Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - NHL Empty Cupboard - Anchorage Huskies

Critch · 04-19-2023, 02:38 PM

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).

04-19-2023, 02:38 PM	#92
Critch lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Herndon, VA	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).