Another great series! Tough luck so far with the prospects who aren’t developing (though also non-functional growth curves in this game for defenders). Was thinking, it could be fun to increase the injury frequency rate for the playoffs only; too much of a pain to do this during the regular season, but for playoffs it would be manageable and would reward teams with depth, which is realistic.
Thanks JVR!! Appreciate the love ❤️ Increasing the injury slider for the postseason would be a very interesting idea.. The positive would be that teams with depth are rewarded like you mentioned, but the down side is twofold. First, injuries like a "sore foot" or something like that could keep a player out of pivotal games, and, second, emergency call-ups aren't allowed which could leave some teams with 1-2 forwards as defense or vice-versa. That being said, I still like the idea! I just see the potential for some issues with it like most things in FM 😂 We can explore the option moving forward!
Imo, Out: Bouchard, Dman prospect, Couturier In: 2-way 3LC, goal scoring 3rd line RW, 2-way or defensive Dman 2nd line. I believe this would help the scoring and improve our penalty kill. Bouchard is underperforming, so we might as well get a guy who can play defense on our PK, and the bottom 6 needs some scoring and better defensive play while also providing help on the PK. This is just my 2 cents, can’t wait to see what the other AGMs have to offer and no matter what we do, Go Nucks!!
Thanks Caleb! You're 100% right in a perfect world, but I think we'd more value moving out to get two third liners and a top-4 D. I think what make more sense here at the halfway point would be to target those one at a time and see what improvements (if any) come as a result. Just in general, I think it'd be hard to move Bouchard who would likely only waive a NMC to a contender and not many of those have a top-4 D up for grabs. But as always, I'll still do the research! The bottom 6/PK help right now might come from a possible Donato/Newhook move going off of what some of the other AGMs have said so far. Thanks for adding your thoughts to the collective and we'll go from here! See you in the second half :)
Oh no, a tough first half again but I believe in this team. The top 6 is consistently good as always, but as you said the bottom 6 is our biggest problem by far. The last few episodes we’ve stood pat, made small moves and “banked on growth”…I think now it’s time to make big moves again like trades. Carolina is the team that stands out to me - maybe donato and another forward like monahan in exchange for couturier + niskala + prospects/picks? I’m not sure a big offensive star like guentzel or jarvis would fit in the bottom six when they are offensive players who need top 6 time. The scoring is a problem but they have all been bad defensively as well, and we already have Barabanov as an offensive specialist down there. Twf would make the most sense. Other than that great episode data - despite the frustrations this episode was one of the calmest ones I’ve seen 😂 see you in the second half and let’s make a push for the playoffs! Go nucks
I like the way you're thinking! Donato definitely stood out to me, too. Great rationale and a solid suggestion that I think is very doable. And I noticed that too while editing! My emotion chip hasn't been overloaded just yet! 😂 Thanks for your thoughts and see you in the second half :)
1st time in the assistant GM booth I'm glad to see we have pigs in a blanket and an assortment of wine to choose from but where is the dart board. I feel like this is one of those spin the wheel of choices because there's really no way this team we have should only be 1 game over 500 6 ot losses is kinda soul crushing to. We need a new goalie bad or we need one to develop because grant it I know overall doesn't mean anything in EA land but when our best goalie is only an 82 overall isn't really helping matters. We definitely need to get a 3rd or 4th line scoring option because our scoring down there has been sub par. Our pk unit is abysmal idk what we can do for that though. Overall I think a complete tear down would be a bit harsh considering how far we have gotten with this team but in order to usher in a new era for the Nucks it might be not to far fetched of an idea to consider trading petterson or even Hughes. I know that may seem like a crazy idea but it might be worth considering
Hey Warmaster great to have you in the booth! And great way to intro 😂 You're absolutely right that this team should have a much better record than what we're dealing with at the halfway point. No matter what direction we go in regarding goaltending, you're also right that we'll need to see development from our goalie prospects. We have a good number in the system but none who are really standing out at this point. Depth scoring and PK help will also be a big item on the to-do list in the second half! And for your thoughts on a tear down, I wouldn't say we're at that point yet but you're right to mention keeping it in mind. Thanks and enjoy the food up here in the AGM booth! ;) See you in the second half.
