Simulation Hockey League
S41 - Free Agency Watch - Printable Version

+- Simulation Hockey League (https://simulationhockey.com)
+-- Forum: League Media (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=610)
+--- Forum: SHL Media (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=46)
+---- Forum: Graded Articles (https://simulationhockey.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=545)
+---- Thread: S41 - Free Agency Watch (/showthread.php?tid=86054)

Pages: 1 2

- ErM - 05-14-2018

<div align="center">We are deep in free agency and most of the big names teams had on their boards are gone. Additionally, most of the teams in the league are pretty strapped for cash at this point in the league year. However, the preseason is just around the corner and there are a few names that just have not been picked up yet. Lets do a quick run down of them now.

22 Wolf von Hammersmark - F - 777 TPE
- - Los Angeles Panthers Panthers -->

The rest of the names on this list make a little bit of sense and honestly. Wolf is the only one worth even talking about. Wolf is an active player with a solid 777 TPE. Now obviously, Wolf is not going to be a star player that will make a crappy team into the league championship. But he is the type of guy that can play some solid minutes for a franchise on the front end and still has room for improvement. To be honest, I'm not sure how he is not on a roster yet. Somebody needs to open up the pocket book and pay this man...there's nobody else left.

29 Jack Burton - F - 670 TPE - - New England Wolfpack Wolfpack -->

44 Micheal Burrows - F - 465 TPE - - Seattle Riot Riot -->

45 Scotty Steele - F - 450 TPE - - Seattle Riot Riot -->

47 Mark Harter - G - 432 TPE - - Toronto North Stars Stars -->

51 Gilfred Alfredsson - F - 393 TPE - - Seattle Riot Riot -->

The above are a bunch of old men that are all on the decline. The numbers listed are BEFORE they went through regression so they have already gotten worse since the time of this writing. If you're desperate for a low end player, there might be some value here, but there's not much past this season. Jack Burton could be an ok grab for a team that needs help at forward.

56 Grayson St. Reagan - F - 375 TPE - - Minnesota Chiefs Chiefs -->

St. Reagan is one of the more interesting free agents available. He is a bit of an enigma, but a young one with some potential. St. Reagan is from the S39 draft class so they theoretically have a lot of time to improve as a player. However, there are rumors they St. Reagan has not been practicing for over 2 months and that is going to hurt anybody's value to a team. For a team that is willing to take a game, St. Reagan has been spotted around the league in the last two weeks so they right team may be able to coax him back into the facility and put together a solid forward for the future.


Team Net Gain/Loss Tracker

Buffalo Stampede
[Image: ekj2pv.png]
- 30 Ivan Koroviev - F - 657 TPE

The stampede are a young team and they decided to late an aging forward walk. I think this was a loss that was actually a positive for their team. There was not going to be a lot of benefit of keeping an old man around to delay the development of their young squad. The only thing that would have been a bit nicer to see here would have been the addition of some middle-aged veterans on short term deals. This would have sped up the competitiveness of Buffalo and perhaps made the transition from basement to contender smoother for their young players. Hopefully the leadership is able to keep their up and comers happy and grinding away.

Overall, I think they did just fine this free agency though. Just develop from within.

Grade: B

Hamilton Steelhawks
[Image: latamYI.png]
- 7 Zander Rhys - D - 1521 TPE

+ 14 Mattias Holmberg - D - 1052 TPE

Wow. Losing Zander to free agency is a big loss. He is a top end defender who is in the prime of his career. the Steelhawks are likely going to miss him and it hurts even worst because their championship window is open. This is the time when you bend over backwards to keep players that are in their prime and try to get a cup. Some would argue that you even sell the future to do it. Fortunately, the Steelhawks were able to stop some of the bleeding by bringing in and older defender in Holmberg. Holmberg is a solid player that should partially fill the void left by Zander's departure, but not enough to stop them from getting worse on paper.

The Steelhawks are still a solid team, but his free agency they did not fare well.

