Old Stuff

[Carlznerson]

I turned one of the most unattractive and shallow prospect pools that existed in today's NHL (Washington Capitals) into a future powerhouse while also adding NHL talent.

I'm going to go over my entire system. First off in the NHL, #1 overall pick Nail Yakupov will be lining up on the RW of our first line and playing alongside Nicklas Backstrom. Not only does Yakupov has 40+ goal potential but playing alongside Backstrom one of the top centers in the league only encourages development and enhances his point totals. Nicklas Backstrom (#4 overall 2006) himself is a huge part of our future. He is still only 24 and signed through 2020. He has scored 100 points in this league before and as stated before is a top center in this league at the age of 24. Our next future piece, Marcus Johansson (#24 overall 2009) is a still developing future 65+ point player. In his second season in the NHL he improved his point total by 19 to get to 49 and is now moving to the wing where he is more comfortable. Our next future piece comes in 2 players. Our top defensive pair of John Carlson (22 years old, #27 overall 2008) and Karl Alzner (23 years old, #5 overall 2007). These two are already a shutdown pair in the NHL and are sent night in and night out against the opponents top offensive line. Not only are they both career + players but they have been forced into this role at such young ages and have really prospered from it. They have been compared to having the potential of a Shea Weber - Ryan Suter type pairing. Our 3rd pairing is actually our next piece. Nick Leddy (21 years old, #16 overall in 2009) has already established himself as a very good puck-moving and point-scoring defenseman. This season in Chicago he put up 37 points so the future is only bright. The other half of the pairing, Dmitry Orlov (20 years old, 55th overall 2009) is an offensive defenseman with a huge shot that also throws his body around like a young Alex Ovechkin. The futue of our D-core also lies in our prospect pool which I'll get to later. Our next future pieces are in our net. I'll start with the backup Michal Neuvirth (24 years old, 34th overall 2006). Neuvirth is a backup who has won a playoff series and been the go to guy in net many times over his short career. He still has starting potential and would probably start on 10+ teams in the NHL. The next piece is probably a name almost every hockey fan knows by now. Braden Holtby (22 years old, #93 overall 2008) was a star and the MVP of the Caps through the 2 full rounds of hockey that they played in last years playoffs. Full regular season stats: 14-4 with a 2.02 GAA, .929 Save % and 3 shutouts. Full playoff stats: 7-7 with a 1.95 GAA and a .935 Save %.

Now moving on to our prospect pool. Before I took over the pool was headlined by 8.0 C Evgeny Kuznetsov who many know starred twice at the World Juniors for Russia. But after him our next top prospect was literally Stanislav Galiev (7.0C) who has talent but is really nothing special. Our revamped prospect pool is in my opinion the best in the NHL.

Headlined by Nail Yakupov (#1 overall 2012)(NHL roster)
Oscar Klefbom (8.0C) (#19 overall 2011) Former captain of Sweden's World Juniors squad.
The aforementioned Evgeny Kuznetsov (8.0C)
Zemgus Girgensons (#11 overall in our draft) (#14 overall in 2012)
Teuvo Teravainen (#8 overall in our draft) (#18 overall in 2012)
Cody Ceci (#12 overall in our draft) (#15 overall in 2012)
Mark McNeill (7.5C) (#18 overall in 2011)

Other pieces that could be considered for the future: Ales Hemsky, Viktor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak, Jay Beagle, Mason Raymond, Mike Green.

[TO Rapz]

Thank you to Shaiza for the nomination and good luck to all the other General Managers being nominated.

I took over the Leafs not just trying to make them a fringe playoff team, I wanted to build a powerhouse here in Toronto. I felt like we were in win-now mode, and this fanbase has been tired of all the losing seasons here.

This is what I started with:

Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel
Nikolai Kulemin - Mikhail Grabovski - Clarke MacArthur
Joey Crabb - Tim Connolly - Matt Frattin
Mike Brown - David Steckel - Matthew Lombardi

Dion Phaneuf - Carl Gunnarsson
Jake Gardiner - Luke Schenn
John Michael Liles - Cody Franson
Mike Komisarek

James Reimer
Ben Scrivens/Jonas Gustavsson

I felt like the most glaring needs on this Leaf team were the following:

A) The goaltending situation.
B) The #1 centre.
3) Secondary scoring.
4) Grit and hardnosed playoff style hockey (the type of team Burke wants to build but has failed miserably at.
5) A 2-way team.

