FHM Ottawa Senators Historical Challenge, February-March 1998: Biggest Poll Yet

Franchise Hockey Manager 6 is a text-based hockey management simulation game by Out of the Park Developments. It’s a lot of fun, and I find it super realistic. I recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a good way to kill time while social distancing.

In the game, you take over as GM and/or head coach of pretty much any hockey team on the planet, and make roster moves to bring your team a championship. The CPU plays the games for you, but you craft the team.

One of the coolest game modes is the Historical Challenges, wherein you take over as GM of a team at a particular point in their NHL existence, and attempt to relive or rewrite history. For the purposes of this play-through, we’ll be taking over the Ottawa Senators in the Fall of 1996, and attempting to win a Stanley Cup no later than the spring of 2007.

For the purposes of this little exercise, I’m going to play through this mode, trying to win a Cup for the Sens, with help from you - yes you - the readers! At the end of every edition, I’ll ask you questions about key roster moves, and make it based on how you respond!

We’re going to take this on a month-by-month basis, with a new instalment coming out every week, so make sure you let me know in the comments what you want to see, and any suggestions you have to achieve this goal! I want to make this as interactive an experience as possible, so I really want to hear from you!

Let’s continue with February and March of 1998!

Done deal.

The month kicks off with a 5-2 loss to the Devils, as those injuries really take hold. John Madden and Miroslav Šatan had the goals.

I know, different screenshot. Lot of technical difficulties this week. Glen Wesley and Madden hit the board, along with Daniel Cleary scoring his first, but the Devils doubled us up for back to back losses.

Gotta love beating the blue team. Madden and Šatan scored, along with Rob Zamuner, the newly-acquired Jozef Stumpel, Nik Sundstrom, and Robert Lang, to earn Patrick Lalime a 6-3 win of his own.

Unfortunately, Ruslan Salie suffered a fractured fibula, and will be out for around three months.

Purely a depth move here.

Daniel Alfredsson scored the only goal, in a tie with the high-powered Penguins.

Next comes the break for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Clearly it did us some favours.

The lineup relief didn’t bear any immediate fruit. Wesley and Wade Redden lit the lamp. but the Edmonton Oilers found one more in this game.

When we win, we win big. Stumpel scored his first hat trick as a Senator, while Michael Nylander potted two of his own, and Eric Weinrich added another for a 6-1 win in Vancouver.

Ugh, only one out of three in Western Canada. Goals came from Bryan McCabe and Alfredsson, but it’s another close to defeat to Calgary.

Pain.

This season confuses me. Lang, Nylander, Alfredsson, and Glen Wesley led the way, with Andy Sutton also scoring his first NHL goal. Another in the shutout column for Ron Tugnutt.

PAIN.

PAIN!!!

Finally. A win streak here and there definitely wouldn’t go amiss. Alfredsson scored twice, along with goals from Wesley and Zamuner, for a 4-3 over the Rangers.

Can’t get two in a row against the New York teams. Stumpel did it all this night, with two goals.

Sundstrom and Šatan had the only goals against Vancouver. Ugh.

Finally, a measure of positivity.

Wesley and Nylander scored in the last game before the deadline.

Alright, question time. This is a big one. We’re a good team, that could make some noise in the playoffs. But Yashin is out long-term, and we need some starpower on the wings (our highest-rated wingers are 2.5 stars).

The Canucks are shopping Pavel Bure, who obviously needs no introduction. He has four years left on his deal.

We also need some blueline depth, so it may be worthwhile to grab Bret Hedican from them, especially with Salei out.

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The price for this haul would be Sutton, Cleary, this year’s 1st, and two fourths in future years. It’s a lot, but could pay dividends for an injury-riddle team. We may be giving up some important future depth pieces, but imagine a forward core that will eventually boast Yashin, Bure, and Joe Thornton.

For Bure...

At the deadline, the Sens sit at 30-28-11. Good enough for 71 points, 2nd in the Northeast, 5th in the East, and 12th overall.

Top Performers: Jozef Stumpel (15GP 6G 10A 16P), Daniel Alfredsson (15GP 5G 7A 13P), Glen Wesley (14GP 5G 3A 8P)

Worst Performers; None, this team has been so depleted by injury.

Who to Watch: Whether or not Brandon can get the f#@$%!# screenshots right.

Vote on the poll!!!