Grade: C-



Manhattan Rage
[Image: 2432nnb.png]
+ 38 Jack Hansen - D - 535 TPE
+ 39 Casper Jakobsson - F - 534 TPE

The rage added a couple of lower end players here that are both past their primes and not getting any better. On the flip side, they did not lose any of their players so they were able to maintain the status quo with perhaps some slight improvements. Considering the turmoil the team has gone through of the last season or so, I think maintaining the status quo is pretty admirable accomplishment.

Grade: B-



Minnesota Chiefs
[Image: 2u7t2sh.png]
- 6 Sebastian Strange - F - 1645 TPE
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>- 26 Logan Jensen - F - 719 TPE
</span>

+ 30 Ivan Koroviev - F - 657 TPE

The Minnesota Chiefs got hammered this off season during the free agency period. They cut a young defender who may have had some lock room issues, but was on the rise. I am of the camp that you do not give up easily on talent. Though I get that there were rumors that other veterans were going to walk if he was around. So maybe they had to lose a player to be more appealing to some others. Unfortunately, they lost a veteran forward who was not that far into his career relative to other we see in the league today. Jensen would have been a decent replacement to the void strange left, but instead they had to settle for an aging Koroviev who is only going to get worse. Overall, I think they still have a talented roster, but they are definitely worse on the front end based solely on their net gains and losses.

Grade: D-


New England Wolfpack
[Image: mrrdk5.png]

New England did not have any movement in free agency. So far they kept all of their players and added none. Overall, they are a competitive team that is under new leadership and it looks like the new management is looking to stay the course. It would have been nice to see them make a play for at least one player to give them that edge in the playoffs to make it through the tourney.

Grade: B-


Toronto North Stars
[Image: 2dba1yh.png]
- 38 Jack Hansen - D - 535 TPE
- 39 Casper Jakobsson - F - 534 TP
- 41 Dante Gallo - F - 504 TPE
- 42 Smirnov Light Jr - F - 499 TPE

+ 7 Zander Rhys - D - 1521 TPE

At first glance it looks like the North Stars got hammered in free agency. I am here to tell you they did not. Toronto was able to let a bunch of older and low talented guys walk, sure. However, they have the prospects to fill those gaps. More importantly, they grabbed arguably the biggest true free agent of this class. Zander is in his prime and makes this team a lot better on defense. The North Stars are a better team after free agency than they were before and I think we will see the results of that in the coming season.

Grade: A+

West Kendall Platoon
[Image: 239t2v.png]
No losses or gains via free agency.

The Platoon did not make any moves and they definitely could have used a bit of a bump. I am not sure what there plan going forward is as I have no close ties to the organization. Of course, it is always good to keep the team together so there do get some points there.

Grade: B


Calgary Dragons
[Image: 4jun10.png]
- 9.2 Louie Garrett - F - 1277 TPE
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>- 36 Pierre-Luc Laflamme - D - 571 TPE</span>

I have said it before and I'll say it again. The Dragons front office knows what they're doing and I think that earns them a lot more trust than any other front office in the league. They just won the championship after all. However, I don't think even I can spin this free agency in a positive light for Calgary. They lost two players, one was a forward at the top of his game and the other was a defender that was nearing the end. They kept a lot of big names around which is hard to do after a championship win, but they still lost talent and that has to hurt them. I'll give them credit for keeping who they kept, but this team is worse on paper than the champions of season 40.

Grade: C-


Edmonton Blizzard
[Image: EDMB1.png]
- 14 Mattias Holmberg - D - 1052 TPE

+ 20 Theo Kane - F - 825 TPE

The Blizzard lost to the Jets again the playoffs, but they did not do much in free agency to go and change that. They traded an old defender for an old forward and that was about it. It would have been nice to see them chase down a player for the front end, but they could not make it happen. The good news is Holmberg is on the down swing due to his age and the Blizzard have plenty of young and hungry defenders who will be better players before the season begins. They added a forward but he's in the twilight of his career and unlikely to be a big impact player. They were able to keep around their younger guys and I think their window is still wide open.

