Why I believe every team that didn't make playoffs, fell short.

Hello all, What a crazy last night of the season!



This is my first actual media post just because the idea came to mind, please don't be mean everything I say is pure speculation! For some teams I will have a good amount to say, others I will keep it brief because I don't know everything behind the scenes and don't want to make false accusations. Everything said is pure speculation and please correct me if I am wrong but don't chew my sack over something stupid I may say!



Starting off with the East!



Last Place: Utica Comets 24-53-5

Reason they missed loffs: Management, Incompetence

I can say from my personal experience picking up the scraps that was given to me with Henderson and the prior manager before xVision that the guy makes some ridiculous trades and doesn't not know a thing about asset retention, or he just can't get his players to like him. Granted, he did take Ucci's team after they had their falling out in S18 before the season even began. whatever the case is, Vision thought it would be a great idea to take management again this season with a fresh start and a few dps. Utica started the season off better than expected, but after some iffy weeks, guess what Vision did... TRADED HIS ASSETS! for nothing burgers too. I think it's safe to say, third time isn't a charm with this dude. Had the Utica Comets roster from week one stayed intact the whole season, it's debatable they would be in a wildcard spot in the east.



15th Bridgeport Islanders 31-46-5

Reason they missed loffs: Free Contract Goalie, Lack of goal scoring, poor consecutive weeks.

This may be a hot take but in my personal opinion, goalies should not be free contract GMs, IDC how good you are, you could be amazing like @Gunnerskale_13 but if you are taking up a free contract, you are already starting the season off short-handed. On top of this, Bridgeport never had that top-caliber forward line, or even forward for that matter... even Brenmasta who I believe was their best forward, couldn't be the guy to carry them all. This team had a SOLID D core, but no one could score goals. Defense doesn't win you every championship!



14th WBS Penguins 30-43-9

Reason they missed loffs: Unfortunate collapse during the middle of the season.

This is probably one of the saddest and most unfortunate situations in the A this season. A solid team like WBS with wonderful forwards and wonderful D ruined all because the GM allegedly had work conflicts and quit. Very sad deal because WBS was a force, then after the management stepped down, Andrade had his hands tied trying to manage two teams and in the process of trying to just get guys to play, made some trades that heavily affected WBS.




13th: Providence Bruins 29-40-13

Reason they missed loffs: Big-name players not showing for big game scenarios

This team had a solid roster coming out of bidding, and after week 1 made some real nice trades that I thought would poise this team into a force to be reckoned with however, this just wasn't the case. Things really didn't pan out for this team and I feel a lack of chemistry was a big issue. Guys didn't fit well with other guys and when it came to games, they just couldn't score goals. Have to give props to Marucci for not quitting. Ryan, you deserve better!




12th: Belleville Senators 33-44-5

Reason they missed loffs: Again, Free goalie GM along with not having strong enough depth.

Once again we see a free goalie as a manager, Doogi, however, did have a team that could score goals, these guys put up more goals than the Crunch who did clinch a spot, and that just goes to show how weak the defense was on the squad. I believe this team relied too much on the goals and their defense lacked. Every now and again, Doogi was able to stand on his head a win a few for his squad but you can only do that so much as a goalie. Moving forward if I was Doogi, I would take defense more seriously, start that off by resigning @hcaz1212 who is a wonderful 750k Dman and has the potential to be a great Dman in the A with a solid D partner beside him.




11th: Hartford Wolf Pack 33-40-9

Reason they missed loffs: Mazzy trying to be a one-man show.

I can speak pretty extensively on this one as some of my former Silver Knights ended up on this team via trade and were kind enough to let me in on why they missed playoffs. Mazzy just wasn't fit to be head GM in my opinion and it sucks because Jugzy is a good dude and him and Renewable should've been a top forward line in the A this season.
Mazzy made some sneaky snake deals, 0 transparency whatsoever, and instead of spreading out the talent within his lineup for a solid three lines, he wanted to be playing with the best he had. This led to some iffy weeks brought on by bad deals and mix-matching the bottom two lines every other week. Shame Shame.




10th: Charlotte Checkers 37-36-9

Reason they missed loffs: Lack of goals alongside some shameful weeks

This team I believe made too few trades within the season. From what I've heard, Chemistry was a big issue and if this was the case, then why didn't Izz trade some of the big names and shake up the lineup? I feel like this team got comfortable being mediocre and didn't experiment hard enough. After watching a few streams of them losing, it was apparent that this team was also pretty toxic. Not the best environment if you just got dealt there...



9th Lehigh Valley Phantoms 43-31-8

Reason they missed loffs: Being the unfortonute "worst" good team in the East alongside with not enough top names.

This team missed playoffs all because they were the odd man out in the East, had they been in the West, they would be the 7th seed. Very unfortunate but Stamkos knew what he was getting himself into this season with the East superpowers not changing much, and out of all of them this was a team that didn't change enough. Maybe next season guys!




NOW onto the West!



16th Manitoba Moose 29-45-8

Reason they missed loffs: Being in the AHL yet having a CHL roster the whole damn season

Manitoba started the season off okay, where they started to heat up in the second week, Sadly this team just could not compete whatsoever and the reason for that was lack of experience, lack of thumbs, and altogether just pure mediocrity. Manitoba never once made a trade where I said to myself, WOW GOOD FOR MANITOBA. Not once.




