NHL Empty Cupboard - Anchorage Huskies - FHM9

[Critch]

Expansion Gone Wild!

It's July 2024 and the NHL owners' meeting is underway. Two more seasons have been consigned to the history books and the owners have realized that the thing they liked best about being owners was all the lovely free money they got from selling expansion franchises.

Normally it takes a long time to set up a franchise, thinking up a name, jersey and a logo can take years, but the owners realize they have three previously-used franchises stuck in a cupboard somewhere so they came up with a plan to save time by reforming and selling off the franchises that were previously classed as "ceased-to-be". It was time to say hello again to old friends Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers and Atlanta Thrashers, reconstituted, polished and sold off to gullible new owner groups in time for the 2025 season. Unlike the stacked expansion draft instant-contender deals Vegas and Seattle got, this batch would be getting a weakened expansion draft. They were in line for more of an old-style "be awful for years" expansion. The existing NHL owners liked the free money from expansion, but they were not so keen on giving away their own players so existing teams were able to protect most of their roster.

The contracts were signed, sealed and delivered and the recycled franchises sold before a problem with the plan becomes apparent: four divisions and only three expansion teams! Quebec Nordiques fitted into the Metropolitan division alongside Montreal and Toronto so that was an easy one. Hartford went into the Metropolitan division, split from the natural rival Bruins but at least they could have local rivalries with the Rangers and Islanders. Atlanta in the Central division was a bit more of a stretch but fair enough really, Atlanta isn't actually on the coast so that's fairly central. That left a one team gap in the Pacific division.

The commissioner showed why he'd been commissioner for about a thousand years by coming up with a plan to solve the issue: A fourth expansion franchise. The owners didn't want to give away any more of their precious players, so this runt of the expansion litter wouldn't be part of the expansion draft, they'd be starting "empty cupboard" if you will. And they'd also be tucked away in a remote tiny market so as not to impinge on another team's fanbase. And for a final boot to the franchise's collective nuts they'd also be given an Owner/GM who didn’t know what he was doing.

[Critch]

A Franchise is Born

So it's a FHM9 empty cupboard challenge in a tiny market with a low budget.

Despite having no real knowledge of FHM or the inner workings of hockey, I've gone with a tough challenge. I've owned a few of the prior versions of FHM, but I'm not sure I've ever played a complete season of any of them. Steam money just pissed up a wall really. Normally I get put off pretty quickly, the tactics are a mystery to me and the manual has a lot of detail without actually clearing anything up (for me anyway). There's also surprisingly little mention of the tactics on the OOTP FHM board or Reddit, but FHM9 apparently has a new feature called "strategy feedback" (or something like that) so maybe that'll clear things up and this is the year to break through for me.

My hockey knowledge is that I watch almost every Washington Capitals game, think I've missed 1 game so far this season. That's more indicative of my empty social calendar than of any great hockey knowledge though. The one game I missed was because I went to see America in concert instead, not really my taste in music but they put on a good show. You should go and see them if you get the chance, Tin Man is a great song.

Thanks to working from home, I also watch ESPN's In The Crease each morning unless the Caps lost the night before. I wont be watching tomorrow.

The middle of nowhere expansion team is the Anchorage Huskies playing in a "Tiny" market with a "Disloyal" fanbase in the real-life 6000 seat Sullivan Arena. Tiny and Disloyal are the two lowest setting you can create an expansion team with, so that'll keep them uncompetitive for a good long time. Probably forever. Colors will be ice blue, with navy blue and white trim inspired by an advert I saw for Icebreaker chewing gum while deciding what colors to use. Seems a suitably frozen north color scheme to me. There will also be an AHL affiliate added nearby too, all the expansion franchises will get a new AHL affiliate team. For Anchorage Huskies it'll be the Juneau Grolars. A grolar is apparently a super-mean grizzly/polar bear hybrid, sounds like the kind of ferocious, manly animal you'd name a hockey team after. Not a soft and cuddly animal like a penguin.

[Critch]

Be Prepared.

In preparation for my annual attempt to get into FHM, I've been scouring the internet for hints and, thanks to multiple posts on Reddit, I'm ready to go.

Here are the FHM "facts" that I've learned:

1. Defensemen are harder to find and more important than forwards. Forwards come and go, solid defenseman are the bedrock of a good team and should be signed up for years if possible. Get 4 or 5 better than NHL-average defenseman and your players wont be booking tee-times when the playoffs are happening.
2. Line balance is important - your scoring lines should be a scorer, a passer and a more defensive forward to cover for the other two. Defense pairings should be one attacking/one defending. Or maybe two two-way defenseman.
3. When you can’t get balance, err on the side of defensive
4. Despite what your wife tells you, size matters. Big lads are worth more than little lads, unless the little lads are elite level.
5. No learning on the job. Young players with potential are better learning their trade in the AHL, in Europe, or in the juniors. NHL roster should be NHL ready players, you can’t hide a few holes in your lineup.
6. For goalies one guy says it's better to have two passable goalies in a 1a/1b tandem than an expensive superstar and a backup, and another says you can’t win the Stanley cup without a superstar. So who knows, jury is out on fact number 6.

So with those little nuggets of knowledge, I'm ready to get underway. It's time to go through the expansion in the game, add all the new teams and AHL affiliates, run the expansion draft for the other teams then see if there are enough free agents left over for the Huskies to cobble together a roster.

So here we are. I'm not really sure why an introduction post has been split into three parts. But I did it. Three posts in and the game hasnt started yet. I wouldnt hold out much hope for post four changing that.

[Critch]

A Bad Plan is Better than no plan

I'm really just writing this dynasty as an incentive to myself to keep playing the game and finally give it a chance. I've repeated the whole "buy it, try for 10 mins, shelf it and move onto something else" cycle too many times, so this time I'm going to force myself to work out what's going on. I'm going to get my money's worth even if it's no fun.

The game is now slowly chugging it's way through simming up to July 1st 2024, Expansion Setup Day in FHM. I have every league selected, leagues from countries that I didnt know had hockey leagues, so it's slower than a week in jail but it'll get through the two set up seasons soon. This is the third attempt at simming the set up seasons, first time Toronto won both Stanley Cups, next time Philadelphia won 2022/23 so I'm counting both of those attempts as immersion-busting bugs and trying again.

As background, the players in FHM have an veritable cornucopia of ratings, the player page is covered with numbers and stars describing the players in all kinds of detail. There's the attributes, loads of them rated 1-20. Then there's the role rating, how good the player will be in each role (things like "Enforcer", "Sniper", "Two-way Forward") calculated by weighting the applicable attributes. And then there's the Overall and Potential ratings, a single 0 to 5 star summary of everything.

For the Overall and Potential star ratings for players, here's a handy rough guide I found somewhere on reddit:

1.0 star and below - not ready/not good enough
1.5 star - Emergency backup
2.0 star - depth
2.5 star - bottom 6 forward/low defenseman
3.0 star - NHL regular starter
3.5 and above - Top player

So the Anchorage Huskies will be starting out with the following glorious five part plan:

1. Get enough cheap 1.5/2.0 star players to fill out a roster. Preferably young players with potential, but with enough current to not be too exposed in the NHL.
2. Set up with stodgy, defensive lines to keep games close. Trap, dump and chase, lots of big lads checking.
3. Watch the waivers to snap up any young players who'll improve the team
4. Give extended contracts to anyone with a reasonable chance of one day being 3.0 star or better. Especially if they're defenseman. The more serviceable players on long term team-friendly contracts the better. (One redditer I read said the key was finding 2.0 star current/3.0 star potential players and signing them long term to build a cheap base to add stars onto, sounds like a plan.)
5. Finish last in the league, win the lottery, draft a "once in a generation" future all-star.

In what may be a great omen for the future of this dynasty, Washington Capitals forward TJ Oshie said "excuse me, sir" to me in Wegmans grocery store tonight. I was looking at the pre-packed sushi and he was trying to reach the edamame. He even said "oh no problem" when I apologized for being in his way so he's a proper gentleman.

[Young Drachma]

Niiice, maybe this will make me fire up this game so I'm all for following this one.

[Critch]

Niiice, maybe this will make me fire up this game so I'm all for following this one.

Thanks, I'll try to make it through a whole season then.


A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

A number of holdups, both game related (I accidentally simmed too far and missed the expansion date so had to start setup again, I found out you cant select "cant be fired" in an ongoing game so had to start again, I had to set up graphics that were supposedly automatic) and not game related (Valentines Day dinner with Mrs Critch, had to watch the Caps lose again), but the game is finally at early pre-season 2024/25 and ready to go. The expansion draft has happened and the other expansion teams are loaded with 2.0 and 2.5 rated players that their old teams didnt think worth protecting, but the Anchorage roster is still clear and empty. All ready to be filled up with cheap dross.

First up, a quick summary of the two seasons that were simmed to get here:

2022/23
The Colorado Avalanche stomped everybody in the regular season, finished with a record number of points and wins, blowing away the old records. They finished with a 71-8-3 record for 145, 13 points more than the previous record and 9 wins more. Didnt win them the Stanley Cup though, Carolina were the top seed from the East and beat them 4 games to 2 in the final.

Alex Ovechkin got 42 goals to narrow the race for all time top goalscorer, think that's about 70-something behind Gretzky.

And Vancouver "won" the draft lottery and got themselves real-life generational talent Connor Bedard. A challenger for the coveted "best Canadian Hockey Player called Connor" title.

2023/24
After their record-breaking 2022/23 season the Avalanche fell off a cliff and could only win their division with a measly 96 points, they werent even the number 1 seed in the West! Losers could only make #2 seed, Edmonton were #1. President Trophy winners were Carolina with 112 points.

Stanley Cup final was Boston Bruins from the East against the West's Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins won the cup in game 7. I bet their fans celebrated the cup with the class and restraint for which they are known.

Connor McDavid bounced back from a fairly down (for him) 2022/23 and scooped the MVP (Hart Trophy) and Most Points (Art Ross Trophy) with 135 points. Ovi is slowing down as a 38 year old, lower ratings but still got himself 35 goals and is now 37 behind Gretzky, it's a race against time now.

And Rookie Connor Bedard played the whole season in the NHL, 45 points in 76 games for the Canucks, but didnt win the Rookie award. He finished second to Shane Wright who was drafted 4th the year before but spent the year in the juniors. He got 46 points for Seattle.


So that's us up to date. First thing up will be the Entry draft lottery, I cant find anyway of not including the expansion teams in the draft and as all the expansion teams are lottery teams they'll be getting good picks. I'll be simming over and over til I get as low pick as possible. It would feel a little cheap to get the number one draft pick within a week of starting.

[Critch]

2024/25 Preseason

Rookie Draft
Re-loading until Anchorage got a later draft pick didn't work out so well, so Anchorage had the 5th pick. I accidentally overwrote my backups and couldn't rerun the lottery. At least I didn't get 1st pick. There was not enough time to scout anybody so the draft was almost all guided by the mock draft.

So Henry Mews, Emil Hemming, Chris Thibodeua and a four other guys who'll probably never be mentioned were welcomed to the Anchorage Huskies. They were our first, and at that point only, players. All over 6 foot, all around 200lbs, big lads. I dont think any of them will make the NHL this year, but it's a start.

Free Agency
My cunning plan for free agency was to snap up all the youngish players who were currently borderline NHL-ers in the hope they'd improve with playing time, then once I had most of the roster stacked with prospects I'd fill in the gaps with cheap experienced free agents on short deals. Unfortunately with expansion just past every team had gaps to fill so it was a sellers market and my targets kept getting snapped up elsewhere. My cunning plan soon became "just get enough players for a team, anybody will do".

I also discovered that sometimes when your scout says "boss! boss! I've found us a good player who's a great bargain!!", you're scout might be totally wrong and when the player turns up he'll be dire. The goaltenders are a good example of that.

So long story short, the Anchorage Huskies blow. Maybe record-breaking-ly bad.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Zach Fucale	G	29	CAN	1.5	1.5	2	1,150
Brayden Peters	G	22	CAN	1.0	2.0	2	750
Hunter Shepard	G	28	USA	1.5	1.5	2	1,290
Defensemen
Jakob Dion	LD	22	CAN	1.5	2.0	2	750
Jacob Bryson	LD	26	CAN	2.0	2.5	3	1,570
Brenden Dillon	LD	33	CAN	2.0	2.0	3	2,502
Niko Mikkola	LD	28	FIN	2.5	2.5	3	969
Oscar Plandowski	RD	21	CAN	1.5	3.5	3	883
Michael Stone	RD	34	CAN	2.0	2.0	1	750
Darren Radysh	RD	28	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	750
Forwards
Tommy Cormier	C	20	CAN	2.0	2.5	3	750
Odeen Tufto	C	27	USA	2.0	2.0	1	750
Jakov Novak	C	25	CAN	2.0	2.0	1	750
Sam Carrick	C	32	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	750
Anthony Richard	C	27	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	1,051
Tyler Savard	LW	21	CAN	2.0	3.0	3	852
Liam Gilmartin	LW	21	USA	1.5	3.0	3	750
Yauheni Aksiantsiuk	LW	23	BLR	2.5	2.5	2	878
Carl Grundstrom	LW	26	SWE	2.5	2.5	2	750
Jiri Sekac	LW	32	CZE	2.5	2.5	1	1,051
Alex Galchenyuk	LW	30	USA	2.0	2.0	1	953
Justin Danforth	RW	31	CAN	2.5	2.5	3	1,843
Jesper Fast	RW	32	SWE	2.5	2.5	2	1,092
Warren Foegele	RW	28	CAB	2.5	2.5	3	1,559
Anatoli Golyshev	RW	29	RUS	2.5	2.5	2	1,260

A selection of bottom 6 and depth players, not many of them with room for improvement. At least they're cheap, they're about 30mil below the salary floor so plenty of room to snag anybody on waivers.

Post after the next post will take us to the All-Star break. Not much chance of avoiding last place is my guess.

[Critch]

Since I've gone to the bother of learning how to make an excel table line up on here, here are the rookies too.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Henry Mews	RD	18	CAN	1.5	4.5	0	0	Juniors
Emil Hemming	RW	18	FIN	1.5	4.0	0	0	Finnish League
Chris Thibodeau	RW	18	CAN	2.0	3.0	0	0	Juniors
Oskar Vuollet	C	18	SWE	1.0	3.5	0	0	Juniors
Jeremie Richard	LD	18	CAN	1.0	3.0	0	0	Juniors
Liam Watkins	LW	20	CAN	1.0	3.5	0	0	NCAA
Visa Vedenpaa	G	19	FIN	1.0	2.0	0	0	Juniors

For the first few years all of the rookies in the league are real prospects, not sure when that finishes but this bunch are real life hockey prospect kids.

The goalie taken in round seven isnt very good, but he's 6'4 and 220lbs, surely covering most of the net must help out?

[Critch]

The Episode Where The Anchorage GM Doesnt Understand the Rules.

Post number 8 and finally some games.

Since the Anchorage Huskies were well below the salary floor there was still money to spend on Free Agents to fill in some weak spots. Unfortunately the free agent cupboard was pretty much bare. A goalie was obviously needed so that was the one free agent picked up. Matt Murray, former Pittsburgh, Ottawa and Toronto goaltender, wasnt getting any offers so he was snapped up to hopefully be steady. 2.5 star current so not great but a great improvement on what we previously had. He's got a Scotland flag on his helmet, so he'll do.

There was also a couple of waiver claims, C Philipp Kurashev (current 2.5, potential 2.5) and D Ryan Lindgren (2.5 and 3.0) and the roster was as good as it was getting. A winning pre-season (4-3) and maybe the team wont be too awful?

So here are the lines to start the season:

First line - Carl Grundstrom/Anthony Richard/Jesper Fast - Richard is a perimeter shooter, so paired with Grundstrom the Power Forward and tactic set to "Crash the Net". That sounds like it should work? Right? Fast is a backchecking forward to balance the other two out

Second Line - Yauheni Aksiantsiuk/Philip Kurashev/Justin Danforth. Kurashev is a playmaker, Danforth is a sniper so they sound like a goalscoring pair

Third Line - Jiri Sekac/Sam Carrick/Warren Foegele - Third line is the defensive line, it'll start mainly in our own zone and be up against the opponents top line, so it's all defensive and grindy. Carrick is good for faceoffs, the plan is he wins the faceoff then the others clear the zone and dump and chase. Carrick actually starts the season injured, but that's the plan.

Fourth Line - Tyler Savard/Odeen Tufto/Anatoli Golyshev - It's really just anybody left who's not awful. Not as defensive and grindy as I was planning.

Defensive pairing

First - Brenden Dillon and Darren Raddysh
Second - Niko Mikkola and Jacob Bryson
Third - Ryan Lindgren and Michael Stone.

We've got a lot of Stay-at-home defenders, so top two lines are a Stay-at-home (Dillon and Mikkola) paired with somebody a bit more adventurous (Raddysh and Bryson). Third line is all defensive because that's all that's left.

Goalies are Matt Murray backed up Zach Fucale.

But will it all work? First game looks good, a 3-1 win to kick off the season at Seattle (Anthony Richard with the first ever Huskies goal, Darren Raddysh with the first ever assist). And that's when I find out that I dont understand the Salary Floor rules. I thought it was "you can spend less than this, but you'll be fined". It's actually "you have to spend at least the salary floor or the game wont let you advance to the next day".

So Anchorage Huskies have $32 million to spend and less than 24 hours to spend it. It's like Trading Places.

[Izulde]

This looks extremely entertaining to say the least. Hope it keeps going

[Critch]

This looks extremely entertaining to say the least. Hope it keeps going

Thanks, it'll keep going for a while. Not giving up without a playoffs.

2024/25 season, first half

The last update left off with the Huskies less than halfway to the salary floor and looking to blow $32mil on just about anybody to meet the requirements and advance on. Luckily the game is quite forgiving if you're stuck in that situation, free agents will negotiate and sign straight away so two highly paid FA (G Sam Montembeault for 6.25mil x 3 years and RD Tyler Myers for 8.3mil for 1 year) and one player received in a salary dump trade (36yo Center Jonathan Toews from the still rebuilding Blackhawks) and the salary floor got a whole lot closer. By then there was nothing left worth bidding for in FA, nobody who would improve the team anyway, so drastic measures were needed. RW Nick Cousins lucked out in lottery-winning fashion. He demanded 1.4mil per year for 2 years, but settled for 13mil for one year and, after some roster shuffling to the AHL, we were above the salary floor and could press "next day" with confidence. Cousins was able to sit on the bench counting his money while being the highest paid player in the league.

I'm planning on this dynasty being a bit quicker moving and not crawling along one game at a time, but game two was the Huskies first ever OT win, 2-1 at Atlanta, so it gets a special mention. Game 3 was a win too, 3-0 at Minnesota and for a moment Anchorage had the best record in the league. Things kept on going positively and the Huskies got to 6-3-0, before being 9-7-0 at the beginning of November and in the playoff race. They were not scoring many but were riding along on a wave of Matt Murray playing like an all-star goalie. The goalies have little icons signifying their form, little flames for "hot" and little icy things for cold, Matt Murray rolled through the first couple of months hovering between 3 flames and 5 flames (the max) and kept the team ticking along. I was just at the point of thinking "Is this game too easy? Am I going to the playoffs with this chaff?" when it all crashed and burned. In early November an OT loss at Boston dropped the team below .500 for the first time at 9-9-1 (the Huskies first ever loser point) and we were soon out of the playoff race for good.

It's now January 1st 2025, right after the all-star break, and the Huskies are 8th of 9 in the Pacific Division, 44 games played with a record of 15-25-4 for 34 points. They have allowed a fairly respectable 138 goals, pretty much middle of the pack for goals allowed, but they're the second lowest scorers in the whole league with only 94 goals in 44 games. Injuries havent helped, top line LW Carl Grundstrom has been out for the season since the 2nd game, top line C Anthony Richard is out for the season now too, 2nd line LW Yauheni Aksiantsiuk has been out a couple of months with a broken collarbone but he'll be back soon. If you hover over a team it gives a little summary, apparently the Huskies weaknesses are at LD, RD, C, RW and LW. So only the goalies arent a weakness, the current plan is to try and trade Murray off for a pick at the trade deadline, so G will be on the list too soon.

Top scorers are injured-for-the-year Anthony Richard and Jonathan Toews with 9 goals, Toews started off as third line center but is now on the top line thanks to the injuries. Most points is waiver pickup Dylan Holloway who has 23 points (8 goals and 15 assists) bouncing about the top 6 playing either center or left wing as needed. Dylan Holloway is also one of only two players with a positive +/-, he's on 3 while fellow waiver pickup C Rasmus Kupari is on 5. RW Nick Cousins has played in 16 games and has 2 goals. $13mil per year doesnt get you much these days.

For the rookies, 1st round pick RD Henry Mews is rolling through the Major Juniors at over a point per game and would already be our best defenseman if he was in the NHL, so he'll be called up next season. 2nd round pick Emil Hemming is looking ok in Finland but may need another year there before NHL, and 3rd round pick Chris Thibodeau would probably be called up next year but is currently listed as indefinitely injured with "massive eye trauma" so who knows if he'll be ready.

The plan for the next post will be get to the end of the regular season and zip through the playoffs. Wont need a separate post for playoffs since the Huskies wont be there.

[Critch]

2024/25 season, second half

The season ended with Anchorage well out of the playoff race, in 9th place in the 9 team Pacific division with a record of 28-48-6 for 62 points. Not quite the worst record in the league, fellow expansion teams Hartford and Atlanta finished with 58 and 57 points respectively, Quebec were the runaway winners of the "best expansion franchise" award finishing with a huge 74 points. All four expansion franchises finished bottom of their division though, expansion as expansion should be.

The second half of the season was injury after injury, at one point we had 11 players on the Injury List. Jonathan Toews broke his hip and missed most of the second half of the season, almost everybody was out at some point. We picked up one guy on waivers, LW William Carrier, who made it 5 minutes into his Anchorage debut before being injured and out for the rest of the season. Maybe related maybe not, but I've discovered there is a training screen that I ignored all season. Could that have caused some injuries, or is everybody gets hurt just what happens? I've set training to AI control now, so maybe that'll be better next year.

My plan to trade Matt Murray for a good pick was scuppered by him becoming more and more awful as the season went on, and then breaking his hand right at the trade deadline. Even before the injury he'd lost his starting position to backup Sam Montembeault, at one point Murray had a Goals Saved Above Average over 9.00, by season end he was well below zero. Lots of mistakes as the year went on. I did bin lots of unwanted chaff as the season went on though, turned expiring contracts and old men (if you count 30 as old) into a bundle of 4th and 5th round picks. Gaps in the roster were filled with younger waiver pickups, it felt to me like the team was improving but the power rankings rate Anchorage last in forward strength and last in defensemen strength, so maybe my scouts are wrong. 26th for goalkeepers though thanks to the Sam Montembeault/Matt Murray tandem. The results did improve near the end of the season though, there was a section in the middle of the season when Anchorage couldnt buy a win, you knew it was going to be a loss before pressing the sim button. Anchorage had the worst record in the league before bouncing back to clinch third worst.

For the playoffs, a lot of big names missed out, no Florida, Maple Leafs, Islanders, Rangers, Caps, Penguins, Vegas, Edmonton in the playoffs. Feels like 3 seasons into the career there's been a powershift in the league, particularly in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa and Columbus won the two Eastern divisions, currently 7th and 8th and rebuilding in real life. Western conference is a bit less changed, Colorado still dominant but joined by Connor Bedard's Vancouver.

Stanley Cup went to Ottawa Senators, they beat St Louis by 4 games to 2. Connor McDavid won the MVP and scored most points despite his Edmonton team finishing 5th and missing the playoffs. He's so good some of his "out of 20" ratings are higher than 20, a couple of 21s and 22s in there. Ovechkin has slowed down, 24 goals this season to leave him 39 years old and 13 goals behind Gretzky. He has one more year left in his Caps contract, who knows if he'll make it, or what will happen when he's 40 and out of contract.

For Anchorage top scorer was Philipp Kurashev with 14 goals in 70 games, he also was top for points with 34. Only one player who played more than 2 games ended the season with a non-negative +/-, Yaukeni Aksiantsiuk with 0. Aksiantsiuk also led the team for average Game Rating. And I need to go read up on Corsi and Fenwick to work out what the advanced stats are telling me. I think they're basically saying "most of these guys had a bad year by any metric".

For next year things will be better. There are some rookies who will show up (1st rounder Henry Mews is now 3.0 current 4.0 potential and will be starting next year, 4th rounder Oskar Vuollet has gone from 1.0/3.5 last year to 2.0/5.0 now so if that's not scouting mistakes he may be an apparently rare low drafted star). There will also be quite a lot of salary cap available for free agents, maybe improve the defense and I guess a top scorer with 14 goals kind of says "get somebody who can score goals" too.

Next up will be pre-season preview, FA results and projected lines that look nothing like the ones from last year.

[Critch]

2025/26 Preseason

Rookie Draft
Anchorage went into the draft lottery with the 3rd best chance of getting the first pick, but Anahiem got lucky and jumped from 5th to 1st, stealling the pick that wasn't rightfully ours. So Anchorage went in with the 4th pick and picked 18 year old Center Jordan Gavin (current 3.0, future 4.5). Seemed safer getting a player who is already partially developed and NHL ready rather than a 0.5 current/5.0 future risk at 4th pick.

At the trade deadline I dumped most of older upcoming UFAs for draft picks so Anchorage went in with their own picks plus 3 extra 4th round and 2 extra 5 round. A quick way to build an instant farm. Thanks to the high picks over the last couple of seasons, Anchorage are 2nd on Prospect ranking (C Jordan Gavin 12th, RD Henry Mews 29th, RW Emil Hemming 42nd, LW Lucas Karmiris 49th, C Oskar Vuollet 88th in the top 100 prospects). The Flyers are 1st in the rankings, and they are really loaded, 8 players in the top 50.

Jordan Gavin and Henry Mews will be in Anchorage this year, they're already our best forward and defenseman going by the star rankings. Emil Hemming would have been in the NHL too but I missed the deadline for signing him so he'll have another year in the Finnish league.

Free Agents
Thanks to having forewarning about the Salary Floor being literally a Salary Floor this year, FA has been more controlled. Nick Cousins' 13mil for a year will be a one off, he's left the payroll and is now on a try out at Colorado, so the money he freed up has now gone on a couple of FAs (LD Brady Skjei for 8.7mil and LW AJ Greer for 750k), signing a few rookies to Entry Level contracts, and giving new contracts to some players who'd have been UFA at the end of the year, so before the preseason games Anchorage are already safely over the $61million salary floor at $61,289,438.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Tristan Lennox	G	22	CAN	1.5	3.5	3	750
Matt Murray	G	30	CAN	2.0	2.0	3	1,851
Sam Montembeault	G	27	CAN	2.5	3.0	3	6,250
Visa Vedenpaa	G	20	FIN	0.5	1.5	3	750
Defensemen
Jakob Dion	LD	23	CAN	1.5	2.0	1	750
Niko Mikkola	LD	29	FIN	2.5	2.5	2	969
Ryan Lindgren	LD	27	USA	2.5	3.0	2	4,310
Brady Skjei	LD	31	USA	3.0	3.0	2	8,710
Sterling Wolters	LD	23	CAN	0.5	2.5	1	750
Oscar Plandowski	RD	22	CAN	2.0	3.5	2	883
Andrew Peeke	RD	27	USA	2.0	2.0	1	2,750
Darren Radysh	RD	29	CAN	2.0	2.0	1	750
Henry Mews	RD	19	CAN	3.0	4.0	3	834
Jacob Bryson	RD	27	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	1,570
Forwards
Sam Carrick	C	33	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	750
Tommy Cormier	C	22	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	750
Jordan Gavin	C	18	CAN	3.5	4.0	3	834
Phillipp Kurashev	C	25	SUI	2.5	2.5	1	1,530
Anthony Richard	C	28	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	1,051
Jonathan Toews	C	37	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	7,380
Rasmus Kupari	C	25	FIN	2.5	2.5	1	1,260
Dylan Holloway	C	23	CAN	2.5	3.0	2	1,260
Hunter Bischoff	C	22	USA	0.5	2.5	2	750
Yauheni Aksiantsiuk	LW	24	BLR	2.5	2.5	1	878
Carl Grundstrom	LW	26	SWE	2.0	2.0	1	750
Jakov Novak	LW	26	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	1,142
William Carrier	LW	30	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	760
Liam Watkins	LW	21	CAN	2.0	2.5	3	878
AJ Greer	LW	28	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	750
Justin Danforth	RW	32	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	1,843
Jesper Fast	RW	33	SWE	2.0	2.0	1	1,092
Warren Foegele	RW	29	CAB	2.5	2.5	2	1,559
Anatoli Golyshev	RW	30	RUS	2.0	2.0	1	1,260
Vasili Podkolzin	RW	24	RUS	2.5	3.5	2	2,480
Arthur Kaliyev	RW	24	USA	3.0	3.5	4	2,600
Chris Thibodeau	RW	19	CAN	2.5	3.5	3	834

The roster looks to have grown this year, but that's mainly because it includes players who'll be demoted to the AHL before the regular season starts. Didnt include as many of them last year. Visa Vendenpaa, Henry Mews, Jordan Gavin, Liam Watkins and Chris Thibodeau are all Anchorage draft picks, Gavin from this year and the rest from last.

[Critch]

2025/26 Preview

I should have really called this post the "preseason" one and the last one "close season".

With the salary floor safely achieved and no glaring holes in the roster, we're all set for the season's start

Anchorage Huskies Lines:

First Line - Carl Grundstrom/Philipp Kurashev/Arthur Kaliyev - All change on the top line, Grundstrom is back but he only lasted 2 games last year before getting injured for the year so doesn't really count as a returner. It's more defensive than last year's plan (which didn't really work), Kurashev and Kaliyev will help out the defense too.

Second Line - Yauheni Aksiantsiuk/Jordan Gavin/Vasili Podkolzin - Aksiantsiuk is the only regular top 6 forward to keep his place, 31 points in 64 games and a 0 +/- made him the star of last year. Pretty low bar. Rookie Gavin is a playmaker, Podkolzin is a sniper who arrived on waivers late last year. Hopefully they'll pair up for goals. Podkolzin got 4 in 6 pre-season games so that's hopeful.

Third Line - AJ Greer/Dylan Holloway/Warren Foegele - all tougher than last year, they'll be in there to defend and stop the oppositions good players playing hopefully.

Fourth Line - William Carrier/Rasmus Kupari/Jesper Fast - not just whoever is left over like last year, this year the 4th line is quite counter-attacky and half-decent.

Last year the Anchorage Huskies were by far the lowest scoring team in the league, pretty respectable goals allowed but less than 2 goals scored per game (1.9). So these forward lines dont have to do much to be an improvement

Defensive Pairings

First - Brady Skjei and Andrew Peeke
Second - Ryan Lindgren and Henry Mews
Third - Niko Mikola and Jacob Bryson

This year all three defensive lines are a stay-at-home defenseman (Peeke, Lindgren and Mikola) paired with a more adventurous defender. I forgot to mention at the end of last season but Niko Mikola was a trendsetter, the first ever Huskies player to be suspended. He got 6 games for boarding a Bruin. It didnt say which one but I'm choosing to believe it was Marchand.

An improvement from last year's roster is that this year we have some depth too. Oscar Plandowski is a 22 year old LD/RD and (judging by last year's injuries) is bound to see a lot of time, plus last year starters C Anthony Richard, C Jonathan Toews and RW Anatoli Golyshev are all still around. Toews is pretty much done due to injury (he broke his hip last year) and age (coming up for 38) so he wont be seen much.

Preseason games - Anchorage went 5-2-0, pretty promising until you remember they had a winning record in preseason last year too. Highlights were Podkolzin scoring 4 in 6 games, and lowlight was NJ Devils beating the Huskies 6-3 behind a Jack Hughes hattrick. Anchorage have still never had a player score a hattrick.

Prediction - I'm going Anchorage improve but are still a lottery team. Maybe 8th-10th worst record. I compared the Anchorage lines screen with a random selection of other teams and they're fairly comparable. The only difference is other teams are a whole lot of average with a smattering of stars where Anchorage is average all the way through.

One thing I forgot to mention is that every month you make selections on a budget screen, things like scouting, morale, game promotions. It wasnt a problem last year but this year even if I set it to the absolute lowest settings it's still a loss each month. Not sure if that'll be an issue, so far the only problem is that a few players are upset by the lack of morale spending.

[Critch]

2025/26 Season, first half

Apparently I still dont understand the salary rules. I thought when a player was demoted to AHL part of the salary was retained, but after moving down a few players we're about $6mil below the salary floor again. At one point I demoted a guy on league minimum and promoted a guy on $2mil and the team salary dropped so I'm clueless as to what's going on, or if it's even working as it should. There's been a new patch released for the game in the last couple of days, so it still has the occassional issue and bug to address. Since starting I've had one game stopping bug (a popup with an inactive OK button that stopped me advancing so I had to close the game and reload) and one less important bug (a player I had in the AHL was released by the AI at the season's end, apparently a known bug).

Anyway, a couple of last minute FAs to get to the salary floor (new starting G Linus Ullmark and RD upgrade Adam Larsson) and the it's time to start the season. Unfortunately Linus Ullmark is good in the game but he's not as good as his current real life version. One downside of the shuffling is 4th line center Rasmus Kupari went on waivers to try to sneak him to the AHL to make room for somebody earning more and he got snatched away by Colorado. Bye bye Rasmus, we barely knew you. He'll be missed mainly for his cool name.

We got off to a slow start getting to 1-5-1 but a run of 6 wins in a row (including one where we won 2-1 behind a goal from each of our two rookie stars Gavin and Mews) and it was obvious this years team wasnt as pisspoor as last years. Maybe not quite playoff contenders but on the edge. From then on for about 6 weeks the Huskies bounced around the .500 mark until a period where two of the top defensemen went down injured (Brady Skjei 3 months and still not back and Adam Larsson for a month) plus a third got suspended (Jacob Bryson, 6 games for bonking somebody on the bonce). That left the roster short of defense with a couple of career AHLers called up to fill out the numbers, and that led to a downturn as the Huskies dropped 4 games below .500.

It's now January 1st 2026 and a run of wins over the holidays, 4 wins in a row, sees the Huskies back on form with a record of 48 played, 22-22-4 for 48 points, still only good enough for 8th place in the division but only 5 points behind the last wildcard spot.

The main difference has been the rookies, C Jordan Gavin has 11 goals, 23 assists - 34 points in 36 games (he missed the start of the season with an injury, then 8 more games for a suspension) and Henry Mews is a goalscoring defenseman, the teams top scorer with 16 goals, 13 assists - 29 points. Add in Carl Grundstrom's solid return from missing almost all of last season injured (15 goals, 9 assists in 38 games) and Vasili Podkolzin finding a scoring touch too (15 goals, 19 assists, tied with linemate Gavin for points lead). The two goalies Ullmark and Montembeault have exactly split the starts so far (not planned) and have matching 11-11-2 records, so it's the definition of a 1a/1b goalie pairing so far.

Next post will be the second half of the season, we're not completely out of the playoff hunt but it's looking unlikely. The team's depth chart lists our best LW, 3rd best RW and 4th best C as prospects that cant be signed til the summer, maybe adding in them and a good free agent or two and playoffs next year might be a reasonable target.

[Critch]

2025/26 Season, second half

The second season came to an end with no drama, no brave chase for the playoffs, no fight to get to .500. The Huskies were not very close at the All Star break, and that was as near to a playoff spot as they got. The second half of the season was a slight disappointment and they finished with a 35-40-7 record for 77 points. That's 15 points more than the previous season, if they were to improve by 15 points again next year they'd be right in the chase for a wildcard place. Not to be this year though, 77 points was only good enough for 7th in the 9 team Pacific division, 7th worst record in the league. One sign of the improvement was that last year if a half decent player turned up on waivers, Anchorage would claim and get them. This year they'd claim and somebody else with a worse record would get them. Normally Hartford Whalers.

One high point for the Huskies was that they were the only one of the four expansion franchises to not finish bottom of their division. They also had the best record of the expansion teams so I'm officially better than the AI. And they also crawled off the bottom of the Goals For list. So that's three good things.

For the Huskies rookie stars Henry Mews (27 goals, 21 assists) and Jordan Gavin (14 goals, 35 assists) looked good for a pair of teenagers although neither got anywhere near the Rookie award, that went to New Jersey's Luke Hughes, younger brother of current Devils star Jack Hughes.

Other Huskies players who deserve a mention for having a good year:
RW Vasili Podkolzin (22 goals, 32 assists, 54 points is a new Huskies record)
LW Carl Grundstrom (22 goals, 22 assists)
C Philipp Kurashev (5 goals, 26 assists)
D Brady Skjei (8 goals, 12 assists)
G Linus Ullmark (20-19-2, 2.90GAA,.909Sv%).

I really meant to put up end of season stats but I forwarded into the new year before remembering so the stats screen is all zeroes for 2026/27. Maybe next year if I remember

In the playoffs Western Conference wild card Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup beating the Eastern Conference wild card Philadelphia Flyers 4-1. A year for upset. Toronto's Auston Matthews won both the Art Ross (most points) and Hart (MVP). Connor McDavid spent half the season injured so he lost out on his two annual awards and Matthews got them. One thing I have noticed is that star players dont appear to move often in FHM9, they all seem to be where they started the game. Unlike real life, Dmitry Orlov is where he should be playing for the Caps :(

Alex Ovechkin got the goals he needed to overtake Wayne Gretzky, a 30 goal season to take him to 911 career goals, 17 ahead of Gretzky. That's where the record will stay though, he retired at the end of the season.

Next up will be the 2025/26 Close Season thread when the dynasty will take a swerve from "we're getting good!" to "I've messed this up!". I've made a couple of mistakes that have f-ed up the Huskies for a while. A cautionary tale of how not to play FHM9.

[Critch]

Close Season Action

Anchorage Huskies have been having a trying time. The tl;dr version is that I've messed up the finances by not checking what options I had selected, which messed up the team morale, so it's retool/rebuild time. Now either skip to the end, or read all the boring details.

I mentioned at the end of the 2025/26 Preview that the team was making a loss every month but that I didn't know why or if it would be an issue. Turns out the why was because I caused it, and the if it would be an issue was a yes.

The problems all came from a mistake I made setting ticket prices on the annual budget screen. Before season 1 I had a small budget and no fans so I thought a ticket price reduction was affordable and would drag in fans so dropped the ticket price the maximum 30% allowed. Before season 2 I pretty much just clicked through the annual budget screen without checking all the options, I assumed the 30% ticket price reduction was a one off and the would reset itself, but it didn't so I accidentally reduced prices by 30% again. So that's where the monthly loss came from, over two years I'd reduced average ticket price from $80 to $38. Looking at the league ticket price list it ranges from $150 (Toronto) down to $75 (Hartford) and then Anchorage is down on it's own at $38.

With ticket revenue way down, the team was running with a monthly loss. That meant zero money for scouting support (which means a reduction on scouting effectiveness), zero on team morale (negative monthly adjustment to player happiness) and zero on game promotions (5% penalty on attendance). The first one isn't a disaster, the second and third have caused a lot of problems.

The 5% penalty on attendances seems to be monthly and cumulative, so a season's worth of no spending has seen the average home attendance drop from 6500 to 3300 which means even less ticket money which means even less spending. Vicious circle, innit.

The negative adjustment to player happiness meant that at the end of the season the "Currently Unhappy" list was every single player. Team-wide bad morale leads to cliques forming, cliques lead to even worse morale, another vicious circle. Seems like cliques need to be dealt with sharpish before the team morale falls off a cliff, and Anchorage had bad morale and 13 players in three separate cliques.

There are a few options for trying to deal with cliques, you can try intervening yourself if you have high enough Player Management (I don't), you can have your team captain intervene (my team captain is Niko Mikkola and he's in a clique so not going to help). The only other option is to reduce the clique to 2 players so it stops being a clique and becomes just two guys who hang out sometimes.

So it was time for a clear out. Seven players were traded away to kill the cliques and improve morale (LW Anthony Richard, RD Jacob Bryson, LD Ryan Lindgren, LD Niko Mikkola, RD Oscar Plandowski, C Dylan Holloway, G Sam Montembeault). Basically I just looked at each clique, kept the two most important players and traded the rest for anything I could get. Anything I could get was mainly low value prospects, had to avoid the salary dumps offered. After getting rid of all the malcontents the Team Harmony screen looked a lot better but the Conflicts section of the screen was still full. That turned out to be that there was one guy who everybody hated, and he hated everybody back. RW Warren Foegele got shipped out too and the Conflicts part of the Team Harmony screen was empty too.

Add in a few expired contracts and Jonathan Toews retiring and the team roster was very bare, but harmony was up to "Acceptable". A close season that was meant to be adding some strength to a developing team became a rebuild instead.

Rookie Draft
With the penalties on scouting, I'm not sure how good the draft was this year. Overall it looked weak and prospects dropped off after the first couple, not sure if it was a down year or a scouting issue. We went into the draft lottery with 7th pick but dropped to 8th when, just like real life, the draft lottery was fixed to make sure NY Rangers got a top pick. They jumped from 12th pick to 2nd in the lottery. With 8th pick we got 18 year old Swedish winger Anton Nilsson and we then carried on to pick Swedes in almost every round. Nobody who'll be jumping straight to the NHL though.

Free Agents
The roster was bare but luckily we had a lot of prospects ready, or nearly ready, to make the jump up to NHL. So LW Lucas Karmiris (Current 3.0, future 3.5), RW Emil Hemming (3.0/4.0), C Oskar Vuollet (2.5/4.0), C Alex Weiermair (2.5/2.5), C Hunter McKenzie (2.5/3.0) all made the jump to the NHL roster. From the summer of trades we also added RD Ian Mitchell from Vancouver and 34 year old RW Marcus Foligno from Vegas so the Forwards looked ok. The defense was weak though so a couple of overpriced splashes on defensemen (31yo LD Adam Pelech (2.5/2.5) and 32yo LD Brandon Montour (3.0/3.0) and we've got a full roster and got to the Salary floor.

Last year's rookies RD Henry Mews and C Jordan Gavin will still be around and a year older, and last year's respectable scorer Vasili Podkolzin (22 goals last year) signed a new contract to stick around, so maybe things wont be too bad.

[Critch]

2026/27 Preseason

<table><thead><tr><th>Name</th><th>pos</th><th>Age</th><th>Nationality</th><th>Current</th><th>Potential</th><th>Years</th><th>Salary</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Goalies</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Tristan Lennox</td><td>G</td><td>23</td><td>CAN</td><td>1.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Matt Murray</td><td>G</td><td>32</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>1,851</td></tr><tr><td>Linus Ullmark</td><td>G</td><td>32</td><td>SWE</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>7,080</td></tr><tr><td>Visa Vedenpaa</td><td>G</td><td>21</td><td>FIN</td><td>1.0</td><td>1.5</td><td>2</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Vitek Vanecek</td><td>G</td><td>30</td><td>CZE</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>2,820</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Defensemen</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Brady Skjei</td><td>LD</td><td>32</td><td>USA</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>1</td><td>8,710</td></tr><tr><td>Brandon Montour</td><td>LD</td><td>32</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>5,420</td></tr><tr><td>Adam Pelech</td><td>LD</td><td>31</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>3</td><td>5,570</td></tr><tr><td>Adam Wilsby</td><td>LD</td><td>25</td><td>SWE</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Henry Mews</td><td>RD</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.5</td><td>4.0</td><td>2</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Topi Niemela</td><td>RD</td><td>24</td><td>FIN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>2,686</td></tr><tr><td>Jordan Spence</td><td>RD</td><td>25</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>2,190</td></tr><tr><td>Ian Mitchell</td><td>RD</td><td>27</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>960</td></tr><tr><td>Christopher Romaine</td><td>RD</td><td>22</td><td>USA</td><td>1.5</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Tristen Doyle</td><td>RD</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>1.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>835</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Forwards</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Jordan Gavin</td><td>C</td><td>19</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.5</td><td>4.0</td><td>3</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Oskar Vuollet</td><td>C</td><td>20</td><td>SWE</td><td>2.5</td><td>4.0</td><td>3</td><td>925</td></tr><tr><td>Phillipp Kurashev</td><td>C</td><td>26</td><td>SUI</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>3</td><td>1,965</td></tr><tr><td>Alex Weiermair</td><td>C</td><td>21</td><td>USA</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>3</td><td>878</td></tr><tr><td>Hunter McKenzie</td><td>C</td><td>19</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Colby Saganiuk</td><td>C</td><td>23</td><td>USA</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>840</td></tr><tr><td>Tommy Cormier</td><td>C</td><td>22</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Hunter Bischoff</td><td>C</td><td>23</td><td>USA</td><td>0.5</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Lucas Karmiris</td><td>LW</td><td>19</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.5</td><td>3</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Yauheni Aksiantsiuk</td><td>LW</td><td>25</td><td>BLR</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>1,659</td></tr><tr><td>Carl Grundstrom</td><td>LW</td><td>28</td><td>SWE</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>1,337</td></tr><tr><td>Liam Watkins</td><td>LW</td><td>22</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>878</td></tr><tr><td>Jakov Novak</td><td>LW</td><td>27</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>1,142</td></tr><tr><td>Liam O'Brien</td><td>LW</td><td>31</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>2</td><td>1,883</td></tr><tr><td>AJ Greer</td><td>LW</td><td>29</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Vasili Podkolzin</td><td>RW</td><td>24</td><td>RUS</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.5</td><td>1</td><td>2,480</td></tr><tr><td>Emil Hemming</td><td>RW</td><td>20</td><td>FIN</td><td>3.0</td><td>4.0</td><td>3</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Arthur Kaliyev</td><td>RW</td><td>25</td><td>USA</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>3</td><td>2,600</td></tr><tr><td>Marcus Foligno</td><td>RW</td><td>34</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>4,450</td></tr><tr><td>Chris Thibodeau</td><td>RW</td><td>19</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Justin Danforth</td><td>RW</td><td>33</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>1,843</td></tr></tbody></table>

If anybody is thinking "How is this guy so bad at this game? He should have a top class roster by now", I'd like to point out that I'm using a couple of house rules. I'd read that it's too easy to stack up a roster if you target star players and offer huge piles of mediocre players and low draft picks, and that it's too easy to move up the draft order. So my rules are 1) no offering trades. I can shop a player and see what's offered but no offering a bundle of crap for Cale Makar and 2) no moving up the draft by bundling picks. So that's why I'm not winning. Honest.

All change with the Anchorage lines to start the season, lots of new faces:

First Line - Carl Grundstrom/Jordan Gavin/Vasili Podkolzin - Gavin and Podkolzin were the forward stars of the team on the 2nd line last year so they stay together, a playmaker and a sniper pairing. Grundstrom will be throwing his weight about to make space for the other two.

Second Line - Lucas Karmiris/Oskar Vuollet/Emil Hemming - An all-rookie second line. The original plan was Grunstrom on this line until I noticed Karmiris and Vuollet had good chemistry from playing together in the OHL for the last three seasons. They had a combined 173 points playing together for Mississauga Steelheads in the OHL last year. Emil Hemming averaged 1.5pts per game in the Finnish league last year, so if everybody can make the step up they should be a good line

Third Line - Yauheni Aksiantsiuk/Hunter McKenzie/Marcus Foligno - All change here too. Aksiantsiuk drops down from the second line, McKenzie is a rookie making a step up from the OHL, and Foligno is the experience and one of the few ready players picked up in the great summer clearout. If the line isn't tough enough we have Liam O'Brien waiting to step in with some ultraviolence.

Fourth Line - Liam Watkins/Philipp Kurashev/Chris Thibodeau - Watkins and Thibodeau bounced between Anchorage and Juneau in the AHL last year, and neither were good enough when they were in the NHL, so questions about this line. Arthur Kaliyev starts the season injured for a month or two, he'll probably replace Watkins or Thibodeau when he's back.

Defensive Pairings
First - Brady Skjei and Jordan Spence
Second - Brandon Montour and Henry Mews
Third - Adam Pelech and Topi Niemela

Before this all started I said that I'd read it was important to stack defense and it was important to pair an offensive defenseman and a defensive one. So why is the defense one top draft pick (Mews) and overpaid middling FAs and players picked up on waivers? And why are five of the six offensive defensemen? It's because I havent planned well. I did notice in the draft that defensemen went quickly, by third and fourth round the forwards remaining were much better than the defensement.

Goaltenders
It's a 1a/1b pairing again. Linus Ullmark returns and Vitek Vanecek comes in as a reasonable salaried partner.

Prediction - really for all the upheaval, the team doesnt look any worse than last year. I'm going much the same result as last year, no playoffs but competitive. Mainly it depends on how the rookies settle.

