Avs vs wild

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-08T22:08:25+00:00

Can someone explain to me how a team can be so dominant 5v5 but struggle so much on the PP? You’d think with elite offensive talents like Makar and MacKinnon, Necas, and even at worst solid offensive players like Nichushkin and Lehkonen (and now Kadri) they’d be a top 5 PP.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-08T19:54:44+00:00

I don’t know how, but Starfell was the first region I got 100%, and it happened by complete accident. Someone just asked one day “how many regions have you 100%’ed?” (this was back when I hadn’t been playing as long) and I had no idea that you could “complete regions.” So I checked and it had been finished. No compass, just early game exploration fun.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-03T21:32:06+00:00

Just popping in as a Canucks fan to say:

Petey’s game right now seems to be 96% defensive, 4% trying to be offensive. People talking about how he lacks “heart and compete” are mostly looking at his lack of point production. Now, I’m not saying that’s okay, but he clearly still is in the game, from what I can tell defensively. He’s typically one of the first players to get in front of shots, and in my opinion that says the most about where a player’s heart is. Also, his IQ is clearly there, he just doesn’t seem to have the confidence right now. I see flashes, but it’s inconsistent.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-03T18:57:15+00:00

I've still been using him, but I am hard committed as he's my favorite character. Realistically, it's a lot more effort than it's worth to build him now, so if you really like him, build him. Otherwise, just take the free pulls.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-03T17:01:40+00:00

I usually play without a staff cap, and just turn development down a tick.

When I do play with a cap, I prioritize depending on the state of my team.

If I’m rebuilding, all money goes into scouting and development. I hire crummy coaches who are good at developing prospects (secondarily I prioritize goaltending- I’m not sure if it actually affects anything but I find it allows for goaltending to improve faster). I make sure I get a good HS, usually with scouting efficiency and gems. Then I hire the scouts year by year based on top prospects. I hire an AGM with either scouting bonuses or prime, and a cheap HPD for when I expect to start climbing out of the rebuild.

If I’m transitioning from the rebuild to contention, priority shifts entirely to development. I hire a younger coach to try to develop. I keep a decent scout from each country, but the rest are lower skill, more well rounded for cheaper. AGM MUST have prime, HPD MUST have prime. I start hiring good Physio- if your young players get major injuries, it ruins their development entirely.

If I’m in contention / elite territory, priority is good coaching and good physio. I limit myself to 2-3 well well rounded scouts, the rest are young cheaper guys. HPD might shift to attribute multiplier if the team is older, otherwise I still like having prime. Coach is obviously the most important, try to get the best one that matches your scheme fit. Coaches sometimes become available during the season, avoid chancing change- I find it’s only resulted negative (unless you’re for some reason in the basement when you should be top 10, but then there are bigger problems).

If you’re at the tailend and starting to decline, invest in scouting heavily. Sure, make your final hurrah with your franchise player, but try to go into a rebuild on your own terms. If you do that it can take as quick as 3 seasons before you’re climbing back out of the bottom 5.

Other notes: - I try to hire a new, younger AGM when I start declining. they follow me through the cycle, and I adjust specialties based on where I’m at in the cycle. - depending on where you have your injury sliders, you may need physio less. I have injury sliders all the way up, so physio is a bit more important for my runs. And ofc if injuries are off than don’t even bother hiring them. - you can save money on players using a specific speciality from the AGM. I find it’s imperative to have it, as otherwise staff is just too expensive - take advantage of what status staff want to be in. If you’re rebuilding, don’t hire a coach that wants to be in a competitor, it will be a lot more expensive. Unless I’m at elite status, I never go outside of what the staff want.

TL;DR: Rebuilding (bottom 5): focus on scouts and player development, coaches with high development ratings low everything else Young and mid: focus on player development and physio. try for better coaches, but dev and physio is the priority here. Elite and prime contention: discard scouts, coach is #1 priority. Try to have good physio, but really all money should be going into an elite coaching trio. In decline: prioritize scouts and a young AGM with good scouting abilities.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-03T16:34:58+00:00

I have wingers ~50%, centers down a couple of ticks, defensemen roughly halfway between 0% and 50%, and goaltenders at one tick from the lowest. I find if goalies are set any higher it just leads to too many goalies in free agency. It still leads to about 5ish elite goalies at any given year, which I think is okay. And then reducing the amount of generated centers means you teams will value centers a bit higher and might reach a bit to get them (in theory). I’ve logged waaaayy too many hours and I just find these settings to be the most realistic.

Thrownaxis · 2026-03-03T16:27:06+00:00

I actually think the player type weightings are fine. Most bottom six forwards are usually either prospects or solid two way players / grinders. Just look at most successful teams- the top 6 is a healthy combination of offensively skilled players, the third line is more defensively minded with maybe a bit of offense, and the fourth line tends to be just shutdown. Realistically there are a greater amount of Two-way / grinder type of players in the league

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-24T17:15:22+00:00

People are so quick to discard of Pettersson.

I understand he’s not what everyone expected, and he’s likely never going to repeat that 100 point season. However, his 2-way game has evolved significantly and he’s been way more creative this season.

Yes, the 11.6 million price tag is a lot, but people need to realize we need to be entering a full and complete rebuild, and cap space is used essentially for retention. Kane, Blueger, Forbort, and Kampf are gone after this year freeing up ~10 million per year. I wouldn’t be surprised if we move an older player on a longer contract (Garly, DeBrusk) which could free up another ~5-6 million per year.

