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The Everything NHL Thread
- Thread starter Jackal
- Start date
If I were in Hossa's skates and I'm working on over 10 years in my career, I've already locked up as much money as I'm ever going to need and it's time to start thinking about winning a Cup.
He's going for a Cup before going home to Europe. Why else would he have signed a one-year deal with the already-loaded defending Champions?
Well he's definitely looking for a cup but the one year thing was more the Red Wings fault than his as far as I've read - the Red Wings' first priority is to resign Franzen and Zetterberg after this year and they couldn't offer Hossa a contract over the long term that would be competitive with the other offers he's been getting, so Hossa's agent offered the one year deal which doesn't cause the cap room conflicts resigning the current Red Wings through 09-10. Holland says he's hoping to retain all three of them but there's a lot of variables there for sure.
Honestly I'm not too worried about the Bertuzzi move, he's not going to put up 100 points but even with concussion issues(which admittedly are a red flag) he got 40 points last year and he's just there's to replace Owen Nolan's 32 points anyway. He fits the general goony Calgary theme too, I think he'll be a pretty decent fit there considering he's really not making much and they didn't make the mistake of a multiyear deal.
Buffalo dealt the young Bernier, who we got in the Campbell-SJ trade, for picks which they then traded to SJ for Craig Rivet.
I dunno about this one. Rivet's style is better-suited for the West, I'm afraid all the skill teams in the East are going to skate circles around him. (Not to mention Bernier was only a fucking kid.)
I dunno about this one. Rivet's style is better-suited for the West, I'm afraid all the skill teams in the East are going to skate circles around him. (Not to mention Bernier was only a fucking kid.)
Updating here mostly for the handful of you who play video game hockey but NHL 09 is looking pretty amazing. I think 08 by a pretty wide margin had been the best hockey game to date, and 09 is fixing a lot of it's issues (the general inability to defend one timers, the fact you pretty much locked on and homed in if you tried to check someone which made it nearly impossible to miss and also the fact it was a hip check nine times out of ten, adding Delay of Game from those bullshit dumps over the boards, stuff like Dump and Chase actually works) and adding some nice new features (the ability to lift the stick, some other bullshit but mostly im just paying attention to online so whatever)
The main addition that excites me is Be a Pro mode, however. There's two separate versions of this - offline, where you control your dude and start on line 3 of an AHL team and have to work your way to the pros by completing objectives based on your role(goals for a sniper or hits for a grinder or whatever) as well as not doing stupid shit (line changing on time, not going offsides, not having a +/- rating that would make Briere look like Datsyuk, not icing the puck, staying in position on defense, etc.). You can be traded(because you suck or are like in an Ilya Kovalchuk situation where your team blows), waived, sign contracts in free agency, etc. A suprising amount of the EA NHL dev team are former professional hockey players(no one amazing, obviously) so they've lived this and are trying to make it as authentic as possible.
The part that was released most recently which has never even been close to seen in a video game before is the fact that apparently this is going to be World of NHLcraft. I have to admit I'm a LITTLE skeptical but basically how it works is your take your Be a Pro duder online and join a team exclusively of other human players(think guilds in mmos) and try to play games online in full human 6 on 6 hockey, with everyone on both teams, including the goalies, being controlled. There'll be leaderboards by player and by team/guild and the EA team has some really lofty(unrealistic) expectations about this eventually creating a fan following and bloggers and stuff like that but it'll be a fun way to play I think... we should definitely try to get a smogon team going!
EDIT: read a comment about this and it made me smile
Question is, will the 2K menace start poaching the best EA players and dilute the talent of the once great EASHL?
The main addition that excites me is Be a Pro mode, however. There's two separate versions of this - offline, where you control your dude and start on line 3 of an AHL team and have to work your way to the pros by completing objectives based on your role(goals for a sniper or hits for a grinder or whatever) as well as not doing stupid shit (line changing on time, not going offsides, not having a +/- rating that would make Briere look like Datsyuk, not icing the puck, staying in position on defense, etc.). You can be traded(because you suck or are like in an Ilya Kovalchuk situation where your team blows), waived, sign contracts in free agency, etc. A suprising amount of the EA NHL dev team are former professional hockey players(no one amazing, obviously) so they've lived this and are trying to make it as authentic as possible.
The part that was released most recently which has never even been close to seen in a video game before is the fact that apparently this is going to be World of NHLcraft. I have to admit I'm a LITTLE skeptical but basically how it works is your take your Be a Pro duder online and join a team exclusively of other human players(think guilds in mmos) and try to play games online in full human 6 on 6 hockey, with everyone on both teams, including the goalies, being controlled. There'll be leaderboards by player and by team/guild and the EA team has some really lofty(unrealistic) expectations about this eventually creating a fan following and bloggers and stuff like that but it'll be a fun way to play I think... we should definitely try to get a smogon team going!
EDIT: read a comment about this and it made me smile
Question is, will the 2K menace start poaching the best EA players and dilute the talent of the once great EASHL?
