Login

StadiumGambler · 08-01-2020, 11:53 PM

(presser word count is 1744)

For anyone whos relatively new to this site, I'm StadiumGambler, user agent of British Winnipeg Jets forward Nick Brain. I've been on this site for about 20 months now, joining as part of the infamous Season 46 Reddit draft class. Today I got updated and am officially part of the 2000 TPE club, a club with only a handful of members, with a lot of them being either Hall Of Fame players or surefire locks to get in.

I've had a rollercoaster ride of a career here on the site, I've done some great things, I've done some bad things, but people generally think I'm an okay guy and an overall positive to this community of freaks and geeks so I stick around. I've worked as a backroom guy for the Raptors in the J and Jets in the Show, had a fairly regrettable GM tenure with the Jets, I grade some of the media thats been posted here, I've written some PTs and articles that should be in a Site Writing Hall Of Fame of some sort, and I've won the SMJHL version of the Bill Masterton Trophy (which to date is actually the only individual award I've ever won with my player strangely enough. Lets hope THAT gets fixed soon.)

Ask me anything and I'll try and answer anything!

---

Quote:As a newer user to this site, a first gen creation the thought of reaching the 2k club as a goalie seems...unfathomable. Does earning the TPE for you ever seem just...automatic over the course of time?

Sometimes it does feel automatic yeah. I have a fairly easy time with PTs, I believe I've crushed the past two CWs in like an hour each. The writing of the short stuff has never been _THAT_ much of a problem for me and I get by well.

The harder part has been getting a bank for training and stuff, but I've gotten lucky to get some strong pay for articles I've written, as well as coming up with the one good idea I brought to the site in the form of my NHL '94 playthroughs with SHL people I add in. It was some hyped up content and it got some good feedback at the time. That carried me across the finish line more than anything else.

Quote:Also, how has the fight of regression been (I think you might just be starting that if I recall).

Regression will be this next offseason for me. I'll probably be earning at the same rate for another few season, but I might be forced to stop buying equipment. I think I'm bleeding about 5-6 mill per season. Still, I'll do my damnedest to be good for a while.

Quote:Also, speaking as a new Co-GM...you've been a stand out star...a franchise player for the Jets alongside defensive star McScruff. What advice do you have to the younger players who are coming up and just reaching that pivotal 1k TPE mark...and those who are just getting started?

The best advice I have is: Do what you can. It can be easy to get burned out on this site at times, so don't force it and just try to do what you can. Theres the temptation there to be the Connor McDavid you couldn't be during Atom-level hockey, but you can still be a serviceable player on this site if you just do the minimum, so don't freak out over stuff too much and just try to be all you can be and be a positive addition to the site.

Quote:Do you think S46 was the best draft ever with it having probably 10 people who will hit 2k?

I think 31 is always the gold standard and 43 was really good. 31 I think might've had less depth than us, but I'd need the input of someone from that class to talk about stuff like was Kyle Wahlgren and a lot of the second and third round guys with names i dont recognize any good.

I feel like S46 might just have a lower impact on the game because being at 16 teams instead of 14 and being in a sim less favourable to middling/bad teams might change the impact that some of us had on the league long term. Just look at Collin Gibbles for example: Guy is an elite stud forward, but hes probably a few years away from ever achieving notable offensive numbers as part of Minny because they're in the rebuild, whereas in Simon T he'd be doing much better to the tune of 40-50 points a season for a decade.

Quote:How does it feel to hit 2K? Did you always think you’d make it?

I think there were some instances I thought I'd run out of money, or that I'd randomly lose motivation and stop playing, and I also think I misjudged exactly where I was at for season by season production (or how many seasons I actually had until regression).

Now of course I'm fairly confident I'll beat Joey K's 2099 mark (as long as I don't get ultra screwed by Primetime and 3-on-3, but maybe I'm wrong)

Quote:How long do you plan to play with Brain?

I don't intend to manually retire Brain above 1000ish TPE, so it'll probably be until he withers to uselessness. I have pretty flexible IRL circumstances in regards to employment and I'm not suited for uni so I have more spare time than the average user, although I'm not sure I'll be earning at a max rate past season 15 or so of Brain's career. I'd like to play 20 seasons in the SHL cause 1000 games would be cool, but whatever happens happens.

Quote:Congrats first of all. What's your advice for someone a season behind you still 'trying to' get to 2k about fighting regression? Do you have a plan going into it (best time to start banking TPE etc)?

I'm not going to bank TPE, I intend to have the best build possible for IIHF so I'll raise what I can all the time and reduce it later. I've got vague ideas of what Nick's skillset will be post regression.

Quote:If you could go back to your Winnipeg GM tenure, would you change anything? Anything you want to do over?

