Paul T

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Everything posted by Paul T

  1. Paul T

    Traits

    I wouldn't say wrong. There's nothing wrong with staying out of the box. It's a risk/reward scenario. There is evidence in game that agitators get under the skin of players, in the post game reports and there's so much going on behind the scenes. Certain players handle it better than others, you can tell by their mental profile. If you're running a checking line, it's better if the players are tough or agitators. It can surely shut down the other team, especially if the other team is much more skilled. Again, it can backfire, so a good PK is a must. That said, there's nothing wrong with trying to stay out of the box and avoid penalties either. It's all personal preference, much like most things in this game. There's no magic formula to win... no right or wrong way. You don't need to be a tough or agitator players to throw a lot of clean hits. Gentle players can get the job done in that area also.
  2. Paul T

    Traits

    We have a separate Q&A with the creator of the game over on Discord (head on over, there's some good discussions there) where this was answered. Question asked: Is there a general idea of what the game considers a "big game" when determining when a team's Winner Instinct comes into play? Or does WI have a slight impact on every game? Answer: Even if winner instinct is of importance in every game it's especially important during playoffs and in the third period of even games. As for Agitators - it's really a matter of preference. Don't forget, they can get the opposing team off their game. Top players will get agitated and it impacts them mentally. It can be a good defensive strategy. There are some managers here who play Dirty with these types of players with great success. That said, you're right that it can be risky and the team can take unnecessary penalties which can blow games from time to time. Again, personal preference on this one. But seriously, head on over to Discord if you can. I'm not sure if many even use these forums anymore. Discord is relatively active.
  3. Basically the “role” request is an ice time request. Star player means they want a lot of ice time. Keep them over a certain amount and the player will remain happy. Go below and they will get concerned. For goalies that probably means something like 55+ games. Also, join Discord if you can. Some good chats and Q&A on there.
  4. Paul T

    Youth draft

    Click the “only available prospects” tab and it will show you which players are left.
  5. Welcome back! What specific message are you getting when you try to re-sign them? If they are happy with their current contract, you will have a chance to re-sign them later in the season. If they don't want to talk to you (usually lower leagues), there's a chance you might have to let them walk, but also a chance that if you keep trying, they will eventually sign.
  6. Very cool! Some of those players look exactly like I pictured them... especially Chezhekov.
  7. Day 9 update after some recent trades and spawn signings EASTERN CONFERENCE WESTERN CONFERENCE Notable movement - Plastic Attack drop a few spots - Natives are now #1 overall.
  8. As of Day 6 EASTERN CONFERENCE WESTERN CONFERENCE Top 5 Offensive teams: 1. Red Tide 2. Dragons 3. Natives 4. Rage 5. Battlin Bears Top 5 Defensive teams: 1. Natives 2. Dragons 3. Yale Men 4. Red Tide 5. Trojans Top 5 Goalie tandems: 1. Pegasus 2. Bulldogs 3. Doom 4. Plastic Attack 5. Outlaws
  9. I am in agreement with this. I think everyone who has responded so far is showing @zinnyzxx support and agrees with the issue by providing multiple solutions. It's a topic that has been discussed for the past 3 years that I continue to discuss because I think it would greatly improve the game. Luckily, in a recent chat with Anders, it seems like roster limits, as well as a few other things mentioned here, are on his "to-do" list. So that's good. But to dive in a bit - say the roster limit is set at 30. That is not going to solve the issue, specifically with the Hawks. Their roster is 31players, so they can just drop the 79 overall and move on. All the rest are still in the affiliate. Which is why I agree with @rainsilent that salary demands also need to come up in order to fully solve this. The higher salary players ask for, the less players teams can sign (or they can still choose to sign many players, but their top talent won't be as good, and I'm fine with that strategy aspect). Also, players turning 21 won't sign for as cheap or if they are 85+ overall maybe they shouldn't accept 2-way deals. The reset started off great in this regard, but something was changed around S4 (S8 in buzzer), which made it too easy to sign players. Right now, the salary demands of 21 year olds are just ridiculously low. Even 88 overalls are signing SHL level deals, which is crazy. So again, I think my solutions to the following issue are: 1. Roster limit. 30 seems reasonable to me. 2. Salary demands should be higher. I don't know what the fix is here or if it can even be fixed at this point, but it would help to solve the "hoarding" issue. 3. Players getting frustrated or unhappy easier - and having a greater impact on performance, if they don't already.
  10. Well, because the topic was around "hoarding" players and not the quality of the player. The original post made no mention of this. My comparison was clear in that it compared the # of players on each team. Rainsilent cleared that aspect up on discord and I went on to acknowledge how certain team's approaches are not ideal. The conversations are still there. But I also don't think it is up to those managers to make sure they aren't screwing other teams. Just like it's not up to managers with stacked rosters to worry about other teams. What they are doing is not against the rules - and if the players or prospects are on two way deals, then they can be put in the affiliate. But I do think the game should put measures in place to limit that sort of thing. 100%. Roster Limits + players getting frustrated easier + higher salary demand. I also took the time to read it, give my opinions and offered some solutions to the problem. Why not build on that if we want a true solution?
  11. Agree with the sentiment, but disagree with some of the reasoning. This conversation had been had before and I think needs to continue until there is a fix. I agree that hoarding is an issue. Not one of the games main issues, but definitely an issue. So how do we fix it? I am not a fan of gentleman's agreements, so if the game allows it, it's not cheating. Asking managers to drop players or trade players is asking them to help the competition and why would they do that? My solutions would be: 1. Roster Limits. There's no reason a GHL team needs more than 30 players. I understand this can be tricky with promoting teams, but I don't see how any team would have a major issue with this if managed properly. It would also force teams to make quality decisions on which players to start, put in the affiliate or drop. 2. Better contracts. Right now contracts are way too low and allowing managers to sign players too cheap. Cheaper players means more players (and/or a team of all 90+ overall players, which is probably an even bigger issue). Until those two things are resolved, hoarding will happen - and again, it's not against the rules. But I'm having trouble with why you called out the teams you did given that your roster is 37 players. 1. The Hawks only have 31 players. I'm not sure why you guys hate on him so much. 2. North Shore has 40+, but like you stated, they just promoted as well. They only have 2 players 90+ on their roster, so any ill will their way is just misguided. The reason for the post is to help promoting teams, but they just promoted 3 seasons ago and did fine with a not so stacked roster. That should be appreciated. 3. Oshawa and Batchawana are on their own. Their rosters are high and stacked. Bash that all you want. Could the bigger issue possible be teams like the Hawks and Black Devils who both have 12 players 90+ overall on their roster?? Number of players aside, this would be a bigger reason why promoting teams don't have success. At least IMO. If you want to read prior discussions on this topic, you can view them here (they are from 3 years ago):
  12. Paul T