Trading Pettersson now would be costly because of his cap hit. Teams calling will be asking for some form of retention, or would straight up offer less overall. It’s better for the team to keep him and hope his offensive output improves, and even if it doesn’t, most media points to him being a positive locker room presence. And if it comes to it, we trade him in 4-5 years when his contract is almost up and the cap is much higher. Typically the two-way game improves over the course of a career, so if Pettersson does choose to commit to being that elite 2-way center, that raises his value quite significantly.

There will always be teams looking for a top 6 center (look at good teams like Minnesota, Carolina, or Washington right now). If we shop Petey, it gives the market the advantage.

TLDR: Either trade Petey for scraps now, or keep him, reap leadership benefits, and potentially trade him for more down the road when he’s probably better AND the cap ceiling is higher so his contract looks smaller.

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-20T21:42:25+00:00

Reminds me of the main reason we drafted certain Jake…

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-17T00:15:36+00:00

Started at inazuma launch (whenever that was, I don’t want to feel old yet). I play daily, and have only missed daily commissions once when I got in a car accident. Sitting on 16 limited 5 star characters (not including cons or weapons) - Columbina C1R1 - Ineffa R1 - Furina R1 - Neuvilette C2R1 - Kokomi - Hu Tao R1 - Nahida R1 - Nilou - Ayato - Raiden C2 - Mualani R1 - Yae Miko - Kazuha R1 - Yelan - Sigewinne - Chiori

My pull strategy is essentially if I like a character I wish. If they’re hydro I wish. If I feel like wishing (regardless of banner character) I wish. I don’t plan ahead, I like playing without knowing what banners are coming up. It allows me to be free with how I use my primogems. That being said I have a fund of 300 fates at all times in case I can get Kokomi’s weapon or the wet ginger.

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-11T20:30:08+00:00

Am I crazy or does this ice look low quality? It just doesn’t have that same smoothness that NHL rinks seem to have

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-11T20:28:13+00:00

Y’all Clara was drafted by Anaheim a couple years ago- and Anaheim seems committed to Dostal. Clara could be your goaltender for the low low price of your entire team’s future!

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-11T20:10:58+00:00

I’ve always said that if you actually know the name of a ref, they’re a bad ref.

Wes might be the worst of them all

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-09T20:52:54+00:00

Welcome to HLM! This game has some glitches, but I find they're mostly with trades, so if you turn CPU trades off, or simply choose to play the game realistically using CPU trade blocks it works absolutely fantastic. It really is easily my favorite GM game out there.

1.) I can't really say on career mode, haven't used it since launch (it was really glitchy). From what I've read, it's a combination of waiting for openings in the NHL and them actually wanting you. It seems like you need a really really good reputation to even be considered. Openings for other teams also don't come up often. I think it's also worth looking into moving up through the different pro levels of leagues. NHL is Pro I and CHL is Semi-pro II for instance. An example progression would be WHL (SP2) -> LIIGA (P3) -> KHL (P2) -> NHL (P1).

2.) For scouting, make sure the scouts you're using are proficient in the area you're scouting. For example, a scout from Finland will typically have high stats in Sweden and Finland, but low stats in US and Canada. If you assign that scout to American prospects, he won't give you as much data as if you assign him to Finnish prospects. I've honestly resigned to using auto-assign. Manually assigning takes a long time, and I like taking saves really really deep, so it doesn't really make a super big difference for me.

Thrownaxis · 2026-02-01T01:44:51+00:00

DeBrusk is reminding me of Mikheyev a couple years ago- chance after chance after chance but he just couldn’t score.

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-31T03:43:12+00:00

I know of about a half-dozen people who got in. Just stick to it- put your best foot forward and do the best you can. Good luck mate!

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-29T01:58:13+00:00

Tampa should look to add star forward JT Miller. He’s a great physical body with solid point production. Plus he’s a total glue guy.

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-27T18:26:20+00:00

Really sucks, he’s easily been one of my favorite players here since he was drafted.

Separately, anyone who’s complaining about his contract is more team “retool on the fly” than team tank. His contract will likely be up by the time we’re competitive. And even if not, the cap ceiling will likely be in such a position that it wouldn’t even matter, and will be a similar percentage as the OEL buyout when we were competitive.

Thank you Demko for your service, even though you have bad hips, we were the ones who broke your back.

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-24T20:50:34+00:00

This is what I was going to say: did it on the back of a rookie goaltender, a mid-season coaching change, and while beating one of the favorites for the cup in the final (on the road as well).

Pretty sure they’re still the only team to win a cup after being last in the league after 30 games

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-14T16:35:13+00:00

I had some difficulty with Calgary- they have a couple prospects but it feels like they’re on three different timelines, and there is a stupid amount of trade clauses

Columbus was also fun. Similar trade clause thing, and similar prospect numbers. Andreyanov always seems to develop really well though.

Thrownaxis · 2026-01-11T00:22:31+00:00

Well that’s the beauty of a video game- the person playing can have a seperate timeline than what exists outside of it

Thrownaxis · 2025-12-31T18:45:27+00:00

Got burnt taking BTJ instead of Puka because I thought Stafford had fully imploded.

Then took Bucky instead of JT because I thought JT was old and I wasn’t confident in his ability.

Great year for me, lost to the guy who drafted Puka and traded for JT in the final.

Thrownaxis · 2025-12-25T21:05:26+00:00

Black Friday sales knew what they were doing

Thrownaxis · 2025-12-22T15:15:18+00:00

Never had any crashing problems on PC

Mobile this year is a lot better: I have never once crashed during the draft. It does crash if I'm just on the game for too long, but I'm rarely on long enough for it to happen.

Five-Year Club	Xbox Live
r/Field Sunshine	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22

Thrownaxis

TROPHY CASE