Help with strategy

[Giftech]

I've been setting my team strategy to 0-3-2 and have been getting an average of 5 goals scored against per game. I tried going a little more extreme and setting it at 0-4-1or 0-5-0 but end up losing games 5-0 instead of 5-3. Tim Thomas is one of the better rated goalies in the league but has one of the worst GAA and SV%.

This is my pro roster:

Player Name PO CON IJ CK FG DI SK ST EN DU PH FO PA SC DF PS EX LD MO OV TA SP Age Salary Contract
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anze Kopitar C 97.00 54 36 87 79 82 97 98 85 81 87 75 81 77 62 72 50 77 0 25 $6,750,001 3
Patrik Elias(C) C LW 97.00 55 36 86 81 72 90 95 84 64 87 75 69 92 84 86 50 76 0 36 $6,000,000 1
Blake Geoffrion(R) C LW 100.00 56 37 69 70 70 47 56 62 73 55 51 61 54 60 59 50 58 0 24 $1,062,500 2
Tim Connolly C LW RW 97.00 49 35 72 74 70 74 79 75 72 73 63 72 81 74 75 50 68 0 31 $3,500,000 1
Derek Dorsett C LW RW 100.00 81 95 50 73 68 60 79 67 40 58 60 74 60 64 63 50 64 0 26 $1,000,000 3
Matt DAgostini C LW RW 100.00 56 42 72 72 70 58 62 68 41 60 63 63 61 64 65 50 62 0 26 $1,500,000 1
David Moss C LW RW 100.00 67 40 79 67 81 55 47 66 58 61 59 69 61 74 70 50 62 N 0 31 $2,100,000 3
Rick Nash(A) LW RW 99.00 60 38 77 79 84 88 96 82 35 74 86 67 89 68 77 50 74 0 28 $6,750,000 2
Chad LaRose LW RW 99.00 73 43 69 79 61 73 77 74 41 61 72 64 68 72 72 50 67 0 30 $2,050,000 1
Arron Asham LW RW 100.00 72 87 64 74 68 51 64 67 34 62 55 51 58 80 73 50 60 N 0 34 $1,750,000 1
Devante Smith-Pelly(R) LW RW 100.00 73 43 78 76 72 45 47 61 38 53 56 54 55 52 61 50 58 0 20 $870,000 2
Brian Gionta RW 98.00 53 36 80 77 55 89 64 74 43 59 70 73 84 78 78 50 67 0 33 $4,850,000 2
Dennis Seidenberg D 100.00 73 45 83 66 74 92 95 61 30 58 53 86 59 74 70 50 71 N 0 31 $4,500,000 3
Jay Bouwmeester(A) D 98.00 58 37 83 67 82 98 98 61 30 61 54 81 61 70 74 50 71 0 29 $6,350,000 2
Jay Harrison D 100.00 71 51 71 68 82 71 76 58 30 53 60 75 58 72 67 50 67 0 30 $700,000 1
Nick Schultz D 100.00 63 39 74 65 72 76 92 53 30 51 50 83 55 72 71 50 67 0 30 $3,250,000 2
Chris Campoli D 100.00 63 40 82 68 70 67 55 58 31 56 53 69 61 68 68 50 62 0 28 $1,500,000 2
Matt Pelech(R) D 100.00 72 77 50 60 86 57 50 47 31 43 44 61 48 62 60 50 58 0 25 $577,500 3

Goalie Name PO CON IJ SK DU EN SZ AG RB SC HS RT PH PS EX LD MO OV TA SP Age Salary Contract
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Thomas G 99.00 92 95 91 61 88 86 92 92 94 83 87 88 88 50 84 N 0 38 $7,600,000 2
Scott Clemmensen G 100.00 81 72 76 73 79 84 79 80 80 82 79 82 80 50 77 N 0 35 $1,000,000 1

These have been the line combos I have used the most:

LW - C - RW - TOI% - strategy
Elias - Kopitar - Nash - 38% - 0-1-4
LaRose - Connolly - Gionta - 30% - 0-2-3
Dorsett - Moss - D'Agostini - 20% - 2-2-1
Smith-Pelly - Geoffrion - Asham - 8% - 3-2-0

Bouwmeester - Seidenberg - 40% - 1-2-2
Harrison - Schultz - 30% - 2-2-1
Campoli - Pelech - 20% - 2-3-0
Harrison - Bouwmeester - 10% - 0-2-3

Thomas

My PP and PK are the only things going well for me so I'm not looking to change them. Any advice on how to improve the defensive play would be greatly appreciated.