[Critch]

2026/27 Season, first half

The season started with a scare when I got stuck 300k below the salary floor, no AHL shuffling could make a difference, and the owner's budget was maxed out so I couldn't sign a free agent to get over the salary floor either. I thought the dynasty may be stuck permanently and coming to an end. Eventually I discovered that I could turn commissioner mode on and use the editor to increase Anchorage's salary budget by a few million to allow a FA signing. That got me past the "salary floor" popup and move onto the next day. Disaster averted.

That scare was followed by another when Anchorage lost 5 of their first 6 games. I thought maybe too many rookies would mean a serious under-performance, but since then everything has turned around and the Huskies are in the playoff race. It's just past midpoint of the season, January 8th 2027, and Anchorage are 4th in Pacific division with a record of 48 games played, 27 wins, 19 loses, 2 OT loser points for 56 points. That's good enough for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, we'd be the very last team to qualify for the playoffs if they started today. It's close though, Edmonton are 1 point behind, Minnesota are 4 behind but with 2 games more to play, plus there are 3 teams only 2 points ahead, so the playoff picture changes day by day, anything could happen.

The Anchorage MVP so far has been new goalie Vitek Vanecek. He was brought in to split the starting spot with Linus Ullmark but he's made the number 1 spot his own, a record of 26-17-2 and a sv% of .921. He's helped make up for the defensemen being shaky, Skjei and Mews should be our top two but Skjei has started to show signs of aging, and Mews has been limited to only 15 games thanks to a torn muscle. He'll be back soon though. The bad news with Skjei's aging is that he's just signed a three year extension to kick in at the end of the season, not the best timing. C Jordan Gavin is leading the team, he's stepped up in his second season with 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points in 42 games, Vasili Podkolzin second in goals with 14, and the rookies Oskar Vuollet, Emil Hemming and Lucas Karmiris hitting the ground running too. Lucas Karmiris also made history with the first ever Huskies hat-trick, he got 3 in a 5-4 OT win over Chicago on New Years Day 2027.

A suddenly successful team is dragging the fans to the arena too, even with an increase in ticket prices. The team is back to making a profit thanks to all the ticket revenue, they can afford scouts and marketing again.

So all is good with Anchorage Huskies so far, in with a chance of making the playoffs and with the core of the team young and tied up for a few years.

[Critch]

A musical interlude which may, or may not, be a spoiler for how the rest of the regular season went.

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[Critch]

2026/27 Season, second half

After the last post Anchorage limped along just about staying in the playoff spots, they bounced between 1st and 2nd wildcard spot and occasionally droped down to 9th place. Edmonton had gone on a run and were out of touch, so we were not going to make top three in the division (Vancouver, LA Kings and Edmonton had the top three locked up). Top three from each division qualify for the playoffs then it's two wildcards with the best record in the conference so 4th in the Pacific might not be enough if the 5th team in the Central had a better record. We were fighting with Calgary, Winnipeg and Minnesota for the two wildcard spots.

That playoff fight seemed over by early March. Last week of February and first week of March was a long road trip, six road games in two weeks. Anchorage lost all 6 in regulation, all by 2 or more goals, and dropped out of the playoff spots. A lot of lopsided scorelines too (first week in March was 7-2 at Dallas, 7-4 at Minnesota, 5-1 at Nashville), the team was in a rut and fell to 10th place in the Conference, 7 points behind the last playoff spot and having played a game or two more than the wildcard competition. It seemed all over, a good but ultimately disappointing season.

And then a turnaround, I jumbled up the defensive lines a bit, gave the backup goalie regular starts, and the team responded. Back home for four wins, followed by a 6-2 at Boston, a 2-1 at Quebec, the Huskies closed out March going 9-2-0.

Going into April and the last week of the regular season we were still outside the playoff positions. Fourth place in the Pacific was tied up, Calgary had fallen away, but Winnipeg had snatched the 1st wildcard spot so it was down to Anchorage and Minnesota for the last spot. A win in the second last game (3-1 home to Anaheim) and we went into the last night of the regular season knowing that a win, or even a loser's point, at Atlanta would clinch the playoffs. Atlanta were in last place with nothing to play for, we were 3-1 up after the first period, it was all tied up! Except it wasnt, we lost. Luckily Minnesota lost too, they threw away a 2-1 lead in the third to lose 3-2 at Anaheim and Anchorage Huskies were into the playoffs as the 8th seed.

Was it my line shakeup that turned the season around? Was it the young talent through the Anchorage lineup? Mainly it was Minnesota losing their last 4 games and throwing it away. Their fans would be raging and tearful at the same time.

So we're onto the playoffs, that'll get it's own post. Anchorage finished the season with 44 wins, 34 loses and 4 overtime loses for 92 points. We had a positive goal differential for the first time (GF 251, GA 245). It was the home record that carried them to the playoffs, 30-10-1 was second best in the conference. Only Colorado had a better home record.

Now it's onto the playoffs and a series against the number 1 seeded Colorado Avalanche. They were dominant this year, first in the Central Division with a record of 61-16-5 for 127 points. Yeah, Anchorage are not winning that one.

p.s. I was listening to The Zombies as I played, hence the musical interlude since the song seemed apt.

[Critch]

Playoffs Round 1 - Colorado Avalanche

Reasons we can't beat Colorado:
1. They've had a great season - won the Central with 127 points, won the President's Trophy (most points in the NHL) by 13 points, a goal differential of 125 goals
2. They have some great players - Nathan MacKinnon (5.0 star) got 118 points this year, Mikko Rantanen (5.0 star) got 106, Cale Makar (5.0 star) is the league's top defenseman
3. They've got depth - The league positional power rankings ranks them 1st for Forwards, 2nd for Defensemen. Anchorage are 36th for Forwards and 20th for Defensemen. (Not sure how we're 36th for Forwards)
4. We played them 3 times this season and they won them all - (4-2 in Anchorage in October, 4-3 in Colorado in November, 4-2 in Colorado in February)

Reasons we can beat Colorado
1. Cale Makar is injured. He's been out for a month with a dislocated shoulder, he's listed as day-to-day so might be back soon
2. Their goaltending is mediocre - when I saw their goalies I thought they must have an injury because the two guys they're rolling with are cheap and backup level. Cole Brady (1.5 current, 2.0 potential) led the league in GAA, but I guess that's mainly he doesn't face many shots.
3. We're pretty much injury free - Only 4th line Center Philipp Kurashev is out
4. It's the playoffs - Anything can happen. Right?

Game 1 Anchorage Huskies 4 Colorado Avalanche 1
Well we're not getting swept anyway. No scoring in the first period, MacKinnon puts the Avalanche ahead in the 2nd, but defenseman Jordan Spence (a waiver pickup from LA Kings last season) scores with seconds to go in the second to tie it up. A five minute hattrick for Vasili Podkolzin in the third period (3:23, 3:49, 8:22) and it's a 4-1 win on the road. Anchorage have had 1 hattrick in 246 regular season games, and 1 hattrick in 1 playoff game.

Speaking to reporters after the game Vasili Podkolzin said "I hope I did not give the goalie sunburn on the back of his neck from the light going on so much". Zing! (That's from the in-game report)

Game 2 Anchorage Huskies 1 Colorado Avalanche 3
And it's all tied up again. No scoring in the first, Colorado take the lead with a short handed goal from Sampo Ranta in the second, Gabriel Landeskog makes it 2-0 in the third, Olen Zellweger (another waiver pickup defenseman) gets Anchorage back into the game with 10 minutes to play, but Colorado score a late empty net goal to finish it off. Back to Anchorage now.

Game 3 Colorado Avalanche 6 Anchorage Huskies 1
Colorado score early and often to easily win this one, 4 goals in the first period. They're 5-0 up in the second before Hunter McKenzie scores Anchorage's first ever home playoff goal. Nathan McKinnon adds a 6th in the third and Colorado have the home advantage back. Not the best for Anchorage's first ever home playoff game.

Game 4 Colorado Avalanche 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
We're not done yet. Nathan MacKinnon gives Colorado a lead in the first, Podkolzin ties it in the second, then defensemen Brady Skjei and Brandon Montour give Anchorage a 3-1 lead in the third before Podkolzin scores an empty netter to end it, his 5th goal of the series.

Game 5 Anchorage Huskies 4 Colorado Avalanche 5 OT
Ok, we're nearly done now. Yauheni Aksiantsiuk puts Anchorage ahead in the first, but Colorado score three in the first and one in the second to get into a commanding 4-1 lead. Vasili Podkolzin drags Anchorage back into it with his 6th goal of the series with a minute to go in the second, Jordan Spence and Jordan Gavin score within a minute of each other in the third and we're off to overtime. First overtime is scoreless, but Mikko Rantanen gets his 1st of the series 6:14 into the 2nd OT and it's back to Anchorage for a do-or-die game six.

Game 6 Colorado Avalanche 3 Anchorage Huskies 2
And the playoff "run" is over. Mikko Rantanen puts Colorado ahead in the 1st, Nathan MacKinnon makes it 2-0 in the second, an assist for Cale Makar playing his first game back from injury. Vasili Podkolzin scores his 7th of series to bring us back within a goal. Midway through the third MacKinnon scores another, again with a Makar assist and it's 3-1 and we're heading out. Topi Niemela scores a short handed goal with 2:45 left to make it a frantic ending, but Colorado hold on to clinch the series. Anchorage outshot Colorado 41-23 in this game, but the goalie I called "backup level" earlier in this post won the game for them.

Vasili Podkolzin (7 goals, 2 assists) led the team with 9 points, Brandon Montour (1 goal, 5 assists) also showed up well. At the other end of the performance scale Henry Mews had only 1 point (an assist) and a +/- or -4.

So that's the season over. A surprise playoff appearance and they didnt disgrace themselves when they got there, nothing wrong with giving the best team in the league a hard series. A good season all in all.

[Critch]

Close Season
After dealing with Anchorage in the first round of the playoffs, Colorado beat Dallas 4-1 in the second round, LA Kings 4-2 in the Conference Final, then beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 in the Stanley Cup final. So we were knocked out by the eventual champions. That makes us equal second best team in the league in my opinion.

Connor McDavid was league MVP again, 3 of the last 4 years, just missed the year he was injured. Not bad, still no Stanley Cups though. No awards for Anchorage players, and I didnt win GM of the year either. It's an injustice.

Rookie Draft
It was a strange draft this year, it was all a bit....well...crap. Seemed like the talent was much worse than previous years. Thanks to the playoff run we didn't pick til 21st, got a Canadian LD called Easten Turko. He really wasn't any better than what I'd expect to get in the 3rd round in previous years. Anchorage also ran into a bug in the late rounds, from the 5th round onward Anchorage couldn't pick anything other than goalies, no other position showed up to select. Thanks to hording lower round picks, we now have 8 terrible goaltender prospects, maybe one of those lottery tickets will hit.

Free Agents
There were not as many holes in the roster to fill this year, no cliques, no ingrates to shove out the door but we still had money to spend. Backup goalie Linus Ullmark's 7mil contract expired (after which he realized he never had to work again and promptly retired), Marcus Foligno contract expired and he went back to Minnesota, a few others left too on expiring contracts and we were left with no gaps in the roster but 11mil to spend to get to the salary floor.

And spend it we did.

First in was a tough bottom 3 center Shane Pinto, he got 3.5mil a year for 3 years to be our third line center. Next up was a strange one. After all the callups the Anchorage prospect cupboard was fairly bare, there was only one real prospect left. C Mattias Lofgren, a third round pick in 2025 he'd been 1.5 current/3.0 potential back then and after 2 years playing for Kamloops in the Canadian Western Hockey League he was now somehow ranked as 1.5/5.0. I was a bit doubtful that a 20 year old who hadnt improved from 1.5 in two years would ever hit 5.0 so I shopped him to see if anybody would give me a high pick for him. Instead Detroit, who are in a new rebuild phase, offered top RD Moritz Seider. 26 years old, 3.5 current 4.5 potential and earning $6.5million per year for 3 more years. Sounded too good to turn down, so I didn't turn it down. That along with an undrafted Ukrainian center called Nikita Zozulia for an entry level contract and Anchorage were safely above the salary floor for another year.

One bad move of the summer was that Brady Skjei was given a new 3 year contract for 6.5mil per year last year before it was obvious he was on a downward slide. it kicks in this summer. We also had some important players going into their last contract year, Henry Mews, Chris Thiboseau and Jordan Gavin all signed extensions, but Carl Grundstrom and Yauheni Aksiantsiuk both opted to test the market so they'll be gone next summer, if not before.

And the financial issues seem to have died down too, a playoff season really gets the fans back on board.

<table><thead><tr><th>Name</th><th>pos</th><th>Age</th><th>Nationality</th><th>Current</th><th>Potential</th><th>Years</th><th>Salary</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Goalies</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Vitek Vanecek</td><td>G</td><td>31</td><td>CZE</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>1</td><td>2,820</td></tr><tr><td>Tristan Lennox</td><td>G</td><td>24</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>950</td></tr><tr><td>Matt Murray</td><td>G</td><td>33</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>2</td><td>1,490</td></tr><tr><td>Ryan Grout</td><td>G</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>1.0</td><td>2.5</td><td>3</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Visa Vedenpaa</td><td>G</td><td>22</td><td>FIN</td><td>1.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Defensemen</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Brandon Montour</td><td>LD</td><td>33</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>5,420</td></tr><tr><td>Brady Skjei</td><td>LD</td><td>33</td><td>USA</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>3</td><td>6,571</td></tr><tr><td>Olen Zellweger</td><td>LD</td><td>24</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>1,460</td></tr><tr><td>Weston Knox</td><td>LD</td><td>23</td><td>USA</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>1</td><td>750</td></tr><tr><td>Adam Pelech</td><td>LD</td><td>33</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>2</td><td>5,570</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Henry Mews</td><td>RD</td><td>21</td><td>CAN</td><td>4.0</td><td>4.5</td><td>1</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Moritz Seider</td><td>RD</td><td>26</td><td>GER</td><td>3.5</td><td>4.5</td><td>3</td><td>6,590</td></tr><tr><td>Topi Niemela</td><td>RD</td><td>25</td><td>FIN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>2,570</td></tr><tr><td>Jordan Spence</td><td>RD</td><td>26</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>1</td><td>2,190</td></tr><tr><td>Erik Cernak</td><td>RD</td><td>30</td><td>SLO</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>4,335</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Forwards</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Jordan Gavin</td><td>C</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>4.0</td><td>5.0</td><td>1</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Shane Pinto</td><td>C</td><td>26</td><td>USA</td><td>3.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>3</td><td>3,410</td></tr><tr><td>Oskar Vuollet</td><td>C</td><td>21</td><td>SWE</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>925</td></tr><tr><td>Alex Weiermair</td><td>C</td><td>22</td><td>USA</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>878</td></tr><tr><td>Hunter McKenzie</td><td>C</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Nikita Zozulia</td><td>C</td><td>22</td><td>UKR</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>878</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Lucas Karmiris</td><td>LW</td><td>20</td><td>CAN</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.5</td><td>2</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Yauheni Aksiantsiuk</td><td>LW</td><td>26</td><td>BLR</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>1,659</td></tr><tr><td>Carl Grundstrom</td><td>LW</td><td>29</td><td>SWE</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>1</td><td>1,337</td></tr><tr><td>Liam Watkins</td><td>LW</td><td>23</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>878</td></tr><tr><td>Liam O'Brien</td><td>LW</td><td>31</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.0</td><td>2.0</td><td>1</td><td>1,883</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Vasili Podkolzin</td><td>RW</td><td>25</td><td>RUS</td><td>3.5</td><td>3.5</td><td>3</td><td>4,881</td></tr><tr><td>Emil Hemming</td><td>RW</td><td>21</td><td>FIN</td><td>3.5</td><td>4.0</td><td>2</td><td>834</td></tr><tr><td>Arthur Kaliyev</td><td>RW</td><td>26</td><td>USA</td><td>3.0</td><td>3.0</td><td>2</td><td>2,600</td></tr><tr><td>Philipp Kurashev</td><td>RW</td><td>27</td><td>SWI</td><td>2.5</td><td>2.5</td><td>2</td><td>1,965</td></tr><tr><td>Chris Thibodeau</td><td>RW</td><td>21</td><td>CAN</td><td>2.5</td><td>3.0</td><td>1</td><td>834</td></tr></tbody></table>

[Critch]

2027/28 Regular Season

No musical interlude before this one. No repeat of "This Will Be Our Year". No youtube of Britney Spears singing "Oops I did it again". This team did not deserve a musical interlude. They didn't even deserve the regular season being split into two posts.

After the high of finishing 8th in the conference and clinching a playoff spot last year, this year they let everybody down by finishing 9th in the conference and missing the playoffs. I thought with the FA additions the team would be better than last year but Seider was out injured half the season, Pinto was awful and soon lost his starting place, and new goaltender Mads Sogaard (he was signed after the season preview to take Vitek Vanecek's place) was good but no better than Vanecek last year. So even stevens, much the same borderline playoff challenging team as last year.

We also had a lot of injuries, and when they happened they happened in bunches and at the same position. Left Wing was missing 2 or 3 starters for months, both top defensemen Seider and Mews were out at the same time for a mid-season month. Add on that the left side of the defense (34 year old Brady Skjei and 34 year old Brandon Montour) both got old and past their best this season and defense was a problem all year.

With two games to go we were 1 point behind 4th place Anaheim and in with a chance, but we lost both games (ending the season with a back-to-back against Toronto and NY Rangers wasn't the easiest option) and ended up 5th in the Pacific with a record of played 82, won 42, lost 37, OTL 3 for 87 points. 5 points less than last season. An improved goal differential though, 17 this year. We scored a lot of goals, almost 40 more than last year.

As it turned out catching Anaheim wouldn't have made a difference, Nashville went on a run in the Central division and had a better record by a point so both Wild Card teams come from the Central division this year.

So onto next year. The prospect cupboard is bare and we need to replace a few on left wing (3 season veterans Yauheni Aksiantsiuk and Carl Grundstrom both want to try free agency so wont be back) and we need to replace 2 left defense (Skjei and Montour are expensive and done, so I'll be trying to dump them). Most of the money freed up has been used to extend Jordan Gavin and Henry Mews contracts, their rookie ones were expiring.

Starting to feel like "almost playoff" is as good as this bunch will get and maybe we need to dump and rebuild. But until then, onwards and upwards.

Incidentally Britney Spears is an anagram of presbyterians. I don't think there's a stranger, less apt anagram in show business.

How the main guys did (I know +/- is an old-fashioned discredited stat, but I dont know what else to put):

G Mads Sogaard - 70gp, 36-31-3, .916sv%, 2.91GAA
G Vitek Vanecek - 17gp, 6-6-0, .897sv%, 3.53GAA
LD Brady Skjei - played 63, 1g, 15a, -10
LD Brandon Montour - played 12, 1g, 2a, -2
LD Olen Zellweger - played 79, 13g, 27a, +1
RD Henry Mews - played 74, 28g, 19a, -7
RD Topi Niemela - played 73, 12g, 30a, -11
RD Moritz Seider - played 44, 9g, 14a, +19

LW Lucas Karmiris - played 72, 16g, 35a, +11
RW Vasili Podkolzin - played 80, 26g, 35a, +1
RW Emil Hemming - played 82, 8g, 53a, +11
C Jordan Gavin - played 73, 25g, 33a, -5
C Oskar Vuollet - played 82, 28g, 26a, +1
C Nikita Zozulia - played 76, 19g, 29a, +7
C Shane Pinto - played 23, 4g, 6a, -12

[cubboyroy1826]

Great read so far. Might make me pick up the game.

[Critch]

Great read so far. Might make me pick up the game.

Thanks.

If you do pick it up, dont pay full price. It's not a $39.99 game, look out for a sale. I've been enjoying my play-through this year, but every year I buy it I always regret not waiting for a sale.

I let it sim for 2 mins, I set the lines, I press the "Sim Game" button, I look at the box score, I look at the injuries, then back to step one. Repeat 82 times for a season.

[cubboyroy1826]

How different is fhm 9 from 8?

[Critch]

Not very. It looks much the same. NCAA leagues are in, the team harmony stuff that caused all the clique issues a couple of season ago is new (and it's quite good, adds depth), lots of bug fixes, custom leagues are apparently a lot better. But not a huge jump forward.

But I'm not a great person to ask. I didnt really do much with FHM8.

[Critch]

Close Season
The playoffs were totally devalued by Anchorage not being there, but they were held anyway.

Last year Colorado beat Dallas in the Western Conference playoffs and went on to win the Stanley Cup. This year Dallas beat Colorado in the Western Conference playoffs and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Dallas sneaked past Colorado 4-3 in the Conference Finals, then swept Florida in a one-sided final. So that's 2 championships in 3 years for Dallas.

For the awards, Connor McDavid was injured for half the season so didn't win anything. His Edmonton teammate Leon Draisaitl won the MVP and Most Points award continuing Edmonton's long tradition of winning year end awards but doing nothing in the playoffs. They got knocked out in the first round by Colorado.

Rookie Draft
I think I'm going to have to go look through the discussion boards on Steam and see if anybody complains about a drop-off in talent in the league, because this is garbage. Looking back to the draft from the first year Chris Thibodeau was a third rounder, 2.0 current 3.0 potential. This year he would have gone about 12th in the first round.

Or maybe it's just that Anchorage have been going with a financially imposed bare bones strategy on scouting so the scouts don't have a clue.

Anyway Anchorage got a Canadian left winger called Jaxon Pirie. He's 18 and off to Princeton to play hockey and probably study a bit too, so he wont be NHL for years. One of the additions to EHM9 is that NCAA leagues are now playable. After the 1st round we went defenseman heavy, lots and lots of defensive lottery tickets who may or may not come good.

Free Agents
We've reached the point where the original Anchorage rookies are coming to the end of their rookie deals and due a raise, so keeping Jordan Gavin, Henry Mews and Chris Thibodeau around cost about $10mil extra. Luckily there's a lot of overpaid deadwood lying around the roster and it seems to be pretty easy to trade away any old junk, so it was time for an Anchorage yardsale. The 34 year old husk of Brady Skjei and his 13mil over the next two years went to Quebec for a 4th round pick, 34 year old Brandon Montour went to Hartford for a 4th, high priced FA flop Shane Pinto went to Florida for a 5th and a prospect, rarely used but still 6mil per year Erik Cernak went Philadelphia for a 4th, and former starting goalie Matt Murray went to St Louis for a 6th. No new free agents in so we're about 1.5mil under the salary floor and ready to dabble when teams get down to 23 players for the start of the season, we'll have cash for sweet sweet waiver pickups.

Unfortunately we'll have a wave of rookies getting real contracts next year too, and no deadwood to clear to pay for it.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Mads Sogaard	G	27	DEN	3.0	3.5	2	5,038
Tristan Lennox	G	24	CAN	2.0	3.0	1	950
Ryan Grout	G	20	CAN	1.5	2.5	2	750
Defensemen
Rasmus Sandin	LD	28	SWE	3.0	3.0	3	6,485
Olen Zellweger	LD	24	CAN	2.5	3.5	1	1,460
Weston Knox	LD	24	USA	2.5	3.0	3	950
Eric Burger	LD	22	SWE	2.0	2.5	1	750
Henry Mews	RD	22	CAN	4.0	4.0	4	4,704
Moritz Seider	RD	27	GER	3.5	4.0	2	6,590
Topi Niemela	RD	26	FIN	3.0	3.0	1	2,570
Tomas Lavoie	RD	22	CAN	3.0	3.5	5	5,492
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	21	CAN	4.0	5.0	3	5,459
Oskar Vuollet	C	22	SWE	3.5	3.5	1	925
Hunter McKenzie	C	21	CAN	3.0	3.0	1	834
Nikita Zozulia	C	23	UKR	3.0	3.5	1	878
Alex Weiermair	C	23	USA	2.5	2.5	1	878
Lucas Karmiris	LW	21	CAN	4.5	4.5	1	834
Arthur Kaliyev	LW	27	USA	3.0	3.0	1	2,600
Urho Mattila	LW	21	FIN	2.5	3.0	2	790
Philipp Kurashev	LW	28	SWI	2.5	2.5	1	1,965
Liam Watkins	LW	24	CAN	2.5	2.5	3	1,586
Vasili Podkolzin	RW	27	RUS	3.5	3.5	2	4,881
Emil Hemming	RW	22	FIN	3.5	4.0	1	834
Chris Thibodeau	RW	22	CAN	2.5	3.0	3	2,621
Magnus Hirsch	RW	22	DEN	2.5	2.5	2	750

A lot of contract final years on there and I cant afford them all.

The pre-season positional ranking has Anchorage as 16th overall, 24th for forwards, 1st for defense, 31st for goaltenders. I think having no real backup is downgrading our goalies.

[Critch]

2028/29 Preseason

It's September 20th 2028, the night of Anchorage Huskies first preseason game of the season, and Anchorage have problems. Like multiple.

Here's the list in reverse order, from minor to not minor:

1. The preseason games are starting, but the IIHF World Cup is going on so we don't have enough players to make a team for the pre-season games. I guess I need to call up the AHL leftovers.

We have eight players off playing in the World Cup:
North America (Canadians who arent good enough for Canada and the occasional American who's not good enough too) - Henry Mews, Jordan Gavin, Lucas Karmiris.
Finland - Topi Niemela, Emil Hemming
Russia - Vasili Podkolzin
Team Europe (players from minor European nations. Germans, Swiss, Danes, Belorussians, Slovakians and a Latvian) - Mads Sogaard, Moritz Seider

2. On July 1st you can make updates to the league structure. I had one job for July 1st, I was going to create some ECHL teams for the expansion franchises. ECHL is the minor league below AHL and most NHL teams have an ECHL affiliate. I'd noticed a few weaker players I'd sent down to the AHL never played, never even dressed to play, so I planned to add an ECHL team for Anchorage (Fairbanks Juniors). It was July 2nd before I remembered so maybe next year, another year of 6th round picks not playing for a year.

3. We've had an "off-ice incident". Emil Hemming has done something so heinous that some of his teammates now hate him, team harmony is shot, the Team Harmony rating is "Open Hostility". C Nikita Zozulia, G Tristan Lennox, RW Chris Thibodeau and LW Liam Watkins all hate Emil Hemming now, I thought the hate score was out of 5 but Liam Watkins hates Emil Hemming at a 9 level so that's some serious hate. No details given but I'm choosing to believe Emil Hemming has done something with Liam Watkins' wife and/or mom. It's not going to get better on it's own so I'm going to have to trade somebody. Unfortunately for Zozulia, Lennox, Thibodeau and Watkins, Hemming got 53 assists last season so I'll be taking his side and trading them. The message they should learn is that if you're going to fall out with a teammate, make sure he's not more valuable to the team than you are.

4. Expiring contracts and next season's roster - We've got 12 players with contracts expiring at the end of the season and some of them are important and due a payrise. Four of the 12 have agreed new contracts to start next summer so we already have more salary obligated for next season than this and holes to fill in the roster. I'm going to have to do some salary reducing to get a full squad together next year. (Another house rule I'd been using is no haggling, players get what they ask for)

5. The general budget. The salary cap is $94mil, the floor is $61mil and the Anchorage owner's salary limit is $62mil. I think a 6k stadium in a tiny market with disloyal fans is too small to support an NHL team because of the salary floor, to get to the $61mil salary floor the team has to cut all other spending and still runs at a loss every month. The debt builds up month after month then at year end all the broadcast revenue is used to pay off the season's debt and start the cycle all over again. So for most of the year the team is getting negative adjustments to it's morale, scouting and attendance. And the team will never be able to save enough cash to increase the stadium's size, so we're stuck.

So my options are 1) carry on as is and see what happens, 2) change the NHL rules next year and drop the salary floor. It would be better to have money for scouts, morale, attendance monthly payments and 10mil less salary, 3) relocate. When I first thought about doing this I was going to go an Eastern Conference team in an average market (the hilariously named Cleveland Steamers), maybe Anchorage could relocate there to make the budget healthier? Or even move to Oakland and resurrect the California Golden Seals so they wouldn't have to move division. Anyway, it wont be this season. Maybe in the future

And now I'm away to try to cobble together a lineup for the pre-season games, and see what trades I can do to solve the harmony issues.

[Travis]

Really enjoying this, hope you keep it going for a long time! Curious to see how you'll resolve the financial side of it and hope you find a way so you can keep putting money into the "other" pots other than salary. Good luck!

[Critch]

Really enjoying this, hope you keep it going for a long time! Curious to see how you'll resolve the financial side of it and hope you find a way so you can keep putting money into the "other" pots other than salary. Good luck!

Thanks, planning on keeping on for a while yet. Maybe not til a Stanley Cup win because I dont think that'll be happening. I got distracted by the FM Winter patch being released, but back to FHM9 now.

Preseason Predictions and Stuff
First task for pre-season was to stamp out the open hostility by trading away the openly hostile. A whole bunch of folks hated Emil Hemming because of something he'd done, but unfortunately Emil Hemming was a whole lot better than the whole bunch of folk so it marked the end of their Anchorage careers. Liam Watkins went to Boston, Nikita Zozulia went to NY Rangers, Tristan Lennox went San Jose, all of them for middling prospects who all went to Juneau probably to be never seen again. Once those three were moved out, Chris Thibodeau wasn't as bothered anymore so no need to trade him, he's still not keen on Hemming but not enough to damage morale. Wish I'd kept Nikita Zozulia instead, he was much better than Thibodeau.

Team Harmony has gone from "Open Hostility" to "Acceptable". For research purposes I checked what teams would offer for Hemming if I wanted to trade him instead, wasn't impressed, it wasn't the pile of picks and prospects a good player got in real life at the trade deadline yesterday.

The IIHF World Cup came to an end with a couple of upsets in the semis. Russia stomped through their group unbeaten, Canada stomped through their group unbeaten, then they both lost in the semifinals. USA beat Russia, Sweden beat Canada, then USA won the final 2 games to 1, Auston Matthews and Alex de Brincat the stars.

In the week before the regular season starts all the teams get their roster down to 23 players by demoting players to their AHL affiliate. Other than the youngster prospects the player has to go through waivers to be demoted, so there are lots of bargains to be had, so Anchorage be had a few bargains. We needed a backup goaltender so we get Topias Leinonen, he's Finnish, and he's a net-filling 6'5'' and 240lbs, and a replacement for Tristan Lennox. We also get a pair of RW, Gabe Perreault and Prokhor Poltapov. They're both fairly average, but they fill a need.

So the lines to start the season:

1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (4.0), C Jordan Gavin (4.0), RW Vasili Podkolzin (3.5) - That all seems pretty good for a top scoring line
2nd Line - LW Arthur Kaliyev (3.0), C Oskar Vuollet (3.5), RW Emil Hemming (3.5) - Our regular 2nd and 3rd left wing left to pursue other options this year (Aksiantsiuk is in the KHL with SKA St Petersburg, Grundstrom is without a team) so Kaliyev moves up to be a top 6 forward. He got 8 goals in 75 games last year, that'll have to improve or he wont last long
3rd Line - LW Urho Mattila (2.5), C Hunter McKenzie (3.0), RW Chris Thibodeau (3.0) - Mattila came in from Florida in a trade for last season's FA flop Pinto, McKenzie has more responsibility since Zozulia got traded away, he's a downgrade for 3rd Line C, and Thibodeau still hates Hemming but not too much so he gets to stay.
4th Line - LW Philipp Kurashev (2.5), C Alex Weiermair (2.5), RW Gabe Perreault (2.5) - Not very good, Weiermair is borderline AHL and would be an actual AHLer if I hadnt traded away Zozulia, Kurashev may move to C and replace him if things don't work out. Perreault is the only one of the 3 with potential to improve.

defense
1st Line - LD Rasmus Sandin (3.0), RD Henry Mews (4.0) - I've tried to go one defensive, one offensive. Sandin will defend while Mews rushes forward and scores lots of goals
2nd Line - LD Topi Niemela (3.0), RD Moritz Seider (3.5) - Niemela can play on either side, so he'll bounce around to cover the many many injuries we'll get.
3rd Line - LD Olen Zellweger (2.5), RD Tomas Lavoie (3.0) - Zellweger supposedly has potential to improve, but he's 25 so who knows.

Goaltenders
Starter - Mads Sogaaard (3.0) - 6'7'' and 250lbs. He's a whole chunk of goalie
Backup - Topias Leinonen (2.5) - Potential 4.0, so he's the goalie of the future. Anchorage average a new starting goalie every year, so the future may be soon.

When I realized last year's starting left wing Carl Grundstrom was without a team I tried to sign him. He wants 3.5mil per year for 3 years, no wonder he is without team.

Prediction - No real improvement from last year, maybe if we can avoid injuries we'll sneak the playoffs.

[Critch]

Warning - The following update starts with a bit of cheating so look away if you're offended by somebody not playing the game straightlaced.

The day before the season started the Anchorage Huskies owner set up a meeting and said "Look, I'm a multi-billionaire. How about I help out the team finances by paying some builders to instantly increase the arena size from 6,500 to 9,500. It'll still be a bit small for the NHL, but at least it might tip the balance to financial stability. And then we'll have no more silly talk about relocation".

In other words I used the editor to increase the size of the Anchorage Arena to try and get to a managable financial state. That's the only change I made, we'll see if it helps. Back when I first set this up I went into the editor and reduced all the Anchorage setting to "make it more of a challenge". What a dummy.

While in the editor I noticed that the Anchorage fans had gone from "disloyal" to "normal" on a Fan Loyalty scale (disloyal-normal-loyal-very loyal-fanatical). That playoff year a couple of years ago must have fired up the fan base up to a mildly interested level, hopefully that'll help out too.

We'll still have the lowest budget in the league (although Hartford are close because the AI seems to have really done a number on them), but at least it'll be more playable.

2028/29 Regular Season
Anchorage Huskies start off like a real competitor, it's like we finally have a team. The little chart mentioned in post 4 said "3.5 and above - Top player". We've got Forwards Lucas Karmiris (4.5), C Jordan Gavin (4.5), C Oskar Voullet (3.5), C Dylan Holloway(3.5), RW Vasili Podkolzin (3.5) and RW Emil Hemming (3.5), plus defensemen RD Henry Mews (4.0) and Moritz Seider (3.5). Apparently we now have enough players to just about make it as a challenger, roundabout the end of November we're at 16-5-1 and second in Pacific Division to the LA Kings who are apparently even better than a challenger.

(nb Dylan Holloway was one of the players dealt away in the great "team riddled with cliques' purge of a couple of years ago, but he was waived by his new team so home he came. The Anchorage scouts think two years in Nashville have made him a better player too.)

It was at the end of November that we learned the flaw in the Anchorage roster makeup, we were ok at the top level but didnt have any depth, most of the depth options got traded away in the summer to solve the dressing room conflict problems. When the injuries kicked in, and they did, the team struggled. We had some really poor players up from the AHL showing why they were career AHLers for a few months while Voullet, Karmiris, Podkolzin and Hemming were injured, we never got bad enough to fall too far out the playoff chase but LA Kings and Vancouver Canucks (led by Connor Bedard) ran away with the top 2 places in the division. Injuries cleared a bit and by the end of February we pretty much had a top 4 in the Pacific division locked up, 11 points clear of 5th place Edmonton. We were fighting with Calgary for 3rd in the division to avoid the wild card race. The Central division had a good chance of taking both the wild card spots, so 4th place wouldn't guarantee a playoffs spot.

Good news - despite a poor March (5-8-0) we stayed neck and neck with Calgary in the fight for third right to the end. Bad news - we lost on the last day to Nashville and Calgary clinched third place by 1 point. Good news - it didnt matter, we were already clear of the Central teams in the race for the wild card spots so we were in the playoffs anyway.

So we finished with a record of 44 wins, 32 defeats and 6 overtime loses for 94 points, beating our previous best of 92 points. And we're off to the playoffs.

Next up it's this season's Central Division champions, and reigning Stanley Cup champions, Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

[Critch]

Playoffs Round 1 - Dallas Stars
Dallas won the Central Division this year with 103 points, they won the Stanley Cup last year, their second championship in the last three years. They have the second best record in the Western Conference after Vancouver and they'd be pretty strong favorites to deal with Anchorage. So we're going in more in hope than expectation.

We played them three times in the regular season, a 2-1 shootout win in Dallas at the end of December and a 4-3 win in Dallas in January and a 4-1 defeat in Anchorage in February.

Star players are their goalie Jake Oettinger (4.5), LW Jason Robertson (4.5), C Roope Hintz (4.5), D Miro Heiskanen (4.0).

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Dallas Stars 5
Dallas went 1-0 up after 10 seconds, not a good start, but our 4th line got us back into it with a Dylan Holloway goal. Dallas scored another couple before the end of the 1st to make it 3-1 at the first intermission. Only one goal in the second period, Olen Zellweger getting the Huskies back within 1 but Roope Hintz scored a powerplay goal early in the third (his second goal, he got one in the 1st period too) to make it 4-2. Jordan Gavin got it back to 4-3 with 10 minutes to go, then no more scoring til Robertson scored an empty net goal in the dying seconds to give Dallas the series lead.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Dallas Stars 2
No scoring in the first. Half way through the second Jordan Gavin gives the Huskies the lead, but it only lasts a couple of minutes before Fluker ties it. We go to the third tied and Dallas go up 2-1 almost straight away. Tomas Lavoie ties it up after 7:59, Dallas get a powerplay almost straight away but Philipp Kurashev scores a short handed game winning goal and it's back to Anchorage with the series tied.

Game 3 - Dallas Stars 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 OT
Dallas race out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, Robertson, Stankoven and Bichsel putting them in a commanding position. Second period is scoreless, so Anchorage go into the third period still trailing 3-0. Defenseman Topi Niemela starts the comeback with an unassisted goal after 4:35, Moritz Seider cuts the lead to only 1 after 10:14, and Jordan Gavin ties it up with 9 seconds left. Overtime doesnt last long, Lucas Karmiris scores after 26 seconds and the 9,500 record crowd go home happy with Anchorage in a 2-1 series lead. Dallas outshot Anchorage 40-27, but after the first period Anchorage goalie Mads Sogaard shut them out. The greatest game in Anchorage's (admittedly short) playoff history.

Game 4 - Dallas Stars 4 Anchorage Huskies 2
Bad news pregame is that Anchorage overtime hero Lucas Karmiris will miss the game with a sore groin, so some shuffling of the Anchorage lines is needed. No scoring in the first period. Dallas go 1 up in the second but Jordan Gavin scores for the 4th game in a row to tie it up. Early in the third Hunter McKenzie puts Anchorage ahead, but they cant hold onto the lead. Stankoven ties it for Dallas with 4 minutes to go, Quinn Olsen puts them ahead a minute later, then scores an empty net goal with a second ago. Back to Dallas with the series tied.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Dallas Stars 3
Still no Lucas Karmiris, he's back in Anchorage tending to his sore groin. Dallas goes 1-0 up, the only goal in the first period. 27 seconds into the second period Vasili Podkolzin gets his first of the series to tie it up. After 8:30 Oskar Voullet gets his first of the series and Anchorage are in the lead. Jason Robinson ties it up a minute later, but Voullet scores again at the end of the second, Anchorage go into the third period 3-2 up. Anchorage blow the game open, three goals in the first three minutes, Podkolzin, Niemela and Thibodeau, and it's 6-2. Dallas pull one back late on, but we're going back to Anchorage only one game from winning the series. Jordan Gavin didnt score in this game, but he got an assist on the first goal.

Game 6 - Dallas Stars 3 Anchorage Huskies 0
Lucas Karmiris isnt 100% but he's back into the lineup. He's risked because another left wing, Prokhor Poltapov is out for the playoffs with a broken toe. First period is scoreless, but Dallas score 3 in the second, 2 from Roope. Third is scoreless and we're back to Dallas for a game seven.

Game 7 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Dallas Stars 5
Lukas Karmiris is back to 100% for the game, so risking him in the last game didn't aggravate his injury.
Dallas go 1-0 up, Urho Mattila ties it up for Anchorage, Dylan Guenther puts Dallas up and it's 2-1 after the first. Another second period collapse for Anchorage, Dallas score 3, Hintz, Stankoven and Bischel, to make it 5-1 after 2 periods. Emil Hemming gets one back for Anchorage in the 3rd, his first goal of the series, but it's all over.

Halfway through the season I checked the free agents and there was a 4.0 goalie sitting there unsigned demanding 9mil a year. I'm not saying it would have made any difference if we'd blown the budget on a 9mil upgrade goalie (Sogaard is only 3.0), but maybe. Anyway, Anaheim eventually signed him anyway.

Next up will be the season 2028/29 wrap up. Maybe next year we can make the playoffs without being a wild card and avoid a top seed in the first round.

[Critch]

Close Season
Second time Anchorage have made the playoffs, and it's the second time they got knocked out in the first round by the eventual champions. Dallas Stars got past Anchorage, then Winnipeg 4-2, Vancouver 4-3 (after being 3-0 down) and then Ottawa Senators 4-1 in the Stanley Cup finals. That's 3 Stanley Cups in 4 seasons, I think that's a dynasty.

For the other expansion franchises that started the same year as Anchorage, Atlanta finished last in their division as they have every year, Quebec followed up last year's playoff position by finishing last again this year, and Hartford are up to 7th in the Metropolitan division. It's not that they're good, it's more that Ovechkin has retired, Crosby has retired, Oshie, Letang, Malkin, Backstrom, everybody gone. Both Washington and Pittsburgh are on the downswing of rebuilds and are seriously awful, so Hartford in 7th, Washington in 8th and Pittsburgh in 9th.

Free Agents
This is an off-season where a bunch of Anchorage drafted players come out of their entry level contracts and get their first proper grown-up contract, a bunch of players who were scrapping by on only 800k per year bump up to around 5mil, so we need to let a number of UFAs walk away, plus then trade away a couple of big contracts to get the salary under control. First out is Rasmus Sandin, 6.5mil per year and never lived up to the hype, he lost his top line place last year. More defensemen out, Olen Zellweger is re-signed and moves on, Topi Niemela goes too. We'll be going with cheap options at left defense, a couple of prospects plus a cheap guy from Vegas who came in in the Zelleger trade. Not quite as good as Zellweger but earns about 3mil less.

We end free agency quite healthily over the salary floor so for the first time ever we wont be trawling free agents trying to find somebody who earns enough to boost our collective salary. Still by far the lowest salaried team in the NHL though, it'll be around 70mil after the squad is cut down to 23 for the season.

Rookie Draft
Another draft that gets weak quickly, or maybe it's always like that and I only noticed because we didnt have a pick til 25. Took a goalie in the 1st round, Calvin Tsicos, then a couple of big defenders in the second (we had an extra pick from trading), and then whoever the scout recommended as the top "risky pick". Got to collect those lottery tickets in the lower rounds.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Mads Sogaard	G	27	DEN	3.0	3.0	1	5,038
Topais Leinonen	G	25	FIN	2.5	4.0	2	1,630
Ryan Grout	G	21	CAN	2.0	3.0	1	750
Defensemen
Weston Knox	LD	25	USA	2.5	3.0	2	950
Rodwin Dionicio	LD	25	SWI	2.5	3.0	1	970
Jack Swaenepoel	LD	21	CAN	2.5	3.0	3	827
Carter Murphy	LD	22	USA	2.5	3.5	2	827
Easten Turko	LD	20	CAN	2.0	3.0	3	750
Henry Mews	RD	23	CAN	4.0	4.0	3	4,704
Moritz Seider	RD	28	GER	3.5	4.0	1	6,590
Tomas Lavoie	RD	23	CAN	3.0	3.5	4	5,492
Ty Nelson	RD	25	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	850
Arber Xhekaj	RD	28	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	1,315
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	22	CAN	4.5	5.0	2	5,459
Oskar Vuollet	C	23	SWE	3.5	3.5	6	4,997
Dylan Holloway	C	27	CAN	3.5	3.5	3	4,413
Hunter McKenzie	C	21	CAN	3.0	3.5	6	4,989
Alex Weiermair	C	24	USA	3.0	3.0	2	871
Tommy Cormier	C	26	CAN	2.0	2.0	1	950
Lucas Karmiris	LW	22	CAN	4.5	4.5	5	4,873
Urho Mattila	LW	22	FIN	3.0	3.5	1	790
Prokhor Poltapov	LW	26	RUS	3.0	3.0	1	1,520
Patrik Puistola	LW	28	FIN	3.0	3.0	3	1,991
Jaxon Pirie	LW	19	CAN	2.5	3.0	3	834
Anton Nilsson	LW	21	SWE	2.5	5.0	3	861
Vasili Podkolzin	RW	28	RUS	3.5	3.5	1	4,881
Emil Hemming	RW	23	FIN	3.5	4.0	3	5,049
Chris Thibodeau	RW	23	USA	3.0	3.0	2	2,621
Gabe Perrault	RW	24	USA	2.5	3.5	2	1,440
Magnus Hirsch	RW	22	DEN	2.5	2.5	1	750

Prediction - I'm not sure. Hopefully playoffs but the left defensemen look a bit week and the goalie isnt top class either. The league's Positional Rankings has Anchorage ranked 4th overall, 18th for Forwards, 6th for defense, 8th for goaltending, so that thinks we should be in the playoffs anyway.

[Critch]

2029/30 Regular Season
I mentioned earlier that there had been a recent patch for the game, the part of the patch notes that I should have taken notice of is this:

slightly increased frequency of team harmony-affecting incidents

It says slightly but for Anchorage greatly might be closer to the truth, we had had two off-ice incidents causing team harmony problems in the first 5 seasons, then had 5 off-ice incidents before Christmas this season, Team Harmony was at "Open Hostility" for the first half of the season. The team captain Jordan Gavin would try to calm things down and everybody would react "who does this ass think he is talking to us like that?!" and they'd add Gavin to the list of people they hated.

So the team had lots of problems, and not just team harmony. Last game of preseason ended with Lucas Karmiris injured and out for the first 2 months of the season. Then the defense looked terrible, heavily conceding in every game. Even when Anchorage won it wasn't thanks to the defense, a 7-6 and a 6-4 win in the first couple of weeks. A change of goalie, Mads Sogaard out and Topias Leinonen in and some shuffling of the defensive lines and things steadied for a while, Anchorage got up to 16-12-3 and second place in the division, but that was as good as it got. An injury to the star defenseman Henry Mews was followed by a long losing streak and the team harmony falling apart and Anchorage were out of the playoff running by the end of December.

One good thing about the team self destruction was that I read through the boards to see what caused the dressing room falling apart. Apparently if you read a players scout report the players most likely to be clique ringleaders or cause off-ice issues will have warning hints in the Personality section. Sure enough the troublemakers all had a warning in their scout report (Alex Weiermair "If he's on your roster, controversy will follow", Carter Murphy "Murphy is prone to controversy", rookie Jaxon Pirie "If Pirie is on your roster, controversy is sure to follow", Hunter McKenzie "over-confident - prone to controversy"). I'd never bothered looking at that part of the scouting report, hence I collected a group of trouble makers. They're all cleared now, all traded away or UFAs not renewed, and from now on nobody with the word controversy in their scout report is getting on my team.

Goalie Topias Leinonen was also a victim of the purge that followed me going through the scout reports for every player. "Tendency to crumble in important games" sounds like a bad trait, particularly for a goalie, so he's out.

Anchorage finished the season 7th in Pacific Division, a record of 35-39-8 for 78 points, 16 points less than last year and 14 points out of the wildcard positions. Harmony, injuries, bad defense, those three are getting the blame for the bad year.

Good news for next year is all the big names will be back, Karmiris, Gavin, Mews, Mattila, Holloway, Vuollet, Podkolzin, Hemming all under contract so we have a core to build around. We also have a good collection of picks for the upcoming draft thanks to the mid-season clear out, 3 picks in the 1st round (all of them lottery) and 2 more in the 2nd round. Bad news is we don't have a goalie, and the defense is poor so the roster needs some rebuilding. Goalie Mads Sogaard was mediocre, lost his starting spot, had a save percentage below .900 and goals saved above average of -18, but he still wanted over $9mil per year to re-sign. So he'll be free to explore other opportunities in the summer.

It'll be another season of Anchorage having a different starting goalie every year, six years in and nobody has been the starter with most starts two years in a row.

(p.s. If they're still patching things, they need to look at FAs too. I checked mid-season and there was a top goalie sitting unclaimed, Ilya Sorokin had been released mid-season and nobody had picked him up. Vezina trophy finalist last season, released and a free agent this. Last year it was the Vezina trophy winner who sat out most of the year.)

[Young Drachma]

I'm all for single player dynasty cheating. Also, expansion life is hard so there's that.



Weird the game's FA issues still exist, my theory in general is that when OOTP left SI way back in the day, their agreement doesn't let Markus use the same OOTP user interface for other games. The fact they release such a bad looking game (under the hood is what it is) seems...silly otherwise.

Anyway, good work keeping up this story. And it's great you've got a core going, so maybe you can get lucky with a drafted goalie that helps you all turn a corner in the next 1-2 seasons?