    S7 GHL Power Rankings

    The West is a little tougher to analyze accuracy given the tight rankings to start with. Larger swings were expected. The close: Plastic Attack finished 1st. Red Dragons down 2 spots to 6. Rage up 3 spots to 2nd, not surprising given their historical success. Doom up 3 spots to 3rd. Bad Apples up 3 spots to 4th. *All of these teams finished in Tier 1 as expected. Yale Men up 1 spot to 7th. Elite up 1 spot to 8th. Masons from 10 to 11 after manager leaving. Knights, Squad (now Paladins), Wild Cats all in their exact 12, 13, 14 spots. The variants: Natives from 2 to 9 and missing the playoffs was surprising. It's very possible teams with the abbreviation "SHE" were coded to under-perform this season. Most stud players are <20 so inconsistencies can happen. Outlaws from 1 to 10. Some notable long term injuries in there, combined with consistently under-performing for many seasons. Commandos up 6 spots from 11 to 5th. With 12 mid season trades, some very significant, the team is greatly improved. Added bonus: Ghosts won SHL.
  13. Paul T

    S7 GHL Power Rankings

    Recap of the S7 results vs. the power rankings, starting with the East. The close: Red Tide finished 2nd, but is heading to the Finals... not surprising. Big Delta finished 1st which isn't shocking as they have a pretty good manager. Trojans finished 1 spot from projected. Minutemen were exact in 7th. Vortex slipped only by 2 spots, but in the same tier of rankings as expected. The bottom 3, Super Sonics, Beasts, Dukes, all relegated. The variants: Dragons finished 9th and missed the playoffs. A season that ultimately cannot be explained - and was quite the topic of conversation on discord. Battlin Bears and Bulldogs both fell 4-5 spots, although both teams seem to consistently under-perform each season, so not totally unexpected. Marlins up 3 spots and Sand Storm up 5 spots. Quite a few trades from Sand Storm that improved the team, but nothing too significant. Both teams managed well their first season in GHL, so the improvement from last season with another year under their belt is not all that surprising. Bangers from 11 to 3, seem to have swapped mojo with the Dragons. All in all, fairly accurate with the Dragons being the only unexplained variance and the Bangers massive, although not totally unexpected, increase.
  14. Which game world? Checked your buzzer teams and didn't see him. If Attack, then I can't help.
  15. Turning your phone sideways will display Confidence and Health.
  16. As of Day 7. EASTERN CONFERENCE WESTERN CONFERENCE
  17. Rankings are updated as of Day 7 prior to the season opening games. EASTERN CONFERENCE WESTERN CONFERENCE TOP 5 OFFENSES: 1) Slaughterville Red Tide 2) Sheshegwaning Dragons 3) Big Delta Stealheads 4) Enigma Rage 5) Eastern Outlaws TOP 5 DEFENSES: 1) Victoria Regals 2) Rome Trojans 3) Sheshegwaning Dragons 4) Pittsboro Plastic Attack 5) Slaughterville Red Tide
  18. Some silver lining on the goals above. 1. Bolduc vanished down the stretch and didn't even end up top 5 in goals... but thenhe turned it on in the playoffs and led the postseason in goals. 2. Similar to above, Zluky did not accomplish the regular season goal, but ended up leading all defensemen in points during the playoffs. 5. Same story, Cline led the postseason in +/-. So basically most of the player goals that I had set for the regular season where accomplished in the playoffs by those same players.
