CAGLeagueSports
CAGiversary!
Hello, everybody! For the first time ever, the NHL series will be offering a true online franchise experience in NHL 13 with the new GM Connected mode. Multiple season progression, rookie scouting, blockbuster trades, free agency, AHL management, you name it. It's FINALLY going to be online! That makes this our chance to have a real, serious league for the first time.
I know there are a lot of hockey fans out there, and I'd love to have a full league. I only ask that people only sign up if they're serious about contacting opponents, scheduling games, and communicating in the thread. This is our opportunity to have something similar to the Madden and NCAA leagues on CAG, and can definitely be a lot of fun if people are committed to it.
If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, feel free to sign up and pick your favorite team!
League Rules and Policies
In general, the NHL series needs less guidelines than some of the other sports leagues. But there are still some areas people need to be aware of.
Playstyles
This is a tough one to define because in general the golden rule is "Don't play like a jerk." But there aren't too many areas of gameplay where people need to restrict themselves. It's really one of those things of "you'll know it when you see it." We have a couple specific examples, but other than that, there are things that I wish would be tuned better: penalties, hitting effectiveness, goalie reaction speed, etc. But that's not something we have any control over, so there's really no way to tell people to play a certain way in regards to those areas.
What I do think can be said though is to not come down the ice trying to do the same thing every time. If you're constantly going for a cross crease, or you're constantly twirling your stick and shooting for that short side, you're not really playing hockey. You're looking for an easy goal (see also: exploit). Vary your attack with the flow of the game, and play the game right.
What I do think can be said though is to not come down the ice trying to do the same thing every time. If you're constantly going for a cross crease, or you're constantly twirling your stick and shooting for that short side, you're not really playing hockey. You're looking for an easy goal (see also: exploit). Vary your attack with the flow of the game, and play the game right.
EA makes stupid AI. There's no other way to put it. Holding the LT on a breakaway to skate backward at the goalie, and then turning back around quickly to whip the puck by the goalie as he tries to figure out what is going on is an exploit. This has been an exploit in previous years, and it has resurfaced this year.
If you're facing a human goalie (ie. penalty shots/shootouts), feel free to do whatever you want. But against an AI goalie, it's an exploit. Of course you're free to deke, do a spin move, etc. But skating backward for 3-4 seconds until you're right at the crease, and then turning and blowing the puck by the AI goalie shows no skill. It's just a stupid exploit.
If you're facing a human goalie (ie. penalty shots/shootouts), feel free to do whatever you want. But against an AI goalie, it's an exploit. Of course you're free to deke, do a spin move, etc. But skating backward for 3-4 seconds until you're right at the crease, and then turning and blowing the puck by the AI goalie shows no skill. It's just a stupid exploit.
This should be common sense. But then again, it should have been common sense for EA to take it out of the game. But apparently, diving at the goalie and swinging your stick on the ice after he's covered the puck and is waiting on the whistle is a great way to knock the puck loose. It should go without saying that this is a 100% dbag "strategy". Anyone caught doing this will get one warning. Get caught again and you're banned from the league. Not going to fool around with this one since it's complete garbage.
The biggest thing I can stress is be respectful of your opponent, and be gracious in victory. Have the recognition that sometimes the puck just bounces your way, and the better team doesn't always win. In short, stay humble.
Unfortunately, I think if a game gets disconnected, whoever's "fault" EA thinks the disconnect was will get the loss. I have no power to reset games, so you'll just have to take it on the chin and like it if it happens to you. But you're playing an EA game, so you should be used to that by now right?
Because of the fact that our only option was to play the full 82 game season, we're going to have to move at a much quicker pace if we want to have any hope of playing multiple seasons. Nobody is expected to play all 82 games. I'll be impressed with nyone who plays half of that.
But to mach sure we keep things moving along, each advancement period will have 2 weeks of the real NHL schedule available to play. You'll have 5 days to play as many of those games as you can...and the rest will just get simmed. It's nowhere close to ideal, but it's what EA gave us, and we'll just have to make the best of it.
But to mach sure we keep things moving along, each advancement period will have 2 weeks of the real NHL schedule available to play. You'll have 5 days to play as many of those games as you can...and the rest will just get simmed. It's nowhere close to ideal, but it's what EA gave us, and we'll just have to make the best of it.