[Critch]

Weird the game's FA issues still exist, my theory in general is that when OOTP left SI way back in the day, their agreement doesn't let Markus use the same OOTP user interface for other games. The fact they release such a bad looking game (under the hood is what it is) seems...silly otherwise.

The FA issue is definitely better, it's just been the occasional top class goalie, for defensemen and forwards the FA pool is replacement level as it should be. Allegedly if I edit the team salary cap upwards a million or two every few seasons, it helps out. I'll have to remember to do that next year.

And back to the "action":

Anchorage Huskies are not dead! I got distracted by Mount & Blade II - Bannerlord turning up on Game Pass, I was addicted but in a "I'm not sure that I'm having fun here" kind of style. But back to FHM9 now.

2029/30 Playoffs
Sadly there's no Anchorage in this year's playoffs after a regular season of failure. Dallas didn't go far in their attempt for a 4th championship in 5 years, they were out in the first round of the playoffs to St Louis. Dallas also didn't win the Central division this year, it was Minnesota who won the division and then kept up the "Central division winners win the Western Conference" trend by winning the Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference, Ottawa made it to their third Conference final in a row and won to go to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals, they lost to Dallas last year.

So the Stanley Cup final was Minnesota Wild against the Ottawa Senators, it went to 7 games and Minnesota won. A happy ending for Minnesota fans after years of seeing their relocated Minnesota North Stars win Stanley Cups for Dallas.

Rookie Draft
Thanks to clearing out a few disruptive rookies last year, and Anchorage being a bit awful themselves, Anchorage went into the draft lottery with three lottery picks (4, 7 and 9) and dreams of hitting lucky and getting the top pick. They had 4, 7 and 9 at the start of the lottery, they had 4, 7 and 9 at the end too. At least they didn't get worse. It was another year for a weak draft class (general consensus seems to be that the later drafts aren't too weak, it's that the preset prospect lists for the early drafts are too strong). I completely ignored the "concentrate on defense" mantra that is supposed to be guiding me and ended up with an 18 year old Canadian Left Wing Jeff Martin at 4, an 18 year old Slovenian Right Wing Peter Hrovatin at 7, and the top goalie in the draft class 18 year old Lucas Wall at 9. They will be respectively staying in Canadian Juniors, Swedish League, and Brown University for the next 2 or 3 years before being anywhere near the Anchorage roster.

Three more picks in the second round (Winger Andrey Leschevsky, finally a defenseman Ty Flick and another net-minder Oleh Tereschenko) and the Anchorage prospects are a bit more promising than they've been for the last couple of seasons.

A few years ago there was a bug with the draft where it would only show goalies on the Anchorage draft search screen so Anchorage drafted a veritable buttload of them, thanks to that year 5 of the top 8 Anchorage prospects are goalies. I may have to trade for defensemen.

Free Agency
After Minnesota won the Stanley Cup I checked out their roster and thought "they're not very good, how come they get 96 points and a Stanley Cup and I cant make the playoffs?". On looking into it they had let some players walk after the final but still, even the roster they won with wasn't that much better than Anchorage. So I've been off watching youtubes for hints. I really went to youtube for hints on the tactics side, so far my tactical approach has been hit the "AI sets tactics" button before season one, fiddle a little bit, then leave the tactic screens untouched for the next 5 or 6 seasons. Unfortunately almost all the youtubes I watched were playing GM Only so not a lot of hints on tactics. The OOTP Developments youtube did have a play through which touched on tactics so I'm going to mess with tactics this year based on what I learned there. Basic plan is come up with tactics that suit the players, no more players listed as bad or terrible fits. I'm also going to try to get more defensive defensemen, and maybe get a bit tougher in the bottom 6 forwards. Currently my bottom 6 forwards are just top 6 skill players who aren't good enough for the top 6 and are not tough at all. I need somebody hitty and punchy and just generally annoying. Allegedly if you put an "agitator" in your bottom 6, you'll get more powerplays, he'll aggravate the opponents into it. Worth a try.

First up was the plan to get defensive defensemen. Yan Kuznetsov is first in, a 6'4'' Russian with no NHL experience but the Anchorage scouts like him, he's in from the KHL. Next it's Thomas Harley. According to the star ratings he's not very good (2.0 current, 2.0 potential), but he's big, he's defensive, and he's won the Stanley Cup 4 out the last 5 seasons (3 with Dallas and last year with Minnesota) so he must be doing something right. He'll be third line for Anchorage. They're both cheap, so no great loss if they don't work out.

I then made a few more trades, tried to sign a goalie and then the game crashed to desktop. That's the first time that's happened, there's been a few where I've had to save and restart, but this is the first crash. luckily the game has saved since we signed Kuznetsov and Harley, and it reloaded ok.

[Critch]

2030/31 Preseason and stuff
After the stunning revelation that the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Minnesota Wild were really not all that good, I went into hardcore FHM9-learning mode. Basically I watched a few youtube videos, and then looked at my team to see what I was doing wrong. We were going to be more like Minnesota.

Huskies go Wild
The first obvious difference was that, despite defensemen and forwards being fairly comparable with Anchorage, Wild had a top class netminder. Jesper Wallstedt, 4.0 current rating, he'd been pretty ordinary in the regular season but he really turned up in the playoffs. Sure one of the forwards won the Playoff MVP (Matt Boldy, 26 points in 27 playoff games), but Wallstedt with a .930 save percentage helped carry an ok-ish team to the championship. A goalie at the top of his game can cover up for a lot of other problems. So Anchorage would get a good goalie too. We'd planned on going the cheap option, 24 year old Evan Maillet (no NHL experience but did well in AHL), but there was a top guy just sitting in Free Agency. 5-star rated Sebastian Cossa, he'd missed most of last season with a broken shoulder bone, he wouldnt be fit til pre-season but he'd been great for a few seasons at Detroit before that. It looked like his injury was putting everybody else off, he started free agency looking for 9.8mil per year but when I decided "Anchorage need a top class goalie" he was getting a bit more desperate and signed up for a measly $6.6mil per year for three years.

Another issue was that Anchorage Huskies were soft. There's a screen that shows "Toughness" for each line and both the 3rd and 4th line were 1-star toughness. The two lines that should be defending and throwing themselves into hits weren't. I pruned out the softer players and signed a FA RW Benjamin Coupal, he hadn't played in the NHL but the scouts liked him, he had high ratings for hitting, checking and fighting, and he'd been suspended 8 times in 3 AHL seasons so he sounded perfect. He's into the 4th line as "agitator" to shake things up. We also added a big AHL defensive forward for a bit of depth, Brandon Svoboda. Having a cool name made him stand out from the crowd.

Next up were the tactics. I'd not really paid much attention to the tactics and I don't really understand what some of them mean or how they should all hang together, so I just cycled through all the options til I found ones that didn't list anybody as a "terrible fit". If an important player liked an option, that was a bonus. So we are going "through center" and Neutral zone Funnel because Jordan Gavin likes those options, and Behind the Net in the offensive zone because Oskar Voullet and a couple of others like that. We'll see if that all works.

And the final change was the staff. I'd left staffing and staff contracts to the AI and it hadnt done well so a few firings, a few new hires and we were set for the season. You'd think the AI would at least make sure your assistant coach for offense could at least coach offense.

If this doesnt help at least a bit, I'm stumped. Maybe I should stick to Football Manager.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Sebastian Cossa	G	27	CAN	5.0	5.0	3	6,680
Evan Maillet	G	24	CAN	2.5	4.0	1	750
Ryan Grout	G	21	CAN	2.0	3.0	1	750
Lucas Wall	G	18	CAN	1.5	4.0	3	750
Defensemen
Weston Knox	LD	25	USA	3.0	3.0	1	950
Easten Turko	LD	21	CAN	2.5	3.5	2	750
Yan Kuznetsov	LD	28	RUS	2.5	2.5	2	1,290
Vaclav Johanovsky	LD	22	CZE	2.0	2.0	2	750
Carter Bylycia	LD	21	CAN	2.0	2.5	2	750
Henry Mews	RD	24	CAN	4.0	4.0	2	4,704
Tomas Lavoie	RD	24	CAN	3.0	3.5	3	5,492
Conor Walton	RD	24	CAN	2.5	3.5	1	910
Thomas Harley	RD	28	CAN	2.0	2.0	3	750
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	23	CAN	4.5	5.0	1	5,459
Oskar Vuollet	C	24	SWE	3.5	3.5	5	4,997
Dylan Holloway	C	28	CAN	3.5	3.5	2	4,413
Kaden Pitre	C	24	CAN	2.5	3.5	1	1,295
Prokhor Poltapov	C	26	RUS	3.0	3.0	1	1,520
Lucas Karmiris	LW	23	CAN	4.5	4.5	4	4,873
Urho Mattila	LW	23	FIN	3.5	3.5	4	3,368
Cole Eiserman	LW	23	USA	3.0	3.0	3	1,440
Anton Nilsson	LW	22	SWE	3.0	5.0	2	865
Teddy Stiga	LW	24	USA	2.5	3.0	1	815
Vasili Podkolzin	RW	29	RUS	3.5	3.5	3	6,770
Emil Hemming	RW	24	FIN	3.5	4.0	2	5,049
Chris Thibodeau	RW	24	USA	3.0	3.0	1	2,621
Benjamin Coupal	RW	23	CAN	3.0	3.5	2	750
Brandon Svoboda	RW	25	USA	2.5	2.5	1	750

[Critch]

2030/31 Regular Season

Lines:
Forwards
1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (4.5), C Jordan Gavin (5.0), RW Vasili Podkolzin (3.5) - same as usual, but with Karmiris and Gavin 24 years old and reaching their peak
2nd Line - LW Anton Nilsson (3.5), C Oskar Vuollet (3.5), RW Emil Hemming (3.5) - Vuollet and Hemming return, Nilsson is our latest star rookie, he was picker 8th overall in 2026 and joins after a few years in the Swedish league and then last year mainly in the AHL. He seems to have got good all of a sudden, 5.0 for potential. He's another Swede, so this line is all Scandinavian.
3rd Line - LW Urho Mattila (3.5), C Dylan Holloway (3.0), RW Brandon Svoboda (2.5) - Mattila is more defensive than Nilsson so he goes into the newly toughened up third line, set to backcheck. Svoboda also adds to the new tough third line.
4th Line - LW Cole Eiserman (3.0), C Kaden Pitre (3.0), RW Benjamin Coupal (3.0) - Moved away from the lightweight youngsters who weren't good enough for top 6 that I used to park in the 4th line, went for more power.

Defense
1st Pair - LD Weston Knox (3.0) RD Henry Mews (4.0) - Mews is on a different role this year, a passing defenseman instead of one breaking in for goals. It's an experiment.
2nd Pair - LD Jackson Gillespie (2.5) RD Tomas Lavoie (3.0) - Gillespie was a pre-season waiver pickup signed for potential, but soon made a starters job his own. Lavoie has been around for years, he's our highest paid defenseman despite barely being mentioned.
3rd Pair - LD Yan Kuznetzov (2.5) RD Conor Walton (2.5) - started off with Thomas Harley but he was as rubbish as his rating looked and not the diamond in the rough that his championship ring collection would have you believe.

Goaltenders
Sebastian Cossa (5.0) and Evan Maillet (3.0) - we would have been ok with either as starter

How the changes worked out
For this season we'd made a buttload of changes to the team and while some of the changes didn't really work out, the total result was somewhere between fandabbydozy and splendiferous.

The new top goalie Sebastian Cossa was a success, he led the league in wins, didn't have a recurrence of his injuries all year, and had a respectable save percentage (.915) and goals against average (2.65), but the back up Evan Maillet had a better save percentage (.921) and GAA (2.33) in his 17 games. So that counts as a raging success.

The new defensemen were more mixed, Yan Kuznetzov came in from the Russian league and did well but the other FA Thomas Harley lost his starting place and will probably be 7th man in the playoffs. He's won 4 of the last 5 Stanley Cups despite being a bit awful, so maybe he's just a lucky omen rather than a good player. The defense was a mixed bunch, Henry Mews and a bunch of interchangeable bit parts, but Anchorage finished the season with third lowest Goals Allowed in the NHL so they must have been doing something right.

The one part that didn't work out was improving team harmony. Last year I dumped any player who had "controversy" in this description, dumped coaches who were bad at discipline and/or man management, and made sure there was money left over for Morale boosting events every month. Didn't make any difference, still ended the season with Harmony of "Open Hostility" and cliques. The cliques have grown so big there are now more players in cliques than not. Is it still a clique if everybody is in it? From reading the boards, harmony is still a work in progress so hopefully it'll be patched. Currently it seems like a nice twist, but if it's something you cant avoid it's just a pain. It seems like as well as "controversy", the scouts report mentioning that a player doesnt seem to stick with a team is also a hint that they'll be a problem. I'd be ok if the hints let you know that they were a risk but when it gets to the point that they will definitely cause problems at some point it seems like it's too definite.

Luckily it didn't seem to have much effect on results, if any.

How the results went
In the first three games we had an 8-1 win and a 10-1 win,so it looked good. Ok, the other game was a 2-3 defeat but that was against a top team, so still an acceptable start. 16-4-1 took it from acceptable to very good, and we spent all season challenging for a top 3 place in the division with the LA Kings and Edmonton. By the midway point we were comfortably 14 points clear of 9th in the conference, so barring a terrible second half of the season a playoff place was safe.

There was no collapse, even with all the cliques and hostility. This was really the best Anchorage season ever, our previous high points total was 94, we beat that in game 69. Nice.

We clinched the Pacific division with a handful of games to spare, ended the season safely in 1st with a record of 51-24-7 for 109 points, five ahead of LA Kings and 9 ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific. We also ended with the highest points total in the Western Conference, 2 ahead of the suddenly good Atlanta Thrashers. Atlanta's 7 seasons since the expansion have ended 9th, 9th, 9th, 9th, 9th, 9th, 1st. A strange turnaround. We had the best in the Western Conference, but New York Islanders (122 points) and Columbus Blue Jackets (110 points) both ended with more in the East.

So it's off to the playoffs, and this time as a top seed, not just scraping in as a Wild Card. It'll be 2nd Wild Card Seattle Kraken in the first round, they finished 5th in the Pacific division.

[Critch]

Playoffs Round 1 - Seattle Kraken
Seattle finished 5th in the Pacific division this year but sneaked into the last wildcard spot as they had more points than the 4th team in the Central Division, Winnipeg.

We only played them twice in the regular season and Anchorage won both, a 2-1 shootout win at home in March and a 5-3 win in Seattle in April.

In the last game of the regular season third line left wing Urho Mattila went down with a ruptured Achilles tendon and wont be back til into next season, not the best preparation. RD Conor Walton and RW Brandon Svoboda are also struggling with day-to-day knocks.

Game 1 - Seattle Kraken 1 Anchorage Huskies 0
Oh dear, we start off by being on the wrong end of a goalie duel. Sebastian Cossa saves 29 of the 30 shots he faced, but Seattle goalie Hugo Laring saves 31 of 31 and we go 1-0 down in the series. It was all square until midway through the third when Marc del Gaizo scored the game winning goal for Seattle. Our comeback wasn't helped by star man Jordan Gavin getting a 5 minute penalty for fighting to miss the end of the game.

Game 2 - Seattle Kraken 6 Anchorage Huskies 3
Oh dear again. The first period is littered with penalties, Benjamin Coupal (who we brought in to be a bit mean) gets a 10min misconduct for fighting along with the guy who scored the only goal last night. Seattle go 1 up on a powerplay, Vuollet scores a short handed goal to make it 1-1 after the first period. The penalties die down in the second, but Seattle score three times, Cole Eiserman with the only reply for Anchorage. Seattle wrap it up in the third, Emil Hemming gets a late consolation and we're off to Seattle 2-0 down.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Seattle Kraken 5
The good news is RW Brandon Svoboda is back, the bad news is RW Emil Hemming is out with a broken nose. He's out a lot with niggly little day-to-day injuries, he missed three weeks with bruised testicles earlier this season. Seattle go 1 up in the first, but Anchorage race back in the second with goals from Gavin, Voullet and Gillespie wrapped around a Seattle goal to give Anchorage a 3-2 lead after 2. Three Seattle goals in the third ends it though. Anchorage came in as favorites but now go into game 4 facing a sweep and thinking about changing the starting goalie.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Seattle Kraken 5 OT
Anchorage stick with supposed star netminder Sebastian Cossa, but one forced change is Svoboda is definitely out now. He's broken his fibula, since his contract runs out at the end of the season he's probably done in Anchorage. Things start well, Knox and Gavin put Anchorage up 2-0 at the end of the 1st. Two goals for Seattle in the second brings it back all square. Gavin puts Anchorage 3-2 up early in the third, but Seattle star player Shane Wright ties it up with 3 mins left, then puts Seattle ahead with 45 seconds to go. His first two goals of the playoffs, good time to waken up. Jordan Gavin ties it up in the dying seconds to keep hopes alive, but Seattle wrap it up 3:38 into OT.

Anchorage are feeling sweepy. Sebastian Cossa ends the playoffs with a GAA of 4.22 and a save percentage of .860. It's only the first game that he lost 1-0 that pads those numbers.

I really thought we were going to win a playoff series here, f you Cossa, f you Seattle.

[Critch]

2030/31 Playoffs
It was a year for playoff upsets, Anchorage weren't the only top seed to go out to a Wild Card team, in the East #1 Buffalo lost to Carolina too. After dumping out Anchorage, Seattle took care of Edmonton in the next round and made the Western Conference final, #4 Seattle v #3 Dallas (seeding is done by Division so the Western conference has two #1, two #2 etc). Dallas avenged us by thwarting Seattle's evil plans and made their umpteenth Stanley Cup final from the West. In the Eastern Conference final #1 New York Islanders (best record in the NHL) lost to Carolina, got swept. A #1 seed being swept by #4, the shame.

Stanley Cup Final Carolina beat Dallas in 5 games to claim a second NHL championship of this dynasty.

2030/31 Off Season
I've blamed the end of last season and the playoff failure on the harmony problems. We ended with the "Harmony bar" completely empty and everybody in open warfare with each other. So it was time for another purge of ingrates.

So all aboard the Anchorage Huskies Happy Bus.

We might be much worse than last year, but at least everybody is swell to everybody. We ended last season with a clique of 11 players, so 9 of them are gone in a clique destroying pogrom, only Cossa and Lavoie survived the cull. Reduce a clique to two members and it dissolves. Anybody who was any kind of Mr Angry Pants or Mr Shouty Pants got booted out too, no disruptive, unpopular or outspoken players allowed round here. The Harmony screen is all clean and nice and civil, nobody is unpopular, nobody is outspoken, nobody disruptive and nobody selfish. Everybody is happy and popular. Some of them aren't very good at hockey, but they're still lovely people and that's what matters. As my mum says, it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Any coach who wasn't at least very good at people management and discipline is out too. It's remarkably easy to fire staff and replace them with somebody better, the unemployment lines are full of top class hockey coaches apparently. I should have taken this responsibility off the AI years ago.

So after all of that if we have any harmony problems this year, the developers can stick this game up their collective arses until it's patched.

Rookie Draft
A year of lower picks for the Huskies, no pick until 32 in the first round then a couple of second round picks. I loaded up on defensive lottery tickets, players I'll forget about and then in 2 years time be surprised that a couple of them had developed into 4 star prospects. That's the plan anyway, welcome aboard LD Marcus Mezon, LD Brett Pernerowski, RD Johan Dahlberg, RD Joe Price, hopefully one or two of you give me a reason to mention you again. The number one pick in the whole draft went to Vegas Golden Knights, a Russian right wing called Aleksandr Kalashnikov. Great name, hope he's number 47.

The league standings look like they're upside down now, the worst teams are Toronto, Tampa Bay, Boston, Washington, Vegas and Colorado. The Flyers still suck though, so that's not changed in 7 years.

Free Agency
Big news for the free agency period was that Jordan Gavin was listed as a Restricted Free Agent. I had autoqualify set to yes, but he still went to free agency. I'm not sure how restricted free agents work, I guess. Should have tested the process on somebody less important. Anyway, he's back now, 3 years at 10.5 per year. Nice work if you can get it. Kaden Pitre and Brandon Svboda were signed too, despite the clear out for harmony the core of the team is much the same as last year, there's just not much depth when the injuries happen.

The last couple of days before the first game of the season are when teams get their roster down to 23 players by dropping the nearly good enough into the AHL, it's a feeding frenzy of waiver claims. Until that day the Huskies' Harmony screen was completely clean, no problem makers at all but I accidentally got an "Outspoken" player in waivers from Anaheim, RD Jiri Mendl (3.0, 4.5). He's good though, fills a gap in the defense, so he'll be around til the moment he causes a problem. Or the end of the season, he's only got one year left on a reasonable contract, I'm sure he'll be asking for 6mil per year next year.

[cubboyroy1826]

Would you mind sharing links to the videos you watched? I picked up the game and so far I am a little clueless.

[Critch]

Would you mind sharing links to the videos you watched? I picked up the game and so far I am a little clueless.

I didnt find any guides or anything, just a few dynasty-type gameplay series. It's the beauty of working from home and having youtube premium.

Best series was probably from OOTPDevelopments, the game producer and community manager playing through a few seasons. The expansion Columbus Blue Jackets one was the most informative:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o-i2ZDEcanc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There's also a series from the youtube OldSchoolSports account, plays through rebuilding the Blackhawks for a few seasons. It's higher level than the other one, doesnt seem to mention tactics, more GMing a roster.

[Critch]

2031/32 Preseason

Lines
Forwards
1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (4.5), C Jordan Gavin (5.0), RW Vasili Podkolzin (3.5) - same first line as every year, but this'll probably be the last. Podkolzin is on nearly 7mil per year for the next 2 years and is 30, so his time is coming to an end. Mainly because we need his 7mil to pay for contract extensions for Hemming, Mews and Turko next summer and our recent 4th pick overall Jeff Martin should be in Anchorage next year to cheaply replace him.
2nd Line - LW Urho Mattila (3.5), C Oskar Vuollet (3.5), RW Emil Hemming (3.5) - the first big change. Last year we had unpopular but skillful rookie Anton Nilsson at left wing, but everybody hated him so he's off to Tampa Bay this season. His scout report said something about him having a hard time in new surroundings so I hoped that into his second year he'd have calmed down and everybody would tolerate him, but wasn't to be so shipped out. Tampa Bay took a few of our undesirables, have to see if they meltdown.
3rd Line - LW Aidan Dudas (3.0), C Kaden Pitre (3.0), RW Brandon Svoboda (2.5) - A few changes on the third line, Dudas in as a free agent from the Islanders, Pitre up from the 4th line center, and Svoboda re-signed. He left as a free agent but we needed a RW so he's back. His broken leg from last year has healed so he's back for 2 more years on the league minimum.
4th Line - LW Leo Seitz (2.5), C Prokhor Poltapov (3.0), RW Jorgen Palm (2.5) - Our harmony-based clear-out really stripped the bottom six and the depth out of the roster, so more new faces here. Seitz was undrafted and bounced around a few AHL teams so turns up with no NHL experience, Poltapov goes from Anchorage depth to a regular starter, and Jorgen Palm is an undrafted FA from the Swedish leagues. He's 6'8'' and 241lbs, so he'll be a big part of our all-big lads third line. If they stand on each others shoulders they're nearly 20 foot tall and over 700lbs.

Defense
1st Pair - LD Weston Knox (3.0) RD Henry Mews (4.0) - same as last year but this year Mews is set to be a Point Shooter. He'll get the puck and wind up the big slapshot from the blue line. He's good at that role (20/20), but we don't really have anybody getting to the net, we don't have any screeners, so we'll see if it works and change if it doesn't.
2nd Pair - LD Tarin Smith (2.5), RD Tomas Lavoie (3.0) - Smith is 25 and acquired on waivers from Calgary where he was a regular last year, and he fits in with perennial 2nd line defenseman Lavoie
3rd Pair - LD Easten Turko (2.5), RD Jiri Mendl (3.0) - Turko was our first round pick in 2027, but he's never lived up to the promise. This is his third season as an Anchorage bitpart, so it's his last chance to prove he's worth a new contract next summer. Jiri Mendl is the loudmouth accidentally signed to spoil team harmony, so he's on a good behavior warning. Any problems and he's gone. He was first pick overall in 2025 but has never lived up to it, so he's running out of chances to develop.

Netminders
Sebastian Cossa (5.0), Lucas Wall (2.5) - Cossa returns, the league scouts say he's 4.5 now but the Anchorage scouts are sticking with 5.0. Lucas Wall was one of our first round pick in 2030 (9th overall) and was at Brown University but he's turned up with a contract. I don't remember signing him, thought he'd be staying in college, but he's here now. Maybe he failed his exams. Last year's wonder-backup Evan Maillet was looking for 6mil per year so he had to be let go. He's not found a new team and he's a Restricted Free Agent, we still own his rights so I think if anybody does sign him we'll have a chance to match the offer. I think that's how it'll work anyway.

Preseason games
Anchorage went 5-2 in the seven pre-season games. Why does autospell keep trying to change pre-season to pee-season? What does pee-season mean? This is on ice and pee-season sounds more watersports.

High points were no injuries and rookie goalie Lucas Wall made his Anchorage debut with a 1-0 shutout victory at Anaheim, saving all 30 shots he faced.

Low point was I brought up a rookie defenseman Ivan Korzhakov, he showed up as outspoken and had caused a riot within 2 days and everybody hated him. So he's back in the AHL for the season never to return. I'm going to have to be more careful who I call up.

Prediction
We're right at the owner's salary budget (league salary cap is still 84mil, forgot to update it, but Anchorage owner limits the team to 71mil) so there'll be nobody new in without somebody's salary going out first. There's not much depth, if we get injuries the backups are emergency-only level. So few injuries and we should be playoffs again, lots of injuries and the season could fall apart quickly.

[Critch]

2031/32 Regular Season
The season got off to a slow start, three loses in a row to kick the season off then an injury to star center Jordan Gavin. He's supposed to be out 6 days with bruised ribs but ends up missing nearly 3 weeks and the team struggles without him and we end October in 7th place in the division with a 6-10 record. Three more defeats to start November and we're down to 6-13 and starting to worry about the playoffs. While Anchorage are under-performing, LA Kings and Seattle are churning out the wins to build up a good early lead. LA Kings are expected, but Seattle are overachieving thanks to a 10-1 start to the season.

November and early December we get back to .500-ish, still outside the playoffs and settling into a "win 1, lose 1" schedule so not getting any closer. By mid-December we're 5 points outside the playoff positions, the Pacific seems to have a lot of good teams this year, LA Kings still powering ahead but with San Jose, Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver, Anchorage and Edmonton all with winning records. Late December is when Anchorage's season changes, a strong run to end 2031 and begin 2032 and we're well into the playoffs. Well behind LA Kings so we wont be winning the division again, but solidly in the race for 2nd. The game gives a little popup for Anchorage records, February 11th home to Atlanta Urho Matilla gets Anchorage's first ever Gordie Howe hattrick: a goal, an assist and a fight. That's the spirit.

March carries on the same way (highlight a game home to Anaheim on March 10th, we're 0-3 down with 5 minutes to go but fight back to get to OT and win the shootout), and a playoff position is safe. It's Anchorage and San Jose ahead of the pack fighting for 2nd and 3rd which would see them face off in the playoffs.

The injuries kick in for Anchorage, Lavoie, Seitz and Dudas are all gone for the regular season and there's countless day-to-day type injuries that means we end the season shuffling the lines, playing forwards out of position to cover for injuries. We limp to the finish line, a win on the last day of the season at Calgary gets us to 100 points for back to back 100+ point seasons and back to back playoffs for the first time ever. We might have limped to the finish line, but San Jose fell over, they lost 9 of their last 12 games to fall out of the race for 2nd completely, they end up 4th and a wildcard spot behind Calgary in 3rd. Despite starting 10-1, Seattle missed out on the playoffs, they finished 7th in the end.

So LA Kings win the division with 126 points (President's Trophy for most points in the NHL this season), we're 2nd with 100 points, Calgary then San Jose next with 93 points. In the Central Nashville, St Louis, Winnipeg and Atlanta all break 100 points. 104, 103, 102, 101 respectively, miles ahead of the crumbling Dallas Stars who miss the playoffs for the first time in the dynasty with only 85 points.

In the Eastern Conference Toronto and the reigning champs Carolina are the pick of the bunch, the two division winners.

So onto a playoff series against Calgary, maybe we can finally win a series.

[Critch]

The most important point from the regular season that I forgot to mention, we didn't have a single team harmony issue. We even risked bringing up a couple of depth players with reputations for a few days and nothing happened.

2031/32 Playoffs Round 1 - Calgary Flames
We go into the playoffs still carrying injuries, Tomas Lavoie is definitely out for the year, Aiden Dudas might be back if we get to round 2, same for Leo Seitz (although he's no great loss, he wasn't very good this year), plus stars Lucas Karmiris and Emil Hemming are still game time decisions with day-to-day injuries. Emil Hemming is out with bruised testicles again, this is the third time, I'm not sure what he's getting up to in his spare time.

We've played Calgary 4 times in the regular season, we lost the first (2-3 in November) but have won the 3 since (5-2 in November, 4-1 at home on New Years Day, and 3-2 on the last day of the season). Surely we must be strong favorites.

Game 1 - Calgary Flames 7 Anchorage Huskies 4
Hemming will miss the game, but Karmiris is back so we're as full-strength as we've been for a while. A strange game, lots of twists and turns. Calgary are 2-0 up in the first two minutes, Oskar Vuollet pulls one back but Calgary add another couple and it's 4-1 after the first period. Karmiris, Vuollet and Podkolzin score in the second to tie it up at 4-4 after the second, but Calgary race away in the third. A powerplay goal, an even strength and a last minute empty net goal and we're 1 game down already. Sebastian Cossa with a .850 save percentage, maybe he's just a regular season goalie. We've now lost 7 playoff games in a row since being 3-2 up against Dallas a few years ago.

Game 2 - Calgary Flames 4 Anchorage Huskies 5
Another strange twisty-turny game. Hemming is missing again, some shuffling of the lines since we don't really have a top 6-level right wing to replace him. Things start badly as Calgary's Jeff Smith scores twice in the 1st, then another in the second to finish his hat-trick and put them 3-0 up with one period to play. Anchorage go wild in a seven minute burst in the third period: 7:24 - Henry Mews, 8:37 Prokhor Poltapov, 10:17 Henry Mews (power play), 12:19 Jordan Gavin, 14:10 Kaden Pitre and it's 5-3 to the good guys. The Capitals announcer always calls the Caps "the good guys". I like that, I'm going to start doing it for Anchorage too. Calgary pull one back late on, but the good guys hang on to win 5-4 and break the playoff loss run. We're off to Calgary with the series tied.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 7 Calgary Flames 0
No twisty-turny in this one, it's total domination. Anchorage hold Calgary to 18 shots all game, Cossa saves all of them, then we score lots of lovely goals too. Hemming is back from his swollen nuts, 1st round draft flop Easten Turko also comes in to add a bit of defense-first to the defense and it all works. Gavin and Karmiris put Anchorage 2-0 up with goals 14 seconds apart, Nicholas Moldenhauer makes it 3 right at the end of the first. (I don't think I've mentioned Moldenhauer, he was a depth signing at the start of the season and is now 4th line center as Poltapov had to move to left wing to cover injuries). Podkolzin and Karmiris add two more in the second, Knox and Palm in the third and we stroll to a win and a series lead.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Calgary Flames 3
We roll on with no changes, same lines, same everything, and the result isn't the same. Calgary go 1-0 early, Gavin scores midway through the first and we're tied at 1-1 after one period. Calgary go 2-1 up in the second, 3-1 right at the start of the third. Pitre pulls us back into it and it's 3-2 with 17 minutes to play but that's the end of the scoring. The series so far has been fairly penalty free, but Jake Sanderson and Alexandre Lavoie of Calgary fight in the third. And we're back to tied in the series.

Game 5 - Calgary Flames 4 Anchorage Huskies 6
Jake Sanderson escapes without a suspension after the fight in game 4, but defenseman Tarin Smith is out with a knee contusion. That's fancy talk for a bruised knee. So Mendl comes in to replace him. Anchorage get off to a strong start, Vasili Podkolzin, Henry Mews and Samu Partanen all score in the first 6 minutes and we're 3-0 up. Calgary get back into it with 2 goals in the first, then Jeff Smith ties it up at the start of the second. Anchorage star centers Jordan Gavin and Oskar Vuollet then say "we're going to win this even if we have to carry you" and both score, it's 5-3 after two periods. It's stays 5-3 til the last minute, Calgary go empty net and pull one back through Louis-Francois Belanger and it's squeaky-bum time for Anchorage. No worries though, Vuollet scores and empty net goal with 4 seconds to go and we're 3-2 up in the series. Only the second time Anchorage have been 3-2 up in a series, and we messed it up last time so lets hope we can close it out this time.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Calgary Flames 6
Apparently a knee contusion isn't the same as a bruised knee, because Kaden Pitre is out with a bruised knee so the game thinks it's different. Looks like a knee contusion is a badly bruised knee judging by the expected days out. He's day-to-day and could play if we wanted to risk it, but it's only game 6 so he can sit. Calgary play like a team playing for their lives and dominate, they're 2-1 up after the first. Carter Klippenstein is the Anchorage scorer, it's a sign of how banged up we are that he's on the ice. Lecompte and Moravec make it 4-1 in the second, we have a brief comeback when Karmiris and Mendl score, but Calgary make it 5-3 at the end of the second and add another in the third and we're back to Anchorage for a game seven. We're going to lose, you know.

Game 7 - Calgary Flames 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
It's game seven so we risk Kaden Pitre and his knee owie, he's back in to center the third line. We get out to a quick start, Lucas Karmiris makes it 1-0 after 22 seconds, then Nicholas Moldenhauer makes it 2-0 midway through the first. If there's been one thing about this series it's been that nobody can defend a lead, it happens again here with Calgary scoring 3 unanswered in the second, Kadon McCann, Louis-Francois Belanger and Nathan Lecompte make it 3-2 Calgary after 2 periods. We've got one period to save the season. There's a couple of minutes of 4-on-4 hockey (assuming the game gets that right) when Kadon McCann and Kaden Pitre get coincidental minors both for high sticking, but we're less than 4 minutes from crashing out when Prokhor Poltapov (3rd line left wing) ties it up on an assist from Jorgen Palm, and we're off to overtime. Overtime doesnt last long before the Poltapov/Pitre/Palm line strikes again, this time it's 6'8'' 241lb Swede Jorgen Palm scoring on an assist from Poltapov.

Really we have goalie Sebastian Cossa to thank, we were heavily outshot but he kept us in it saving 38 of 41 shots.

So the first ever playoff series win in Anchorage's history. The only slight downside is that we've missed out on being the first of the expansion teams to win a series by 1 day, Atlanta Thrashers and Hartford Whalers both clinched their series the day before.

So it's onto round 2 where we'll face San Jose Sharks. They upset the odds and put out LA Kings in round one.

[Critch]

2031/32 Playoffs Round 2 - San Jose Sharks
And onto round 2 for the first time ever. Pitre is still less than 100% with his knee knack, but is still needed so he's being risked, Dudas is close to coming back but not quite ready, maybe later in the series. But other than that, we're as good as we're getting.

We've played San Jose twice this season, one win each but both early in the season. We'll have home advantage so that should give us an advantage, but they're all nice and rested after a 4-0 series against LA Kings so that'll be an advantage to them. I'm still going we're the favorites and should win.

Game 1 - San Jose Sharks 3 Anchorage Huskies 5
San Jose start the series on fire, score 3 in the first 8 minutes (McConnell-Barker, Brisson, Brown) and end the first period at 3-0. Second period swings back our way, goals from Brandon Svoboda, Henry Mews and Vasili Podkolzin and we're tied at 3 going into the third. Jackson Gillespie puts Anchorage 4-3 up in the first minute of the third with a powerplay goal (incidentally our powerplay is terrible, 14%, last in the league). We add an empty net goal from Gavin in the last minute and we're 1-0 up in the series.

Game 2 - San Jose Sharks 4 Anchorage Huskies 2
Aiden Dudas is back for his first game in over a month, he fits in as left wing on the third line. Just like game one San Jose race into a three goal lead, unlike game one we don't come storming back. We get back to 3-2 at the start of the third with goals from Gavin and Vuollet (with an assist from the returning Dudas) but that's as close as we get and they score an empty net goal late on to wrap it up.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 0 San Jose Sharks 3
A theme of the series has been San Jose with a 3-0 lead. This time it's all they need, one in the first and two early in the third and it's game over and we're 2-1 down.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 San Jose Sharks 4
Leo Seitz is back from injury but that just means he's sprightly as he takes his seat with the fans, because he's not getting into the lineup. For the first time in the series we don't fall 3-0 down, we actually score the first goal! Jiri Mendl makes it 1-0 in the first, but then San Jose score their three unanswered goals and it's game over. Jordan Gavin scores early in the third, but 3-2 is as close as we get, San Jose score a late empty net goal and we're 3-1 down in the series. We're not winning three in a row.

Game 5 San Jose Sharks 5 Anchorage Huskies 2
Well we really laid down in that one. Out shot 17-8 in the first, 18-3 in the second and the game is over. It's 5-2 after 2 periods, Pitre in the first and Hemming in the second get goals for Anchorage but it's all over. We're out shot in the third too, but there's no more goals and we're done. San Jose win the series 4-1.

At least we won a series this year.

[cubboyroy1826]

Well at least you are progressing in the playoffs.

[Critch]

Well at least you are progressing in the playoffs.

That's something, Won a playoff series, back-to-back playoffs with the lowest payroll in the league, but do I get nominated for Exec of the Year? Nope. Are the fans happy? Nope. They started as "Disloyal" then jumped up to "Normal Loyalty" after the first playoffs, but now they've dropped back down to "Disloyal".

2031/32 Playoffs
After dumping out Anchorage Huskies, San Jose went onto the Western Conference final to face the St Louis Blues and that's where their run ended. St Louis onto the Stanley Cup from the West.

In the Eastern Conference it was fellow expansion team Hartford who won out, they got into the playoffs as a Wild Card but then beat the top team in the Metropolitan division (Carolina), the second team in the Metro (Columbus) and the second team from the Atlantic (Detroit) to get to the Stanley Cup final.

The Stanley Cup final was where Hartford's luck ran out, they got swept by the Blues. St Louis with their first championship of the dynasty.

2031/32 Off Season
I'd been seeing a few more good quality players sitting out most of the season waiting for somebody to seriously overpay them, a few 3.5 players saying "if nobody is going to give me 6.5mil per year, I'm staying home". Allegedly increasing the salary cap every few seasons helps with this, so this year I finally remembered to add 3mil to the salary cap, we'll see if that works. It wont make any difference to the Anchorage budget, the Anchorage owner is sticking to a salary budget that will now be about 17mil less than the max.

For Anchorage, money's too tight to mention. A few important players were up for new contracts, Mews got paid, Hemming got paid (overpaid?), Easten Turko got his first big-boy contract (only 1.5mil per year but not sure he deserved it) so we're right up to the team salary budget but with roster gaps to fill. The original plan was to move on top line RW Vasili Podkolzin and free up his 6.8mil salary and replace him with rookie Jeff Martin (4th pick in 2030). That plan was shelved because nobody wanted Podkolzin and his salary, plus I was not sure about trading away the team captain. Also Jeff Martin isn't a replacement for him, he's currently a bottom six hitter not a top line scorer. So it was onto Plan B, it was G Sebastian Cossa who went to cut salary.

My rule is that I can shop a player, but that I can't negotiate an offers, it's apparently a bit too easy to fleece the AI if you negotiate. So Sebastian Cossa gets shopped and a few teams offer a 1st round pick for him, or a prospect and a lower round pick. Best offer was Vegas offering their 1st round pick, so Cossa goes and we got a lottery pick this year. Vegas needed a goalie so it makes sense for them I guess.

A couple of years ago we picked up an undrafted backup Evan Maillet from the AHL, he shone for one season in the NHL as a backup, played 17 games, but then asked for a huge pay raise so we let him go. He wasn't the superstar he thought he was and a year earning 11k playing for the Knoxville Ice Bears in the Southern Professional Hockey League has made him a bit more willing to rethink the huge salary demands. He's back to partner youngster Lucas Wall as our 1a/1b goalie tandem for next year.

Rookie Draft
With the draft pick we got from Vegas, we had an interest in the draft lottery. It started off as the 9th pick, but the balls were kind to us and we ended up as minor lottery winners, we move up to second pick overall. Not a bad return for Cossa, I got the "I fleeced the AI" feeling. Luckily the draft class wasn't great, so we didn't fleece them too much. 18 year old Swedish winger Borje Svensson was the pick, he's years away from being ready so will be staying in the Swedish leagues for a year or two. Our own pick in the 1st round was 26, RD Mark Dollack. Again he's years from being ready so he'll be staying in the Canadian juniors. The draft isn't the place for players to help immediately.

Free Agency
It's quiet for Anchorage. A few players leave because they'd be too expensive to resign (Aidan Dudas, Samu Partanen, Jiri Mendl, Tarin Smith, Jake Sanderson), one player leaves because he was confusing (D Josh Glavin, I accidentally started him at center a couple of times because his name is too much like Jordan Gavin), D Jackson Gillespie gets a new contract, a few rookies get their entry level contracts (welcome to the big team Jeff Martin and David Prudek), and we're at the salary limit and ready to go into the new season. I'm not even sure there's enough money left for waiver pickups.

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Evan Maillet	G	26	CAN	3.0	4.0	2	750
Lucas Wall	G	20	CAN	3.0	4.5	3	750
Jacob Gibbons	G	25	CAN	3.0	3.5	2	750
Defensemen
Weston Knox	LD	28	USA	3.0	3.0	2	3,986
Easten Turko	LD	23	CAN	3.0	4.0	3	1,550
Alfred Hansson	LD	24	SWE	2.0	2.5	2	750
John Fireman	LD	21	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	750
Henry Mews	RD	26	CAN	4.0	4.0	5	8,510
Tomas Lavoie	RD	26	CAN	3.0	3.5	1	5,492
Jackson Gillespie	RD	25	USA	2.5	3.0	3	3,710
Steve Peters	RD	24	USA	2.0	2.5	1	878
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	25	CAN	5.0	5.0	2	10,440
Oskar Vuollet	C	26	SWE	3.5	3.5	3	4,997
Kaden Pitre	C	26	CAN	3.0	3.5	2	2,547
Nicholas Moldenhauer	C	28	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	750
Brandon Svoboda	C	27	USA	2.5	2.5	1	750
Lucas Karmiris	LW	25	CAN	4.5	4.5	2	4,873
Urho Mattila	LW	25	FIN	3.5	4.0	2	3,368
Prokhor Poltapov	LW	29	RUS	3.0	3.0	1	2,272
Jeff Martin	LW	20	CAN	2.5	4.5	3	834
Taylor Walton	LW	21	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	750
Vasili Podkolzin	RW	31	RUS	3.5	3.5	1	6,770
Emil Hemming	RW	26	FIN	3.5	4.0	3	7,540
Jorgen Palm	RW	24	SWE	3.0	3.0	1	750
Aleksandr Yeremey	RW	24	RUS	2.5	3.0	1	750
David Prudek	RW	21	CZE	2.0	3.0	3	878

[Critch]

2032/2033 Regular Season
It's a bad year for injuries, at one point we have nine players on the long term Injury List, but this year we have rookies and young players to step in so it's not a disaster. Emil Hemming misses 50 games, although 13 of them are a couple of suspensions, the second suspension still isn't completely served. Suspensions seem longer in the game than in the real NHL, this season you'd have to stab somebody to get 8 games. After recurring bruised testicle injuries last year he's stepped it up this year and misses a couple of months with a torn groin. He needs a new hobby to get through the cold and lonely Anchorage nights. Urho Mattila has back problems, Tomas Lavoie is back from last season's long term injury for one game before he's out long term again, Brandon Svoboda misses all but 2 games with a torn muscle and seems like he's done. I'm not sure if the game tracks "games lost to injury", if it does it's hidden away, but this season Anchorage would have lots and lots missed. (Late edit - the game does track it, this season Anchorage have 683 days lost to injury, second worst behind Florida Panthers with 729)

Luckily rookies RW Jeff Martin (54 games, 24 points), winger David Prudek (62 games, 28 points), LW Taylor Walton (63 games, 24 points), RW Tyson Spafford (13 games, 6 points) and D Steve Peters (58 games, 19 points) all step up and carry the load with not too much of a drop off.

Anchorage start strong and stay strong, LA Kings still lead the division but Anchorage are fighting over 2nd and 3rd spots with San Jose in the early season. Same as last year at this point. By the end of 2032 the top three have pulled away from the pack, 12 points clear of fourth and safely heading for the playoffs unless there's a serious crash. At one point in mid January Anchorage manage to draw level on points with LA Kings but it's a scheduling thing, Kings have played 4 games less. Just like last year Anchorage cruise to second place when San Jose fall off at the end of the season. This year San Jose hold onto third though, they don't fall into the wild card fight like last year.

So season ends with LA Kings 1st again with 118 points, Anchorage second on 108 points (51-25-6), San Jose third with 91 points and Seattle 4th and in a wild card spot with 85. In the Central it's reigning champions St Louis with 120 points (President's Trophy winners too), Atlanta with 116, Colorado with 98 and Winnipeg with 91. In the Eastern conference the top seeds are Ottawa (113 points) and Columbus (107). This is the first year where the four expansion teams all reach the playoffs, Hartford and Quebec are the two wildcard teams in the East.

The stars for Anchorage are Jordan Gavin, our first ever point per game player (81 points in 81 games, he sat the last game of the season) and our first ever 40 goal scorer. 40 goals, 41 assists, 81 points. I changed his role from playmaker to speedy forward and it seems to have worked out. C Oskar Voullet (26 goals, 28 assists) and D Henry Mews (24 goals, 40 assists) both end the season with 64 points although Mews did it in 13 fewer games, Kaden Pitre (58 points) and Lucas Karmiris (56 points) are next, it's really the core of the team that are carrying them. Special mention too to Urho Mattila who got 21 goals and 26 assists in 55 games, lots of time lost to injury.

The original plan was a goalie tandem, but rookie goalie Lucas Wall missed the first 3 months of the season and by the time he came back Evan Maillet had made the position his own, we've gone from a 1a/1b due of netminders to a definite starter and backup. Maillet ends the season with a save % of .911, a small drop off from last season's Cossa although last season's Cossa wasnt as good as the season before's Cossa. Even with Cossa returning to good form, his new team Vegas Golden Knights finished last in the conference with Cossa starting 72 games for them and a .917 save percentage.

I checked on the FA we let walk away last year to see how they did, check how the game's issue with decent FAs not being picked up worked out for them, and it's a mixed bunch. Aidan Dudas is playing in a Midwestern Semi Pro league (a level too far down to have teams mentioned) and is scoring more than 2 points per game (27 goals , 40 assists in 29 games) while earning 30k per year. He's 32 and on the downward slide so maybe not too bad. Samu Partanen is in the Austrian/Central European league playing for Klagenfurt, again not too bad, he was borderline NHL. Jiri Mendl sat out most of the year before going to Russia to play for CSKA Moscow, since he's a former NHL 1st pick overall he's safely in bust territory. Jake Sanderson missed the 1st month of the season but then signed for Detroit Red Wings on a one year minimum salary deal and has been a regular starter, he's 29 and has played for Ottawa, Colorado, Anaheim, Vancouver, Anchorage, Detroit and a UFA next year so he's firmly a journeyman now. The only one who seems to have been hit with the games issue is D Tarin Smith, he's sat out the whole season and still says "I want a $3.5mil one year bridge contract, it's way less than my market value". We'll check back with him next free agency period to see if he's been hit by the fist of reality.

So next up it's San Jose in the playoffs again. Kind of wish I'd gone for an Eastern Conference dynasty, all the cool teams are in the East.

[Critch]

Oooh, a dynasty that's made it to page 2. I'm not sure I've ever done a dynasty that made it to page 2.

Before the playoffs start, here are a couple of things I've forgot to mention. When I checked the stats last year it turned out the Anchorage powerplay was scoring at 14.0%, dead last in the NHL. I made a few changes for this season, and I've made a point of making sure I update the PP lines for injuries and the powerplay is now at 20.0% and 11th in the league. Much more acceptable.

