I asked the same question in this thread. What I do is play opener, promotional nights, 60-75% of divisional games and some Wednesday night rivalries. I sim all other games and if it is tied at the end of the third I jump in. Takes me about 3-4 weeks for a season with playing a average of 90 mins a day with some misses.
Nice work with the jerseys and colours, I like it.
I tried to make the same colours work but just could not co-ordinate it well enough for my Seattle Battlecats franchise so in the end I opted for Black, Orange & White. Perhaps I'll share a photo later when I get back from work.
As for amount of games played in a season, In the past (on previous releases) I have played every game from preseason through to finals however the problem with that is I'll get 5 or 6 seasons in and then I am burnt out from playing too much. Also because of this I opt for shorter 5 minute periods.
I played the entire first season with this current franchise and probably played the first 20 games of my second season before recently deciding to play every 5th game. Now the season is going quicker I am enjoying watching my team suffer losing streaks which is much better than me dominating every season and it's a tight race as to whether I'll make playoffs or not. (If making playoffs I may choose to play every 2nd or 3rd game - we'll see).
Created a 32nd franchise. The Houston Hawks. Opted for a Dark Blue, Light Blue, and Silver color scheme. Just used the Allen Americans as my AHL team.
First season:
Spoiler
I ended up 5th in the draft lottery.
Made some trades to bring in assets and young guys with the players I drafted. Here's what my first season lines look like going into opening night. Probably not going to be tons of goal scoring unless my Defensive group really carries play.
C. Jarnkrok - T. Johnson - A. Burakovsky
M. Raffl - P. Danault - C. Brown
M. Ferland - C. Tierney - D. Smith-Pelly
M. Nieto - R. Dzingel - M. Kruger
J. Brodin - Z. Bogosian
B. Dumoulin - J. Demers
J Edmundson - L. Schenn
P. Grubauer - J. Korpisalo
Notable guys in the system after the first offseason, * by guys I think could be on the NHL roster next season:
LW S. Milano (21, Projected top 6 F)* (Acquired via Trade)
LW J. de la Rose (22, Projected top 9 F) (Signed in 2017 Offseason)
C L. Andersson (19, Projected top 6 F)* (2017 5th overall pick)
D P. Myers (20, Projected top 4 D) (Acquired via Trade)
RW T. Raddysh (19, Projected top 6 F) (Aquired via Trade)
RW K. Lind (18, Projected top 6 F) (2017 2nd Round Pick)
C F. Zetterlund (18, Projected top 9 F) (2017 3rd Round Pick)
Probably play the first Home game, and a some games against Dallas to try and get that rivalry going. Other than that the first 2 years will be pretty heavily simulated.
*Note, first goal in franchise history scored by Tierney.
End of season 1.
Spoiler
Ended season 1 with the Houston Hawks.
Finished second to last with a 27-47-8 record. Only team worse was the Red Wings.
On the plus side my AHL team the Allen Americans 60-15-7. 127 PTS, next best AHL team was at 113 PTS.
Connor Brown lead the team in Goals and Points at 29 gaols and 62 points.
Subban had a really good season in AHL at 42-10-4 with a .926 save percentage.
My first round pick Lias Andersson scored 14 goals and 44 points for Allen.
Around the league the Caps beat the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup.
Start of year 2:
Spoiler
Drafted 3rd overall.
Opening night lines:
D. Perron - T. Johnson - A Burakovksy
B. Jenner - P. Danault - C. Brown
M. Ferland - R. Sheahan - B. Bennett
M. Nieto - C. Paquette - D. Smith-Pelly
J. Brodin - Z. Bogosian
B. Dumoulin - J. Edmundson
X. Ouellet - P. Nemeth
J. Korpisalo - P. Grubauer
Prospects with a * next to guys I see coming up within a year or two:
LW S. Milano (22, Projected top 6 F)* (Acquired via Trade)
LW J. de la Rose (23, Projected top 9 F)* (Signed in 2017 Offseason)
C L. Andersson (20, Projected top 6 F)* (2017 5th overall pick)
D P. Myers (21, Projected top 4 D) (Acquired via Trade)
RW T. Raddysh (20, Projected top 6 F)* (Aquired via Trade)
RW K. Lind (19, Projected top 6 F) (2017 2nd Round Pick)
C F. Zetterlund (19, Projected top 9 F) (2017 3rd Round Pick)
RW F. Zadina (18, Projected Elite F)* (2018 3rd Overall Pick)
Finally had enough time to sit down for a couple of hours, and really focus on building a team.
