RomanesEuntDomus

Thanks for trusting me with this new position, I'll do my best to help this team

Okay everyone let's all come down... I really didn't want to start any arguments with that thread, I just wanted to get my +1 TPE and find out what others think about our Franchise and if the reasons for them not coming here are what I think they are. No reason to get pissed at each other

The Americans already eliminated so it won't really affect them, it will just be an extra day or two until Hackett is back in the US. And the Amerks won't play again until January 3rd so Hackett should still be back by the time they have their next game. And yeah, the AHL had to move some games around on their Schedule so that Rochester could play in the tournament. They knew about the invitation for quite some time now though so I don't think it was much of a problem.

I'm surprised it took so long for somebody to do this

All that is true but after 5 or 6 seasons of narrowly missing out on almost everyone, the answer "I just liked team xy a little more" doesn't feel like it's good enough anymore. The star power argument is definitely a valid one, I didn't include it because parts of it are covered by some of the others answers already, but maybe I should have. Kameron Taylor is a bonafide superstar though, so on ice that argument doesn't really fit, but you are right that some of the other guys carrying the team are rather unknown around the boards, people like me just aren't much of a help when it comes to drawing in Free Agents.

I wasn't complaining at all, I'm just interested in what the reasons are for our inability to get quality FAs.

Why do no FAs want to come to Cologne? I would love to get some input on this question from guys who have been FAs these past few years… Why do no FAs want to come to Cologne? As far as I know the Express didn’t get a single quality Free Agent since the inception of the Franchise and I’m not even sure if we ever even got an active FA. it would be great if some of you could tell a bit about your reasons for not coming to Cologne because I’m really interested in finding out what seems to be wrong with our Franchise in the eyes of other players. There is a poll so you can just select your answer(s) there but I’d appreciate it if you could leave a comment as well or, if you prefer not to talk about your reasons in public, shoot me a quick PM, I promise that I will handle it with strict confidentiality. So what is it, do you think that the team isn't competitive enough? Do you dislike the GM or some of the players? Do you doubt the teams future or did it just not work out in the contract talks? Please leave your reasons here so we can work on the problems that people see with our Franchise so we can finally become a destination that FAs want to go to! Thanks in advance

Great idea guys . Appreciate your work by the way, it just sucks that it always seems to be the same 2-3 people who have to grade everything.

1. Looking back, what are your thoughts on your time in Cologne? 2. Which one of the three will end up having the best career: Brovalenko, Smirnov or Stryker? 3. Who would you say are some the most underrated players in the league? 4. Thoughts on Kendrick ?

Nice edition once again especially the Vasteras-parts,although I have to admit that the sound still is a little irritating, doesn't change the fact that I have enjoyed a couple of your episodes now though

Player Name: David Collier Cash you have: $4,000,000 Workout Name: +10 TPE Cost of Workout: $4,000,000 Cash Left: $0

With the 23rd Overall Selection the Cologne Express are proud to select Jimmity Kricket!

The Cologne Express are proud to select Franz Monster with the 13th Overall Pick and Stelio Kontos with the 14th Selection in this years VHL Entry Draft!

David Collier - 2

At which time does it start?

This just in, mail for Kesler!

Good luck in Vasteras, Cuffy! Good deal for both teams imho.

David Collier Off-Season Interview We recently caught up with German forward David Collier, who is currently preparing for the first ever VHL Super Cup. That is where he will suit up for the Pogge Sticks and we get to sit down with him for a few question. We hope you enjoy the interview! Do you think Collier and his teammates can build off their two-playoff experiences now? “The last two seasons have certainly helped us grow and helped us develop as both a team and as Individuals. I think that we are in a much better spot now than we were two seasons ago. It’s a process that doesn’t just take place on the ice, it is important playoff games or just the regular everyday practice, but that continues after we leave the rink as well. We think the game different now than we did before. We have the postseason experience and that is mainly a mental factor, even though I’d say that we have all taken quite some steps forward in terms of pure hockey skill and athletic ability as well.” Is it fair to say Cologne may pass Helsinki in talent this year? “It’s tough to analyze talent if you just look at what two teams have on paper but I’d say that the recent developments certainly favor us and at the very least the race in the European Conference should get a lot tighter. Helsinki is an older team and therefore will have to deal with the retirement of some key players, something that luckily we won’t have to face for a few more seasons. We have continuously worked on improving our game and growing as players over the last few years and I think this is the season where this could finally end up paying big dividends.” Do you see Cologne being challenged by Davos this year for the #1 spot? “Quite frankly I haven’t followed Davos that much, but the same goes for pretty much every other team in the league. I look at us first and foremost and believe that we have a very tight race in the European Conference ahead of us and Helsinki certainly won’t be our only competition. As far as I know Davos is a team that is still growing, just like we are, so it would be foolish to count them out. But I am confident that at the end of the day we have the right mixture of youth and experience to finish ahead of them.” Do you think Collier can improve on what he thinks is a down year for him? “I sure hope I can, the past season has certainly been a huge disappointment for me that lead to me questioning a lot of things about myself, my training regimen, the way I play the game and so many more things and I would lie if I say that it didn’t also affect my confidence quite a bit. However I think that I am now at a point where I can accept what happened last year and move on. I certainly can’t change anything about it and there are so many good things to look forward to, especially with me playing on such a great team with other players who are willing to help out whenever they can. I still have high expectations for myself and hope that I can finally be a player that really helps his team this season instead of just being a young guy who uses his lack of experience as an excuse for failure.” Do you think the pressure of playing at home made David's season harder for him? “I don’t think that was much of a factor. It definitely was and still is something special for both the fans and me that I get to play in my home country and just a two hour drive away from the place I was born. But while people have high expectations for me, and rightfully so, I don’t feel any unfair pressure from the fans and the media. They have been very patient with me, almost too forgiving at times. They have given me a tremendous amount of help and support in my time here so far, and I’m immensely grateful for that. The only pressure I have is the pressure I put on myself but that is because I want to meet my own expectations, not someone else’s, and has nothing to do with where I play.”

Congratulations Quebec!

No problem man, hope everything was understandable, I know my english can be tough to read sometimes . I just realized that the links I posted for the student protests and the Wiederbewaffnung don't work - apparently the site has a problem with parentheses. Apparently the sentences following the links were absorbed into the links so they both didn't work and the next point disappeared too. Here are the parts that were missing: - The most important civil conflicts of that time definitely are the Protests of 1968 which are a very big topic themselves which is rather tough to summarize, you can read up on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_student_movement in short they were a left wing protest mainly lead by young people that aimed to break up the very conservative and rather authoritative social clima of that time and also criticized how quick the german public had been to swipe away everything that happened in the Third Reich and how easy it was for many people who committed crimes during that area to be re-integrated into the german society - The "Wiederbewaffnung" should be a good topic for your paper, you can find more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiederbewaffnung It was a big debate in Germany in the 1950s if the country should, less than 10 years after WWII, consider rearmament and get an armed forces again to join the western alliance framework

I don't think anyone would want to just have a coach but not a player for a prolonged period of time, so we would have to find a system that allows both those things to go parallel. Shouldn't be that much of a problem though.

I could help you out with Germany.

I think we'd have to find a system that doesn't go into too much detail, because that would just be to much work for the Simmer. Adding or substracting points to different attributes for every single player on every single team each year would just be too much work going into something that will probably have a relatively small effect. How about every coach can skill every attribute just like you guys proposed, but he can only choose up to 3 attributes where he wants his team to get a boost in, and this has to happen at the start of the season?

Sounds like a pretty cool idea