Devils Win!
Very exciting to finally win my first CPHL cup.
It has been a long road to finally get here being the GM of the Avs and then switching over to the Devils to try and find the motivation again.
First off I want to thank 3thirty for providing me some core pieces to finally get over this hump. Here was the team I took over with a lot of those pieces still in place.
Buchnevich - Kuznetsov- Toffoli
Teravainen - Larkin - Texier
Batherson - Norris - Galchenyuk
Kahun - Dach - Tolvanen
Doughty (UFA)- Fox
Petterson - Murray
Forbort- Schultz
Driedger
Hill
Once taking over the team, I thankfully had the 1st overall pick for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
That was flipped for Mikko Rantanen who I anticipated being a core piece on my team. More to come on that.
Next I was able to cash in on Kirby Dach's hype coming out of junior and acquire Kaprizov by also sending JJ Peterka.
Next, I knew I needed to find a #1 center and a #1 goalie as I didn't feel comfortable with Kuznetsov and Larkin down the middle and Driedger and Hill were not going to cut it.
As most of you guys know, I get attached to players and really wanted Demko and Aho from my previous team. The problem was it was a brand new GM so I knew I had to overpay to get these guys.
The Devils acquired Aho and Demko for Schultz, Justin, Larkin, Dylan (C), Kaprizov, Kirill (LW), Texier, Alexandre (C), 2022 1st Round Draft Choice (det)
Once I had my #1 C and #1 goalie I felt pretty good about the roster. Until I was approached on Mikko Rantanen. This was the move that I think made the biggest difference in this championship run. Trading Rantanen to Colorado for JT Miller and Nikita Kucherov. This allowed me to continue to have players develop in bottom 6 roles like Batherson and Norris and solidifying my top 6.
Then came free agency. I wasn't going to be able to afford Doughty to stay so I had to let him walk which put a giant hole in the back end. Over the next few months I wanted to bring in guys I really like - specifically K'Andre Miller and Vince Dunn.
- Brady Skjei to the Devils for Dante Fabbro and Dylan Holloway (anytime you can remove an Oilers player it is a major plus in the sim)
- Moving Kuznetsov and Soderstrom for Jacob Slavin - then flipping him in a deal to bring in K'Andre Miller
- Selling high on Cody Glass and moving him for Vince Dunn
- Buying low on Erik Karlsson
- Eventually bringing in Stralman and Benning in deadline deals.
Which then turned the backend into the following going into the playoffs:
Fox - Skjei
Miller - Karlsson
Dunn - Stralman
With some major UFA acquisitions like Kreider and Schwartz, I felt really good with my roster going into the season.
In my first year with the Devils the goal was putting the pieces in place to make a run - The biggest issue was Demko's up and down regular season and I knew I had to put my attachment issues aside and focus on acquiring a goalie who was really good in the sim which we identified John Gibson.
With the final championship roster looking like:
Kucherov - Aho - Teravainen
Kreider - Miller - Buchnevich
Burakovsky - Schwartz - Batherson
Rasmussen - Gagner - Olofsson
Fox - Skjei
Karlsson - Miller
Dunn - Stralman
Gibson
Samsonov
Lots of work to do going into the offseason with a goalie probably taking a hit in the ratings and some high priced players going to need to pack their bags but it feels great finally winning.
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