A few notes...

[Virtual Jarmo]

There are a few things that need to be addressed here before we can move forward with the offseason. For starters, I'm taking a two-week sabbatical to get all of my work done this week before my week in South Carolina for a wedding that my fiancee is a bridesmaid in. I have to focus on getting things done so I'm not backlogged with work while I'm there.

The writing has probably been on the wall given how lax I've been about certain things, but I need help with EHEC. I cannot perform at the level I once did. My free time is dwindling, and, frankly, I'm beyond burnt out with the league. The only reason I still do it is for you guys. I get no enjoyment out of it and it's because far more work than play. I've got enough work to do on a daily basis, so this needs to somehow transform back into being at least somewhat fun. I'm looking for volunteers to help with simming, preferably at least two nights a week, and also volunteers to come up with some kind of way to make things easier around here. I really want to overhaul the Rulebook so that the league is simpler. Currently there are too many rules and too many ways of attempting to compensate for EHM's shortcomings. I've joked about a "Thunderdome", anything goes style of play with essentially no line restrictions or salary cap or anything. Something has to be done to make this more enjoyable for all involved. GMs have quit this past season because there are so many elements that are taking both the spontaneity and the fun out of the game.

The draft class is done, thanks to Pat. Don't expect any more player changes.

Contracts are on hold for now until we figure out possible ways to simplify the process. Also because I won't be around for a couple weeks. We've taken ideas before, but there hasn't been a lot of feedback. If everybody could calculate their own contracts, that would be helpful, but the process is complicated. Something automated would help a lot. As far as arbitration goes, that's something I would like to eliminate because that's a lot of work for little return.

The childish bullshit of name-calling and trolling needs to stop. If it was in good-natured fun, creative, and actually funny (like The League), it'd be fine. It's not. And it's always the same repeat offenders as well.

Unfortunately, EHM is a dying hobby and a lost art. The new GMs we've added recently haven't added a whole lot to the league. Newer operating systems and mac computers have made it difficult to find new applicants and the people that played in the game's heyday are in their late 20s or older with responsibilities, families, etc. This is a problem that is going to be nearly impossible to fix unless the core GMs here started picking up a second team to manage.

Ideally, I would like to be reduced to a consultant and GM role only so that I could continue to have some kind of say in how this works because I've heard from a few GMs that the whole thing will collapse if I'm not in charge. I don't believe that to be true, but I just can't do as much as I did. The burden of responsibility that comes with running this thing is hard to bear. You've seen how it's been impossible to keep Committee members on board and they did a fraction of the work that I did. This isn't a "woe is me" post or anything to pump myself up, but simply a fact. A lot of hours have gone into this thing and I've seen diminishing returns as my personal investment has slowly dropped. If it weren't for the tenured guys that have been around since the beginning or shortly after, I wouldn't hesitate to close EHEC's doors. But I'd rather look for creative solutions to make this easier for all involved.

If anybody wants to volunteer their time to help out with simming, rule changes, Rulebook enforcement, calculation of contracts, salary cap, etc, any help is better than no help.

[Penguin]

I can do a sim once a week if you guys guide me through the process. I can also be in charge of calculating every upcoming contract.

I've also had the thought about adding a league-related participation point system (no team news writing BS though), to get everyone more involved without making it a burden. One person would have to be in charge of that. We have all summer to come up with something good.

As for lines, even if we enforce rules or eliminate all of them, they will all look the same with the experience everyone has in the league. I think it would be interesting if we made this rule:
You are only allowed to have 1 H&G/NZT line. So, not both, you chose either H&G or NZT. And, max 60sec on that line. This would allow a lot more coaching strategies (D&C, Run N Gun, Passing Plays) and would make games more offensive.

It is more simple than the 50-20 rule.

As for position switches... I saw this slide this season. Proving that the guy can play LW or RW, bullshit. I'm pretty sure Crosby wouldn't be a bad defenseman, and I'm a sick street hockey goalie. If EHM says the player is LW/C, he stays like that.

Adam, if we can get more guys to sim, you'll enjoy it again. Like it or not, you will never be a GM, you're the boss and you set the bar too high, sorry not sorry!

[Montreal Canadiens]

I can do a sim once a week if you guys guide me through the process. I can also be in charge of calculating every upcoming contract.

I've also had the thought about adding a league-related participation point system (no team news writing BS though), to get everyone more involved without making it a burden. One person would have to be in charge of that. We have all summer to come up with something good.

As for lines, even if we enforce rules or eliminate all of them, they will all look the same with the experience everyone has in the league. I think it would be interesting if we made this rule:
You are only allowed to have 1 H&G/NZT line. So, not both, you chose either H&G or NZT. And, max 60sec on that line. This would allow a lot more coaching strategies (D&C, Run N Gun, Passing Plays) and would make games more offensive.

It is more simple than the 50-20 rule.