And the other thing I forgot is the season's lines, so here's what the plan is for the playoffs:

1st Line - Lucas Karmiris/Jordan Gavin/Emil Hemming - a change mid-season when Vasili Podkolzin dropped off the first line for Hemming. With Jordan Gavin role changing to Speedy Forward ("A forward whose main contribution to the team is getting up ice very quickly") the first line was too attacking. They were as likely to give up a goal as score a goal, they all had negative +/-. Hemming replaced Podkolzin as he's a more defensive forward and it's worked so far. Hemming will be missing the first game, he got a 8 game suspension with 7 regular season games remaining, he smooshed a Blackhawk player all over the boards. (Yes autospell, I meant smoosh, he didn't get a penalty for smooching a Blackhawk player)
2nd Line - Urho Mattila/Oskar Vuollet/Vasili Podkolzin - Podkolzin down to add some scoring to this line, hopefully. He's had an OK season but the scoring has dropped off, seven seasons of 20+ goals for Anchorage until this year, 17 this year. He'll be 32 by next season, he's started showing up on the monthly dev report with negative changes, and he's looking for $8.5 per year for 3 years to re-sign, so he'll be leaving after the playoffs. Unless we win the Stanley Cup, you've got to keep the gang together for another year if you win the Stanley Cup. Mattila has had a good but injury disrupted year, and Vuollet is the holding pivot that lets Mattila and Podkolzin concentrate on attack.
3rd Line - David Prudek/Kaden Pitre/Jorgen Palm - The PPP line from last year's playoffs is back, but it's now Prudek instead of Poltapov. Still big guys, still defensive, if anything Prudek is meaner than Poltapov despite being a youngster.
4th Line - Jeff Martin/Nicholas Moldenhauer/Prokhor Poltapov - Jeff Martin (no.1 prospect in the league apparently) has been getting his taste of NHL life on the 4th line, but next year he'll be top six. He's more of a power forward than a skill player. Moldenhauer got his place when Svoboda season, and probably NHL career, came to an end with injury. Poltapov is just getting a jersey til he leaves in the summer. He's had a good season, but he's a bottom 6 forward and he wants $6.5mil to re-sign, he'll be in the KHL this time next year.

1st Pair - Weston Knox/Henry Mews - Mews has been our star defender for years, and Knox has great chemistry with him so they're the standard top pair. Mews floats around passing and setting up attacks, Knox does all the hard work covering, or springing forward when needed.
2nd Pair - Easten Turko/Tomas Lavoie - another steady pairing, Turko has stepped up after signing his new contract, glad I didn't dump him last summer. I think his problem last year was a game problem, he was defensive forward so didn't score, didn't get assists so his Game Rating was always poor. The Game Ratings are unbalanced, goalies always get better ratings than Forwards, who always get better ratings than Defensemen. Now he's playing as a two-way defenseman he's looking better. Tomas Lavoie has been around for ever, but hes a free agent and wants a big raise to stay so might be coming to his end in Anchorage.
3rd Pair - Matthew Paranych/Jackson Gillespie - Matthew Paranych was a waiver pickup from Toronto at the start of the season and he's been fine on a league minimum wage. Jackson Gillespie? Why am I paying a mediocre third pair D $3.7 per year for the next three years? Is it just because he has a cool name? (Yes)

Goalies - Evan Maillet and Lucas Wall - This is the cost cutting section of the team, both are on $750k per year. Maillet is on his last NHL chance, Wall with his rookie contract. Lucas Wall has the better star rating (he's slowly increased to 4.0 over the season) but he's happy with his playing time after 7 games in half a season so even he doesnt think he's ready to be full time starter. If Maillet doesnt perform, it might be Wall's time.


2032/33 Playoffs Round 1 - San Jose Sharks
It was the San Jose Sharks who ended Anchorage's hopes last year when they put us out 4-1 in the second round, they are now listed on the Anchorage Huskies detail page as "potential rivals". All my homies hate the San Jose Sharks. It's a one-way thing though, their detail page says their rivals are Anaheim and LA Kings, it doesn't mention the Huskies at all.

Anchorage played them twice in the regular season and won both, 4-3 at San Jose, 5-2 at home. Anchorage will have home advantage.

Game 1 - San Jose Sharks 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
Anchorage come out the gates flying, outshoot San Jose 18-5 in the first and go in 2-0 up with goals from Jeff Martin after 3:04 and Oskar Vuollet (9:03). Second period is more balanced, but David Prudek adds to the lead early on and we're into the third period with a 3-0 lead. San Jose pull one back midway through the third, but an empty net goal from Urho Mattila ends it. Goalie Evan Maillet is super solid, saving 30 of 31 shots, rookie David Prudek is star of the game with a goal and an assist.

Game 2 - San Jose Sharks 3 Anchorage Huskies 0
Good news is Emil Hemming is back from his suspension and into the top line, bad news is Weston Knox is missing with a sore knee, listed day-to-day. Jackson Gillespie moves up to partner Mews on the top pair, time to earn his silly salary, rookie Steve Peters comes into the third pair. First period is even and scoreless, but San Jose score 3 in a burst in the middle of the second period and it's all over. Last year we won the first game against San Jose, then lost the next four. Hope this isnt history repeating itself. We're off to San Jose with the series tied.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 1 San Jose Sharks 4
Weston Knox still has a sore knee, but he can be risked so he comes in. Gillespie and Mews were terrible in the last game, so we have to risk it. Vuollet puts Anchorage up in the first, but San Jose score 3 in the second period again and it's all over. Maillet lets in 4 goals on 28 shots, .857 save percentage. Is it Lucas Wall's time to shine?

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 5 San Jose Sharks 2
Evan Maillet stays in, 2-1 down seems a bit early to panic and throw in an injury prone 21 year old backup with 13 NHL game experience. Anchorage come out like they mean it, outshoot San Jose 16-9, but fall behind in the last minute of the period to a power play goal. Confusingly the San Jose player who scores has a name very similar to mine so I think I've scored for them til I double check. He does it again in the second to put them 2-0 up, but that's when the game turns. Kaden Pitre gets us on the board and back into it, Henry Mews ties it up, Kaden Pitre scores again to give us the lead, then Vuollet makes it 4-2 before the midpoint of the second period. The only scoring in the third is a late empty net goal for Emil Hemming and we're back to Anchorage tied. I knew leaving Evan Maillet in was a smart move...

Game 5 - San Jose Sharks 2 Anchorage Huskies 0
Well this blows. We're outshot in all three periods, San Jose score twice in the second, and we're on the verge of being knocked out. Since boasting about the improvements in the power play, Anchorage are 0-10 in this series. Back to San Jose to try and save the series.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 2 San Jose Sharks 1
What's this? We're still alive? We didn't collapse under the stress? That's not like us. San Jose go into the lead 7:43 into the first, Calum Ritchie scores again for them, guy is getting on my nerves, but late on in the first the Anchorage power play comes alive, Jordan Gavin gets his first (and the power plays first) goal of the series. Urho Mattila puts Anchorage 2-1 up two minutes into the second period and that's the end of the scoring. It's a goalie duel, Maillet saves 29 of 30 shots, their guy Dylan Silverstein saves 33 of 35 and it's all got low scoring, tense and playoff-like all of a sudden. Since I briefly thought about dropping Maillet he's saved 73 of 78 shots and kept us in the series. Back to Anchorage for a decider.

Game 7 - San Jose Sharks 1 Anchorage Huskies 7
Third line center Kaden Pitre will be missing the game with a day-to-day injury, so it's a third line shake-up. Polpatov moves from right wing to center, Jorgen Palm comes back into right wing. He was dropped early in the series for playing like a 6'8'' giraffe on ice. Things get off to a good start, Henry Mews with a power play goal after 3:08, Oskar Vuollet makes it 2-0 after 6:53, then adds another after 14:15. Shots are level 10-10 after the first, but we're 3-0 up. Second period goes much the same way, we have 12 shots but score 3 more. Lucas Karmiris (2:16), Jordan Gavin with another powerplay goal after 11:27, Oskar Vuollet finishes his hattrick after 17:21. The hats raining down on the ice give San Jose time to pull their goalie, but it's all over. Vasili Podkolzin makes it 7-0 early in the third before that knob Calum Ritchie scores his 5th goal of the series, but it's just a late consolation. We're through to round 2.

Wonder if San Jose still think we're not their rivals?

Next up we're facing the division's #1 seed Los Angeles Kings.

I got a little popup Steam achievement for winning a 7 game series after being 3-2 down.

[Critch]

2032/33 Playoffs Round 2 - Los Angeles Kings
LA Kings have been the alpha dog of the Pacific Division for a good few years, they've won the division 4 of the last 5 years (Anchorage won the other, Kings finished second that year), they've made the playoffs each of the last 7 years, and 9 of the last 10. They won the division with 118 points this year, and cruised through the first round of the playoffs beating Winnipeg in 4 games. So they'll be tough.

Anchorage played them three times in the regular season, won 5-4 in Anchorage in September, but lost 5-3 in LA and 3-0 at home since then. So, as I said, they'll be tough.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Los Angeles Kings 0
Kaden Pitre is still out, so the team is exactly the same as the one that hammered San Jose in game 7. And it's a similar result too, the second time in a row our oppenent has had to pull the starting goalie in the second period. Anchorage edge the first period and go ahead after 17:38 with a Matthew Paranych goal. Right before the end of the period Kirill Kaprizov (it's far enough in the future that a real player is getting to be a novelty, even if he's not at his real life team anymore) is penalized for slashing. The first ends with Anchorage 1-0 up, but Anchorage start the second period on the powerplay and go 2-0 with a goal from Vasili Podkolzin. It sets the tone for the second period, Anchorage dominate, 20 shots and 3 more goals. Easten Turko, Oskar Vuollet, Jordan Gavin and the game is in the bag, 5-0 after 2 periods. Easten Turko adds another at the start of the third and it's game over. Evan Maillet stops all 23 shots he faced, glad I didnt drop him.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Los Angeles Kings 1
The injuries are adding up. Kaden Pitre (facial injury) and Emil Hemming (hand soreness) can play but aren't 100%, David Prudek (chest injury) and Jackson Gillespie (broken toe) will both be missing though. I decide to risk Pitre but let Hemming rest, you can't really make a facial laceration worse by playing I guess, but a hand can get sore-er. That's the logic. Los Angeles go 1-0 up in the first, Kasper Simontaival scores, he's a player with a day-to-day injury that LA are risking too. Kaden Pitre makes it a good day for players with owies by tying it up in the second with a powerplay goal, Lucas Karmiris makes it 2-1 19:25 into the second period. Jordan Gavin makes it 3-1 early in the third and that's the end of it, back to Anchorage with a 2-0 lead and two games won on the road.

Game 3 - Los Angeles Kings 3 Anchorage Huskies 2 Overtime
Emil Hemming, David Prudek and Jackson Gillespie are all still out, but Kaden Pitre is now 100%. It's the 1st of the month so we get the monthly development report prior to the game, both Poltapov and Podkolzin have negative numbers on it so that's the nail in the coffin for their chances for new contracts. With Jackson Gillespie out, Steve Peters stays in the team, he has the distinction of being the first and only Anchorage Huskies player to actually be from Anchorage. The only player to be happy when Anchorage drafted him (4th round, 2028). Lucas Karmiris makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the 1st, Cross Hanas ties it up in the second, Jorgen Palms gives Anchorage a brief lead in the third, William Zellers ties it up during 4-on-4 play (one of LA's top players Quinton Byfield and Tomas Lavoie get coincidental minors), then it's off to overtime. Anchorage dominate overtime but lose anyway when Michael Burchill scores the winner after 15:25. So close to a 3-0 lead.

Game 4 - Los Angeles Kings 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
The good news is Emil Hemming is back. Aleksandr Yeremey is also back, he's been out 3 months with a Grade II Concusion so he's short on game time and a free agent after the season, so he's probably not going to play for Anchorage again, but nice that he's back. LA Kings lead 1-0 after the first period, Brady Wassink scoring seconds after coming out the penalty box. Henry Mews scores an unassisted goal 28 seconds into the second, but Gavin Cornforth puts LA back ahead at the midpoint of the second. Jeff Martin ties it up again and we go into the third tied 2-2. At 13:16 of the third, Anchorage's own Steve Peters puts Anchorage ahead with all his friends and family probably in the stands, but Gavin Cornforth ties it up again and we're off to overtime again. This time it's a happier ending, LA's Rick Claycomb is called for tripping and Anchorage make them pay when Lucas Karmiris scores a powerplay goal 20 seconds later. We're heading back off to LA with a chance to finish them off.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Los Angeles Kings 2 Overtime
The injuries are clearing up, Jackson Gillespie is available but not quite 100%, so we'll keep Anchorage's own Steve Peters in the lineup instead. LA Kings come out strong, they edge the first period and take a 1-0 lead, Colton Alain after 4:49. Second period is much the same, LA Kings edge the period and score, it's 2-0 after 5:58 on a goal from Michael Risteau. The third period changes completely, Anchorage dominate LA, it's now or never, if you dont count the other two chances. After 4:56 Oskar Vuollet sets up Urho Mattila to score and we're right back in it. After 13:20 Colton Alain and Weston Knox go to the penalty box for coincidental roughing minors and it's 4-on-4. Less than a minute later Oskar Vuollet sets up Urho Mattila again and it's all tied up. No more scoring after we kill off a late LA powerplay and we're off to overtime for the third game in a row. It doesnt take long, 6:30 into the first overtime period and Jordan Gavin scores an unassisted goal and we're off to the Western Conference Final.

So onto the Western Conference Finals and it'll be Anchorage Huskies v Colorado Avalanche. Colorado beat Seattle 4-1 after Seattle upset the reigning champion St Louis Blues in the first round. In the East it'll be Ottawa v Columbus in the conference Final.

Racking up the achievements this year, just got a "Upset! Win a playoff series against a team that finished ahead of you in the regular season" popup.

[Critch]

2032/33 Playoffs Western Conference Finals - Colorado Avalanche
Colorado started this dynasty as the superpower of NHL, a fairly unrealistically good 145 points in the the first season then over 100 points every year and a championship in 2026/27, only 127 points that year though. They lost the conference final the year after, but it's been downhill since then, this is their first season into the playoffs after missing out the last three years.

They still have a couple of the stars, Miko Rantanen is still there rated 5.0 as a 36 year old and Cale Makar 34 years old and 4.0. I've just been reading somebody on reddit complaining about FHM having players go downhill when they hit 29, these two seem to dispute that. They've got a few good younger players too, 26 year old LW Jett Luchanko (4.5), 24yo C Ezedine Kamoga (4.0) and 26yo G Damen Baxter (4.0), so they're still a good team if not the dominant team they used to be.

We'll have the home advantage for this round. We finished with 108 points, they finished with 98. We played them three times in the regular season, lost one (2-1 at Colorado) then won two (5-4 and 4-3 in Anchorage).

Game 1 - Colorado Avalanche 0 Anchorage Huskies 1
Vasili Podkolzin is out, he'll be gone for a few weeks with a hand injury, hopefully not the end of his long Anchorage career, but David Prudek is back from the injury that made him miss the last few games of the LA Kings series. Anchorage go 1-0 up eight minutes into the first period, Urho Mattila with assists for Oskar Vuollet and David Prudek, and that's the end of the scoring. We're on top most of the game, out shoot Colorado 37-22, but no more scoring. Colorado get back to back power plays in the second period but they're both killed and we lead the series 1-0.

Game 2 - Colorado Avalanche 2 Anchorage Huskies 4
No new injuries so we roll in with the same lines as the last game, and it doesn't take long to get a lead. Henry Mews makes it 1-0 Anchorage after 38 seconds. It doesn't last long, Mew's line partner Weston Knox gets called for holding and Colorado tie the game up with a power play goal. Old man Cale Makar with the goal and it's 1-1 after the first period. Anchorage start the second period almost as quickly as the first, Jeff Martin scores after 46 seconds. Justin Robidas quickly ties it with a goal and it's 2-2 middle of the second. Henry Mews scores again after 13:20 to put Anchorage ahead 3-2 and Jordan Gavin makes it 4-2 90 second later and that's the end of the scoring, game's in the bag. Anchorage now 2-0 up and heading to Colorado. Over in the East, Ottawa have a 2-0 series lead too.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Colorado Avalanche 3
Well we had our chance to go 3-0 up in this one, but it slipped away. Anchorage totally dominated Colorado in the first two period (outshot them 17-5 and 16-5), had a 2-0 lead at the midpoint of the second (Emil Hemming scored in the first, Matthew Paranych in the second), and led 2-1 going into the third period (Charlie Michaud scored for Colorado). Cale Makar turned the game with two goals in the third period, a power play goal after 2:35 and then the winner after 17:17. Anchorage managed to lose despite doubling up Colorado 44-22 on shots, Damen Baxter saved 42 of the 44 shots he faced. In the last series I mentioned that the Anchorage power play didnt have a goal and they instantly started scoring, so I'm going to try it again. The Anchorage power play hasn't scored a goal this series (on an admittedly limited number of chances, I think we've had 2 through 3 games)

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Colorado Avalanche 1
In the last game Anchorage dominated the shooting, this game they dominated the goals instead. Jordan Gavin started the scoring for Anchorage 5:56 into the first, but the first period ended tied when Colorado's Ethan Fines scored a power play goal with 3 seconds to go. Weston Knox put Anchorage ahead after 51 seconds of the second, Jakob Karlsson (the backup in to replace Vasili Podkolzin) made it 3-1 after 3:31, Jordan Gavin made it 4-1 after 7:34 and it's 4-1 at the end of the second. Into the third Kaden Pitre made it 5-1 with a power play goal after 2:15 (calling out the power play worked again), Tomas Lavoie made it 6-1 with three minutes to go and it was game over other than Henry Mews fighting Gabriel L'Etoile late on. I'm sure there's a button somewhere to tell players not to fight, Henry Mews is too precious to the team to have him hurting his knuckles. Back to Anchorage 3-1 up and only needing one win to clinch a Stanley Cup place.

Game 5 - Colorado Avalanche 2 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
The good people of Anchorage are so excited by the prospect of a Stanley Cup team that they very nearly sell out the stadium. Not quite, but within a few hundred. Maybe a thousand. Colorado take an early lead with a power play goal from Gabriel L'Etoile (Nicholas Moldenhauer with a tripping penalty, he was signed to be a backup, the 5th center and he's playing like he should be our backup, 5th center). Emil Hemming brings Anchorage back even after 16:25 and Jakob Karlsson (still in for the injured Vasili Podkolzin) gives Anchorage the lead after 18:08 of the first. Midway through the second period Colorado get another power play goal, this one from Philippe Veilleux (he's from Quebec, the name gives it away). Colorado have been getting a lot of power plays, it's all that's keeping them in it, this one is for too many men on the ice. Probably that Moldenhauer jumping early. No scoring in the third and we're off to overtime and just a sudden death goal away from the Stanley Cup final. Anchorage take over in overtime, out shoot them 13-4 in almost 13 minutes play and Lucas Karmiris scores after 12:52, assists from Gavin and Hemming. Anchorage are off to the Stanley Cup Final.

It will be Anchorage against Columbus in the Stanley Cup Final, the Blue Jackets fought back from 0-2 down to take a 3-2 series lead over Ottawa, it went to 3-3 and Columbus won game 7 4-0 on the road to clinch the Eastern Conference championship. I'm not sure how home advantage is decided in the Stanley Cup Final, but we had more regular season points (108 to 107) so hopefully that's how it's decided.

Well I wasn't expecting this.

[Travis]

YOU CAN'T STOP THE UPDATES THERE!!!

Good luck in the finals!

[Critch]

Sorry for the delay, I got distracted. I bought Sapiens on Steam and that was my exciting Friday night taken care of. Plus I put my glasses down and couldn't find them.

2032/33 Stanley Cup Finals - Columbus Blue Jackets
I'm kind of surprised by this. I thought we'd settled into a "good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to challenge when we get there" cycle that would carry on til 26/27 year old core (Gavin, Mews, Vuollet, Hemming, Karmiris) started going downhill in 3 or 4 years, then we'd fall back to a square one rebuild, so a Stanley Cup Final is a nice surprise.

Columbus have only missed the playoffs one year of the dynasty but this is their first Stanley Cup final. They have a lot of good young players (not sure how they've managed that on low draft picks every year) 26yo center Lev Medvedev (5.0 stars), 29yo center Logan Cooley (4.5), a top young netminder in 22 year old Shane Fleming. They've also got an old guard too, 35 year old LW Patrik Laine and 35 year old LD Zach Werenski. Werenski has played his whole career with Columbus, started as a 19 year old in 2016/17 and fast approaching 1300 games for them.

Anchorage played them twice this year, split the series, a 7-2 win in Columbus and a 4-3 loss at home.

Game 1 - Columbus Blue Jackets 6 Anchorage Huskies 3
Vasili Podzolkin is able to play, but he's not 100% and Jakob Karlsson has been doing well in his absence so we go with Karlsson again. Decision pays off in the first and Karlsson sets up Oskar Vuollet for the first goal, it's 1-0 after the first. The second period doesn't go well, it's balanced but Columbus take their chances while Anchorage miss. Medvedev, Fevry and Laine score and it's 3-1 to Columbus after the second. Lucas Karmiris scores to get it back to a 1 goal lead, Columbus score straight away. Urho Matilla scores to get it back to a 1 goal game, Columbus score straight away. Logan Cooley adds a late empty net goal to finish it off and we're 1-0 down in the series. Not a good evening for the Anchorage 2nd defense pairing, Easten Turko ends at -5 and Tomas Lavoie at -4.

Game 2 - Columbus Blue Jackets 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
It's time for Vasili Podzolkin to come in, he's had a good season and he's team captain, it's time for him to shine. He's in for 4.5 minutes before he's back out again, a 5 minute fighting major and a 10 minute misconduct. I've read that one of the main points of fighting in hockey is to fire up your teammates, the sight of their captain, who had zero fights and a total of 25 penalty minutes in 82 games, going in swinging at a 6'4'' 225lbs Columbus defenseman Paul Meyer certainly fired the team up because Anchorage were 1-0 up before the 5 minute penalty expired. Jordan Gavin giving us the lead with his 9th goal of the playoffs. The second period started with Anchorage on the power play, a tripping penalty, and it was 2-0. Henry Mews with the power play goal. At 8:46 it's 3-0, an Oskar Vuollet goal. At 13:05 it's 4-0, an Oskar Vuollet goal again. At the end of the second Columbus pull one back, the third slides by with no more scoring and the series is tied at 1-1. A great night for Anchorage goalie Evan Maillet, he saved 39 of the 40 shots he faced.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Columbus Blue Jackets 2
The series moves to Columbus and Anchorage outplays them. Despite being out shot 14-5, Columbus end the first period in the lead, 1-0 with a Cooper Pierson goal at 7:33. The second period is similar, Anchorage out shoot them 13-9, but this time they outscore them too. Mattila ties the game up at 5:32, Cooper Pierson gives Columbus the lead again, then Kaden Pitre ties it up again at 10.54. The Pitre goal has an assist from Jorgen Palm, only his second point in the 17 playoff games he's played. Might save his starting place for another game. Jordan Gavin gives the Huskies the lead at 16:26, Vasili Podkolzin with a secondary assist, a fight and an assist 66% of the way to a Gordie Howe hat-trick for the mild-mannered Russian. Jordan Gavin makes it 4-2 in the third, Kaden Pitre adds an empty net goal at the death and we're 2-1 up in the series.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Columbus Blue Jackets 4
And here come the injuries. Lucas Karmiris will be missing this game, a puck to the head and he'll be out for a few days with an ear injury. Longer term is rookie Jeff Martin, he has an elbow injury that'll keep him out til next season. A bit of shuffling around, Jakob Karlsson is back in the lineup along with rookie Tyler Walton on the 4th line. Columbus rush out to a lead, it's 2-0 after the first period, goals from Riley Steen and Chaz Lucius (he's a real player, there are some youngsters with great names in the NHL, Chaz Lucius, Red Savage, Rutger McGroarty, Cutter Gauthier, like a gang of baddies in a western). Anchorage storm back and dominate in the second period though, Jackson Gillespie gets his first goal of the playoffs, Jordan Gavin gets another, Emil Hemming another another and it's all tied up (Columbus went 3-1 between the Gillespie and Gavin goals). The third period is all about scoring defensemen, LD Weston Knox gives Anchorage the lead, Columbus LD Jake Boulanger ties it up at 4-4. At 13:35 Henry Mews takes a high sticking penalty and Columbus go on the power play. But it's time for a goal to change the direction of the game, probably the series and maybe even history itself. Tomas Lavoie (another defenseman) scores a short handed knife-to-the-heart-like goal and Anchorage are 5-4 up. We hang on despite another Columbus power play, and Anchorage are one game from the championship. Star man was Vasili Podkolzin, no goals but three assists. Maybe I should overpay him.

Game 5 - Columbus Blue Jackets 4 Anchorage Huskies 1
Still no Lucas Karmiris, so we go with the same cobbled together lines. Easten Turko gives Anchorage the lead 13:50 into the first, but Columbus aren't going down easy. Patrik Laine scores in the first to tie it up, Paul Mayer gives them the lead in the second, then Javon Moore and Chaz Lucius add two more in the third and it's all over. It's back to Columbus for game six, and hopefully a return for Karmiris.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Columbus Blue Jackets 4
Karmiris is back, he's not 100% still from his ear injury but we need him. Who needs ears anyway, other than people who wear glasses. Things start well, Anchorage lead after the first thanks to a Podkolzin goal but Columbus comeback with two in the second. Medvedev with his 13th goal of the playoffs, Logan Cooley with his 6th and we're losing. Riley Steen makes it 3-1 Columbus at the start of the third. David Prudek gets us back into it as 3-2 in the 13th minute but that's the end of it and Lev Medvedev adds another late on and it's all over. Piss and thunder, it's back Anchorage for a damned game seven. This isn't going to end well.

Game 7 - Columbus Blue Jackets 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
Every defeat needs a scapegoat, so Tyler Walton gets the blame and he's out the lineup, he's just a useless child. Jakob Karlsson is back in. Within the first minute, Columbus are on a power play. Weston Knox taking a penalty and Anchorage killing the penalty is a theme for the game. 9:56 it's time for another Weston Knox penalty and another successful penalty kill. Late in the first period it's even strength and Anchorage take the lead through Urho Mattila. The first period ends 1-0. Sixteen minutes into the second period and it's 2-0, Urho Mattila again. Three minutes later Columbus are back into it though, Javon Moore with a goal with an assist for former-Husky Yan Kuznetsov. I brought him into the NHL from the Russian league and this is the thanks I get. Into the third period with Anchorage 2-1 up, but 15 seconds in it's Weston Knox time again. This time it's a five minute major for boarding (and probably a suspension to follow). Killing the five minute major is the turning point, back to even strength with the 2-1 lead intact and Henry Mews makes if 3-1. There's still time for another penalty, Kaden Pitre cross-checking puts Columbus back on the power play. It doesn't last long though, Patrik Laine tripping 9 seconds into their power play and it's 4-on-4. 9 seconds later again Jordan Gavin scores to put Anchorage 4-1 up. They think it's all over, it is now. Anchorage win the Stanley Cup.

After the game we get the update that Weston Knox is indeed suspended for his boarding, he'll miss the first two games of next season, and Lucas Karmiriis is injured again, he'll be out for 3 months with tendon damage in his heel. I don't think this is from the risk of playing him at less than 100%, I'm not sure how an ear injury can become a heel tendon tear.

Well that's a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping we'd lose game 7 to give something to play for next year.

[Travis]

Congrats on the Cup! Now can you be one of the few to repeat?

[Critch]

Congrats on the Cup! Now can you be one of the few to repeat?

Yeah, they'll be back to defend. Not loading up OOTP and seeing if the expansion Anchorage Moose can win the World Series quite yet.

Not holding out much hope of a repeat, I think this year was a bit of a fluke.

One small issue is that I had two crash-to-desktops in the playoffs, one of which meant I had to rerun Game 7 of the first round. Luckily Anchorage won it twice, the original was a lot more dramatic than the 7-1 rerun. Hopefully that's not a sign something has gone wrong with the file.

[Critch]

https://i.imgur.com/TiHBd34.png

Pics or it didn't happen.

FHM didn't have a preset logo that looked like a husky so I went as close as they had as a placeholder til I found a husky one, but now I quite like it. It's a jackal.

The game says the three stars are Podkolzin who returned from injury to turn the series, Gavin who's goals made all the difference, and Wall who was the backup goalie and didnt play a minute in any playoff game. One of the three might be seen as a controversial choice.

[Critch]

2032/2033 Playoffs
Normally there's a playoffs section on these Close Season posts detailing what happened after Anchorage were out, but this year we won so no need. I'm sure there was an Anchorage Huskies open top bus tour that left the stadium at 12.00pm, slowly circled Anchorage city center, and got back to the stadium at about 12.15pm.

The awards were doled out, Connor McDavid seems to finally be too old to win everything, he's 35 now and is still churning along at way over a point per game pace (47 points in 37 games last season) but is missing a lot of games through injury (nearly 100 games missed over the last two seasons). Now it's Connor Bedard (Vancouver) or Shane Wright (Seattle) who win the Hart Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (Most points). This year it's Shane Wright who wins both.

Anchorage Huskies win their first ever award, Henry Mews with the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP), 7 goals and 12 assists and a Plus/Minus of +17 in 24 games. Jordan Gavin (13 goals, 10 assists and +14) would have been my choice, but fair enough. Nothing for me for Exec of the Year or Coach of the Year. Robbed.

I also forgot to mention the All-Star game for the last few years, it used to happen every year with no Anchorage players involved until 3 years ago. Sebastian Cossa was chosen in 2031 and 2032, our only invite. This year G Evan Maillet, D Henry Mews and C Jordan Gavin were all chosen. We've finally made it to all-star respectability.

Free Agency
The original plan was to let Vasili Podkolzin walk as a UFA. He wanted 9+mil per year for 3 years, but he's 32 years old and on the downward slide. We won the Stanley Cup though, and he's team captain so we couldnt let him walk, we've got all those photographs of him lifting the cup all over the stadium and press packs. Luckily his salary request got more reasonable so he's back. $6.5 mil per year for 3 years. He's overpaid, he'll be bottom 6 soon enough, but he's team captain. He had to come back. He used to be a sniper, buzzing about and scoring, but now he's slowed down so he's a power forward using his size and strength instead of speed and acceleration.

Out went Tomas Lavoie, he's been a quietly effective defenseman for 6 seasons, but the last two have been injury plagued (missed over 50 regular season games in each season) so he went to free agency and was quickly snapped up by Calgary Flames. Also out went Prokhor Poltapov (he was looking for 6mil per year, way too much), Aleksandr Yeremey (could only play RW and we have too many RW) and Brandon Svoboda (bad back injury has ended his days as an NHL level player), the three of them are still without a team.

Coming in are a few rookies, Anchorage draft picks from the last few years. RW Peter Hrovatin (2030 1st round, 7th overall) comes in from the Swedish leagues, he's outspoken but cant speak English, I'm not sure what an angry man shouting in Slovenian will do to team morale. RW August Pettersson (2031 2nd round, 68th overall), he's Swedish and 20 years old, he's been in the Canadian juniors for a while so he does speak English, 73 points in 53 games for Saskatoon last year, hopefully he can step up. LD Owen Conrad, he was picked in the 4th round 2027, so he's old for a rookie, 26 years old. Anchorage have tried to call him up before, but he's been in the KHL (Russian League) and too expensive to buy out his contract for a borderline player. A couple of years playing for the Chinese KHL team Kunlun Red Star then a few years for Amur Khabarovsk and now into the NHL. He'll probably be 3rd pair or 7th defenseman, he's fully developed but not very good.

Finally the replacement for Tomas Lavoie, Jiri Mendl returns. He was at Anchorage for one season before moving onto CSKA Moscow for a year. He's back now and will fit into the big gap Tomas Lavoie left. He's a fairly good lower pair defenseman, but looking back through the draft logs he was picked 1st overall the year that Jordan Gavin was picked 4th by us. A rare 1st pick who didnt become a top player.

Rookie Draft
No picks for us until last pick in the 1st round, the slight downside of being the champions. We get C Enzo Landrey, he'll be stating in the Canadian Juniors for a few years. It's a strong draft, the top two picks look like future all stars. First pick LD Nicholas Bracken goes to the Islanders, and second pick G King Coker goes to Minnesota. King Coker is a great name.

The only other action of the off-season is that the Anchorage arena is listed as Poor so in the Annual Budget I set aside $36 million to improve the arena, spend the Stanley Cup Windfall on improvements. When I advance to the next month the arena has improved to "Average" but it cost $112.5mil. I'm not sure if that's a bug or a fair simulation of how much builders go over budget. Anyway, the finances are hosed for a while.

[Critch]

2033/34 Regular Season

Lines
Forwards
1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (4.5), C Jordan Gavin (5.0), RW Emil Hemming (3.5) - It's the way we ended last season, Podkolzin dropping down to the second line for Emil Hemming
2nd Line - LW Urho Mattila (3.5), C Oskar Vuollet (3.5), RW Vasili Podkolzin (3.0) - Vuollet and Mattila are the quiet stars of the team, both underpaid really. Then there's Podkolzin who's past his best and overpaid.
3rd Line - LW Jeff Martin (3.0), C Kaden Pitre (3.0), RW Jorgen Palm (2.5) - Jeff Martin may be the rookie hope for the future (although worryingly the Anchorage scouts dont like him as much as the national concencus) but he's a hitty boy so he's on the third line. Podkolzin re-signing got in the way of his ascension to a top 6 forward. Pitre and Palm have been staples on the third line for a couple of years, but they're both on expiring contracts and looking to be paid in the summer.
4th Line - LW David Prudek (2.5), C Nicholas Mouldenhauer (2.5), RW Peter Hrovatin (3.0) or August Pettersson (3.0) - Prudek moves to his prefered left wing, Mouldenhauer could be replaced at any moment if I had anybody, and right wing is two rookies splitting time waiting to take Jorgen Palm's place when he realizes he's not getting a new contract in the summer.

Defense
1st Pair - LD Weston Knox (3.0) RD Henry Mews (4.0) - our set top line.
2nd Pair - LD Easten Turko (2.5), RD Jiri Mendl (3.0) - Turko gets a chance to step up to more minutes on the second line, Mendl returns from a year in Moscow and has never lived up to his reputation. If things go wrong, it'll be because of this pair.
3rd Pair - LD Matthew Paranych (2.5), RD Jackson Gillespie (2.5) - The leftovers. I'm not sure how, but Gillespie always churns out a solid +/- and a high assists/60 mins.

Netminders
Evan Maillet (3.0), Lucas Wall (4.0) - They're both seriously underpaid on 750k each, Maillet expires after this season and Wall after next. My cunning plan is to leave Maillet as starter this season, let him walk in the summer and then offer Wall an extension in the hope that he will sign for cheap because he's never been a regular starter. He may have better ratings but he's only 21 and Maillet always performs at least as well. Money is going to be tight next offseason (Gavin, Karmiris, Pitre, Matilla, Knox all expiring and looking for payrises), so we need Wall to sign on the cheap, Maillet is already looking for 6mil per year so he's priced himself out.

Preseason
Preseason ends with a 4-3 record and with a couple of moves. RW Jakob Karlsson goes to Boston for a low prospect, and C Dylan Nolan is picked up from Buffalo to challenge Nicholas Mouldenhauer for the 4th Center spot. Spoiler, he doesnt, he's even worse. Karlsson went because we're overloaded with RW, I'm not sure if it's realistic with real world hockey, but our RW seem to be less adaptable than other forwards. Most Left Wing can play Right Wing too, most Centers can play left and/or right wing, Right wing can play Right Wing and nothing else, so he's not a good adaptable backup that can fit in where needed, so he's surplus.

Regular Season
For the regular season itself, it's a weird one. Anchorage start slowly, a quarter of the way through the season they're in 8th place in the 9 team division and have a losing record. The only good thing is nobody is dominating, nobody is getting too far ahead of us. It's parity gone mad, everybody hanging close to each other except for the terrible Anaheim Ducks falling away in last place. It's not until the end of December that Anchorage finally break into the top half of the division and in the playoff hunt, but with nobody dominating 'in the playoff hunt' means 'not far off the top of the division'. A solid run messed up a little by injuries (a run on left wingers means we play a few games with a defenseman in left wing) and Anchorage are safely tucked into the playoff positions and challenging Calgary for the Division. Coming into the last two weeks, Anchorage are top of the division by 3 points and seem to have it all locked up, but they lose 5 games in a row to finish the season (not helped by Henry Mews being out injured) and drop into 2nd, Calgary clinch it. It was strange, it didnt feel as dominant as last season but still ended with over 100 points for the 4th season in a row, 49-30-3 for 101 points.

Jordan Gavin was, as usual, the star. 35 goals, 40 assists for 71 points, a little off last year's pace but still team leader. Kaden Pitre showed he wanted a new contract by scoring 30 from the third line, the first Anchorage player other than Gavin to make 30 in a season. It's the usual core from then on, Emil Hemming with 43 points, Lucas Karmiris with 50, Oskar Vuollet with 40, Henry Mews with 38 despite missing 22 games. New names carrying the team are Jeff Martin (bounced around all over the lineup to cover injuries but still managed 12 goals, 31 assists in 81 game, plus lead the team in hits) and David Prudek (40 points as a bottom 6 forward).

Vasili Podkolzin took his 6.5 mil salary and got down to the business of retiring on ice, he's dropped off massively and only managed 6 goals all season. The only season nearly as bad was Jorgen Palm, and that wasnt his fault. He missed almost all of it with a fractured skull, he'll be missing the playoffs too.

For the Pacific Division, Calgary won with 103 points, Anchorage 2nd with 101, Seattle 3rd with 100. Both the wildcard will come from the Pacific too, Edmonton and Vancouver both with 96 points. Bad news for San Jose, their 95 points was only good enough for 6th place and no playoffs. LA Kings fell off a cliff and went from champs to 8th.

Elsewhere Nashville got 114 points to win the Central division and the President's Trophy too. They'll be joined by Chicago Blackhawks (first playoffs of the dynasty) and Atlanta. In the East the division winners were Toronto and it's finally the return of the post-Ovi Washington Capitals. Yay!

First round of the playoffs, Anchorage will have home advantage against Seattle. The defense of the championship is still alive.

[Critch]

2033/34 Playoffs Round 1 - Seattle Kraken
A few years ago Seattle swept us in the first round of the playoffs, so anything other than being swept is an improvement. One thing with the divisional playoffs is that we see the same teams a lot in the first two rounds

Game 1 - Seattle Kraken 2 Anchorage Huskies 4
Well it's better than last time already. The game is tied at 0-0 after 15 minutes of the first period, it's 2-0 Anchorage a minute later. Kaden Pitre with the first, Henry Mews with the second both with primary assists from Vasili Podkolzin, rumors of his demise were premature. It's 3-0 in the second with a goal from Oskar Vuollet, this time with no Podkolzin involvement. Two goals in a minute from Seattle late in the second period, one of them from their star player Shane Wright, and the game is back in the balance. Anchorage hang on though, Kaden Pitre adds a late empty net goal and we're 1-0 up in the series. Seattle outshot Anchorage 31-21, but Evan Maillet saved 29 of the 31 he faced to get the win.

Game 2 - Seattle Kraken 2 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
Two periods go by scoreless, Anchorage outshot them 16-4 in the first and 14-7 in the second so well in control despite the lack of a breakthrough. The breakthrough finally comes at 4:16 of the third, Henry Mews with an unassisted goal. That lead doesn't last though, Seattle tie it up within a minute (Kyril Baranok at 4:59) and then take the lead (Luka Misa 9:47). Seattle are heading for an undeserved win but Jordan Gavin ties it up with a late goal and we're off to overtime. Overtime doesn't last long, Lucas Karmiris scores after 71 seconds to send the fans home happy. Off to Seattle with a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Seattle Kraken 0
Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Urho Matilla makes it 1-0 in the first, Peter Hrovatin and Weston Knox make it 3-0 after the second, and the win is in the back. Goalie Evan Maillet saves all 20 shots he faced for a shutout and we're 3-0 up in the series.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Seattle Kraken 1
Same again and it's a first ever Anchorage sweep, Seattle swept Anchorage in the 2030/31 playoffs so time to return the favor. Rick Claycomb puts Anchorage up in the first, he's the 4th line center who replaced the guy who replaced Moldenhauer. He's a UFA after this season so a half season rental. Jordan Gavin makes it 2-0 at the end of the first and it's one foot in the second round. There's only one goal in the second, Matty Beniers pulls Seattle back into the game, but that's as close as they get and Urho Mattila adds a late empty net goal and round one safely navigated. I need to find some way of fitting a new contract for Urho Mattila into the budget.

So off to the second round, it'll be Calgary next up, they got past Edmonton in seven games. It's Nashville v Chicago for the Central. In the East it's Quebec against Montreal and Washington against NY Rangers. Washington got past Pittsburgh in the first round.

[Critch]

2033/34 Playoffs Round 2 - Calgary Flames
Time to get reacquainted with former long time (in Huskies sense) Huskies defenseman Tomas Lavoie, he's had a good season since signing as a UFA with Calgary. They've also got an Alexandre Lavoie, don't know if he's a relation of Tomas plus the star man, 26 year old LW Jakub Moravec. He's on the last year of a 3.8mil per year contract but he's signed an extension for 11.4 per year. A sign of how quickly his star has risen. They also have RW Nathan Lecompte, 79 points in 76 games this season.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Calgary Flames 6
Not a good start, Calgary jump out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. It's 5-0 in the middle of the second before Weston Knox pulls one back for "the good guys". Calgary add a 6th in the third period and it's an easy win. Despite the lopsided scoreline the shots were close, Calgary outshot Anchorage 31-29, not a good day for Evan Maillet in goal for Anchorage.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Calgary Flames 3 Overtime
Calgary take the lead in the first from Louis-Francois Belanger, he scored a few goals for Calgary in the playoffs when we played them in 2031/23, I thought I recognized the name. Kaden Pitre (with an extension to stay with Anchorage for the next 3 years freshly signed) tied it up and we're all square at the end of the first. Alexandre Lavoie made it 2-1 Calgary with an assist from the traitor Tomas Lavoie, then Calgary star men Moravec and Lecompte combine to make it 3-1, Moravec with the assist Lecompte with the goal. Emil Hemming gets his first of the playoffs at the end of the second period and we go into the third trailing by one. Urho Mattila ties the game up in the third, I still need to find some way to pay him but he's really looking for a big payday. Off to overtime we go. The last time Paul Mayer was mentioned in this dynasty was last year when he was the 6'4'' Columbus Blue Jackets defender that Podkolzin fought to kickstart the Huskies. Now he's a Huskies player and he scores the OT goal to snatch game 2, the big German has redeemed himself.

Game 3 - Calgary Flames 0 Anchorage Huskies 8
Well this time we score early and we score often. First period sees goals from Kaden Pitre (4:37), Jordan Gavin (8:22), Rick Claycomb (18:10), Emil Hemming (18:59) and August Pettersson (19:57) and we're 5-0 up on 8 shots. We go even further ahead in the second, Kaden Pitre again (4:19) and Henry Mews (8:55) and it's 7-0 after two periods. Lucas Karmiris adds one in the third and it's all over. While Anchorage goalie Evan Malliet saved all 20 shots he faced, Calgary pair Leland Griffith and Kim Saarinen combined to concede 8 goals on 19 shots. It's a good day to be a Husky forward.

Game 4 - Calgary Flames 1 Anchorage Huskies 3
Anchorage take command in the series, now only one win away from a return to the Western Conference final. First highlight for the Anchorage fans is when former Husky Tomas Lavoie takes a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first, it doesnt lead to anything though. Jordan Gavin puts the Huskies ahead 13:02 into the first. The second passes uneventfully and we're into the third. Calgary equalize early in the third, Kenneth Hammill at 2:31, but 90 seconds later Anchorage are back into the lead with a goal from Rick Claycomb. Jordan Gavin adds a third as the clock ticks to zero and Anchorage are into a 3-1 lead.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Calgary Flames 4
Early bad news for Anchorage as Jordan Gavin tweaks his back in training and he'll be missing the game. That needs a bit of line shuffling to replace our star center but it works out ok early, Dylan Nolan scores 16:48 into the first period. He'd have been the healthy scratch if Gavin was available. In the second period Kenneth Hamill ties it up for Calgary before Rick Claycomb puts Anchorage back in front. Like Dylan Nolan, Rick Claycomb was brought in to challenge Nicholas Moldenhauer for his place as 4th line center, but now all three are playing. Nicholas Moldenhauer gets a 5 minute penalty for fighting along with Calgary star man Jakub Moravec. We go into the third period 2-1 up, but Colton Roberts equalizes for Calgary and it's all square with 2.5 minutes to go. Anchorage's Paul Mayer, hero of game 2 overtime, gets called for a slashing penalty, Kenneth Hamill puts Calgary 3-2 up after 18:04, then Kenneth Hamill finishes off his hattrick with an empty net goal and we're back to Anchorage still needing another game to end the series.

Game 6 - Calgary Flames 1 Anchorage Huskies 6
Oh-oh, Gavin is still out and now Henry Mews is out too. Mews has a Latissimus Dorsi strain and he'll be gone a week or two, done for this series anyway. It's a big muscle in your back/side, I had to google it. For the second time this series, Anchorage jump all over Calgary early and it's 5-0 after the first. Oskar Vuollet, Lucas Karmiris, Jeff Martin, Rick Claycomb and Lucas Karmiris again and it's game over when it's only just begun. Louis-Francois Belanger pulls one back in the second but Lucas Karmiris completes his hattrick and it's 6-1 going into the third. The third passes without incident and Anchorage are off to back-to-back Conference finals.

In the other series Chicago Blackhawks came back from 3-2 down in the series to beat Nashville, so they're next up. Anchorage will have home advantage. Over in the Eastern Conference it'll be New York Rangers against Quebec Nordiques.

[Critch]

2033/34 Playoffs Western Conference Finals - Chicago Blackhawks
This is Chicago's first playoff appearance since 2019/20, well before the start of the sim. Thanks to years of picking up high picks they've got a strong roster of young players. No real stars, nobody rated 4.5 or 5.0 for current, but loaded with 4.0 star 26 year olds. Unfortunately for them we're getting them at a good time, four of their top players are out for the year, they've done well getting this far with their weakened lineup.

We'll have the home advantage for this round, I'm not really sure why. We both finished 2nd in our division with 101 points.

Game 1 - Chicago Blackhawks 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
Jordan Gavin is back, not quite 100% but worth risking. Still no Henry Mews though. Anchorage get off to a good start, 1-0 up in the first from Urho Mattila. 2:45 into the second period the game slants strongly to Anchorage, Chicago RW Ron Collins gets called for a 5 minute interferance major. Anchorage take advantage of the 5 minutes of 5 on 4 and score two power play goals, Lukas Karmiris after 2:57 then Urho Mattila with his second after 5:54. Later in the second Anchorage have another power play, score another power play goal from Oskar Vuollet and it's 4-0 heading into the third. 19:32 into the third Chicago pull 1 back, too late to make any difference other than to ruin Evan Malliet's shutout.

Game 2 - Chicago Blackhawks 2 Anchorage Huskies 8
Chicago were already short of players with all their injuries, now Ron Collins major that cost them two goals in game one comes back to bite again. He gets a three game suspension and they're down another top player. Anchorage make the advantage pay, they're 4-1 up after the first, Peter Hrovatin, Paul Mayer and two from Emil Hemming and they're half way to a win. Three more goals added in the second, Hrovatin again, Rick Claycomb and Jiri Mendly, and it's 7-1 after two. Weston Knox adds another late on and Sam Rinzel gets another late meaningless consolation goal for Chicago. We're off to Chicago with a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Chicago Blackhawks 2
Still no Henry Mews back, and another problem for Anchorage's defense with Jiri Mendl missing day-to-day with an ankle injury. Chicago take a 1-0 lead in the second from Jamie Bazar, go 2-0 in the third from a Trae Wilke power play goal. Jackson Gillespie scores a power play goal with 6 minutes to go but Anchorage cant get another goal and it's all over. It's a win for the Chicago goaltender, Dylan Silverstein with 26 saves from 27 shots. Chicago back into the series.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Chicago Blackhawks 4
Still no Henry Mews back, still no Jiri Mendl so Anchorage born-and-bred Steve Peters is into the lineup. He's been in the AHL almost all season, only had 4 regular season starts for Anchorage. I'd been using another guy as backup defenseman, John Fireman, but he'd not been very good and Steve Peters didn't let us down in the playoffs last year so he gets the call. Things don't start well, Oliver Moore puts the Blackhawks ahead in the first minute, Rick Claycomb brings Anchorage back level, but Chicago then score 3 goals in 90 seconds (Jacob Kvasnicka (14:16), Ty Wasyluk (14.55), Sam Rinzel (15:46) and we're 4-1 down at the end of the first. Anchorage storm back in the second, Paul Mayer and Jordan Gavin score and it's 3-4 going into the third. Anchorage dominate the shots in the third, Emil Hemming ties the game up at 10:35, Urho Mattila puts Anchorage ahead at 12:35 and that's the end of the scoring, we're 3-1 up in the series. I really need to find a way of paying for Urho Mattila's contract extension.

