So, this is a reboot of my previous attempt:
Another Rolling Rally: Building Dynasties in Boston
Ran into some problems with our Red Sox dynasty, so we are restarting the season with a new file in 2008. The Bruins and Revolution continued unharmed. I'm proceeding without the Celtics right now as the file proved too unstable to run in Windows on my Mac. We'll wait until
Wolverine releases DDS: Pro Basketball 2 to try again. Every other season was played out so that we pick up the action in May of 2008:
The Bruins once again suffered in 2007-08, ending the season with the worst record in hockey (32-46-4, 68 pts.). After dismissing Dave Lewis, the front office spent most of the year searching for a new head coaching candidate, eventually signing Montreal castoff Guy Carbinneau.
There weren't too many bright spots. Newcomer Michael Ryder (29-40-69, +4) led all Bruins in scoring, followed by Marco Sturm (30-35-65, -11), Stephen Weiss (31-32-63, -3) and Marc Savard (17-27-44, -15). As a team, Boston finished 18th in scoring with 271 goals (3.3 per game), but were 23rd in goal allowed (3.67/game).
Peter Budaj (24-36-3, 3.44 GAA, .897 SV%) saw most of the action in goal and proved to be ineffective. Backup netminder was a revolving door with Curtis Joseph, Mike Smith and Any Chiodo getting chances. None proved capable of stealing the starting job away from Budaj.
Overall, we had some promising players shine. During the season, the Bruins acquired Dustin Brown from Los Angeles in exchange for free agent D Paul Mara, after the latter refused to negotiate a contract extension, and Ryan Kesler from Minnesota. W Paul Kariya was also shipped out, joining the Capitals in return for D Jeff Schultz and W Chris Bourque (son of Bruins legend Ray). C Zack Parise was claimed off waivers from the Devils and produced at a point-per-game level (33g, 25-14-39, -3) before suffering a torn MCL in January.
The Bruins did lose the draft lottery, falling to #2 with Anaheim picking first. After last seasons rash of trading (14 picks in 2007), the Bruins are without picks past the third round.
The Revolution were a bit more successful in 2007-08, ending up with 2nd position (13-9-8, 48 pts.) in the Eastern Conference. In the semi-finals, the Revs dropped a tie-breaking shootout to the Chicago Fire 1-0 to end their season. The squad did end up winning the US Cup during the season, their first tournament victory.
During the offseason, looking to rebound from the loss of Brian Byrne, the Revs signed Edson Buddle (17g, 4 a) away from Los Angeles. Paired with returning striker Taylor Twellman, Buddle should bolster the Revs attack up front as youngster Francisco Mendoza continues to develop.
Gabriel Ferrari was award the "Worst Signing of the Season" after costing the Revolution $2.3m
With no transfer funds available, the front office was unable to bolster their defense. We turned down an offer from the DC United that would have brought midfielder Fred to New England in exchange for Michael Parkhurst. The move wouldn't have bolster our defense, which is obviously the most glaring need for the Revs now. Subtracting a young, established starter like Parkhurst just to overcrowd the front line wouldn't have been wise.
The Revolution kicked off the season on April 5th with a match against rival DC United. Edison Buddle debuted up front with Taylor Twellman and scored the only goal of the match.
The Red Sox enter 2008 coming off a World Series championship. A hot start (19-8) in April have Boston ahead in the AL East by 2 games over New York.
Tim Wakefield announced his retirement effective the end of the season. This season, Wakefield has gone 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA. Manny Ramirez won the AL Player of the Month award for April. Ramirez hit .409 for the month, with 9 home runs and 27 runs batted in.
The Red Sox did make one trade, re-acquiring catcher Josh Bard from San Diego in exchange for LF Chris Carter, MR Kiminobu Kichnida, LF bobby Kielty, and CF Zach Daeges. 3B Rob Mackowiak was signed to a one-year, $2.77m contract to serve as a utility player off the bench.