An Introduction: Stars Fantasy Season 2009-10
Okay, so I started a little project here at BDH about a week or so ago, and I’ve been mulling over whether or not I wanted to share it with the hockey world at large, as I wasn’t sure how interested everyone would be. But, as it’s the internet and there TONS of stuff out there that’s unnecessary already, what’s a little more gonna hurt?
Here’s the deal. I’m a very big fan of EA Sports NHL franchise. Last season’s offering, NHL 09, was by certainly their best so far, and I dug in deep with a big spoon! Let’s just say that Ben Ellis is doing very well in his third pro season with the Dallas Stars, after capturing the Calder Trophy and back-to-back Stanley Cup (it’s the second one that is sweetest, so far). Why not live out fantasies, right?
But, as I was playing, it made me wonder: With things as they are and players where they are (the last week’s trades aside), how would I handle things as the GM of the Stars, and not as a player at all? What moves would I make at the draft, and what free agency moves would I make? Would the team I put on the ice be capable of winning the cup this season?
I decided to make use of the Franchise function on the game, and play through the entire 2009-10 season, using the “sim” function of all the games, so my play does not affect the outcome of the games. To keep rosters as true to their original as possible, I brought all rosters to their current state (as of a week ago) and then ruled out all CPU trades. I simulated the 2008-09 season as such, trying to keep the rosters as accurate as possible. Aside from a few moves the computer made by waiving players and picking up players off of waivers, it was relatively accurate. I was now at the end of this past season, and ready to start the experiment I’m calling Stars Fantasy Season 2009-10 (or, SFS0910 for short).
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We’ll start off with the basics. The Salary Cap numbers for the 2009-10 Season (something that is out of my hand to control in this game, btw) were as follows:
- Maximum Salary Cap: $57.35 million
- Minimum Salary Cap: $41.35 million
- Max. Player Salary Cap: $11.45 million
- Min. Player Salary Cap: $0.475 million
- Min. Rookie Salary Cap: $0.875 million
I’ll list the players who retired this season as well, as it obviously might impact signings/trades/etc. But, I’ll tell you up front of the biggest news in this league: Mike Modano does not play the 2009-10 season, instead deciding to retire after 20 years with the Stars. While sad for the Stars franchise, it does free up some room under the cap, and that can be helpful come free agency time. Here is the complete list of all the players to retire, along with their final team – feel free to skip it if you’d like:
Skaters:
- C. Chelios – Detroit
- M. Recchi – Boston
- J. Roenick – San Jose
- M. Modano – Dallas
- B. Holik – New Jersey
- M. Gelinas – F/A
- K. Draper – Detroit
- B. May – Toronto
- K. Carney – F/A
- D. Brashear – Washington
- D. Tucker – Colorado
- S. Hill – F/A
- Y. Perreault – F/A
- M. Knuble – Philadelphia
- R. Matvichuck – F/A
- A. Eriksson – Calgary
- J. Klemm – F/A
- K. Timonen – Philadelphia
- A. Miller – F/A
- A. Zyuzin – F/A
- I. Moran – F/A
- S. Bates – F/A
- D. Tarnstrom – F/A
- M. Keane – F/A
- B. Muir – F/A
- M. Mowers – F/A
- J. Perreault – F/A
- D. Winnik – F/A
- B. Helmer – Washington
- M. Johansson – F/A
- M. Popovic – F/A
- S. Barney – F/A
- D. Smith – F/A
- J. Ryznar – F/A
- M. Pandolfo – F/A
- E. Healey – F/A
- T. Maki – F/A
- J. Engel – F/A
- B. McGuirk – F/A
- M. Gabinet – F/A
- R. Klinkhammer – F/A
- J. Tremblay – F/A
- B. Robins – F/A
- P. Zingoni
- T. Ramsey – F/A
- O. Labelle – F/A
- P. Crosty – F/A
- P. Rheaume – F/A
- M. McCutcheon – F/A
- T. Trevelyan – F/A
- T. Hrkac – F/A
- M. Love – F/A
- B. Sugden – F/A
- E. Graham – F/A
- D. Cullen – F/A
- B. Elliott – F/A
- C. Keith – F/A
- V. Uchevatov – F/A
- M. Sgroi – F/A
- C. Ferraro – F/A
- S. Hynes – F/A
- D. Laliberte – F/A
Goalies:
- C. Joseph – Ottawa
- M. Legace – St. Louis
- W. Flaherty – Buffalo
- M. Mole – F/A
Some big names hung up their skate, in SFS0910, but none bigger (in my opinion) than Mike Modano. Obviously, he will most likely call it quits after this upcoming season anyway, but in this free agency market, that extra money can come in handy to a GM. Especially when, in this world, I can happily spend to the cap, as the Dallas franchise has been strong and gets good attendance and market presence. But first, the Draft.
