Back to glory: Detroit Red Wings long time run

[alko]

Another nice option this game has. Believe or not, this guy was never drafted.

[Scottababc]

Originally Posted by alko

Another nice option this game has. Believe or not, this guy was never drafted.

But it says he was drafted in his history there?

[alko]

Originally Posted by Scottababc

But it says he was drafted in his history there?

Exactly. That was an error in system (my head).

[alko]

2053/2054
July 1th – one of the biggest aqusiotons in Free Agents in Red Wings history? Cullen Borsato, offensive dynamo from Canada, signed a 3-years deal with average salary 12 180 000. Still only 25 years old, 2-time Hart Trophy a 3-time Selke Trophy winner is ready to rock in motor city.

And he really was a star. He won the Art Ross Trophy and Maurice Richard Trophy race with 106 points and 49 goals. Missed 5 games.

What is also surprising, he wasn't nominated for Hart Trophy. This is some bug in the game, because there is too many Defensman nominated every year. Sometimes all 3 nominated players are D. What is also strange, this guys were left from Norris Trophy. But lets move.

Red Wins goalie Andreas Bergström has a wonderful season with 12 SO. Nominated for Vezina Trophy. Interesting is, he is only 2 and half star ranked goalie. Won his first Vezina.

Red Wings Defensman Gene Farley has his second nomination for Norris Trophy in his hands.

Anton Söder and Pedro Valentin are nominated for Selke Trophy. Söder was the winner.

That all means, Red Wings won Presidents Trophy with 130 points and 62 wins. Very close to NHL records. But there is another power team – New York Rangers. They won 61 games with 127 points. And also Winnipeg Jets do have strong season (129 points). This 3 powerhouses had very big goal difference. See the picture.

Funny. In the playoffs, both Rangers and Red Wings were eliminated in second round. Winnipeg Jets won the Stanley Cup.

[alko]

2054/2055
Another Stanley Cup. Not a heavy favorite after regular season, but this time with success. Finals was a 7-game battle decided in Overtime. 41-years old goalie McGrogann with spectacular performance, 21 games with 91,1 %. It was his 7. Stanley Cup ring.

[alko]

His greatness Ben McGrogann has retired as a 41-years old. Drafted 1. overall in 2031 draft and we must say, his career was a pure success. Just look:
9 Vezina Trophy
7 Jennings Trophy
1 Calder Trophy
7 Stanley Cups (one 3-year period)
2 World Cup Gold
3 World Championships Gold + 2 Silver + 1 Bronze

NHL Goalie records:
most games played (1339)
most shutouts (127)
most wins 830
most wins 1 season (54)

His last NHL game was a 7. Stanley Cup final game, won in Overtime.

[Scottababc]

What were your goalie start settings to get him to start so much?

[alko]

Originally Posted by Scottababc

What were your goalie start settings to get him to start so much?

What do you mean?

[alko]

2055/2056
The beginning of the season was tough. Long time it was a under 50 % win ratio, but then, we make it to 50 win season. In the summer we signed Slovak offensive forward Karel Danis, 37-years old veteran. Simply to give him the chance to win his first Stanley Cup ring. Unfortunately, we lost in finals. Three rounds won in 7 games, but St. Louis Blues with superstar Jack Shepitka won.

First Vezina Trophy goes to Romania. Thanks Félix Shatailo, drafted by Red Wings in 2.round 2045. Now he plays for Minnesota Wild. They had a really strong defence. In top 10 plus/minus there are 5 wild players.

[alko]

2056/2057
It was a fine regular season with 51 wins and 111 points.
Markus Vitala nominated for Vezina Trophy. But unsuccessful.

Last year Champion St. Louis Blues had even more impressive defensive core. Their goal differential was +111, with only 181 GA.

Another interesting fact is, that Defensman Vasilij Shkurinov scored 33-times and had 95 points. He was 4. overall in point race, only 9 points behind the leader. „Bobby Orr season“ was very close. Must follow him closer.

[alko]

Summer 2057
Summer highlight was the retirement of Félix Montembeault. This guy scored 813 goals in regular season, what is the 5. best record to this time.
And he has 1800 points, that is 8. best overall.
In playoffs he collected another 130 points in 123 games. Not great statistics, what also mean, he wasn't oft by Stanley Cup final games. And that is true. Only 2 appearances in finals: one time with Montreal, second time with Capitals.
Hart Trophy: 2
Selke Trophy: 5
Maurice Richard: 4
Art Ross: 4
3 times gold on World Cup, one time with North America U23
4 times gold on WCH
1 gold on WCH U20
2 really impressive season with 60+ goals


And also Benoit Drouin has retired. He is a slightly behind Montembeault:
1739 games with 1745 points (559 + 1186). He is the 5. best in assists in the history.
2 time art Ross Trophy winner, but has won a Stanley Cup in his very last season.
3 times gold on World Cup, one time with North America U23
7 times gold on WCH!
1 gold on WCH U20

[alko]

2057/2058
Like the Germans say: Überaschung (Surprise). Well, nobody counted with 60 wins and 121 points.
We had only two 4 and half Star player, then only one with 4 stars rating. And one of the top guys, c enter Cullen Borsato, had a injury filled season. Played only 24 regular season games.
But there was even better team. Mighty Ottawa Senators won 61 games and had 125 points with 122 goal differential.
St. Louis Blues, another power house, is third with 52 wins.

