Hartford Whalers Dynasty: Brass Bonanza

[Argonaut]

INTRODUCTION

Howdy, and welcome to my Hartford Whalers dynasty. I'm playing FHM for the first time and very excited. I have thousands of hours in Football Manager and OOTP, so I'm no stranger to sports management sims. Growing up in Canada my favourite sport was hockey, and I played defense from Novice to Bantam. So FHM is definitely a good fit.

I'm starting the dynasty in 1979-80, the Whalers' first season in the NHL. They have a carryover team from the WHA, including the legendary Gordie Howe and his two sons Mark and Marty. The more I think about it, the more I find reasons to be nostalgic for the Whalers. For one, they have absolutely amazing uniforms, and had the best goal song ever. And they also represent an interesting small market in Hartford, Connecticut, a place which my ancestors have ties to.

I'm calling this one Brass Bonanza because of that great song, and because I want to set this team up to be a high scoring offense. Slick passing, high scoring, and a smart zonal defense that avoids penalties. We're going to be lighting the lamp and playing Brass Bonanza all the way until 1997. My goal is to do better than the Whalers did historically, which shouldn't be too hard as they only had 1 division title and 1 playoff series victory.

LEAGUE SETTINGS

1. League Evolution is Automatic: We'll be seeing the NHL rules and teams change as they did historically. Once we hit about 1982/83 it's pretty stable until the 90s.
2. Recalc is On: Players will be roughly the same skill level as historically.
3. Players are Imported to Historical Teams, Not Drafted: I feel like this setting goes with recalc well. It also saves time, and also gives teams (especially mine) their own flavour.

So I know which players I'm getting and roughly how good they'll be. Therefore the only way to do better than Hartford did historically will be to have better tactics, and better players by assembling a quality roster through trades and free agency.

We'll be in the Adams division for most of the dynasty, which is tough with the likes of the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. Hartford struggled against these teams in real life, but we'll turn that around. I do expect to make the playoffs most years as I believe there's basically a 4/5 chance in the Adams division.

Hope you enjoy!

[Argonaut]

RON FRANCIS: THE HERO OF OUR STORY

"Ronny Franchise" was the best ever Hartford Whaler, leading the team in all major statistical categories historically. I'm going to build my team around him when he comes to us in the 1981 draft. He's got the 2nd most assists of all time in the NHL after Gretzky, and he's 5th in total points.

Historically the Whalers traded Francis to the Penguins in 1991, and he would go on to win the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh back-to-back. With how stacked that Pens team was in 1991, you could argue that Francis was only their 4th best player, behind Lemieux, Jagr, and Coffey. But in this universe Francis is going to be our franchise guy throughout.

For now though, I'm going to focus on the Whalers team that's given to me, and build a foundation for when Francis and some other decent guys arrive via the draft in the early 80s.

[Argonaut]

THE HOWE FAMILY

The Whalers come into the NHL with the Howe Family on the roster -- Gordie, Mark, and Marty. At this point Gordie is a living legend and is regarded as the best hockey player ever. He's in his age 51 season and historically still put up a decent year in 1979/80 with 15 goals to finish with 801 total, the most ever until Wayne Gretzky. Even though he's retiring at the end of this year, I don't think there's any point in trading him so we'll try to get him to 800 goals at least.

The real superstar of the Howe family at this point in time is Mark Howe. He's an elite defenseman and the Whalers' best player upon entering the league. He also fits our style perfectly. Much like with Ron Francis, I'm going to avoid trading Mark Howe in his prime like the Whalers did historically. We'll try to get him a Norris Trophy at some point in the 80s.

Marty Howe is a depth defenseman and will rotate into the 6th spot at times this year. Mark and Marty's profile pages are a bit bugged and don't recognize Gordie as their father, probably because he's still playing! When Gordie retires I'll be sure to edit the pages if they don't change automatically.

[Argonaut]

DAVE KEON, MIKE ROGERS, BLAINE STOUGHTON, & JOHN GARRETT

Dave Keon is another NHL legend who joins the Whalers along with Mr. Hockey after a foray into the WHA. Although he's 39 years old he still has great ratings, and a leadership rating that's perfect for his role as captain. He slots in as our #2 center and best penalty killer. I tried to trade him back to the Leafs where he belongs in a deal involving Joel Quenneville, but for some reason it worked in my trial run but not in the file I'm using now. Oh well, we'll keep him for now.

