| I have no life anymore.
The Eastside Hockey Manager
has taken over. It controls the horizontal, it controls the vertical.
The revolution may be televised after all, but I would miss it anyways
because I'm literally addicted to this thing.
Eastside Hockey Manager is a text-based fantasy hockey simulator for all
you Wannabe-GM's out there. If the idea of controlling nearly every
aspect of day-to-day managerial operations of a hockey team, then this is
the ticket for you.
First thing I did was claim my beloved Detroit Red Wings and dive right in.
How bad am I hooked to this sim? What else have I done in the
past several days? See for yourself:
9/4
8pm
Training camp end and the Preaseason starts. I dump D Larry Murphy
and RW Doug Brown on waivers, and then let RW Pat Verbeek loose as a free
agent. That's ok though, because I have my eyes on bigger prizes.
With the loss of Murphy I call up D Maxim Kuznetsov from the minor-league
affiliate Kansas City Blades to fill that roster spot. The kid will
get some good experience I figure. I also call up D Yan Gulobovsky
just in case. Now on to the eyes on the prize.
8:15pm
One week into preseason and I need RW's badly. The Washington Capitals
express some interest in D Steve Duschene, and I find my eyes wandering to
their disgruntled RW Ulf Dahlen. A trade is made and I send Duschene
to the Caps for for Dahlen, the Caps wanted RW Kirk Maltby in the dela too
though. Business is harsh, I'll miss Maltby but I need Dahlen's touch
on the first line.
8:17pm
COUP! Unrestricted Free Agent Brett Hull looks at my contract offer
and signs. I now boast Hull and Dahlen on my Right Wing along with
Darren McCarty and Mathieu Dandenault. Hull slips easily into the RW
role on my second line with Luc Robitaille and Sergei Fedorov. This
line absolutely dominates the rest of the preseason.
10:25pm
Not feeling so well after the Wendys' food I had earlier, I retire for the
night with the preaseason ended. D Frederik Olausson and Hull absolutely
tore it up with 16 points each in the preseason, and Kuznetsov did well also
with 9 points. Now for the real deal. In two weeks I get C Steve
Yzerman back off the Disabled List, so I can plop him back on the first line,
which I have youngster C Jason Williams centering currently with LW Brendan
Shanahan and Dahlen. Looks good so far.
9/5
7:45pm
Defeat. Drubbed by Calgary in the opening game 4-2. Ugh.
Shanahan is griping a bit about his role, but it seems mostly harmless.
Starting G Dominik Hasek is still on Cloud 9 though, despite the fact
he got taken to the woodshed last game.
The choice of playing all Jiri Fischer, Kuznestov, and Gulobovsky all as
regulars could pay dividends it looks like. Previously it'd been hard
to fit them in with guys like Duschene, Aaron Ward, and Larry Murphy eating
up spots. Now with them gone, the youth movement is looking decent,
though not without growing pains. Kustnesov especially seems to be
doing well paired with veternan Olausson.
7:53pm
The Calgary Flames express some interest in trading D Phil Housley for G
Manny Legace. Housley is 37 and I don't need him when I'm trying to
reload on the young side, so I decline and offer Legace for two young prospects.
The Flames decline, and I close negotiations altogether,a bit ticked
off at them for trying to rob me like that.
8:10pm
A bit bummed after the deal with the Flames fell through, I notice the Vancouver
Canucks are in the market for a goaltender, and I shop Legace to them a bit.
I ask for a young hot prospect Center, and a mid-level draft pick.
They decline. I suck it up and offer Legace straight up for
the young cneter prospect -- RJ Umberger who's really lighting it up in the
juniors. They accept, and Umberger becomes my top prospect just that
quickly. I move G Jason Elliot into Legace's starting goalie role with
the Blades, and then sign G Bujar Amidovski as a backup to Elliott. The
retooling of my farm club continues -- when Yzerman, Shanahan, C Igor Larionov,
Hull, etc, retire over the next few years, I need some youngsters who can
step up. I'm off to a good start with this now. Amazing, after
getting Hasek it was Legace who was the one who felt left out, and I still
hang on to top-caliber G Chris Osgood.
8:22pm
C Yzerman moves ot Day-to-Day status on Injured Reserve. I am elated
-- I know when I can get him in the lineup Dahlen and Shanahan will start
tearing it up again. I've also won my next two games now. Things
are looking good. Now I just need some cash revenue from games -- Hull
and Dahlen took a bite out of my pocketbook.
8:49pm
After grabbing a bite to eat, I sit here watching former Wing Doug Brown
tear it up after signing with.... the hated Colorado Avalanche. 3
goals and 4 assists in two games for them now. I honestly feel happy
for the guy and that he's moved on and succeeding somewhere. I keep
having to tell myself "It's just a sim".
8:51pm
Was glancing over some actual real-life NHL rosters on ESPN.com and I was
a bit thrown when I looked at the Calgary Flames' roster and didn't see RW
Scott Young there (he'd been acquired in my sim league via a trade with St.
Louis, who he's actually still with in real life). Yes, that's right,
reality and simulation are now blurring together... that scares me
a bit. That Dallas Stars also acquire RW Petr Bondra in a trade
with Washington. Like they needed to get even more loaded already...