If this is true, you can count me in. I don't buy sports games for full price very often, but that's a REALLY cool feature and I wouldn't mind paying full price to play on a Smogon team.
Considering my name is after some random dude out of the Minnesota Wild I feel obligated to post in here.
In the division that no one notices or cares about (Northwest division) nothing drastic really seemed to happen in the offseason. Calgary stayed pretty much the same losing Owen Nolan but gaining Bertuzzi which doesn't affect much overall. Oilers look like they got a little better on paper (and a year older NHL experience from their young guys), but nothing drastically altering. The Wild lost Rolston but still gained some blue line offensive help so Brent Burns doesn't have to do it all, overall the Wild didnt' really improve and didn't downgrade too much. And I didn't really pay attention to the Avs at all, they all just got a year older which I don't mind. Flames and Oilers look to be solid contenders to land atop the division, the Wild I can see sneaking in at a 7th or 8th seed in the West (2nd or 3rd in the division) and getting ousted in the first round or just not making it at all, the Avs just look older and ready to take a downturn, and the Canucks don't have much offense to compete very well.
Edit: And oh yea I can't wait for NHL 09 to come out either, it's good to hear they did something about those lame one timers that just can't be stopped if you place it right and those awkward open ice checking actions.
In the division that no one notices or cares about (Northwest division) nothing drastic really seemed to happen in the offseason. Calgary stayed pretty much the same losing Owen Nolan but gaining Bertuzzi which doesn't affect much overall. Oilers look like they got a little better on paper (and a year older NHL experience from their young guys), but nothing drastically altering. The Wild lost Rolston but still gained some blue line offensive help so Brent Burns doesn't have to do it all, overall the Wild didnt' really improve and didn't downgrade too much. And I didn't really pay attention to the Avs at all, they all just got a year older which I don't mind. Flames and Oilers look to be solid contenders to land atop the division, the Wild I can see sneaking in at a 7th or 8th seed in the West (2nd or 3rd in the division) and getting ousted in the first round or just not making it at all, the Avs just look older and ready to take a downturn, and the Canucks don't have much offense to compete very well.
Edit: And oh yea I can't wait for NHL 09 to come out either, it's good to hear they did something about those lame one timers that just can't be stopped if you place it right and those awkward open ice checking actions.
Figured I'd give this a bump for a couple of reasons -
I know Yahoo hasn't yet, I know ESPN has already started their fantasy leagues(and they have pretty "interesting" 2009 predictions for some players but I'll just let the "experts" figure out their own shit) which reminded me that we should probably start figuring ours out. I know especially toward the end of last season we'd kind of got an idea of a bunch of people we probably wanted to play this year, some of whom didn't last year, and given that many of these people are notorious for having busy schedules we should really try and figure out a draft time as far in advance as possible to make sure everyone is actually going to make it. We were kind of rushed last year and had trouble even filling the league so it'd probably be good to start planning this shit soon, even with training camps not having started yet... namely, who exactly is playing this year? Additionally since I know we had some debate about it late in last season if we want to change any stat categories we should probably start discussing that now!
Additionally in somewhat related to hockey news NHL 2K9's demo came out on XBL today and from what I've heard it's pretty terrible. I know NHL 09 was supposedly also going to come out today but apparently they may only apply to the PS3 version, which makes me sad. Those of you with 360's should really come join us on 09 once it comes out, I know Carl, Zerowing, Psycho and I are planning on getting it if nothing else(speaking of which, what positions do you guys want to play anyway?)!
I know Yahoo hasn't yet, I know ESPN has already started their fantasy leagues(and they have pretty "interesting" 2009 predictions for some players but I'll just let the "experts" figure out their own shit) which reminded me that we should probably start figuring ours out. I know especially toward the end of last season we'd kind of got an idea of a bunch of people we probably wanted to play this year, some of whom didn't last year, and given that many of these people are notorious for having busy schedules we should really try and figure out a draft time as far in advance as possible to make sure everyone is actually going to make it. We were kind of rushed last year and had trouble even filling the league so it'd probably be good to start planning this shit soon, even with training camps not having started yet... namely, who exactly is playing this year? Additionally since I know we had some debate about it late in last season if we want to change any stat categories we should probably start discussing that now!
Additionally in somewhat related to hockey news NHL 2K9's demo came out on XBL today and from what I've heard it's pretty terrible. I know NHL 09 was supposedly also going to come out today but apparently they may only apply to the PS3 version, which makes me sad. Those of you with 360's should really come join us on 09 once it comes out, I know Carl, Zerowing, Psycho and I are planning on getting it if nothing else(speaking of which, what positions do you guys want to play anyway?)!
I'm playing again. I'm not sure what stats to change, but I would like to exchange 1 goalie stat for an extra player stat to even things out.
I like the be-a-pro mode that will be on the '09 version, but I don't own a 360, so wont be able to do that.
Wonder if the game will be released on ps2 aswell, havent looked it up yet.
I like the be-a-pro mode that will be on the '09 version, but I don't own a 360, so wont be able to do that.
