NHL 12 "Be A GM" Mode Discussion Thread

[Bloop33]

Also, as for powerplays. I usually like to use the shooting powerplay and work from the half-wall with a great passer, on my team, Dwayne Boos. I usually play my guys on their off wing, so a left handed shot on the right side with two right handed shots on the point for one timers, and another one on the left wing, also for one timers. Usually put a big tough body with good hand-eye in front of the net, and from there, the powerplay is pretty easy.

As I usually have defensive teams, I live and die by the powerplay, right now I'm running at 31.4% in the post-season, with 16 of 66 goals coming on the power play (total goal differential is 20, so it makes a huge difference to help me win).

[Bloop33]

Hooterz, just looked at some of your posts, I like that you play the goaltender who is performing better over the one who has the higher overall. That's what i've done myself and have seen a huge improvement defensively as my goaltender seems to make more important saves for my team!

Hard to argue with Holtby now after the real playoffs as well. lol.

[Hooterz]

Right on Bloop. Why play my goalie who is an 85 overall and a .500 win percent over my back-up (turned starter) who finished the season at 15-3. He led me to the cup finals, however I did lose, partially to a mistake of simulating one game and putting me down 3-2 haha. It's ok though, new season now! Also if anyone has seen my old post of my team, I have made big changes and here is my new lineup.
* Note that I do change some players around to figure out what is best for me. Also based on last season, my first line is dominant. During the playoff run they combined for over 50 points. So far Brown and Toews have 11 pts in 11 games and Hall has 9

LW - T Hall 85 C - J Toews 91 RW - D Brown 88
LW - Nugent-Hopkins 75 C - M Richards 87 RW - C Giroux 87
LW - Van Riemsdyk 86 C - S Couturier 74 RW - W Simmonds 83
LW - B Pouliot 80 C - R Johansen RW - G Landeskog 74

D - Del Zotto 83 D Boyle 88
D - Ekman-Larsson 82 E Karlsson 84
D- R Parent 80 A Larsson 77

G - J Quick 87 (Starter) Back up B Holtby 78
(Off season moves consisted of picking up Giroux, Van Riemsdyk and Quick, I had RNH and Couturier in my system already)

* I drafted Galchenyuk and really like him and feel he is solid. He played in my preseason for me and 3 games during the regular season, scoring once in the regular season and 3 times in 4 games in the preseason. I sent him to juniors though for one year. My AHL team does not have stand out prospects, but some depth players such as M Salomaki, J Larsson, A Bourret, G Desjardins (Just some FA players I picked up with some potential. I also have Gudbranson and De Haan on defense, who are some decent prospects. My standout goalie in my AHL system is Lehner, but is currently injured for a month. That's about all for my AHL team.

* I kind of want Giroux to play second line center, but I have Richards there. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do for lines, or ever trade Richards for someone?

I'll update after a month or two of playing, including trades and stats. Currently I am 5-5-1 with a 2.55 GFPG, 2.82 GAPG (Poor, especially based on my last season result of nearly a 2 GAPG all season), PP at 19.4%, PK at 83.9% and a home record of 3-1-0 and away at 2-4-1. I don't know if it is only me, but I struggle on the road a bit. Last season I was around 8-15-2 on the road or something like that, while I had a good home record.

@Bloop33, got any tips of drafting players. If that is what you did anyway. Or did you just trade for those prospects?

[Bloop33]

@ Hooterz: Well, while I do occasionally go and trade for prospects I've missed out on and really wanted but just wasn't able to get the right pick I needed (Dimitri Svitov), I usually like to draft my own prospects. A great example would be this year, since I just won the cup by sweeping the Oilers!

Anyways, I use a 3 theories I've made up while playing NHL 12 to help myself on draft day and into the future.

1. This one is obvious, I go off past knowledge of which players turn out from the first 3 drafts early in the game. For example, in my original GM Mode as Washington, Taylor Burke became a 4 time Art Ross winner for my team, so in future GM Modes I know that he is a guy I might not mind picking up if I am not sure who I want.