As for position switches... I saw this slide this season. Proving that the guy can play LW or RW, bullshit. I'm pretty sure Crosby wouldn't be a bad defenseman, and I'm a sick street hockey goalie. If EHM says the player is LW/C, he stays like that.

Adam, if we can get more guys to sim, you'll enjoy it again. Like it or not, you will never be a GM, you're the boss and you set the bar too high, sorry not sorry!

I think that's a pretty good idea and to go further, minimum 30 second shifts.

Someone to take over the contracts would be big, I for one, can never figure out the exact right amount. However, if you get rid of arbitration, what do you do for goalies and older players?

Its obvious you don't want my help, but , the only other suggestions I have, is the salary cap has to be raised a few million. I enjoy the complex rulebook but contracts are getting higher and higher and the only way to combat that is to raise the cap.

Lastly, perhaps label a few people as Trade Committee people, because time and time again too many atrocious deals are going through which makes it very frustrating to watch (as someone who has been here since Day 1).

[CapsGM]

I made the spreadsheet last year with the intention that it would be used this year to calculate contracts automatically.

[Virtual Jarmo]

I made the spreadsheet last year with the intention that it would be used this year to calculate contracts automatically.

Can everybody access it and can it be user-friendly?

[Bruins_GM]

I feel like the cap is fine where it is.

With that being said, I'd love to see a 'Thunderdome' style league as well.

[CapsGM]

I made the spreadsheet last year with the intention that it would be used this year to calculate contracts automatically.

Can everybody access it and can it be user-friendly?

If you have Excel, yes. It automatically pulls from the website to calculate. Only issue is that it doesn't calculate anything from the fastsim.

Figured I would be doing the contract stuff this year, so whether or not it's accessible to everyone shouldn't matter. I can post all expiring contracts in one thread and everyone can look off it. If you want to make changes to stuff like raise brackets, that can be handled quickly as well.

[Montreal Canadiens]

Cap definitely 100 % has to go up with the contracts getting more and more expensive every year.

[Virtual Jarmo]

I made the spreadsheet last year with the intention that it would be used this year to calculate contracts automatically.

Can everybody access it and can it be user-friendly?

If you have Excel, yes. It automatically pulls from the website to calculate. Only issue is that it doesn't calculate anything from the fastsim.

Figured I would be doing the contract stuff this year, so whether or not it's accessible to everyone shouldn't matter. I can post all expiring contracts in one thread and everyone can look off it. If you want to make changes to stuff like raise brackets, that can be handled quickly as well.

Everybody should have access to Google Docs. It can also be posted there free to share.

I didn't know what your work schedule/travel schedule was like, so I didn't know what your full involvement would be with the offseason.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Cap definitely 100 % has to go up with the contracts getting more and more expensive every year.

Says the guy who regularly spends half the season above the cap.

It probably will go up just to save the bullshit of tracking down teams that are over, but it's not going to go up enough to be a giant safety net for reckless spending and not paying attention.

[CapsGM]

I made the spreadsheet last year with the intention that it would be used this year to calculate contracts automatically.

Can everybody access it and can it be user-friendly?

If you have Excel, yes. It automatically pulls from the website to calculate. Only issue is that it doesn't calculate anything from the fastsim.

Figured I would be doing the contract stuff this year, so whether or not it's accessible to everyone shouldn't matter. I can post all expiring contracts in one thread and everyone can look off it. If you want to make changes to stuff like raise brackets, that can be handled quickly as well.

Everybody should have access to Google Docs. It can also be posted there free to share.

I didn't know what your work schedule/travel schedule was like, so I didn't know what your full involvement would be with the offseason.

I should be around for the time required.

[CapsGM]

Managers, you can use this for now. Copy and paste your numbers in from your roster page. Remember that goalies and players going to arbitration will not be using this method. "DEFAULT" means the player gets what they're asking for in EHM.

I'll try to have it pull from the roster pages automatically.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Montreal Canadiens]

Cap definitely 100 % has to go up with the contracts getting more and more expensive every year.

Says the guy who regularly spends half the season above the cap.

It probably will go up just to save the bullshit of tracking down teams that are over, but it's not going to go up enough to be a giant safety net for reckless spending and not paying attention.

Wasn't over the cap at all last season but thanks for your input.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Wasn't over the cap at all last season but thanks for your input.

[Edmonton Mike]

Good job Tim! Thanks!

[Brett-SensGM]

The new GMs we've added recently haven't added a whole lot to the league.

Ouch, that one hurts my man, but agreed. Having a crappy pro and farm team and then getting stuck with a whole bunch of downtime killed my activity, although I have been slacking on a few trade offers that I hope to respond to this weekend, my apologies guys and thanks for the patience. Still checking in regularily and waiting for an opportunity to spew some constructive posts. For the hell of it, here's some newb thoughts, constructive or otherwise.

