Navigating to the Northwest - Seattle Navigators Expansion NHL 18

[Dsimp13]

I have been a lurker for years on this site, just excited to know that there are people just like me that enjoy the depth and immersion of NHL franchises. LeafsFan31's NHL14 Mario Lemieux dynasty literally changed the way I created franchises. Sure, I loved to play as my Penguins every once and a while, but I always came back to the idea of "expansion" and LeafsFan31's method of picking players.

In 2016 I finally got a real account to the site, with the plans of creating my own dynasty at last. For what ever reason, I never got around to it.

Until now.

With the ability to create a 32nd expansion team (albeit a flawed and frustrating system...be prepared to suck for a bit unless you go above and beyond with trades), I have decided to throw my hat in the ring and fire up a dynasty.

It's been years since the NHL series has had a decent way to track GM progress and history, so I figured that I might as well do this for myself, and maybe pick up some tips from people like me. So without further ado, I give to you...

NAVIGATING TO THE NORTHWEST - THE SEATTLE NAVIGATORS

[Dsimp13]

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES
I should have added this to my initial post, but here are some dynasty notes...
The first season will be a rough one, as the team is not very strong, so I will simulate a little more than normal. I will try to post updates each month, plus big season happenings as I go. Once I get the first year behind me, I will play probably 2/3 games a month, mostly big division games. The playoffs I have always played every other game, and each elimination game. I will more than likely continue that here. That's about all the housekeeping I needed to get in, so on with the show!



Following both the instant fan support of the Vegas Golden Knights and the divisional alignment issues that came with it, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has negotiated with an ownership group the fast track of a 32nd NHL franchise, the Seattle Navigators!

With this move, the Calgary Flames have relocated to the Central Division, and the Navs will take their spot in the Pacific...this aligns the geography a bit, plus adds some rivalry between the new expansion teams.

Their jersey scheme is blue and black, with white/gold trim. The alternate tries to inspire the image of waves that true navigators must handle.
(Images are underneath the spoiler tag)

Spoiler

Although their team is behind the 8 ball, unable to swing moves to stock picks in the upcoming draft like Vegas, plus having the talent pool scoured a bit, the Seattle ownership team has put faith and confidence in new GM Dan Simpson to lead this team to success. It all begins with the expansion draft...

While Vegas had the pomp and circumstance of the team announcement at the NHL Awards, GMDS has quietly faxed his roster into league offices for approval. The team looks as follows:

NHL Expansion Draft - Seattle Navigators
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1	Anaheim Ducks	Sami Vatanen	D	5'10"	183
2	Arizona Coyotes	Alex Burmistrov	LW	6'1"	180
3	Boston Bruins	Kevan Miller	D	6'2"	210
4	Buffalo Sabres	Cody Franson	D	6'5"	224
5	Calgary Flames	Matt Stajan	C	6'1"	195
6	Carolina Hurricanes	Cam Ward	G	6'1"	185
7	Chicago Blackhawks	Ville Pokka	D	6'0"	213
8	Colorado Avalanche	Matt Nieto	LW	5'11"	190
9	Columbus Blue Jackets	Joonas Korpisalo	G	6'3"	190
10	Dallas Stars	Stephen Johns	D	6'4"	230
11	Detroit Red Wings	Luke Glendening	RW	5'11"	199
12	Edmonton Oilers	Mark Letestu	C	5'10"	197
13	Florida Panthers	James Reimer	G	6'2"	217
14	Los Angeles Kings	Alec Martinez	D	6'1"	212
15	Minnesota Wild	Jonas Brodin	D	6'1"	193
16	Montreal Canadiens	Phillip Danault	C	6'1"	193
17	New York Islanders	Calvin de Haan	D	6'1"	197
18	New York Rangers	Matt Puempel	LW	6'2"	204
19	Nashville Predators	Calle Jarnkrok	LW	5'11"	186
20	New Jersey Devils	Devante Smith-Pelly	RW	6'0"	214
21	Ottawa Senators	Ryan Dzingel	C	6'0"	190
22	Philadelphia Flyers	Matt Laughton	LW	6'1"	190
23	Pittsburgh Penguins	Matt Cullen	C	6'1"	200
24	San Jose Sharks	Melker Karlsson	C	6'0"	180
25	St. Louis Blues	Dmitrij Jaskin	LW	6'2"	217
26	Tampa Bay Lightning	Braydon Coburn	D	6'5"	223
27	Toronto Maple Leafs	Seth Griffith	RW	5'9"	191
28	Vancouver Canucks	Reid Boucher	LW	5'10"	195
29	Washington Capitals	Philipp Grubauer	G	6'1"	182
30	Winnipeg Jets	Tyler Myers	D	6'8"	229

The selections weren't the most attractive, a whole lot of 3rd liners, some with a bit more potential than others.