Mike Rogers and Blaine Stoughton are 2 guys I hadn't heard of before I started researching the Whalers in anticipation for this dynasty. But boy did they ever light it up for in the early 80s. Mike Rogers had 3 straight 100 point seasons, and Blaine Stoughton had a ton of goals including a league leading 56 (!) tallies in this 1979/80 season. Unfortunately for their hockey legacy, they spent some of their prime years in the WHA, and both of them really regressed when they hit 30 years old. For the future of the Whalers it's important we trade these guys at their peak, though hopefully don't ripoff the AI teams too bad.

John Garrett is our starting goaltender and pretty good, at least for now. It's funny how a lot of the former Whalers ended up in broadcasting. John Garrett, Ray Ferraro, Garry Galley, Greg Millen...

Another trade I was able to do in my test run but not the current file involved Mike Liut for Mike Rogers, John Garrett, and some depth players. I really want to get Mike Liut to solidify our goalie situation for the decade, so we'll keep trying. He was one of the better goalies of the 80s, and starred for the Whalers in real life. That's always going to be a bonus factor when I look for trades.

But it's probably for the best that I'm rolling with the team that I was given at the start, and not make to many crazy trades right away.

[Argonaut]

TACTICAL SETUP

As I mentioned in the opening, I want to play a slick passing offensive game. I believe that's reflected in my tactical setup, but having never played FHM I may have to do some trial and error.

I want to take advantage of our strong playmakers at center, like Mike Rogers, Dave Keon, and the future Ron Francis. Therefore I'll be funneling play through the center of the ice, setting up a triangle offense, and playing from behind the net on the power play. All of these strategies favour good playmakers in the middle. The triangle offense also takes advantage of a quarterback on the point (Mark Howe), and a strong overall passing game.

On defense I want to play strict zonal, with limited aggression. I really hate penalties and want to be on the PP far more than on the PK. We'll try to overcome the lack of aggression by being strong positionally and getting a great goaltender. I plan on trading for Mike Liut for the 80s, and Sean Burke for the 90s. As it should be in Hartford.

EDIT: I've since refined my tactics in this post here.
EDIT 2: I've further refined my tactics in this post here.

[Waino2Yadi]

As someone who currently manages a team in an online league with a similar desired style of play - i am very curious to see how your tactical setup works out!

[Argonaut]

SYSTEM & LINES

To go along with my tactical style, I've designed a setup for my lines that is very rigid in its approach. Rigid in the sense that I want all positions to play a certain way, and have a certain type of player.

And I want it to be the same throughout... so the 1st Line will have the same ideals as the 4th Line, the only difference will be player quality. I don't believe in a "checking" line, at least in this Hartford Whalers dynasty. Every line is trying to score on you.

Here is my system:

CENTER: Playmaker; This guy will be the player who is tasked with creating offense. The play will run through him, and he'll generate a lot of assists. Ron Francis will be my #1 in a few years, and ideally my other centers will be in his mold. Someone like Adam Oates, Pierre Turgeon, etc. Don't know if I can get that quality of players but we'll see.

LEFT WING: Two-Way Forward; I want a bit more of a conservative player in my LW slot, to help balance the quarterback at LD. I feel that traditionally the LW position has been more gritty, defensive, or more of a power forward than the RW position (there's also the LW lock). Guys like Keith Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan, and Dave Andreychuk come to mind when thinking of left wingers. I don't want my LW to be a power forward or take a lot of penalties though, just be more balanced in his game.

RIGHT WING: Sniper; I want a goalscorer at RW, pure and simple. In contrast to the LW position, I feel the RW position has had more finesse and skilled scorers, i.e. Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, Alexander Mogilny, etc. There's always exceptions to my LW/RW perception though. Even with historical Whalers LW Sylvain Turgeon and RW Kevin Dineen, who are the opposites of my perception. Anyway my RWs will be tasked to score goals and are given a bit of license to float defensively.

LEFT DEFENSE: Quarterback; Mark Howe is my best player right now and he fits here perfectly. I love offense from the back, and we'll be looking for Paul Coffey types here. We probably don't have the assets to get Coffey, but Howe is great as a #1 LD anyway. Most defensemen in the NHL, and every one of them on my team, are left-handed shots so there will be more offensive defensemen to choose from.