Game 5 - Chicago Blackhawks 4 Anchorage Huskies 5 Overtime
Still no Mews, still no Mendl, so much for day-to-day. Chicago go 2-0 up in the first, a power play goal from Lukas Fischer then an even strength from Ron Collins freshly back from his 3 game suspension. Ty Wasyluk adds to their lead 6 minutes into the second, another power play goal. The fightback starts though, Jackson Gillespie after 7:54 then Vasili Podkolzin reminds everybody he exists with his first goal of the playoffs. Into the third, Oskar Vuollet ties the game up at 1:22, Chicago go back in front at 5:24 (Colin Fibiger), then Jordan Gavin ties it up again at 9:39. Anchorage have to kill a late power play, but that's an end of the scoring for regulation time, so off we go to overtime. Overtime doesn't last 3 minutes, Kaden Pitre scores after 2:54, Vasili Podkolzin with the assist. He may only have 1 goal, but he's got 8 assists. Great value for his 6.5mil.

So a 4-1 series win and we're off to the Stanley Cup again, back to back appearances. It'll be New York Rangers we're up against, a chance to clinch back-to-back championships. I think we're riding out luck more than dominating.

Hopefully the few day gap before the Stanley Cup starts will give Mews and Mendl a chance to get back to full fitness, we're riding our luck with the backups.

And I need to get Urho Matilla resigned.

[Critch]

2033/34 Stanley Cup Finals - New York Rangers
New York Rangers are similar to the Chicago team we played in the last round, not much playoff action, plenty of years of draft picks to build a roster. They're a couple of years further down the cycle though, they made the playoffs last year and some of their players have developed to be superstars: LW Tyler Van Caeyzeele (5.0 stars, 41 goals this season), C Chase Harrington (4.5 stars, 43 assists in 70 games). They still have D Adam Fox too, their 36 year old captain still rated 4.0. They also have former Husky C Nikita Zozulia, looks like he's just coming back from a long term injury though, he'll be on their 4th line.

Before the start of game 1 there's some bad news for Anchorage when Urho Matilla decides he's not interested in returning to Anchorage when his contract expires. I'd gone with the idea of "just sign him then work out how to get the salaryl to fit next year", but no interest.

Game 1 - New York Rangers 7 Anchorage Huskies 4
No Henry Mews, but Jiri Mendl is close enough he can be risked. And he will be risked, Steve Peters has been a pretty awful replacement. He may have not let us down last year, but he's been out of his depth this. In the first period the NY Rangers stars I mentioned combine for a goal to get them on their way, Tyler Van Caeyzeele scores with an assist from Chase Harrington. 16:16 it's 2-0, New York score on a 5-on-3 power play. Second period gets worse, two NY Rangers goals in the first minute, one of them by former Husky Nikita Zozulia. Kaden Pitre pulls one back but yet another power play for the NY Rangers and it's 5-1 after two. It's not over though, not quite yet, and Anchorage rush back into it with three goals in the first 6 minutes of the third, Oskar Vuollet followed by Peter Hrovatin then Jeff Martin. Game on. Then game off again in 13:50 Jonathan Blais makes it 6-4 then Maxim Masse add an empty net goal.

Game 2 - New York Rangers 2 Anchorage Huskies 1 Overtime
Mews still out, Mendl playing but not 100%, now Lucas Karmiris is playing injured too. No affects early though and Lucas Karmiris (who has signed an extension and will be back next year) puts Anchorage 1-0 up in the first. NY Rangers level in the second period, Reese Hamilton after 6:38 and that's the end of the scoring for regulation time and we go to overtime. Connor Bewick (it seems like in the future all US/Canadian players are called Connor or Dylan. Or Tyler.) scores for the Rags and they're 2-1 up in the series. A good day for the goaltenders, NY Rangers Wilhelm Eriksson saves 33 of 34 shots, Evan Maillet 38 of 40. Goaltender is one place Anchorage should have an advantage, Eriksson isnt very good and their other choice is an Anchorage reject, Ryan Grout. Grout was their main starter in the regular season but no starts in the playoff for the former Juneau Grolar.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 1 New York Rangers 7
From now on we'll just assume Mews is out til he comes back, probably next season. This one goes badly quickly, NY Rangers score twice in the first period, a power play goal to get them underway. Kaden Pitre brings Anchorage back into it briefly in the second period but we're 4-1 down by the end of the second. More injuries to the defense, Weston Knox has a serious knee injury and NY Rangers score three more in the third and they're one game away from a sweep.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 New York Rangers 1
Weston Knox's injury will take a couple of months to recover from, he's got strained knee ligaments, but we get the option to pump him full of pain killers, strap up his knee and shove him on ice anyway so he plays. He's a UFA after this series so the risk of him worsening his injury is a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do drop him to third pairing to minimize his time on ice though, his regular partner is Mews so he's not playing with his regular partner anyway, no chemistry to lose by shaking things up. We're going to take it one game at a time, the lads will give 110% effort and see how it goes. First Period is tense and scoreless although Anchorage outshoot them 12-6. 8:20 into the second period Justin Solovey makes it 1-0 to New York, but 16:39 Jeff Martin ties it up with an unassisted goal. Into the third period and NY Rangers are pushing to wrap up the series, they get a chance with a 5 minute boarding major. Anchorage's Nicholas Mouldenhauer takes the penalty, he'll probably be getting a suspension for it too, but Anchorage kill the five minutes shorthanded and we're still tied at 1-1. Anchorage now have a couple of power plays, but still no scoring. Anchorage finally take the lead with 2 minutes remaining, Jiri Mendl with the goal, and we're heading back to Anchorage still kind of alive. Although Knox made it through the game ok, he's not very good. Apparently knees are important for skating, who knew.

Game 5 - New York Rangers 0 Anchorage Huskies 6
As predicted Nicholas Mouldenhauer gets a suspension for his boarding major in the last game, he'll miss two games so he'll be ok for game seven, if it happens. In more happy Anchorage news, Henry Mews is back. He's a bit banged up but he's ready to play. Mews is back in, but we decide to sit Weston Knox, he's too injured to risk so Matthew Paranych is in to replace him. He's another UFA when this series finishes. There's quite a lot of them in the Anchorage line up. Kaden Pitre start the scoring for Anchorage at 10:46, then Henry Mews shows what we've been missing with two goals in a minute, 18:43 and 19:30. We're 3-0 up after the first period. Urho Matilla scores then Henry Mews finishes off his hattrick on his return make it 5-0 at the end of the second, David Prudek adds another in the third and we're back in the series, 3-2 down and heading to New York. My claim that NY Rangers have weak goaltending finally comes true, Wilhelm Eriksson concedes six goals on 25 shots.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 2 New York Rangers 4
And the comeback is over. Anchorage fly into the game, outshoot New York 15-3 in the first but the previously disparaged NY goaltender Eriksson stops all 15 and New York score on one of their three shots, their super star pairing of Chase Harrington and Tyler Van Caeyzeele teaming up, Harrington with the goal, Van Caeyzeele with the assist. Things swing back to Anchorage in the second, Jiri Mendl makes it 1-1 then Jordan Gavin puts Anchorage ahead at 7:34. It only lasts a minute until Van Caeyzeele and Harrington pair up again, this time it's Van Caeyzeele with the goal. Aging captain Adam Fox gets a secondary assist on this one. It's 2-2 going into the third, but New York's second line strikes, Zach Benson puts them 3-2 up at 9:00. Gavin Brindley scores an empty net goal as time expires and it's 4-2 to the Rangers, the Stanley Cup is heading to New York. The fans cheerfully stream out into the streets to destroy things, as is the tradition.

So the comeback was not to be, back-to-back Stanley Cup finals isnt too bad though even if we lost one.

Anchorage head into the offseason with a rebuild to come. Urho Matilla wont negotiate so he's gone, Weston Knox wants 7mil so he's gone, Paul Mayer wants 9mil so he's gone, Evan Maillet wants 6 mil so he's gone, Matthew Paranych wants 3.5mil so he's gone, Rick Claybomb wants 4mil so he's gone. It's a veritable clear out. A bit of success and everybody wants to be paid like they're a superstar.

At least Jordan Gavin, Kaden Pitre and Lucas Karmiris all re-sign, once I'd got that three their new contracts there wasnt much salary space for the rest. They're the heart of the team, along with Mews and Hemming, we'll be churning them out every year til they crumble.

[Critch]

2033/34 Free Agency
The problem with doing well in the playoffs is that everybody thinks they're integral and deserve to be paid big, so this is a summer for not affording to pay everybody. Jordan Gavin gets his increase, Lucas Karmiris gets his increase, Kaden Pitre gets his increase and there's not a whole lot left to pay the rest. It's time to say goodbye to Paul Mayer, Matthew Paranych, Weston Knox, Urho Mattila, Rick Claycomb and Evan Maillet (plus a few other nobodies), and try to fill the gaps with rookies and retreads. I'm starting to think giving 6.5mil per year to the crumbling husk of team captain Vasili Podkolzin wasnt a great plan.

First issue is our goaltending, last year's starter Evan Maillet is gone so we're down to only one goalie, 22-year old Lucas Wall. Wall has played 28 games in 3 seasons for Anchorage, it's now his time to be full time starter but he still thinks of himself as a backup. It's time to sign him up to a long contract while he still thinks he's a backup. His 750k entry level contract ends at the end of this season, but he re-ups for 1.5mil per year for the next three years. So we're cheap and secure in goal for 4 years, so long as his "vulnerable" injury rating chest and arms doesn't kick in. We get a cheap backup (former Arizona Coyotes backup, current Arizona Coyotes cast off Thomas Kiesewetter) and a cheaper emergency option (former Anchorage prospect Viljar Tveit) and we're good in net.

In defense we lost a few starters (Knox, Mayer and Paranych) so we have spaces, they're all filled with prospects from within. We still have Mews, Gillespie, Turko and Mendl so it's really a bottom pairing we're looking for. Welcome to 4 2.5 star rated youngsters, 20 year old Matt Leader, 23 year old John Fireman, 21 year old Johan Dahlberg and the positively ancient 26 year old Alfred Hansson. They've all been in the Anchorage system for a few years (other than Leader, he came in from Boston on a trade last year), and a few of them will be getting big team jobs this year.

For the forwards we're in a good place. Only Mattila, Claycomb and a couple of backups went, incoming is 2032 no2 overall pick RW Borje Svensson from the Swedish League and RW Jorgen Palm returning from injury. So we're set.

The problem is next summer looks to be the same routine, players needing paid or shipped out.

It's time to do something drastic. One of the players looking for a big increase to re-sign next summer is Emil Hemming, he's got one more year of 7.5mil and he wants 10mil per year to return. He's played 520 games for Anchorage, 102 goals, 202 assists, he's the defensive right winger on our top line. We brought in one top RW prospect this year (Svensson), two last year (Pettersson and Hrovatin) and Palm is returning from injury, do we really need a good but expensive top line right wing? The decision is made when I see Urho Mattila is sitting on free agency and he's now returning calls and saying he'd love to play for his favorite team again for a reasonable 3.6mil per year for 3 years. So Hemming is out, he goes to the Flyers for next to nothing (it seems no matter what you're trying to shift the AI offers a 4th and a terrible prospect or a 6th and a not quite as terrible but still longshot prospect), and Urho Mattila is signed. Unfortunately he's spent the summer getting fat on whatever Finnish people eat (seals and vodka?) and he shows up too unfit to play, but at least he's back where he's supposed to be.

2033/34 Rookie Draft
We have all our own picks, 35th in each round, so anybody half decent will be long gone by the time even our first pick comes around.

For the first time since the dynasty started there's a prospect who would come straight into the NHL as a top player. C Jerry Megna is 18 years old, 4.0 current 5.0 potential rated, and scored 106 points in 60 games for Spokane Chiefs in the Western Hockey League, somebody is getting an instant top 6 center, he's better than Beddard was in the first draft. I dont think I've seen anybody with a better than 2.5 current rating in the draft before. First pick is St Louis and they don't pick him, they go for a 1.0 current 5.0 potential 18 year old Russian defenseman Dmitry Partasov, drafting for needs I guess. Megna goes number 2 to Arizona, he's already listed as their best center so we'll see how he does.

For Anchorage's picks, we go unintentionally multinational. I didn't notice til I looked over them now but we picked 8 players from 8 different countries. First round is a Polish goalie Chwalislaw Janiszewski, then a Canadian Center Spencer Ecclestone in round 2, followed by a Lithuanian, a Dane, a Swiss, a Finn, an American, and a Kazakh.

Nobody who'll be mentioned again for a year or two.

And with that we're back to pre-season games. Doesn't the time fly by? It seems like the Stanley Cup was just yesterday.

[Critch]

2034/35 Lines
Forwards
1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (4.0), C Jordan Gavin (5.0), RW Peter Hrovatin (3.0) - Going by the ratings Hrovatin isnt as good as Hemming, but he's the future. Worryingly Karmiris is 28 but has gone from 4.5 to 4.0 and his injury tendencies list him as vulnerable to leg injury. My little gang of rookies is getting old.
2nd Line - LW Urho Mattila (4.0), C Oskar Vuollet (4.0), RW Jeff Martin (3.5) - Mattila is back but unfit, this will be where he fits in when he gets back in shape, right alongside Vuollet where he belongs. Jeff Martin gets RW on the second line, although he's going to bounce around to cover Left Wing injuries because we don't really have a backup on that side and he's the only versatile right winger we have .
3rd Line - LW David Prudek (3.0), C Kaden Pitre (3.5), RW Jorgen Palm (2.5) - Pridek and Pitre have signed new contracts so will be around three more years, Palm has returned from injury, so the Three P's line is back together, even if one of the P's has changed.
4th Line - LW Vasili Podkolzin (2.5), C Enzo Landrey or Nicholas Mouldenhauer (2.5), RW August Pettersson (3.0) or Borje Svensson (3.0) - Players playing for their place, and proving they deserve to be higher, and the desiccated husk of what used to be Vasili Podkolzin earning 6.5mil for 2 more years.

Defense
1st Pair - LD Jiri Mendl (3.5) RD Henry Mews (4.0) - Weston Knox is gone, he's signed for Nashville on a low salary 1 year deal, so Mendl steps in to take his place. He's top line now, not so much as a 1st pick bust.
2nd Pair - LD Easten Turko (3.5), RD Jackson Gillespie (2.5) - Turko is starting to become a top defenseman, which is a pity because we'll be struggling to pay what he wants next year. Gillespie doesn't have great ratings but he always churns out the stats. Both are FA in the summer (Turko a RFA I think).
3rd Pair - LD Matt Leader (2.5), RD Mark Dollack (2.5) - A pair of 20 year olds, they'll get a chance but with other youngsters ready to take their place. Johan Dahlberg and John Fireman. Alfred Hansson was supposed to be in the mix but he whines about being on a new team and lonely all the time so he gets sent home to Sweden for a year.

Netminders
Lucas Wall (4.5), Thomas Kiesewetter (2.5) - After messing around with a goalie tandem for a while we're back to a starter and a backup. Wall is here for 4 more years on a team friendly contract, so hopefully he stays healthy.

2034/35 Preseason
Preseason ends with a 4-3 record again. I did a lot more messing around with the lines ups than usual, trying out young defensemen and switching the 4th line. Small sample size. Other than that the season will be quicker. I normally have "interrupt when interesting players are waived" but we're right at the salary limit so no point, I cant afford to pick them up anyway. So no constant checking waived players. Zoom zoom.

2034/35 Regular Season
It was a good, but in the end a slightly disappointing season. Anchorage raced out at record breaking pace, they were 10-1-0, then 16-3-0, then 19-5-0 and running away with the division. By the midway point it was 30-10-1, on pace for 120+ points. They were 14 points clear in the division and 5 points clear in the President's Trophy, even injuries didn't slow us down. The midpoint was where it switched, we lost the next 7 in a row. Not sure what happened, nothing obvious, no injuries, no harmony problems, just couldn't buy a win. Over the few weeks after midpoint we'd go from 30-10-1 to 33-20-1, gone from 14 points clear in the division to tied with Calgary (who must've been on a run themselves to catch up) and dropped out of President's trophy contention. We also went from 20+ points ahead of 9th place to 12 points clear. Yeah, missing the playoffs never really got too close.

During the bad run I decided it was down to having too many young defensemen, with injuries we were regularly starting with 3 rookie defensemen, so I came up with a masterplan. Rookie C Enzo Landrey had made 4th center his own, so Nicholas Mouldenhauer became expendable. If I traded him away I could then watch the waivers and pick up a cheap experienced defenseman with the salary saved and fit him in with the rookies. That plan didn't work out though, the moment I traded Mouldenhauer away (to the Flyers), top Center Jordan Gavin got injured and we'd just traded away our backup center. So my waiver watching became for a center instead, we had to roll with the young guys in defense. In came C Ralph McKeamish on waivers from Detroit, he could play all three forward positions so the perfect adaptable backup. He lasted 1 game before getting injured too. For most of the run in we were short of centers, we ended the season with Defenseman Henry Mews playing center since we had more backup rookie defensemen than you could shake a stick at.

We ended on 107 points (53-28-1), just short of our 109 record. 61 points in the first half of the season, 46 in the second. Outside the 3-10 period, even the second half was good. We won the Pacific Division, 3 points ahead of Calgary on 104 points, Anaheim on 98, Seattle on 91 and Vancouver on 88 (which was enough for the second wildcard spot). Central Division was Atlanta on 115 (President's Trophy winners), Chicago on 103 and St Louis on 101.

Atlanta are top seeds, we're second so we get the first Wild Card team, so it's Seattle again.

We were division winners and in the playoffs, but we should have been record breakers.

Stand out player stats were Urho Mattila who got the most points (71 in 79 games) despite being unfit for the first month after returning from his sabbatical. Oskar Vuollet led the team in goals, 31 in 81 games, the highest total in Anchorage's history by a player not named Jordan Gavin. Jordan Gavin had 25 goals and 35 assists, but he missed 15 games with injury. Lucas Wall had a sv% of.917 and a GAA of 2.61. Goals Saved Above Average of nearly 18 is good though. And the final record breaking stat is Jeff Martin had 113 penalty minutes, destroying Brenden Dillon's Anchorage record of 85. He also had a record breaking 13 fights. Two last year to 13 this year, boy's gone crazy.

[Critch]

A brief interlude before the playoffs.

FHM's Free Agents
One of the complaints about FHM all the way back to FHM1 has been that if you check the free agent market late in the year there'll be some top players who have sat out the year because nobody would pay them what they think they're worth. I'm not sure what the logic is, if two players think they're worth 7mil per year one will sit out the whole season saying "I want 7 mil per year" and the other will sign for a one year low value contract and be ready to reenter free agency the following year. I thought it might be driven by the "demands to be paid what he's worth" in the scout report, but not seeing that.

Early in the dynasty it was a problem that would mainly show up with goaltenders, you'd see a single top goalie sitting demanding 9mil per year late in the season. Sometimes he'd get a deal 2/3 of the way through the season, other times he'd sit out the season. Now it seems to be spreading, if I look at the free agents available now at the end of the regular season there are four 4.0 star players and two 3.5 star players just sitting there. The 4.0 star players are all wanting 8 or 9 million to sign somewhere.

I had read that the issue can be helped by adding a million or two to the salary cap every two years, and I'll be adding 6mil to the salary cap this year (if I remember) to make up for the years I've missed, but I dont think it's the main problem. Montreal are in the playoffs, they have an outlook of "Win it now", but they have $28mil cap space. NY Rangers are current champs, set to "win urgently" but have 18mil cap space. There are a few teams with "win now" and salary cap space available who aren't signing the UFAs.

So it's not a case that players sit in free agency because nobody can afford them. It's more a case that they sit in free agency because they ask for more than they're worth and they never reduce their asking price.

Looking at the list of free agents sitting unsigned rated 3.0 (NHL regular starter) and up, they're almost all North American. There's one Russian but everybody else is Canadian or American. I'm guessing that Euro UFAs are more likely to go off home to their home league, or to the KHL, if they don't get the NHL contract they think they're worth.

Anyway here's what the Anchorage free agents of the last few years have done after leaving:

2032/33
Aleksandr Yeremey - Went back to the KHL, plays for Dinamo Minsk
Ivan Korzhakov - Went to the Russian minor leagues for one year, but now plays in the KHL for Salavat Yulaev
Prokhor Poltapov - Signed for Philadelphia, played there for two seasons and now back in the KHL for Sibir Novosibirsk
Tomas Lavoie - Signed a 3 year contract with Calgary and still there as a regular player
Chris Collishaw - Never made it with Anchorage, third round pick who didnt make it as far as Juneau. Now plays for Savannah in the ECHL, a minor US league. (Sidenote ECHL doesnt stand for anything. It used to be the East Coast Hockey League, but now the league is just called ECHL. I just googled ECHL to see what it was obviously.)
Brandon Svoboda - Injury ended his NHL career, he's in semi-pro hockey now rated a 1.5 star player. A level he's too good for, 89 points in 36 games last season.

2033/34
Dylan Nolan - sitting at home saying "give me 2.5 mil!". Has never been paid more than 800k, hasnt played since leaving Anchorage.
Evan Maillet - He was the starting goalie on a Stanley Cup team last year, sat out for a few months before signing a one season minimum salary deal with Vancouver, he's their starter now and going to the playoffs.
Weston Knox - Same as Maillet, sat out the first half of the season then signed 1 year 750k with Nashville. He'll be back in UFA this summer, Nashville have already announced they wont be offering him a new contract.
Paul Mayer - Same again, sat out then took a 1 year deal to play in the KHL for Kunlun Red Star in Beijing.
Matthew Paranych - Still sitting at home saying he wants 6mil per year for 3 years. Has never earned more than 800k
Rick Claycomb - Still sitting at home saying he wants 5.5mil per year for 3 years. Has never earned more than 1.4mil.

Special Mention - Tarin Smith - he has now sat out three seasons, now wants 3mil per year for 3 years despite his last contract being 1.4mil per year.

So, in conclusion, Free Agency and player demands are a bit crap in the game.

[Critch]

2034/35 Playoffs Round 1 - Seattle Kraken
This is the third time we've played Seattle in the first round of the playoffs, the divisional seedings mean you play a team from your division in the first two rounds almost all the time. They swept us once, we swept them last year.

Seattle's star player is still Shane Wright, 73 points in 78 games now. They have one of the top defensemen in the league too, they picked him second in the draft in 2029, Flynn Brown. Their other top guy LW Filip Arvidsson will be missing the series with concussion. They're another playoff team with a mediocre goalie, Sebastian Gothberg is 2.0 rated and a SV% of .895, and a negative GSAA. According to GSAA/60, he's half a goal worse than average per game. He'll probably shut us out now I've said that. They finished 4th in the Pacific Division.

We go into the playoffs almost injury free, Jeff Martin is out day-to-day but everybody else is 100% and ready to go.

Game 1 - Seattle Kraken 2 Anchorage Huskies 5
We get into an early lead, Jorgen Palm after 5:35 and Jordan Gavin after 17:47 and it's 2-0 after the first period. Seattle get back into it 28 seconds into the second with a Milo Eager goal, but our rookie Borje Svensson puts us back into a two goal lead after 16:51. He's had a tough first season in the NHL, we had two right wing places for our trio of young Euros (Pettersson, Hrovatin, Svensson) and Borje was the one who normally missed out, he's only in today because Jeff Martin is injured. Into the third Jiri Mendl makes it 4-1, Shane Wright pulls one back for Seattle but it's all over. Jordan Gavin adds a late empty net goal. If it's a battle of the goalies, we're going to win. Seattle's Sebastian Gothberg saves 22 of 26 shots (.846), Anchorage's Lucas Wall saves 32 of 34 (.941) in his playoff debut.

Game 2 - Seattle Kraken 2 Anchorage Huskies 1
Jeff Martin is available but not 100% so he's missing again. Maybe I should have shut up about their goalie, he saves 26 of 27 shots to win this one. Seattle go up early with a Fletcher Spurle goal (great name, and an Alaskan. Get him on the watch list). Borje Svensson ties it up in the second, he's liking his brief spell on the second line. Shane Wright wins it for Seattle with a goal 16:27 into the third period. Series all tied up, and it's not going to be a sweep for either team this year.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Seattle Kraken 2 Overtime
Easten Turko is going to miss the rest of the series with a foot injury, if we dont win the series he may be done in Anchorage. He's a FA this summer and we have no cap room. It's their goalie again, this time 30 saves on 31 shots. Matty Beniers (an increasingly rare real player on his real team) makes it 1-0 to Seattle 5:59 into the second, Jordan Gavin ties it up at 6:31 and that's all the regular time scoring. Seattle should have won in regular time but Anchorage liven up in OT, outshoot Seattle 8-1 but Seattle score with the 1. Dallas Vieau gives Seattle the series lead with the sudden death goal.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Seattle Kraken 1
Good injury news before the game. It's not that Turko is unexpectedly back, it's that Seattle star man Shane Wright is out. Oskar Vuollet puts Anchorage 1-0 4:45 into the first period, Kaden Pitre makes it 2 at 2:51 of the second, but Kyril Baranok scores a power play goal to pull Seattle back into it. It's from Jeff Martin carrying on his regular season penalty minute run. Kaden Pitre scores late in the third (19:28) and we're back level in the series.

Game 5 - Seattle Kraken 5 Anchorage Huskies 2
Shane Wright is still out, but they don't need him. Anchorage are actually 2-0 up at the midpoint, Jordan Gavin in the first and Oskar Vuollet in the second, but Seattle rally and it's 2-2 by the end of the second, Luke Misa and Dominic Petr. Fletcher Spurle puts them ahead in the third and Dallas Vieua adds two more, one a late empty net, and we're one game from exit. We have a few young defensemen in with Turko being out, but it's not them that let us down. It's star man Henry Mews with a -4 performance.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Seattle Kraken 2
They've still got no Shane Wright, but they still don't need him. Seattle are one up after 5:36, but Jordan Gavin ties it up with a power play goal after 8:25 in the first period. The second period is scoreless, but Alaskan Fletcher Spurle scores 3:16 into the third and that's the scoring, and Anchorage's season, finished. Their mediocre goalie Sebastian Gothberg over-performs again, 30 saves on 31 shots faced. His Goals Saved Above Average is 0.00 so he wasnt stopping shots he shouldn't have, just being steady and making the saves he should make. And that was enough. Seattle win the series 4 games to 2 and go on to face Anaheim in round 2. Anaheim upset Calgary in the first round.

So we follow up two Stanley Cup finals in a row with a first round exit to a wild card team. It's a funny old game. As some old commentator said about a different sport.

[Critch]

2034/35 Playoffs
It's the return of the annual "here's what happened in the playoffs when Anchorage were out" post. It hasn't been needed for a couple of years, but here it is roaring back.

In the Eastern Conference the top seeds were Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic half and reigning Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers in the Metropolitan half. Both got by the first round, NY Rangers past Boston 4-2, Toronto beat Florida in 7 games. Round two New York Rangers got past Pittsburgh 4-2, but things were not so smooth for Toronto. Toronto crashed out to Montreal Canadiens 4-1, I bet that hurt their simulated fandom, high hopes then out to a rival. So it was New York Rangers trying to get back to the Stanley Cup against Montreal and they managed it 4-3.

In the Western Conference, Seattle dumped out Anchorage 4-2, then Anaheim 4-2. The Western Conference final would be the two Wild Card teams matching up, Seattle v Vancouver. It was Seattle who kept the roll going, 4-1 over Vancouver. New York Rangers v Seattle Kraken in the Stanley Cup final.

When you're on form, you're on form so Seattle started on fire, they went to New York and won the first two games on the road to take a 2-0 lead. And then they lost the next four, so it's New York Rangers with back-to-back championships.

2034/35 Awards
Every year of the dynasty whoever won the Art Ross trophy (Most Points) also won the Hart Trophy (MVP). Not this year though. Gavin Hayes (St Louis Blues) won Most Points with 106 points, Connor Bedard won MVP with a lowly 105 points. New York Rangers goalie Wilhelm Eriksson, who I said wasnt very good in last year's playoffs post, won the Vezina for best goalie. Best Rookie was Jerry Megna, 72 points in 82 games, not bad for a 19 year old.

No awards for Anchorage this year. No change there. I forgot to mention at the time but the All Star game was back to only one Anchorage player. This year it was goalie Lucas Wall.

[Critch]

2034/35 Offseason
The commissioner sat staring at the printed list of unsigned free agents in front of him on his desk. He flicked to the second page and asked, "So all of these free agents sat out the whole season and didn't sign with anyone?"

There was a moment of silence until the assistant commissioner cleared his throat and replied, "Yes sir, that's the problem. It makes the league look bad that big-name players just stayed home for a year. It makes it seem like the league's financials are messed up."

The commissioner furrowed his brow and thought, "What to do? What to do?"

Suddenly, he had a eureka moment. He sat back in his chair, smiling, and announced to the staff milling about his office, "What we have here is a supply and demand problem. We've got too much supply and not enough demand. What we need to do is ensure there's more demand."

He sat back smugly, waiting while his staff looked at each other trying to work out what he meant.

"What we need, ladies and gentlemen, is a good old-fashioned expansion."

And so it was decided: the current 36-team NHL with four divisions of nine teams would become a new 40-team NHL with four divisions of ten teams. The four new teams would need to sign free agents, they'd be on the unsigned free agents like dogs on turnips. Hey presto, issue solved. For a few years anyway.

[Critch]

I held off for a little bit, as there was another patch coming along, but it's out now and there's no mention of unrestricted free agents sitting about unemployed rather than signing for less than they think they're worth, so I'm going with expansion. We'll see if this helps with the issue, but I have my doubts. It'll make a change anyway; nine-team divisions always looked a little strange.

Expansion Teams
Just like the original Anchorage/Quebec/Hartford/Atlanta expansion 11 seasons ago (haven't the years flown by?), this expansion will feature a couple of returning defunct teams. I read an article on The Athletic about how Canada could support a dozen more NHL teams, as Canadians are 11 times more likely to be hockey fans, so it's almost all Canadian teams this time. "Almost all" equals 3 out of 4.

I used up all the recent defunct teams last time, so this time I went further into history.

Pacific Division - California Seals. First, the non-Canadian team. The originals went out of the league in 1976, so they'll mark the 60th anniversary by returning to the league. They're based in Oakland, CA, and have the most garish green jerseys possible.

Central Division - Saskatoon Saskatchewanians. Well, I like the name. Purple and White.

Metropolitan Division - Hamilton Tigers - They went out of the league in the 1920s so even longer for a return. The article I read about Canada needing more NHL teams mentioned Quebec City (already taken care of) and the greater Toronto/Golden Horseshoe area, so here's Hamilton. Black and Yellow.

Atlantic Division - Nova Scotia Admirals - Another Canadian team, an East Coast version of Anchorage. Far away from everybody else, small market. Yellow and Blue.

Cleveland, Kansas City, Portland, Mexico City, Honolulu, and Baltimore all miss out this time. Maybe in ten years' time. Or if I relocate somebody on a whim.

Expansion Draft
The protection lists are set: 10 forwards, 5 defensemen, and 1 goalie protected. So we go into the expansion draft with backup goalie Thomas Kiesewetter, defensemen John Fireman and Steve Peters, and forwards Vasili Podkolzin and Ralph McKeamish unprotected. Somebody taking Vasili Podkolzin and his $6.5 million salary would be ideal; it would allow me to sign some defensemen, but no luck. The only player we lose is the Anchorage-born Steve Peters, who goes to California Seals.

Other ex-Anchorage favorites on the move in the expansion draft are G Sebastian Cossa and D Paul Mayer, who go to California Seals, D Carter Murphy, who goes to Saskatoon, and D Conor Walton, who goes to Nova Scotia. Hamilton thinks they're too good for Anchorage cast-offs, so they splash out on the most expensive free agents they can find, a few 5.0 stars surrounded by nothing much.

Rookie Draft
Let me czech my notes. Yes, we drafted lots of Czechs. 1st round LW Alexander Broda, 2nd round LW Vaclav Pastor, 3rd round LD Ales Sustek. Not intentional, I left the Anchorage head scout to do the draft on his own and he went Czech-crazy.

Free agency and stuff:
There were a lot of contract extensions for current players, so Anchorage was jammed up against the owner's maximum salary before the free agent season even started. There was no money to offer to the other expiring contracts, so D Easten Turko (3.5) and D Jackson Gillespie (2.5) went to free agency, Turko in particular will be missed, he'd become a good defenseman. Since there were still some holes in the roster, especially on defense, we need to clear some salary to free up cash. Jorgen Palm took his 2.7mil to California for LD Carsen Adair on a minimum salary, C Ralph McKeamish went to Saskatoon for a low pick, and we had enough space to sign a bunch of mediocre rookies for backups stored in the AHL, and a backup winger LW/RW Jonas Lambert from Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey.

And we were all set for the new season.

Did expansion help with unsigned free agents?
No.

Jackson Gillespie and Easten Turko left Anchorage, and old Husky Emil Hemming left the Flyers. All good players, they're all sitting unemployed in free agency on regular season opening day. Old Huskies D Tarin Smith has just entered his 4th year of not playing while he holds out for 2.5mil. At one point, Emil Hemming was asking for 2.6mil for 3 years, so I cleared salary to go for him. But when I went back the next day, he had changed to 4.9mil for 3 years.

I've been enjoying the game, but the AI is terrible for free agents and ruins any sense of realism. I've got a feeling that it would be easy to take advantage of the AI and build a super-team if you were playing all-out min-maxing and no house rules. Which I can't be bothered doing.

(p.s. I put this through ChatGPT and asked it to edit spelling and grammar. So that's one AI that pulls it's weight, maybe they could teach it to play FHM.)

[Critch]

2035/36 Regular Season

Well we might have not much depth in defense left, not enough for three good lines anyway, but the in-game pre-season preview says Vegas are favorites for the Stanley Cup with Atlanta and Anchorage the main challengers. It's the first time we've been mentioned as a challenger, last year was our first mention in the preview as among the darkhorses, the first time we'd been mentioned at all. Even when we won the Stanley Cup, the preview didnt mention us as a possible challenger the next year.

The regular season started badly, the first month's schedule was brutal, 15 games in 26 days and 5 sets of back-to-backs. Slow start followed by a rally and Anchorge were top of the table at 8-5-1, nobody else had come out of the gates flying either. A run of 2-8-0 and we were back at the bottom of the table, 9th by the end of November. Trying to get by with two good defensemen (Mews and Mendl), a cheap journeyman (Adair) and a rotation of youngsters (Leader, Dollack, Dahlberg, Fireman) wasnt really working out especially when injuries kicked in. We were near the top for goals for, but near the bottom for goals allowed. The two goalies (Wall and Kiesewetter) were having terrible seasons too, both sub .900 save percentage. I'm not sure how much of that comes from having a poor defense in front of them.

A strong December, January and February and we were clear at the top despite the poor defense, lots of highscoring games. 5-4 or 6-5, come see the Huskies for the thrills. There was a game where I accidentally put two attacking defensemen on the top line and conceded nine too. A 9-6 scoreline, but otherwise things had calmed down and we were heading for the playoffs.

Just before the trade deadline, things went wrong. Jiri Mendl was one of our two good defensemen but he was also "Outspoken". Not sure what he did, but suddenly half the team hated him and the team harmony went from "harmonious" to "open conflict" in a couple of weeks. Results suffered too and suddenly we were back in a pack at the top instead of clear at the top. Mendl's contract was up at the end of the season, he wasn't going to re-sign, so I decided to trade him away at the trade deadline, a playoff chaser would like to have a 4.0 defenseman and would hopefully overpay for him. Washington Capitals sent their first and they had a new defenseman to help them in their ultimately unsuccessful playoff push.

We hobbled along with a weakened defense, thanks to the free agency issues former Husky defenseman Matthew Paranych was available so we spent all our money on bringing him back. He'd been sitting by the phone for a year and a half from when we let him go to UFA. He asked for what he wanted, I said I couldn't afford it and made our best offer, he came back with a demand that was less than the offer he was turning down, I said ok and he'd successfully negotiated down his salary. As I said AI and free agency is screwy at best. Turned out he wasn't much good anyway, 18 months on a sofa hadn't helped his game. But at least he was popular.

The season end came down to a nail-biter, with 1 game to go we were in 1st with 101 points, then LA Kings, Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken all had 100 points. Fourth place in our division wasn't guaranteed a wildcard place, the Central division had two wildcard teams on 100+ points too. So the last game if we won we'd win the division, if we lost it was mathematically possible that we'd miss the playoffs depending on what the other teams did.

We won 4-2 against Atlanta and won the division. A happy ending. In the end both the wild card teams came from the Central Division, so for a change it wont be Seattle this year. This year it'll be Winnipeg Jets.

edit - I also spent the season cursing the game for being unresponsive to my mouse clicks, I'd have to click every button two or three times to get it to work. I now realize that my mouse is broken and the game is blameless for this particular issue.

[Critch]

2035/36 Playoffs
I haven't mentioned the actual lines for a while so here goes.

Lines
Forwards
1st Line - LW Lucas Karmiris (3.5), C Jordan Gavin (5.0), RW Jeff Martin (3.5) - My core of rookies that have been here from the start have peaked and a few of them are starting to slip down the other side of the hill. Lucas Karmiris being the prime example, used to be 4.5 now 3.5. Jordan Gavin is still going strong, led the league in scoring this year with 48 goals, and Jeff Martin is the muscle of the line. Each player is rated for injury tendency on each part of their body, might be durable in one part but vulnerable in others. Jeff Martin is vulnerable from head to toe so he gets more than his fair share of injuries.
2nd Line - LW Urho Mattila (4.0), C Oskar Vuollet (4.0), RW Borje Svensson (3.5) - Some of the original bunch are on the downward slide, Oskar Vuollet is getting better with age. I would have said an all-Scandanavian line, but apparently Finns dont consider themselves Scandanavian I learned that on a quiz show earlier. So an all Nordic line. Borje Svensson is the next generation of Huskies star player.
3rd Line - LW David Prudek (3.5), C Kaden Pitre (3.5), RW August Pettersson (3.5) - Good depth on the forwards, third line is a strength.
4th Line - LW Jonas Lambert (3.0), C Enzo Landry (3.0), RW Peter Hrovatin (3.0) - In one of the very early posts I said the trick was to concentrate on defense, now I have a 4th line that's all 3.0 star rated. Landry was a first round pick (36th), Hrovatin was a first round pick (7th) and Lambert is from Quebec and was playing in the Ligue Nord-Americaine til earlier this season. I guess his name is pronounced Yona Lamberrrr.

Defense
1st Pair - LD Matt Leader (3.0) RD Henry Mews (3.5) - Like Karmiris, Mews has started showing up on the development report with negative changes. My boys are getting old. Leader is 21, so he's the new hope.
2nd Pair - LD Johan Dahlberg (3.0), RD Carsen Adair (2.5) - Dahlberg is 23, 6'6'' and 244lbs and came from the "pick lots of big defensemen in the draft and hope they develop" plan. Adair came in the trade that send Jorgen Palm to California Seals.
3rd Pair - LD Matt Paranych (2.5), RD Mark Dollack (2.5) - Paranych came in late from FA when we had to dump Mendl off for being loathsome, Dollack was another from the "draft big defensemen" plan.

Netminders
Lucas Wall (5.0) Thomas Kiesewetter (2.5) - firmly on the starter and cheap backup plan now. Barring injury, it's Wall all the way in the playoffs.

End of the Regular Season Free Agent Watch
Maybe I'm getting too tied up with Free Agents not signing for anybody, but here goes:
Emil Hemming - Sat out the first couple of months of the season, but got paid. 4.9mil for 2 years with Vancouver.
Jackson Gillespie - Sat out the first four months of the season, but got paid. 5.9mil for 1 year with Buffalo on January 15th. Less than 2 months later they released him. Contracts are guaranteed, he played 22 games before being dumped. Then signed for LA Kings for 1 year 750k in April so he's going to the playoffs with them.
Easten Turko - Spent the whole year as a free agent. Me asking him how much he was looking for once per month seems to have annoyed him, he wont talk to Anchorage anymore.
Tarin Smith - nearly 4 years after his contract expired at Anchorage he's finally signed for a new team. He's getting 25k to play in the Ukrainian second division for one year.
Evan Maillet - Contract expired for Anchorage in June 2034. Signed with Vancouver for 1 year 750k in December 2034. March 2035 Vancouver realize they've got a good goalie so tie him up 3 years/7.1mil per year. All makes enough sense so far. November 2035 Vancouver release him. Later the same day they sign him again for 1 year 750k.
Rick Claycomb - left Anchorage, spent a year without a team, signed for St Louis 3 years at 2.7mil. Currently hasn't been released yet.

I liked this game better when I didn't look at what the AI was doing.

[Critch]

2035/36 Playoffs Round 1 - Winnipeg Jets
A first meeting in the playoffs with Winnipeg Jets. The playoffs are split by division so most years we'll get a team from the Pacific Division, but this year both wild card teams are from the Central so we get the Central Division Winnipeg in the first round. This is their first appearance in the playoffs for a couple of years, althought they've had a good season, they're not loaded with talent.

Game 1 - Winnipeg Jets 1 Anchorage Huskies 7
Only one injury for Anchorage going into the playoffs, 4th line center Enzo Landrey is day-to-day with a going injury, so Miloslav Martin takes his place. He was a waiver pickup from New York Rangers. Anchorage get an early lead, Borje Svensson after 1:10. Rutger McGroarty scores for Winnipeg but Jordan Gavin makes it 2-1 after 16:43 with an unassisted goal. Three more goals in the second period and Anchorage are well in control. Kaden Pitre (0:50), an Urho Mattila powerplay goal (8:15) and Johan Dahlberg (15:50) and Anchorage are in control. Oskar Vuollet starts the third period with a short handed goal, Winnipeg pull their goalie (I'm not commenting on the abilities of opposing goalies anymore) and Borje Svensson scores his second and Anchorage's seventh. An easy win and we're 1-0 up.

Game 2 - Winnipeg Jets 2 Anchorage Huskies 4
Enzo Landrey is back to 100% so back into the lineup. No scoring in the first, Oskar Vuollet gives Anchorage the lead 4:44 into the second. Corban Almen ties it for Winnipeg and it's 1-1 after the second. Jeff Martin puts Anchorage up 28 seconds into the third, but Winnipeg tie it up again after 9:44. 30 seconds later Peter Hrovatin puts Anchorage ahead, Jeff Martin scores with 2 seconds to go and Anchorage win 4-2 and are 2-0 up in the series. Both teams have 32 shots, but Anchorage have the better goalie so win. Tempting fate there.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Winnipeg Jets 0
Winnipeg are starting to see the injuries mount, three starters missing for this series now. Anchorage have no such issues. Lukas Karmiris puts Anchorage into the lead in the first, Carsen Adair 2-0 in the second, then Enzo Landrey, Oskar Vuollet and Lucas Karmiris finish it in the third. Anchorage were well on top, outshot them 50-18, and one win away from round 2.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Winnipeg Jets 1
It's not quite as one-sided as game three, but Anchorage still on top. No scoring in the first before Winnipeg take the lead 15:21 into the second. It doesnt last long though, Jordan Gavin and Borje Svensson score at 16:25 and 19:54 and after two periods Anchorage are 2-1 up. Oskar Vuollet makes it 3-1 after 3:27 of the third and Anchorage have one foot in the next round. Urho Mattila adds an empty net goal and the sweep is complete, we're off to the second round.

It's Calgary Flames in the next round, they got past Los Angeles Kings in seven games. In the other half of the Western Conference it's #1 v #2, Chicago v Atlanta.

And over in the Eastern Conference there'll be no three-peat for the New York Rangers, they got put out by Pittsburgh Penguins. Columbus v Pittsburgh and Hartford v Ottawa in round two.

[Critch]

2035/36 Playoffs Round 2 - Calgary Flames
We played Calgary in the playoffs a couple of years ago and beat them four games to two at this stage on the way to a Stanley Cup Final. Back then, their star was Jakub Moravec. He's still there, but this time he's out injured and won't appear in the playoffs. He's still a couple of months away from recovering from a torn muscle. They do have a top goalie though, Leland Griffith, so I won't be tempted into making any backfiring slanderous comments about their goalie.

Game 1 - Calgary Flames 4 Anchorage Huskies 1
There are no injuries for Anchorage, but it doesn't help. They are outshot 13-5 in the first period, 14-5 in the second, and the game is over before the Huskies wake up. Calgary goes one up in the first with a goal from Patrick McSharry, and Matthew Paranych ties it at one with a shorthanded goal (Anchorage takes a couple of penalties early in the first), making it 1-1 after the first period, despite being heavily outshot. Calgary adds two goals in the second, one with an assist from former Huskies' favorite Tomas Lavoie, and it's 3-1 after two periods. Another Calgary goal in the third period, and the Huskies are off to a bad start. However, there are plenty of games left to play.

Game 2 - Calgary Flames 1 Anchorage Huskies 6
Back to form in game 2. Henry Mews puts Anchorage 1-0 up at 2:55, but Calgary hits back with a power play goal after 5:42. Anchorage is taking a lot of penalties so far this series. Oskar Vuollet puts Anchorage back ahead before the end of the first period. Two more goals in the second period (16:26 - Jordan Gavin, 17:34 - Borje Svensson), and then two more early in the third period (3:27 - Enzo Landrey short-handed goal, 6:15 Kaden Pitre), and it's all over. Leland Griffith is pulled after the 6th goal, but there is no more scoring. The series is now tied, and the Huskies are off to Calgary.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Calgary Flames 6
Well, that didn't go well. Kaden Pitre puts Anchorage ahead in the first period, and it's 1-0 to Anchorage at the intermission. Calgary then rolls off six unanswered goals, four in the second period and two in the third period, and it's all over before Jonas Lambert gets a late consolation goal. Lucas Wall stays in for the whole game despite conceding six goals, so maybe it's time to mess with the "pull goalie" setting.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Calgary Flames 1
This is the only series that's not 3-0 at this point. Hartford, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta all seem to be well on their way to the conference finals. I'm not sure how important it is for a team to have their captain on the ice, but Vasili Podkolzin has had a terrible regular season with just one goal and eight assists in 45 games. Therefore, he's been on the bench all playoffs. It's his time to shine hopefully, and he's in the fourth line. I'm not sure if he made any difference (on ice for 7 minutes, no points, no shots, one hit) but the team plays better. Owen Martin gives Calgary the lead in the first, but Anchorage take over in the second. They outshoot Calgary 16-4, Johan Dahlberg ties the game up, Kaden Pitre scores the go-ahead goal and Anchorage are in the lead after two. Third Period Kaden Pitre adds his second after 9:15, and then completes his hattrick with a power play goal after 15:38. The hats are cleared off the ice (if any Anchorage fans actually made the journey and got tickets) before Enzo Landrey adds another and we're back to Anchorage with the series tied.

Game 5 - Calgary Flames 1, Anchorage Huskies 2
The only series still going, the other three ended in sweeps. The bad news is Henry Mews is out with a day-to-day shoulder injury. We're going with a top defensive pairing of 21-year-old Matt Leader and 22-year-old Mark Dollack. What could go wrong there? Actually, not a whole lot goes wrong. We're defensively sound all night, limiting them to a total of 17 shots despite their having three power plays. Lucas Karmiris (dropped to the third line) puts Anchorage ahead in the first. Nathan Lacompte ties it up for Calgary in the second. Carsen Adair scores the winner after 15:43 of the third, and we're one win away from meeting Atlanta in the Western Conference finals.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 1, Calgary Flames 2
Henry Mews is back, so there's another rearrangement of the defense. So the offense doesn't feel neglected, they get a bit of rearrangement too. Karmiris is back in the top 6. His ratings say "not top six anymore," but his performances say "yes, he is." It starts badly, with Calgary 2-0 up at the end of the first, Benjamin Kindel (with a Tomas Lavoie assist) and Patrick Smith. The second period sees no scoring despite both teams getting power plays. In the third period, Kaden Pitre pulls Anchorage back into it, but there's no more scoring. It was a close game, but their goalie, Leland Griffith, won it for them. And it's back to Anchorage for a game seven.

Game 7 - Calgary Flames 0, Anchorage Huskies 3
Henry Mews might have been rushed back a bit too soon. He's available, but not up to first-pair minutes, so we're back to the Leader/Dollack youth pairing while Mews fits into the third pair. The first period goes by scoreless despite multiple power plays. The games have been getting chippy, chippier than regular playoff series anyway. In the second period, Enzo Landrey puts Anchorage 1-0 up after 4:19. Anchorage gets another power play, and Jordan Gavin scores a PP goal after 8:03. Mark Dollack gets in his first NHL fight with Ridly Greig after 11:06 (it's rated as a tie, well done to our youngster for holding his own against the smaller, much older man), and Urho Mattila puts Anchorage 3-0 up with an unassisted goal with 2 seconds left in the period. It's not the last action of the second period: Jordan Gavin and Owen Martin get matching slashing penalties for hacking away at each other as time. The third period starts 4-on-4, but Anchorage shuts it down. There are only 9 shots total in the third (5 to Calgary, 4 to Anchorage), no scoring, and it's Anchorage off to the conference final.