Man, not sure if it's just bad lucknor EA voodoo but our record should be much better with the kind of numbers we're putting on. Our top 6 is decent enough, PP is good, PK definitively needs some tweaking as well as the bottom 6. 1st off, I think we need to give Podkolzin 3rd line minutes. He's been a trooper and most likely shouldn't be burried on the 4th line. Goldmann probably moves down to 4th line center. His production screams of Jake Evans; not a 3rd liner on a contender. Couturier can be kept as 13th forward for the playoffs. Maybe Barabanov moves down to the 4th line? At this point, I don't know why we keep waiting on Niskala and some of our other prospects to grow; time to pull the plug on some of them. I'm also starting to get concerned by the lack of production / growth of Bouillon (I know, he's only 20yo...) and hope he doesn't turn into Gulyayev from Starfleet but I see a red flag each time I see him name 😂 As far as immediate upgrades, Zary looks interesting in Boston and he could plug that hole for 3 or 4 years while we wait on a prospect to take the job from him. Getting Forsberg likely means we play him on line 2 which could mean putting Raty as 3rd line center but both his faceoffs and shot blocking are average so it's probably not the best spot for Raty. And Forsberg wouldn't be helpful on the pk; his defense stats are mid at best. Farabee would be great on the pk and his offensive attributes looks very good; not sure why he doesn't produce more but I'd probably target him ahead of Forsberg if I had the choice of getting both. Maybe he could be money on the wing of Markstrom and, even if we had to play him as a 3rd liner, he would bring more than just offense but, an 88 overall on the 3rd line doesn't make sense so it would probably also mean moving Raty to the 3rd line (or trading him for Farabee). Newhook could be decent on the 3rd line with his defensive attributes. Rasmussen could replace Barabanov or Niskala but I don't like that 78 discipline; it's going to be penalty galore! 😂 Everything else looks good though apart from his faceoffs so he could be a decent option on the wing. Roy can also be a very good catch. Wilson is very tempting but I'm guessing he also has low discipline and would get costly penalties. Scheifele's defensive attributes are trash so he's not a great option for the 3rd line or the pk and I don't see him overtaking EP40 or Markstrom. Unless you're planning to put him as 1st line center and moving EP to left wing which would also drop Raty as 3rd line center. To me, the path of least resistance is to get one of Zary or Newhook to play 3rd line center. We then get one of Rasmussen or Roy to play 3rd line wing instead of Niskala and move up Podkolzin to the 3rd line while dropping Barabanov to the 4th along with Goldmann and Neighbors. If we really feel like pulling a bigger move, we can get Farabee instead of Rasmussen or Roy and he'd help fix our pk even more. I'll agree with you that there aren't a lot of potential decent options to replace Hanifin as left dman this summer so maybe we look at trading for someone right away? Best option on the block would be Chychrun but it's not much of an upgrade and they are pretty much the same age so maybe we'll have to keep him for another year and revisit afterwards. We should at least trade Niskala and Cooke while they still have some value left. We should also explore moving some of our other aging prospects. Some prospects to target: Hughes, top 4 d, Arizona Wallace, high top 4 d, Chicago Chipchura, top 6 rw, LA (trade him for Niskala++ who could help the Kinga right away.. getting Hickmore seems cheeze) Krahn, top 6 lw, NJ I feel like we can turn this around; our team played better than our .500 record shows. Lets get things back on track! Go 'Nucks
Exactly! We shouldn't be struggling as much as we have been record-wise. Fair thoughts for the bottom 6, too. I've been holding out hope for Niskala because I always love to see homegrown players make it and hate thinking that draft value was wasted in a sense, but I know not every player can hit. Pod up, Gold down (+ maybe Barabanov), Cout to 13th, and NIskala out may be the right start for that bottom 6. And I fully understand the worry for Bouillon 😭 Good catch on Forsberg, as tempting as he would be. Even if we put him LW3, there's still the fact of needing PK help. Farabee does indeed make more sense, but it'd be harder to have him on L3 and Raty has been doing well back on LW2. Zary, Newhook, Rasmussen, and even Roy all speak to me, as well, as lower trade value options who'd slot into the bottom 6 more easily. Even Donato! Hanifin is a tough one because he seems to be slowing down but there aren't many good LD2 options AND, *IF* Bouillon is going to grow, that's his spot. I'm not especially hopeful, but I don't want to lock him out of ever getting a chance just yet. We may just ride it out with Hanifin and go from there after this season. And roger that on those prospect targets! Thanks as always for the great analysis as we get closer to thinking about hitting the panic button! 👀 Much love and see you in the second half!