These are my five philosophies.

Essentially, I took a bottom dwelling Leaf team with the 5th overall pick, and turned into a team who almost won the 5th seed in a VEEERRY tough Eastern conference. The final product was the following:

Joffrey Lupul - Eric Staal (A) - Phil Kessel
Patric Hornqvist - Mikhail Grabovski - Scott Hartnell
Nikolai Kulemin - Dave Bolland - Craig Smith
Mike Brown - Tim Brent - Joey Crabb

Dion Phaneuf (C) - Mark Giordano
Nicklas Hjalmarsson - Carl Gunarsson
Keith Aulie - David Schlemko
Korbinian Holzer

Cam Ward
Ty Conklin

My team now completes my 5 philosophies:

1) A #1 goaltender - Cam Ward. A legitimate one at that, a top 12 or so goalie in the league is a huge upgrade over what the Leafs had which was essentially league worst goaltending.

2) The #1 centre - Eric Staal. I did not just acquire any #1 centre, Staal is a franchise player. A perennial superstar who did not have much help in Carolina. He will now be playing alongside 2 all-stars. A Joffrey Lupul - Eric Staal - Phil Kessel line speaks for itself.

3) Secondary scoring - I added a more consistent 2nd line. Patric Hornqvist is a 30 goal scorer, Grabo is a 30 goal scorer and Scottie Hartnell is a 30 goal scorer. Many say Hartnell is a product of Giroux, however I feel that Grabovski has a game VERY similar to Giroux's (not saying he's as good as a top 5 player in the league, their style of play is similar). Grabo has the vision, and it showed during the breakout year last year of Clarke M, and Nikolaii Kulemin.

4) Grit and hardnosed hockey players - Scott Hartnell. Nikolai Kulemin. Dave Bolland. Mike Brown. Tim Brent. Even guys like Eric Staal, Patric Hornqvist, and Grabo all work the boards, the only real soft player on this team is Phil Kessel.

5) 2-way forwards - Dave Bolland is well regarded as one of the top 2 way centres in the league. Kulemin is a great 2-way forward. So is Craig Smith, all 3 players on my 4th line are 2-way players.

The result of this was a 6th seed in, again, a VERY tough east (check out the East standings). I had a 1st round matchup vs the Florida Panthers who were the 3 seed. I thought I would actually win the matchup. IN the end, I ended up being the closest to pulling off a 1st round upset, but lost 13-9 in terms of votes.

It was a pleasure working this mock, and I had a great time with all the GMs. Seriously I love all of you lol. Thanks for everything guys.

[1908_Cubs]

Because BranWings is inaccessible right now, he has asked me to do his writeups for him.

Why should BranWings be considered for GM of the Sim?

One sentence: He turned the Winnipeg Jets from a team who would be lucky to make the playoffs, to one that no only made the playoffs, but almost knocked off the Bruins who are currently in the conference finals.

Full write up: Coming into the 2012-2013 season, the real life Winnipeg Jets looked like a team who would be lucky to finish outside of a top 5-7 pick in the draft. The Winnipeg Jets are now set up to be a winning franchise, not only now, but in the future. While we may lack a "franchise forward", we do have what we consider the formula to win in the playoffs: an amazingly stingy goalie and a defense that will allow that stingy goalie his best chance of success while putting a team who should forecheck like crazy out on the ice.

We may not be the most skilled team on the ice, but you'll be damn sure no one is going to outwork the Winnipeg Jets. In the end, I think we've put a team on the ice who isn't that far away from the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angles Kings framework. Given an extra year or two to progress, the combination of Murray, Enstrom, Big Buff and Bogosian should be among, if not, the best top 4 defensive pairing in the league. Evander Kane should progress into a 70 point winger. Krejeci is a 70 point forward. This team isn't set up, like some, to compete once and settle into cap or age issues, this is a team that's good now, but in a year, or two years, could not only be the class of the Eastern Southern division, but one of the best teams in the entire conference.