Grade: C+


Los Angeles Panthers
[Image: wstd88.png]
- 49 Luisa Koller - D - 405 TPE

The Panthers did not do much this season bu lose a low talent defender. The team is openly in a rebuild so chasing down expensive free agent talent is probably not something they were trying to do, nor something they would have been successful doing. They just need to keep who they have and try to get better.

Grade: B

San Francisco Pride
[Image: 0IRlNb2.png]
+ 49 Luisa Koller - D - 405 TPE

I am not sure what the pride are doing going forward, but I do know they did not do anything in this season's free agency period. Are they in a rebuild or are they trying to compete? I'd lean towards the former. The Koller signing is likely just to have a body around but I cannot say for sure.

Grade: B-


Seattle Riot
[Image: seattle_riot_banner.png]
- 24 Jed Lloren - F - 739 TPE
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>- 60 Roddy Hawkins - D - 349 TPE
- 67 Christian Petersen - D - 301 TPE</span>

+ 9.2 Louie Garrett - F - 1277 TPE
+ 42 Smirnov Light Jr - F - 499 TPE

Seattle was not a good team last season and I do not think we will see a significant change to that in the coming season either. However, despite their poor showing on the ice they were able to do ok in free agency. Seattle dropped some older, lower TPE guys and added a few more talented players. One such player was a young forward Louie Garrett who just won a championship and is in his prime. Any season where a team can attract top level talent in free agency after being bad is a good one in my book.

Grade: A-


Texas Renegades
[Image: aysewp.png]
- 20 Theo Kane - F - 825 TPE

+ 26 Logan Jensen - F - 719 TPE

+ 41 Dante Gallo - F - 504 TPE

Texas traded an old man for an old man, but overall maintained the core of the team that dominated for much of the S40 regular season. They were able to bring back their free agents and if they are able to recapture the magic of S40 and maintain it for a bit they could make a run. It would have been nice to see them add some blue chip X-factor type player to ensure they would be a force in the playoffs, but it is not easy to snag free agents. Fortunately, the were able to snag a pretty solid replacement for the loss of Kane. Some thought Jensen would be black balled by front offices but Texas decided to roll the dice and give him a chance in what I think it a good move. At the very least, Texas should be pretty much just as good as they were last season, and with a little luck a bit better.

Grade: A-


Winnipeg Jets
[Image: 24y1cu1.png]
No losses or gains via free agency.

The Jets have been a solid team that could win the cup for several seasons. This off season they were able to keep all of the players that make them said team. However, they did not make any moves to get passed the Dragons in the playoffs. Sure, beating up on the Blizzard is probably fun, but getting knocked out in the second round is not a success for most teams in the league. The Jets are in a similar boat to the Wolfpack for me and they worked the free agency class this year with the same strategy, so I think it is only fair to give them the same grade.

Grade: B-

</div>

Code:
2282 words


- daBenchwarmer - 05-14-2018

nice article buddy

- DeletedAtUserRequest - 05-14-2018

Your FA articles has been one of the media highlights of the offseason. Cheers

- dankoa - 05-14-2018

Great job with these fa pieces, would love to see them happen every season

- MWHazard - 05-14-2018

Love the article- I think you overestimate the higher end of that correlation between team talent level and playoff success- once you get down to the best of the best, there’s a ton of puck luck involved. I kind of believe that above a certain level of talent, everyone’s pretty even odds to win, especially in the playoffs.

The fact is, we had the best record in the league last season. Did Esa and company get us in that Game 7? Hell yeah they did. Do I think Calgary’s a better team we can’t “get past”? Not really- I think they’ve gotten the bounces the last two seasons and they’re in position to get those bounces because they are also a great team. In my opinion, the four teams you saw in the conference finals were the four best teams in the league, and I think if you simulated it 100 times, you’d see a reasonably even distribution of ultimate champions. It’s just the nature of the sim (and really, the sport in general).