CENTERS
There isn't a real standout in the bunch. Danault, Karlsson, and Dzingel could all vie for the chance to hold down the third and fourth lines, with possibility of moving up the lineup. Letestu can add some experience and versatility, while Cullen is coming off back to back Stanley Cups in which he played a decent sized role, and can still produce at age 40. Hopefully keeping his minutes down can extend his career a bit enough to help the youngsters grow.

LEFT WINGER
More of the same, just middle of the lineup talent. Puempel will start the year in CT where he can play top line AHL minutes to get experience in. Jarnkrok is playing on a great contract (5 years, $2 million), and both Jaskin and Boucher will hopefully grow a bit.

RIGHT WINGER
GMDS has some faith that his LW core can play both sides of the ice, as he went with only three RWs. Glendening will be a very cheap and serviceable 4th liner/depth guy, as his contract is very team friendly at $1.8 million for each of the next 4 years. Smith-Pelly will compete for a third line role for years to come, and Griffith can hopefully tap into some potential if he is managed correctly.

DEFENSE
Vatanen and Brodin are the highlights here, with Coburn and de Haan chipping in to flesh out the top 4. Alec Martinez, Tyler Myers, and Cody Franson were three guys that can hopefully be flipped for some picks at the draft, as they don't really fit with the Navs' slow build scheme. Miller & Johns are a very decent third pairing/7th defensemen options, and Pokka will play in the AHL to try to get as much playing time as possible.

GOALIES
Korpisalo will be groomed to be the goalie of the future, with the hope that Cam Ward and either Reimer or Grubauer (GMDS will try to flip one of the two to a goalie-needing team) can service the NHL squad while Korpisalo gets starters minutes in the AHL.

This team isn't pretty, but hopefully GMDS can gain some picks out of a few players at the NHL Draft, and then maybe as the deadline nears and contenders are looking for depth pieces.

The Navigators don't have any real strengths at a particular position (other than goalie), so the strategy heading into the draft will be taking the best players available.

[Dsimp13]

"And with the 5th pick of the 2017 Draft, the Seattle Navigators select..."

Navs GM Dan Simpson went into the 2017 NHL Draft with a tough task...how can he improve the team as much as he can, without sacrificing the future? Well it was an eventful first round to say the least.

Keeping one eye on what rival Vegas was doing, GMDS swung two big deals in the first round that he hopes will be enough reward for the risk.

Seattle sent D-man Alec Martinez to the Boston Bruins for the 19th overall pick, but the biggest move saw the defensemen Tyler Myers and Brayden Coburn, along with the Navs 4th round pick, to Chicago for the Blackhawks' center Artem Anisimov and the 27th overall pick.

Seattle retained $3.35 million in the deal ($1.5m for Myers and $1.85m for Coburn), plus adding Anismov's $4.550m contract that runs through the 2021-22 season. When asked after the deal was official, GMDS was cautiously optimistic about the trade, saying "Anisimov is a legitimate top 6 centerman, and it was big for us to snag that third 1st round selection. We have a ton of cap space, so we'll just have to see what happens. I'm still just excited that the guy we wanted at 5 landed in our lap!"

Simpson was referring to the 5th overall selection Elias Pettersson. Sources say he was working the phones trying to bump to the 4th spot to pick him, and had just about given up hope when the Canucks denied offer after offer.

Also, the Navs were ecstatic that the man they wanted with the 35th pick in round 2 was still there, defenseman Timothy Liljegrin. Adding this talented (Low Elite) player eased the pain of losing two veteran d-men in the Blackhawks deal.

Here are the results for the rest of the draft:

Seattle Navigators 2017 Draft
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1 (5)	Seattle Navigators	Elias Pettersson	C	6'2"	161
1 (19)	Seattle Navigators (from Boston Bruins)	Pierre-Olivier Joseph	D	6'0"	150
1 (27)	Seattle Navigators (from Chicago Blackhawks)	Nick Henry	RW	6'0"	190
2 (35)	Seattle Navigators	Timothy Liljegren	D	5'11"	198
3 (67)	Seattle Navigators	Pavel Koltygin	LW	6'0"	192
5 (131)	Seattle Navigators	Matthew Ricci	D	6'3"	198
6 (163)	Seattle Navigators	Vladimir Kolosov	LW	6'1"	193
7 (195)	Seattle Navigators	Radek Koblizek	RW	5'9"	160

Now, GMDS has his attention turned to the re-sign phase of the offseason, where he has 11 contracts expiring. Stay tuned!


