All American Team

[ZootMurph]

I was thinking about starting an All American team. Basically, I can only draft, trade for, and sign American players... with a league format of 45% Canadian, 35% American, and 20% Foreign players, I think that could be pretty challenging. I would also have only American coaches and scouts.

In all my solo games, I am not allowed to initiate trades or to negotiate trade offers. I can shop players, but I can't negotiate the offers.

I enjoy challenging myself a little. What do you think? Any ideas on the setup or rules I need to follow?

[Argonaut]

I think your American-only house rule is good enough to start. I'm not totally familiar with the current crop of NHLers (more so the previous couple generations). But I think any country but Canada-only would be a good challenge.

[ZootMurph]

OK, started up the game. Just a standard game. Once I got the game set up, starting July 1, I created an expansion team, called the Montana Americans... based in Kalispell MT, hahaha.. middle of nowhere. I immediately took over as GM and Head Coach. All my coaching staff and scouts were from the USA, so no changes needed. In the expansion draft, I forgot that I was only picking Americans, and I picked Lehner and Elvis as my top two goalies. They are both on the trade block, and I will trade them away before the season begins. Otherwise, I got a pretty average, but deep, team. Mostly 2.5 and 3 star players.

Not much going on in free agency, but I picked up a few extra players. Forgot to create a team in the AHL for a farm team, so I only have an ECHL farm team in my first season. NO real depth, so I'm pretty much stuck with what I've got for the moment. I did go through my coaches and staff and made some changes. I have some super young guys, who I drafted in the expansion draft to use as my draft class... not shown in the roster, obviously.

Hired a new trainer, 19 skill, so that's good. McKenzie I think.
Hired two new coaches in Chris Chelios and Steve Heinze, and dropped two very poor coaches. Finally, I hired several more scouts and fired a couple really bad scouts. I now have an above average coaching staff (maybe even good!).

My scouting looks like this:

NHL: 3 VG
AHL: 3 VG
NCAA: 2 (1 Great, 1 Very Good)
Draft: 5 VG scouts covering draft eligible players
USA: 6 VG scouts, 2 in each US region (Eastern Midwest, Western).

I thought of getting some scouts to cover players in the junior leagues, but there are no more VG or better US scouts available to hire, so I'll hope the 5 draft scouts will do OK. As more scouts become available, I'll do more hiring. All scouts are set to look at US only players.

Basically waiting for trade offers or waivers at this point.

[ZootMurph]

[SheStats]

Pretty solid D

[ZootMurph]

Every month I'll play a month and post results. Here's the preseason. Made some bad trades to get rid of my two non USA players. Got a goalie and a prospect in return.

[ZootMurph]

First thing I did was hire a head coach. Frankly, I didn't really want to do the day to day stuff as coach and also write up what's going on here. So I hired Peter Laviolette. Surprised he was available, but great to have him on board.

Waivers didn't look very good, I only claimed 3 players, a goalie (1.5/2.5) and two wingers (1.5/2.5 and 2/2). Eric Comrie has American and Canadian nationality, the game just shows the Canadian first in the screenshot. Everyone's American At the beginning of the month I have 27 contracts and 32 protected players. 5 players are drafted players I picked up in the expansion draft, one of each position except goalie.

Daily I check the roster and waiver wire then I go to the next day. I don't have anyone on the trade block nor am I looking to renew contracts. I want to see how some of these guys perform on the team, and how the chemistry sets up.

I think, before the season starts, we have two weaknesses. First, we have no big time players to lead the team. A lot of 3 star players, so we have good depth, but not much in the way of top talent to lead the team. Second, our goalies are far below average. I think we can win but we are basically going to have to outscore our opponents... just my initial thoughts.

Here's the starting day roster.

[ZootMurph]

One minor injury, Frank Vatrano, who scored 7 points (2G, 5A) in 9 games had a minor foot injury and is on the Injured list as of November 1.

