Asunto: U18 Canada National Team

Thanks everyone for your confidence for a 2nd season. Trader Phil and I will do our best to repeat and improve on our solid results of last season.

I am not done shaping this year's team, but am rounding out the outline of what it will look like.

Already I can say this:

- We are WAY stronger at center than last ssn.
- Our top end is not quite as strong as last ssn.
- Our depth is better than last year for most positions.
- Goaltending should be similar as last season, maybe slightly stronger theoretically (but last ssn, Banks gave us unbelievable performances in playoffs)

All in all, I am not sure if the team is better or weaker this season. It is definately quite different. We have strong teams in our group. It will not be easy but we hope to repeat last Dan's success thanks to our strategy and just enough luck to pull through at the right moments.

Damn, my finger slipped and I just added Jayson Kidd to the National team.. a young 15yo player worth low potential that Krokador released...

Obviously that was not the plan. Unfortunately I can't release him until next season.

Stupid mistake, but it shouldn't be much of a concern.

Yup, me too. Whenever Krokador sent me those high value gift certificates from Costco my finger would slip too and WHOOPS, there's another Snake on the National team...

It's okay. I perfectly understand.

He has a cool name, and actually had a decent OR. His qualities were just very... meh.

I'm always on the lookout for young Canadian talent on the market. I wasn't sure I was interested in this one for my team, let alone the National team.

I haven't had any luck with it so far this season. And my academy isn't producing anything of note. I end up developing mostly foreign talent, which I am not delighted about.

U18....4
U20....2
Headline:
U18's Carried the play
U20's Kroked

Good work Samuel!!

Couldn't pass up the opportunity!

If Haydn had been in goal all game, things woulda been different!

What the hell, Nickerson! I gave you a chance to prove your worth and that you can hang out with Banks next season, and that's how you thank me?!

I do have a feeling the U18 was playing with a bit more than a 35% chemistry average, lol

Just teasing.
Wins and losses in friendly games mean nothing.
Friendlies are all about increasing player chemistry and experience. I have great respect for the team-building work you are both doing.
The premises for managing each of the three national teams are the same only different.
The U17 team requires you to identify the top players at each position and maximize their chemistry and experience from essentially zero. You have only a short time to do this. They will be ineligible at 18.
The U20 team requires you to assess the development of U20 players by their home team after 3-4 years, factor in their varied national chemistry and experience, and determine who can make the biggest contribution to the team. You have two seasons to maximize their chemistry and experience.
The player turnover is high on both teams as you lose about half the players each season.
The senior team requires you to assess the development of players by their home team after 10-15 years, factor in their varied national chemistry and experience, and determine who can make the biggest contribution to the team. The player's national team chemistry may be from 0 to 100, and the
experience may vary by as much as 400 points. Career longevity becomes a factor.
In each case, you are looking to identify the best players, but experience and national team chemistry increase with importance at each level.
Each level is challenging in it's own way, and also requires a good understanding of tactics and lots of scouting.
We are in good hands.

Hehe yeah Goaltending was a big factor. If it's any indication, I got much better Goaltending from Banks than from Nickerson. I also have a feeling that this year's U18 team is stronger than last, but we will see at the end of the season. Also I kind of dear the fact that we face strong opponents early in the tournament. I hope we will fare as well or better as last season!

Solid analysis Bobby Jay. In U18S, there is such a small window of development that it almost never happens that 17 year old players play above 18 year olds. This season, only LW4 is 17 yo and it is because that's a position of weakness for us.

So it's basically a 95-100% starting roster turnover from one season to the other

Dan Bond, a future superstar for sure, just got sold for 294M$. Wow.

Yeah, I bid on him when he was at 49M... that did't last xD

There is 14 days left to submit a bid to host the WCs. There could be some benefit for the country organizing (playing more on home ice) as well as the managers getting involved (credits for members of winning bid). From what I have seen, relatively few countries send out a bid. Any interest in trying our hand at it this year? We would really benefit from having someone with some photoshop skills to make a tournament logo and mascot for us.

Let me know if you are interested in here or by PM.

I have *some* photoshop skills, if you're into cute critters (I have a deviantart, same username, if you're curious), but not sure I'll have the time to do anything serious in the next 2 weeks. The U20 also only has 2 bids, so perhaps we could try for both with similar images? Haha xD