Dynasty Notes

Spoiler

The trade could be not as good as planned, as the pick I got at 27 (Nick Henry) turned out to be only a top 9 medium, so we'll have to see. I like having a solid top 6 center, but the length is a toughy as Anisimov is already 29. At least it's only 4.5 per.

The rest of the draft had some whiffs (Hey, this guy Koltygin is unknown but was projected to go two rounds ago, let's snag him!) aaaand low bottom 6. ugh. but Ricci and Kolosov are top 4 d/top 9 d respectively...even if it's low, i'll take that upside at the end of a draft.

(I've decided to add a spot on here where I can throw my thoughts about how the dynasty is going. I've added the spoiler tag so that it doesn't make more of a text blast for those who just want to read the "story" aspect of it.)

[Dsimp13]

SEATTLE NAVIGATORS PRE-SEASON RECAP

After an eventful 2017 NHL Draft, Seattle Navigators GM Dan Simpson set his sights on his existing roster. GMDS had 11 expiring contracts to deal with, not to mention the free agent market.

Simpson wasted no time, and on the first day of the re-sign period offered contracts to every player.

The scouting team met with the head coach and GM, and Seattle reached a decision to let each draft pick play one more year in juniors. The thought behind it was that the farm system was too raw to let the picks play with more appropriate line-mates, and risk impeding growth. They will re-evaluate next season.

The two UFAs, Cody Franson and Matt Cullen, were both skeptical about playing for an upstart expansion team, and had let their agents know to inform the GM. Simpson offered Cullen $2m over 2 years, up from the $1.7 number the player was hoping for. Cullen accepted, and changed his view from "win now" to helping the Navs get on the track to success. Franson received the exact offer his agent mentioned, $1.825m over 2 years, but both sides agreed that he would be better off hitting the open market.

There were 9 different RFAs up, and each received offers. In this group, GMDS locked in one of his top 4 defenseman (de Haan, 3/$4.125), backup goalie (Grubauer, 2/$2.825), among other upstart players.

NEW CONTRACTS
Matt Cullen - 2/$2m
Calvin de Haan - 3/$4.125
Ryan Dzingel - 2/$1.725
Alex Burmistrov - 2/$0.950
Scott Laughton - 1/$1.175
Matt Nieto - 2/$0.850 (2 Way)
Reid Boucher - 2/$0.875 (2 Way)
Seth Griffin - 2/$0.900 (2 Way)
Ville Pokka - 1/$0.750 (2 Way)

While Seattle wasn't in the market for any of the big free agents, there were definitely some holes on the roster that needed filled.

After trading Martinez, Coburn, and Myers, there was an opening in the top 4. GMDS filled that spot by nabbing Justin Schultz for $4.9m over 3 years. He had to juice the contract a bit to outspend a few other teams, but in the end he got his man.

One big need was top 6 depth, so GMDS looked to find a reliable winger without breaking the bank or making a long-term commitment. The answer he found was in RW Justin Williams, Mr. Game 7 himself. Even at age 36, Williams can hopefully continue to contribute at a moderate level, and said yes to the contract offer of $4m over 2 years.

Now that two voids were filled on the big club, Simpson needed to look at his minor league squad, the Connecticut Huskies.

Looking out for young, raw talent who would be okay playing for cheap, GMDS took a flyer on seven guys.

Two centers were acquired, Antti Suomela and Aleksi Saarela. Saarela had interest from a plethora of other teams, but eventually signed a 1 year, $925,000 deal to play for the Huskies. Hopefully these guys can prove themselves to be productive options down the middle.

On the wings, the Navs picked up Ty Rattie and Jacob de la Rose, two okay prospects. The hope is that a change of scenery and some decent minutes in the AHL can help these two grow.

Three defensemen were signed, Jarred Tinordi, Jordan Oesterle, and Johannes Johannesen.