I think Niskala's gotta go unfourtunately, he hasn't shown much upside and the growth has been too slow. Return should be a sniping/power forward vet that can play well alongside Barabanov. Barabanov hasn't looked bad considering who he is playing with and since he had that EA voodoo year where he put up like 60+ points, I can see him popping off with another classic EA voodoo vet. I like Forsberg since he checks the boxes but I thought he was listed as a power forward, not a two way forward. His player type is the only thing that makes me question him. I like the LA prospects, Hickman has a great shot for his overall which could be a sign of a great middle six sniper and GRANT Chipchura should come along for the first name lol. But I think you could move out Mo Schenn for Hickman and give Hickman a bunch of AHL ice and hope in a year or two he can be our third line sniper. I'd put a 79-80 overall pure playmaker on his AHL line to boost stats. In my personal experience I have had luck with a lower overall pure sniper on the third line with a pure playmaker/defensive play maker and a 2 way forward/power forward to round that third line off. Anyways that's my thoughts, thank you for reading lol. Roll Whales
Hey Grant! Yeah, that might be the unfortunate truth for Niskala at this point.. We've given him a lot of time and, in Franchise Mode terms, it may be too late for him to become anything and we don't really have the time to keep experimenting. Noted on the possible returns! Especially Grant Chipchura 😂 Hickman is very interesting to me but I also want to be careful not to cheese it for falsely high trade value. We'll see what unfolds. Thanks for your thoughts and for taking the time to share them! :) See you in the second half!
Sellers at the deadline is what we will be unless this team turns it around. We need a shakeup to the bottom 6 and possibly utilizing Hanifin to get that done. I think we need at least 4 different players to reform the bottom 6. Good luck Data Go Avs Go
You're exactly right! Things will need to change and thankfully I think we have the team to make that happen with a little bottom 6 shakeup. Thanks for the well wishes and we'll see you in the second half! :)
I might be late to propose something but honestly I’m not a fan of what Evan Bouchard has been putting on the table for your in the past two season, fewer point yes with less ice time than with is last team but the 40 something point pace he is on is not enough for the player role and overall he’s at… The Isles have solid defenceman on the block in eother Dobson or Romanov at a cheaper price tag. For sure a third line center with good line chemistry might help Roy look good for pk but does he fit 🤷♂️ i think you should focus on a perfect fit center man. Even Hanifin looking back at the stats I would almost flip him for another top 4 dman because he’s nowhere to be find on the score sheets
Not too late at all! Just still a tough trade to consider trying to work out since the going assumption has been that Bouchard has a full NMC and would only waive to go to a contender. And, if that's the case, would a team want to trade a top-4 RHD back? Like the Islanders would be a great option but, from their point of view, they would still be stuck with an excess of defense. Same for trying to find a trading partner for Hanifin. Maybe a 3-team type of concoction would provide different options if we were to go heavy on Dobson..? Maybe Dobson to us, Bouchard to Team X, and return from Team X to NYI? I'll explore that! That being said, yes, good fits seem to be becoming more necessary so we can also try our best to target that when making trades for the bottom 6. Thanks for your thoughts and see you in the second half! ;)
44:31 “Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! I just hope we can win a game"
Perfect timing!! 🤣🤣
Another great series! Tough luck so far with the prospects who aren’t developing (though also non-functional growth curves in this game for defenders).
Was thinking, it could be fun to increase the injury frequency rate for the playoffs only; too much of a pain to do this during the regular season, but for playoffs it would be manageable and would reward teams with depth, which is realistic.