We started out strong, but faded in the second half of the month, going 6-7-2. van Riemsdyk is 3rd in the league in goals with 11. No other individual stats worth noting. Team wise, we are tied for 9th in the league with a 3.33 goals per game average, and 25th with a 3.53 goals against per game. I didn't post the goalie stats because they aren't worth looking at.

[ZootMurph]

Anyone know a way to make these screenshots smaller?

Vatrano comes back for the first game of November on the 5th, I send down center Lerg (1/1). Lerg had no points in 4 games played.

November 10 I pick up C Andy Miele off waivers (2/2) and send down RW Drew Stafford (1.5/1.5). Stafford had 1 assist in 15 games played.

November 19, in a game against Edmonton, RD Jacob Trouba gets injured for 1-2 months with a fractured jaw. I only have 7 signed defensemen, so I pick up 21 year old Free Agent RD Eric Jeremiah (0.5/1.5) to add some depth on my active roster.

On November 21, I pick up LW Stefan Matteau (2/2) off waivers and send down LW Nicholas Kerdiles (1.5/1.5) who had 2 goals 0 assists in 14 games played.

November 23... Weirdest thing happened today. Vegas fired Peter DeBoer as coach, and same day rehired him as coach. I guess the AI doesn't look at who they just fired, it just looks at the free agent pool and tries to sign the best one... I added a screenshot for you to enjoy...

November 30, we pick up a C off waivers as we are a little short on Centers. TJ Tynan (2/2) comes aboard. Unfortunately, our scouts didn't do a lot of scouting on him, because once he hit our roster he was (1.5/1.5). I send down the older Miele who is also (1.5/1.5) and had 1 assist in 4 games played.

We finish November with an 8-4-2 record, on a strong month by goalie Eric Comrie (who is now in the top 5 in save % in the league). That brings us from 6-7-2 October start to 14-11-4, good for 32 points and 11th in the division. JVR still leads the team in goals with 18.

So things are picking up! Let's hope it continues in December.

[ZootMurph]

More November screenshots for you... Goalie stats, Standings, and Active Roster.

[alko]

Anyone know a way to make these screenshots smaller?

Simply use Windows Paint software. Then load your picture, Resize it to lets say 70 %. Not too much, because then you cant actually see, what in the picture.

[ZootMurph]

Originally Posted by alko

Anyone know a way to make these screenshots smaller?

Simply use Windows Paint software. Then load your picture, Resize it to lets say 70 %. Not too much, because then you cant actually see, what in the picture.

Wow, didn't know I could do that so simply!!! Thanks!!!

[ZootMurph]

Center Nick Bjugstad was out for a few games with bruised ribs. I think he missed 4-5 games total. He was day to day so I didn't move him to the injury list. I guess I should have, didn't realize bruised ribs were going to be a two week thing.

On December 31, 2019, I activated Jacob Trouba from the Injury list and sent our new friend Eric Jeremiah down to the ECHL.

It was a pretty boring month, including the team's play. VERY boring. JVR continued to stay among the leaders in goals (25) and continuing his surprising play, goaltender Eric Comrie stayed in the leaders for save percentage (.924)

We did end up the month on a 4 game winning streak, so can't really complain there, ending up 2019 with a 21-16-6 record, giving us a 7-5-2 month of December. Pretty happy with that record considering we had 10 road games and only 4 home games.. I'm surprised we are able to stay over .500, bit I gotta give props to Laviolette. Great last minute pickup for us, I think. We're just 2 points out of a playoff spot right now, so we need to pick it up in the new year.

Also, January is when I start resigning players, so there should be a lot of action tomorrow with signings going on.





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[ZootMurph]

I'm slowly working on sizing these things. When I saved all these, they looked tiny but are still quite large here...They should be more reasonable in the next few posts.