- Rulebook is long, but essentially it contains pretty much anything you would find in a respectable EHM league. To this day (albeit I have yet to go through the process) I still don't "fully" understand all things contracts here and even worse I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fastsim file aspect... I guess I understand the premise, but lack on truly understanding the application of such file. Play a crapload of EHM so I can only guess at how confused someone with limited EHM experience would be.
- Line rules are actually pretty good IMO. Always for any changes to shake things up and make GM's put some thought/experimentation into their lines though.
- Like the idea of trying to mirror the NHL in any which way EHM will allow, via alteration or stock (ie cap, arbitration, recall waivers, etc...). Think this is a nice niche no one else in the EHM community has ever mastered, or will ever do better than here. Sure it must be a pain in the ass, but without it we would be just another league... no?
- Yet to check out the excel download, but semi automating contracts in an attempt to make things easier is gravy for me.
- Thunderdome style is more or less what every start up league is these days, you get the odd one HnG line rule... but if there was ever a way to distance vet GM's from rooks, this would be it.
- Personally I love the feuding, much better than having nothing posted on the boards... guess the issue is where to draw the line. Leagues really need some personality, be it positive or negative... I don't think there is anything guys haven't seen or heard before and from my perspective it seems to be two sided as opposed to internet tough guy bullying. Some pretty witty dudes here that I would hate to go up against. Plus some of the best gifs/pics/links friggen ever. At least a laugh/chuckle a day.

Seems more and more these days leagues either need the most dedicated of individual with an unhealthy love for EHM running the show, or it takes a village. Seeing as how diverse this league is regarding rules and variables I don't see why small things can't be delegated to the more committed of GM's. EHM is dying for sure, but of the 5 other leagues I am in, 3 are going pretty strong, not quite time to wave the white flag.

[Virtual Jarmo]

The new GMs we've added recently haven't added a whole lot to the league.

Ouch, that one hurts my man, but agreed. Having a crappy pro and farm team and then getting stuck with a whole bunch of downtime killed my activity, although I have been slacking on a few trade offers that I hope to respond to this weekend, my apologies guys and thanks for the patience. Still checking in regularily and waiting for an opportunity to spew some constructive posts. For the hell of it, here's some newb thoughts, constructive or otherwise.

Sorry, Brett. That wasn't directed at you. The offseason is definitely a tough time to evaluate new blood. Others have showed up, done a couple things, and then not been heard from, if they've done anything at all. It's frustrating.

[CapsGM]

I overlooked the LE bonus rule. I'll put it into the Google spreadsheet later. I think I got hung up last year because there was no way to pull age from the roster page, but now I realize the bracket system only affects players 27 and under anyways.

F. Leadership bonus. Players 27 and under will receive a further $100,000 bonus for leadership attribute between 70 and 74, and a $250,000 bonus for 75 and above.

Also updated the spreadsheet to clarify what exactly the bonuses are.

[SharksGM]

I can do cap calculations during the season, since I wrote a program to do them and I doubt anyone else even tried to run it. Same with running sims, which I did a few times, but I wasn't asked to do any afterwards.

For actually enforcing the cap, the NHL doesn't exactly do that. Teams are actually allowed to go over the cap with bonuses on ELCs and old players, and the penalty gets applied next season. We don't have bonuses, but we can adopt a similar system - if GMs fuck up (in good faith) and go over the cap temporarily, the penalty gets applied next season and they still have to get under within a week or so.

I personally don't have a problem with seemingly complicated rules, as long the tedious work gets done by a computer. But I'm probably in the minority.

If anything, I think the contract system could use more brackets, mainly because going up or down a bracket can mean 1-2 million more or less for some players. Otherwise, I think arbitration works reasonably well. Usually, it results in lower value contracts than the bracket rules, so if anything we've been pretty generous to GMs, and that helps balance out some of the bigger awards for under 27 players.

I would suggest keep arbitration the way it is, and maybe just cutting down the verbiage to a quick 1-2 sentence summary from each side, so it's less about writing bullshit like I've been doing. For U27 contracts, I'm not really sure what can be done besides make more brackets. It could be changed to a smoother function of previous contract and OV. I guess a simpler system would just be to base salaries on OV but not the previous contract value. The downside is that there wouldn't be any way to get bargains on second contracts, which is the main reward for successful project picks who aren't useful during their ELCs.

I wouldn't be very interested in a thunderdome or more line restrictions. There's only so much you can do to make EHM more realistic. Limiting silly line strategies isn't going to magically fix the game.

Other than that, we already talked about a few things in previous threads. I'm in favour of dropping the UFA age to 29 or so. Dump all options on contracts. Dump two-way deals too, so anyone 25+ is waiver eligible. Allow burying contracts in the AHL, but only give a maximum of $1.5M cap relief. Well, that should be $1M or so, but we'd need to grandfather in changes since the current cap is $1.5M. No more re-entry waivers, they're a pain in the ass to track anyways. We can maybe think about retaining salary on trades if we need a way to move bad contracts, but I think we have fewer terrible contracts than the NHL, so it's not really necessary.