Going into the draft, I was in the same position Joe Nieuwendyk was in when he went to Montreal. Plenty of depth on the team, plenty of depth in the minors. There was no “screaming” need that I had to address in the draft. So, I could focus on the best player. One difference, though, was that the Stars held the 17th overall pick after their fantasy finish from the previous season. Quite a difference, but not much I could do in that regard. I still could take the best player available at that time. Also, I wanted to go out and get a defenseman. I knew that I would probably address that in the second or third round.
Obviously, the names are quite different than any “actual” player that was draft-eligible in real life. But, I’ve included a description of the player from his stats. Here is how the draft shook out for the Stars in SFS0910:
- Pick #17 – Jeff Tarnasky, Center, Canada. 20 y.o., 5’11″, 175lbs, left-handed. Highly-athletic center with very good offensive ability. Strong passer and shooter, and not a defensive liability.
- Pick #47 – Neil Nichol, Defenseman, USA. 18 y.o., 6’2″, 213lbs, right-handed. Tough, physical defenseman with above-average speed and endurance. Aggressive style of play. Has a booming slap-shot.
- Pick #77 – Ryan Linden, Right Wing, Switzerland. 20 y.o., 5’10″, 205lbs, right-handed. Good endurance, strong in the face-off circle. Good defensive awareness. Lots of potential.
- Pick #107 – Trevor Evans, Goaltender, Canada. 18 y.o., 6’2″, 180lbs, left-handed. Great speed and puck-handling. Needs some work on fundamentals, but could be very solid. Scouted potential rating was A-.
- Pick #137 – Doug Kilger, Center, Austria. 19 y.o., 5’9″, 177lbs, left-handed. Strong, tough kid. A little slow, but steady on his skates. Decent wrist-shot.
I was pretty happy with that draft. Getting Tarnasky allowed the Stars to develop another center for the following season (probably not ready for this year), without putting out big money in Free Agency at that spot. The same with the defenseman, Nichol. Bright future, but no need to rush the kid along. Trevor Evans was also a good signing in the net, but he’ll probably need a year or two to come along. So, that would require the Stars seek a backup goalie through FA.
In the days leading up to Free Agency, we went through the process of talking with potential free agents, and I was able to sign all 5 draftees to 3-year rookie contracts. I signed all potential Stars free agents with the exception of Brendan Morrison, who felt he wasn’t getting enough minutes in Dallas (you have to love the realism the game gives you with these reasoned decisions) and Sergei Zubov, who wanted more money than I was willing to offer him (1 year at $4M). Here are the signings before July 1st:
- Trevor Evans, goaltender – 3 years, $0.65M/year
- Jere Lehtinen, right wing – 2 years, $3.2M/year
- Mark Fistric, defenseman – 3 years, $2.1M/year
- Jeff Tarnasky, center – 3 years, 0.875M/year
- Chris Conner, right wing – 2 years, $0.475M/year
- Ryan Linden, right wing – 3 years, $0.7M/year
- Neil Nichol, defenseman – 3 years, $0.6M/year
- Doug Kilger, center, 3 years, $0.6M/year
- Darryl Sydor, defenseman, 1 year, $2M/year
And with that, the signings were complete until July 1st, and free agency truly began. Now, with the way the salary cap sat in the game, after these signings, the Stars were still under $43M for the year. Which means, going into the open market, we had over $14M available for players this year. Who would you focus on with that kind of money? What decisions would YOU make? Leave a comment and let me know! I’ll tell you who I went with tomorrow!