[ZootMurph]

We start off the new month with a winning record, an empty Injury List, and an owner that will allow us to pay some people if they want to stay with the team. Let's play a few games then start sending out some offers. We have 9 guys on the last year of their contracts. Top two concerns will be defenseman Tony DeAngelo and winger Alex Galchenyuk.

NJ Devils made me a trade offer which I politely declined. They offered 28 year old, 1/1 defenseman Julian Melchiori for 27 year old, 1.5/1.5 wing Kyle Rau. Rau is older and better than Melchiori. Plus, I don't need a defenseman.

Unfortunately, I keep seeing players on waivers that could definitely help my team, but none are American

So, after the January 7 game with Minnesota, I make offers to DeAngelo and Galchenyuk. Both guys asked for 3 year deals and wouldn't come off that 3 year mark. Really wanted longer terms, and couldn't get it.

In 46 games, DeAngelo (24 yo) is a top line defenseman, getting over 22 minutes per game, and has scored 12 goals and added 19 assists... a premiere defenseman for us. We are THRILLED to pay him $2.75 million a season for 3 seasons. I'd have paid $4 million plus for a longer term deal but he wouldn't get off that 3 years.

Galchenyuk, who is 25, has been played almost 16 minutes a game, or just under 2nd line minutes. He was making $4.9 million and we signed him for $5.18 million a season for 3 seasons. I think we are overpaying for a 3rd liner but we have cap room right now and we are hoping he makes the jump to top 6 forward (he has the offensive skills). He has 7 goals and 9 assists in 43 games this season.

Next we focus on 25 year old G Jon Gillies (2/3) and 27 year old winger Austin Czarnik (2/2). Neither player wants to resign with us. Gilles because he wants to play in the NHL, and is currently in the ECHL. Czarnik is a 3rd liner who wants more icetime, and doesn't feel he gets enough here in Montana.

We sign winger John Hayden to a 2 year $850k per year contract. Hayden, 24, played 18 games with Montana picking up 2 assists in limited ice time (under 7 minutes a game).He's played 5 games in the ECHL and he has 4 points in 5 games there.

That leaves four 1.5/1.5 players I won't, at this time, try to resign. They are 34 year old winger Drew Stafford who is currently in the ECHL, 33 year old center Bryan Lerg, who is a regular scratch on the Americans. 27 year old winger Kyle Rau and C TJ Tynan. Stafford and Lerg are on the decline, and I can get younger players of the same quality out of free agency. Same goes for Rau and Tynan, I can get same quality, younger players from free agency or the draft to replace them.

So resigning is done. After the season, I will put offers in to both players that didn't want to negotiate a deal... whether they sign again or not is another story

On with the season! Vincent Trocheck had an infected insect bite, which made him day to day but he didn't miss any games from it.

Czarnik gets a day to day back injury after the resigning... In all he missed 4 games, before being completely healthy February 2.

This month saw our record climb to 28-21-7, good for 8th in the conference (tied with Chicago). JVR continues to light the lamp with 33 goals putting him in 7th in the league. Comrie is 7th in the league in wins with 21. Comrie is also tied for 9th in the league in save percentage at .920, plus 3 shutouts puts him tied for 8th.

For team stats, our power play (16.3%) and penalty kill (77.3%) are both 27th in the league. Our 10.5 PIM per game leads the league. We are 12th in goals per game (3.09) and 20th in goals against per game (3.16).

[ZootMurph]

[ZootMurph]

Another day, another month of the Montana Americans. I think I finally have the sizing of the screenshots figured out, so hopefully that will make this more readable. If only I had a personality, it COULD be enjoyable. Oh, well

We start February with an empty Injury List. Our trainer must be doing something right.

On the 16th, JVR comes down with 'nausea', and Bjugstad is day to day with a bruised elbow, so I bring up 21 year old LW Riley Tufte (1.5/3). Tufte should get some playing time in the bigs. I send down 28 year old 1.5/1.5 LW Kyle Lau.

