this: "The signing of Forward Jefferson Beals has been rejected by the board due to not enough space under the salary cap." Any ideas why?

Is that why you changed your jersey colors - hoping to spark the home crowd?

Hey - welcome!

This is coming a bit late but better late than ever... MATCH 20: Lanza / 89 (+2) / 26 / 3.37 / .911 / 2 Vignaux / 84 (+0) / 22 / 1.76 / .941 / 5

So, I'm going to keep track of the two goalies that I mentioned earlier and we're going to see how they develop and track progress until the draft, giving an update on day 20, 40, and 60. Then we can see exactly who decides to take which player and follow their progress from there. This should be interesting as the higher ranked, Higher rating goalie, Lanza, has statistics that are far less impressive than the 2nd ranked goalie, Vignaux. Name / SOY OVR (+ Progress) / Games Played / GAA / SP / Shutouts MATCH 1: Lanza / 89 (+0) / 12 / 3.38 / .908 / 1 Vignaux / 84 (+0) / 11 / 1.27 / .952 / 4

"As for the focus, I have heard conflicting opinions on this as well, all from successful managers. So I guess it's more a matter of preference. Although I don't know if this information was ever available as part of the "Hints" section that was removed long before I joined." I agree, that I've heard the same as well. I really think a lot of this boils down to individual preferences etc. For instance, I tend to run a Two Way, PowerForward, and Playmaker on my Two Way lines. I've found that on occasion an entire line could be effected by one of these players not gelling with the others. Likewise, I've found that the one that is performing the worst, when changed, makes the entire team more cohesive. It's more complex than I give it credit for. As for your comments on how long tactic changes take to get to a full bar, I may agree with a 20-25 game stretch a bit more as well. I am curious as to whether or not the average age of your team (experience) defines how quickly that bar changes.

Yeah, my team is pretty young at the moment - I'll have to contemplate bringing on old guys

Holy Crap!

I think I have a good example of what I'm referring to. In the Clapper prospect rankings the top 2 prospects, at the moment, are two goalies. They both have good traits but the 1st overall ranked prospect is a 90 OVR and is developing at a faster rate than the #2 goalie who is at an 84. When we dive into the stats we find that the 1st overall goalie from the USJHL has a 3.87 GAA and 1 shutout (8 matches) while the #2 goalie has played 7 matches and has a .71 GAA with 3 shutouts (CJHL). Who would you pick from those two?

I am going to add a little to this idea - there are times when one of my teams get an injury that we actually find a way to get a win but more often than not we lose. I think part of that is that it opens up wide the chances of dysfunction occurring on that line thus leading to more scoring opportunities for the opponent. In addiction to adding a SO lineup, could there just be a depth chart option? I like the idea of limiting the active roster to 23 (giving the GM a bench C,F, and D slot). Then for each line you could set who would be the secondary fill person in the case of an injury. While the bench players may not gain a ton of experience on the ice they would still get an added boost for just being present with the active roster (that's all theoretical).

I have a player who has sat on a contract for 4 days now. I mean come on dude - you have no other contract offers and my team is losing ground due to an injury - make up your mind man!

Our day today following beating the (former) #1 Team yesterday: We played on the road today against the worst team in the league who had 0 wins to their name. To be safe I left my best goalie in at net to ensure no weird upset would occur. In the 2nd my team Captain (24YO, 6'1", 194 lbs) gets into a fight...and loses to a 40 year old 5'10", 170 Lb. guy! Despite the humiliation my Captain puts us up by 1 ending the 2nd period. Then it happens...an injury to my veteran 3rd liner. No big deal right? Immediately following that we tank and have 3 straight goals dumped on us and can't seem to score another despite having almost every statistical advantage at the end of the match...bah! To make matters worse, one of my old goalies that we departed with gets the first win for the opponent for the season. What a flaming bag of poo!

I've seen players says that they have no injury issues but my top line C went down for 10 days yesterday and one of my guysbin Biscuit send down for 9 days today. Hmm...

Yeah, that guy is a little confused.

Well, this season is off to an interesting start. Going into the first pre-season match we don't even know who our full team is and we can't control it. After being relegated, losing top players, and then having bugs put the Storm in the hole $7M we are struggling to pay our players. It's forcing us to rely on the depth of previous year's draft. This season will be a true test of the team's ability to face adversity. Looking forward to seeing who the league auto-assigns our team in order to fill our gap at defense. Probably some 65 OVR skater that will fight more than he actually plays defense...his name will probably be H.Gillmore.

Well, looks like this GM is going to take a vacation out West as the team is now on strike for not being able to pay wages...

@Anders: My player still has a $4.3 M contract - is that the guy you were referring to? Any word on those glitchy trade offers that are lingering? Thanks Anders.

I don't know about Squid but I'm still in the hole $7 Million

My Clapper team's. Problem is that I can't make ANY moves due to two things. First, one big contract did not shrink to SHL cap leaving me in a drastic hole And the other is what seems to be a glitch that still has a massive amount of money locked up in trade offers that can't dissolve. While I was sent a message that all my trades were no longer in tact, they ,in fact, do show up on the transfer page. Mike Ciccone (Colome Knights) even messaged me to see if I could cancel the pending contract because he couldn't. So neither sides of the offer can decline or cancel causing a cap deduction...in my case -$7+ Million

Seems like an issue that we may have to seriously check into. That's pretty messed up @Squidonice

Thanks Paul....I needed that after that actually happened… Sucks!