EHM The Blue Line

Hi, how do you guys pick and choose your players and who to play where etc..............

This may be dweeby (my other half certainly thinks it is) but................

I note down player attributes for the LW's C's and RW's that I think are important to my style of play and add them up, then break it down into 3 categories.........."Checkers", "playmakers" and "snipers". Then add those up.

Then do a list for the 4 categories with the players listed best to worst.

That way, the people who are consistantly arent in the top 4 or 5 are players that arent worth having on my squad (unless they are young prospects).

Then I can say, for example, Dingman is my best checker, Weinhandle is my best sniper and Zubrus is my best playmaker...........then build the team that way.

What do you guys do??/ PLEASE tell me i'm not as sad as I appear! lol

Mine is actually the exact opposite of yours.

I simply "turn off" attributes, then fly by the navigation of my scouts, player stats, and my own intuition.

With this style, I haven't had this kind of fun since the original freeware.

I'm actually tempted to try the Stinson style sometime but I wonder if I've played the game so much that it wouldn't matter if I could see the players' attributes because I'd already have a general idea of what they were.

My method is somewhat simple. I usually just try to have my top two offensive centers on my top two lines. Then I usually try to go with one scorer and one physical player on each centers wings. On some teams I'm more loaded with offensive left wings, so I'll go with grinders on the right. Other times it's the reverse. Sometimes I just go all offense if I have the players for it, then I'll go with physical checking players on my third and fourth lines. I guess it really all depends on what I have to work with.

I like having 2 scoring lines, a 3rd line with 2 way forwards, and a checking line for my 4th, with a goon.

I love a speedy winger, a power forward, and a playmaking centre.

Also I give my prospects maximum time to develop, I never rush them, always letting them finish there junior careers, and at least spending 1 full season in the AHL.

I look at the Unit tactics and check the strengths/weaknesses of each line and then adjust the Unit/Personal tactics from there. It's been working pretty well for me. I just started a season with Detroit, I signed Selanne and McCarty as free agents ( I got McCarty for 450K/yr as a fringe player by having him go through a training camp tryout). He's happy as a clam and I figure he's good for one or two more seasons.

Line 1 - LW = Zetterberg, C = Datsyuk, RW = Selanne - This is my bread-n-butter line. They are set on a high tempo, creative passing, barrage shooting Unit tactic while their Personal tactics/Practice are set on offensive-minded, free-flowing puck movement and play. Datsyuk is my Playmaker and Selanne & Zetterberg are my snipers. It took a few games for them to get used to eachother with Selanne being new, but after about 6 games they started lighting it up. They are generally paired with Lidstrom & Rafalski on defense and these 5 are my #1 PP unit as well scoring 17 PP goals, with 15 coming from the forwards.

Line 2 - LW = Maltby, C = Hudler, RW = Holmstrom. This unit is heavy on Puck Pressure, Backchecking, and Hitting, and I overload the slot with this line. They have some decent speed with Hudler and Maltby so they are a higher tempo on the Personal tactics. They are generally paired with Chelios and Kronwall who bang the rubbish out of everyone with Kronwall also set as a blueline cannon.

Line 3 - LW = Cleary, C = Filppula, RW = Samuelsson. This line can fly. They are set on high tempo, heavy puck pressure, and heavy shooting with free-flowing attacks. I think, in real life, Cleary and Samuelsson are underrated in terms of their goal scoring abilities, and Filppula should develop into a nice player. It shows when Samuelsson was leading the team in goals through the first 6-8 games before the #1 Line jelled. I replace Cleary with Holmstrom on LW for my #2 PP unit with Chelios and Kronwall anchoring the line. They are respectable as a PP unit and have put a few home (8 out of 25 PP goals so far this season with the #1 unit favored)

Line 4 - LW = Hartigan, C = Franzen, RW = Kopecky or McCarty. This is obviously my weakest line. They are not great on the defensive end of the game, although McCarty helps balance that when he's playing. They are heavy on back checking, hitting, and puck pressure, with Hartigan and Kopecky the heavy shooters. They use board-based break-outs and overload the slot when in play with Franzen and McCarty designated for this job. They are also set to win offensive zone faceoffs to the blueline for shots and crowd the slot.