The preseason went about as well as could be expected, with wins and losses not really taken seriously by the ownership. Instead, the Navs looked to build some chemistry and get everyone working together, thus keeping the same roster for the entirety of the preseason. The stats are below:

Spoiler

Seattle Navigators Pre-Season Stats Stats - 2017-18
Skaters	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	GW	PIM	SOG	SPCT
Artem Anisimov	7	4	7	11	10		2	17	23.5
Jonas Brodin	7	1	4	5	7		0	12	8.3
Alex Burmistrov	7	1	0	1	-2		0	8	12.5
Matt Cullen	7	2	3	5	0		0	17	11.8
Phillip Danault	7	1	4	5	1		4	20	5
Ryan Dzingel	7	0	1	1	-1		4	15	0
Luke Glendening	7	1	1	2	1		6	6	16.7
Calle Jarnkrok	7	4	3	7	9		0	27	14.8
Dmitrij Jaskin	7	0	0	0	1		0	8	0
Stephen Johns	7	0	0	0	3		0	3	0
Scott Laughton	7	1	1	2	0		8	10	10
Kevan Miller	7	0	1	1	1		0	7	0
Matt Nieto	7	0	1	1	-2		4	6	0
Justin Schultz	7	2	2	4	0		0	15	0
Devante Smith-Pelly	7	0	2	2	2		6	9	0
Sami Vatanen	7	2	4	6	2		0	14	14.3
Justin Williams	7	3	7	10	10		2	16	18.8
Calvin de Haan	7	2	3	5	7		0	13	15.4
Goalies	GP	W	L	T	GAA	TOI	SV	SV%	SHO
Philipp Grubauer	6	5	1	0	1.83	350	161	.936	1
Cam Ward	1	0	1	0	2.03	59	30	.937	0

With bated breath, the Seattle Navigators are as ready to go for the inaugural season, going with the depth chart below:

Spoiler

Seattle Navigators Opening Night Depth Chart Depth Chart - 2017-18
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	Calle Jarnkrok	Alex Burmistrov	Scott Laughton	Dmitrij Jaskin
C	Artem Anisimov	Phillip Danault	Ryan Dzingel	Matt Cullen
RW	Justin Williams	Matt Nieto	Devante Smith-Pelly	Luke Glendening
D #1	Sami Vatanen	Jonas Brodin	Stephen Johns
D #2	Justin Schultz	Calvin de Haan	Kevan Miller
G	Philipp Grubauer	Cam Ward

.

[Dsimp13]

Tonight is the night. Thursday, October 12, 2018. The Seattle Navigators are playing their first regular season game.

The day before, the locker room gathered together and decided to go with three alternate captains. Calle Jarnkrok, Justin Williams, and Sami Vatanen were given the honor and would lead the team against the Hurricanes the next night.

Puck dropped, and hockey was played.

Seattle Navigators at Carolina Hurricanes
Oct 12, 2017 1 2 3 F SEA (1-0-0) 1 1 1 3 CAR (0-1-0) 1 1 0 2 Three Stars Sami Vatanen, D 1G, 1A Devante Smith-Pelly GWG Elias Lindholm 1G	Team Stats Comparison SEA CAR Shots on Goal 21 23 Hits 15 10 Faceoffs Won-Lost 7-10 10-7 Penalty Minutes 0 0 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 0 0 Time on Attack 8:56 5:28
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD CAR Valentin Zykov (1) (J. McClement, L. Ferraro) SEA Matt Nieto (1) (A. Burmistrov) SECOND PERIOD CAR Elias Lindholm (1) (Unassisted) SEA Sami Vatanen (1) (A. Anisimov, C. Jarnkrok) THIRD PERIOD SEA Devante Smith-Pelly (1) (S. Vatanen, J. Schultz)

And what a win it was! A very back and forth game, with Devante Smith-Pelly netting the winning goal with under five minutes remaining. Seattle played a fast game, forechecking the Hurricane defenders whenever they could. Not the perfect game, as the defense struggled a bit and offense was disjointed at times, but a good win nonetheless. On to Los Angeles!

[Dsimp13]

Seattle Navigators - 4 Months In
(note: I'm trying to speed my way through the inaugural season and get to the TRUE start of an expansion dynasty in my opinion...the offseason into year two. So I'll probably do 4 months, trade deadline, and end of season maybe? Who knows. Thanks for reading anyway!)
So much has happened in the first 4 months of competitive Navigator hockey. Let's see what's been going on in Seattle.

Standings

Western Conference

Spoiler

Eastern Conference

Spoiler

The Seattle Navigators are 24-24-2 through the first 50 games. Those 50 points are good for 6th in the division, 4 points out of a playoff spot. The team started hot, taking 7 of a possible 12 points in the first 6 games, then faded as the games drew on. While the team was playing middle of the road hockey, GM Dan Simpson kept his eye on the future with transactions, one of which was pretty big.

Transactions

TRADES

SEA trades Scott Laughton
FLA trades Jyrki Jokipakka, 2018 4th

D-man Kevan Miller went down with a bruised knee, and GMDS seeing the lack of NHL caliber defensemen went out and snagged a solid 7th defender Jokipakka. Not a beautiful trade, but the 4th helps and Jokipakka, Miller, and Stephen Johns look to hold down the back end of the D corps.