Wonder if the game will be released on ps2 aswell, havent looked it up yet.
I'm always up for fantasy hockey.
And NHL 09 looks amazing form what you've said. I doubt 360 players and PS3 players will be able to play together, though.
And NHL 09 looks amazing form what you've said. I doubt 360 players and PS3 players will be able to play together, though.
Nice new name you get there Vineon, and yeah all should play out no matter what. Last season there wasnt really much activity and 1 person never even changed his line up once.
my finger is sore from clicking the multiquote shit
I'd be fine with you commishing again, personally.
I also don't think I would change the standard categories, however I'm still shaky on Shutouts as a stat since it's so unreliable... it doesn't bug me in Roto but in H2H it ends up being 0-0 or 1-0 almost every week anyway, I'd be open to switching it for something else... but I also don't think any other stat is better. ESPN, I believe, tries to remedy this by using average TOI(Time On Ice before someone asks) instead of SO, but I'm not sure that's really a better option since it makes the game even more about the star players than it already is. I know they also use PPG instead of PPP, I personally prefer PPP but it's something to think about if people feel PPAs are inflating the stat, I know someone(Vineon?) had a complaint similar to that last year.
As far as the owner changes... I'm really not sure. Something like 100 moves would be fine since that shouldn't really be attainable anyway assuming everyone is ok with not having fluid rosters, and trade blocks are probably fine how they are(although maybe 50% instead of 33%?) even though I was more than slightly annoyed by it last year. As far as playoff rosters I think it's best to have them locked as long as commish can override - if something like an injury occurs where there's an honest reason to switch players around we can handle it intelligently, I'm sure.
They can't, unfortunately. 360 or bust!
Definitely agree with the above sentiments... I hate to be that guy here but I think unless we're having trouble getting enough people we should try and be elitist about who we're adding on some level... it's tough to know exactly who will and won't be active but I'd like to stick to long time users and/or people we can easily annoy on IRC or whatever as much as possible since at least there's some sense of continuity there.
As far as potential participants this year we had a handful of super active players last year (I would probably say Carl, Vineon, gr33n, Me, Jackal, and Psycho even though moves don't indicate it in the last two cases), a few people who were probably active enough (Zerowing, WER) and a couple people who seemed inactive and/or just did stupid shit or didn't do anything at all at any point in the entire fucking season but for some reason signed up anyway. I know we've talked with some of the other hockey fans about potentially competing this year (Arti, aldaron, DM, Brain), not sure who all from the above will want to play this year but we should probably aim for about 10-14, even with all of the above we only hit 12 so we still potentially have spots.
I know we have Carl and Psycho even though they didn't really post affirmatives yet and green/Jackal/I all posted, Vineon didn't exactly confirm but I know he'll come play hockey fantasies out with us right <3
or something
I'd be fine with you commishing again, personally.
I also don't think I would change the standard categories, however I'm still shaky on Shutouts as a stat since it's so unreliable... it doesn't bug me in Roto but in H2H it ends up being 0-0 or 1-0 almost every week anyway, I'd be open to switching it for something else... but I also don't think any other stat is better. ESPN, I believe, tries to remedy this by using average TOI(Time On Ice before someone asks) instead of SO, but I'm not sure that's really a better option since it makes the game even more about the star players than it already is. I know they also use PPG instead of PPP, I personally prefer PPP but it's something to think about if people feel PPAs are inflating the stat, I know someone(Vineon?) had a complaint similar to that last year.
As far as the owner changes... I'm really not sure. Something like 100 moves would be fine since that shouldn't really be attainable anyway assuming everyone is ok with not having fluid rosters, and trade blocks are probably fine how they are(although maybe 50% instead of 33%?) even though I was more than slightly annoyed by it last year. As far as playoff rosters I think it's best to have them locked as long as commish can override - if something like an injury occurs where there's an honest reason to switch players around we can handle it intelligently, I'm sure.
They can't, unfortunately. 360 or bust!
Definitely agree with the above sentiments... I hate to be that guy here but I think unless we're having trouble getting enough people we should try and be elitist about who we're adding on some level... it's tough to know exactly who will and won't be active but I'd like to stick to long time users and/or people we can easily annoy on IRC or whatever as much as possible since at least there's some sense of continuity there.
As far as potential participants this year we had a handful of super active players last year (I would probably say Carl, Vineon, gr33n, Me, Jackal, and Psycho even though moves don't indicate it in the last two cases), a few people who were probably active enough (Zerowing, WER) and a couple people who seemed inactive and/or just did stupid shit or didn't do anything at all at any point in the entire fucking season but for some reason signed up anyway. I know we've talked with some of the other hockey fans about potentially competing this year (Arti, aldaron, DM, Brain), not sure who all from the above will want to play this year but we should probably aim for about 10-14, even with all of the above we only hit 12 so we still potentially have spots.
I know we have Carl and Psycho even though they didn't really post affirmatives yet and green/Jackal/I all posted, Vineon didn't exactly confirm but I know he'll come play hockey fantasies out with us right <3
or something
