A big thank you to @Darcy Kuemper, @Dangs92, and @SweeT 9 LoU 84 for responding to this roundtable. Trying something new for media, hope everyone enjoys! 1. Starting it off, is there one team that’s surprised you with their results for the season so far? Lou: It's early, but FLA to start, NYR/PHI disappointing and then STL off to an awesome start but I think most predicted them a playoff team after their off season but nice from last season. Dangs: Florida, poopie. in. a. playoff. spot? Darcy: - No one could've predicted Poopie Snoopy in a playoff spot... - I guess the Rangers were a surprise going 3-6-0 in Week 1. But like I said before, Dings picked up 3 inexperienced Defensemen who he calls, "gems". Turns out two of those gems went 0-3, while Jax actually racked up their only 3 wins in Week 1. Looks like they've figured it out a bit here though. - It'll be interesting to see if the CHL Blues can keep it up. - Ottawa is nasty. - Blackhawks look much better on paper. - Montreal's current standings reflect exactly how they managed their post-bidding transactions. Donny: I'm really surprised to see how good the Blues are. They've done a good job so far starting way back during the draft and have continued to string together win after win after win. Good management, good team. 2. Seeing how mediocre results have been over the last few seasons, do you think the league should consider banning goalies from becoming owners/GMs of an LGHL team? Lou: I'm not sure what this has to do with Goalies being Owner/GM as we only had 2 Dirtyzjerx and I guess now LazyKidzinGA but no. Goalie mgmt are some of the best managers in the past, they have just been phased out due to salary and people smartening up, if anything the league should bring paid AGM back and give a G a discount or exception. Dangs: I 100% agree that goalies should NOT be goalies waste of a free contract. I don't care how good you are. Darcy: I side with DirtyJerrz. Giving a 3m max contract to goalie owners, but allowing them to pick up a $0 GM & $0 AGM is an enticing setup to try out. A select few goalies around the League have real ownership potential. But with how LG is setup, it's just not worth it. Donny: I asked this question totally in support of Jerz's idea. The fact of the matter is, you can't really be competitive if you don't have a super valuable management team. Goalies aren't valuable in terms of what matters, which is $$$. I believe goalies are fine as AGM's, but it's just not a situation that's workable in today's LG with how cheap they go on the market. 3. Is it surprising to you to see so many one goal games early on in the season? Lou: No not really with the defensive tools now and goalies being good PLUS getting bailed out when out of position or sliding the wrong way with glove and blocker extension saves. Offensive tools are also down bc the loose puck dekes are terrible, LT is the best offensive tool to create space and passing lanes and incidental contact is atrocious. Dangs: No, Not at all, the state of the game right now gives anyone in the game a chance to win, you could have a squad going up against Timmytontooth24. Darcy: It's not surprising at all Don. - Shots hit the net 10% of the time. - Skaters only score on D to D tips & 5-hole slap shots. - You can bump a guy off the puck a stick length away. - Skating Physics have been nerfed at least 4 times. - Goalies are OP in unrealistic situations. - Servers are trash. Donny: The game's pretty cut and dry mediocre right now. Scoring isn't creative, goalies make a lot of saves they shouldn't on non-tipped shots... I feel like this edition of the game is pretty rough compared to what we had hoped it would be. So, no surprise that games are ending close because there's so much garbage involved in scoring. 4. Is there any rule change you’d like to see to ensure that the ownership pool isn’t as weak as it seems to be this season? Lou: Summer season will be tough. We need to go back to retaining owners having a say and vote on selections. I also think all new owners should get draft picks that were traded away added to said round. Say FLA trades their picks away bc they're close to a playoff push but dont make and Snoopy is fired. Whoever takes over should get FLA 1St round pick, pick 32 of the first round. Last pick of each round just add picks to said round. They should also be tradable. A roster reset for first season of NHL 20 Is must, it's been way too long. Dangs: Honestly i think its because 6's is so bland right now and its the same thing that alot of the guys don't wanna put the time in. Darcy: If we are solely speaking in terms of increasing competition through Ownership, then... - Apply DirtyJerrz's goalie ownership reform. - If new owners don't make playoffs in their first 2 seasons of ownership, deny their ownership application. - If experienced owners have a 3-season playoff drought, deny their ownership application. - Purge the NML of all owners who didn't quit on their teams. Donny: I think it's mostly because the game is pretty lame right now, but I think there has to be a higher standard. Roster reset would help a lot, as it would put everyone back to square one and let people really start to figure out proper value again, instead of having to overbid everyone and put the market for specific players in the toilet. 