Thanks JVR!! Appreciate the love ❤️ Increasing the injury slider for the postseason would be a very interesting idea.. The positive would be that teams with depth are rewarded like you mentioned, but the down side is twofold. First, injuries like a "sore foot" or something like that could keep a player out of pivotal games, and, second, emergency call-ups aren't allowed which could leave some teams with 1-2 forwards as defense or vice-versa. That being said, I still like the idea! I just see the potential for some issues with it like most things in FM 😂 We can explore the option moving forward!
Imo,
Out: Bouchard, Dman prospect, Couturier
In: 2-way 3LC, goal scoring 3rd line RW, 2-way or defensive Dman 2nd line.
I believe this would help the scoring and improve our penalty kill. Bouchard is underperforming, so we might as well get a guy who can play defense on our PK, and the bottom 6 needs some scoring and better defensive play while also providing help on the PK. This is just my 2 cents, can’t wait to see what the other AGMs have to offer and no matter what we do, Go Nucks!!
Thanks Caleb! You're 100% right in a perfect world, but I think we'd more value moving out to get two third liners and a top-4 D. I think what make more sense here at the halfway point would be to target those one at a time and see what improvements (if any) come as a result.
Just in general, I think it'd be hard to move Bouchard who would likely only waive a NMC to a contender and not many of those have a top-4 D up for grabs. But as always, I'll still do the research! The bottom 6/PK help right now might come from a possible Donato/Newhook move going off of what some of the other AGMs have said so far. Thanks for adding your thoughts to the collective and we'll go from here! See you in the second half :)
Oh no, a tough first half again but I believe in this team. The top 6 is consistently good as always, but as you said the bottom 6 is our biggest problem by far. The last few episodes we’ve stood pat, made small moves and “banked on growth”…I think now it’s time to make big moves again like trades.
Carolina is the team that stands out to me - maybe donato and another forward like monahan in exchange for couturier + niskala + prospects/picks? I’m not sure a big offensive star like guentzel or jarvis would fit in the bottom six when they are offensive players who need top 6 time. The scoring is a problem but they have all been bad defensively as well, and we already have Barabanov as an offensive specialist down there. Twf would make the most sense.
Other than that great episode data - despite the frustrations this episode was one of the calmest ones I’ve seen 😂 see you in the second half and let’s make a push for the playoffs! Go nucks
I like the way you're thinking! Donato definitely stood out to me, too. Great rationale and a solid suggestion that I think is very doable. And I noticed that too while editing! My emotion chip hasn't been overloaded just yet! 😂 Thanks for your thoughts and see you in the second half :)
1st time in the assistant GM booth I'm glad to see we have pigs in a blanket and an assortment of wine to choose from but where is the dart board. I feel like this is one of those spin the wheel of choices because there's really no way this team we have should only be 1 game over 500 6 ot losses is kinda soul crushing to. We need a new goalie bad or we need one to develop because grant it I know overall doesn't mean anything in EA land but when our best goalie is only an 82 overall isn't really helping matters. We definitely need to get a 3rd or 4th line scoring option because our scoring down there has been sub par. Our pk unit is abysmal idk what we can do for that though. Overall I think a complete tear down would be a bit harsh considering how far we have gotten with this team but in order to usher in a new era for the Nucks it might be not to far fetched of an idea to consider trading petterson or even Hughes. I know that may seem like a crazy idea but it might be worth considering
Hey Warmaster great to have you in the booth! And great way to intro 😂
You're absolutely right that this team should have a much better record than what we're dealing with at the halfway point. No matter what direction we go in regarding goaltending, you're also right that we'll need to see development from our goalie prospects. We have a good number in the system but none who are really standing out at this point. Depth scoring and PK help will also be a big item on the to-do list in the second half! And for your thoughts on a tear down, I wouldn't say we're at that point yet but you're right to mention keeping it in mind. Thanks and enjoy the food up here in the AGM booth! ;) See you in the second half.
The lag is real in nhl 24.. it was so smooth in nhl 23 on the ps5.. i have no idea how it legitimately got worse in nhl 24..