So it's Anchorage vs. Atlanta in the Western Conference final, Anchorage with home advantage, and Hartford vs. Pittsburgh in the Eastern final. I really need to go get a new battery for my mouse, this missing clicks thing is boiling my piss.

[Critch]

2035/36 Western Conference Final - Atlanta Thrashers
It's Anchorage v Atlanta in the West and Hartford in the East, 3 of the 4 2024 expansion teams. For this year's expansion teams, three of the four finished last in their division (as expansion teams should) while Nova Scotia finished third in the Atlantic division and made the playoffs. They lost in round 1 to Ottawa.

For Atlanta, they've reached the playoffs in six straight seasons now, they've won a couple of Central divisions too, and talent wise are probably the best in the league. Four 5.0 star players LD Louis-Joseph Boutin, C Brandon Gorzynski, RW Rasmus Rinne (second to Gavin in the Rocket Richard Trophy for top goalscorer this year) and RW Braiden Scuderi. They've got a pair of young goalies, a 22 year old and a 23 year old, neither of them particularly good so that's one place Anchorage have the advantage.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Atlanta Thrashers 4
I said in the last post that Anchorage would have home advantage, apparently not. We're #1 in the Pacific and a division winner, they're #2 in the Central but they got more points than Anchorage. So home advantage to Atlanta. Henry Mews is back to 100% for Anchorage, but 2nd line defenseman Johan Dahlberg will be out probably for the whole series. He's got a sports hernia. John Fireman will step into his place. Fireman isnt very good, but neither is Dahlberg. Anchorage dont play well, outshot 35-18, and fall behind 1-0 in the series. Borje Svensson puts Anchorage 1-0 up in the first but Louis-Joseph Boutin ties it up with a power play goal and it's 1-1 at the end of the first. In the second period Atlanta are completely in control, outshoot Anchorage 19-4 and score three times. Beglaryan, Uusitalo and Scuderi. Period three gets Anchorage back into it, a goal from Hrovatin at 7:47 then Urho Mattila at 19:30, we end the game with an empty net and a little bit of 6-on-4 when Atlanta take a late penalty, but no coming back. Atlanta 1-0 up.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Atlanta Thrashers 1
A little bit of shuffling of the lines, 4th line center Enzo Landrey hasnt been playing well so he drops out and RW August Pettersson comes back in with a little line shuffling to make sure everybody is playing a position they can play. It works out, D Carsen Adair scores for Anchorage in the first, Henry Mews in the second and it's 2-0 going into the third. Atlanta get back into it at 4:45, but Jordan Gavin adds a late power play goal and the series is tied at one. But it seems like there are a few injuries too.

Game 3 - Atlanta Thrashers 2 Anchorage Huskies 4
The bad news is top line defenseman Matt Leader is out, short term but not worth risking him in this game. The good news (for Anchorage) is that Atlanta's top defenseman Louis-Joseph Boutin is also out, he's gone for the series. It's a blast from the past in the first, the reanimated corpse of 34 year old Vasili Podkolzin scores after 1:57. He's on the last few weeks of his 6.5mil waste-of-money contract. Atlanta tie it up in the second, Cooper Simpson again, but Jeff Martin (10:38) and Jordan Gavin (13:32) put Anchorage two up. Atlanta cut it to a one goal lead in the third at 7:26, but a late empty net goal froom Jeff Martin and we're 2-1 up ith a home game to come.

Game 4 - Atlanta Thrashers 0 Anchorage Huskies 2
I didnt mention Calder Hamilton in the last game, he was the defense replacement for Matt Leader, he did ok in the third pairing so we'll not be risking Matt Leader again. Anchorage are well on top for most of the game, outshoot Atlanta 13-8 in the first, 15-4 in the second and 13-6 in the third. Atlanta have fallen away since their captain Louis-Joseph Boutin got injured. Jeff Martin puts Anchorage 1-0 up in the first, Urho Mattila makes it 2-0 in the second (a first assist for Vasili Podkolzin) and we're on our way to a 3-1 lead in the series. Back to Atlanta needing one win for a third Stanley Cup final in 4 years.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Atlanta Thrashers 5
It's not over yet. Anchorage lead twice, 1-0 in the first with a Peter Hrovatin goal and 2-1 in the second with a Borje Svensson power play goal (out power play has been a strength this year, 24%, 2nd in the NHL) but Atlanta deserve their win. It's 3-2 Atlanta after two, they add a couple more in the third and it's back to Anchorage for a game six. In the Eastern Conference Pittsburgh are 3-2 up over Hartford.

Game 6 - Atlanta Thrashers 3 Anchorage Huskies 2 overtime
Matt Leader is still not 100% but it's time to risk him, he's into the third pairing with Dollack to try to keep down his icetime a little since he has a knee issue. He shows he's back by putting Anchorage up in the first. Braiden Scuderi brings Atlanta level in the second, I think he's scored in every game so far. Except the one where Atlanta didnt score. So not every game. Rasmus Rinne puts Atlanta ahead 3:58 into the third period but Mark Dollack scores after 12:34 and we're onto over time. 4:04 into overtime Johannes Parviainen scores for Atlanta and it's back to Atlanta for a game seven. I'm not sure I've seen a second overtime period in any game.

Game 7 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Atlanta Thrashers 1
Matt Leader is back to 100% so we go into the game with only D Jonas Dahlberg out. In the first period Borje Svensson scores his seventh of the playoffs, it was late season he moved up to the second line and he's been great since. He also takes a penalty in the first for tripping but the penalty is killed so no harm. Second period at 16:07 John Fireman makes it 2-0 with his first ever play off goal and it's 2-0 after two periods. Third period there are a couple of penalty kills for each team, until Rasmus Rinne scores for Atlanta after 8:42. Atlanta push for their equalizer, they outshoot Anchorage in the third, but Borje Svensson makes it safer at 3-1 after 16:06, Jordan Gavin kills them off with a late empty net goal and Anchorage are going to their third Stanley Cup in 4 seasons. We're a dynasty!

It'll be Pittsburgh Penguins in the Final. We're 13 years in the future so Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have all finally retired.

[Critch]

2035/36 Stanley Cup Finals - Pittsburgh Penguins
Three Stanley Cup Finals in four, the fans in Anchorage have been spoiled because they still don't sell out the arena.

Pittsburgh had a number of years rebuilding but are back now, this is the third year in a row they've made the playoffs. They got themselves the best goaltender in the league last summer, 25 year old Belarusian Anatol Lyantsevich, from San Jose in a blockbuster trade for a bundle of young players (a 4.5 center, a 3.0 defenseman, a 3.0 left wing and a 2nd round pick). He's so good he's broken through the "out of 20" rating system, he's 21 for positioning. That move turned them into a real contender. They also have LW Jett Luchanko who played for Colorado when they were good, and 4 centers rated 3.5 (Michael Jackson (not that one), Sean Doherty, Quinn Kennedy and Lee Shurgot) so they're good through the middle. They have a couple of top defensemen too, on first glance they didn't seem as good as Atlanta but when you look at the goalie too they're going to be tough. They also have ex-Husky Dylan Nolan playing left wing on their 4th line. He left Anchorage, spent a year on vacation then signed for the Penguins last summer.

We played Pittsburgh twice in the regular season, a 5-3 win in Pittsburgh and a 6-1 win in Anchorage. Their good goalie didn't play in either game, we saw their backup G Kyle Dawe both times.

Game 1 - Pittsburgh Penguins 2 Anchorage Huskies 0
Matt Leader is injury free but still struggling for fitness. I may have rushed him back too soon. He'll still be playing though. It's a defensive battle, we outshoot them 24-18 but their previously mentioned top goalie makes the difference, he saves all 24 shots. Pittsburgh top line center Lee Shurgot scores twice late in the first period (17:24 and 19:31) and that's an end to the scoring. Anchorage had a couple of power play chances in the second, but shut out. We've lost the first game of the last two series too, so hopefully that's some kind of omen.

Game 2 - Pittsburgh Penguins 5 Anchorage Huskies 2
Enzo Landrey comes back in as 4th center, it was a waste of Urho Mattila giving him limited minutes as 4th line center so Landrey is back so we can put Mattila back into a top 6 winger place. Doesn't help. Things go badly quickly, Jett Luchanko after 15 seconds and Pittsburgh in the lead. Urho Mattila back as 2nd line left wing scores at 2:27 and it's tied after one. Second period Anchorage take the lead at 3:17 with an August Pettersson goal (the returning Enzo Landrey with the assist), but the game turns at the end of the period. Pittsburgh equalize at 17:33 (Alexander Haggblom) and take the lead with a buzzerbeater right at the end of the period (Lee Shurgot at 20:00). Pittsburgh control the third period, Koehn Ziemmer makes it 4-2 at 12:21 then they add an empty net goal. We're off to Pittsburgh 2-0 down.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 2
Lots of messing about with the lines. Desperate times require desperate measures. A slow start, but it all worked out ok in the end. Just like the last game Jett Luchanko gave Pittsburgh the lead in the first, this time Peter Hrovatin equalized for Anchorage with a power play goal after 10:32 (it was a good night for the Anchorage power play). Jean-Philippe Cloutier makes it 2-1 Pittsburgh after 15 minutes. Into the second and we're tied again, another power play goal for Anchorage. This time it's Jordan Gavin. It's all tied up into the third and just when it looks like overtime, Anchorage strikes for a winner. David Prudek makes it 3-2 at 19:57 in the third. Game over and we're not getting swept, we're back in the series. Anchorage outshot Pittsburgh 37-24, mostly due to a dominating second period. It was their goalie that kept them in it.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 1
The first period is a mass of penalties, a few coincidental. At 6:00 Urho Mattila gets a slashing penalty, some Penguin cheat gets an embellishment too. At 10:32 Enzo Landrey and Garin Ludwig get coincidental crosschecking penalties. Garin Ludwig is out the box 8 seconds before he gets a high sticking penalty, Pittsburgh get another. It's all got a bit testy. In amongst all the 5-on-4 and 4-on-4 play, Carsen Adair puts Anchorage 1-0 up and Jordan Gavin makes it 2-0. Period two calms down, Kaden McGregor scores for Pittsburgh to make it close again. Period three Oskar Vuollet makes it 3-1, no more scoring but some more penalties late on, coincidental slashing penalties aplenty. Series tied and back to Anchorage. We've taken some injuries though.

Game 5 - Pittsburgh Penguins 4 Anchorage Huskies 1
It's time for some oh no! type injuries. Top defenseman Henry Mew has a knee injury and is out for the rest of the series, Urho Mattila has a collarbone injury and is out for the rest of the series. "It could have been worse" said Urho Mattila. No it couldnt Urho. David Prudek makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first, Jett Luchanko ties it up in the second. It's his 15th goal of the playoffs, he'll be playoff MVP if/when the Penguins win. Second period has another round of slashing/high sticking coincidental minors, lots of 4-on-4. The teams are getting sick of each other. Third period is all Penguins, Wes Filmer puts them ahead, Jett Luchanko scores yet another goal from yet another power play, and Lee Shurgot scores an empty net goal. More injuries, the team is beaten up and off to Pittsburgh for a must-win game.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Pittsburgh Penguins 3
Dahlberg and Mews are still out, now Leader is injured too. He's day-to-day, less than 100% but can play with a sore ankle. Three of the top four defensemen are out or playing through injury. Getting my excuses in early. We're too beaten up, Pittsburgh take control. Lucas Fenrich makes it 1-0 to Pittsburgh in the first, Lee Shurgot 2-0 in the second. Vasili Podkolzin rises from the grave to get Anchorage back into it in probably his last game at 5:15 in the third, but Jett Luchanko scores his 17th of the playoffs and it's all over.

And that's it, another Stanley Cup defeat for Anchorage, and Pittsburgh get their first Stanley Cup of the post-Crosby/Malkin/Letang era. If we'd some how got to game seven we'd have been even more beaten up, August Pettersson is out with concussion.

Onto the close season, at least this year the only free agent leaving is Vasili Podkolzin and there are no big price extensions due, so that'll be 6.5 million left over to spend on defensemen. And we'll have a lottery pick in the draft too from sending Jiri Mendl to Washington, not much chance of winning in the lottery, they were 12th worst, but it's a lottery pick. Better than a poke in the eye.

[Critch]

Close Season Wrapup
I think the Anchorage window with the first batch of rookies is coming to an end. For the average player in the game the peak is 26 to 29 then there's a chance of regression. Some hanging on longer than others, mid to late 30s, others crash sooner. The core of the team (Gavin, Vuollet, Mews, Karmiris, Mattila, Pitre) are all hitting that 29/30 zone now and some of them are starting to show up on the monthly development report with negative development, some have already lost a little from their overall star rating (Mews and Karmiris mainly). Out of the group of them, only Gavin and Vuollet have contracts beyond this season and neither of them are regressing yet.

I've tried shopping the other four, they're all asking for big pay raises and/or long contracts to re-sign, but the return on all of them isn't great (the regular 4th round pick + mediocre player offer) so I'll be holding on til the Trade deadline and trying again.

Along with the old guys wanting to get paid, the young guys (Leader, Dollack, Landrey and Svensson) are coming to the end of their entry level contracts so maybe it's time to shed the old core and go more youthful. Maybe keeping Gavin and Vuollet as the top centers and getting younger around them. I think that would still be playoff worthy. Or maybe we keep the band together for one more run at the playoffs. I don't really know yet.

First news of the close season was former Anchorage favorite and more recently salary stealing has-been Vasili Podkolzin came to the end of his 3x6.5mil contract and promptly retired. 1006 NHL games (809 with Anchorage), 226 goals, 343 assists, 1 Stanley Cup. I'm choosing to believe he's now an in-studio analyst for our local TV coverage.

2036/37 Free Agency
We had Podkolzin's salary freed up, and then traded away a couple of others (Matthew Paranych went to NY Rangers for a throwaway player to clear 2.5mil, C Miloslav Martin went to Montreal for a pick) and we had money to burn. First signing was 29 year old Russian defenseman Alexander Filippov. He had 4 years in the NHL at Edmonton but he's been in the Swedish league for the last 3 years so he's a depth addition to a barren defensive roster.

And that was the end of the free agents. We should have had money to spend, but we don't and I don't know why. According to the team finances screen we're over 5mil below the budgeted payroll, well below the league salary cap, but it says Available Money for Free Agents = -2.9mil. So no idea, as it stands we need another defenseman and a backup goalie (we really need a backup goalie, we only have 2 and one of them is a .5 star rated Polish teenager).

I'm not completely sure that claiming players from waivers doesnt bypass the "offer exceeds your budget" check, so I'll be trying that out to fill the gaps if I cant get round the problem.

2036/37 Rookie Draft
Looking through the Anchorage prospect list, it's a wasteland. The last passable prospect (C Spencer Ecclestone 2034 second round pick, 2.5 current 2.5 potential) is in Anchorage now and will be a backup next year and there's nothing left without him, most of them have a potential to one day not really be good enough for AHL. I'd dump most of them but maybe there's a diamond in the rough? Or maybe even a 2.5 star player? I think part of it is I've neglected the scouts. I didn't realize the AI wasn't doing that, the scouting was terrible. So a whole bunch of scouts signed for US, Canada, Western Europe and Eastern Europe and hopefully things get better. I didnt bother with the rest of the world, we might miss out on a 2.0 star Japanese or Algerian outlier but that's a risk I'm prepared to take.

This year's draft was underwhelming, a Finnish winger called Anssi Ridanpaa (2.0/3.0) at 1.12 and a whole bunch of 2.0 potential defensemen. We get mentioned in the draft review email for the first time ever, apparently we had the consensus "worst draft of the year". The increase in scouting is not rewarding us with immediate benefits, it seems.

2036/37 Preseason
We go 6-1 in preseason, I think that's a record. Even the .5 rated Polish goalie Chwalislaw Janiszewski gets a win in his debut, 3-2 against Pittsburgh. Other than that we move on a couple of bit parts to free up salary space and get a cheap backup goalkeeper so the 19 year old Polish goalie can carry on developing in the AHL. The new goalie is Neil Pintaric, he's been at Hartford's AHL team for years. To add to our lack of defensive depth new FA signing Filippov turns up full of borscht and vodka and is too unfit to play.

For free-agent watch, Easten Turko has sat out a whole year but still won't talk to Anchorage. He's gone from being one of the best young defenders in the league to somebody who won't sign anywhere. Tarin Smith signed for the Ukrainian second division last year (he was approaching 4 years without a team), confusingly turned up at Anchorage as a rookie tryout in the close season, and has now signed for a Ukrainian Super League team. At least he's playing for somebody now.

[Critch]

2036/37 Regular Season
An uppy-downy, sometimes win lots in a row, sometimes lose lots in a row kind of season. Lots of injuries, some of them major, lots of players having to play out of position (Lucas Karmiris went from left wing to playing center half the season) but in the end Anchorage ended up with a record number of points (for Anchorage). 82 games played, 54 wins, 24 defeats, 3 loser points for a total of 111 points, previous best was 109. It wasn't enough to win the division though, Seattle Kraken got 118 points, but safely into the playoffs in 2nd place.

The most major of the major injuries was Oskar Vuollet, he broke his kneecap after 12 games and missed almost all the season. He was out 5 months and only just back. Plenty of other injuries too, Jordan Gavin, Henry Mews (who seems to get a lot of niggling short injuries in his old age), Enzo Landrey, a few others. Luckily not G Lucas Wall though because the new backup we signed is really really crap. He got a bit better after a disastrous start but he still ended up with a save percentage of .862 and his goals saved/60 mins meant he was worth almost 1.5 goals to the opponents every game. His name is Neil Pintaric, don't bother remembering it he'll be gone soon.

A lot of young players stepped up and got better, a lot of old players started getting worse (or injured), so this is one last run with the old guys. We're going youth movement next season. A final hurrah for Henry Mews, Lukas Karmiris, Urho Mattila and Kaden Pitre, they're not getting their big pay raise this summer, we made the retirement payday mistake with Podkolzin, not happening with this bunch.

I haven't posted the excel of the Anchorage roster for a while so here it is to pad out an otherwise short Regular Season post:

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Lucas Wall	G	25	CAN	5.0	5.0	2	1,560
Neil Pintaric	G	28	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	1,148
Chwalislaw Janiszewski	G	20	POL	1.5	2.5	3	750
Defensemen
Robin Hansson	LD	27	SWE	3.0	3.0	1	750
Johan Dahlberg	LD	24	SWE	3.0	3.0	3	1,580
Matt Leader	LD	22	USA	3.0	3.0	1	750
John Fireman	LD	25	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	955
Karl Schunemann	LD	23	GER	2.0	2.0	1	750
Henry Mews	RD	31	CAN	3.5	3.5	1	8,510
Alexander Filippov	RD	30	RUS	2.5	2.5	3	2,610
Mark Dollack	RD	23	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	821
Joni-Jukka Timonen	RD	22	FIN	2.0	2.5	2	750
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	30	CAN	5.0	5.0	2	12,410
Oskar Vuollet	C	31	SWE	3.5	3.5	3	7,970
Enzo Landrey	C	21	CAN	3.5	4.0	1	834
Kaden Pitre	C	31	CAN	3.0	3.0	1	6,330
Spencer Ecclestone	C	21	CAN	2.5	2.5	3	834
David Prudek	LW	25	CZE	3.5	3.5	5	3,673
Urho Mattila	LW	29	FIN	3.5	3.5	1	3,671
Jeff Martin	LW	25	CAN	3.5	4.0	4	5,223
Jonas Lambert	LW	27	CAN	3.0	3.0	1	1,470
Magnus Larsen	LW	21	DEN	3.0	3.0	2	834
Lucas Karmiris	LW	30	CAN	3.0	3.0	1	7,350
Borje Svensson	RW	22	SWE	4.0	4.0	1	834
August Pettersson	RW	24	SWE	3.5	4.0	5	4,773
Emil Kjelberg	RW	27	SWE	3.0	3.0	2	1,140
Peter Hrovatin	RW	25	SLV	3.0	3.0	3	1,609
Anssi Ridanpaa	RW	18	FIN	2.5	3.0	3	750
Juraj Hajdin	RW	23	SLV	2.0	2.5	2	750

Edit - note that Peter Hrovatin is Slovenian and Juraj Hajdin is Slovakian but I've controversially gone for SLV as the three letter code for both countries.

[Critch]

2036/37 Playoffs Round 1 - Vancouver Canucks
Post Season time again, this is the seventh time in a row. This time it's Vancouver Canucks, first time we've played them in the playoffs, mainly because they only make it about half the time despite having had one the best players in the league (Connar Beddard) for a dozen years. I'd been thinking of changing the playoff settings away from divisional seedings to conference seedings so we could have the glamour of Nashville or Minnesota in the playoffs instead of Seattle and Calgary over and over, so Vancouver are a nice change.

Vancouver finished 3rd in the Pacific, 10 points behind Anchorage. Main difference being we finished with four straight wins and they finished with three straight loses, so it's closer than 10 points. Connor Bedard is still their best player, he wins League MVP most years and probably will this year since he got 114 points in 82 games. No sign of a post-age of 30 downturn for him yet.

Game 1 - Vancouver Canucks 4 Anchorage Huskies 2
No injuries for Anchorage going into the playoffs. Going by prior years Henry Mews should bite the dust at some point though, he loves a week or two out of office during the playoffs. No scoring in the first, Vancouver take the lead with a power play goal 48 seconds into the second period from Mason Kadatz. David Prudek scores for Anchorage (he's on the top line now, it's been a season of change for Anchorage), but Mason Kadatz scores another. Anchorage equalize again, Kaden Price at 17:21, and we're level going into period 3. Vancouver take the lead at 14:28 (Robin Pettersson) and add a power play goal late on (Zachary McKenzie 18:03) and we're 1-0 down. A very balanced game except Vancouver took advantage of their power plays and Anchorage didn't.

Game 2 - Vancouver Canucks 3 Anchorage Huskies 6
No changes from game one, same players dressed, same lines set. 5:18 it's 1-0 Anchorage from Enzo Landrey, he's also top 6 now and been great. 29 regular season goals for our 21 year old Center. Kaden Pitre makes it 2-0 at 8:11. Vancouver race back and tie it up though before Jordan Gavin scores at 19:04 to give Anchorage a 3-2 lead after one period. It's 4-2 at 5:20 (Enzo Landrey again), 4-3 at 16:20 (Cole Jodzio for Vancouver), 5-3 at 18:54 (Urho Mattila with his first of the series). Enzo Landrey finishes off his hattrick at 6:08 and the series is tied at one.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Vancouver Canucks 2
Despite the scoreline looking close, Anchorage steamrolled them here. Out shot them 38-16, high danger chances 8-2. Jeff Martin put Anchorage ahead in the first, Denis Mirchink tied it up in the second. Jeff Martin with his second at 6:01 puts Anchorage ahead, Matt Pankratz with another power play goal for Vancouver to tie it up at 11:40. Twenty Six seconds later Borje Svensson gets the game winning goal and Anchorage are in the series lead.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Vancouver Canucks 1
After dominating game three, game 4 is very even but Huskies goalie Lucas Wall makes the difference. 27 saves on 28 shots. Brendan Rudolph puts Vancouver ahead unassisted 18:44 into the first period. Second period Jordan Gavin scores a power play goal at 8:48, the Anchorage power play goes 1 for 1 for the game. Oskar Vuollet adds a second at 14:26 and that's all that's needed. Vancouver have a couple of power plays in the third but no goals and we're back to Anchorage 3-1 up in the series. Still no sign of a goal or assist from Connor Bedard, hope he doesn't wake up.

Game 5 - Vancouver Canucks 2 Anchorage Huskies 5
Fifth game in a row with no injuries and no changes for Anchorage, I think that's a record. Connor Bedard wakes up and gives Vancouver the lead at 9:04 in the first, David Prudek ties it up 12 seconds later. 44 seconds later Mikhail Gulyayev puts Vancouver back into the lead and it's 2-1 at the end of the first. Enzo Landrey shows he belongs as a top six center, he scores and the game is 2-2 at 17:26 in the second. Third period Anchorage kill them off. Borje Svensson at 0:19, a Jordan Gavin power play goal at 18:47 (half his goals seem to be power play goals. I should check that, the game seems to track every stat), and Henry Mews adds a late empty net goal and Anchorage are off to round two.

I'm not sure if it's new in the latest patch or if I just never noticed before but there's now a tab on the boxscore screen that shows the ice position of all the shots. I like that.

I mentioned earlier that we seem to play Seattle in the playoffs every year, next round will be Seattle Kraken yet again. The other side of the Western Conference is Atlanta v Nashville. Over in the east it's Toronto v Nova Scotia (I'm not sure what they're doing right, but the other expansion teams are finishing last while Nova Scotia have made the playoffs each year) and Hartford v Columbus. Reigning Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs, they finished 9th in their division.

[Critch]

2036/37 Playoffs Round 2 - Seattle Kraken
It's feels like we play Seattle every year in the playoffs but it's actually only the 4th time, they've missed the playoffs completely 7 out of the last 12 seasons. They're won twice, we swept them once. This season they've been great in the regular season, 118 points beat their old record by 18 points (their old 100 record was set last year). They're on the up.

In the last round I said that Connar Bedard was the best player in the league, Shane Wright of Seattle is 1b on that list. An upturn this year, 111 points as a 33 year old, only the second time he's broken 100 points in a season. Other than Shane Wright they have recently signed Tyler Van Caeyzeele, the star player of the recent back-to-back champ New York Rangers, all star defenseman Milo Eager, and Alaskan Fletcher Spurle. He's not a top player but he always seems to score against Anchorage.

Seattle will have home advantage as they won our division this year.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Seattle Kraken 4
After no injuries in the last series, we have a few problems going into this one. RW Emil Kjellberg is out day-to-day with back problems, David Prudek is doubtful with stomach muscle problems, Enzo Landrey is day-to-day with hip problems too. Prudek and Landrey could be risked, but all three sit to avoid aggravating the injuries. Safety first didnt work, Anchorage are called for 3 minor penalties and one major so Seattle spend half the first period on a power play and score twice. Marc-Antoine Marchant and Milo Eager. Oskar Vuollet took the five minute penalty for boarding, he'll probably be suspended too. There's no more penalties for the rest of the game, but Seattle add two more in the second, one of them as predicted from Fletcher Spurle, and we're 1-0 down in the series.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Seattle Kraken 3
As predicted, Oskar Vuollet has been suspended for his boarding, he's out for three games. Hopefully we're still alive when he returns. At least it wont drag into next season I guess. Kjellberg, Prudek and Landrey are all still out, Vuollet is suspended and Karmiris is also out with a knee problem, we're getting a bit bare bones. So bare bones that Landrey actually isnt out, we'll risk him. It's the top line that carries us though, Martin/Gavin/Svensson all +4. Martin Erben puts Seattle 1-0 in the first, Fletcher Spurle makes it 2-0 40 seconds into the second, and then Anchorage come zooming back. Jeff Martin (1:15), Peter Hrovatin (6:15), Johan Dahlberg (12:13), Jeff Martin again (17:57) and Robin Hansson (18:48) and we're 5-2 up at the end of the second. Seattle pull one back in the third, but a late empty net goal from Borje Svensson and we're back level in the series.

Game 3 - Seattle Kraken 1 Anchorage Huskies 3
David Prudek is back, but Landrey is out again. His injury hasn't been aggravated, but he's too far away from 100% to risk. Jonas Lambert scores at 3:04 in the first, no scoring in the second, Spencer Ecclestone (our rookie center who's only playing because Landrey is out) makes it 2-0 at 2:34 in the third, Urho Mattila (who is playing 2nd line center because Landrey is out) makes it 3-0 at 3:50. Seattle get a late consolation, but we're 2-1 up in the series.

Game 4 - Seattle Kraken 1 Anchorage Huskies 5
Landrey back into the second line, and it's domination from the Huskies. 50 shots in a playoff game, not bad. 2-0 after one (Borje Svensson and Henry Mews), 3-0 after two (Jeff Martin). Peter Hrovatin makes it 4-0 in the third before Seattle pull one back. David Prudek makes it 5-1 and we're back to Seattle with a chance to end it.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Seattle Kraken 4
Enzo Landrey is being rested again, he's back from his injury but not able to play every game and with Oskar Vuollet's suspension ending it's an easy swap to let him recuperate. Before the game I've noticed Seattle's injury list, they have seven players out including Shane Wright. No wonder they're struggling. Spencer Ecclestone makes it 1-0 Anchorage, still in while Enzo Landrey gets back to 100%, Seattle tie is up at 13:27. Jordan Gavin, Robin Hansson and Borje Svensson all score in the first and Anchorage are 4-1 up and cruising against the seriously depleted Kraken. Seattle aren't giving up so easily though, Tyler Van Caeyzeele, Marc-Antoine Marchant and Josh Fluker score in the second and it's back tied going into the third period. It's an unlikely hero for Anchorage in the third, Jonas Lambert scores at 14:53 and Anchorage move onto the conference finals.

So the 4th Western Conference final in 5 years, and it's Atlanta Thrashers in the final just like last year. Atlanta got past Nashville in seven games, they were 2-0 down in the series but came back to win. A bonus for Anchorage is that we've had a week waiting after getting past Seattle so all the injuries and knocks have cleared up.

In the Eastern Conference it's Toronto Maple Leafs v Hartford Whalers.

[Critch]

Missed my second Caps game of the season last night. First game I missed because I went to see America in concert instead, last night I went to see Mickey Dolenz in concert instead. He was good, but I preferred America.

And on to the update:

2036/37 Playoffs Western Conference Finals - Atlanta Thrashers
For the second year in a row it's Atlanta Thrashers in the Conference final. Last year it was Anchorage winning in seven and going on to lose the Stanley Cup Final, I'm betting this year will be Atlanta's time for revenge. Incidentally I'm writing this before simming, I do know the result and just predicting that to look prescient.

Just like last year, Atlanta have more top end talent than anybody else in the league. Four 5 star players (LD Louis-Joseph Boutin, C Brandon Gorzynski, RW Rasmus Rinne, RW Braiden Scuderi), a selection of 4 star players. And they've got home advantage for the series. It's going to be tough.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Atlanta Thrashers 4
No injuries for Anchorage, everybody is at 100%. The week rest since the last series has been well timed. Scoreline looks bad but it was closer than the 4-0 looks. Atlanta went 1-0 up in the second period from Louis-Joseph Boutin, added a second late in the third from Brandon Gorzynski, then two empty net goals in the last 36 seconds, both from Braiden Scuderi. So quite close really, right?

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Atlanta Thrashers 5
This one wasnt as close as the last one, Atlanta outshot Anchorage almost 2 to 1 (40-21), well on top. Add to that that I said Henry Mews always takes some time off injured during the playoffs for an injury. Looks like this year it'll be a suspension, a 5 minute boarding major in the first period, they normally end up with a suspension. No scoring in the first despite the 5 minute major and a 2 minute minor for David Prudek too, Rasmus Rinne puts Atlanta ahead at 5:18 in the second but Jordan Gavin makes it 1-1 at 15:06. Third period Braiden Scuderi put Atlanta 2-1 up, they really are getting their money's worth from their stars, Henry Mews ties it at 9:34. Atlanta score two quickly and add a late empty net goal and we're 2-0 down.

Game 3 - Atlanta Thrashers 3 Anchorage Huskies 4
Good news before the game, Henry Mews boarding was reviewed and judged to not deserve a suspension. Atlanta go 1-0 up in the first, Louis-Joseph Boutin at 16:26. Second period Anchorage drew level with a Henry Mews power play goal, Johan Dahlberg made it 2-1 Anchorage at 11:38, Brandon Gorzynski made it 2-2 with another power play goal and Enzo Landrey put Anchorage ahead again, 3-2 at 14:28 in a penalty strewn period. Into the third and Robin Hansson put Ancorage 4-2 up with a shot from the blue line (the screen with the shot positions is good), Carl Hewity brings Atlanta back within 1 at 13:48. A late penalty against Anchorage meant the game ended with Atlanta trying to equalize with a 6-on-4 minute but we held on. Anchorage rode their luck a bit, outshot and gave up 5 power plays but got the win and back into the series.

Game 4 - Atlanta Thrashers 3 Anchorage Huskies 1
Anchorage outshot Atlanta 37-29, but Atlanta had the better chances (Atlanta won "high danger chances 17-9) so a deserved win. No scoring in the first again, but Atlanta win it with three goals in the second period. Luke Gherasim (4:16), Braiden Scuderi (11:35) and Justin Poirier (12:40) and Atlanta have the game won. Urho Mattila gets one back in the third but that's the end of the scoring. Anchorage go back to Atlanta needing to win 3 games in a row to stay alive.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Atlanta Thrashers 2
And that's it, over and done. Rasmus Rinne puts Atlanta ahead right at the end of the second (19:43), Jonas Lambert brings Anchorage level at 10:46 of the third, but Atlanta win it was a goal from Juha Uusotalo at 14:15. A well deserved win, and a well deserved series win, Atlanta off to their first ever Stanley Cup final. No playoff goals from Lucas Karmiris, one for Oscar Vuollet, two for Kaden Pitre and 3 for Urho Mattila, the old guard have had their day. It'll be all change at Anchorage for next season. Unless the old guys drop their salary demands anyway.

So no Anchorage in the Stanley Cup final this year, it'll be Atlanta Thrashers against Toronto Maple Leafs. Will Toronto end the million years of suffering for their many legions of fans, or will Atlanta make the dozens of hockey fans in Atlanta happy?

On the plus side I'm apparently prescient.

[Travis]

While no more Cup wins is sad, the consistently great results are really impressive. Especially given the change in roster types with guys peaking/declining/overhauls/etc. Hope another title is coming soon for you.

[Critch]

I think the time for another Anchorage title is running out. The game seems to be pretty good at being NHL-like with teams having period where they challenge and periods where they rebuild. If you've got a top player or two, support them with a halfway decent supporting cast and some role players and you'll be a playoff challenger as long as you can hold it all together. And, like the NHL, eventually the core players will get too old, the supporting cast will be too expensive to re-sign, and the draft picks will be too far down to fill the gaps so it's time for a rebuild.

So Anchorage are rolling along as contenders but getting to the end of the Jordan Gavin era, he's 31, still rated 5.0 and hasnt started showing up on the monthly dev report with negatives yet but it cant be too long. I've seen some top players hit their mid-30s still 5.0 star rated, but it seems most regress earlier than that then hang around as over-paid average players for years. For the original Anchorage core Gavin and Vuollet have hit early-30s still at their peak, Mews has started his slide but still a top defenseman, Hemming and Karmiris have hit the overpaid average player stage. I've seen some complaints online that the regression kicks in too early, but it seems varied enough to me and the devs claim to have done a lot of research and are happy with their model, peak round about 29 but some players can drag out their peak. So that's all ok to me.

I do think that if you played all out and were not squeamish about taking advantage of the AI you could roll the challenging window on and on, trade for top draft picks, trade for top prospects, so 1. no negotiating trades (take it or leave it) and 2. no offering trades are my house rules. I can shop a player and then pick which offer to take but no haggling and no targeting other team's star players.

The game's problem is that if you look too close you start to notice all the strange things the AI does. There will be top players who have gone a year or two without signing for anybody, top players who have been signed on high value multi-year contracts then been cut a month later (apparently when the AI GM wants to free up cap space they'll cut somebody high paid even if they're a new signing), non-top players with gaps in their career too (I noticed one player on waivers who had been drafted then stayed at a team for 6 years never playing a game at NHL or AHL level, just being passed back and forward 3 or 4 times a season but never playing at either level). I think Restricted Free Agents is a problem too, no qualifying offers is another new houserule, it just doesn't seem to work in the game. There's no offer sheets, no arbitration, and RFA doesn't seem to lapse. I think Tarin Smith sat out for 4 years because he was officially still my RFA so that put everybody off him.

I've seen complaints online that FHM is stuck with issues that roll forward year after year, top players who sit out years has always been an issue and never been fixed. When you're churning out an annual update it's easier to market with new features than to try to sell the game on fixing the bits that don't work, I guess.

So there's a lot to like about the game, it's deep, it's customizable and it's a fairly good sim of real NHL, but it could really do with some patching rather than new features.

2036/37 Stanley Cup Final - Toronto Maple Leafs v Atlanta Thrashers
It took 70 years in the end, but Toronto Maple Leafs have finally ended their Stanley Cup drought. It was a great season for them, they won the Atlantic division with 118 points (tied with Seattle for the President's Trophy, they had exactly the same record, same wins, same regulation wins, so no idea what the tiebreaker after that would be, we'll call it a tie). They beat Philadelphia Flyers, Nova Scotia Admirals and Hartford Whalers to reach the Stanley Cup final, then beat Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 in game seven of the series to clinch the championship.

Their star players are a couple of Russians, 29 year old Left Wing Nikita Ovcharov (52 goals, 47 assists, 99 points) and 26 year old goaltender Aleksey Medem (.921 save%, 2.15GAA). There are no original players left on their championship roster, Auston Matthews retired as a 38 year old one year too early.

[Critch]

2037/38 Rookie Draft
There's normally not much left by the Anchorage first pick at the bottom of the first round, but this year is particularly bad. First Round, pick 38, LW Marc-Etienne Cyr. He's an 18 year old Canadian and he's not very good, but he's 6'4''. He'll be in the juniors for years. From then on it's whoever the scouts select as their best "high risk" pick, probably nobody who'll ever see the bright lights of Anchorage.

The Anchorage prospect list is still pretty much bare, low picks every year have caught up, there's really nobody on their way to Anchorage. In the system prospect ranking list Anchorage are listed 32 out of the 40 teams, it's surprising that there are 8 teams worse off.

2037/38 Free Agency
A year of change for Anchorage, a lot of old guys pricing themselves out of a new contract. That was the plan anyway, it didnt work out that way though because Free Agency in the game doesnt really work so all that happened was they left and nobody signed them. Five Anchorage players went to free agency (Henry Mews, Lukas Karmiris, Urho Mattila, Kaden Pitre and Robin Hansson), it's now the day before pre-season and only two of them have been signed. So good news for Henry Mews and Lukas Karmiris, they're back at Anchorage while the other three sit at home. Henry Mews left saying he wanted 14mil for a single year extension, six days of nobody calling him and he was back at Anchorage, 2 years at 6.2mil per year. Lucas Karmiris had a sudden realization of his lack of irreplaceability and cut his demands too. A few weeks later I'm already regretting giving Karmiris a 3 year contract, that's 3.5mil per year we're not getting value for after year one.

With the money saved from letting Mattila, Pitre and Hansson walk, we added some depth. A handful of rookies on two way deals, pick of the bunch C Aleksandr Unichenko. He was Anchorage's third round pick last year and since then he's had a year of over a point per game in the KHL as a 19 year old so he must be good. As well as all the rookie children we signed one grown up player, defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka. He was a Seattle player for years but has been over in Russia for a few seasons. It's been a week since I played the game and I cant remember why I signed him, last week Critch really messed that one up. He's old, not very good, costs 3mil per year and he's not even over 6 foot tall.

So going into the season the lines look like this:

Forwards
First Line - Jeff Martin (3.5)/Jordan Gavin (5.0)/Borje Svensson (4.0) - As long as Jordan Gavin is at his peak, we'll be a contender. Jeff Martin will be first line, but he'll spend half the season injured or suspended, he's vulnerable to injury everywhere and a bit violent, so TBD.
Second Line - David Prudek (3.5)/Enzo Landrey (3.5)/August Pettersson (3.5) - Enzo Landrey is more offensive than Vuollet so he's into the top 6, Prudek will probably end up on the top line when Martin gets injured/suspended, Pettersson will probably end up on the 4th line when he under-performs again.
Third Line - Magnus Larsen (3.5)/Oskar Vuollet (3.5)/Peter Hrovatin (3.0) - Larsen was a 4th round pick and not much of a prospect but seems to improve every time I check on him. He has the dreaded "if he's on your roster controversy will follow" so he's risky. Every year you get bonus points for your stats, I've been pumping all those points into "man management" and "discipline" so I dont think we're as susceptible to harmony and discipline problems now, Magnus will test that theory.
Fourth Line - Jonas Lambert (3.0)/Emil Kjellberg (3.0)/Lucas Karmiris (3.0) - Even the 4th line are all 3.0 star rated, think this is the deepest set of forwards we've had.
Depth forwards - C Spencer Ecclestone (2.5), C Aleksandr Unichenko (2.5) RW Anssi Ridanpaa (2.5) - this is what remains of the Anchorage prospect list, they'll all get a chance this year to see if they can show a Magnus Larsen like improvement.

Defensemen
First Pair - Matt Leader (3.0)/Henry Mews (3.5) - standard top pairing for a couple of years, Mews back for 2 more years.
Second Pair - Johan Dahlberg (3.0)/Mark Dollack (3.0) - Dahlberg and Dollack are 2 of the 3 successes from our "draft lots of really big defensemen" drive from a couple of years ago (Matt Leader is the other). They're not fancy skill players, just big lads. Dahberg is 6'6'' and 250lbs even without skates.
Third Pair - Axel Sandin Pellikka (2.5)/Alexander Filippov (2.5) - A pair of NHL retreads who had been reclaimed from the KHL. Both old, both fairly expensive, Pellikka isnt even tall.
Depth defensemen - John Fireman (2.5) Joni-Jukka Timonen (2.5) - more big young lads. One of them is Finnish, can you guess which one?

Goaltenders
Lucas Wall (5.0) and Neil Pintaric (2.5) - Lucas Wall is the star, but he's a free agent after this season and he wants a $10mil per year salary increase to extend after this season. Eeek!

It's been four years since the Anchorage Stanley Cup win and only six players remain (Gavin, Vuollet, Mews, Karmiris, Prudek, Martin). That's more turnover than I expected.

2037-38 Pre-season
Each year the game generates a season preview email, this year it makes Vegas favorites, Toronto and Hartford challengers and Anchorage a dark horse. Dark horse sounds fair, pretty sure we'll make the playoffs but not top level talent. No mention of Atlanta on the list of favorites, they've hit the point where they had too many talented players looking for $12+ million per year and have started losing free agents, star defender Louis-Joseph Boutin has moved onto Vancouver for $14mil per year. Not sure why but the big money signings always seem to go to Vancouver.

We also get our first mention on the "league's best" email, Lucas Wall rated as the league's best goaltender. He's on the last year of a $1.5mil per year contract and he wants to be seriously paid to stay, his negotiations start at 3 years at $13.6mil so this will probably be his last year as a Husky as Jordan Gavin is on a contract year too.

We go 3-3 in pre-season. Strengthening Lucas Wall's contract negotiations is we go 3-0 in his three games and 0-3 in games we gave a backup a start.

[Critch]

2037-38 Regular Season
Just the regular old regular season this year, nothing out of the ordinary.

There were injuries, injuries as far as the eye could see, the game really likes you to have lots of depth. The worst injury happened early too, the third game of the season LD Johan Dahlberg took a shot to the noggin and has been out with a fractured skull since then, he wont be back til next season. At one point four of the top six defensemen were injured or suspended (great timing from John Fireman there), so we were deep into the AHL backups. Nineteen year old rookie Aaron Moody and his 1.0 current 1.5 potential ratings played 14 games. That didn't really work, he was well out of his depth. A couple of forwards tried their hand at defense too, that was even less successful. But we limped through the year, picked up a new defenseman from waivers for depth (welcome former Arizona, Calgary, Anaheim defenseman Reece Gault), and strolled to a playoff place again.

Despite all the injuries and shuffling, playoffs were pretty much locked in early. Vancouver Canucks ran away with the division, but it was Anchorage and Calgary fighting for second. By New Year we were already 12 points clear of the no-playoff teams. Never really in doubt.

So season end Vancouver won the Pacific with 122 points, Calgary second with 113, Anchorage in third with 109 (52 wins, 25 loses, 5 OT loses), Seattle 4th with 106 and Vegas in 5th with 102 points. Fifth in the Pacific got a mention because they won the second wild card, five teams into the playoffs from the Pacific Division. In fact 5th place Vegas got more points than everybody in the Central division, Nashville won the Central with 93, Minnesota on 93, St Louis on 92 and Chicago miss out on a wild card spot with 92 too.

Presidents Trophy winner was reigning Stanley Cup Champion Totonto Maple Leafs (that sounds weird) with 130 points, it's Toronto, Nova Scotia, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, NY Rangers, Columbus, Washington and Hartford in the playoffs in the East.

I've been messing about with the games CSV export options, so here are some badly formatted stats from your Anchorage Huskies:

Pos	Name	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Hits
D	Henry Mews	78	12	41	53	30	38	126
D	Mark Dollack	62	3	34	37	19	16	77
D	Reece Gault	15	2	4	6	0	8	15
D	Alexander Filippov	77	8	25	33	34	47	112
D	John Fireman	71	5	24	29	23	36	99
D	Matt Leader	66	6	21	27	21	21	81
D	Axel Sandin Pellikka	53	4	20	24	14	24	53
D	Joni-Jukka Timonen	52	5	15	20	15	16	50
D	Aaron Moody	14	3	2	5	-1	2	11
D	Johan Dahlberg	3	0	1	1	1	0	2
F	Jordan Gavin	71	37	26	63	6	10	78
F	Enzo Landrey	76	26	30	56	37	25	58
F	Börje Svensson	79	17	37	54	-5	25	144
F	August Pettersson	80	21	32	53	29	19	118
F	Jonas Lambert	76	15	30	45	26	12	94
F	David Prudek	74	17	26	43	17	58	191
F	Magnus Larsen	82	12	29	41	25	22	183
F	Peter Hrovatin	79	16	21	37	11	24	89
F	Jeff Martin	50	13	23	36	10	18	149
F	Oskar Vuollet	73	13	14	27	-3	28	43
F	Emil Kjellberg	49	11	12	23	12	16	38
F	Spencer Ecclestone	49	7	14	21	20	4	34
F	Anssi Ridanpää	41	9	7	16	7	15	51
F	Alexander Broda	44	6	6	12	3	6	62
F	Lucas Karmiris	43	5	7	12	-3	13	74

Main takeaway is Lucas Karmiris became an overpaid dud ahead of schedule, he'd lost his place by the end of the season, and hopeful prospect C Aleksandr Unichenko spent about a month in Anchorage complaining about being in a new team in a new country with no friends so he was loaned back to his Russian team Lokomotiv Yaroslav for the year and doesnt show up on the list.

For the Free Agent follow up on the guys who left Anchorage last year, none of them had a team by opening day. Urho Mattila sat out the first two months of the season then signed for LA Kings on big money, Kaden Pitre sat out 4 months then signed for the Bruins on a one year minimum salary deal, played 4 games and got demoted to the AHL, and Robin Hansson sat out two months, signed for Columbus on a one year deal but is now out long term injured. So at least nobody sat out the year.

Onto the playoffs, Calgary Flames again. I think there's an option where you can turn off Divisional seeding in the playoffs, I'll be checking that out for a bit of variety.

[Critch]

2037/38 Playoffs Round 1 - Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames are one of the regular playoff opponents, the divisional seeding means you see the same divisional rivals in the first couple of playoff rounds almost every year. 2031/32 we beat them in seven, 2033/34 we beat them in six, 2035/36 we beat them in seven. We've been locked into a playoff series with Calgary this year for a while, we were both clear of fourth but well behind first so short odds to finish second and third for a while, in the end Calgary got second and have home advantage.

We only played them once in the regular season this year, a 6-3 Anchorage win in November. Only playing a divisional rival once in the regular season seems a bit off.

Their star player is LW Jakub Moravec, he missed our last playoff series with injury but he's fit this year, and goaltender Leland Griffith. Griffith won the Vezina trophy the year before last, was the West's goalie in the All Star game last year, and won a gold at this year's Olympics as the US's goaltender. Lucas Wall apparently won a bronze as Canada's goaltender.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Calgary Flames 4
We've had a few injuries in the last few weeks of the season but most of them are cleared up or almost cleared up now. Johan Dahlberg is gone for the year, Oskar Vuollet and Matt Leader both miss game one but should be back soon. It's Leader's replacement, John Fireman (just back from injury himself), who gets called for a roughing penalty that leads to Calgary's first goal, a power play goal from William McIsaac at 7:18. Calgary go 2 up at 9:14 with a goal from Trae Wilke, but Peter Hrovatin pulls one back for Anchorage at 11:42 and it's 2-1 after the first. It's 3-1 after the second, Owen Martin scoring for Calgary, and it's 4-1 at the end.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Calgary Flames 3
Same lines as last game, Vuollet and Leader could both play if needed but they're not 100% and not worth the risk. I decide against dropping Lucas Karmiris too, he's playing because of Vuollet's injury, and that works out because he puts Anchorage 1-0 ahead 11:06 into the first period. Into the second and it's 2-0 from Borje Svensson at 0:58, Jordan Gavin makes it 3-0 at the four minute mark and we should be cruising. We're not though, Calgary score twice in a minute (Jeff Smith and Jessy Charon, no sign of their star Jakub Moravec yet) and they're back within a goal. Jordan Gavin makes it 4-2 at 19:34 in the second. Calgary get back within one at 3:54 in the third but Anchorage close down the game and take the win. Our power play goes 0-3, it's been a problem all year. We finished the season ranked 35th for power play, which was a late improvement because we spent most of the year 40th.