5. Following up on that, should there be a certain standard an owner has to play up to to be able to re-up on his team the next season? Lou: No bc we don't have enough good applicants but if we did, under 5 FFS (should be 0) and 3 seasons straight of no playoffs and you're out. Dangs: Foresure, i think there should be a comittee of staff that decides whether they put up a good ownership season and tried their hardest to put out a solid squad. Darcy: All owners should have the following qualities... - 3rd Line NHL or better. - Doesn't quit on their team. - Follows the rules. Donny: If there was a good group of potential owners, I'd definitely put an emphasis on making players who are actually good at the game the main group. Owning/managing a team isn't super difficult when you're a likeable player who's good enough to play 1st/2nd line, so having that group would make things easier. 6. Do you feel as if the game plays well enough right now to where LG can run at an efficient level, or do you think that the gameplay is significantly hampering LG’s potential? Lou: The game is better than nhl 16 17 and 18 so yes but the constant changes of the Meta have been a pain in the ass plus the connection issues but that's nothing new either. Dangs: The gameplay is just complete ass right now. it's hampering LG majorly. Darcy: Yes & No. - Gameplay is significantly hampering the LGHL, LGAHL, & LGCHL's potential. When your playing a game whose programmers cater to the Reddit Raging HUT players, it's just harder to ride out a shitty season. - However, the gameplay can't touch the hype Tris x Space Esports are creating. Introducing a free-entry, $2,000 season-based tournament following ESHL's shitty Pay-To-Play/Roster Purging setup was and optimal move to keep real 6s competition. - Fortnite is stealing players like Gilleh. - 2k is stealing players like GB. - 1v1 Esport Tournaments can keep Yung Gren. Donny: Gameplay's boring, so I'd say definitely. Players who used to grind the game a ton have moved onto playing other games that are more fun to play, and it's almost impossible to know what to do when the game is changed constantly. We just played a Cup on a tuner that nobody had played on. How is that even a real option for EA? They really should've asked EA and waited to figure things out. 7. Last question. Other than the team you’re currently on, what team do you think is the favorite to win the Cup for this upcoming season? Lou: Too early to predict something like that, a big trade or ban etc will change the landscape like always. Right now though looking at rosters. Only teams with a chance to win a cup are: Tier 1 ANA/NYR/PHI Tier 2 TOR/MTL/BOS/OTT/ARZ Tier 3 STL/CHI/SJS/PIT Tier 4 NSH/LA Dangs: Those Sens! They've got a solid squad. Darcy: Boston/Ottawa for sure. Donny: Those RAGS are at it again. Huge fan of what they've done recently, making the team better. Not to mention, their AHL is stacked with ECU callups.
not a bad read. my only input is 2 things.... 1- nhl 19 is the worst next gen game hands down for competitive 6s. 2- management should never be based on records. there is always going to be last place teams, someone has to lose. but the key is, are players showing up and are there any forfeits? as long as the owner id putting 6 on the ice every night and not breaking rules its idiotic at this time to change them. this is the most effective and beneficial way to run LG, until we get all the top players to take teams.
*from a competitive stand point* Why accept a GM whose bid wins act toxic just to get traded? That’s not helping the league
Solid all around read. I keep hearing people push for a roster reset and i think its a great idea to do that i just feel that regardless next season will be rough all around so hopefully if we get a reset it will be at the start of NHL 20. In preparation for that only give out 1 season contracts for s33 and hopefully managment can collaborate as a group to present the best way to go about a reset and then present it to the rest of the community.
bc that isnt an owner problem, thats a player issue who should get banned if we want LG to grow. if you want to pick who you get to play with you have 3 options - 1 club 2 esports 3 own a team yourself
Loving this format already... And appreciate the support boys! I think this kind of "media" activity is the best bet for pushing reform in the league... At the end of the day, we need people actively talking about ideas for anything change worthy to actually transpire and ultimately continue to tweak the league into the best it can be for everyone as a whole. I do think we need to continue to hold more weight or at least consider the feedback of current owners and management, and ex mangers, with higher regard. I've talked to a lot of people around the league on things that could/should be done over the course of the last few seasons... The fact of the matter is there's too many factors that go into owning and managing that the regular roster players don't understand or don't get exposed to. That doesn't hold true to EVERYTHING and I do think everyone in the league deserves to have a voice... but to some degree, I think it just dilutes actual progress that's made with regards to suggestions. There's been too many times where we've seen great ideas around the league get shot down by active players that don't truly understand how much goes into owning/managing or understand what would lead to what's best for the league. If we can continue to make changes to improve the parity of the teams, we'll get a better result for the full length of the season and into playoffs. We can't do as much with the game that is provided to us - but we can take steps to continue to improve the league as a whole.
I'm a nobody but... i think it's pretty hard to be a new owner in the NHL when you try and pick good players and they rage/put it minimal effort.
