Reviving A City: An NHL 19 Expansion Dynasty

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by SeattleBattleCat

Welcome back! Good luck, go get that Cup.

Thanks. It's funny, I was on the cloud on my ps4 looking for some older nba 2k saves and I saw NHL was on there. Low and behold, one of my back ups was on there and I loaded it up and it worked. I was excited. Initially when I lost my save i didn't see any NHL data there but it was late and I was mad when it happened. Luckily I found it!

[Funkycorm]

Update through 2026

Records to Date:

2023-24: 32-48-8, 72 points, 8th Metro, 16th East, 32nd NHL, Rebuilder
2024-25: 37-39-6, 80 points, 7th Metro, 14th East, 28th NHL, Rebuilder/Hopeful
2025-26: 44-30-8, 96 points, 3rd Metro, 5th East, 10th NHL, Contender

Ratings: To compare, in 2020 our ratings were 88/90/86, and now at the beginning of 2025, they are 95/92/95


Stanley Cup Champions:

2023-24: Detroit 4, Columbus 1
2024-25: Chicago 4, Columbus 2
2025-26:

Spoiler

San Jose 4, Carolina 1

The goalie we traded to San Jose has turned into the top goalie in the NHL. The one position to this point, we have yet to secure a long term hold on.

2026 Playoffs:

Spoiler

We ended up clinching a playoff spot with only 4 games left in the season.

In the first round we faced the Metro division champ Rangers.

We won the series 4-1 and not only made our first playoff as an expansion team but also won our first playoff series.

Next, we faced the Hurricanes and fell 4-1 in the second round. We went down 3-0 and tried to fight back against a strong Carolina team.

Our team got some valuable playoff experience.

It has been 3 seasons since my last update.
Things are continuing to go as planned as we continue to accumulate draft picks and build up our farm system.


Mid way through the 2024-25 season, the dynamic of our team really started to change. Our owner pulled us out of rebuilding status and upgraded us to playoff hopeful. There was a spurt where we won 8 games in a row and were 9-1 in our last 10.


We ended up missing the playoffs but it felt like we have turned a stone and are starting to leave our build up phase and getting into our grabbing a few pieces phase.


A struggle we have had since the get go is goaltending. We have been using journey man goalies until now while we wait for the right goalie. We have had a few elite prospects but none have really developed.


With one of our first round picks we drafted a franchise low 60 overall 18-year-old goalie who we hope can develop. To play at the NHL level, we traded our near NHL ready 75 low elite overall goalie and 2 first round picks (both future picks from L.A.) for a 90-overall goalie with 2 years left on his contract.


This was the first time we had made a trade that wasn't to acquire draft picks. We spent a few years stocking up on picks trading prospects we weren't going to play. They were young low elite guys less than 20 typically so they could develop.


We went into the 2025-26 season with our status as contenders. The team didn't disappoint. We were in first through the end of January. We started to fall down the standings as our top defenseman went down for 2 months with an injury. We made another trade. We sent a quality defenseman prospect and two 2nd round picks to Ottawa for a rental defenseman who was on the last year of a deal.



Look Ahead:

Going into the 2026-27 season, we retain our top 2 lines, our top defense line, and a valuable prospect makes his anticipated debut. We will be looking for 1 more veteran defenseman in free agency on a short contract to play with this rookie skater.

We remain a contender going into the 2026-27 season. We have plenty of draft capital to make a move or two to boost our team. My mentality on pick trading for players it to use the acquired draft capital from trades to make sure we still get our base picks so we can keep our farm system full of the next man up.

I have totally forgot to write down my lines to this point. I will include them in future updates.


Thanks for reading!

[m1a2lt]

Nice to see the Whalers back and everything looks great. Wish they had more defunct team logos to choose from (wanted my Houston team originally to be the Aeros).

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by m1a2lt

Nice to see the Whalers back and everything looks great. Wish they had more defunct team logos to choose from (wanted my Houston team originally to be the Aeros).

That would have been awesome!

[Funkycorm]

Update End of 2027


Record to Date:
2026-27: 48-26-8, 104 points, 2nd Metro, 4th East, 6th NHL, Championship contender.

Ratings: 96/93/91


We had an amazing season this year. Our team broke the 100-point mark for the first time in our dynasty and made the playoffs for a second year in a row. In was a tight race in the Metro all season long and only clinched a playoff berth with 3 games left in the season.

We have been happy with our team and did not make any trade deadline moves. Neither to trade away NHL players or to acquire rentals for a playoff push and trade away prospects.

Our leading scorer, second line center Magnus Jonsson, scored a franchise record 77 points while playing in 76 games. His line was 15 goals, 62 assists, and 77 total points. The assist total of 62 is also a team record to this point.


We are playoff bound!


Stay tuned!


Thanks for reading!

[SeattleBattleCat]

Best of luck, go Whalers!

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by SeattleBattleCat

Best of luck, go Whalers!

Thank you!!!

[Funkycorm]

2027 Playoffs Round 1

We faced a tough Philadelphia Flyers team.

Game by Game Results:

Spoiler

Game 1: W 3-2, OT
Game 2: W 4-1
Game 3: W 5-1
Game 4: L 2-3, SOL
Game 5: W 6-2

Series Result:

Spoiler

We won the series 4-1 against the Philadelphia Flyers and we are on to round 2.