Game 3 - Calgary Flames 0 Anchorage Huskies 3
Matt Leader is back from injury so the defense should be strengthened and it is but mainly because of the goalie. Lucas Wall faces 27 shots, saves them all, and wins us the game. Jeff Martin puts Anchorage 1-0 up in the first, Peter Hrovatin adds a power play goal in the second, August Pettersson adds an empty net goal right at the end and we're 2-1 up on the series. Lucas Karmiris does pretty well as a defensive center on the fourth line, there's life in him yet just not 3.5 mil per year for the next two years worth.

Game 4 - Calgary Flames 0 Anchorage Huskies 3
Oskar Vuollet is back as third line center and we're almost at full strenght, only long term casualty Johan Dahlberg missing. The game has the same scoreline as the last game, but it's a different game. Game 3 our goalie half-way stole, Game 4 is as dominant a 3-0 as you can get. Jonas Lambert and Magnus Larsen put us 2-0 up in the first, Magnus has been on his best behaviour all season despite being a problem child. Enzo Landrey adds a late goal in the third and we stroll home 3-0, outshooting Calgary 32-19. We're off to Calgary with a chance to put them out yet again.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Calgary Flames 1
John Fireman picked up a knock in the last game, he'll be missing for the rest of the series with a back muscle pull. It was a tossup whether he played or Axel Sandin Pellikka so no real drop off with him being out, just the decision made for me. Enzo Landrey gives Anchorage an against-the-run-of-play lead at 7:02 in the first period. The second period passes without incident other than Anchorage have woken up after Calgary's fast but unrewarded start. In the third Declan Brinkman ties it up for Calgary at 7:06 and then Calgary have their chance, they go on the power play at 11:39 after Jeff Martin gets called for high sticking. The power play is the decider in the game, but it's Anchorage defenseman Mark Dollack scoring a back-breaking short handed goal. Calgary star Jakub Moravec finally turns up on the box score at 15:05 in the third, he takes a slashing penalty. He's not had the best of series.

So we win the series 4-1, the fourth time we've faced Calgary and the fourth time we've knocked them out. The bad news is Henry Mews will be having his annual playoff time injury vacation and will miss most of the next series with a neck injury. He's not a integral as he used to be, but he'll still be missed especially with John Fireman looking like he'll still be out too.

Next up it'll be the Vegas Golden Knights, they upset Vancouver in the first round. In the other half of the West it'll be Nashville v Minnesota, and it's Toronto v Nova Scotia and NY Rangers v Washington Capitals in the East. Since the last expansion three of the four expansion teams have struggled at the bottom of their divisions but Nova Scotia Admirals have made the playoffs all three years, not sure what they're doing but they're doing something right.

[Critch]

2037/38 Playoffs Round 2 - Vegas Golden Knights
A new opponent in the playoffs. We haven't played Vegas in the playoffs yet, mainly due to them having a playoff drought for 12 seasons up til last year. The game's pre-season preview listed them as this season's favorites and, despite only getting into the playoffs as a wild card team after finishing 4th in the division, they do have a lot of very good players.

The bad news for Anchorage is they have some very good talent, defenseman Martin Hardman, Center Yaroslav Mukhachyov and RW Aleksandr Kalashnikov all in their prime and rated 5.0 current ability. More bad news is that they have a lot of depth LW An Byeong-Hun, LW Matvei Michkov, C Filip Nilsson, LD Soren Brault all rated 4.0+. The good news (for Anchorage) and maybe the reason that a team with all this talent finished 4th in the division, their goaltenders are poor. They conceded 263 goals this season, the most of any team that made the playoffs and almost 60 more than Anchorage did.

Another bit of good news (for Anchorage) is that two of their stars, Mukhachyov and Kalashnikov, are banged up and less than 100%. Mukhachyov has a sprained knee that wont fully recover til over the summer and Kalashnikov is playing with a recently dislocated finger. Kalashnikov is dissapointingly not number 47.

Game 1 - Vegas Golden Knights 2 Anchorage Huskies 5
Finishing off the last series in 5 games gave us a few extra days to get ready so Fireman and Mews are close to returning but they'll both be missing at least game one. So we'll be relying on backup Joni-Jukka Timonen against the third highest scoring team in the league. We get off to a good start, two defensemen slapshots from the blue line and it's goals for Matt Leader and Reece Gault and 2-0 after the first. The second period is quiet, other than a couple of power plays for each team, until late on when Radim Valecek pulls one back for Vegas, then Vegas get a power play almost straight away, David Prudek called for roughing. There's two goals in the power play, first Oskar Vuollet puts Anchorage 3-1 up short handed before Sam Oremba gets a power play goal for Vegas. 3-2 Anchorage going into the third. David Prudek makes it safer, 4-2 Anchorage after 16:07 and Borje Svensson adds another late on. Vegas goalie Taylor Reynard is rated 1.5 stars and it shows in this game, .857 save percentage.

Game 2 - Vegas Golden Knights 3 Anchorage Huskies 2
Still no Mews or Fireman so Joni-Jukka Timonen stays in and he puts Anchorage 1-0 up at 6:00 with another long range slap shot. Aleksandr Kalashnikov ties it up at the end of the first, his first goal of this year's playoffs. They did well getting by Vancouver with their stars crocked. At the end of the second they score twice, Filip Nilsson followed by Sam Oremba. RW Oremba seems to be the support player who has stepped up to cover their injuries. 19 goals in 79 regular season games followed by 5 in 8 in the playoffs. Jordan Gavin scores a power play goal at 9:18 of the third but Vegas hold on and the series is tied.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 4 Vegas Golden Knights 3
Mews and Fireman both still out. Vegas take a 2-0 lead in the first, An Byeong-Hun (a South Korean hockey star) and Filip Nilsson. At the start of the second Jordan Gavin pulls Anchorage back into it with a goal at 0:50, we kill a power play when Timonen is called for tripping (he's really struggling despite his goal in the last game) then Matt Leader ties it up at 5:53. Shots from the blue line getting past their mediocre goalie is a theme for the series. Alexandr Kalashnikov shoots them into the lead at 19:27, so we go to the third 3-2 down. We only need 11 seconds of an early Anchorage power play and it's tied up, Jordan Gavin putting away a rebound, and at 17:47 Anchorage finally take the lead with a Peter Hrovatin goal. We're 2-1 up in the series, but the defense is crumbling, Leader is injured now too.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Vegas Golden Knights 2
Mews is still out and Matt Leader has joined him on the bench, a stomach muscle pull. I should probably be announcing these like real NHL injuries for realism, Upper Body Injury or Lower Body Injury and no details. John Fireman is still not 100% but we'll have to risk him as otherwise we'd have to play rookie Aaron Moody and he's rotten. More bad news, it's the beginning of May so time for the dev report and Justin Gavin shows up on it with a negative number for the first time ever. Still 5.0 rated but the rot has begun. Vegas lead after the first, Yaroslav Mukhachyov with his second goal of the playoffs. Mukhachyov is still injured and slowed, but Kalashnikov has vanished off their day-to-day list, he's fully recovered. Anchorage storm back in the second, outshoot them 17-8 and score twice. Jeff Martin at 6:26, David Prudek at 11:59. According to the shot map Prudek's goal was unassisted and right in front of the net a couple of feet out. So somebody has fumbled him the puck and gifted a goal, I'm going to believe it's their mediocre goalie. Into the third and Jonas Lambert puts Anchorage 3-1 up at 11:11. Vegas pull one back late, but we hold on and lead the series 3-1 despite the missing defensemen.

Game 5 - Vegas Golden Knights 6 Anchorage Huskies 5 overtime
Mews could play if he had to, but we're 3-1 up in the series so we'll not risk him yet. We probably should have risked him, the defense is terrible, Wall is terrible, everything is terrible. The game rates shots from 0 (it's not really a shot, more of a dump in that the keeper holds) 1 (it's a shot but the keeper should save it), 2 (a decent enough shot, but should be a save), 3 (a good chance) and 4 (like 3 but a rebound too so the keeper is out of position). Lucas Wall lets in two 1 rated shots. Their keeper lets in one too, it's like the opposite of a goalie duel. It's 1-1 after the first, Axel Sandin Pellikka with our goal. Oskar Voullet and Jonas Lambert put Anchorage 3-1 up but Vegas score 3 times in the last 4 minutes, the first of them the first of Wall's flubs, and we're 4-3 down. Anchorage bounce back in the third, Alexander Filippov at 5:55 and David Prudek at 9:17 and we're heading for the Conference final. Until 12 seconds to go, Kalashnikov scores on another poor shot that Wall messed up. It goes to OT, not for long, and we lose. Vegas back in it at 3-2 down in the series. Incidentally Lucas Wall now thinks he's worth 14mil a year for five years.

Game 6 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Vegas Golden Knights 10
Mews is back and fully fit, Matt Leader can play too, so we're as close to full strength as we can expect to be. WTF happened here? Lucas Wall stunk again, 5 goals on 17 shots so he was pulled and backup Neil Pintaric came in and stunk even more, 5 goals on 11 shots. We let in 10 goals on 28 shots, outshot them 40-28 and still got destroyed. 1-0 down after the first, 8-2 (!?) down after the second, 10-2 at the end. Alexander Filippov and Borje Svensson scored for Anchorage and lots of people scored for Vegas but none of them three times. I checked the box score and you couldnt blame the defensive pairings, all three of them were equal, all -2 or -3. It was the goalies. Back to Anchorage for game seven. One has to believe than morale may be low. Incidentally Lucas Wall still thinks he's worth 14mil a year for five years.

Game 7 - Vegas Golden Knights 3 Anchorage Huskies 4
I'd been nursing Matt Leader back from his injury, 3rd pairing and limited minutes, but he's back on the top pairing with Henry Mews even with the risk, we need to do something different. The required bounceback is late showing up, 8 minutes into the first period Vegas are 3-0 up, Wall let in 3 of the first 7 shots. At least this time none of them are of the "well he'll want that one back" variety. Since 12 seconds to go in Game 5 we've let in 15 goals in 70-ish minutes. There's signs of a recovery when Enzo Landrey scores at 19:53 and we're 3-1 down after the first. The second period zips past with no more scoring and we're into the third still 2 goals down. The game livens up in the third, Anchorage get a power play after 0:58, three seconds into the power play David Prudek fights a Vegas player for a pair of matching major penalties, it's their star defenseman Martin Hardman. Years ago Vasili Podkozlin started a fight in a playoff game we were losing and it sparked a comeback, the same thing happens here with Prudek dropping the gloves. We don't score on the resulting power play, but at 9:39 Jeff Martin (normally the Huskies player you'd bet on starting a fight) pulls us back within one, and then he scores again to tie the game up at 12:38. Into the last minute and heading for game seven overtime when David Prudek turns up again, this time to score the series winning goal at 19:31, assists for Henry Mews and Mark Dollack.

Well that was a strange series. We had it sewn up, and then we really didnt, and then we did for sure. I'll put Game 6 down as "just one of those games". At least Vegas's Yaroslav Mukhachyov can go home and let that gimpy knee heal up.

Onto the Western Conference Final, we'll be playing Nashville and will have home advantage. Over in the East it'll be Toronto Maple Leafs against New York Rangers, Toronto have just been brushing teams aside this year, a good bet for back-to-back championships.

[Young Drachma]

What a run!

[Critch]

Yeah, it's been a good run but it starting to feel like it's coming to an end. Star players Jordan Gavin and Lucas Wall are both free agents in the summer, and they're both asking for way too much to give them the contract extensions they want (Gavin wants 16mil x 3 years, Wall wants 14mil x 5 years). They'll both go to free agency and I'll check up on them and hope nobody snaps them up and they drop their demands a little. Add in that Gavin turns 32 before next season and is starting to show up on the dev report with negatives and it might be rebuild time.

Anyway:

2037/38 Playoffs Western Conference Final - Nashville Predators
Another new opponent in the playoffs. We haven't played Nashville in the playoffs yet, due to divisional seeding most seasons we can't meet until the conference final.

Like Vegas in the last round, Nashville have a lot of talent. C Ben McGregor (5.0), C Marcus Graham (4.5), LW Juha Kahkonen (4.5), C Brayden Bailer (4.0), LW Christopher Brown (4.0), RD Jozef Pardavy (4.0) are the top guys. Unlike Vegas, Nashville also have a top goalie, Mateo Beites (5.0). 15 years in the future there aren't too many real players left.

Good news for Anchorage is that the one Nashville 1+ point per game guy Juha Kahkonen (34 goals, 48 assists, 82 points in 81 games) will miss the series. He's out with a dislocated coccyx. I'm no doctor but that sounds like it would hurt.

Game 1 - Nashville Predators 2 Anchorage Huskies 6
Matt Leader was rushed back from injury at the end of the last series in desperation, he's well short of 100% so best if he sits this game to let him get back closer to full fitness. The only other change is backup goalie Neil Pintaric was terrible when he was called on, 5 goals on 11 shots, so he's out as backup. Chwalislaw Janiszewski is the new backup, he's only ever played in preseason games but he's been ok in the AHL this year. Hopefully we wont need him. After whining about the team aging and coming to an end, it's the young guys who carry us through this game. 23 year old Borje Svensson gives Anchorage the lead, 19 year old Anssi Ridanpaa makes it 2-1 late in the first, Jordan Gavin makes it 3-1 with a power play goal in the second, 24 year old August Petterson makes it 4-1 then 5-1 with two goals in 45 seconds and we're 5-1 up at the end of the second. Nashville get one back early in the third but 19 year old Anssi Ridanpaa ends the comeback by making it 6-2. Game one in the bag. We have a lot of young Scandinavian wings.

Game 2 - Nashville Predators 3 Anchorage Huskies 2 Overtime
Matt Leader is back, Henry Mews is out. He's listed as ill day-to-day. Anchorage go 1-0 up in the first with a Alexander Filippov goal at 15:09, a 4-on-4 goal. Enzo Landrey makes it 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 4:41, but then it slips away. Ben Saville scores for Nashville before the end of the second, Bogdan Gorbachyov ties it up in the third, and Brennan Brown wins it for Nashville early in overtime. Overtime never seems to last long, don't think we've ever had a 2OT playoff game in the playoffs. In the end Anchorage outshot Nashville 32-21 but Nashville have a great goalie and Anchorage only have a goalie who thinks he deserves to be paid like he's a great goalie. Not bitter about his 14mil demands.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Nashville Predators 4
Another defenseman down, Alexander Filippov is out with a hamstring problem, so Henry Mews is dragged out of his sickbed. He's listed as "dehydrated", have a big glass of water and get your skates on, you're playing. Nashville go two up in the first, Bogdan Gorbachyov with a power play goal at 3:59 then Lou Boyle even strength at 5:57. In the second period Anchorage get back into it with a Henry Mews power play goal at 17:25, but in the third period Bogdan Gorbachyov adds his second and then his third and it's game over. Shots are pretty level, high danger chances are level, but they have a good goalie and we've got Wall

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Nashville Predators 1 Overtime
Anchorage dominate the shots, outshoot them 11-6 in the first, 11-2 in the second and 33-19 for the game but cant take their chances. The power play goes 0 for 3 too, just one would have done. Regulation time ends 0-0, Nashville score with their first shot in overtime and we're 3-1 in the series.

Game 5 - Nashville Predators 2 Anchorage Huskies 0
Alexander Filippov is back, we're as full strength as we can be. Doesn't make a difference, we get goalied again. Anchorage have 40 shots but Nashville goalie Mateo Beites shuts them down, saves all 40. Lucas Walls keeps Anchorage in it too until late in the game. At 5:30 in the third Borje Svensson is called for a holding penalty. At 6:19 Mark Dollack is called for a slashing penalty and we have to kill over a minute of 5-on-3. Forty four seconds later Marcus Graham takes advantage and gives Nashville the lead, Derek Maskrey adds a late empty net goal and it's all over. We're out, and depending on free agency it might be the end of the Jordan Gavin era.

So it's Nashville Predators representing the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup final. After listing all Nashville's star players I dont think any of them scored a goal, it was their goalie Mateo Beites who won the series. Lucas Wall thinks he's worth 4mil per year more than the Nashville goalie.

In the East NY Rangers lead the series 1-0, Toronto win, NY Rangers lead the series 2-1, Toronto win, NY Rangers lead the series 3-2, Toronto win. So it's game seven and Toronto win. Back-to-back Stanley Cup finals for Toronto.

[Critch]

2037/28 Stanley Cup Finals - Nashville Predators v Toronto Maple Leafs
Nashville goalie Mateo Beites was the difference against Anchorage, two shutouts in a row to close out the series and generally difficult to beat all series, but he'd lost his magic touch in the finals. Toronto scored 7, 5, 5 and 3 goals in the four games against him and swept the series, so after 70 years of nothing Toronto now have back-to-back championships.

2038/29 Preview
The new season's preview email lists Vegas as favorites, Nashville and Anchorage as challengers, and Toronto are the dark horses. Got to watch those dark horse teams that unexpectedly sneak up when they are going for three championships in a row.

Anchorage's G Lucas Wall was listed as the league's best goalie in last year's preview, not this year though. This year it's Minnesota's Coker King. He's 23 years old and earns 14mil per year. Not bad work if you can get it.

2038/39 Rookie Draft
There was a post on reddit a few days ago complaining that when you get a few years into the game the draft seems too random, outside the top half of the first round there's not a whole lot to choose between the players. A lot of 1.0 current, 2.0 potential. I quite like it this way, you dont want it too predictable, a few busts, a few unexpected good players from lower rounds, everybody developing in their own way. More realistic to me. Anyway, not unrelated, a prospect I'd never noticed, our 4th round pick in 2035, has had a breakout year. Nineteen year old Russian LW Yaroslav Kochnev has improved each of his three years in the Western Hockey League (11 points in 63 games as a 17 year old, 24 in 64 at 18, and now 58 points in 53 games as a 19 year old) and is now a real prospect. He's in the AHL for a year, but a nice surprise and should turn up for Anchorage in a season or two. Not a world beater, but a good prospect.

In the draft itself we also get a hidden gem. I'm not sure how he fell to us at 38th pick but the Anchorage scouts rate him highly. Eighteen year old Canadian RW Devan Vandenberg, 3.0 current 3.0 future, he's been tearing through the Western Hockey League for Kelowna Rockets for a few years, 92 points in 65 games last year. No injury issues, no personality issues, first pick we've had in a while where the player looks good right away.

The rest of our picks are the regular lottery tickets, a smattering of 6'5'' defensemen and unheralded Scandinavian wingers, the usual fare.

So in summary, I like the way the draft works out in the game despite some guy's post on reddit.

2038/39 Free Agency
As planned we let the two stars go to free agency, C Jordan Gavin and G Lucas Wall were asking for way too much to extend so we let them walk with the plan of checking up on their demands over the summer. D Reece Gault also went to FA, he's a strange case. His "overall" rating is an unimpressive 2.5 stars, but his role rating says he's an 18/20 Two-way defenseman, I guess he's not great overall (low stamina for a start) but what he has really fits that role (reads the game well on offense and defense and he's fast). Is a 2.5 star 18/20 two-way defenseman better at that role than a 4.0 star 15/20 two-way defenseman? Who knows. But Gault has never let us down so long as he gets rested regularly.

Gavin and Wall leave as free agents on July 1st 2038. I hold out until July 5th before giving Jordan Gavin what he wants, I couldn't risk him signing elsewhere. Three years and over 12mil per year is around the level of his contract that's just expired so he's back, all it took was a no trade agreement too. The day after we also give D Henry Mews an extension, this is the last year of his 6.3mil contract, he reups for three more years on 2.8mil per year. This is the first time I've seen a player ask for less than his current deal, a team friendly deal hopefully. Anyway, Gavin and Mews are now tied up til they're both 36, we're riding the Gavin/Mews train til it crashes and burns.

We're left with no starting goalie and about 1mil salary space. I trawled around the other teams' trade blocks for a goalie even though it was breaking my "no making offers for other teams' players" house rule but it's desperate times. There are a few possibles but opposing teams seem to think I should give up a couple of stars and a 1st round pick for their third goalie so trading doesnt work. The new plan is clear some salary and see what I can get from free agency, so Axel Sandin Pellikka and his 2.3mil salary is sent to Boston for a low pick and we have around 4mil to find a goalie, nowhere near enough for a decent free agent. Even a borderline FA goalie is asking for 6.5mil right now. New plan is we'll wait around and see who gets waived.

(sidetrack, I'm now in November and Axel Sandin Pellikka has gone trade crazy since then. We traded him to Boston in July, they traded him to Florida in September, they traded him to Ottawa in October, they traded him to Dallas in November. Still a few months to go before the trade deadline, who knows where's next).

A few years ago we played (and lost to) the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals, their feature was that they had 4 good-to-great centers, every line had a star in the middle. One of them, Michael Jackson (not that one) has just become a free agent, he's 27 and is looking for a reasonable salary, 2.5mil per year. He would fit in nicely. The same week there's a news story that G Lucas Wall has been linked with Pittsburgh and St Louis and will sign soon. So it's time for action.

Oskar Vuollet is 32, he's on the last year of an 8mil contract and wants 11mil to re-sign. We currently have 4mil salary space, if we traded away Vuollet we'd have 12mil available, enough to sign Lucas Wall back, and pick up a younger center to replace Vuollet too, and still have some salary space left over.

So, long story short, Oskar Vuollet went to Philadelphia for a 6th round pick and an AHL journeyman and we used the freed up salary space to sign G Lucas Wall (3 years x 7mil), C Michael Jackson (3 years x 2.7mil) and D Reece Gault (2 years x 2.5mil). I think Anchorage just got younger and better, even if it cost us Oskar Vuollet (Anchorage career = 12 seasons, 862 regular season games, 248 goals, 310 assists).

[Critch]

2038-39 Regular Season
Lines for the season are much the same as last year's since Jordan Gavin and Lucas Wall returned.

Forwards
David Prudek(3.5)/Jordan Gavin(5.0)/Borje Svensson(4.5)
Jeff Martin(4.0)/Enzo Landrey(3.5)/August Pettersson(3.5)
Magnus Larsen(3.5)/Michael Jackson(4.0)/Peter Hrovatin(3.0)
Jonas Lambert(3.0)/Aleksandr Unichenko(3.0)/Anssi Ridanpaa(3.5)
depth - C Spencer Eccleston(3.0), LW Alexander Broda(3.0), RW Juraj Hajdin(2.0)

Defense
Matt Leader(3.0)/Henry Mews(3.0)
Johan Dahlberg(3.0)/Reece Gault(2.5)
Mark Dollack(3.0)/Alexander Filippov(3.0)
depth - John Fireman(2.0), Joni-Jukka Timonen(2.0), Martin Pospisil(2.5)

Goaltenders
Lucas Wall(5.0) and Chwalislaw Janiszewski(2.0)

Looking back at last season's post there's been a few changes I guess. Martin and Prudek swapped lines mainly because Martin is injury prone and I wanted to keep the top line stable. Prudek and Martin are much the same player, big power forwards who crash the net so interchangeable. Michael Jackson is third line center replacing Vuollet, part of the "get younger" drive. Aleksandr Unichenko is back from Russia, he's more settled now and he's replaced Emil Kjellberg as 4th line center, Kjelberg left as a FA and is now back in Sweden. Anssi Ridanpaa is in to replace Lucas Karmiris, Karmiris is pretty much done and spent most of the year in the AHL.

It's all variable dependent on injuries obviously, depth is required in this game, players will get injured. Only one major injury this year, 7th defenseman John Fireman ruptured a knee ligament and has missed 50 games and wont be back til next year. Michael Jackson missed 3 months too with a groin injury, and Jeff Martin has been out for a couple of months with a hamstring problem.

We spend all season in a two horse race with Seattle for both the division and the President's trophy. We get off to a great start, 12-2-0 and leading the division but not by much, the Pacific division has a lot of good teams. 22-6-2 and we're clear at the top with Seattle, we're 1 and 2 in the division and 1 and 2 for best record in the NHL. It carries on that way, 32-9-4 then 37-10-5 and we're running away from everybody except for Seattle who hang right on our tail. We burst through 100 points with 16 games to go and heading for an Anchorage record number of points (previous record 111 points two years ago), and still leading the President's Trophy and the division but Seattle still right there in pursuit.

It was a two horse race all year and we finished third in it. Third place in both the President's Trophy and the division, the three highest points totals are in our division. We slowed down to .500 pace in the last month, so did Seattle, and Vancouver kicked into overdrive and overtook us both. At the end of the season Vancouver Canucks end with 118 points, Seattle have 117 points, Anchorage have 117 points too but lose a tiebreak, and Vegas in 4th with 111 points. In the Central division it's Colorado (106), Nashville (103), Arizona (102) and Atlanta (95) who make the playoffs.

We ended the season with the lowest Goals Allowed (186, only team under 200), 4th most goals scored (295) and the second highest differential (109, Seattle were best with 113, Saskatoon had -131 for worst)

Stand out performances for the season:

Forwards
Borje Svensson - 81 games, 21 goals, 54 assists, 75 points (54 assists is an Anchorage record)
Enzo Landrey - 78 games, 25 goals, 38 assists, 63 points
Jordan Gavin - 75 games, 30 goals, 31 assists, 61 points (6 of the last 7 seasons with 30+ goals, the one he missed was 25 goals but 15 games missed)
David Prudek - 67 games, 20 goals, 35 assists, 55 points
Magnus Larsson - 80 games, 22 goals, 22 assists, 44 points
Jeff Martin - 56 games, 14 goals, 23 assists, 37 points, 73 PIM (team leading)
Michael Jackson -50 games, 21 goals, 16 assists, 37 points (the 6th 20+ goal player for the season, despite missing 32 games, not a bad first season)

Defensemen
Mark Dollack - 82 games, 16 goals, 29 assists, 45 points, +42 (only defenseman to play every game, and also the team's best +/-)
Henry Mews - 74 games, 13 goals, 36 assists, 49 points, 21:44 average time on ice (team leading)
Johan Dahlberg - 76 games, 9 goals, 30 assists, 39 points, +41

Goaltenders
Lucas Wall - 74 games, 49-18-7 record, 2.14 GAA (Anchorage record), .915 sv%
Chwalislaw Janiszewski - 9 games, 6-2-1 record, 2.08 GAA, .919 sv%

The game lets goalies play pretty much every game, you can get to Brodeur levels of starting almost every game without problems. I tried to make sure the backup started every second game of a back-to-back for a bit of realism although nobody in the real NHL got anywhere near Wall's 74 starts this season. The backup keeper actually had better stats than Wall but didn't play enough games to qualify for records.

So next up in the playoffs is Seattle. I forgot to turn off divisional seeding.

[Critch]

2038/39 Playoffs Round 1 - Seattle Kraken
It's Seattle Kraken in the playoffs for the 5th time. They've won twice (2030/31 - 4-0, 2034/35 - 4-2) and we've won twice (2033/34 - 4-0, 2036/37 - 4-1).

They're another team with top players, former Ranger LW Tyler Van Caeyzeele, RD Flynn Brown, LD Milo Eager, aging superstar Shane Wright, but with poor goalies. They've got pretty mediocre rookie Tristan Busteed starting backed up by Huskies reject Neil Pintaric. Hopefully that'll give us an advantage.

Unfortunately we'll be missing a few players, Henry Mews got himself an 8 game suspension in the last game of the regular season so he wont be back til the 2nd round at the earliest. Jeff Martin is out too, a hamstring injury has kept him out for a couple of months and he's still listed as 2 or 3 weeks away so maybe 2nd round at the earliest, Jonas Lambert is day to day with a back problem, and John Fireman is out til next year. So a few knocks to cope with.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Seattle Kraken 3
Well it's a bad night all round. Seattle's mediocre goalie Tristan Busteed stoped all 30 shots he faced and shut us out and C Jordan Gavin is on ice 2:40 before he's injured and out for the night. The first period is scoreless, Seattle score twice in the second (4:14 Ivan Posokhov, 15:41 Konstantin Yenchev), they add a late empty net goal from Tyler Merkley and it's all over, we're one game down and awaiting word on how bad Jordan Gavin's injury is.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Seattle Kraken 2
And it's bad news on the Jordan Gavin injury. He's torn a flexor tendon and will be out 4 months. We need to shuffle about, Michael Jackson is now the top line center. Seattle are 1-0 up in the first, Konstantin Yenchev again, it's 2-0 Seattle in the second, Aaron McBurney with a power play goal. Enzo Landrey pulls one back in the second but no more scoring. Tristan Busteed faces 41 shots and stops 40. Looking at the high risk chances, we threw this one away by not taking chances. We need the captains to step up, unfortunately the captains are Jordan Gavin, Henry Mews and Jeff Martin and they're all out. Back to Anchorage 2-0 down.

Game 3 - Seattle Kraken 2 Anchorage Huskies 4
Without Jordan Gavin there's a lack of scoring on the top line. Our best remaining offensive center is Aleksandr Unichenko, he's now first line center and Borje Svensson is set to be a sniper to try and add scoring to replace Gavin. First period Anchorage go 1-0 up, Mark Dollack with a slapshot. Second period is scoreless so into the third leading 1-0. David Prudek makes it 2-0, an assist from Unichenko, I'm taking credit for this with my top line shuffling. Yenchev brings Seattle back into it at 2-1. There's no more scoring until the last two minutes of the game, Alexander Broda, our 21 year old Czech rookie who's in with Jeff Martin being out makes it 3-1 at 18:03, Flynn Brown scores for Seattle to make it 3-2 at 18:31. David Prudek makes it 4-2 with a late empty net goal, an assist from Lucas Karmiris who's back from Juneau to add a bit of experience to the team. We're back in the series.

Game 4 - Seattle Kraken 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
More fiddling with the lines. Unichenko isnt good enough to be the top line center, the roles are set back to what we've gone with all season. Normally the top line is Prudek crashing the net, Gavin using his speed to attack defenders, Svensson playing more conservatively to cover. We're back to that setup but with Enzo Landrey playing the Jordan Gavin "Speedy Forward" role. We were not going to go far with Unichenko leading the line. Anchorage are 1-0 up with an Enzo Landrey power play goal at 6:21, Seattle get a power play soon after but Michael Jackson makes it 2-0 with a short handed goal. Hampus Magnusson scores for Seattle at the end of the first period. 2-1 going into the second. Kyle Ruiz scores for Seattle at 0:48 of the second period to bring them level, but we're back to in the lead later in the second, a slapshot from the blueline from Johan Dahlberg. We spend a chunk of the third period on the penalty kill, Seattle finally score on their third power play of the period and it's 3-3, Cash Koch with the goal. What a strange name. Overtime doesnt last long (it never does) before Michael Jackson wins it for Anchorage. Back to 2-2 in the series.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Seattle Kraken 4
Enzo Landrey gives Anchorage the lead 36 seconds into the game, Seattle tie it up in the second take a lead with a Cash Koch goal in the third, then add not one but two late empty net goals to make it look more comfortable for them than it actually was. Jeff Martin is back in training but not much likelihood of him being back for this series, not even if there's a game seven.

Game 6 - Seattle Kraken 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
Only one change, Lucas Karmiris has been bad so he's out. He's really done, one year to go at 3.5mil too and he wont play again unless it's an emergency. Spencer Ecclestone returns to replace him. Michael Jackson puts Anchorage 1-0 up, Hampus Magnusson ties it up. Aleksandr Unichenko puts us 2-1 up, a Flynn Brown power play ties it up and it's 2-2 at the end of the first. There's one goal in the second, Roman Stainov puts Seattle 3-2 up. It stays like that til 18:40 in the third, Michael Jackson scores a late equalizer and we're going to overtime. 8:12 into overtime Magnus Larsen scores the winner for Anchorage (assist from Michael Jackson, he had a good night) and we're off to a game 7. Every game so far has gone to the home team, hope we can break that trend in Seattle.

Game 7 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Seattle Kraken 0
Some good news before game 7, if it's ok and sporting to call opponents being injured good news. They'll be missing two of their stars, LW Tyler Van Caeyzeele has been carrying a shoulder injury but he's now officially out, LD Milo Eager will also be out with a muscle injury. The series doesn't end with every game going to the home team. We're outshot 33-27, out high danger chanced 11-7, but Lucas Wall stops all 33 shots he faces and we're back from 3-2 down in the series to win. Three goals from defensemen, Alexander Filippov from the blue line at 8:00 in the second, Johan Dahlberg at 2:09 in the third and a late empty net goal from Alexander Fillipov again and we're home and dry. Seattle have their chances, the high danger shots and three power plays, but don't score. On to the second round.

In the second round we'll be up against Vancouver, they were flying in the second half of the season, best record in the NHL, and they beat the 2nd Wild Card Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 in the first round. It'll be Colorado v Nashville in the other semi, and NY Islanders v Washington Capitals and Florida v Quebec in the East. No three-peat for Toronto, they fell to Quebec in a seven game series.

[Critch]

2038/39 Playoffs Round 2 - Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver are getting into the last few years of their Connor Bedard run, he's 33 years old, 1141 games for Vancouver, 1230 points (480 goals, 750 assists), League MVP 6 times, most points 5 times, top scorer twice, seven all-star games, an Olympic gold and an Olympic silver for Canada, he's won almost everything but he's never won a Stanley Cup Final, never even played in one. He's running out of time.

Over the Bedard era Vancouver have been pretty consistantly in the playoffs, 5 of the last 6 seasons, they've been to a couple of Conference finals but they've not been to a Stanley Cup final.

The other big name they have is Louis-Joseph Boutin, former main man in the talent loaded Atlanta Thrashers team, he came to Vancouver as a free agent a couple of years ago for 13.6mil per year. They also have a good goalie tandem, Sune Hellstrom and Nick Milley. Actually looking at the stats they've gone with Milley as the starter in the playoffs. They also have a good amount of depth, regular all-star LD Sam Dickinson, C Cole Jodzio, Russian LW Maksim Nazyuta (53 points in 49 games this year).

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Vancouver Canucks 2 Overtime
Henry Mews still has one more game of his suspension to go, Jeff Martin is back with the team but not able to play tonight, reinforcements are just around the corner. There's no scoring in the first, August Pettersson puts Anchorage ahead at 5:02 of the second. Maksim Nazyuta ties it up at 14:13 in the third and we're heading to overtime. Right at the end of regular time David Prudek gets called for holding and the Vancouver power play carries over into overtime, that's all they need Dennis Mirchink scores for them and they're 1-0 up in the series.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Vancouver Canucks 6
Henry Mews is back, he plays ok but things dont go well. Louis-Joseph Boutin (power play) and Joel MacNevin put Vancouver 2-0 up in the first, it's 4-0 midway through the second.Johan Dahlberg and Henry Mews score a little over a minute apart late in the second period and it's 4-2 and we're vaguely in the game going into the third. It doesnt last, Luke Moroz and Joel MacNevin score again for Vancouver and it's 6-2 midway through the third. Goalie Lucas Wall is pulled, Chwalislaw Janiszewski comes in to make his playoff debut and saves all 4 shots he faces, but we're done. 2-0 down again, same as last series.

Game 3 - Vancouver Canucks 3 Anchorage Huskies 6
Still no Jeff Martin return but we're getting messages now that he's close. Anchorage race into a lead, Borje Svensson at 2:31 and David Prudek at 3:37 and we're 2-0 up at the end of the first. Vancouver are back into it in the second Joel MacNevin at 6:09 and Matt Pankratz at 10:59 and it's all square. The game turns at 15:15 of the second, Vancouver winger Pierre-Dominique Bouffard gets called for a boarding major and we have a 5 minute power play. We take advantage of it and score three times, Enzo Landrey at 16:29, Borje Svensson at 19:24 and Henry Mews at 19:59 and we're safely 5-2 up going into the third. Matt Pankratz brings Vancouver a little closer but a late empty net goal from Aleksandr Unichenko and we're home and dry. Matt Leader manages to get in amongst the Vancouver players as the game ends and gets a penalty for interference.

Game 4 - Vancouver Canucks 2 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
Still no Jeff Martin return. Vancouver winger Pierre-Dominique Bouffard who got called for the 5 minute boarding penalty is suspended, he'll miss the next three games. Serves him right! He'll be back for game seven, if needed. Vancouver go 1-0 up at 3:29 from all-star Sam Dickinson, but Magnus Larsen(7:16) and Michael Jackson(19:18) score for Anchorage and it's 2-1 after the first. Both goalies play well, there's no more scoring until the dying seconds of the third. Anchorage are 19 seconds away from tying the series when Cole Jodzio ties it up for Vancouver. Into overtime and it's the 4th line that win it for Anchorage, Spencer Ecclestone with the goal, his first of the playoffs, Alexander Broda and Alexander Filippov with the assists. Back to 2-2 in the series.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Vancouver Canucks 7
Well that's a thumping. Like last year G Lucas Hall throws out a terrible performance at a bad time, six goals on 27 shots. Chwalislaw Janiszewski makes his second appearance of the playoffs (which happily means I can cut and paste from last time and not have to look up how to spell his name again) and lets in 1 on 4 shots too. Vancouver are 1-0 up after the first. Michael Jackson (our star performer so far, he's not bad) brings us briefly level at 1-1 before Vancouver score six unanswered, four in the second and two in the third. I've checked and Lucas Wall doesnt have "crumbles under pressure" or "hides in big games" in his profile, so just one of those games I guess. Back to Anchorage 3-2 down.

Game 6 - Vancouver Canucks 1 Anchorage Huskies 6
Jeff Martin is back. He's not 100%, he's not played for 3 months, but at least he can play. He's into the 4th line to keep his minutes down. Anchorage are 1-0 up after the first period, Matt Leader with the goal. It's all over quickly in the second, 3 goals in four minutes (Johan Dahlberg (PP) 00:35, Reece Gault 3:12, Johan Dahlberg 3:57) and we're 4-0 up quickly. Spencer Ecclestone makes it 5-0 and Michael Jackson makes sure the game isnt going to be a thriller by making it 6-0 in the second before Vancouver pull one back right at the end of the second period. The third period drifts by with both teams knowing the game is over and saving themselves for game 7, only 6 shots total in the third (3 each) and no penalties.

Game 7 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Vancouver Canucks 4
No Game seven on the road heroics in this series. We outshoot Vancouver 42-28, have the better chances, but it slips away. Cole Jodzio puts them 1-0 up early in the first, Aleksandr Unichenko ties it up inside a minute and it's 1-1 after the first. Connor Bedard finally scores in the series, a power play goal after David Prudek gets called for holding, David Prudek gives up a lot of penalties. It's 3-1 Vancouver by the end of the second, Joel MacNevin again. August Petterson scores for Anchorage to bring it back to 3-2 14 seconds into the third period, but Connor Bedard is awake now and scores again. We've got 17 minutes to claw back 2 goals. Enzo Landrey manages one at 11:31 but that's the scoring over and we're out. Connor Bedard is first star of the game, seems fair.

So it's Vancouver v Nashville in the Western Conference Final, Washington Capitals v Quebec Nordiques in the East. .

[Critch]

2038/39 Stanley Cup Final - Vancouver Canucks v Washington Capitals
Vancouver got hot in the second half of the season, caught Anchorage and Seattle and overtook them to win the Pacific Division, won the President's Trophy for the best record in the regular season, they were a #1 seed in the playoffs, got past Atlanta Thrashers, Anchorage Huskies and Nashville Predators to win the Western Conference.

In the Eastern Conference Washington Capitals finished third in the Metropolitan division, finished with 94 points, 2 points less and they wouldnt have made the playoffs. They needed seven games to get past New York Rangers, six to get by the Islanders, seven to get by Quebec. Their star player is former first pick bust, former Huskies reject D Jiri Mendl, they have no 5.0 rated players, only 5 players rated higher than 3.0, and two of the five are injured and will miss the Stanley Cup. Not sure how they made it to be honest.

So on paper there's only one winner, the Capitals are a poor second best, surely there's no way they can upset the odds and beat the overwhelming favorite Vancouver team?

Nah, of course they can't, they lost 4-2, 6-1, 3-0 and 5-4 and got swept.

So Connor Bedard finally wins his first Stanley Cup, fills the one empty spot in his trophy cabinet, 18 points in 22 games too.

2039/40 Rookie Draft
Anchorage picking a bit earlier than usual, 33rd pick in the first round. A benefit of not getting to the conference final, I guess. We go risky with the pick, RW Zbynek Mucha, an 18 years old Czech, 6'2'' 204lb back-checking forward, he'd have been much higher in the draft but fell down to us because he's been out for 4 months with a ruptured ligament in his elbow and he's still listed as being out for 3 to 4 more months. The Anchorage scouts list him as the best "risky pick", worth the risk. From then on it's the normal formula of getting the scouts list of "risky picks" then choosing whoever is need the top of the list and big. Second round pick C Oleg Zagebalin and third round RD Denis Molotov have a chance of making it.

In last year's Rookie section I mentioned LW Yaroslav Kochnev who had come from nowhere to be a suddenly surprising roster. He's not been good in the AHL so he's back to being a nobody. Forget I mentioned him.

2039/40 Free Agency
A fairly quite year, not many free agents left so not many in to replace them. It was a strict one-in/one-out free agency this year.

For Right Wing former first round, 7th overall prospect Peter Hrovatin came to the end of his contract, 49 points in 82 games as 3rd/4th line RW, he wanted too much to re-sign so he went UFA. Stayed UFA for a couple of months into the new season then signed for Montreal. His replacement is 19 year old rookie Devan Vandenberg, last year's Anchorage first round pick.

For Center 4th line/depth backup C Spencer Ecclestone went. Despite not making crazy requests for an extension, he was replaceable. So he's gone, nobody picked him up so he's in the Slovenian leagues now, not even the top division. The replacement was former Calgary regular starter Jeff Smith, he was picked up from free agency, a 30 year old defensive center, ideal for the third line.

For Defensemen 33 year old Alexander Filippov left, too old for the money and years he wanted, he's now back in the KHL playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The (short-term) replacement was picked up from waivers, 32 year old Hunter Aura on a 1 year minimum wage. He's really in more as experienced backup more than a regular.

I vaguely thought about bringing back some names from the past. Oskar Vuollet had signed a 3 year extension with Philadelphia so he was out, Kaden Pitre is 33 and going downhill so he's out, Emil Hemming is 33, going downhill and playing in the Czech league so he's out too. So no old faces. Seemed like a good idea, add depth that would come in with chemistry with linemates, and maybe get a little "I'm playing for my favorite team" harmony boost too.

[Young Drachma]

Bummer about the playoff run.

[Critch]

Bummer about the playoff run.

As long as the team keeps on getting it's annual ticket to the playoff lottery, that's ok with me. We've just not had the luck, plus there have been a few times recently where I looked at the other team's roster and thought "yeah, they're better than Anchorage".

I'm starting to think we may survive the retirement of Mews and Gavin too. I guess I'll carry on for about a month or two until the Tour de France starts and I have my annual attempt of ProCycling Manager, so got a few seasons to go.

2039/40 Regular Season
Not a lot of changes to the lineup this year. The original plan to replace UFA Peter Hrovatin with Devan Vandenberg didn't work out, he started the season on the Anchorage 4th line but didn't look ready, 1 goal and 0 assists in 12 games. He was a 19 year old rookie so he was sent back to the Juniors for a year, he did ok there, 35 goals, 47 assists in 39 games. Maybe currently too good for juniors but not ready for NHL.

Other than that, the defensemen are starting to look old, Henry Mews is down to 2.5. And Jordan Gavin's overall rating is down to 4.5 from 5.0 too. The years are catching up.

Incidentally the overall ratings don't seem to be scaled the same for Forwards and Defensemen, a serviceable forward seems to have to have a higher rating than a serviceable defensemen.

Forwards
Jeff Martin(4.0)/Jordan Gavin(4.5)/Borje Svensson(4.5)
David Prudek(3.5)/Enzo Landrey(3.5)/August Pettersson(4.0)
Magnus Larsen(3.5)/Michael Jackson(4.0)/Anssi Ridanpaa(4.0)
Alexander Broda(3.5)/Jeff Smith(3.0)/Jonas Lambert(3.0)
depth - LW Marek Novak(2.5), RW Juraj Hajdon (2.0) (really only there because he's violent. An agitator, good to rile up opponents), C Aleksandr Unichenko (3.0)

Defense
Matt Leader(3.0)/Henry Mews(2.5)
Johan Dahlberg(3.0)/Reece Gault(2.0)
Mark Dollack(3.0)/Joni-Jukka Timonen(2.0)
depth - John Fireman(2.5), Martin Pospisil(2.5), Hunter Aura(2.0)

Goaltenders
Lucas Wall(5.0) and Chwalislaw Janiszewski(2.5)

This season Anchorage raced away with the division, for a long time they had a commanding lead for the President's Trophy too.. We reached the midway point with a record of 33-6-2 and a 13 point lead in the division. It all slowed down a little in the second half though, top 6 forward David Prudek missed the second half of the season, we had our first real goalie injury when Wall went down for a few weeks ill (although Janiszewski stepped in and played well), Jordan Gavin missed 12 games with a suspension for an illegal hit to the head (his scouting report used to say he was considered a sporting player, now it says he's a "fairly clean player"), Mews missed the last month, and is still out. So injuries and not being as good as the first half made them seem caught up.

The division lead got whittled away, at one point we were 13 points ahead of San Jose and Edmonton but by the end of the season we needed to finish with a winning run to hold on and win the division by 2 points.

Anchorage ended the year with a record of 58-21-3 for 119 points, a new Anchorage record breaking last year's 117 record. We had by far the best defense in the league, 178 goals conceded (also an Anchorage record) and scored 298. The defense isn't anything special, so I'm assuming a chunk of the low goals allowed is down to goalies Lucas Wall and Chwalislaw Janiszewski having great years. Plus they do play with a lot of defensive forwards, we're not playing exciting attacking hockey.

Top scorer was Borje Svensson with 32 goals, he got off to a fast start, half his 32 goals scored in the first 20 games before slowing down to his average pace.

Old favorite Henry Mews has really fallen away, he was rated 4.0 a few years back, now he's 2.5 and falling. At one point he was rated 18/20 for his role (Quarterback defenseman), now he's 10/20. He still gets better than average game ratings, and he's our guy so he'll be playing til he drops or retires anyway.

For the Pacific Division, Anchorage won with 119 points, 2nd were Edmonton with 117, 3rd San Jose with 106 (their first playoffs for a few years), 4th Vancouver with 104 and 5th Calgary with 95. In the Central division it's Nashville (108 points), St Louis(101 points) and Dallas (98 points, their first playoffs after 8 seasons out). Calgary had a better record than 4th in the Central (Minnesota), so it's two wild card teams from the Pacific in the playoffs again this year.

Which means another meeting with Calgary in the playoffs for Anchorage.

[Critch]

2039/40 Playoffs Round 1 - Calgary Flames
It's the sixth time we've met Calgary Flames in the playoffs, Anchorage leading 3-2 in the first five series. I still haven't messed with the playoff settings to turn off divisional seeding, I must remember to do that.

Their star player is still LW Jakub Moravec but he's getting to those difficult early 30s years, he's had a down year this year, only 19 goals. RW Mason Kline is their real threat now, 34 goals this year and 47 last. They also have one of the top goalies in the year. G Anatol Lyantsevich was the Pittsburgh goalie the year they beat Anchorage in the Stanley Cup final, since then he's moved onto Calgary as a highly paid free agent, 11.4mil per year but he will be a free agent this summer.

Game 1 - Calgary Flames 3 Anchorage Huskies 6
David Prudek was out for 50 games with a groin injury but he's back now, played the last couple of regular season games and ready to go. So the only Anchorage injury is defenseman Henry Mews. He seems to miss games every post season, this year is no different, his second separated shoulder of the season and he'll miss all this series. He's not as big a loss as he was once upon a time, aging is a terrible thing. The series starts with a wild first period, Jeff Martin has Anchorage 1-0 up at 1:21, Calgary equalize quickly, then Aleksandr Unichenko and the 4th line chip in to make it 2-1 Anchorage at 5:30. Calgary star Mason Kline makes it 2-2 at 7:45, and then Calgary get their first lead of the series with a power play goal at 10:56. Michael Jackson tied it up for Anchorage at 15:11 and it's a 3-3 first period. Anssi Ridanpaa (who has been around for years but it only 21) makes it 4-3 to Anchorage in the second, Reeve Gault makes it 5-3 in the third, August Pettersson 6-3 and Anchorage have won game one.