It seems that free agency is completely regulated in this game, complete with a salary cap, variable contract lengths, and in-depth negotiations. Considering those factors, we SHOULDN'T need to restrict free agency too much. Feel free to place offers on players, but remember that your finances are not limitless. And again, if anyone notices any glaring problems, just speak up.
Like free agency, trades seem to be fairly regulated. The game even has a system built in to give the commissioner final rights to approve or reject a trade. As welcomed as that feature is, I still want people to post trade proposals in the thread.
Once you and another team have come to an agreement on what you believe is a fair trade, please post it in the thread, including all players/draft picks involved, the player's position, age, overall rating, and contract info.
Once you and another team have come to an agreement on what you believe is a fair trade, please post it in the thread, including all players/draft picks involved, the player's position, age, overall rating, and contract info.
This is probably the most important aspect of the league. Without it, there's no point in playing. Considering the pace of the advancement schedule, it would be wise to send PM's to all opponents on your schedule and let them know when you're available.
LOOK AT YOUR OPPONENT'S AVAILABILITY in the OP before sending your message. If you can offer them a time that already works with their availability, you're going to be much more likely to get your games played. This may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprise how many leagues just completely stall out because people fail to communicate. Don't let that happen to you!
LOOK AT YOUR OPPONENT'S AVAILABILITY in the OP before sending your message. If you can offer them a time that already works with their availability, you're going to be much more likely to get your games played. This may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprise how many leagues just completely stall out because people fail to communicate. Don't let that happen to you!
Select one of the games on your schedule, press A, and select "Enable CPU and Sim Games Vs Your Team". This DOES NOT prevent you from playing your games in any way. It just makes it possible for other teams to play you should you not be available by the day of the deadline.
ALL TEAMS must contact their opponents through private message on CAG to inquire about schedulling a time to play their game. If you have not responded to your opponent within an appropriate amount of time to get the game scheduled before the deadline, do not be surprised if your opponent ends up playing the CPU.
NO ONE should be playing any games vs the CPU until the day of the deadline unless given permission by the team owner in this thread (teams with no owner can be played at any time...if you're not sure who doesn't have an owner, check the Original Post of this thread).
Any team that plays a CPU team without permission or without giving the team owner a chance to exchange private messages will be given one initial WARNING. A second offense will come with a 3 GAME SUSPSENSION (meaning 3 opponents get to play your CPU team). A third offense will come with a 6 GAME SUSPENSION. And a fourth offense will result in being BANNED from the league. Don't let this happen to you. There are plenty of ways to figure out if you should be playing the CPU or not. Don't be lazy.
ALL TEAMS must contact their opponents through private message on CAG to inquire about schedulling a time to play their game. If you have not responded to your opponent within an appropriate amount of time to get the game scheduled before the deadline, do not be surprised if your opponent ends up playing the CPU.
NO ONE should be playing any games vs the CPU until the day of the deadline unless given permission by the team owner in this thread (teams with no owner can be played at any time...if you're not sure who doesn't have an owner, check the Original Post of this thread).
Any team that plays a CPU team without permission or without giving the team owner a chance to exchange private messages will be given one initial WARNING. A second offense will come with a 3 GAME SUSPSENSION (meaning 3 opponents get to play your CPU team). A third offense will come with a 6 GAME SUSPENSION. And a fourth offense will result in being BANNED from the league. Don't let this happen to you. There are plenty of ways to figure out if you should be playing the CPU or not. Don't be lazy.
Teams
Team | CAG Name (click to send private message) | XBL Gamertag | Time Zone | Availability
Eastern Conference
Atlantic
New Jersey Devils | *OPEN*
New York Islanders | *OPEN*
New York Rangers | jza1218 | statnut28 | EST | ???
Philadelphia Flyers | Flyersfan | PsychedelicRock | ??? | ???
Pittsburgh Penguins | DarkTower80 | DarkTower80 | MST | ???
New Jersey Devils | *OPEN*
New York Islanders | *OPEN*
New York Rangers | jza1218 | statnut28 | EST | ???
Philadelphia Flyers | Flyersfan | PsychedelicRock | ??? | ???
Pittsburgh Penguins | DarkTower80 | DarkTower80 | MST | ???