Ask yourself this: when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, right after Kovi left, did anyone in their right mind, think this team was going to need only a two year turn around? I think you can all honestly answer "no". The only reason this team is set up so well right now is because of the GM. And for that reason, Bran Wings should be the GM of the year. Most of the other GM's of the year inherited winning franchises. The Flyers? The Kings? The Cannucks? The Blues? I mean no disrespect to their GM's, but you all of these teams were set up well to begin with. The Islanders had a great prospect base. The Jackets had high draft picks, Rick Nash and other moveable parts. The Jets had no franchise players. No number 1 draft pick. And in the end, ended up with a franchise type D-man in Murray, arguably the best goalie in the league, and a young team that almost beat Boston.

[boilerguy2412]

Very happy to get the Cats this far, nice to see some voters voted for a defensive team. I have always believed defense and good goal tending will always beat a good offense. No shame in losing to Boston.

[Shaiza]

We still need more voters! Need about 8 more to meet the 20 minimum.

[ShaunRiching9]

edit:wrong thread

[ShaunRiching9]

Since I know people wont read these long *** write ups Im just gonna post my clubby and if you think I have the best future pick me, if not oh well.


http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/sho...d.php?t=732120


i dont have stajan though.

[McJoe]

One Sentence: The deepest group of prospects out there.

Quick writeup (same reason as sr):
The NHL roster is led by some high end young talent and some high risk, high reward prospects. Derek Stepan will get a chance as the first line center outside of the shadow of New York City on a team where he will be the number 1 option in a system that he fits perfectly. Colin Wilson, the former top 10 pick, who finally put up some good numbers last season, will finally get a shot at top line minutes playing with Stepan. Jake Gardiner, Adam Larsson, Michael Del Zotto, and Ryan Ellis lead what is the one of the best young defence corps in the history of the league. Former 4th overall pick Larsson leads the group with 3 real good up and coming dmen. Nikita Filatov, Andrei Loktionov, and Anthony Stewart lead the boom or bust group. Former 6th overall pick Filatov will get a sure shot as a top 6 forward playing with Kings forward Andrei Loktionov who will also get his first full time shot in the NHL. Steve Mason will be splitting starts with James Reimer in the net as well looking to find the same level that got him the Calder trophy. Some lower ceiling prospects fill in the lineup with Matt Frattin, Blake Geoffrion, Matt Halischuk, and James Reimer.

The minors are stocked with young talent as well. Here is the list.
Tim Erixon, D (7.5B)
Mark Scheifele, C (7.5C)
J.T. Miller, RW (7.5C)
Dylan McIlrath, D (7.5C)
Patrick Holland, C (7.5C)
Cameron Atkinson, RW (8.0D)
Joey Hishon, C (7.5D)
David Savard, D (7.5C)
Max Friberg, RW (7.0C)
Austin Watson, LW (7.0C)
Taylor Beck, LW (7.5D)
Carl Klingberg, LW (7.0C)
Zach Budish, RW (7.5D)
Brendan Ranford, LW (7.5D)

and it includes 3 first round talents from the 2012 draft; Derrick Pouliot(15th), Tanner Pearson(23rd), and Matt Finn(37th).

[Shaiza]

Need about 3 more to meet the minimum. Hopefully something will go up by tomorrow night.

[Itztheshiznt]

No love at all for Tampa. Very depressing. Also, hardly available for a good portion of 10 days, but I'm sure that had nothing to do with the consensus agreement of how Pittsburgh is so much better than the TB.

[Itztheshiznt]

I don't think that any of the teams have done a better job than the Rangers. The best GM should go to the GM that identified a teams greatest weakness and was able to create a remedy to make them the most competitive for now and the future.

A lot of teams made trades that were illogical and highly unfathomable, hence not deserving of admiration. I really enjoyed being in this mock, it was more a learning experience and a lot of reading and watching, mixed in with a well balanced amount of banter. I cast my write-in ballot for the New York Rangers.

No offense, but he Canadians were a bottom 3 team in the East before this mock, and probably finished in the same area. There is nothing so amazeballs about them now, and for the future. I really do not see anything other than keeping a few guys on a 84 point team together.

[Itztheshiznt]

.

[The Top Shelfer]

Some pretty colorful comments left in the write up threads haha

[Shaiza]

Yeah I don't know what he's doing there...

[Itztheshiznt]

Some pretty colorful comments left in the write up threads haha

Yeah I don't know what he's doing there...

I'm afraid I prematurly blue myself on that one. My fault. I will say this though, I'm still shocked that the Rangers aren't in the running for best GM. Missed a good chunk of this past two weeks, oh well.