RIGHT DEFENSE: Two-Way Defenseman; I was originally thinking of having a stay-at-home defenseman here, but further to my plan to score as many goals as possible, I'll try the two-way version first. We want the RD to cover for the floating sniper on the right flank, but also not be afraid to add some offense. I prefer to have same-handed defensemen on each point, so I'll be looking for right-handed guys here. There's a shortage of these in the NHL (I was a right-handed D as kid, how come I didn't make it???) and I don't have any righties yet, so I'll have to acquire them.

I've attached the lines for the opening game of the season. I can't quite fully setup my system yet, it'll take a couple years to get all the right players. And Mr. Hockey wants to play power forward so we're gonna let him! He's paired up with Dave Keon on the 2nd "Old Man" Line. Mark Howe is the only guy we are planning to keep long-term, the rest will have to be moved within the next few seasons.

There's also the annoying rule in the NHL at the time where you can't dress enough guys to make 4 lines, so we'll have to work around that for a couple years. I suspect I'll actually change my setup soon and run 3 centers with 4 sets of wingers.

[Argonaut]

1979-80 SEASON PREVIEW & FIRST GAME

I've attached the season preview, where it says that the Montreal Canadiens are the Cup favourite. Mark Howe is mentioned as one of the top 3 defensemen in the league.

I played out the 1st game in Whalers NHL history manually, but I will be going through most or all of the regular season games quickly via simming. It was actually pretty exciting, as Dave Keon scored the winner on a breakaway with 1:31 left in the game. We're 1-0 so far!

[Argonaut]

1980 MARCH UPDATE

I've played through until March, and the Whalers are doing pretty good in their first NHL season. We're sitting 2nd in the division behind the Canadiens, and have a goal difference of exactly zero. So we're not a bad team by any means. Mike Rogers is among the league leaders in points and assists.

I've made some minor transactions, but nothing earth shattering. This good performance is a bit of smoke and mirrors, as some of our best players are old and going to retire, and others will drop off in the recalc either next year or soon after.

The AI is pretty stubborn when it comes to my trade offers, but the challenge is welcome as I don't want to dominate too easily. As I approach the trade deadline on March 10, I wanted to take a bit of a break and see what deals I could make, if any.

In other news, Gordie Howe is having a great season, and did hit 800 goals in January (against the Red Wings which was fitting). So he'll surpass his final real-life totals which is pretty cool. Give Gretzky a more ambitious target to reach.

[Argonaut]

1980 TRADE DEADLINE DEALS

I've figured out how to deal with the AI... before I didn't realize you often have to trade for the same number of players given the 50 contracts rule. I kind of discovered an exploit of sorts, as the AI loves to dump contracts of old players even with no salary cap and plenty of budget room. So I try to avoid taking too much advantage, but I'm not totally against turning a balanced deal into an accepted one.

I've brought in my biggest targets, goaltender Mike Liut and defenseman Joel Quenneville. I've also picked up Greg Millen to backup/rotate with Liut throughout the 80s, and Ken Morrow as a right-handed defenseman. Of the exits, Dave Keon (my #2 center) & Jordy Douglas (my #1 LW) are the biggest losses. Both of my goalies are out, but they were obviously replaced.

I'm now quite weak at wing, and Dave Keon was excellent this year so he's a loss for sure. But I'm quite happy to sacrifice a bit now for the future, as I don't think we're good enough to go deep in the playoffs.

I've attached all the trades.

[Argonaut]

SYSTEM UPDATE

Ahh yes, system update... the fear of every Windows user. I wanted to tweak my system a bit to get more of the kind of play I had in mind. I've attached the new tactics below.

The changes are that I've set Hitting and Aggressiveness to the lowest setting possible, while increasing Backchecking and Pressure a notch. The C, LW, and LD use these global settings. My RD is set to be a bit more defensive and my RW a bit more offensive.

Basically I want my players to be have more urgency in defense and transition, and put pressure on the puck without being physical. I think the zone defense will work with this too. Overall this will be beneficial to puck possession and my PP/PK ratio. All that's left to do is find the right players for the system.

From what I can see, it's working so far.

The Whalers are:

3rd in Faceoff %
3rd in Takeaways
5th fewest Giveaways
Dead last in Hits
Dead last in PIMs

This tells me my system is working as intended, and once we have a nice set of players we'll be better off in other categories too like goal difference (+7) and special teams (101.9% PP+PK).

EDIT: I've since bumped the Tempo slider up one point.

[Argonaut]

1979-80 END OF SEASON

In reaching the end of the Whalers inaugural NHL season, I'm happy to say that we finished exactly .500! We had a nice 35-35-10 record. We were .500 going into the final game, and I definitely didn't want to fall under that mark. But then we ended up in a tie against the Red Wings which was neat. I miss ties, overtime losses are dumb.

