Playing with 3 forward lines

[Asmodai]

Hi

After playing a few seasons with the Pens, using only 3 forward lines, and winning alot. I started a new game with the Hawks (possibly the worst team in the league), to see if the 3 lines only thing would work well with them.
Im now in 2011, won 4 cups and was runner-up once, and im winning about 70 games per season with my players gettings most of the awards. It almost feels like im cheating.

Does anyone else have the same results using 3 lines?
Did any real life NHL team ever use a 3 line setup?

[E5150_ca]

I had a 3 line set-up with the Leafs once, I got about 15 games in before I got bored. I think my record was something like 9-6. So yea, it's a good set-up, but if your players have poor stamina, prepare to be in for a long season.

[Asmodai]

I have used the 3 lines setup and never had any condition problems, and my training setups use 3 settings on intensive and 3 on medium.

In my current season, im 22-1-0 ...... fun, but no fun

[Shadd666]

I've never tested the 3 lines setup,and i don't want to,because it doesn't sound real,as NO NHL team (as far as i know...) uses this setup.

It seems really easy to win with this setup...but what's the interest of winning when there's no difficulties?

There's a lot more fun and pleasure when you win the Cup after a really hard fight,being forced to go to game 7,playing away,and winning after 2 overtimes!

A 70 wins season along with a sweep victory in each playoff round is as boring as watching the grass grow...

[Asmodai]

I agree that the 3 line setup gets boring after a while, but we shouldnt be able to beat the game like this. I really hope the solve this in ehm07.

[Shadd666]

I hope it too...

I also hope we won't be able anymore to trade four or five 1st-round picks for a baby-star like Ovechkin or Crosby... That's a perfect non-sense! There's no GM who is stupid enough to deal such stars for such unpredictable things as draft picks!

I've also seen some stupidities before the drafts... A team gives a 5th round pick in exchange of the 4th of another team (nothing else involved in the trade),and the trade is accepted... Who should be stupid enough to do that in real life?

[hluraven]

Back to the original point about playing with three lines, I think the problem lies in the more general issue of stamina/fitness/injuries in the game. For me it is normal to play my goalie all 82 games plus playoffs, and about 15 out of my 20 players play all 82 as well. There should be many more injuries, especially little ones, and goalies should tire more and be more injury prone if overplayed.

I think that the problem with three-lines is the same. It is that if this was done in real life the players would become exhausted much quicker, especially if done all season. In EHM they are back at 100% fitness the next day no matter what they've done in game.

Saying that, I've never tried 3 lines in the NHL, tried it in my current game in the OHL and didn't have much more success than I did with 4 lines

[Asmodai]

I've stopped playing with my Hawks game, and started a new one with the Wild, and im going back to using 4 lines. Lets see if i can win 4 cups in 6 seasons , if im not fired in the first year because of my usual "extreme house cleaning"

[B. Stinson]

Did any real life NHL team ever use a 3 line setup?

I don't remember who, but there was a team or two out there that used it against the Flyers one time, but I don't know how long they kept that setup. Appearently the purpose was to get more defensive players in the game so the defense as a whole would be in better overall condition since there are more players rotating.

As for EHM, I think the reason it's so good is because EHM has always been a sucker for defense. The more defensive you get, the better. I have not yet tried it though, because I am just now going into my first season as GM/Head coach, since I lost my great coach in the offseason (I guess being a dominating junior coach is no longer good enough for him )