2. This one is just knowledge of the drafting system in the recent NHL titles. Typically, a player with [High] League interest on the draft screen, coupled with a decent showing on pre-draft figures (lots of 7.5-8.5's) will start out in the mid-70 overall range and will have at least a high-end B- potential, and usually a B or A- Potential. Usually when a player has [High] League interest, they either have a great potential rating or a great starting overall (80+).

3. This is just something I stumbled across from observation from my own GM Modes and my roommates GM Modes. In the early seasons (2012 draft-2014 draft), when most draft picks (except some international players) are not computer generated, you can really influence the way your game works in the future, computer generated seasons. If you draft a lot of low overall, high potential players early, the game will give you more of those as you go along, and if you draft higher overall players, usually from the CHL, the game will give you players with higher overalls in the future.

I noticed this when I was doing my original Capitals GM Mode on PS3, and at the same time my friend was doing his own LA Kings one on X-Box. Early on in my game, I drafted a bunch of computer generated players from Finland, who started with low-ish overalls but high potential. By 2015, there were 3-5 Fins in the 1st round of the draft who all fit the similar profiles as the ones I had drafted early. These players turned out to dominate the league while Swedes (who I had very few of) almost disappeared as elite players in the league. My roommate, on the otherhand, drafted the best players possible overall-wise early on, all from the CHL, and he was rewarded with an 84 overall player in 2015.

As I move to my Boston GM Mode quite a few months later, I noticed there wasn't many Fin's this time, but instead Austrians (I had 4 Austrians on my team early in the 2015 season) were all over the place by 2018. As you may know, the game is unfair to international players, as the top European prospects never have as good of overalls as top CHL prospects, which is kind of realistic if you look at where NHL ready players come from. So as I'm doing my Boston one, with my Euro-feeling team for a 2nd time, I look at my roommates new one, as Anaheim, and he has drafted mostly Canadian players so far. In 2016, he tried something where he re-loaded his draft until there was a franchise player available, and then went forward with that one. Well, suddenly, every season there was a Franchise or Franchise-like (starting 80+ overall) player, or two or even three! available in each draft. As for me, I started drafting more Canadians, and suddenly got 2 Franchise players myself, but none of the 80+ overall guys my roommate had.

Anyways, my point being that your early drafting ability (first 3 seasons plus the way you adjust from season to season after that) really affects your drafting potential in the future.

As for me, I just go with whatever I get still, usually I notice players with decent scouted ratings (some 7.5-8.5's) and high league interest and go for them. 9/10 times you get a player who will make the NHL at some point, and probably 3 of those 9 can be impactful players on your team. Always draft with a purpose though, if you lack scoring and you draft a 2-way forward and a defensive defenseman in the first round, you're not helping yourself (bad experience). CHL players will always make a quicker trip to the NHL, but doesn't mean they will be better in the long run. And if you go into a draft with a guy who looks like he'll start off as 83 overall but no potential, and a guy who is 74 overall but A potential, take the 74 overall guy, in the long run, he'll be the best player.

Finally, Always have your assistant coach maxed out. Drafting well is good, but if you can't develop players, it is a waste of picks.

----

On another note, as I said, I won the cup, and went into the draft looking at an American two-way defenceman named Jerry Berry (seriously). He seemed to have some offensive upside and not a threat in my own zone with great potential (league interest high). I went to Toronto to see what they needed for their 1st overall pick, and noticed their goaltending was weak. This was great for me, as Matt Murray had lost his starting job to Tuukka Miettinen and needed to find a new home for his $4.2 million contract.

To Toronto:
88 overall Goaltender Matt Murray, 84 overall defenceman Oldrich Hamrlik

To Tampa Bay:
80 overall Goaltender (expiring contract) Viktor Kokman, 1st overall draft pick in 2021 draft.

In the draft, Tampa Bay selects Jerry Berry from the USDHL. 73 overall with B, A-, A potential.

And the future of the Tampa Defence-core is looking stronger than ever, with an impressive looking American prospect joining many of his national team members for many years to come.

Will make a more team specific update, rather than a super long post, tomorrow after off-season and pre-season cuts are made.

