Trading picks in the NHL

I'm not 100% sure yet if I've encountered a bug or not so I wanted to get a feel from everyone else playing EHM at the moment to see if they are experiencing similar issues. I believe there were some issues with trading before the latest patch (15.1b) and that some changes were made to that with the patch.

My issue appears to be with draft picks. ie: a trade that involves only draft picks.

Scenario: I had a bunch of 7th, 6th, 4th & 3rd round picks that I was trying to move to other teams in order to draft higher. I'm aware of the value of a 7th pick versus a 3rd, for example, so the trades I was proposing weren't unrealistic. In every case, I offered two of a lesser pick for a single of the pick in the next round above and was rejected.

I then started offering 3 x picks for a single above and still was being rejected. I tried another approach where I packaged my two 3rd rounders and "offered to all" - I had 12 responses and in every case I was offered a single 3rd pick! Eh? What? My two 3rds are worth your one 3rd? No deal!

I like to stockpile draft picks and then use them to move up in the draft but was unable to this time.

So i wondered if anyone else had come across this? I'll lodge a bug report if others experience the same things (and think it's genuinely a bug [it should be, right?])

Thanks.

Doesn't sound like a bug to me. I rather have 1 second round pick than 2 3rd round picks. The higher the pick the better the prospect and its not like the NFL where draft picks can come in and make immediately impact on the team and give them depth. Ask yourself this. Would you give up a higher pick for later picks? If not, than why should you expect the AI?

I can understand that in that scenario, and particularly if you were drafting first in the 2nd round, that 2 x 3rds may not be a good deal - I'm not suggesting that in all cases this is a bug. However, to be flatly refused by every team?

And further, at the end of my 4th paragraph, I offered 2 x 3rds and the response was a single 3rd in return? Surely thats not right?!

Doesn't sound like a bug to me. I can understand your frustration, but not all teams want to build through the draft. Why are you offering picks when teams might want players?

Also, if people are seeing that you are throwing away picks, why should they not try to take you for a ride??

Draft day is littered with a team trading two or more later picks to move up. The issue with the game is that for a team to adjust to draft conditions, processing needs to happen. As it stands (or so it seems), there is no real-time processing that allows AI teams to assess dynamic changes to the draft.

Teams don't assess that their "guy" could be had ten spots later. I've seen a couple times where the team with the #1 pick drafts a player ranked in the mid-late teens. They don't try to trade down and pick up extra assets. Nor do they think, I *must* have this player and I'll trade two third round picks to move up ten spots to make sure I get him.

From this past draft

http://espn.go.com/nhl/transactions/_/date/201406028

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Traded a third-round (No. 73) draft pick to Montreal for a third- (No. 87) and fourth-round (No. 117) draft picks.

Traded a second-round (No. 39) draft pick to Washington for a second- (No. 44) and third-round (No. 74) draft picks.

Traded F Brandon Bollig to Calgary for a third-round (No. 83) draft pick.

Traded a third-round (No. 63) draft pick to Detroit for a third-round (No. 76) draft pick and a 2015 third-round draft pick.

Traded a third-round (No. 79) draft pick to Tampa Bay for a third-round (No. 80) draft pick and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick.

Traded a second-round (No. 46) draft pick to San Jose for a second-round (No. 51) draft pick and a 2015 fourth-round draft pick.

Traded a third-round (No. 65) draft pick to Florida for a 2015 third-round draft pick.

Traded a seventh-round (No. 185) draft pick to Tampa Bay for a seventh-round (No. 200) draft pick and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick.

Traded a third-round (No. 89) draft pick to Washington for a two fourth-round (No. 104) and (No. 118) draft picks.

Traded a fourth-round (No. 119) draft pick to Tampa Bay for two fourth- (No. 140) and (No. 142) draft picks.

Traded a third-round (No. 62) draft pick to Nashville for a third- (No. 72) and fourth-round (No. 102) draft pick.

Traded D Carl Gunnarsson and the fourth-round (No. 94) draft pick to St. Louis Blues for D Roman Polak.

Traded a second-round (No. 50) to Los Angeles for RW Linden Vey.

Traded G Eddie Pasquale and a sixth-round (No. 159) draft pick to Washington for a sixth- (No. 164); seventh-round (No. 192) draft picks and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick.