SEA trades Jonas Brodin, 2018 4th rounder
TOR trades 2018 1st, 2018 2nd

Brodin had been struggling at the blue line for the Navs. Not that he was the only one (as you can see in the stats, every single defensemen is a minus after 50 games), but was the player not named Sami Vatanen & Justin Schultz with the most trade value. Prior to the season, the ownership sat GMDS down and went over goals, and the primary one was to have four picks in the first two rounds of the 2018 draft, and this trade accomplishes that goal.

They should both be late round picks, as Toronto leads the Atlantic Division at the 50 game mark, but 1st rounders are 1st rounders (2nd rounders aren't too shabby, either). There is still the chance of using picks as trade bait, especially after this next trade:

SEA trades Philipp Grubauer, Aleksi Saarela, 2018 4th
DAL trades Esa Landell, Max Lagace, 2018 2nd

This trade gives the Navs two 1st rounders and three 2nd rounders, satisfying the ownership's goal while giving GMDS some ammo for a prospective trade. Lindell has been struggling, but has top 4 upside and will play alongside Calvin de Haan in that second pairing. He will have the ability to showcase his skills with Liljegren, Joseph, and Ricci in the pipeline for the near future.


WAIVER PICKUPS

RW Pontus Aberg, from Nashville
An RFA at the beginning of the season, GMDS offered a contract but the Predators matched. Having a disappointing year, but Simpson likes the upside and he will play top minutes in CT for the AHL club.

D Scott Harrington, from Columbus
Defense depth, nothing more.

STATS

Spoiler

At the end of the day, with a plethora of picks going into what should be a pretty good draft, the Navs are on a decent path. The team also has some possibilities (Mark Letestu is a great example) of having forward depth to offer contenders at the deadline.

ALSO:
League Leaders

Spoiler

Stay tuned!

[SeattleBattleCat]

Nice work on the presentation and it is easy to read which is always great in a Dynasty.

Trade Deadline would be another good avenue to move some more players for picks: Calvin De Haan sticks out to me, maybe Williams for a 2nd?

Keep it up, looking forward to see how the Nav's progress.

[Dsimp13]

SEATTLE NAVIGATORS TRADE DEADLINE

The first trade deadline of the Seattle Navigators has come and gone, and GM Dan Simpson worked his phone to try to improve his team.

Three trades were made, and time will tell to see how they work out for the Navs.

Seattle trades Mark Letestu, 2018 5th & 6th rounders to Nashville for 2018 3rd & 4th rounders

Seattle continues its process of stockpiling top of the draft picks. Letestu is a decent player having a good year for a third line center. However, it is believed that his camp is not interested in being a Navigator for the future, and sources indicate the team does not see him in their future plans either. So the trade was made, seeing the Navs move up in the draft at the cost of lower picks.

Seattle trades Justin Williams (retaining $0.950m in salary), Esa Lindell, Matt Puempel, 2018 2nd rounder (DAL) & 2018 6th rounder to Boston for Brandon Carlo and 2018 1st rounder (WPG)

This trade was a little more emotional, as Justin Williams had been a leader in the locker room. His career is towards the end however, so he agreed to be dealt to Boston. He will have a better shot at success with the Bruins. Esa Lindell was acquired to fight to take Jonas Brodin's role in the top 4, and the organization was high on him, but it was a no-brainer to include him if the end result was a more established young defender in Brandon Carlo. Carlo looks to be a front runner to fill out the top 4. The Navs possessed three 2nd round draft picks, so they could afford to lose one in an effort to gain a third 1st rounder in the upcoming draft. Puempel was one of a few young AHLers Boston was interested in (one name thrown around was Seth Griffith) who are having great years for the Huskies. Puempel was on the last year of his deal, so was deemed the most expendable.

Seattle trades Cam Ward and a 2018 7th round pick to Los Angeles for Jeff Zatkoff and a 2018 2nd round pick

Much like the Williams trade, Cam Ward was sent in good faith to a team in contention for a playoff spot. The 2nd round pick was much more valuable to the Navigators, as GMDS now has six picks in the top two rounds (3 firsts, 3 seconds). A 7th round pick in this draft was worth the cost of acquiring a true backup goalie, who will spell James Reimer to finish out the season.

And thus concludes the 2017-18 trade deadline. GM Dan Simpson seems happy with the moves, as he leaves with an extra first round pick plus a good young defenseman without touching much of his future.

Check out soon for the finish of the inaugural season of the Seattle Navigators!