[Hooterz]

Wow that's awesome man, thanks for the advice. I play all the games during my season, not sure if you just sim, so I am only in the 2012-2013 season I believe. I drafted Alex Galchenyuk and usually all my other draft picks are people with 65-71 overall with c potential and nothing special. ( I did have 28th pick I believe when I got Galchenyuk) but noticed that there werent a ton of stand out players tho in the first few rounds

[ben121298]

OMG.......
I just traded D Ledislav Smid (who ha no value) straight up for c Marcus Johansson.
MyPP is 78%
Kane Stamkos Hall
Hedman Larsson

[amplify57]

78%????? That's ridiculous. I play all my games too (it's more fun that way) so I play my first 2012-13 game today.

Anyway, I just finished the Cup finals. With a pair of clutch overtime goals by Matt Duchene, I went up 2-0 in the series. I rallied from a 2-0 defect to win in 4-2 in game 3, and completed the sweep of the Rangers with a 3-2 win (Brian Rolston's final NHL goal was the Cup game winner with 3 minutes to play to break the tie). Despite his retirement, I traded up to snag Yakupov in the draft, and I drafted an Estonian 5th round OFD steal named Dmitri Arkatov (3rd D pair, 71 overall with B, B, B- ratings; I have high hopes for him). And now that RNH (I traded for him last year but he was in juniors) is in the NHL, and Jonathan Blum is an 83 overall at 23 and still going strong, I've got some more decent players. Add in a five year deal for Art Ross/Hart/Conn Smythe winner Matt Duchene, Richard winner Martin Havlat, and Evgeni Malkin, and you've got yourself a team poised for repeat. Except that now I put the difficulty up to Superstar from All Star. Here are my lines:

Doan 85 Duchene 88 Havlat 87
Ponikarovsky 83 Malkin 91 Landeskog 75 (...)
Yakupov 73 C. O'Reilly 80 Latendresse 83
Eaves 81 RNH 75 Tootoo 80

Volchenkov 87 Blum 83
Jackman 85 Kubina 85
Arkatov 71 Stralman 81

Schneider 85 Elliot 83

Sweet huh? Let me know what you think. Anyway, I'm looking for a RWer at about 80-78 overall as a player in the minors in case of injuries, and a good young DFD that can be called up when Kubina retires. I have Dougie Hamilton, but I don't think he'll be ready for a while. Any suggestions? Oh, and the scouting in this game is messed up. I had a level 3 scout, but Ryan Murray was projected as undrafted and a took him in the 3rd round. Seriously, WTF, best defenseman in the draft in real life???

By the way, has anyone noticed a glitch where the fourth line gets played more than the 3rd line if it has a higher average rating? I used to have Couturier and I put him with Landeskog and the line was never played. That's why I have O'Reilly ahead of RNH; so Yakupov can play.

[Hooterz]

Yeah I have noticed that with my lines before. Sometimes a line would never be played. My 4th line usually doesn't get much ice team but I am fine with that. The only players I have in my AHL team that are forwards are about 75 overall, but put up good numbers in the AHL. So not sure about a 78-80 overall, but they do ok for me.

[amplify57]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hooterz

Yeah I have noticed that with my lines before. Sometimes a line would never be played. My 4th line usually doesn't get much ice team but I am fine with that. The only players I have in my AHL team that are forwards are about 75 overall, but put up good numbers in the AHL. So not sure about a 78-80 overall, but they do ok for me.

Yeah once I traded Couturier and moved Landy to the 2nd line, my 3rd line started to play more. My 4th line started to not play at all. For a while, though, Antoine Vermette (84) was centering that Landy/Couturier line and never played because Landy was a 72 and Couturier was a 71. Annoying.

[Hooterz]

Yeah right now i have Hall, Toews and Brown (85,91,88) who get the most ice time obviously (first line). Second line is RNH 75 Richards 87 Giroux 87. Third line is JVR 86, Couturier 74, Simmonds 83. Fourth line is Desjardins 70, Larsson 74, Landeskog 74. My first line gets the most, second line and 3rd line seem to get around the same amount of time, maybe a little more for the 2nd. Fourth line gets what they deserve imo, which is a little bit of ice time but not a lot. So with that being said, I am happy now with the amount of time for each line.