[ynohtna]

I find DF very important.....

Depends a lot on what the commish set for goals and shots too.

[Giftech]

Yeah, I've been slowly adding depth players with better DF ratings. I've been trying to acquire some players with higher PH and SK stats too to help the scorers out. The thing that's bothering me most is I am out shooting my opponents by a fair margin in the games I'm losing.

Scott Clemmensen (PHL) 2 0 1 0 0.733 5.73 42 0 0 4 15 0 0 1 0.000 0 1 8 0 0 0
Tim Thomas (PHL) 9 3 4 1 0.877 3.55 507 2 0 30 243 0 0 0 0.667 3 8 1 1 0 0

goalie stat lines. In Clemmensen's first start of the year he had a 15.35 GAA.

I tried clearing my lines and just using the auto lines feature to see what would happen and I lost the game 5-4 in OT and I also got out shot by a fair margin.

[QSHL]

I'd go :
Kopitar C - Nash LW - Gionta RW on your top line + top PP
Elias C - Larose LW or RW - would try to find someone with a 72-75 SC with lower PA/SK and 70+ EN able to play either LW or RW
Connolly C - Smith Pelley LW - Asham RW
Whatever else on line 4.

Always try to fit a guy who's highest stat is a SC along with a guy who's highest asset is PA, and one who's highest asset is SK. Try also fitting guys with similar EN, especially on a top line where you require them to play close to 20 minutes per game : make sure it's close and it's high!

I'm really not sold on David Moss or Matt D'Agostini's skill set there. Moss is at best a 4th line guy on my evaluation on your roster only (cannot and will not evaluate your whole league) and while D'Agostini isn't all that bad, he's just not good enough for 2nd line to me, and you might want to use him as a trade bait.

I wouldn't give Dorsett too much ice due to very high fighting and very low discipline. It'll hurt you more on the long run than anything else.

Line settings work better when you focus on the weaknesses of your line, so I analyzed in 6 seasons. I'd go likely 1-3-1 or 1-4-0 for your top line. Wouldn't give them more than 32-33% of ice time, especially if they play PP and PK.


I belive your pairings are pretty obvious. Pelech is pretty weak, I feel. He's neither offensive, neither defensive, and yeah, he's physical but really undisciplined. He'd be a better fit as a 7th guy you'd bring in against a team full of powerforwards.

Finally, I'd probably go for a team strategy closer to 0-4-1 but then again, I didn't see the whole league. Maybe your team is a much weaker offensive team than the majority, thus I'd go 0-1-4 and try to outscore everyone and not force a strong Tim Thomas stats line...

Come back to us in a month for the update!

[HOFHL]

Most likely your problem is overuse of your top players so they are tired. I bet your number 1 Line players play line 1 PP and Line 1PK too....How many minutes is Kopitar playing for example? As i see your top guys are all at 97 condition thats pretty much the case. I would lower the ice time for the 1st line to 30 % and let the 4th play 15 %. As this is just even strength time the 4th line will normally play around 8 minutes then and your top guys around 20 minutes.

[HOFHL]

oh, and i would not let your top offensive player play PK, i would use some decent 3rd liners. In real life most top stars are not playing extensive PK to rest for the even strength and PP, I dont know why so many GMs think they should in the sim.

[Giftech]

*Update*
Traded Nash, acquired Eriksson, Grossman, Brunner, and Sobotka.

Lines are as follows:
Eriksson - Kopitar - LaRose
Elias - Connolly - Gionta
Brunner - Sobotka - D'Agostini
Asham - Moss - Dorsett
Bouwmeester - Seidenberg
Harrison - Schultz
Grossman - Campoli
Thomas
Clemmensen

Turned it around quickly and am leading the division at the halfway mark. I took Kopitar off the PK cause he was playing retarded minutes.