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***luke*** · 07-01-2024, 09:34 AM

I took over New England in S62. Crazy its been about 15 seasons of leading New England which is crazy. The couple seasons before from S57-S60 or S61 I believe I was the SHL Co-commisioner after being Manhattan co-gm from S47-S57. For almost all of my SHL career I gmed a team. Whether that's for Vancouver, Manhattan, and now New England.

I got burnt out of the SHl after being a co-commissioner. Went to Philadelphia Forge after that with Thomason. Its one of the big reasons why I'm in this league. I know I'm a great GM, I know I can build a locker room. Then, this was during the time when there was a great need for actual GMs for teams. At the end of 2021 specifically there was SFP and NEW that were up for grabs for the GM. So I sent a dm to Sean with this

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Experience: S44-S48 SMJHL GM/Co-gm/advisor

S49-S57 SHL Co-GM

almost anything under the sun

New England is at a weird stage in their SHL life, they have the youth, albeit entering regression soon, as well as having almost all of them on UFA status on the Forward market. Goalies they are fine, and defense, they are doing ok as well. Prospect wise, they are not doing good, but with picks in the future then they are doing ok.

The immediate issue that comes to mind is, who is leaving to FA and can I stop that. I know a lot of people on that roster, and I believe I could get them to stay on that roster. WIth gordie retiring it will leave me to replace him on the lineup, and if I can get everyone else to stay then we will be ok.

Now looking at the broader extent, what is the direction of the team. The 3rd fiddle with BUF and HAM, with Toronto seemingly on a mass exodus, I dont fear them or Montreal. So we are firmly a playoff team, but with not a great chance at being one of BUF or HAM are in the way. Now, I honestly dont think anyone can beat them, but I've came close on Manhattan. We clearly are a good team, but not elite enough to turn it into a powerhouse. With different FA signings and positioning I think I can try to get us to the point of making sure that we can be good enough.

Now I dont have a lot of time, so I do need personnel around me in order to be successful. I can run FHM, and I tested in it before so that part is ok. if I can find someone else to help, that nice. Ill get scouts, and ill get a co-gm to help me as well. Thats pretty much it I think

oh it is to note, I will probably on GM for 2, maybe 3 seasons. Until my player dies

but ill try to bring stability and find someone in house to mentor and become the next GM

So clearly I was not in the mindset that I would be around for a long time. I was still kinda burnt out, but teams needed a good GM. And I thought that New England was better set up than San Francisco to be competitive sooner. Heading into S63 I still tried to keep that a reality. But I should have known better. I panicked a little, trying to keep us competitive and made some trades.

First trade was trading away a 2nd for Justin Keahi, Jeff Hopkins, and the rights to my aging player. Not terrible, but I needed another forward with Gudmundur Kristjansson leaving in Free Agency. That was a fine deal, but later learning that I could have gotten Keahi for cheaper, that would have been a better trade if I just got him for free. Then Jeff Hopkins was an alright prospect, trying to get a better prospect core as we only had 1 prospect in the system.

Soon after I did a sign and trade to trade Calvin Hobbes to seattle. Acquiring 19th OA in the S63 draft and a pick swap. Glad I got a 1st. But I used that 1st and a future 2nd to trade up to 17th OA to acquire a goalie that did not pan out. So overall a bad use of assets.

S63

So in the S63 draft I drafted the best player I could have in Ivan Lacksamus, and then a goalie I liked at 17 in Evert Jansson.

Trying to get a good squad for S63 I panicked a bit and acquired an IFA for a future 2nd. A terrible deal.

Then right after that, traded Bas O’Bigbers and FR-Finn Rhys away in a trade. Starting the eventual turn from me thinking that we could remain competitive, to actually rebuilding. Getting a S64 LAP 1st and a bunch of 2nds trading them away.

One final trade was sending Kapsars Claude to LAP for a prospect and a future 2nd.

So in S63 it was a half assed season. Didn't do terrible but should have just tanked. Ending up 20-42-4, good for 16th in the league.

Drafting 5th OA, I made a big move to help really kick off the rebuild. Having some assets left, I traded Jonathan Granstrom, 5th OA, and a future 2nd for Paul Koivu @Briedaqueduc
and 3rd OA.

The 3rd OA sadly didn't turn out well, drafting Moritz Seider. But Paul Koivu was a key player for us in getting us great talent for the rebuild. In that draft I also drafted Outdoor Truck, who became my Co-GM. And a great player who is still playing in New England to this day. The rest of the draft did not amount to much anyway.