Bondra puts in 3 goals in the next 3 games for the Stars.
8:53pm
I watch my minor-league Kansas City Blades thump the Albany River Rats
7-0. LW Yuri Butsayev puts in the hat trick, and I begin pondering
calling him up... nahh, not yet. C Steve Brule also puts in two for
my team. If Brule keeps this up, he's getting the team captaincy of
the Blades...
9:02pm
Yzerman comes off the DL, and in two off-days comes back to 100%.
Onto the 1st line with you! Maybe now Shanahan and Dahlen will wake
up. I keep Jason Williams up with the big club as an extra forward
just in case... if I lose a winger to injury, I could easily send him back
down and bring a winger up without him having to clear waivers first.
Win-win deal, cause he also got some legit playing time with the big boys
before Yzerman came back.
9:16pm
I lose 3-2 to the Avalanche -- Milan Hejduk played out of his gourd and when
that happens it's hard to beat them. So now I drop to 2-3-0-0
on the season. The Blades absolutely destroyed the Hershey Bears 9-2
though and I'm beginning to ponder calling some guys up again. LW Bobby
Reynolds and Lane Lambert both with the hat-trick for Kansas City. Lambert
is 36 and should stay down, but Butsayev and Brule are still lighting it
up too... and I'm beginning to wonder if Williams could use the playing time
in KC again....
RW Keith Tkachuk just scored goals number 5, 6, 7, and 8 though in a St.
Louis drubbing of Columbus, and I'm beginning to get scared of the Blues
and what Tkachuk's going to do through the season.
10:11pm
The sim begins to get all too real, as about 6 games into the season Edmonton
Oilers D Sean Brown gets suspended for 7 games by the league office for injuring
Marko Jantunen of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 7 games is steep.
This sim scares me sometimes.
10:37pm
A slight adjustment on my Power Play units and my Special Teams are producing
again. I swapped Brendan Shanahan and Luc Robataille from the 1st
and 2nd power play units respectively and the result was a good-looking 5-2
win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Hull notched goals 5 and 6 on the
season. Meanwhile Tkachuk netted numbers 10 and 11 for the Blues
against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-3 win. Unless he hits a skid,
I don't see anyone catching him. Kansas City lost 5-4 to Norfolk Admirals,
but the Blades are still putting up big numbers and the team continues to
impress in the minors.
11:14pm
Kansas City is plagued by injuries to forwards, and I was forced to sign
a suspect 4th-line right winger until I can get RW Tim Verbeek and B.J. Young
back from injuries. The Blades have lost two in a row, while the parent
club has run off two close wins, including G Chris Osgood's first win of
the season.
12:23am - 9/6
RW Darren McCarty is not happy about being a 4th liner, and spoke up in the
media about it. Truth is, if Ulf Dahlen doesn't begin producing and
soon, Brett Hull will be moved up to the 1st line, McCarty the 2nd, and Dahlen
dropped to the 3rd line and I'll be angling him as trade bait. So far
that expirement hasn't worked, and if it doesn't start working soon there's
not much since continuing it -- right now Ulf Dahlen is *not* the 1st line
RW this team needs.
I love micromanagement.
12:56am
Things got ugly in the Tampa Bay Lighting - Washington Capitals game.
Lightning winger Matthew Barnaby was involved in an incident with Capitals
winger Dainius Zubrus in which he injured Zubrus seriously, and he'll be
out for a week or so at the very least, 3 is predicted. Barnaby has
been suspended by the league office for 8 games (!!!) as a result, but worse
came later in the form of retaliation. Dimitri Yuskevitch of the Capitals
made a run at Lightning winger Fredrik Modin, knocking him unconcious and
forcing him to sit out indefinitely with a head injury/concussion. Modin's
words after the game were not kind: "You guys are going to write whatever
you want, I just come to play every night and try to play as hard as I can.
He plays to injure people".
Like I said, sometimes this sim is so real it scares the daylights out of
me. And yes, all of that was detailed in the simmed game, including
the quote...
1:42am
Consider the Ulf Dahlen experiment failed. I got tired of waiting for
him to act like a #1 RW and traded him to the Minnesota Wild for G Dwayne
Roloson. The Wild needed a decent RW badly, and Roloson will fit in
nicely as #1 goalie in Kansas City, since G Jason Elliott has been struggling
as of late. This moves McCarty up ot the #1 line, and Tim Verbeek (yes,
it's Pat's little brother) was called up from KC to play 4th line RW for
now.
2:30am
Experiment #2 is underway. D Jiri Fischer and RW Tim Verbeek have
been traded to the Florida Panthers for RW Valeri Bure, Pavel's little brother.
Bure is placed currently on the #1 line alongside C Steve Yzerman and
LW Brendan Shanahan, and hopefuly will cure some of the #1 line's scoring
woes. RW Darren McCarty has been placed on the 3rd line. This
should be quite a bit more successful than the Ulf Dahlen scenario, as Bure
is a proven, young scorer. We'll see though, I hated giving up Fischer
for him. |
