[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.