[Jets GM]

I'm glad Adam is voicing his feelings regarding EHEC. I've known for a bit how much of a drain EHEC has been on his enjoyment of running Columbus, and at times I've felt guilty about EHEC continuing with him handling so much of the workload. Like OTT said, I think if we want EHEC to have a healthy future we need to move towards a team-oriented system. I hope this translates into Adam getting more out of EHEC, and his team.

Adam, I still feel that regardless of how involved you are moving forward, you need to always have the final say on things; wouldn't be EHEC without it that way.

With what Tim has released, the current system is fine by me. It does reward players a bit more then they deserve overall, but we have reasonable rulings for over 27 players and great contracts to begin with. For now, it should be fine. I'm not sure if we need more categories, but adjusting certain bonus thresholds (ex. 85 and 90, instead of 80 and 85) would alleviate some of the inflated salaries. I also think the idea of longer term contracts should be considered. 4 years plus a team option, or 5 years as the new maximum.

I am strongly against any more rules regarding line strategies. The more restrictions, the clearer the optimal set of lines and type of team to build. GMs, like me, have spent considerable time thinking about our rosters. Making rule changes every time an effective strategy is designed is frustrating. Clearly, Hit and Grind is a super tactic. Also, it is known on fhockey.com that 90HNG/90NZT/10HNG/10NZT with the right team is the best strategy in EHM. I’m up for simple restrictions to prevent teams from taking advantage of this. We need to still allow for GMs to develop new strategies. It promotes competition and advances EHM knowledge. Thunderdome for season 6? I’m down.

As Adam knows, I made a big recruitment push a couple months ago. I’m not sure what came of that, but I’d be happy to take over fielding applicants. Not every knew GM can be like Brett (OTT) or DAL GM but I believe that hardcore EHM players still exist. The idea that we can simplify EHEC to cater to a more casual fantasy hockey fan is pointless. We should remain complex and realistic, with the idea that this will attract a small niche of avid hockey fantasy gamers. Post deadline to the end of the playoffs is the worst time to recruit, as non-playoff teams have very little to do.

BUF and CHI need to be replaced. Sad, because Femur was a MILFH GM. PHX and NSH haven’t been around too much, but even a couple long time GMs haven’t been checking in during the playoffs. A pre off-season activity check, followed by a recruitment push, would be the best strategy to recruit quality GM’s and get them hooked on what makes EHEC so special.

I’m sure there are more ways to improve the league. I’m going to write a test-sim tutorial on how I like to test-sim for games. Tim has offered to see if he can create a spreadsheet in Excel similar to the contract calculating one, that would speed up the process of test-simming. I’m hopeful increasing the knowledge of GMs will result in a more competitive league. Although, judging by the Western Conference parity is not an issue.

As far as helping out, I’m willing to do the following: Sim once (possibly twice) a week, approve trades and handle o27 arbitrations. I’m hesitant to touch the game file, since I don’t have much EHM file knowledge. I wonder if Quinn would be willing to design a new layout of the website? This one is badass, but it’s always nice to have a fresh look. My PS skills are so bad, I doubt I could do much nowadays.

[Bruins_GM]

I could do the grunt work in the game files themselves for contracts, as it looks simple enough and not much more complicated than N2003, where I started doing that sort of thing.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Dan brings up a lot of good points. We've had a lot of good points over the years, we just need to make it a point to implement them. That's what this offseason is designed to do so we can overhaul some of what's been ailing us. The pro-ration has to go or at least be much simpler. If we can automate everything, which should definitely be possible in the Excel generation, that would be outstanding. I think, instead of a salaries section, which is not accessible unless you know the direct URL, we should have a live cap counter on the site. I don't see why that can't be done if we can get the php code to read the Excel file. We should be able to upload that straight to the site.

I do think Bern's line restriction idea is very interesting. That's something I'd like to consider a bit more.

[Jets GM]

The excel file Tim created is amazing, because it also allows us to estimate what type of raises guys with get in a few seasons. Pro-ration should be something like 50/50 after the 41 GP mark, and 25/75 1 week before the deadline.

I do not understand how restricting two of the five strategies means "more coaching". In addition, it's frustrating that NZT continues to become more and more limited despite no evidence it's a super tactic like HNG. Over the last few seasons, I've built a defensive team with the idea we could shut down anyone come playoff time. If everyone agree's on more limitation, I won't make a big deal. However, as of now, the only argument I see is that teams are frustrated they cant beat certain teams strategies.

[Virtual Jarmo]

The excel file Tim created is amazing, because it also allows us to estimate what type of raises guys with get in a few seasons. Pro-ration should be something like 50/50 after the 41 GP mark, and 25/75 1 week before the deadline.