The real 1979-80 Whalers finished with 73 points, so our 80 points is an improvement already. I've attached the final standings -- we're in the Norris division now but will settle into the Adams soon for most of our run in Hartford.

Deadline acquisition Mike Liut was among the league leaders in the net. Mike Rogers finished 2nd in assists and 6th in points which is good for him. He had 105 points in real life so the sim is pretty accurate. This is the Gretzky era though, and Wayne ran amok in his first year in the NHL. More on him later.

I've also attached the Whalers players end of year stats. We were very reliant on Rogers, Stoughton, and Mark Howe for scoring. Gordie Howe definitely overachieved in his final season, and we got a nice contribution from our Finnish player Matti Hagman.

[Argonaut]

1980 PLAYOFF PREVIEW & GRETZKY WATCH

Initially after the WHA merger/expansion, the NHL had a strange playoff format based on #1 to #16 seedings. The teams weren't organized geographically yet either. Regardless of division, #1 played #16, #2 played #15, and so on. In real life the Whalers played the end-of-their-dynasty powerhouse Canadiens and got swept. This time we're up against the potential new dynasty Islanders.

FHM doesn't get these playoffs quite right, as they seem to tie division winners into the seedings somehow. Based on my look at the standings we should really be playing the Blues. But I don't blame the game too much as the early 80s was an awkward transition period for hockey, before we got to the geographic setup.

Also wanted to take a look at Wayne Gretzky in his first NHL season. He finished with 70/70/140. Normally you'd expect Gretzky to pile up a lot more assists than goals, but he really had to do it all himself on these Oilers! If you look at the rest of the team, no one else had even half of his production. Looking on Hockey Reference, this is kind of similar to what actually happened on the 79/80 Oilers, before Messier got good and they picked up more secondary scoring. But right now Gretz is just a teenager carrying the new NHL team on his back.

[Argonaut]

1980 PLAYOFFS

Well, that was over quick. The Whalers got swept by the Islanders, and it wasn't really close. Not really worth talking about. They had the better team certainly, and probably have some great hidden "big game" ratings due to their early 80s dynasty. The likes of Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies, Denis Potvin, and Mike Bossy ran over us in every game.

The Islanders ended up making the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the surprising St. Louis Blues! At least in my alternate history, the Blues won the Cup ~40 years earlier than they did in the real timeline.

I feel alright about this one, especially because I pulled a trade with the Blues (Mike Liut) that likely favours me in the long run. That's the biggest thing I'm worried about when trading, is fleecing the AI. Well anyway they won the Cup so that's a small price to pay for them.

Onto the offseason next.

[Argonaut]

1979-1980 AWARDS & ALL-STARS

Wayne Gretzky won most of the awards he was up for, including the Hart and Pearson. The Whalers actually had a decent showing though, with Mike Liut winning the Vezina and getting 1st Team All-Star. Gordie Howe also won the Masterton Trophy in his age 51 year.

I can't take much credit for Liut winning the Vezina, as he was with St. Louis for most of the year. Hopefully he's not too upset about being traded away from the team that won the Stanley Cup. We'll just have to win one or two in the 80s.

This is definitely one of the most transitional years in hockey history, with the WHA merger, Wayne Gretzky's first season, and Howe's last season.

[Argonaut]

1980 RETIREMENTS & NEW PLAYERS

As has been discussed, Gordie Howe retires at age 51. In this universe he finished with more goals and points. 810 goals and 1863 points are the new marks that Gretzky is aiming for.

I've also attached the new players that are drafted or assigned to teams this offseason. The Oilers have an absolutely ridiculous draft, getting Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, and Andy Moog in the 1980 Draft! That's gotta be the best draft class of any team in history, as far as I know. Even previously in the 1979 Draft the Oilers grabbed Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, and Kevin Lowe... which is about equal in value. Gretzky's supporting cast is arriving for the dynasty.

In contrast to the Oilers' pickups, the Whalers don't have anyone of note coming from the draft in 1980. But that's fine because I know the next 3 drafts will be quite good for Hartford. I like the setting where players go to their historical teams... it gives more flavour to the game.

[Argonaut]

1980 OFFSEASON TRADES

I made several moves in the offseason, and I won't list them all here. Basically I wanted to clean up the roster and get every position filled with players that fit my system. I will highlight 2 big trades though.