Northeast
Boston Bruins | GamerDude316 | Cydoniac | EST | Weeknights after 5:30-6:00 until 10:00, weekends are generally more flexible
Buffalo Sabres | Twick87 | twick87 | EST | anytime after 6pm mon-fri + anytime on weekends
Montreal Canadiens | mvp828 | AttackingMVP | EST | any time after 6PM est to 1 or 2 AM est
Ottawa Senators | *OPEN*
Toronto Maple Leafs | *OPEN*
Boston Bruins | GamerDude316 | Cydoniac | EST | Weeknights after 5:30-6:00 until 10:00, weekends are generally more flexible
Buffalo Sabres | Twick87 | twick87 | EST | anytime after 6pm mon-fri + anytime on weekends
Montreal Canadiens | mvp828 | AttackingMVP | EST | any time after 6PM est to 1 or 2 AM est
Ottawa Senators | *OPEN*
Toronto Maple Leafs | *OPEN*
Southeast
Carolina Hurricanes | *OPEN*
Florida Panthers | Mr_hockey66 | mr hockey66 | EST | everynight about 5-11 pn mon-Friday Saturday's and Sunday's any time
Tampa Bay Lightning | Vulcan2422 | Vulcan7905 | EST | ???
Washington Capitals | DestroVega | DestroVega | EST | pretty flexible
Winnipeg Jets | IndoAssassin | IndoAssassin | PST | Anyday except Tuesday, and Wednesday or other day that I get called into work
Carolina Hurricanes | *OPEN*
Florida Panthers | Mr_hockey66 | mr hockey66 | EST | everynight about 5-11 pn mon-Friday Saturday's and Sunday's any time
Tampa Bay Lightning | Vulcan2422 | Vulcan7905 | EST | ???
Washington Capitals | DestroVega | DestroVega | EST | pretty flexible
Winnipeg Jets | IndoAssassin | IndoAssassin | PST | Anyday except Tuesday, and Wednesday or other day that I get called into work
Western Conference
Central
Chicago Blackhawks | chriscolbert | chriscolbert | EST | ???
Columbus Blue Jackets | *OPEN*
Detroit Red Wings | Wpark83 | Wpark83 | EST | any night of the week after 8 or 9 EST, Sunday's I'm very flexible. Only days in the fall I can't play are Saturdays
Nashville Predators | n8rockerasu | n8rocker82 | CST | Sun - 11AM-9PM CST, Mon-Thu - 5-9PM CST, Fri - 5PM-2AM CST, Sat - anytime
St. Louis Blues | sendme | shazo | CST | every other Saturday, Sunday and Monday, PM for specific availability
Chicago Blackhawks | chriscolbert | chriscolbert | EST | ???
Columbus Blue Jackets | *OPEN*
Detroit Red Wings | Wpark83 | Wpark83 | EST | any night of the week after 8 or 9 EST, Sunday's I'm very flexible. Only days in the fall I can't play are Saturdays
Nashville Predators | n8rockerasu | n8rocker82 | CST | Sun - 11AM-9PM CST, Mon-Thu - 5-9PM CST, Fri - 5PM-2AM CST, Sat - anytime
St. Louis Blues | sendme | shazo | CST | every other Saturday, Sunday and Monday, PM for specific availability
Northwest
Calgary Flames | *OPEN*
Colorado Avalanche | moojuice | moojuice | MST | between 10-12est weekdays, fairly open weekends. Can work my schedule around fairly easily weekdays after 7est with couple days notice
Edmonton Oilers | Captain OBVIOU5 | Captain OBVIOU5 | MST | ???
Minnesota Wild | Canbanana | Canbanana | CST | very flexible
Vancouver Canucks | ajh2298 | ajh2298 | EST | very flexible
Calgary Flames | *OPEN*
Colorado Avalanche | moojuice | moojuice | MST | between 10-12est weekdays, fairly open weekends. Can work my schedule around fairly easily weekdays after 7est with couple days notice
Edmonton Oilers | Captain OBVIOU5 | Captain OBVIOU5 | MST | ???
Minnesota Wild | Canbanana | Canbanana | CST | very flexible
Vancouver Canucks | ajh2298 | ajh2298 | EST | very flexible
Pacific
Anaheim Ducks | *OPEN*
Dallas Stars | *OPEN*
Los Angeles Kings | Matt Young | X Matt Young X | PST | ???
Phoenix Coyotes | garrett007 | garrett007 | EST | ???
San Jose Sharks | *OPEN*
Anaheim Ducks | *OPEN*
Dallas Stars | *OPEN*
Los Angeles Kings | Matt Young | X Matt Young X | PST | ???
Phoenix Coyotes | garrett007 | garrett007 | EST | ???
San Jose Sharks | *OPEN*
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