So far I am 13-2-1 in this fledgling season, with the powerplay clicking at 28.1%. I want to improve my Penalty Kill (86.4%). All three first line skater are in the Top 15 in scoring with 25 (Datsyuk) & 23,23 (Selanne, Zetterberg).

hockeygodz wrote:.

They are generally paired with Chelios and Kronwall who bang the rubbish out of everyone with Kronwall also set as a blueline cannon.

"Rubbish"???? Boy, that one got edited.

I didn't think c-r-a-p was a censored word. Oh well!!!!

hockeygodz wrote:"Rubbish"???? Boy, that one got edited.

I didn't think c-r-a-p was a censored word. Oh well!!!!

It's because some people find it offensive. So I changed it into a jolly old non-offensive British word

Back on topic: I tend to take a look at my players' attributes in general and use my prior knowledge of their skills/reputation/performances. From there, I choose my top two lines, trying to spread the talent and ensuring that the players broadly compliment each other (for example, having a centre with good passing and a winger with good shooting, etc). I use my third line as my checking/defensive line and then my fourth line for my weakest players and giving younger players some ice time.

With my defensive lines, I tend to put my strongest players on my top line and work downwards as I go through the lines.

Once I've chosen my basic line-up, I test and tweak using exhibition games to gauge how they're performing together.

Ultimately, the most important thing to me is to have a line that performs well as one rather than having one player playing well and his two line-mates under-performing. Once I've found a decent line-up, I try not to tweak things too much so as not to disrupt their performance.

It depends, for me.

In just line adjustment, I look at how they're performing and their attributes. In one save, for instance, I have Weiss and Plekanec as my third and fourth line centers. They're pretty close in attributes, and Weiss often under-performs for me. So, if he keeps it up, I'll probably switch them, since Plekanec is putting up decent numbers. On the other hand, Kariya and Kotalik are my first and second line LWs. But I'll not switch them even if Kotalik has a good stretch and Kariya has a bad stretch because Kariya's got higher stats in all areas (besides a couple in defense, and, of course, the ability to not get knocked over), especially in Stamina.

In fantasy drafts now, I try to make up my mind on what sort of team I want to build beforehand. One draft, I wanted an extremely defensive team, so I got a goalie first, then focused on highly defensive players. Another I wanted speed (I think I set a mark for every player having at least 16 speed, which turned out pretty hard to follow), so I drafted Niedermayer first, because fast defensemen who can play well are a...well, as it turns out, not as rare as I thought, but, still. And I forget who I picked first in my other two drafts. But, I basically try to come up with a build for the team, get it set in stone beforehand, and then limit the fantasy draft to players with solid attributes in those areas, so I'm not tempted to pick someone who doesn't fit the mold just because he's good.

In regular games, I try to look to what the team has and therefore it's build and what it needs. For example, the big strengths of Atlanta are a young franchise goalie, offensive wingers (two great ones, with a bit of depth), and defensive centers, in Lehtonen, Kovalchuk, Hossa, Kozlov, Sim, Holik and Rucchin. So, the big needs are defensemen (cheap, preferably) and a top line center who can pass to the two big offensive wingers.

Two line setups I have fallen in love with, though. First is a top line consisting of a great speedy shooter on one wing, a player who can pass and shoot well on the other wing, and a great passer between them. And the other one is a fourth line of two shutdown winger (my favorites being Pandolfo and Ortmeyer) and then someone between them who can play defense but who isn't a shutdown guy, per-say, and more a utility player, to give them a spark of offense that a pure shutdown line wouldn't have. The second has worked really well for me (especially my latest one, Pandolfo/Rucchin/Ortmeyer), but I'm not sure that I've ever *really* gotten the chance to do the first.