–Milan Michalek is having minor surgery to repair an abdominal injury suffered during training last month.
-I’m not the only one bemused by how eagerly GM’s were signing players under the old CBA, as Lyle Richardson notes the frenzy just prior to the lockout.
-In Elmira (ECHL) news the team has re-signed Artem Demkov (67-20-37-57). If the lockout eats into the start of the season expect four or five players to be loaned from Binghamton to the Jackals (who now have 11 players signed).
-I have some early thoughts on EA Sports NHL 2013. As a long time player of the game I spend most of my time playing in GM mode–I like the idea of building a team through the draft and the way EA has allowed for that has been tweaked over the years. My thoughts thus far:
-the current version solves the problem of AI GM’s dumping of NHL all-stars in the minors due to cap restrictions (it was amusing to see Sidney Crosby play half his career in the AHL)
-the draft makes more sense in terms of how players are assessed, although the draft lottery is poorly stilted (so far 80% of the time the 30th place team has not had the first overall pick) and it’s exceedingly difficult to get broad, useful feedback from scouting; it’s also (thus far) been heavily slanted towards weak drafts (I’m at seven years in a row)
-free agency makes more sense; in previous versions the best players were almost always available as free agents due to unrealistic salary demands
-EA seems to have solved an issue they’ve had for a decade where the best way to score was always a cross-ice pass for a one-timer (if my memory serves this was virtually the only way to score in 2003)
-the declining level of goals scored is carried on faithfully in the game (realistic, but depressing)
-one glitch that continues from previous years is that prospects will disappear in the off-season (never a top prospect, but depth players will sometimes vanish)
-player development for prospects has been slowed considerably
-trading has been simplified in that what other teams’ want are highlighted and they actually follow those indications when trades are proposed (I was always amused when I tried to make a trade with the type of player a team wanted only to be turned down because they wanted that exact kind of player)
That’s all that springs to mind at the moment. I’m definitely enjoying it.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
eyeonthesens 