Traded a seventh-round draft (No. 189) to Ottawa for a 2015 sixth-round draft pick.

Thanks Harper - that is precisely the explanation & evidence I should have provided.

I have to say that it would be an amazing achievement to see a realistic NHL draft in EHM with teams trading up and down trying to get "their guy" or better value overall for their picks.

I have to say that it would be an amazing achievement to see a realistic NHL draft in EHM with teams trading up and down trying to get "their guy" or better value overall for their picks.

It would be nice if teams had personal draftboards and if a team felt that 'their guy' would get picked before their turn, they would try to trade up.

Would also like a live draft (like in fantasy drafts) but that's a totally different suggestion.

Notice some if not all of those trades involved a team trading a pick in the same round to move up, not the same complaint as the OP posted about. Thr trades were round for round, not to lower round picks for a higher round pick, it makes the offer the AI countered him with make even more sense with that post. I wish the drafting was "alive" but I also wish every sport game had a live draft.

If you want to stockpile picks than trade for future picks, not for picks in the upcoming draft..

Even in the example, teams had to give up assests (including the same round draft pick) just to move up in the round.

In this trade:

Traded a third-round (No. 79) draft pick to Tampa Bay for a third-round (No. 80) draft pick and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick.

Imagine I'm Tampa Bay. My scenario I offered 2 x 3rds for their 3rd and was rejected. On the face of it, my trade is better than this 3rd & 7th.

I'm not suggesting that I should automatically, every-single-time be able to trade two worse picks for a single better pick, but the trading systems, as it stands, does not allow this to occur even once. I repeatedly made the same trade to every team and was rejected. Hence why I think its a bug.

And we also know that there are other bugs in the trading system, such as the "it would unbalance our roster" issue - they're both probably related in some way.

Notice some if not all of those trades involved a team trading a pick in the same round to move up, not the same complaint as the OP posted about. Thr trades were round for round, not to lower round picks for a higher round pick, it makes the offer the AI countered him with make even more sense with that post. I wish the drafting was "alive" but I also wish every sport game had a live draft.

If you want to stockpile picks than trade for future picks, not for picks in the upcoming draft..

Even in the example, teams had to give up assests (including the same round draft pick) just to move up in the round.

He had a poor example. I tried to trade from #7 to the mid-teens and no team would accept any deal that was my first (#7) for their first and an extra pick. All the offers I got were my first for a combination of their later round picks. Even trying to trade a third round pick, I couldn't get a fourth round pick in the next years draft.

The problem with trading draft picks is two fold: the lack of processing/reaction to dynamic draft scenarios and team asset management. The NHL draft is a crap shoot. A team may find more value in two third round picks than a single second round pick because having two third round picks increases the quantity of the prospect pool, therefore increasing the possibility of drafting a diamond in the rough. Especially if the team has no targeted player when it is their turn in the second round.

In this trade:

Traded a third-round (No. 79) draft pick to Tampa Bay for a third-round (No. 80) draft pick and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick.

Imagine I'm Tampa Bay. My scenario I offered 2 x 3rds for their 3rd and was rejected. On the face of it, my trade is better than this 3rd & 7th.

I'm not suggesting that I should automatically, every-single-time be able to trade two worse picks for a single better pick, but the trading systems, as it stands, does not allow this to occur even once. I repeatedly made the same trade to every team and was rejected. Hence why I think its a bug.

And we also know that there are other bugs in the trading system, such as the "it would unbalance our roster" issue - they're both probably related in some way.

at the same time you have other users trading picks to move up in the first round with ease. The game mentions that teams value trades differently at different times during the year. So that also could be coming into play here.

It would be nice if teams had personal draftboards and if a team felt that 'their guy' would get picked before their turn, they would try to trade up.

Would also like a live draft (like in fantasy drafts) but that's a totally different suggestion.

I don't think it would be that hard for SI to implement. They have scouting and for human picks we get to "ask" our personnel. If they implemented some big board (similar to the team report) I think that'd be a great addition. I don't know all the dynamics of how the code was written but to add this for AI teams would seem to be an extension of the system rather than starting from scratch. It's a great idea though!