Ramblings of a first season GM -Playoff edition

[JCarson 747]

For those of you who have been following my media spot series you know that i have been discussing my first season as a GM and my thoughts on various aspects of the game, of the systems and of the strategy of being a GM. This edition of Ramblings of a First Season GM will focus on the progression into the playoffs. 

 

Now I am going to start this conversation stating that I don’t have high hopes of doing extremely well in the playoffs. After taking a position of selling at the trade deadline with a focus of building in future years it has left the Mexico City Kings with limited power going into the playoffs. Based on that my goal is to put together a strong enough strategy to not be swept.  

 

So how do you address a playoff series where you are entering in last place and are placing the first-place team in the league. My first thought was to focus on the one strength we have left which is our goaltending. That would suggest that I should set the available sliders to be more defensively minded, try to limit shots and allow the goalie to steal some games. 

 

My second thought was to run in completely the opposite direction, allow the goalie to be who they are and then have everyone else focus on getting the needed goals to potentially win. If everyone is focused on defense it is more than likely that we won’t score anything. Focus solely on scoring and potentially the goalie can limit the other team and a 1 or 2 goal game for us just might be enough. 

 

Looking at the two extremes it may allow for the potential of stealing a game but what if that goes horribly wrong? A focus on defense ends in 0 goals for Mexico, a focus on scoring leaves the goalie pelted by shots and they just run up the score. Maybe a level of balance is needed. It was balance that got Mexico this far, that allowed Mexico to limit the goals against while still focusing on putting pucks in the net. 

 

Now I am not willing to give away my final strategy choice as my opponent if they are paying attention could use it against me. I will also note that as I write this, we have just finished the sim of game 4. Currently the series sits 3 games for Ottawa and 1 for Mexico. Yes, we happened to win game four with a shutout, the goalie came through and the rest of the players put up a couple goals to steal the game. I am so proud of them for taking one. 

 

Now, do I expect that we will take this win and make a run of games? No, I don’t. In fact, I expect that Ottawa will win the Founders Cup, they are that strong. Will we lay down and let that happen. No, we are going to make them earn it. So, there you have it, my ramblings for the week. We will see what I discuss next week, in Ramblings of a First Season GM. 

[LucyXpher 1,588]

Let’s go Mexico! I’d love to see you guys take another game or two off of Ottawa!