- Wasty - 05-14-2018

Wolf re-signed with Panthers
And LAP is not “openly in a rebuild” and we went after free agents, they just didn’t not sign in LAP.

- ErM - 05-14-2018

Quote:Originally posted by Wasty@May 14 2018, 12:41 PM
Wolf re-signed with Panthers
And LAP is not “openly in a rebuild” and we went after free agents, they just didn’t not sign in LAP.

Crap did he? I couldn't find the thread this morning and thought it was weird.

- ErM - 05-14-2018

Quote:Originally posted by MWHazard@May 14 2018, 12:04 PM
Love the article- I think you overestimate the higher end of that correlation between team talent level and playoff success- once you get down to the best of the best, there’s a ton of puck luck involved. I kind of believe that above a certain level of talent, everyone’s pretty even odds to win, especially in the playoffs.

The fact is, we had the best record in the league last season. Did Esa and company get us in that Game 7? Hell yeah they did. Do I think Calgary’s a better team we can’t “get past”? Not really- I think they’ve gotten the bounces the last two seasons and they’re in position to get those bounces because they are also a great team. In my opinion, the four teams you saw in the conference finals were the four best teams in the league, and I think if you simulated it 100 times, you’d see a reasonably even distribution of ultimate champions. It’s just the nature of the sim (and really, the sport in general).

That's fair, but I've got to have some narrative to make it more realistic.

- ErM - 05-14-2018

Quote:Originally posted by Coach Biz@May 14 2018, 11:32 AM
Your FA articles has been one of the media highlights of the offseason.&nbsp; Cheers

Thanks man! <a href='index.php?showuser=1959' rel='nofollow' alt='profile link' class='user-tagged mgroup-13'>dankoa</a>

I'm hoping to do some version of this every season going forward.

I'll likely focus in the big names in the future and not all the inactive guys.

- vbottas17 - 05-14-2018

Quote:Originally posted by ErM@May 14 2018, 09:24 PM


Crap did he? I couldn't find the thread this morning and thought it was weird.


Ghostspeed has a lot going on but has informed us he is going to sign a one year contract with us, just waiting on him to confirm the salary before actually making the post official. Which is why hes not on our roster or lines that we submitted for pre-season.

We did sign a free agent that is over 700 tpe in Teddy Kesler but he isn't on your list. & yeah we only went after one other free agent because we dont have many long term positions available and the $12m in cap space we have right now will be enticing to top free agents as other teams start to realize the cap crunch they've created.

Cheers

- sash - 05-14-2018

great article erm. I think seattle has alot more to show this season, along with garrett we did add eastwood and kirkstone via trade (obviously not mentioned). love the work dude

- ErM - 05-14-2018

Quote:Originally posted by vbottas17@May 14 2018, 01:40 PM



Ghostspeed has a lot going on but has informed us he is going to sign a one year contract with us, just waiting on him to confirm the salary before actually making the post official. Which is why hes not on our roster or lines that we submitted for pre-season.

We did sign a free agent that is over 700 tpe in Teddy Kesler but he isn't on your list. & yeah we only went after one other free agent because we dont have many long term positions available and the $12m in cap space we have right now will be enticing to top free agents as other teams start to realize the cap crunch they've created.

Cheers

Good luck!

- Avakael - 05-15-2018

Theo Kane is back in Edmonton? That might not be a statistical win, but it'll be an emotional one.

- kckolbe - 05-15-2018

Every time we gain ground on Toronto, they leapfrog back. Our call-ups were better than theirs, but Zander beats that by himself.

- ErM - 05-15-2018

Quote:Originally posted by kckolbe@May 15 2018, 03:58 AM
Every time we gain ground on Toronto, they leapfrog back.&nbsp; Our call-ups were better than theirs, but Zander beats that by himself.

I learned early on not to doubt Symmetrik around here.