The first trade involved Richard Brodeur. Last season I picked him up on the waiver wire as a 3rd goaltender option. He had a 1.5*/1.5* rating, but I remember him being a "name" goalie in the 80s. He was the best tender named Brodeur... at least for a while. Lo and behold, the offseason recalc pumped him up to a 4.5* goaltender, and one of the best in the league. I didn't expect this, but I definitely didn't mind taking advantage.

I decided to ship Brodeur off to Philadelphia straight up for LW Brian Propp. Propp was one of the best LWs of the 80s, and he's easy to pencil into my top line for a while. He's just what I'm looking for in the LW position, offensive output combined with the ability to play two-ways and not take an excessive amount of penalties. Plus, Propp played for the Whalers in his final season which is a bonus. Brian Propp won the Calder Trophy as top rookie for Philly last season too.

I also decided to ship out Gordie Roberts, who's my 2nd best defenseman and has a lengthy career ahead of him. Reason being is that he came to preseason out of shape, takes a few too many penalties, was injured for a while last year, and is a lefty shot in my RD spot. All of these things sort of combined to make me fed up with him. He goes to the Blackhawks in return for Keith Brown, who's a righty shot that's more disciplined. I also upgraded one of my RWs in the deal.

[Argonaut]

1980-81 SEASON PREVIEW AND LINES

I've attached the 1980-81 Season Preview, along with the Whalers' lines to start the year. All-in-all it's a pretty big upgrade all around, and I've got the right players to fit into my system. This year will be a test to see if it all works.

Aside from the previously discussed Brian Propp and Kevin Brown, we've got some other names you may be familiar with like Darryl Sutter suiting up in green and white.

[Argonaut]

1981 NEW YEAR UPDATE

I've attached the settings on January 1st of 1981, and the Whalers are doing pretty well. We're above the .500 mark and sit in 2nd place in our division to the (obvious) Montreal Canadiens.

Good news is our play style is still producing some intended results, as we're at the bottom in PIM and hits, and at or near the tops in takeaways and avoiding giveaways.

The bad news is we're still kind of stuck near equal goal difference, and I believe the main culprit is lack of PP goals. We're dead last in power play opportunities and I'm not sure why. Perhaps a lack of PIMs also somehow results in fewer power plays for your own team? Is my lack of agitators and enforcers somehow a detriment?

Also, our top players for some reason all have awful plus/minus stats. Now I know plus/minus isn't the greatest stat of all-time, especially when comparing players of different teams. But I think it's relevant when looking at your own team.

Anyway I'm going to tweak a couple of things for the 2nd half of the season. I'm bringing in an agitator and an enforcer for my 4th line. Main reason being is that it's not a complete line yet due to our ability to only dress 19 players. And these players never play much or affect outcomes too much. So we'll see if it helps draw penalties and protect our stars.

I'm also going to reduce the ice-time a bit for my top lines. Perhaps my top guys are getting tired and giving up more goals in the late game? Hence the poor plus/minus? Anyway if we draw more penalties and play better at even strength that'll be most bases covered.

Let me know if you're an FHM veteran and have ideas for my conundrums.

[Argonaut]

1980-81 END OF SEASON

The season has ended and the Whalers have finished 3 games above .500. Pretty good, and certainly better than the historical Whalers who missed the playoffs a few years running at a time when most teams made it.

We were very streaky though, and had hot months and cold months. In some ways we played worse than last season, as we finished with a -13 goal difference.

I brought in Howatt as my enforcer and Brackenbury as my agitator. I'm not sure if this made any difference, as we were still dead last in power play opportunities. I also changed my RD guys from two-way to stay-at-home types for now.

Anyway we roll onto the playoffs, and by the standings and playoff system in 1981, we should be facing the Islanders again. But instead we'll be facing the Maple Leafs. At least we try out a couple different teams before we face the Bruins and Canadiens all the time, but I am looking forward to that playoff system and the rivalries it will generate.

As far as the stats for the season go, Blaine Stoughton was the highlight as he sniped 56 goals including 25 on the power play. If only we got more power play chances! Unfortunately Mike Rogers failed to hit 100+ points, and I'm not sure why given that he had Brian Propp on his line this year, who played well himself. I guess the points are more spread out now?

Secondary scoring was pretty good, although we seemed to give up too many goals. But we were around the middle in both goals for and against, so I think going forward I'd rather just score more... which means more Brass Bonanza... the point of this dynasty!