Game 2 - Calgary Flames 2 Anchorage Huskies 5
No changes to the lineups for Anchorage. It's 1-0 to Anchorage at 15:02 in the first, depth defenseman Hunter Aura giving us the lead. It lasts just over a minute before Jessy Charron scores for Calgary and it's 1-1 after the first. Our young Scandinavian wingers (we have lots of young Scandinavian wingers) make it 2-1 at 11:09 in the second, Magnus Larsen with the goal, Anssi Ridanpaa with the assist. Actually Finns aren't Scandinavian and Ridanpaa is a Finn. It's out young Nordic wingers. At 13:40 it's the same Nordic wingers combining again, Magnus Larsen makes it 3-1. Calgary pull one back near the end of the second. Into the third and the same Nordic's combine again, this time it's Ridanpaa who scores, and it's 4-2. At 16:37 it's 5-2, Jonas Lambert. He's not Nordic or Scandinavian, he's Canadian. We have two home games in the bag and off to Calgary 2-0 up in the series.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 7 Calgary Flames 4
Our rookie defenseman Martin Pospisil has been suffering with hamstring problems, so he's out for the night. He's fairly mediocre and we have a lot of fairly mediocre backups so it wont cause a problem. It ends up being a high scoring game, but the first period isn't. Kory Zorzi (another great AI name) gives Calgary the lead but Borje Svensson ties it up and it's 1-1 after the first. At the start of the second Anchorage score twice in 20 seconds (Hunter Aura at 2:19, David Prudek at 2:39) and we're 3-1 up. Calgary fight back though and score twice in 29 seconds soon after, Aron Kiviharju at 4:16 and Dillon Hebert at 4:45. The Anchorage third line (Larsen, Jackson and Ridanpaa) have been the difference makers in the series so far and they have their say in the third. Anssi Ridanpaa makes it 4-3 at 12:32, Magnus Larsen makes it 5-3 at 13:06. Dillon Hebert (a 20 year old rookie) brings Calgary back into it but Jordan Gavin and David Prudek add late goals and Anchorage at 3-0 up in the series.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 Calgary Flames 3
Well we're not going to sweep them. Jessy Charron and Mazden Leslie make it 2-0 Calgary in the first period. Mazden Leslie is one of the few remaining real players, in real life he's a 17 year old prospect, in this version of the future he's a 35 year old earning 8mil a year and with almost 1300 NHL games on the clock. Early in the second Alexandr Unichenko gets one back for Anchorage, but Calgary get their two goal lead back with a goal from Torrey Kiefer. He's a 19 year old rookie, Calgary have a lot of good young players. Enzo Landrey scores a power play goal to keep it close, but no sweep.

Game 5 - Calgary Flames 3 Anchorage Huskies 2
Calgary pay a fortune for a top class goalie, and he's kept them in the series. It starts off well, Anssi Ridanpaa scores a power play goal at 2:42 (slashing penalty against former Anchorage prospect Easten Turko), Hunter Aura adds a second and we're 2-0 up after the first. There's no scoring in the second period, it's still 2-0 until Owen Martin gets Calgary back into it at 13:46 of the third, then Jessy Charron scores another to tie the game up. Anchorage have a late power play, but the chance isn't taken and Calgary win in over time. We outshot them 35-22, but Calgary goalie Anatol Lyantsevich stole it.

Game 6 - Calgary Flames 3 Anchorage Huskies 6
After being 3-0 up in the series, it had all got a bit tense, and that ramped up a bit in this game. Michael Jackson put Anchorage 1-0 up at 9:30 in the first, 1-0 after the first period. Calgary then score three without reply in the second, Mason Kline(3:44), Jakub Moravec(5:49), Steven McLaughlin(8:10, power play goal). It looks like we're heading to a game seven, but Anchorage answer back with three in a row in the second period too. Borje Svensson at 10:20, Jordan Gavin at 11:50 and it's 3-3, then Reece Gault at 14:27 and Anchorage are in the lead. Into the third and a bit of 4-on-4 time, Hunter Aura and Jessy Charron both get minor penalties for slashing each other, and Jordan Gavin takes advantage to put Anchorage 5-3 up. Michael Jackson makes it 6-3. There's a late penalty kill to get past Joni-Jukka Timonen for Unsportsmanlike Conduct, but it ends 6-3 and Anchorage are into the next round.

Onto round two and it's San Jose. Last time we met San Jose in the playoffs we went on to win the Stanley Cup. It's fated.

[Critch]

2039/40 Playoffs Round 2 - San Jose Sharks
It's only the third time we've met San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, mainly because they don't make it very often, this is only their second appearance in the last 7 years. They beat Anchorage 4-1 in 2032, and Anchorage won 4-3 in 2033 on their way to the Stanley Cup final. According to the Anchorage team page, San Jose are our main rivals, but they dont list us as a rival at all. We're not important enough for even San Jose to care about. It's a one-way rivalry, like Carolina and whoever they tag onto in real life NHL.

Last year we came up against Connor Bedard running out of time to win a Stanley Cup, we have something similar this year. Macklin Celebrini was a first round pick in 2024, fourth overall, he's been an all-star 9 times, he's won Olympic medals and awards, but he's 34 years old and never won a Stanley Cup. He's a budget Bedard. Hopefully we'll do better stopping Celebrini than we did stopping Bedard.

San Jose roster isn't the strongest, Celebrini and Jeremy Skolrood are 4.0, a handful of 3.5 star players. Nothing special. Former Husky reject Rick Claycomb is one of their stars. They're also a bit beaten up, they have a couple of players playing through injuries that should really have ended their season, including Skolrood and his torn elbow ligament.

We're going to win.

Game 1 - San Jose Sharks 0 Anchorage Huskies 7
Henry Mews is back from his shoulder injury and straight into the top pairing. It's a bit one-sided, San Jose only manage 10 shots in the whole game (3 in the first, 5 in the second, 2 in the third). Jeff Martin makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first, David Prudek twice (0:34 and 15:09) and Mark Dollack (18:16) in the second, then Magnus Larssen (1:50), Anssi Ridanpaa (3:36 power play) and August Pettersson (13:24 shorthanded) in the third and it's a 7-0 walkover.

Game 2 - San Jose Sharks 1 Anchorage Huskies 4
It's not as easy as game one, but still one-sided, Anchorage outshoot them 38-23. Magnus Larsen makes in 1-0 Anchorage at 10:28 with an assist from Anssi Ridanpaa, but San Jose get back into this game, BJ Zentner with an unassisted goal to make it 1-1 at the end of the first period. In the second Reece Gault puts Anchorage 2-1 up, Larsen and Ridanpaa with the assists, they've been the stars of the playoffs for us. Into the third and it's not til late on that Anchorage make it safe. August Pettersson at 18:10 and a late empty net goal for Enzo Landrey and we've won both home games and go to San Jose with a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 3 San Jose Sharks 1
A pair of power play goals in the first period and we're well on our way, Aleksandr Unichenko at 8:36 and David Prudek at 14:25 and it's 2-0 Anchorage at the end of the first. Former Huskies player Rick Claycomb (2033/34, 51 games, 10 goals) pulls one back for San Jose at 8:18 in the second period but that's the end of the scoring til Matt Leader gets a last second empty net goal and Anchorage are 3-0 up for the second series in a row.

Edit - Ooops! Timeline reboot! Originally Anchorage won this series in 6 games (which I originally posted), won the conference final and were in the Stanley Cup Final but the game crashed during saving and messed up the file. First time that's happened. The most recent backup was last day of April, so we're back here, 3-0 up against San Jose Sharks.

Wavey lines clear, we're back in the dim and distant past of April 30th 2040, with a sense of deja vu we're back playing game four against San Jose, having to knock them out the playoffs twice in the same season.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 4 San Jose Sharks 1
Sweep complete. Jordan Gavin sets Anchorage on their way, a goal at 1:09. San Jose get back into it and it's 1-1, but two late first period goals, Johan Dahlberg at 17:59 and Jordan Gavin at 19:56 and Anchorage are 3-1 up and the writing is on the wall. There's no more scoring until 17:38 of the third period, Jordan Gavin completes his hattrick and we're onto the Western Conference final for the 6th time in 8 seasons. It's been a while since we won one though.

It's Vancouver Canucks in the Conference Final, so that's a change, it was St Louis Blues in the original playthrough. Over in the East it'll be Hartford Whalers v Boston Bruins.

[Critch]

It's been a while. The game had a couple of crashes so I put it aside for while and went away and played Rimworld instead. My Rimworld colony died last night (never take in Rimworld refugees, they betrayed my guys, got a bit stabby and then set everything on fire. Don't think I've ever had refugees who didn't rebel) so I'm back to see if I can make it to the end of the season now. I've cleaned up the save files, deleted a lot of old backups (the save folder was very cluttered) and there's been a patch released too, so fingers crossed the crashes are in the past. The game saved successfully last time I tried so that's hopeful.

Last update was after a rerun because of a crash, and so is this attempt. When I left off Anchorage had just swept San Jose Sharks and were moving onto the Conference finals to face the Vancouver Canucks. In that run Anchorage beat Vancouver and moved onto a Stanley Cup final against the Boston Bruins. The in-game Boston Bruins team were the exact opposite of the real life Boston Bruins team: in-game had a terrible regular season (sneaked in from a weak division with a losing record) but had totally over-performed in the playoffs to reach the Stanley Cup finals. I checked their lines out and they were playing with 1 enforcer and 4 agitators, I'd never seen a team with an enforcer or with more than 1 agitator, so looks like they over-performed by gooning up, they played like they were in the Slap Shot movie.

We were tied 1-1 with the Bruins when the game collapsed to desktop and it was time to go back to the back-up files.

The good news is that I saved the day after Anchorage finished the San Jose sweep so that's not changed. The bad news is that the save was before the Vancouver v St Louis series had finished, that series was tied at 2-2 when we were 4-0. This time through it's St Louis that won so next up is the Western Conference Final, Anchorage Huskies v St Louis Blues.

Unfortunately in this rerun the Goon-ish Bruins are just as out as the real-life Bruins so we wont be seeing them again this year. Which is a pity because we were going to beat them.

2039/40 Western Conference Finals - Anchorage Huskies v St Louis Blues
It's a first playoff meeting with the St Louis Blues, they've been a very "in one year, out the next" kind of team, scraping into the playoffs or missing out. They do have one championship in the dynasty, they won the Stanley Cup in 2032, the year before Anchorage won. That's the only time they've reached the finals though.

Looking at their team they've got three top players, young Russian defenseman Dmitry Partasov (drafted 1st overall in 2034 ahead of once-in-a-generation talent Jerry Megna at 2, a controversial pick), veteran Swedish goaltender Elias Holm (600 games for St Louis, the only remaining member of their 2032 championship team) and Center Greg McKeamish (89 points in 73 games this year, he's a trouble maker, egotistical and money driven). They come into the series pretty beaten up, half their top players (including Partasov) are carrying injuries, whereas Anchorage have no injuries and are rested with a week off waiting for the other series to end.

Game 1 - St Louis Blues 3 Anchorage Huskies 4
St Louis has the best of the play in the first period, but it's Anchorage who take their chances, Enzo Landrey makes it 1-0 at 10:57 then scores again 1t 12.07. Greg McKeamish pulls one back for St Louis late on and it's 2-1 Anchorage after the first. Greg McKeamish ties it up at 3:35, a power play goal after an August Pettersson crosscheck. Jeff Martin scores for Anchorage at 12:17 and we're going into the third with a 3-2 lead. It doesn't last long, St Louis score at 2:42 from Petr Pluhar and it's all square. Three minutes later Anchorage take the lead, Enzo Landrey finishing off his hat-trick at 4:53 and that's the end of the scoring, Anchorage 1-0 up.

Game 2 - St Louis Blues 1 Anchorage Huskies 6
This one is a bit more one-sided, despite St Louis leading 1-0 after the first period, Eetu Siponen giving them the lead. Anchorage storm back with three in the second period (1:24 Jonas Lambert, 7:15 Jordan Gavin, 13:36 David Prudek), then three more in the third (9:01 Henry Mews, 17:29 Enzo Landrey, 17:49 Mark Dollack) and Anchorage have a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 5 St Louis Blues 4 Overtime
Still no injuries so the same lines rolling out, the biggest issue at the moment is that some of our defensemen are in the more mature phase of their careers and cant cope will a run of games, we might need to rotate Reece Gaunt and Henry Mews out of the lineup soon if we cant win quickly and get a rest between series. Like the last game St Louis score first and lead 1-0 after the first (Evan Barrick at 4:59), but Anchorage storm back with three unanswered in the second (1:46 Henry Mews, 3:19 Anssi Ridanpaa, 8:17 August Pettersson). This time St Louis don't crumble though, they storm back with two in the second period and a power play goal at 13:52 in the third to take a 4-3 lead. Anchorage get a late power play goal from Enzo Landrey and it's off to overtime. Michael Jackson ends a thriller with an OT goal, and we're one game away from the Stanley Cup. My Michael Jackson song pun game is weakened by the fact Thriller and Bad are the only two I remember. And the one about a rat.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 2 St Louis Blues 1
And just like that the series is over and we're off to another Stanley Cup Final. Jordan Gavin puts Anchorage ahead at 1:15 in the first, we kill four power plays through the first and second (surprisingly David Prudek and Jeff Martin were not responsible for any of them) and go into the third period with a 1-0 lead. Ken Wallace scores at 6:45 in the third to tie it up, but at 13:08 Jordan Gavin scores his second of the night, a close in rebound, and we've got the sweep and onto the Stanley Cup.

With the crashes this is the third time Anchorage have made the Stanley Cup final, made it every time. I think with the over-powered initial rookie drafts aging we're starting to see a drop in general player standards, fewer top-top players. I havent had the "yeah, they're loaded, they're better than us" feeling when I look at an opponent for a couple of years, teams with 4 x 5.0 rated players are a thing of the past, Anchorage are down to only one (G Lucas Wall, long time star Jordan Gavin has started the slide and is now 4.0). Anchorage aren't getting better, it's just everybody else is getting a little worse.

So onto the Stanley Cup Final where we'll play the Carolina Hurricanes. They beat Quebec Nordiques in the Eastern Conference final.

Still no crashes.

[Critch]

2039/40 Stanley Cup Finals - Anchorage Huskies v Carolina Hurricanes
So this is Anchorage Huskies 4th Stanley Cup Finals in 8 years, a win over Columbus in 2033, a loss to New York Rangers in 2034 and a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2036. We've got time for one more win before the Jordan Gavin/Henry Mews era comes to an end hopefully.

Carolina Hurricanes have also had an above-average time through the sim, they've won a pair of championships (2023 and 2031) but they've got an aging core too. They won the Metropolitan division this year and the President's Trophy too with 121 points, 2 more than Anchorage. No President's Trophy curse for them. It's a bounceback season after a few rebuilding years stocking up on prospects, they've missed the playoffs the last three years, finished 8th in their division once and dead last twice. Despite the recent rebuild they still have an aging roster though, five 33 year olds, a 32 year old, three 31 year olds and three 30 year olds. Aging core or a good mix of young players and experience I guess, depends how you look at it.

Their star players are a pair of 30 year olds, all-star defenseman Stanislav Rakhvalov and top goalie Filip Urban, but they also have a bunch of younger players that'll keep them competitive for years. Until this year they'd missed the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years so they've had the draft picks to rebuild. They've got 4.5 star rated defensive left wing Brodie Felker (27 years old), 4.0 star winger Matthew O'Hara (21 years old), 4.0 star Center Jani Jauhiainen (24 years old) and their backup goalie is one of the best young goalies in the league, 5.0 star potential Emilio Jeffery.

Carolina will have home advantage through the series. It's a rare Top Team in the East v Top Team in the West match-up, normally at least one of the top seeds has gone by now.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Carolina Hurricanes 4
Still no injuries for Anchorage, we go in with the first choice lines, but get blitzed early. Carolina score early and often and we're 3-0 down at the end of the first period. Tobias Tomik gives them the lead at 12:08, Lawrence Fruge makes it two at 15:54 and Brodie Felker adds a third at 19:15. They add another in the second and it's game over, their goalie Filip Urban stopping all 21 shots he faced.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Carolina Hurricanes 0
Second line center Enzo Landrey is out, he's day to day with a swollen ear. I guess it's so big he cant get his helmet on. We've got defensive center Jeff Smith waiting to take his place, he's been a bit of a flop since signing as a free agent last summer and had dropped out the team, it's his chance to shine. The first two periods are settled by special teams, they get two power plays and Anchorage kills them both, Anchorage get two power plays and score on both. Henry Mews at 5:21 in the first, Anssi Ridanpaa at 5:41 in the second and we have a 2-0 lead going into the third. David Prudek scores at 4:55 to make it 3-0 and settle nerves, Jordan Gavin at 9:10 and it's 4-0, and Aleksandr Unichenko adds a final second goal to pad it to 5-0. A solid win, we outshot them 35-18.

Game 3 - Carolina Hurricanes 2 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
Enzo Landrey could play if needed but we did ok without him so he'll not be risked, Jeff Smith stays in the lineup. Carolina go 1-0 up in the first with a goal from Matthew O'Hara, Anchorage tie it up in the second with a goal from Aleksandr Unichenko and it's onto the third tied 1-1. Vladislav Uzhentsev puts Carolina ahead at 4:56 in the third, but then it's power play time again. Anchorage score theirs, Jordan Gavin at 5:55, then kill a Carolina power play and we're going to overtime tied at 2-2. Anchorage score with their first shot of overtime, Borje Svensson with the game winner. He's quietly become the star of the Huskies, three goals and ten assists in the playoffs this year.

Game 4 - Carolina Hurricanes 0 Anchorage Huskies 2
Enzo Landrey is back, he's 100% and Jeff Smith has been mediocre at best as his replacement so it's an easy decision. It's a Lucas Wall masterclass, he saves all 29 shots he faces to shut out Carolina. Carolina keep it close though, it's 0-0 heading into the third but Jeff Martin gets the breakthrough for Anchorage 38 seconds into the third, the returning Enzo Landrey adds another at 18:01 and we're 3-1 up in the series and just one game from a Stanley Cup win.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Carolina Hurricanes 3
Johan Dahlberg is out for this game, a strained muscle. We bring in 5'10 rookie defenseman Martin Pospisil to replace the 6'6'' 246lbs Dahlberg, that doesn't sound like a good swap. Carolina are also missing a couple of players, former Huskie defenseman Carter Murphy (18 games in the 2029/30 season, traded to NY Rangers for the pick that became G Lucas Wall) is day to day and their star Brodie Felker is done for the series too. Missing a star doesnt slow them down, they're 2-0 up after the first, Matthew O'Hara and Stanislav Rakhvalov scoring for them. August Pettersson gets one back for Anchorage in the second, but O'Hara scores again early in the third and the series is back to 3-2.

Game 6 - Carolina Hurricanes 4 Anchorage Huskies 2
Johan Dahlberg is still out, Martin Pospisil is still the replacement. He actually played quite well in the last game despite the defeat. The game itself is a chance thrown away. We're 1-0 up after the first, Hunter Aura with the goal but Carolina tie it up with a short handed goal in the second. Into the third and Borje Svensson gives Anchorage the lead, we get to seven minutes from having our hands on the cup then collapse, three goals allowed in the last seven minutes. Geno Carcone (who's been somebody Anchorage have nearly signed multiple times over the years) ties it up at 13.01, Tobias Tomik adds a power play goal at 14:53 and Carolina add a late empty net goal and we're all off to Carolina for game seven.

Game 7 - Anchorage Huskies 1 Carolina Hurricanes 3
Well balls to that. 3-1 up in the series and we throw it away. Should have won this game too, outshot them 34-24, 6 high danger chances to 4, but lost. Their goalie Filip Urban made the difference. There's no scoring in the first, Jani Jauhiainen puts Carolina ahead in the second. TJ Liboiron makes it 2-0 early in the third, Enzo Landrey pulls one back at 13:23 but that's as close as we got, Carolina added a late empty net goal from Matthew O'Hara (he'll win playoff MVP) and that's the season over.

So Carolina become joint top Championship winners for the run of this dynasty (does anything before 2023 really count?) with their third championship, tied with Dallas. New York Rangers and Toronto have two, the only other teams with more than one championship.

If nothing else painfully losing the Stanley Cup final will remove any suspicion that I was save-scumming til I won. And at least there have been no more crashes.

[Critch]

2039/40 Season Wrap Up
Anchorage's top points getter for the playoffs was David Prudek (7 goals, 14 assists, 21 points) followed by Anssi Ridanpaa and Michael Jackson with 18 points, top scorer was Jordan Gavin with 11 goals, Michael Jackson lead +/- with +18 and Henry Mews led time on ice with 22:22, the old guy can still churn out the minutes.

A special mention for 3.5mil per year free agent center flop Jeff Smith who managed 0 points in 7 games and a team low game rating of 58 (below 60 is bad). You suck, Mr Smith.

And finally, in the last post I predicted that Carolina's Matthew O'Hara would win playoff MVP. That was wrong, the Conn Smythe award actually went to their goaltender Filip Urban. He had a .936 sv%, well deserved award, he was the difference in the final.

2040/41 Rookie Draft
It's the same as usual. Anchorage have a low pick, number 39 in the first round, and get a player who may or may not one day be NHL standard. This year he's a 6'3'' 17 year old Slovakian winger called Jan Strba. LW Lukas Lanik, LD Elias Karjalainen, RD Benjamin Borg, RD Kalevi Siirtola, C Scott West, G Daniel Tvrdik, RW Denis Sabursky. That's the full list of this year's lottery tickets.

At the top of the draft, the top three picks are all 5.0 potential players, number 1 RW Jan Kacerik goes to Nashville, number 2 LD Jan Neckar goes to Colorado, and number 3 G Emerson Bouverie goes to California. A good draft for people called Jan.

2040/41 Free Agency
A handful of depth players out, D Reece Gault, D Hunter Aura, LW Jonas Lambert all off to free agency. Also gone is former Huskies great 33 year old Lucas Karmiris, 14 seasons with Anchorage, 877 games, 167 goals, 425 assists, 592 points but he's been past his best for a few years.

The salary space saved by letting the free agents leave was all used to sign extensions for existing players, Jeff Martin, Anssi Ridanpaa, Mark Dollack, Alexander Broda, Aleksandr Unichenko all tied up for 3+ more years.

A few rookies have been signed to two way contracts and there's still enough to pick up a depth defenseman on waivers before the season start, but that'll be the only incoming unless somebody goes out.

Really if there was a time to tear the team down and go into rebuild mode it would be now, 11 of the 23 players on the roster are on contract years. I could trade them all away for picks and start Anchorage Phase II.

[Critch]

2040/41 Regular Season
A quick look at the roster:

Name	pos	Age	Nationality	Current	Potential	Years	Salary
Goalies
Lucas Wall	G	29	CAN	5.0	5.0	1	6,730
Chwalislaw Janiszewski	G	24	POL	2.5	3.0	2	935
Aleksey Naboischikov	G	25	RUS	2.0	2.5	2	950
Defensemen
Johan Dahlberg	LD	27	SWE	3.0	3.0	2	3,030
Matt Leader	LD	26	USA	3.0	3.5	1	3,400
Mark Dollack	LD	26	CAN	3.0	3.0	3	1,970
David Green	LD	34	CAN	2.5	2.5	1	2,890
Viktor Olsen	LD	22	DEN	2.0	2.0	1	845
Henry Mews	RD	34	CAN	2.0	2.0	2	2,849
Martin Pospisil	RD	22	CZE	2.5	3.0	4	1,116
John Fireman	RD	29	CAN	2.5	2.5	2	2,073
Joni-Jukka Timonen	RD	25	FIN	2.5	2.5	1	1,105
Denis Molotov	RD	20	RUS	2.5	2.5	3	878
Forwards
Jordan Gavin	C	33	CAN	4.0	4.0	1	12,050
Enzo Landrey	C	25	CAN	3.5	3.5	1	3,722
Michael Jackson	C	29	CAN	4.0	4.0	1	2,796
Aleksandr Unichenko	C	22	RUS	3.0	3.0	3	2,846
BJ Zentner	C	22	CAN	3.0	3.0	1	790
Jordan Mynarski	C	27	CAN	2.5	2.5	3	1,240
David Prudek	LW	29	CZE	3.5	3.5	1	3,673
Jeff Martin	LW	28	CAN	4.0	4.0	3	7,320
Magnus Larsen	LW	25	DEN	3.5	3.5	1	2,799
Alexzander Broda	LW	23	CZE	3.5	3.5	3	2,306
Marek Novak	LW	22	CZE	2.5	2.5	4	950
Yegor Grebenkov	LW	21	RUS	2.5	2.5	3	762
Borje Svensson	RW	26	SWE	4.5	4.5	2	4,963
August Pettersson	RW	27	SWE	3.5	3.5	1	4,773
Anssi Ridanpaa	RW	22	FIN	4.0	4.0	4	3,353
Devan Vandenberg	RW	20	CAN	3.0	3.5	2	838
Juraj Hajdin	RW	26	SLV	2.0	2.0	1	940

There's a worrying number of players going into the final year of their contracts, one of my house rules is "no negotiating on salary screen, players get what they ask for" so I've not been trying to stagger the ending years of contracts so we're stuck with this. It's really not ideal. (Incidentally it seems like the "no negotiating" houserule isnt really necessary, a players idea of negotiating is dropping their demands by 100k then sticking to it as final and not budging on number of years at all.)

At the end of this season we'll have about 33mil salary space free, but 13 free agents who almost all seem to be asking for between 5 and 8 mil with G Lucas Wall asking for 14mil too. So next off-season going to need some roster reworking, this may be the end of the road for this team before a rebuild. There's nothing in the prospect pool to fill the gaps if overpriced players leave too, no letting a 3.0 player wanting 5mil walk to replace them with a 19 year old on an entry level contract, the farm is bare.

I half-thought of trading everybody away and going full rebuild before the season started, I got as far as shopping all the upcoming free agents to see what kind of haul I could expect, looks like the return would be around 2 1st round picks and a huge bucket of 3rd, 4th and 5th round picks. So the decision has been punted until the trade deadline, if we're out the running by then it'll be clear out time. I dont think it's very likely that we'll be out of the playoff race by trade deadline though, this is pretty much the same team that got 119 points last year.

There's a definite fall off in the number of top players in the league by 2040, there was a time where the top teams would be rocking 4 or more 5.0 star "top players", now most teams are 1x5.0 or a couple of 4.5's and a strong supporting cast. I've seen complaints on reddit about how drafts are too weak long term, but I'm going in the other direction. It's not that the later drafts are too weak, it's that the early drafts are too strong. The game seeds the first few years drafts with lots of real-life prospects and it makes the first 4 or so years draft pools too strong, there are top players all through the draft. A bottom of round 1 player wont be far off a top of round 1 player, even round 2 players are pretty much sure-fire future NHL players. Now that we're about 15 seasons past those strong early drafts, those early prospects have aged and retired or regressed and I'm going this is how the game is supposed to be. It seems more balanced, teams dont have multiple superstars and the free agent market doesnt have multiple top players sitting unsigned for months. This year by opening night the unsigned free agents were all replacement level players. It's making 3.0 and even 2.5 star players more important. If I was starting again, I'd search the options to see if there's one to turn off the real prospects. There are options for everything in setup, maybe that too.

So onto the season, the first game of the regular season is a throwback to the good old days, a Jordan Gavin hattrick and a goal from Henry Mews. Jordan Gavin is still a top player, he's fallen from 5.0 to 4.0 over the last couple of seasons but still leads the team, but going by ratings alone Henry Mews should now be our 7th defender, he's rated 2.0. He'll be staying top line, you dont turn a team legend into a backup. Not til next year anyway.

We start slowly, looking more like a wild card/just missed the playoffs-type team than a contendor, mainly down to our star goalie Lucas Wall. He's less than effective, nearing the halfway point he's got a negative "goals saved above average" rating, not what you expect from a 5.0 goalie. It's his contract year, maybe he can't stand the pressure. By the holiday period he's sitting on the bench and Janiszewski is starting and out performing him. At the midway point we're 4th/5th in the division and just about holding onto a wild card spot.

Normally the All-Star game whizzes past without me noticing, and with limited or no Anchorage involvement (Jordan Gavin and Henry Mews have been our best players for years, but Gavin has 3 all-star appearances and Mews only 1), but this year there's Anchorage involvement, Borje Svensson scores a hattrick for the Western Conference. The Western Conference still lose though, but an all-star hattrick. Probably just means he'll want to be paid more.

The second half everything clicks, Lucas Wall wins his starter goalie spot back and is closer to his best, Jordan Gavin has rolled back the years and is having his best season for years as a 34 year old. Anchorage end the season with a 14-2-0 run and win the Pacific division on the last day. We have the second best record in the conference behind Arizona, they're led by the league's best player Jerry Megna. He ends the season with 112 points (53 goals, 59 assists) in 67 games, he'd have been record breaking if he hadn't separated his shoulder and missed 15 games.

One downside of Jordan Gavin's bounceback season (48 goals, 35 assists in 81 games, only his second season at over a point per game) is his salary demand. He's on the last year of 12mil per year and at the start of the year he realized he was on a slide and asked for 8mil per year. Now he's had one good year he's now asking for 16mil per year. Not bloody likely.

So Anchorage Huskies win the Pacific with 110 points, Vancouver are in 2nd also with 110, Vegas with 101 (they're 15 points ahead at Xmas but collapse from then on), Edmonton with 99 and San Jose with 93 (both wild cards are from the Pacific).

In the Central division it's Arizona with 121 points, Nashville with 104 and St Louis with 103. In the Eastern conference Toronto win the Atlantic division and the President's Trophy with 124 points. Reigning Stanley Cup champs Carolina win the Metropolitan division with 122 points.

Onto the playoffs, we'll play the top Wild Card team Edmonton in round one.

[Critch]

2040/41 Playoffs Round 1 - Anchorage Huskies v Edmonton Oilers
It's a first playoff meeting with the Edmonton Oilers, mainly because they've not been very good. This is their first time back-to-back in the playoffs in almost 20 seasons, they haven't won a series in the playoffs since Draisaitl and McDavid retired 10 years ago, and even when they had those two they still were inconsistent. So we haven't played them in the playoffs because they rarely make it and don't hang around when they do. Hopefully this isn't their year to change that.

They seem to have a number of good young players (high draft picks every year will do that), but they've been signing older top free agents to pad it out, 30yo LW Ashley Muzzin from Washington and 32yo Center Frans Karjalahti from Atlanta, alongside their own draft picks RD Charlie Tearall and LW Elvin Washington. Both Tearall and Washington come in carrying injuries, the AI seems to be a lot more into delaying treatment and leaving players playing injured than I am, Washington's injury seems quite severe to play through, an elbow injury that'll take 2 months to recover from when he starts resting.

Edmonton finished 4th in the Pacific Division, 11 points behind the Huskies. They scored one more goal than Anchorage in the regular season (289v288), but conceded 53 more (252v199). Anchorage have always been pretty conservative and defensive, they do play a lot of not very attacking forwards.

Game 1 - Edmonton Oilers 2 Anchorage Huskies 6
Anchorage will be missing winger Jeff Martin, he's been out since February and probably wont be back til the start of next season. He' injury prone and we pay him over 7mil per season. Michael Jackson puts Anchorage ahead at 4:47, but the strangely named Edmonton center Jeffrey Coonishish gets them back to 1-1 at the end of the first. Anchorage get into a good lead in the second, three goals without reply. Joni-Jukka Timonen, August Pettersson and Enzo Landrey make it 4-1 by the end of the first. All four of the Anchorage scorers so far are free agents in the summer. Into the third Coonishish gets one back, but Mark Dollack and Alexander Broda score and game one is safely won. Edmonton actually outshot Anchorage, but Anchorage scored 6 goals on 29 shots. The Edmonton goalie, Tommy McLean, isnt very good.

Game 2 - Edmonton Oilers 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
Bad news for Anchorage on the injury front, David Prudek is out short term. Worse news for Edmonton is that they're top center and assist man Frans Karjalahti is done for the season. Edmonton lead 1-0 after the first with a goal from Jackson Smith. In the second Joni-Jukka Timonen scores his second goal of the playoffs, after managing 4 in 70 regular season games, but Edmonton score again to lead 2-1 after the second period, Harrison Smith scores for them. It doesnt say if Harrison Smith is Jackson Smith's brother, but Jackson and Harrison sound like they've been named by the same parents. Into the third and it's 3-1 Edmonton but not another Smith brother, this time it's Ryan Huss. He is from the same town as the Smith boys so maybe a cousin (all three have Calgary AB listed as their hometown). It's 3-1 Edmonton going into the last 5 minutes but Anssi Ridanpaa scores to make it 3-2, Mark Dollack ties it up with a power play goal at 18:42, and we're off to overtime. It doesn't last long, 25 seconds in Borje Svensson scores and Anchorage take a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 0 Edmonton Oilers 3
Edmonton might be beat up, but they're not out yet. They score a 5-on-3 power play goal in the first, they have a 5-on-3 advantage for 1 minute 20 before scoring, then add another power play goal in the second. An even strength goal in the third and it's all over, Edmonton's previously discounted goalie Tommy McLean saving all 32 shots he faced. When I was a kid one of my favorite soccer players was called Tommy McLean. Probably not a relation.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Edmonton Oilers 3
It's time to shake up the defensive lines, top liner Matt Leader (the man who covers while Henry Mews dodders around the ice like Mr Magoo) picks up an injury and will be out short term. Our Russian rookie Dennis Molotov is in to set the game alight like something explosive. Another young defenseman, 23 year old Czech Martin Pospisil makes it 1-0 to Anchorage, Edmonton equalize with yet another power play goal, but a Russian rookie gives us the lead. It's 21 year old LW Yegor Grebenkov (in because Martin and Prudek are out so we're short of Left Wingers). Into the second period and Edmonton race back into it, Harrison Smith scores (and assist from his "brother") to tie it up, they score again at 9:01 and it's 3-2 Edmonton. It doesn't last long, Jordan Gavin scores his first of the playoffs (with an assist from Henry Mews, his first of the playoffs) within 2 mins, and August Pettersson scores a go ahead goal for Anchorage before the end of the second. A late empty net goal from Borje Svensson and Anchorage are 3-1 up in the series. Just like we were 3-1 up in last season's Stanley Cup final. Grumble.

Game 5 - Edmonton Oilers 3 Anchorage Huskies 4
Joni-Jukka Timonen is out now, we're 2 defensemen down since Leader is still out. In comes long time Anchorage backup John Fireman, he's just back from injury and not 100% himself. The first period passes scoreless, but Anchorage race out into a lead in the second period, Henry Mews at 4:05, Enzo Landrey at 4:36 and Michael Jackson at 12:29. Past the halfway point and we're 3-0 up in the game and 3-1 up in the series. It's almost all over, even when Bryce Collins scores for Edmonton late in the second. Midway through the third and it's game-on, another power play goal for Edmonton, Bryce Collins again. Five minuted later it's all tied up, another power play goal for Edmonton and it's Bryce Collins completing his hattrick. We're heading towards overtime when Anchorage get their first power play of the game, Henry Mews scores and, after holding on for 2 more minutes, the series is over.

We'll now have a few days off to recover, hopefully get Prudek, Timonen and Leader back fit, and work on the penalty kill. We've conceded 5 goals in the last 7 Edmonton power plays.

Next up it'll be Vancouver, they get by Vegas in seven games. Anchorage will have had a full seven days off allowing injuries to heal before the first game of that series, it's good to win quickly.

[Critch]

2040/41 Playoffs Round 2 - Anchorage Huskies v Vancouver Canucks
It's Vancouver again, they beat us a couple of years ago in the Conference final. Back then it was supposedly Connor Bedard's last chance to finally win a Stanley Cup (which he did), but they're back again this year and he's still there. He's 35 years old, the years of 100pts a season are long gone ("only" 62 points this year) but he's still center on their top line and he's still earning 12mil per year so he's not quite done.

They still have all-star defenseman Louis-Joseph Boutin, a top young RW in Oskar Gronberg, former number 1 pick Sam Dickinson (a long time ago, he's played 1275 games for Vancouver) and goalie Nick Milley. So they're still a top team even if Bedard is finally fading.

Anchorage won the Pacific division with 110 points, but Vancouver were second also with 110 points. So it'll be close.

Game 1 - Vancouver Canucks 0 Anchorage Huskies 3
David Prudek is back, Matt Leader is back, a week between series has been kind to the Huskies and getting players back from knocks. There's no scoring in the first, but we do kill a penalty so that's a good start. Aleksandr Unichenko (10:43) and Matt Leader (17:44) and it's 2-0 Anchorage after the second period. August Pettersson adds another in the third and we're 1-0 up in the series. After selling Nick Milley as a top goalie, they've apparently dropped him, he's the backup now. Their new starter Phil Padgett did ok, stopped 36 of 39 shots, but Anchorage cruised game one.

Game 2 - Vancouver Canucks 3 Anchorage Huskies 1
Anchorage lose a game they shouldnt have lost. Vancouver go 1-0 up in the first with a goal from Marcus Mezon, they go 2-0 up in the second with a short handed goal from Luke Moroz. Enzo Landrey drags Anchorage within 1 with 5 minutes to go, before an Anchorage power play to end the game. Vancouver add another short handed goal, this one empty net, and the series is tied at 1-1.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Vancouver Canucks 2
The theme of the first period is aging star centers scoring: Connor Bedard puts Vancouver ahead, Jordan Gavin makes it 1-1. The theme of the second period is goals from defensemen: Matt Leader scores for Anchorage, Sam Dickinson brings Vancouver level (another power play goal, 5-on-3), Matt Leader scores again. Going into the the third it's 3-2 Anchorage and happily the theme of the third is Anchorage scoring. Borje Svensson makes it 4-2, Mark Dollack adds a powerplay goal and it's a 5-2 win for Anchorage.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 3 Vancouver Canucks 0
Joni-Jukka Timonen is back from injury, but he's not 100% fit and Denis Molotov has been doing well in his absense so Molotov flames on. And it's a good decision too, Molotov scores in the first period and it's not even the first goal, Jordan Gavin scored Anchorage's first. So 2-0 after the first period, still 2-0 after the second period, still 2-0 when Vancouver go empty net late on, and thats when August Pettersson scores an empty net goal and it's 3-0. Not so good new for August Pettersson is he shows up on the development report with a negative number, if he's a regressing 28 year old he's not getting the 8mil per year he thinks he's worth.

Game 5 - Vancouver Canucks 2 Anchorage Huskies 5
It's a chance for Anchorage to tie up the series, and they dont mess it up and piss away the series this time. David Prudek makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first, Alexander Broda makes it 2-0 in the second, but Vancouver score twice in a minute and it's 2-2 after two periods. The scoring in the third is all one way, Alexander Broda makes it 3-2 at 1:18, Aleksandr Unichenko makes it 4-2 at 9:35, Aleksandr Unichenko scores again and makes it 5-2 at 12:47 and the series is over, 4-1 to Anchorage and we're off to the Conference final again. It's not all good news though, Jordan Gavin is injured. A minor injury, a thigh strain, but who knows how long that'll last.

So it's the conference final against San Jose Sharks. I'm not sure how they're here, they're not very good. In the Eastern Conference it's Quebec Nordiques against reigning Stanley Cup champions Carolina Hurricanes.

[Critch]

2040/41 Western Conference Finals - Anchorage Huskies v San Jose Sharks
It's the hated San Jose, our number one rival apparently. If I check the teams rivals page Anchorage lists San Jose Sharks as the main rival, San Jose's page doesnt mention Anchorage at all. We hate them and they dont care.

Normally when you look at a playoff team they have a few 5.0 or 4.5 rated players, a supporting cast of 6 or so 4.0 or 3.5 star players then a bunch of 3.0 and 2.5 role players. San Jose are like that but without the stars. They're all supporting cast. They finished 5th in the Pacific division but sneaked into the playoffs as the second wild card team, upset the number one seed Arizona 4-2 then swept St Louis. They may well be the worst team we've faced in the playoffs.

Their star player is RW Jeremy Skolrood, he only played 25 games this season after all kinds of elbow issues. He's a 4.0 player, the only player they have over 3.5. Other than that they have former Huskie Rick Claybomb (51 games in the 2033/34 season), 34 year old recurring all-star Macklin Celebrini, they're not very good and they're not even young.

We should be winning this.

Game 1 - San Jose Sharks 5 Anchorage Huskies 1
The knock Jordan Gavin got in the last series wasnt serious, the few days rest between series was enough and he wont be missing any games. We're just terrible all game, only manage 19 shots and are out of it quickly. It's 3-0 Sharks after the first, 4-0 after the second, Borje Svenson pulls one back in a penalty ridden third period but it's too late and Macklin Celebrini adds a 5th late on. Lucas Wall stinks with a .773 save percentage.

Game 2 - San Jose Sharks 0 Anchorage Huskies 2
Game 2 is totally different. Anchorage outshoot them 43-16 and, despite the scoreline, it's a walkover. Anchorage score a power play goal in the second (Michael Jackson at 14:30) and a late powerplay goal in the third (Borje Svensson at 19:33, empty net) and the series is tied.

Game 3 - Anchorage Huskies 4 San Jose Sharks 2
Another game Anchorage dominate. Anchorage lead quickly, Jordan Gavin makes it 1-0 after 58 seconds. San Jose get back on level terms in the second, Tyler Whaley after 8:11 and it's 1-1 going to the third period. Midway through the third period Anchorage score a pair of power play goals, Micael Jackson at 10:33 and Alexander Broda at 13:17 and the game is won. San Jose get back close at 14:11 from Antoine Denis, but Mark Dollack adds another for Anchorage and it's game over.

Game 4 - Anchorage Huskies 4 San Jose Sharks 1
An injury for Anchorage, but it's a strange one that probably makes us stronger. Henry Mews is really in the team for nostalgia, he's out now with an injury. Two Anchorage goals in the first (Enzo Landrey at 9:46, Anssi Ridanpaa at 16:29. Ridanpaa has "umlauts" over both the final a's. Not umlauts, Finnish doesnt have umlauts. But that's what they look like). Two more goals in the second (Joni-Jukka Timonen (3:56) and Mark Dollack (7:36), Joni-Jukka Timonen is Finnish too but doesnt have any not-umlauts at all). It's game over, even though Jeremy Skolrood scores a late consolation for San Jose.

Game 5 - San Jose Sharks 2 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
We need one win to clinch the series, but the injuries are starting to kick in. Henry Mews is still out and he's joined by LW David Prudek (probably out for the playoffs) and Aleksandr Unichenko (day to day, should be back soon). In better news Jeff Martin has been back training and we could risk him tonight if needed. He wont be risked. In the first period Macklin Celebrini gives San Jose the lead, but Anssi Ridanpaa and then Enzo Landrey score to give Anchorage a 2-1 lead after the first period. The second period goes by scoreless despite a 5 minute boarding major for Denis Molotov, we kill the five minute power play but that'll be a suspension. Into the third clinging onto a lead, but Will Kesselman scores for San Jose and we're heading to overtime. San Jose have the best of the overtime, but it's Jordan Gavin who scores the sudden death goal and we're off to the Stanley Cup finals again. We dont play well, allow a lot of shots and outshot (37-28), but goalie Lucas Wall saves the day.

Last year it was Anchorage v Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals, this year it's Anchorage v Carolina too. The win the Eastern Conference finals 4-2 over Quebec.

It would be only fair if it's out turn to win.

[Critch]

2040/41 Stanley Cup Finals - Anchorage Huskies v Carolina Hurricanes
What would be a more fitting end to the dynasty than winning a Stanley Cup right now? The original stars are fading away to retirement and the rest of the team is about to be ravaged by free agency, I could win the Stanley Cup, declare the dynasty a resounding success and move onto Football Manager without having to go through an Anchorage rebuild that could dent my feeling of having beaten FHM. It's all set up.

Last year we held a 3-1 lead over Carolina in the Stanley Cup final and threw it away, we crumbled and let them come back into it and win. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. There's no doubt Carolina are a good team, so it's not going to be easy. All the stars they had last year are back, all-star defenseman Stanislav Rakhvalov and top goalie Filip Urban, defensive winger Brodie Felker, 22 year old winger Matthew O'Hara is back and seems to have improved, 4.0 star Center Jani Jauhiainen, top goalie prospect Emilio Jeffrey (although he's not played a minute in the playoffs this year, it's been all Urban), but they've also added 19 year old rookie RW Philippe Lachapelle, 57 points in his first season and odds on favorite for rookie of the year.

They also have home advantage. It's going to be tough.

Game 1 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Carolina Hurricanes 1
The bad news is David Prudek is still out, Aleksandr Unichenko is still out, and now LW Magnus Larsen is out too. The good news is Denis Molotov dodged a suspension for his boarding major after a review, and Jeff Martin is back for the first time since February (it's now May 24th). I'm not sure if the last bit of news is good news or bad news, so I'll just call it news: Henry Mews is back too. Jeff Martin announces his return from injury with a goal at 2:25, Brodie Felker scores for Carolina and it's 1-1 after the first. Into the second period and it's Anchorage Centers go Wild, Enzo Landrey scores 2 (1:41 and 9:39), Michael Jackson adds another at 16:18 and we're 4-1 up after two periods. Carolina get an early power play in the third, but Alexander Broda crushes their hopes of a comeback with a short handed goal, Enzo Landrey adds another at 19:35 to finish his hattrick and game one is in the bag.

Game 2 - Anchorage Huskies 6 Carolina Hurricanes 1
I haven't just cut and pasted and forgot to change the score, it really is 6-1 again. We're 3-0 up after the first period, an Enzo Landrey power play goal (9:05), Jordan Gavin a little over a minute later (10:09) and 4th line center (in place of the injured Aleksandr Unichenko) B.J. Zentner at 12:43 and we're flying. Jeff Martin scores at 9:35 of the second and it's 4-0. Into the third, Noel Jolanki pulls one back for Carolina at 7:07, but Jeff Martin scores again (his third goal in two games since returning from injury) at 10:25 and the comeback is dead. Michael Jackson adds a sixth at 19:57 and we've won both legs on the road, back to Anchorage 2-0 up.

Game 3 - Carolina Hurricanes 4 Anchorage Huskies 3 Overtime
Still no returns from injury, Prudek, Unichenko and Larsen still all out, but no new injuries either. It's 1-1 after the first (Jauhlainen for them, Borje Svensson makes it 1-1), it's 2-2 after the second (Kale Gretzky for them, Borje Svensson equalizes again for us), 3-3 after the third (B.J. Zentner makes it 3-2 Anchorage, but they tie it up at 14:33) and we're off to overtime. There's no scoring in OT1, but in OT2 Kale Gretzky wins it for Carolina, his second goal of both this game and the playoffs, he's spent the regular season bouncing between AHL and Carolina, tonight is The Mediocre Ones time to shine.

Game 4 - Carolina Hurricanes 3 Anchorage Huskies 4 Overtime
No changes to the lineup, Unichenko could play but B.J. Zentner has been doing ok centering the 4th line so no reason to rush Unichenko when he's not 100%. Anssi Ridanpaa makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first with a power play goal but Carolina storm back in the second, two goals from Matthew O'Hara both assisted by 19 year old superstar Philippe Lachapelle and they go into the third leading 2-1. How does a perpetual challenger like Carolina manage to draft a 19 year old superstar? I want one like that. Jeff Martin scores at the beginning of the third (his 4th in 4 games) and it's all square until Matthew O'Hara finishes his hat-trick and it's 3-2 Carolina. Johan Dahlberg scores at 10:31 and we're off to over time. Last game went to double overtime, this game doesn't even make it 2 minutes, Jordan Gavin scores the winner at 1:25. We're 3-1 up and only one game away from winning the Stanley Cup final. Same as we were last year.

Game 5 - Anchorage Huskies 5 Carolina Hurricanes 2
B.J. Zentner keeps his place in the 4th line, no changes. If we win tonight we'll have won the series without David Prudek, Magnus Larsen and Aleksandr Unichenko, three important players. I shouldn't be this tense pressing a "sim game" button, I'm a grown man and it's just a game, but here we are. Borje Svensson makes it 1-0 Anchorage in the first, the 4th line make it 2-0 at 2:30 of the second, Devan Vandenberg scores with assists from Jordan Mynarski and B.J. Zentner. Now I think about it I should have dropped Jordan Mynarski and played Unichenko on the left wing, he can play there. Sorry Aleksandr. Kale Gretzky pulls one back for Carolina but another no-name restores our two goal lead, 21 year old Russian rookie Yegor Grebenkov. Carolina score again late in the second period and we're 3-2 up and 20 minutes away from the Stanley Cup. At 3:53 we're 4-2 up when Michael Jackson scores, at 12:09 Enzo Landrey adds a power play goal to make it 5-2 and the Stanley Cup is won. We were outshot 43-28 (although Anchorage had more high danger chances 13-10), Anchorage goalie Lucas Wall made the difference stopping 41 of 43 shots.

Seventeen seasons for Anchorage, thirteen playoff appearances, a current streak of eleven playoff appearances in a row, seven Western Conference finals (all in the last nine years), five Stanley Cup finals, two Stanley Cup wins. It's not been a bad run.