I do not understand how restricting two of the five strategies means "more coaching". In addition, it's frustrating that NZT continues to become more and more limited despite no evidence it's a super tactic like HNG. Over the last few seasons, I've built a defensive team with the idea we could shut down anyone come playoff time. If everyone agree's on more limitation, I won't make a big deal. However, as of now, the only argument I see is that teams are frustrated they cant beat certain teams strategies.

I crunched the numbers last season and goal scoring was on par with the NHL, while shot totals weren't. And we all know that EHM goalie numbers are atrocious.

I just said it was interesting. I didn't say it was going to be applied. We've seen offense-first teams make decent playoff runs this season. That adds some parity to the league.

Pro-ration's just too much to keep in mind. I prefer to go back to the days when salaries had to match up so teams could make deals. Makes it hard to be a deadline buyer, but if you expect to be good, then you should make sure you have some room left to make late-season additions.

[Jets GM]

Ya, scrapping pro-ration might be the best plan. Less work, and is simpler for everyone to understand and keep track of their own finances.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Ya, scrapping pro-ration might be the best plan. Less work, and is simpler for everyone to understand and keep track of their own finances.

Agreed. If you're playing a more sophisticated game, like OOTP for baseball, then the game itself could keep track of finances.

[GM Office Q]

I wonder if Quinn would be willing to design a new layout of the website? This one is badass, but it’s always nice to have a fresh look. My PS skills are so bad, I doubt I could do much nowadays.

If we can automate everything, which should definitely be possible in the Excel generation, that would be outstanding. I think, instead of a salaries section, which is not accessible unless you know the direct URL, we should have a live cap counter on the site. I don't see why that can't be done if we can get the php code to read the Excel file. We should be able to upload that straight to the site.

I don't have a lot of time these days, so it would be a slower process than last time. In 2011, I think I pumped out this website in under three weeks, including all of the source code. Having that much time these days boggles my mind.

If I were to do it again, I'd be wanting to spend more time on it to make it cleaner. I've learned a lot about programming since then, and knowing what I know now, I'd have a completely different approach. But, I would be interested in using some of my free time to try to re-design the site. If everybody (that cares) could send me a list or make a thread about stuff that they like, that they don't like, or would like to be added (like the cap calculator thing), that would help speed up the process.

Minor point, but Adam, I think everybody has access to their own salary page via a link in the GMCP.

[Montreal Canadiens]

A new website would be the least of our concerns at this point I'd say.

Scrap the pro-ration, except at trade-deadline where it only make sense.

I am strongly against any more rules regarding line strategies. The more restrictions, the clearer the optimal set of lines and type of team to build. GMs, like me, have spent considerable time thinking about our rosters. Making rule changes every time an effective strategy is designed is frustrating.

Which strategy are you referring to? The 10 second bs??

If we're striving for realism, please show me where Tyler Seguin plays on the 3rd line and Jared Boll is a top-liner.

[AnaheimGM]

A new website would be the least of our concerns at this point I'd say.

Scrap the pro-ration, except at trade-deadline where it only make sense.

I am strongly against any more rules regarding line strategies. The more restrictions, the clearer the optimal set of lines and type of team to build. GMs, like me, have spent considerable time thinking about our rosters. Making rule changes every time an effective strategy is designed is frustrating.

Which strategy are you referring to? The 10 second bs??

If we're striving for realism, please show me where Tyler Seguin plays on the 3rd line and Jared Boll is a top-liner.

Hey Brad, in nhl all the coaches choose to make playing some lines against other lines. This is the tactical part of coach jobs. In EHM, if you choose to make Seguin play against an ''X'' line, it's the same as for NHL. EHM works like thatt. So if you find that this is unfair, it's your problem. It was your responsability to counter TB lines and you did'nt do it. It's a game, stop crying and try to have fun, you always complain about ALL subject in this league since i join, it really pissed me up.

[Montreal Canadiens]

Except for in EHM you can't 100 % line match......so that negates your theory. Good try.

[Jets GM]

Well said, Jonathan. Home teams match 1st vs 3rd, and 2nd vs 4th. Eliminating 10 second shifts, which equals 4m-9m of icetime per game, will not stop GMs from line matching. I matched up my best players against yours, and I came out on top. It was a close series, I'm sure you'll get another chance to avenge your team.

[Montreal Canadiens]

Well said, Jonathan. Home teams match 1st vs 3rd, and 2nd vs 4th. Eliminating 10 second shifts, which equals 4m-9m of icetime per game, will not stop GMs from line matching. I matched up my best players against yours, and I came out on top. It was a close series, I'm sure you'll get another chance to avenge your team.

Now isn't that the biggest hyperbole of 2014.