If we're talking full-on time machine, I would've told HO the sim is a busted piece of shit and tried to rebuild instead of taking that fateful stab at contention. A lot of the trade-aways were inevitable regardless of who stepped into the job I think, as was me only lasting 2 seasons in the job (although the team doing badly didn't help matters, I had some IRL family stress at the time that was very distracting.)

The thing is I worried about selling a rebuild to the team when we had just come out of one and were a playoff caliber team again, and it bugged me that we were thisclose to beating Buffalo in that Season 48 Cup finals, hitting two goalposts in games we lost. I figured a better roster could get us there, and it was a bad decision. RNG and Simon T were big reasons why it was bad, but it was a bad decision on my part too.

Quote:How does Anatoli Terrorov feel about this milestone for Brainer? What is he doing nowadays? Has he found a new job?

Terrorov wouldn't know what TPE is, the only training he knows is lifting frozen hay bales overhead in cold Russian winters and the advanced science stuff the Soviets were doing in the 70s. He would be pleased at seeing Brain develop into an elite player though.

And as far as I know I'm still technically with the Raptors under that avatar am I not? Maybe Terrorov got kicked upstairs to Advisor to the Vice President of Operations, idk.

Quote:What advice would you give to a young player hoping to get this milestone someday?

Sorta already covered this above, but to get to 2K specifically, I think it'd be good to seek out specific advice from people who seem to do really well at the random TPE like 3-on-3 or season predictions and etc. Also keep on top of things when it comes to mock drafts, since our crack team of monkeys tends to leave stuff to the literal last second in terms of harvesting rumours or last minute changed picks due to trades.

Also you'll want to keep a close eye on how much you make season-to-season and plan ahead for filling in the salary gap. If you get paid 4m per season and participate in fantasy, you'll need about 9-10 million more to sufficiently afford things (and hopefully you're on a good IIHF team or good at the Casino, which can help knock that down further). A good draft article every 2 months or so can fill the gap, but if inspiration strikes for just some random 500 word piece do it. Every little thing counts, and honestly I'd like to think some of my short articles have been all-timers in site media history.

A site job helps, but be mindful of the workload, because you don't want to get in too deep and burn out. Media Grading worked out okay for me but there were times in the Troy era where I had to pare down 4 pages of articles while listening to poor audio quality podcasts and it kinda sucked.

Quote:Are you better than Luffy?

I think Luffy's probably slightly better in the context of the sim but who knows. Brain is a fractionally better skater, better shooter, more sound defensively, and better as the rough stuff on the powerplay. Luffy's better at offensive fundamentals and puck protection. I have the weird feeling if Buffalo traded Luffy for me straight up both teams would play better but who knows.

***Chevy*** · 08-01-2020, 11:58 PM

As a newer user to this site, a first gen creation the thought of reaching the 2k club as a goalie seems...unfathomable. Does earning the TPE for you ever seem just...automatic over the course of time? Also, how has the fight of regression been (I think you might just be starting that if I recall).

Also, speaking as a new Co-GM...you've been a stand out star...a franchise player for the Jets alongside defensive star McScruff. What advice do you have to the younger players who are coming up and just reaching that pivotal 1k TPE mark...and those who are just getting started?

5ympathies · 08-02-2020, 12:15 AM

Do you think S46 was the best draft ever with it having probably 10 people who will hit 2k?

Thanks to JSS for the signature

StamkosFan · 08-02-2020, 12:19 AM

How does it feel to hit 2K? Did you always think you’d make it?

How long do you plan to play with Brain?

FlappyGiraffe · 08-02-2020, 12:20 AM

Welcome to the club brother Gojets

Weretarantula · 08-02-2020, 12:26 AM

08-01-2020, 11:53 PMStadiumGambler Wrote: with a lot of them being either Hall Of Fame players or surefire locks to get in

The only way Maxime is getting in is if he skins an existing alumni and wears their face Dwight style

[Image: 571822-nbc.jpg?itok=8nPuv-AS]

*Carpy48* · 08-02-2020, 02:26 AM

Congrats first of all. What's your advice for someone a season behind you still 'trying to' get to 2k about fighting regression? Do you have a plan going into it (best time to start banking TPE etc)?

***SpartanGibbles*** · 08-02-2020, 05:25 AM

Quote:I feel like S46 might just have a lower impact on the game because being at 16 teams instead of 14 and being in a sim less favourable to middling/bad teams might change the impact that some of us had on the league long term. Just look at Collin Gibbles for example: Guy is an elite stud forward, but hes probably a few years away from ever achieving notable offensive numbers as part of Minny because they're in the rebuild, whereas in Simon T he'd be doing much better to the tune of 40-50 points a season for a decade.

I don't have a question, I just appreciate the shout-out....I'll be joining you at 2k pretty soon

hhh81 · 08-02-2020, 12:21 PM

If you could go back to your Winnipeg GM tenure, would you change anything? Anything you want to do over?

How does Anatoli Terrorov feel about this milestone for Brainer? What is he doing nowadays? Has he found a new job?