S64

This is when I went into New England for the long haul. This is when I turned from only wanting to GM for a couple seasons into making sure New England will be the best team in the league. I retired my player in order to recreate early. I wanted Thomason to get to 1000 points, but only landed at 949. And I committed myself to making sure New England will rebuild properly. I drafted for a semi prospect Towelie for a 2nd.Turned out ok. Didn't hit 1k but was able to trade him for a future 2nd in the future. We ended S64 in 19th in the league. Going 12-49-5.

This is when I really hit my stride into becoming a top tier GM again. That offseason I traded for the rights to Cup Noodle. @Vulfzilla

One of the best trades I’ve ever made. I traded for the rights in order to talk with him in order to get the best possible chance at signing him. He was a young defenseman I needed. Wouldnt be a stud, but a great player that will probably cap out at 1600 TPE.

And then I made the pitch on how we can win a cup.

He asked some questions

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yeah i would help with that if i stayed, i'm always around. so my 2 biggest questions are 1) (please be realistic) where do you see this team in 2-3 seasons? i know you're at the bottom of the barrel now, but i see some awesome dudes from my time in anc on the comeup too.. so where do you realistically think you'll be in a few seaosns

and 2) how are you guys with tpe reminders. I'm really bad about missing stuff throughout the week because i always do my stuff on mondays. Do ya'll have a system for sending new stuff out? For example I just missed playoff predictions because I didn't realize it was that time and no one from tex pinged anything

I gave some answers

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It is a bit trickier since FHM8 will be new to people and it’s a different engine. But, being 1000% honest

Spots are the standings this season to get a base 

S66: Lotto Spot / bottom spot (MAN, MTL, TEX)

S67: EDM/NOLA spot / the bottom spots 

S68: hopefully consistant at the NOLA/WPG spot 

S69: try to win a round as the favorite 

The prospects are here, we have good ones, the thing we lack are high end players to help push us over while the prospects are entering the league/getting to the 1000-1400 range. And it’s my goal to get them

And then I got him signed. And he became an amazing player and user for New England. We wouldn't have won a cup without him.

S65

In the S65 draft it was terrible to say the least. 3rd OA taking ML002 who went inactive. Hynek Heidinger who went inactive. Capy Bara who was a fine player but didn’t get passed like 900 TPE. But then I drafted the best player I could have at 27th OA. Seamus O’Slapahan @Z0REM . Becoming the best defenseman I drafted, and one of the best defensemen in the league in the early S70’s and now mid S70’s. I got him at 27th OA, which is crazy to look back on.

S65 is the 2nd and only time I really tanked hard. Finishing 19th in the league again, going 12-51-3 that season. Luckily this time I drafted 1st OA that season, winning the draft lottery. So with 1st OA I drafted Eggward Elric @jeffie43

Another cornerstone of what is shaping up to be the New England Core. Not only a guy user but a great coach that I desperately needed. With the SHL switching to FHM8 in the coming months, Jeffie is an invaluable resource to New England.

S66

Koivu - Jager- Tsunami
Watcher - Lacksamus - Money
Towelie - Aittokallio -Cuddles

Yxshaft - Pale
Noodle - Face
Jakobsen - Balzams

S66 we were still trash, but we had players in place to no longer be trash. That offseason I traded for a S69 player that had 1700 TPE. which was probably a season or 2 early on which I should be making those trades. But when you can trade for it, and the player believes in your plan and will come to a rebuilding team you do it.

So I acquired Makrus ‘The Tater’ Jager @taterwc from Edmonton for a 1st and 2 2nds

This was my pitch to him

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I am in talks about acquiring you for New England. Just want to get a sense of how you see yourself earning and fighting regression. Will you continue to be earning great like you are already doing, or do you see yourself slowing down/not max max earning. I guess from that as well how do you see NEW itself. In terms of your role here, you will be the star/veteran who helps bridge the gap between the young max earners and them getting up to the TPE levés to be elite. Now is where I see NEW being. Depending on the other moves being made. It is a bit trickier since FHM8 will be new to people and it’s a different engine.

But, being 1000% honest (Spots are the standings this season to get a base) 

S66: Lotto Spot / bottom spot (MAN, MTL, TEX) : the goal is to get into the 1st round, but no guarantees

S67: EDM/NOLA spot / the bottom spots

S68: hopefully consistent at the NOLA/WPG spot where we can get into the 2nd round S69: try to win a round as the favorite and continue to push into the playoffs.

We are a young team, we will still suck, but you will be apart of the come up. I won’t be like TOR and spend all draft capital to try to compete for a couple seasons. I won't have the longevity and success that the LR is proud of. You will get points, and as we get better, hopefully some award noms as well. The prospects are here, we have good ones, the thing we lack are high end players to help push us over while the prospects are entering the league/getting to the 1000-1400 range. And it’s my goal to get them

Another key part of the core is coming in. We have the veteran player now in Tater. And then the players coming up like Jayson Aittokallio, Ivan Lacksamus, Paul Koivu, Cup Noodle. Then prospects like Outdoor Truck, Seamus O’Slapahan, Edward Elric.