And no you can't Justin. Go into a "in-game" and watch it. Sometimes it's 1 vs 1, 1 vs 2, 1 vs 3 , etc.

4 m - 9 m? Have you ever looked at your own boxscore because that's not how the ice time gets broken down.

R Alexander Avtsyn 1 0 1 3 0 2 2 1 4.40 7
C Carl Klingberg 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 4.40 5
L Todd Fedoruk 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 4.40 6

L Cole Ully 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 14.40 6
C Justin Abdelkader 0 1 1 0 0 0 4 0 20.20 8
R Jared Boll 0 0 1 4 1 0 0 0 13.20 7

Both lines were on 10 second shifts I believe. (or atleast were).

[Jets GM]

I never said the CPU will match 1v3/2v4 everytime. I'm sure fatigue, injuries, and game flow are just some of the factors in which line gets put out. However, I believe it's common knowledge that the home team in EHM will look to match their top two lines against their opponents bottom two lines. A quick search at fhockey will probably back up what I am suggesting.

This is the last time I'm going to address 10 second shifts. You pulled a boxscore from a game that had a lot of special team time. Like in the NHL, when there is a lot of power plays for both teams the ice-time for depth players will be effected. For example, Game 6 vs MTL where there we few PP, Fedoruk/Klingberg/Avystn averaged about 10 minutes of icetime. Ully/ Abelkader/Boll averaged about 6 minutes. Game 1 vs PIT, Fedoruk/Klingberg/Avystn averaged about 9 minutes, and Ully Abelkader/Boll is hard to quantify since some of those players now had time on second power play unit.

What I'm trying to say is that your depth players receiving anywhere between 5m-10m on average is realistic, and happens ALL THE TIME in the NHL. When Klingberg plays 10 minutes, do you really think it's 100 mini-shifts where he is constantly jumping on and off the ice? It's impossible. I imagine after 10 seconds, Klingberg or whoever looks to make a change when the play dictates it's safe.

I randomly selected a day from the first round of the NHL playoffs and looked at the boxscores. April 23rd had CLB vs PIT, STL vs CHI, and DAL vs ANA.

Code: Select all

Player	       TOI	
Craig Adams	      10:06
Tanner Glass	      10:47	
Joe Vitale	              10:36	
Jayson Megna	      09:53	

Jack Skille	    	      10:11	
Derek Mackenzie        11:04	
Nick Schultz	      10:33	
Blake Comeau	      09:11	

Brandon Bollig	       06:32	

Derek Roy	               10:43	
Ryan Reaves	       05:58	

Kevin Connauton	      11:29
Patrik Nemeth	      07:20	
Ray Whitney	     10:00	
Chris Mueller	     04:26	

Kyle Palmieri	    10:31	
Saku Koivu	            11:27	

That's a multitude of players getting between 9-11m of ice-time, with four guys getting less then 7m. This is in the playoffs to, where enforcers and tough guys are healthy scratches instead of playing 2-3 minutes a game. Go look at BizNasty's ATOI.

So I'm not sure what the complaining is about. Is it 10 second shifts? I think I've presented enough information to prevent them being outlawed going forward. Is it me trying to match certain lines against others? That's strategy, that's part of EHEC. If we start telling GMs where and where they can't put certain players in their lineup, we're moving closer and closer to one optimal type of team and lineup. I think we need to be moving in the opposite direction.

[Montreal Canadiens]

the 10 seconds is a glitch....I don't care about line-matching, or who you put where, or who plays right D or left D. I think the 10 sec shifts are bogus and should be gone.

[Singin the BLUES]

I have seen those fast shifts many many times........a certain line out to take a faceoff in their own zone......or a fast "HAG" line out there to cause shit......stuff like that.....

[Jets GM]

the 10 seconds is a glitch....I don't care about line-matching, or who you put where, or who plays right D or left D. I think the 10 sec shifts are bogus and should be gone.

That's cool man, I just wanted to confirm your argument was "X strategy beat me in the playoffs; therefore, X strategy should be banned."

[Singin the BLUES]

the 10 seconds is a glitch....I don't care about line-matching, or who you put where, or who plays right D or left D. I think the 10 sec shifts are bogus and should be gone.

And i am not "picking " on Brad BUT he goes from saying about Seguin playing third line and whatever player playin on a line he shouldnt be to this.......IMO he just likes to argue thats all.Wasnt Brad the one fuckin with lines like that earlier this year anyways?

[Brett-SensGM]

Contract calculator... revolutionary stuff, big kudos. Exactly what is needed IMO.

Website is the best one I have ever seen in the EHM community, GM Control Panel is leaps and bounds above what is currently being offered. At least from view as a website creation illiterate.

