EHM The Blue Line

I ran a fantasy draft and after a 2 trades for Madden and Niitty, This is my current line up.

Line 1 A. Ovechkin, J. Carter, D. Alfredsson

Line 2 Jason Blake, Tim Connolly, Trent Hunter

Line 3 John Madden, Jason Arnott, Chris Clark

Line 4 Mike York, Daniel Zubrus, Anthony Stewart

In reserve I have Shawn Bates, Ryan Getzlaf and Arron Asham

On D I have

Mattias Ohlund, Derek Morris

Janne Niinimaa, Scott Hannan

Ossi Vaananen, Radek Martinek

In Goal

Robert Esche
Antero Niittymaki

My Current Instructions Are:

Line Instuctions 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Mentality: Offensive Offensive Defensive Normal
Aggressiveness: Normal Normal Aggressive Normal
Backchecking: Hard Hard Hard Normal
Gap Control: Tight Tight Tight Normal
Puck Pressure: Heavy Heavy Heavy Normal
Hitting: Normal Normal Hard Normal
Tempo: High High Normal Normal
Passing: Creative Creative Normal Normal
Shooting: Normal Normal Normal Normal
Dumping: Rarely Rarely Normal Normal

Tactical Systems
Breakout: Wings X Crisscross Board Positional
NZ Offensive: Wings X Crisscross Positional Grouped
Offensive Zone: Triangle Positional Overload Positional
Forecheck: 3-2 3-2 3-2 1-4
NZ Defensive: 1-2-2 1-2-2 1-2-2 1-1-3
Defensive Zone: Open Open Positional Collapse
Offensive Faceoffs Drop Pass Drop Pass Overload Drop Pass
Defensive Faceoffs Overload Overload Overload Overload

Ohlund is on the 2nd PP and the 1st PK kill so he clocks over 30 minutes.

Niinimaa is 1st PP and Vaananen is 2nd PK

Morris is on 2nd PP and 2nd PK kill behind Martinek and Hannan respectively.

PK for forwards is Madden and Zubrus
then Arnott and Clark

York and Stewart are not on any special teams. I'm worried about keeping the players happy should I rotate them into the PP once in a while.

Since I'm trying to keep things even perhaps there is no reason to set up the defense this way perhaps I should change the pairings and even out the defensive skills more.

Craig

first thing to do is to put arnott on your first line. he is very good in the game nad could give you around 100-120 points.

i would go with these lines.

ovechkin-arnott-alfredsson
blake-getzlaf-zubrus
connolly-madden-clark
york-bates-asham

not exactly those positions, but those lines. i would trade carter and hunter for some picks and send stewart to minors.

i would also not set backchecking to hard on my first and second line. it hurts the rushes.

third and fourth line should be defensive minded. hit and backcheck hard and dump the puck often. and shooting heavy.

just some thouhts

Where did you put Carter wingsfan?

He is one of the best players in the game!

Not in real life.... but in the game!

I noticed in your response you put connelly on left wing. How much of a drop in production is a guy likely to take if he is out of his normal position. I am new but I assume the first three levels are:

Natural
Accomplished
Competant
...
...
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't got below Competant but even then I wonder?

I had Madden on left but he is Accomplished.