S66 we were trash again, going 22-41-3. However we got 10 more wins than the season before. Ivan Lacksamus was a Ryan Jesster nomination.

The S67 offseason, Kayden Pale wanted to go to a winner sooner than later. So traded him for a 1st and a 2nd as well. I made other trades as well, not involving players but picks. Moving 4th OA for 10, SEA S68 1st and TEX S69 2nd. With 10OA drafting Sean Davies. Then trading up with TEX to draft Jaques Hammer at 14th OA. Securing 2 great players for New England.

S67

Roster
Money - Lacksamus - Truck
Koivu - Jager- Tsunami
Tokke - Aittokallio - Towelie

Yxshaft - Jakobsen
Noodle - Seider
Bara - Face

S67 is when we started to turn the corner in the regular season. With a record of 30-35-1. Finally had more actives than inactives on the roster. With Jager hitting about 2k TPE. He was the best player on the team for good reason. Then we had 7 more players after that with 1k + TPE. things were finally turning around.

The S68 draft I said that we can finally buy in and try to get a squad. We had enough prospects and we can finally turn that corner. Like I said in both Tater’s and Vulfzilla’s pitches. We can try to push into getting to the 2nd round of the playoffs. So with that we needed to make a big swing. With that big swing came 2 great players. Trading way our S68 1st round pick ,and Seattles S68 1st round pick we traded for Petr Svoboda and Borje Samuelsson. So giving up 7th OA and 20th OA for a 1600 + TPE forward and a 1200 + TPE defensemen who were S61 and S62 drafted players. So plenty of time until they hit regression to round out the offense.

Not only that, but with LAP heading towards rebuilding, we acquired star goalie Olof Karsikko for 3 2nds. Another great trade for us. With not having any goalies, we got one of the best ones in the league. And will earn the nickname Playoff Olof. Now gunning for 2nd most wins all time (already 3rd as I type this).

The last big swing I made this offseason was making a key offseason acquisition in free agency with Burlok Sulfurgold @leviadan

With Atlanta no longer having room for Burlok he was a free agent. I gave him the pitch

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For New England, we are at the stage where we are starting to actually compete in the playoffs. We made moves to acquire better players like Arty on forward and Ricebowl on defense. All of our young players are progressing nicely, and we only have one important player regressing, but he is a S58 and max earning. We are a young core S62-S64, in a division that can be up for the taking. We know we arent missing the playoffs as both BAP and HAM are tanking, so we will guarantee make the playoffs. The difference is that we want to make it where we don't want to play against the top seed, and instead the 3/4 seed and actually make a run. 

What we can offer you,

we can offer you a 4 mil x 1 year contract or a 4 mil x 2 year contract. Whichever is most comfortable with you. You know if you decide you want a season and see where you are at thats perfectly fine, if you want more security thats fine as well, I am very flexible with that. For our locker room we are pretty chill. A lot of us are from our early to mid/late 20's, have jobs, some have kids. Its not like crazy active where we talk every hour, but we talk everyday. Weather thats about other sports or really anything. HOpefully this season we talk about the sim more, as the past couple of seasons it was fun talking about it lol.

Where would you fit. you would be the 5th best forward in TPE, so you would fit nicely in the top 6 + PP time. Try to get you to push more towards a HOF track. Obviously I can't guarantee a cup though I'd love to, but as you saw with a team like MAN, or MTL, or TOR. We can make a run. We have Jeffie Coaching, and he did a lot to turn around the team. I think we started at like 3-10-0 and ended up with almost a winning record. And we added 2 better players. 

If you have any questions please let me know. whether thats about your player or the locker room

We had more back and forths as well. Particularly is that Leviadan wanted a spot in the next 4 seasons. Trying to win a cup and hit 1000 games played for Burlok. After more back and forths, we were able to sign Burlok.

S68

S68 we were able to get a record above .500 record, going 30-28-8 that season. Losing to Toronto in the 1st round that season 4-1. Most importantly we had a bunch of players break out. Makrus The Tater Jager scored 61 goals and 110 points winning the Ron Mexico that season, as well as 1st all star team. Petr Svoboda, as much as he wanted to score goals, decided to be an assist monster that season getting 66 assists that season and getting 3rd all star team

Thats where we end part 1. The rebuild of New England. Setting the team up to try to win the cup in the S70’s. From S63-S67 had losing records to then set up S68 and beyond.

Having the core players in S68 with

Sulfurgold - Lacksamus - Truck
Koivu - Jager- Svoboda
Tsunami - Aittokallio- Towelie

O’Slapahan - Samuelsson
Noodle - Yxskaft
Bara- Seider