Markus Vitala is between top 3 goalies. Gene Farley has a nomination for Norris Trophy (63 points, +49). Filip Yeliseyenko, 21-years old rookie, has a Calder Trophy nomination (23+25, +39). Only Yeliseyenko won a trophy.

There are 4 players with 100+ points, two of them from Senators. Not usual in my game. But only one player with 50 goals.

Playoff end was in 2. round. Clash of the Titans, Senators vs Red Wings. Motor City lost 2:4, even after 2 first wins.

[alko]

2059/2060
New wonder-kid has arrived into NHL. 19-years old Swedish center Per Sturesson, 2058 Nr. 2 pick. He is now the second best rated player. Without any NHL game. He destroyed OHL ratings in 2058/2059 season. Played only 38 games, but scored 57 goals plus 53 assists. Looking forward to his career.

Regular season was above average. That means 56 wins and 117 points, 313 GF and 208 GA.
Markus Vitala is again between the top 3 goalies and it is his 3. nomination for this trophy.
2 Red Wings Defensman are nominated for Norris Trophy: Kamil Malek (21+43, +41) and 20-years old Martin Rufus (16+46, +36).
Forward Samuel Angénieux has his 3. Selke Trophy nomination.
Only Malek won a trophy.

We already mentioned Esteban Gutiérrez, ho he suddenly transformed himself to a wild beast (See #39). Now his statistics are even more colorful. That means 50 points with 341 PIM. As a Defensman! With massive 566 hits, what is a new NHL record. This player is simply amazing.

First round playoff kick-off. Not happy.

[alko]

2060/2061
Hard decision was made – Cullen Borsato was traded out for a 1th round pick to Winnipeg. In summer 2053 there was belief, he will be the megastar. He was good, but not so good, as was his contract. In his first season for Red Wings he won Maurice Richard Trophy and had 109 points. In the next season he was part of the Stanley Cup winning team. But then his abilities declined, he was injury prone and so we said good-bay.

Regular season was OK, with 53 wins. There was power team from Ottawa Senators with 120 points and goal difference +123.
And exactly this team met Red Wings in second round. And we won in a 7-game battle. Lats games won 8:3. Then lost to Islanders in 5 games.

[alko]

2061/2062
This season was in some rebuild modus. No playoffs, 1 points under the line. But the outcome was worse and therefore at the deadline we traded some oldies for draft picks. Its now 7 seasons without Stanley Cup. And we dont have any top stars in team. I think, this is the right time to create a new winning machine.

[alko]

2062/2063
We made a big splash on the free agents market. LW Blair Stevenson signed lucrative contract about 48 millions for 4 seasons. This 26 years old forward had some productive seasons behind, one with almost 100 points. But he was injured for long time and played only 39 games in regular season (22+15).
We made a playoff. As a worst team in Eastern. Surprisingly we made it to the confgerence finals. That was te end.

[alko]

2063/2064
Blair Stevensom won Art Ross (104 points) and also Maurice Richard (52 goals). Only one player with 100+ and 50+. He wasn't nominated for Hart Trophy.
Maybe because there was a defensman Kamil Malek, who had 91 points (20+71). There was big hope, he could crack 100 points. But as in this game is usual, end of regular season was weak. He and Martin Rufus (66 points, +46) were nominated for Norris Trophy. Malek won this trophy and it was his second Norris after 4 years.

Red Wings was the only team with 300 + GF. Unfortunately, in playoff there was a stop in the first round. Kraken won his second Stanley Cup.

[alko]

2064/2065
It was an interesting season. Lot of injuries occurred in Red Wings team. Megastar Blair Stevensom played only 9 games in regular season. And there were also others core players, that were sidelined for longer time. But our team made it to playoffs.
Craken destroyed the league thanks brutal defense. Only 163 GA. I dont know, what real record is in the NHL, but this is truly something.
On the other side, Anaheim Ducks could count with the two Sweden megastar performance. Per Sturesson had 125 points (50+75) and Alexander Johnsson 118 points (42+76). Only this 2 guys had more than 100 points. And there were only 3 players with 40 goals. That is weird. Also is strange, that any of this two 2 scorers were nominated for Hart Trophy.

Stanley Cup finals was a battle between top 2 team from each Conference: Islander vs Kraken. Islanders won 4:1.

[alko]

Btw. interesting General Manager of Edmonton Oilers. From UAE.