Don't really understand the want/desire to change up lines... I just went through the league and for the most part lines are pretty diversified (albeit looking off an older file), to the point I don't think I saw the exact same lineset twice... pretty rare in a league. Always thought when everyone is rolling the same lines, then you change up the rules. If some teams are winning a lot with certain line combos, copy them. Be it ignorant or not, I think line matching does so little in EHM's grand scheme that I personally never bother unless it's game 7. Everyone knows it usually comes down to which goalie shits the bed and all the other fun quirks EHM likes to use to "regulate" games.

As for pro ration, Adam makes a great point... essentially leave some cap room if you plan on getting better at the deadline. I say this as someone who has yet to see what ramifications the contract system here has on EHM, but I always thought cap management was one of the finer points of EHM in general... always loved seeing guys build super teams only to come crashing back to earth because of the cap.

Recruiting is all about whoring yourself to the hockey forum communities and hoping you get the odd guy that will stick, and more importantly always remind the guys that have come and left that EHM is still around. Obviously most guys have no interest in getting back into EHM, but you would be surprised as how many guys forget about it, get an email, check back for ol' times sake and get the itch. Handle pretty much all the recruiting over at the HFCHL and by my count 1/4 of the recruits are the odd guys that read a forum post somewhere, whereas the other 3/4's are retreads that come back (these guys also have a better hit rate at sticking around). Helps as well that they maintain a mailing list of every GM in the past 8 real life years that they don't abuse, but do use. Probably all old news and commons sense though.

All in all, really liking some of the positivity/creativity that has come out of Adam's post, shows what a good core there is here.

[Virtual Jarmo]

the 10 seconds is a glitch....I don't care about line-matching, or who you put where, or who plays right D or left D. I think the 10 sec shifts are bogus and should be gone.

That's cool man, I just wanted to confirm your argument was "X strategy beat me in the playoffs; therefore, X strategy should be banned."

Had you been running 90 sec shifts with your top line, Brad would want that banned too because players don't take 1 min and 30 sec shifts all game long.

We talked about max/min shift lengths last time and never really reached a consensus. Considering that the "fourth" line may get bypassed every other round of shifts in real life and, to my knowledge, we don't really know if EHM does that, I don't see the issue with 10 second shifts. Hell, the amount of penalties in the playoffs, especially the lopsided totals, would have fucked everything up anyways.

I get pissed off a lot more about star players wasting five minutes of ice time for fighting than I do about somebody running 10 second shifts against me.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Also, love Brett's post up there. Great to have you back around, man.

[Singin the BLUES]

I think once a GM sees or gets beat by a certain style of another GM, he will naturally call bullshit or whatever simply cause he got beat. IMO the HAG tactic is really the only EHM bug going.......all the other tactics you need to build your team around it to pull it off and that is kinda hard to do especially when you have a bunch of Gms tryin to do it also. The NZT tactic isnt all that hard to beat at all as long as u have the players that can play against it. I am all for any changes that Adam and company feel they should make. But TBh i think putting a stop to the 10 sec line thing will only open up another can of worms to something else that someone would come up with. It is always something and i dont think you can put alot of restrictions on the GMs.

[Montreal Canadiens]

yeah STL you're right I do play players on different lines, which is why I said I don't care who plays where. I just think the 10 second thing is garbage. You can't possibly get over the boards and then back over within 10 seconds, so why are you choosing 10 seconds? You want to limit ice time? Okay sure...but those players are playing as evident for around 14 minutes.

If we're on the consensus that it's not possible to jump on and off within 10 seconds, how long are they playing? As you've seen you get vast ice-times with 10 seconds. It's a glitch. Look at the 4 teams left in the playoffs, 3 of them are running or have run this 10 second garbage in the playoffs. STL is the only one not using it.

I have seen lots of star players take 60-90 second shifts Adam. We never reached a consensus, but as we're talking about making changes, some seem in favour of it, why not make a minimum of 30 seconds.

Yes, the teams up against the cap leave some room, but nobody has room to add certain players at deadline unless they are on pro-rated contracts. Pro-rating once a season at deadline would not be a big hassle to keep going forward. Pro-ration from day 1, that should be thrown out the window for sure.

H&G is a bug, which is why it should only be allowed to be used once, not twice. Bern's suggestion is a fantastic one IMO.

OTT I'm not sure where you've been looking but pretty much everybody runs PP on line 1, followed by PP on line 2, then either H&G twice or NZT twice, or a mix of both. Sometimes you'll see dump and chase as well, but most teams have quie similar lines. Limiting it to 1 tactic per lines you'd see even more diversified lines. Heck we might see Run and Gun come out. Whats wrong with a challenge?

[Virtual Jarmo]

I have seen lots of star players take 60-90 second shifts Adam. We never reached a consensus, but as we're talking about making changes, some seem in favour of it, why not make a minimum of 30 seconds.

So have I, but not on a full-game basis. A couple here or there, but not a full game of 90 second shifts, where forwards in EHM wind up playing 32 minutes.