I also went the expansion route, with the Houston Reign. Logo is the lion head, color scheme is dark blue, dark red and gold. AHL Affiliate is called Spokane Spirit, with the same color scheme.
Expansion Draft
Spoiler
Forwards (14): Emile Poirier (CGY), Matt Nieto (COL), Curtis McKenzie (DAL), Mark Letestu (EDM), Phillip Danault (MTL), Devante Smith-Pelley (NJD), Matt Puempel (NYR), Ryan Dzingel (OTT), Scott Laughton (PHI), Chris Tierney (SJ), Patrik Berglund (STL), Yanni Gourde (TB), Seth Griffith (TOR), Reid Boucher (VAN).
Defensemen (12): Sami Vatanen (ANA), Luke Schenn (ARI), Zach Bogosian (BUF), Ville Pokka (CHI), Xavier Ouellet (DET), Jason Demers (FLA), Alec Martinez (LA), Jonas Brodin (MIN), Mattias Ekholm (NSH), Ryan Pulock (NYI), Derrick Pouliot (PIT), Tyler Myers (WIN).
Not gonna lie, I started over and over again, until I got the very 1st pick in the draft, as I really wanted to play with Nico Hischier, and I've never seen him dropped, even at #2. However, I wasn't expecting to do that good during the draft, especially on the trade market.
I started moving players I had claimed in the draft for trade value.
Alec Martinez, along with Mark Letestu and a 7th round pick went to Columbus in return of low elite center Pierre-Luc Dubois, Sonny Milano and a 3rd round pick.
Zach Bogosian went to Edmonton, along with the previously acquired 3rd round pick from CBJ and a 4th round pick in return of Edmonton's 1st round pick (23rd overall), a 4th round pick and a 5th round pick.
Matt Nieto went to Pittsburgh for their 3rd round pick.
Reid Boucher, Ryan Dzingel, Xavier Ouellet and the 3rd round pick from Pittsburgh went to San Jose in return of Julius Bergman, and SJ's two 3rd round picks.
Flipped one of those two 3rd round picks to Anaheim, along with Devante Smith-Pelley and Jason Demers for low elite winger Nick Ritchie and a 5th round pick.
Flipped the other 3rd round pick, along with a 2018 3rd round pick and goaltender Malcolm Subban (who I didn't really need with Korpisalo) to Montreal for low elite center Alex Galchenyuk, a 5th round pick in this year's draft, and a 5th round pick in 2018.
And then, I noticed the Los Angeles Kings had the 2nd overall pick, and were willing to deal it away. So I started drooling over the possibility of starting my franchise with Hischier and Heiskanen. So I started exploring many trade scenarios. It took me two different deals, but the outcome looks like this: Houston trades Patrik Berglund, Tyler Myers, Cam Ward, a 1st round pick (previously acquired from Edmonton), a 5th round pick in this year's draft, a 7th round pick in 2018 and a 1st round and 2nd round pick in 2019 to Los Angeles in return of Tyler Toffoli, Michael Mersch, their 1st round pick (2nd overall), and a 3rd round pick in 2018.
Finally, during the draft, Minnesota offered me two 3rd round picks in return of Chris Tierney and Curtis McKenzie, which I took.
I went Nico Hischier (1st) and Miro Heisaknen (2nd). I tried to trade down to the 3rd overall, but Buffalo wouldn't pay anything to jump up (hell I didn't try it, but I'm not even sure they would've made the switch, straight-up, one for the other).
Of course, I went with Timothy Liljegren in the 2nd round, and used my two 3rd round picks on Fabian Zetterlund and Ivan Vishnevski, who both turned out to be Top-9 forwards. Then I took a couple of gambles on players I thought could turned out to be low elite, but without any luck.
