Help with lines!!

[jazznblues]

Hey folks,

I need some help with my lines. I've been in a sim league that uses STHS for a couple season now and I never know if the lines I choose are the best ones. Below are the lines I use now at even strenght. Based on the player ratings below do you guys have any suggestions? What is my team lacking and based on the coach ratings (included below too) what should be the coaching strategy should I use?

Thanks in advance
jazznblues

Here are my lines at the moment
LW2/CT1/RW2
LW1/CT2/RW1
LW4/CT3/RW3
LW3/CT5/RW2

D1/D3
D2/D4
D5/D6
D7

******CK FG DI SK ST DU PH FO PA SC DF EX LD MO PO OV
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CT-1 63 49 84 81 55 86 86 76 85 70 77 61 62 42 82 70
CT-2 58 54 77 90 56 71 80 80 83 73 60 76 80 45 30 69
CT-3 59 60 86 79 60 82 73 51 68 71 64 51 59 45 92 64
CT-4 52 50 94 77 56 75 66 81 59 70 60 65 65 44 62 62
CT-5 78 77 75 67 68 56 58 72 51 52 73 63 65 48 68 58
LW-1 73 50 78 75 79 87 79 53 76 74 71 71 70 52 44 70
LW-2 86 60 72 78 62 90 76 51 73 74 68 73 75 44 38 69
LW-3 72 60 82 79 63 83 73 48 71 66 64 65 65 48 62 66
LW-4 62 53 84 78 60 94 67 56 69 66 71 63 66 46 76 65
RW-1 71 49 82 80 59 78 83 49 71 79 67 72 71 43 44 69
RW-2 54 49 87 86 56 79 78 62 69 86 68 56 63 44 93 68
RW-3 71 62 69 82 62 73 79 48 68 75 64 67 67 45 57 67
DF-1 67 56 60 81 80 96 77 47 78 72 81 84 91 52 32 75
DF-2 63 49 77 76 63 95 70 45 77 77 83 64 66 50 62 70
DF-3 78 63 62 70 80 93 64 45 67 63 82 61 66 50 78 69
DF-4 88 48 63 77 60 87 65 56 69 55 79 77 75 46 28 68
DF-5 69 63 70 84 59 68 67 45 68 49 77 73 73 50 36 65
DF-6 66 67 47 70 73 73 67 45 72 53 73 81 80 50 29 65
DF-7 69 59 80 79 66 75 71 45 71 55 65 64 61 50 64 64

SK DU ST SZ AG RB SC HS RT EX LD MO PO OV
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
82 90 81 65 84 95 95 95 96 92 86 52 50 74


Coach Ratings:
PH DF OF PD EX LD PO
76 86 79 92 76 82 88

[QSHL]

I haven't won anything with STHS but here are some hints...

nb : it's always tough to give feedback when we can't compare these ratings with the rest of the league.



C2 looks like your top C to me. He's got higher FO, higher SC, higher SK and higher EX, LD. These are important things to me when I look for a center. I would have taken a bit more PA, but then, he's got 5 skills better than C1 out of the 6 I'm looking at.

RW2 is top-line material as well. He's got the highest SC, highest DU (needs to be paired back on line 4) and highest SK.

I'd finish it all with LW 1. Your two other guys seem small, so pairing them with a guy with the highest ST would make sense to me. He's also got good defensive skills while being OK offensively. He's got the intangibles (EX, LD), yet he lacks a bit of speed to follow up on your other two guys. Then again, you have no other LWers able to do that.

So up front I'd do
C2, LW1, RW2
C1, LW2, RW1
C4, LW4, RW3
C5, LW3, RW2
* I'd avoid at any cost any C with only 51 FO when you've got bottom-6 guys with 80+ in FO. That sounds like 30-35% rate of faceoff won and you'd want to stay away from that.



I see you lack a true QB on your PP. You've got there 3 solid defensive, all-around guys (D1, D2, D3).

I'd play D2 as your "offensive" d-men. He's got the highest SC of the bunch, and he's got the highest DI of the group too (avoid too many penalities).

I'd pair him with either D1, D3 or D5. I'd play the other two together for your top-4.

D4 looks like a nice 5th option (CK, DF).

D2, D3
D1, D5
D4, D6
D2, D7


You've got good coaching (then again, I don't know what are the other coaches ratings). I'd probably go 1-2-2 or 1-1-3 depending on which kind of team you're facing.

[ynohtna]

that's really insightful... maybe it will help me turn my team around

[jazznblues]

thanks for the help, much appreciated.