And, like I said, we had a lot of penalties last season. I'd be curious to see what ice times would look like if we lowered the penalty slider and still had the 10 second lines.

Why would we pro-rate just at the deadline? Why should you pay 100% of the cap hit for a player on February 16 but not on March 3 (or whatever day the deadline is)?

[Montreal Canadiens]

I have seen lots of star players take 60-90 second shifts Adam. We never reached a consensus, but as we're talking about making changes, some seem in favour of it, why not make a minimum of 30 seconds.

So have I, but not on a full-game basis. A couple here or there, but not a full game of 90 second shifts, where forwards in EHM wind up playing 32 minutes.

And, like I said, we had a lot of penalties last season. I'd be curious to see what ice times would look like if we lowered the penalty slider and still had the 10 second lines.

Why would we pro-rate just at the deadline? Why should you pay 100% of the cap hit for a player on February 16 but not on March 3 (or whatever day the deadline is)?

Right, which is why not many people (if any at all) run 90 seconds consistently. I guess you might be able to get away with it if all 5 of your players on Line 1 had 90+ endurance.

Did we have a lot of penalties? I don't know....how do we compare that to the previous year.

I've always thought pro-ration was a real thing in the NHL......or you get pro-rated cap space?

[Calgary.Flames]

I don't care about shift length cause in the end, all I'm interested in is total ice time.
Since we already have restrictions with H&G and NZT shifts length, I think it's all just math in the end.

What I really hate though is people hiding players on their 4th line.
This idea once came out and I don't know why it wasn't adopted but I could see a rule where you CAN NOT have a lower line play a higher shift length than the ones above.

I don't mind lines with the same shift length as it's possible to have 2 equally good top lines but the 50-10-50-20 or whatever it may be is odd.

[Singin the BLUES]

I don't care about shift length cause in the end, all I'm interested in is total ice time.
Since we already have restrictions with H&G and NZT shifts length, I think it's all just math in the end.

What I really hate though is people hiding players on their 4th line.
This idea once came out and I don't know why it wasn't adopted but I could see a rule where you CAN NOT have a lower line play a higher shift length than the ones above.

I don't mind lines with the same shift length as it's possible to have 2 equally good top lines but the 50-10-50-20 or whatever it may be is odd.

I agree with this......we have rules about players being in AHL, at least in AHL they would be playing top line minutes but in NHL they are playing next to nothing.

[Montreal Canadiens]

What I really hate though is people hiding players on their 4th line.
This idea once came out and I don't know why it wasn't adopted but I could see a rule where you CAN NOT have a lower line play a higher shift length than the ones above.

Well, they don't. As evident on PIT and TB, the bottom 2 where their actual top players are have higher shift lengths than their scrubs on line 1.

[Virtual Jarmo]

I've always thought pro-ration was a real thing in the NHL......or you get pro-rated cap space?

It is. NHL is a mess, though. All sorts of strange provisions. Dan's post upthread mentions some.

[Singin the BLUES]

i can see throwing your better players on 2nd and MAYBE even the 3rd line to get the line match ups that you are trying to get, but having them at 4th line just kills the player and GMs wonder why they are slumping

[Brett-SensGM]

OTT I'm not sure where you've been looking but pretty much everybody runs PP on line 1, followed by PP on line 2, then either H&G twice or NZT twice, or a mix of both. Sometimes you'll see dump and chase as well, but most teams have quie similar lines. Limiting it to 1 tactic per lines you'd see even more diversified lines. Heck we might see Run and Gun come out. Whats wrong with a challenge?

Agreed I certainly saw some patterns, but was more insuating specifics... Line 1 PP 50 secs, Line 2 PP 40 secs, Line 3 HnG 30 secs... etc. Going to take a closer look with a more up to date file to get something quantitative as opposed to qualitative. But going off a bad memory I don't recall too many 2 top line PP lines on teams, nor would I ever roll that personally thinking it gave me an edge unless I had an excessively talented offensive team (opinion based).

I have personally seen leagues attemp a one of each line strategy, always had the opposite effect. Lines ended up more vanilla than before because in essence you are limiting options as opposed to gaining them. The answer has always seemed to be, find the variable that allows the most options while not allowing abuse (if that makes any sense) and in all honesty "I" think this league has hit on this magic forumula more than any other league I have been in. As for Run and Gun, I have seen it work and not work, but the stigma will alway peg it as the weak tactic and if a GM has 5 options for 4 slots... you will be seeing a lot of #1 HnG, #2 NzT, #3/#4 PP/DnC or rearrange order to accomodate other line restrictions.

Regarding each line equal to or less than the previous, unfortunately this works wonders against guys like myself and probably most of the league here who like to "play with their lines". I think it adds "realism" but at the cost of being tactical. In the end if just kills options as well which will lead to even more vanilla.

Again all just crap I have seen, who knows how much is coincidence or conclusion jumping on my part.