ATD 2024 Lineup Advice Thread

[Hawkey Town 18]

I'm kinda in a spot, maybe an oversight on my part, trying to nail down my power play alignments and the need for net-front guys. Perhaps this is my recency bias speaking about the subject.

I have one PP running through Gretzky obviously, and the second running through Giroux, and they're both going to play it two different ways, and may not necessarily be a match for the same unit (unless I'm just wrong).

I feel the Giroux unit needs 2 guys like that, and I have Yakushev and Barber marked for it, with Chara at the point. Palffy plays the opposite side.

That seems to leave Gretzky's unit a bit small there. If I leave Bure as a point guy to drop in on Gretzky. First, that's a dream-like scenario and too good not to use, but it leaves LaFontaine and Cournoyer as the two best options as power play guys, I think the latter can play in tight, as I'm not sure Wendel Clark is on that level, and they're all under 6 feet as it is. I have Rob Blake on that unit, but I could also toy with the idea of using Chara on that unit and dropping him in as a set-play option if it's a legitimate play.

Please post your entire lineup so we can see all of your options

 

[GKJ]

Please post your entire lineup so we can see all of your options

Forward Lines:

7 Bill Barber- 99 Wayne Gretzky - 24 Ziggy Palffy

15 Alexander Yakushev - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 10 Pavel Bure

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Dave Keon - 12 Yvan Cournoyer

17 Wendel Clark - 16 Pat LaFontaine - 25 Ed Litzenberger




Defense Pairs:

4 Scott Stevens - 40 Rob Blake

33 Zdeno Chara - 27 Eric Desjardins

20 Gary Suter - 74 John Carlson



Goaltenders:

31 Billy Smith

32 Jonathan Quick



Extras:

66 Milan Novy - 11 Justin Williams

5 Carol Vadnais



Coach: Pat Burns

Captain: Wayne Gretzky

Alternate: Scott Stevens

Alternate: Dave Keon



Power Play 1:

99 Wayne Gretzky

16 Pat LaFontaine - 12 Yvan Cournoyer

40 Rob Blake - 10 Pavel Bure



Power Play 2:

15 Alexander Yakushev

28 - Claude Giroux - 7 Bill Barber - 24 Ziggy Palffy

33 Zdeno Chara




Pentalty Kill 1:

37 Patrice Bergeron - 99 Wayne Gretzky

4 Scott Stevens - 33 Zdeno Chara



Penalty Kill 2:

14 Dave Keon - 10 Pavel Bure

20 Gary Suter - 27 Eric Desjardins

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Forward Lines:

7 Bill Barber- 99 Wayne Gretzky - 24 Ziggy Palffy

15 Alexander Yakushev - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 10 Pavel Bure

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Dave Keon - 12 Yvan Cournoyer

17 Wendel Clark - 16 Pat LaFontaine - 25 Ed Litzenberger




Defense Pairs:

4 Scott Stevens - 40 Rob Blake

33 Zdeno Chara - 27 Eric Desjardins

20 Gary Suter - 74 John Carlson



Goaltenders:

31 Billy Smith

32 Jonathan Quick



Extras:

66 Milan Novy - 11 Justin Williams

5 Carol Vadnais



Coach: Pat Burns

Captain: Wayne Gretzky

Alternate: Scott Stevens

Alternate: Dave Keon



Power Play 1:

99 Wayne Gretzky

16 Pat LaFontaine - 12 Yvan Cournoyer

40 Rob Blake - 10 Pavel Bure



Power Play 2:

15 Alexander Yakushev

28 - Claude Giroux - 7 Bill Barber - 24 Ziggy Palffy

33 Zdeno Chara




Pentalty Kill 1:

37 Patrice Bergeron - 99 Wayne Gretzky

4 Scott Stevens - 33 Zdeno Chara



Penalty Kill 2:

14 Dave Keon - 10 Pavel Bure

20 Gary Suter - 27 Eric Desjardins

I'm a little confused on the setup of your 1st PP unit as it looks like Gretzky is a net front guy, but surely that can't be right. Putting that aside here are some general thoughts:

- I am big proponent of stacking your 1st PP unit, this seems to generally be how it's done in real life too, no one really spreads the talent between two units. The only time when I would sacrifice talent to be on the second unit would be at the Center position, because you need someone to take the draw on the second unit. When evaluating teams I weigh the 1st PP unit a lot more heavily than the 2nd (note: this does not hold true for PK, as to have a successful kill both units will need to hold the fort down).