  19. First up - GEORGE MERCREDI (Goalie) As Cage took off in Season 1, George Mercredi, the then 89 overall keeper, found himself in a tough scenario as backup goalie on the St. Thomas Stray Cats. The team appeared dominant from the get go, but he sat behind 28 year old Gregoire Wright (95 overall) on the depth chart. Looking to clear cap space to build out his roster, manager Erzac scoured the league for potential suitors for Mercredi when he came across the Deferiet Leopards (now Big Delta Stealheads) and noticed that their goalie situation was garbage (two 83 overalls). Erzac quickly messaged the Leopards manager, Paul T, looking for a trade. The asking price... a mere GHL 2nd round pick. Not knowing what the upcoming drafts would look like, Paul T hesitated for a split second before accepting the offer, which thrust Mercredi into a starting role. Mercredi's confidence after the trade seemed to be sky high as he led the Deferiet Leopards to a 20-0 start, making them the last team to lose a game in any game world after the GPHM refresh. Mercredi would finish the season with a 35-11-3 record with a .936 save percentage and 1.92 GAA. Unfortunately Paul T was aware that Mercredi was aging and jumped at an opportunity to acquire a much younger goalie at the time in Zach Woodley. The 23 year old 91 overall Woodley appeared to be the long term solution for the Leopards in net, but the love affair never really worked out. Both goalies posted respectable season 1 numbers, but the Leopards were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the #7 seed Bulldogs 3-1. Mercredi's old team, the Stray Cats, ended up winning the Gold Cup in season 1 leaving Mercredi wondering what could have been. The Leopards decided to move on from Mercredi at the end of season 1 and they would regret it a few seasons later. After his dominant stint with the Leopards, Mercredi went on to guard the crease for the Parkland Lightning Bolts (season 2) and Miami Angels (season 3). Both teams would relegate and Mercredi would comtemplate retirement. After long talks with his family and agent, Mercredi decided to test the waters in season 4 and signed on with the newly promoted Bodmin Bangers. Season 4 with Bodmin turned out to be highly successful as he went 37-18-3 with a .914 save percentage and 2.63 GAA and a 4th place finish. In the 2nd round of the season 4 playoffs, Mercredi found himself facing a familiar opponent, his old team, the Big Delta Stealheads (formerly Deferiet Leopards). After going down 0-2, the Bangers, led by Mercredi, turned it around and ended up winning the next 3 games to defeat his old club. Unfortunately the run came to an end in the conference finals where they lost to the eventual champions, Dragons. At the end of season 4, Big Delta showed an interest in acquiring back their old keeper as they were frustrated with their current goalie Michele Amick for his lackluster performances in big games, and they were not confident that 83 overall Henri Pohl was the answer either, despite a dominant season 4. Mercredi was traded for Amick and he decided to give his career one more shot with his old club, despite multiple opinions around the league that he would retire. Mercredi returned for season 5 knowing that he would be completing with Henri Pohl for the starting job. Both Pohl and Mercredi struggled early on and Big Delta played musical chairs in goal, eventually settling on 19 year old Colby Gloria. With Pohl's skills fading quickly, Mercredi earned the backup job mid season and throughout the playoffs. The season ended in dream fashion with Big Delta winning the Gold Cup. After captain Jeremie Cline hoisted the Cup, he immediately handed it to Mercredi. His glory had finally been achieved as he skated around the Delta Dome with the Cup held high over his head. At the end of season 5, at age 40, George Mercredi decided to call it quits. His career complete. He will go down as one of the greatest Cage goalies of the early seasons.
  20. I am creating this thread so managers can document retirements for players that were important to their team or the league. Players that should be remembered. A eulogy of sorts.
  21. Accomplished on Day 76 by Jeremie Cline. Receives $2M roster bonus on top of his $8M salary.
  22. 25% of the season left to go - update above in blue.
  23. Paul T

    Manager Graveyard

    Season 5 is a bad season to quit because you're losing. The draft is stacked at the top.