Free Agency and Offseason
Spoiler
Quickly re-signed all my RFAs, including Alex Galchenyuk (7 years at $5.85m per) and Philipp Grubauer (3 years at $2.85m per)...and then simmed to free agency. Which is where things went from good to even better.
Tyler Johnson was a UFA, but I felt comfortable going in with Galchenyuk, Hischier and Danault as my Top-9 centers. I need wingers, and depth on defense.
Nothing worthy on the left side, Jiri Tlusty being the highest overall available. No thank you. But then...I turned to the right wingers. And there he was, Alexander Radulov. A perfect fit for either one of Galchenyuk or Hischier. Evgenii Dadonov, as expected, was also available, so I went after both, thinking they would complete my Top-6 wingers spot with Tyler Toffoli and Nick Ritchie.
So I turned my attention to defense. With Brodin, Ekholm and Schenn already on the roster, I thought it wouldn't be bad to try to sign Kevin Shattenkirk to help Vatanen generate some good numbers from the point. So I made him an offer, and also made one to Michael Del Zotto and Nate Schmidt, who Vegas didn't retain for some reasons, as backup plans.
Before simming ahead, I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look at RFAs, just in case. I'm always hoping to see Draisaitl's name in there, but I went in telling myself I wouldn't offersheet him, even if he was available, as I really didn't need a center (though he could play wing, but anyway). But !!! I wasn't expecting to see David Pastrnak's name on the list.
I thought long and hard, looked at the roster I had built up until that point, and ultimately decided to send an offersheet, as long as I would only have to pay a 1st and a 3rd, keeping my 2nd for the next year. The way I saw it, my line-up was already in good enough of a shape that I probably wouldn't be drafting Top-5. So trading that 1st and 3rd for a sureshot medium elite player like Pastrnak, who could also help me out as early as this year, made sense. So I went with a 4-year deal, at $5.85m per...and simmed a couple of days.
Evgenii Dadonov (2 years at $2.85m), Michael Del Zotto (1 year at $3.85m) and Nate Schmidt (3 years at $2.35m) were the first to accept my offers. Alexander Radulov and Kevin Shattenkirk however both declined my offer, saying they wanted to win right now. Neither of them had signed with another team though...and since I was still waiting to hear back from Pastrnak, I had no choice but to try Radulov again. I also submitted another offer to Shattenkirk, as I still had a somewhat big hole to fill on the right side of my defense. Then I simmed another day.
Goaltender Anthony Stolarz (who I also tried to sign as a RFA from Philly) accepted my offer...but as expected, it would quickly get matched by the Flyers.
Simmed another day...and got a message that Pastrnak had accepted to sign my offersheet. Sweet ! Although, without max compensations being offered, I was still expecting Boston to match.
Simmed another day...and BOOOM ! Both Alexander Radulov (5 years at $5.0m) and Kevin Shattenkirk (2 years at $5.8m) confirmed that they would be joining the team after all ! And with still more than enough money to make other spendings ! This is shaping up to be quite a 1st year team !
Made some more offers to 3rd and 4th liners, like Nick Shore (1 year at $1.35m), Austin Watson (1 year at $1.65m), Beau Bennett (1 year at $1.2m) and Josh Jooris (1 year at $1.0m)...went up and down the list, to a point where I had completely forgotten about Pastrnak, fully expecting Boston to match anyway.
But they didn't !
So now, on top of Radulov, Dadonov, Shattenkirk, Del Zotto and Schmidt...here comes Pastrnak, a legit elite winger to play on the first line ! With still $12.0m of capspace available !
Signed a couple more AHL players, mostly to 1-year contract, and simmed ahead to preseason. Tweaked everything, from line combinations to goaltender equipment, simmed to regular season.
Went to see what was available on the trade market, thinking I probably wouldn't try anything, as I felt ready to go with what I had. But tried to see what it would cost to get low elite defenseman Thomas Chabot out of Ottawa...and was able to get him, along with Ottawa's 4th round picks in 2018 and 2019 in return of Travis Boyd (who I had previously signed as an AHLer), a 2nd round and 3rd round pick in 2018, and a 3rd round pick in 2019.
Current NHL and AHL line-up
Spoiler
So there you have it !
The Houston Reign and the Spokane Spirit are now ready to roll !