I wish I had an answer 🤦 It's still 100x better on PS5 than on PS4 but there are still a fair amount of noticeable moments
Man, not sure if it's just bad lucknor EA voodoo but our record should be much better with the kind of numbers we're putting on.
Our top 6 is decent enough, PP is good, PK definitively needs some tweaking as well as the bottom 6.
1st off, I think we need to give Podkolzin 3rd line minutes. He's been a trooper and most likely shouldn't be burried on the 4th line. Goldmann probably moves down to 4th line center. His production screams of Jake Evans; not a 3rd liner on a contender. Couturier can be kept as 13th forward for the playoffs. Maybe Barabanov moves down to the 4th line? At this point, I don't know why we keep waiting on Niskala and some of our other prospects to grow; time to pull the plug on some of them. I'm also starting to get concerned by the lack of production / growth of Bouillon (I know, he's only 20yo...) and hope he doesn't turn into Gulyayev from Starfleet but I see a red flag each time I see him name 😂
As far as immediate upgrades, Zary looks interesting in Boston and he could plug that hole for 3 or 4 years while we wait on a prospect to take the job from him.
Getting Forsberg likely means we play him on line 2 which could mean putting Raty as 3rd line center but both his faceoffs and shot blocking are average so it's probably not the best spot for Raty. And Forsberg wouldn't be helpful on the pk; his defense stats are mid at best.
Farabee would be great on the pk and his offensive attributes looks very good; not sure why he doesn't produce more but I'd probably target him ahead of Forsberg if I had the choice of getting both. Maybe he could be money on the wing of Markstrom and, even if we had to play him as a 3rd liner, he would bring more than just offense but, an 88 overall on the 3rd line doesn't make sense so it would probably also mean moving Raty to the 3rd line (or trading him for Farabee).
Newhook could be decent on the 3rd line with his defensive attributes. Rasmussen could replace Barabanov or Niskala but I don't like that 78 discipline; it's going to be penalty galore! 😂 Everything else looks good though apart from his faceoffs so he could be a decent option on the wing. Roy can also be a very good catch. Wilson is very tempting but I'm guessing he also has low discipline and would get costly penalties.
Scheifele's defensive attributes are trash so he's not a great option for the 3rd line or the pk and I don't see him overtaking EP40 or Markstrom. Unless you're planning to put him as 1st line center and moving EP to left wing which would also drop Raty as 3rd line center.
To me, the path of least resistance is to get one of Zary or Newhook to play 3rd line center.
We then get one of Rasmussen or Roy to play 3rd line wing instead of Niskala and move up Podkolzin to the 3rd line while dropping Barabanov to the 4th along with Goldmann and Neighbors.
If we really feel like pulling a bigger move, we can get Farabee instead of Rasmussen or Roy and he'd help fix our pk even more.
I'll agree with you that there aren't a lot of potential decent options to replace Hanifin as left dman this summer so maybe we look at trading for someone right away? Best option on the block would be Chychrun but it's not much of an upgrade and they are pretty much the same age so maybe we'll have to keep him for another year and revisit afterwards.
We should at least trade Niskala and Cooke while they still have some value left. We should also explore moving some of our other aging prospects.
Some prospects to target:
Hughes, top 4 d, Arizona
Wallace, high top 4 d, Chicago
Chipchura, top 6 rw, LA (trade him for Niskala++ who could help the Kinga right away.. getting Hickmore seems cheeze)
Krahn, top 6 lw, NJ
I feel like we can turn this around; our team played better than our .500 record shows. Lets get things back on track!
Go 'Nucks
Exactly! We shouldn't be struggling as much as we have been record-wise. Fair thoughts for the bottom 6, too. I've been holding out hope for Niskala because I always love to see homegrown players make it and hate thinking that draft value was wasted in a sense, but I know not every player can hit. Pod up, Gold down (+ maybe Barabanov), Cout to 13th, and NIskala out may be the right start for that bottom 6. And I fully understand the worry for Bouillon 😭
Good catch on Forsberg, as tempting as he would be. Even if we put him LW3, there's still the fact of needing PK help. Farabee does indeed make more sense, but it'd be harder to have him on L3 and Raty has been doing well back on LW2. Zary, Newhook, Rasmussen, and even Roy all speak to me, as well, as lower trade value options who'd slot into the bottom 6 more easily. Even Donato!