On the 22nd, with the trade deadline looming, I start to shop some players. I'm mostly looking for picks or youth. A defenseman for some depth in the organization wouldn't hurt either.

I get several offers for Lau, but only one draft pick, a 7th rounder from the New York Rangers. I take this offer.

No offers for 31 year old Center Miele or 34 year old center Lerg. I was hoping

ON the 23rd, surprisingly I got no offers for other older players on my team... So I have to build my team the hard way... through drafting, waivers, and the occasional lucky find in free agency

Of course, no trade offers at the trade deadline.

Overall a bad month for us. We ended up 32-28-8. Worst of all, the rat from Boston is leading the league in points. I can't take it. That's 4-6-2 for the month of February 2020. This is the worst month in team history... so far. JVR is still amongst the leaders in goals with 29. Comrie is dropping out of rankings, as his actual abilities are catching up to him.

[ZootMurph]

We lost defenseman John Marino to a strained forearm for a few weeks. So we put him on the Injury list and brought up our only other defenseman, Eric Jeremiah. It's funny that several 2/2 defensemen have been on waivers, but they are all un-American

Starting March 18, I took my 5 scouts that were assigned to players entering the NHL Draft and cleared their jobs. Then, I went to the draft page, and started looking at the top American players in the draft. Every week, I'll have 5 players scouted by our scouts to try to better prepare for the draft.

Defenseman Neal Pionk had knee soreness which kept him out of several games as it was day to day... Winger Ryan Dzingel had hip abductor strain which kept him out of a few games.

I also renewed defensive coach Clarence Poteat's contract for 4 years at $85,500 per year. He very good with Defenseman, great with prospects, very good with offensive skills and great with defensive skills.

All my other staff already were good.

We were 8-4-0 in April and I played through the end of the season. We had one game against New Jersey which we lost in OT, so we finish 8-4-1, end up in 10th place with 89 points in our conference, 5 points out of the playoffs. Our goal for year 2 is 100 points. Yeah, good luck

We also pick up RD Zach Trotman off waivers. He's a 1.5/1.5 player who is 29 and has 2 years of $700k each on his contract. Too late for this season, but adds some needed depth on defense for us.

I wouldn't say it was a great season, but I'm content. Considering that, if I didn't HAVE to have only Americans on the team, I would have made the playoffs for sure... it wasn't bad. Now we just have to find ways to get better... the draft is going to be important in this game.

[ZootMurph]

Start off by picking up 1.5/2.0 LW C.J. Smith to add a little more depth and competition. I give him a 2 year extension.

The team had no nominees for any awards this year. So sad

My choices for nomination for the Hall of Fame:
Keith Tkachuk
Ray Whitney
Pat Verbeek
Teppo Numminen
Glen Wesley
Steve Larmer
Bobby Smith
Doug Weight
Alexander Mogilny
Steve Duchesne

Who would you choose? I will post who I nominated in the draft post.

San Jose Sharks win the Stanley Cup in 7 games over Pittsburgh. I'm not going to post all the awards, just too much to post. But here's the playoff bracket...



After the Stanley Cup, I move some players up to the big team so that they get a chance to learn and grow.

Below are the top 4 pages of American players in the draft...









Tomorrow we'll run the draft and get to July 1 where I can add a farm team in the AHL.

[ZootMurph]

By the way, I picked Ray Whitney. The guy had almost 1100 points as a defenseman, plus he does a pretty funny alcohol commercial for a drink called the Pink Whitney. Love the guy!

We're drafting 15th. In my opinion, my 3 biggest needs are G, C, RW.

Here's our first round pick Center Ty Smilanic (1.0/4.0):



RW Sam Colangelo is our 2nd round pick, 47 overall...



At the time of both these picks, there were similarly rated goalies, but in every case the goalies were scouted as not being good in pressure or big game situations. Not a trait I am looking for in a goaltender, so I passed.