15th San Jose Barracuda 30-42-10

Reason they missed loffs: Too many trades too damn quick. Incompetent management.

I honestly feel bad for @xX1_Stxtzle_8Xx as I personally think he is a good player, sadly I can't say the same about his management skills. He made some questionable deals, along with some odd line pairings and when something didn't mesh, he would trade them the next week which as a bottom team is the right thing to do but, this guy would trade for some solid names, then before even having a chance to use them in a game, he would send them some where else! I feel like they are also in the same boat as Manitoba, this team had more experience but still had their fair share of plenty of guys who should've never left the CHL.




14th Texas Stars 32-39-11

Reason they missed loffs: Pure Mediocrity, lack of chem, Poor Availability

Golden Pepe was one of their big-ticket guys in bidding but for him to be a 3.75mil C and have the terrible availability that he had, you gotta expect better from the guy. Mckenny was lucky he dipped when he had the chance. This team didn't see a week where they had more than 4 wins. If that's the case, then you need to be trading guys to make something work right? Not if you're Alz, the guy takes ten years to respond on deals and when he does, the guy you want is somehow gone. They also drafted some not-so-great players. Sad season for Texas.




13th Stockton Heat 34-37-11

Reason they missed loffs: Trade deadline collapse

This team was poised for playoffs, had a wonderful roster and sat high in the West standings for a long time. Up until the deadline that is. They made some deals, shook up their roster and while they in my opinion improved on paper, they just could not translate that into wins. It's unfortunate cause @MaTh_HaBs and @Brxndamour are two studs and really deserved to make another run at playoffs this season. In my opinion, they deserved the wild card over Bakersfield 100% but that just wasn't the case.




12th Colorado Eagles 37-39-6

Reason they missed loffs: Poor contracts, combined with poor trades made out of low cap space.

I remember Scope messaging me early in the season asking for a guy and offering a pretty neat offer. I was hesitant because I wanted to see how the rest of the season would unfold for HSK and at the time Colorado was at the top of the West. Right after that week, the collapse of Colorado began to happen, after week 3 the team never had a week where they had more than 4 wins. This definitely played a role in why they couldn't keep up for a playoff spot, I honestly don't think they had a bad roster either, they just started to lose and could not regain the winning touch they once had. You could also argue they made some deals that didn't benefit them at all.




11th Ontario Reign 39-32-11

Reason they missed loffs: Couldn't keep up, losing lots of must win games in the last few weeks.

These next three teams are all pretty similar as in this 8th seed was one for the taking, Ontario fell short because they just couldn't win a game against a team that was on the hunt for their spot in playoffs, the team got complacent and too comfortable, they lost their hunger and that was a big reason why tonight they went 0-3.





10th Milwaukee Admirals 39-32-11

Reason they missed loffs: Poor trades, alongside a poor week 7&8

This team tried to fix what they didn't need to fix. They had a playoff-contending team all season then a week before the deadline began making deals and shipping guys off who were helping them win. It's unfortunate and they had to play catchup in week 9 after getting 4 wins in week 7, and only 3 in week 8. Sadly only 6 wins in week 9 caused them to miss out on playoffs due to losing a four-way tiebreaker to the Condors.





9th Coachella Valley Firebirds 40-33-9

Reason they missed loffs: Management going out for milk one night.

Coachella should be in a playoff spot, Had the management not bounced for whatever reason and take bans, they would be. Once they did, this team went through a dramatic change. Hudon did what he could and somehow ThreeT got waived, claimed by Coachella and made free GM... Big WTF moment. ThreeT still had a decent squad to work with but losing Mids and Dabs along with the former management played a big role in this team falling short, that last spot was fair game and Coachella lost out by one win. Insane.




If I missed anything please let me know, NICELY. I wish everyone who did make the playoffs a fun and entertaining run, and to all the best of luck. To those who did not, sorry, try again next season!!!

 

Damn, this was a good read. Great write up

 

This dude Traded for me, traded me away 2 days later, 2 weeks later traded for me again just to trade me away the next day.

 

Good content. Wolfpack szn we’re making a comeback!

 

The issue with Goalie GMs is you need to have a good AGM with you and need to be a goalie who plays 50+ games or its a total waste. Islanders didn't have a goalie GM they had Ninja who isn't an AHL level goalie, and KinGDooGi on Belleville could be a starter in the AHL but it's hard to say with this being his first full AHL season on a bad team.

Ninja being in the AHL would have had better luck being a 3rd line grind guy or at least having an AGM whos at an AHL level.

Also for any goalies who want to become a GM in the future DON'T do it in your first AHL season, become a paid AGM and learn the player base. also make sure you would go for 2m or higher in bidding.
Ninja would have been 750k if he got a bid
KinGDooGi would have been like 1m and likely would have been alright on a decent team.

 

No top contract is going to want to agm under a goalie gm.

 

Hello what am i missing here?

 

playoffs. you're missing playoffs.

 

Management going out for milk one night

 

@GingerNHL

 

Good Work

 

Think we might have had some issues that stemmed from earlier in the season, but good write up