Hanifin is a tough one because he seems to be slowing down but there aren't many good LD2 options AND, *IF* Bouillon is going to grow, that's his spot. I'm not especially hopeful, but I don't want to lock him out of ever getting a chance just yet. We may just ride it out with Hanifin and go from there after this season. And roger that on those prospect targets!
Thanks as always for the great analysis as we get closer to thinking about hitting the panic button! 👀 Much love and see you in the second half!
I think Niskala's gotta go unfourtunately, he hasn't shown much upside and the growth has been too slow. Return should be a sniping/power forward vet that can play well alongside Barabanov. Barabanov hasn't looked bad considering who he is playing with and since he had that EA voodoo year where he put up like 60+ points, I can see him popping off with another classic EA voodoo vet. I like Forsberg since he checks the boxes but I thought he was listed as a power forward, not a two way forward. His player type is the only thing that makes me question him.
I like the LA prospects, Hickman has a great shot for his overall which could be a sign of a great middle six sniper and GRANT Chipchura should come along for the first name lol.
But I think you could move out Mo Schenn for Hickman and give Hickman a bunch of AHL ice and hope in a year or two he can be our third line sniper. I'd put a 79-80 overall pure playmaker on his AHL line to boost stats.
In my personal experience I have had luck with a lower overall pure sniper on the third line with a pure playmaker/defensive play maker and a 2 way forward/power forward to round that third line off.
Anyways that's my thoughts, thank you for reading lol. Roll Whales
Hey Grant! Yeah, that might be the unfortunate truth for Niskala at this point.. We've given him a lot of time and, in Franchise Mode terms, it may be too late for him to become anything and we don't really have the time to keep experimenting. Noted on the possible returns! Especially Grant Chipchura 😂
Hickman is very interesting to me but I also want to be careful not to cheese it for falsely high trade value. We'll see what unfolds. Thanks for your thoughts and for taking the time to share them! :) See you in the second half!
Sellers at the deadline is what we will be unless this team turns it around. We need a shakeup to the bottom 6 and possibly utilizing Hanifin to get that done. I think we need at least 4 different players to reform the bottom 6. Good luck Data
Go Avs Go
You're exactly right! Things will need to change and thankfully I think we have the team to make that happen with a little bottom 6 shakeup. Thanks for the well wishes and we'll see you in the second half! :)
I might be late to propose something but honestly I’m not a fan of what Evan Bouchard has been putting on the table for your in the past two season, fewer point yes with less ice time than with is last team but the 40 something point pace he is on is not enough for the player role and overall he’s at… The Isles have solid defenceman on the block in eother Dobson or Romanov at a cheaper price tag. For sure a third line center with good line chemistry might help Roy look good for pk but does he fit 🤷♂️ i think you should focus on a perfect fit center man. Even Hanifin looking back at the stats I would almost flip him for another top 4 dman because he’s nowhere to be find on the score sheets
Not too late at all! Just still a tough trade to consider trying to work out since the going assumption has been that Bouchard has a full NMC and would only waive to go to a contender. And, if that's the case, would a team want to trade a top-4 RHD back? Like the Islanders would be a great option but, from their point of view, they would still be stuck with an excess of defense. Same for trying to find a trading partner for Hanifin.
Maybe a 3-team type of concoction would provide different options if we were to go heavy on Dobson..? Maybe Dobson to us, Bouchard to Team X, and return from Team X to NYI? I'll explore that! That being said, yes, good fits seem to be becoming more necessary so we can also try our best to target that when making trades for the bottom 6. Thanks for your thoughts and see you in the second half! ;)
28:12 this game is so broken for growth.. and if there is a rhythm or reason, I think we have a right to know
Shout it from the rooftops!!
@@Data782 I'm in Vancouver, they might actually hear me