How can I analyse an NHL team

[Synblaze]

Hey there guys, I am new to this and i had a big question for NHL fans, I am an Australian Fan of the game and i love hockey, loving the new NHL 12 aswell, I have recently had some relationship changes in my life ( best friend of 9 years wont talk to me anymore) I follow The Detroit Red Wings, because at the time, Him and I were real close and we just followed the wings, i have recently thought to myself...WHY? i know a bit more about hockey now than when i first started following it, and i still ask myself Why do i follow The Wings, they are a great successful team and i Love Zetterberg, but i am looking for ways to analyse a team so i can follow them, does anyone have any suggestions or guidelines to finding a good successful team, i want to be an individual and not follow well known teams, it seems over here in Australia everyone wheres NY Yankees caps but half the people dont even know who they are. which sucks...so if anyone can help me out here that would be great...also i am starting a new BAGm real soon so anyone got any suggestions on teams or trades i should be doing?

Thanks

[GlennN]

Welcome, Synblaze! Sorry to hear about you and your friend. You guys picked a good team to follow in the Red Wings. They are an "Original Six" team in the NHL (one of the first six teams in the league, founded in 1926) and have a solid history of great teams and players. You can get some ideas on the history of the NHL from browsing the NHL's website. Try:

http://www.nhl.com/history/fstand80s.html

[jack1535]

For your BE-A-GM team it depends on what you want. Do you want a good team that can win the cup today, or a team you can rebuild.
Some good teams that can win the cup now are

Detroit
Chicago
Boston
Vancouver

Rebuild Teams
NY Islanders
Calgary
Ottawa
Columbus

There also some teams that are one good piece away from being really good.

Tampa Bay
Nashville
Buffalo
Washington

I would suggest Tampa Bay. They have Steven Stamkos, and Martin St.Louis and Vincent Lecavalier still have a couple good years left in the tank. They also have some pretty good Defensemen. The only problem is goaltending. If you can get a good goaltender via trade, then you would have a great team. I would suggest getting one of these guys

Josh Harding- From Minnesota
Corey Schnieder- From Vancouver

These are both good prospects that you would need to give up a lot to get. Probably a first round in 2012, a 2013 2nd, and a top prospect.

[Synblaze]

Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate it, i have a pretty good hockey knowledge, im the kind of person that likes to know facts and research things, just in my nature i guess.

@Jack, I was thinking of doing one as Tampa Bay, because i follow The Rays in MLB, also just love the colours and the jerseys, haha, my problem with BAGM is I'll start one, and try to sign every decent free agent, and then trade half of them away, I dont have enough hockey knowledge to know who to keep and who to get rid of, and i dont know if im getting a good trade or getting ripped off, i guess its something i will have to learn and keep at, Tampa Bay seems like the team to go play as, I will give it a shot tonight after work, is there anymore advice you can direct my way on starting a BAGM as Tampa Bay?

[JezFranco]

A pretty decent place of gathered information is actually wikipedia nowadays;
Just search your team there to get a good bunch of facts, about them team, arena and the players.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Red_Wings

How's aussie ice hockey these days?
I had a friend who went to Australia to play Hockey after we finished school... Never heard from him again.

[Synblaze]

Im not a big fan of the Australian Ice Hockey, i was really into it about a year ago and went to alot of games, then they moved it to a bigger and better arena in Melbourne and it was way to hard to get in, in other words the teams got more well known and corporate sponsorships...and i cannot watch any NHL here either because nobody televises it! so i just play NHL 12 hahaha, I am doing well on my BAGM, 3-0-0 at the moment, hard games, won 2 of them in a shootout