- You have several options for Dmen that can play the PP. Didn't Chara sometimes play the net-front in real life? I would look into it further to see how often this was done, but if he has enough experience, making him your net guy on the 1st unit could be an option.

 

[overpass]

I'm kinda in a spot, maybe an oversight on my part, trying to nail down my power play alignments and the need for net-front guys. Perhaps this is my recency bias speaking about the subject.

I have one PP running through Gretzky obviously, and the second running through Giroux, and they're both going to play it two different ways, and may not necessarily be a match for the same unit (unless I'm just wrong).

I feel the Giroux unit needs 2 guys like that, and I have Yakushev and Barber marked for it, with Chara at the point. Palffy plays the opposite side.

That seems to leave Gretzky's unit a bit small there. If I leave Bure as a point guy to drop in on Gretzky. First, that's a dream-like scenario and too good not to use, but it leaves LaFontaine and Cournoyer as the two best options as power play guys, I think the latter can play in tight, as I'm not sure Wendel Clark is on that level, and they're all under 6 feet as it is. I have Rob Blake on that unit, but I could also toy with the idea of using Chara on that unit and dropping him in as a set-play option if it's a legitimate play.

I know it's not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about their great careers, but Scott Stevens and Zdeno Chara both played some net front on the power play when their teams didn't have a great forward option.

I watched Jacques Martin send out Chara when the Sens didn't have any goal scorers who could hang around the net, before they traded for Heatley. Chara wasn't much of a finisher but he caused a lot of havoc in front and was impossible to move.

Washington era Stevens was before my time but I understand most of his goals in his 20 goal season early in his career were scored while playing in front of the net on the PP, with two other D on the points.

 

[GKJ]

I'm a little confused on the setup of your 1st PP unit as it looks like Gretzky is a net front guy, but surely that can't be right. Putting that aside here are some general thoughts:

- I am big proponent of stacking your 1st PP unit, this seems to generally be how it's done in real life too, no one really spreads the talent between two units. The only time when I would sacrifice talent to be on the second unit would be at the Center position, because you need someone to take the draw on the second unit. When evaluating teams I weigh the 1st PP unit a lot more heavily than the 2nd (note: this does not hold true for PK, as to have a successful kill both units will need to hold the fort down).

- You have several options for Dmen that can play the PP. Didn't Chara sometimes play the net-front in real life? I would look into it further to see how often this was done, but if he has enough experience, making him your net guy on the 1st unit could be an option.

I listed it that way because I expect him to run behind the net (the original type draft made it more clear) but obviously I can edit that.

I know Chara would do it on an as-needed basis but I’m not sure it was ever run as their setup, maybe a Bruins fan can clarify.

 

[GKJ]

I know it's not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about their great careers, but Scott Stevens and Zdeno Chara both played some net front on the power play when their teams didn't have a great forward option.

I watched Jacques Martin send out Chara when the Sens didn't have any goal scorers who could hang around the net, before they traded for Heatley. Chara wasn't much of a finisher but he caused a lot of havoc in front and was impossible to move.

Washington era Stevens was before my time but I understand most of his goals in his 20 goal season early in his career were scored while playing in front of the net on the PP, with two other D on the points.

I hadn’t considered that much with Stevens, or using him at all there, but if it’s an option I presumably shouldn’t be worried about using my 1D there if he excels at it. Certainly mean enough to do it.

 

[Johnny Engine]

I'm a little confused on the setup of your 1st PP unit as it looks like Gretzky is a net front guy, but surely that can't be right. Putting that aside here are some general thoughts:

There are a number of common power play scenarios where the lowest guy in the zone isn't the "net front guy", including overload-type setups, various approaches to the 1-3-1 that emphasize a goal line slide play where the bumper takes the heavy traffic, or a bespoke scenario tailored to Gretzky and his office. In all of those cases, I think I'd like to see someone other than LaFontaine or Cournoyer in the slot, but I would never look at that and assume Gretzky was playing Holmstrompuck.

 

[Johnny Engine]

So here's my creative take on @GKJ 's power play:

Gretzky
Yakushev - Lafontaine
Bure - Blake

Palffy
Chara/Stevens - Cournoyer
Barber - Giroux

Yakushev solves your slot problem on the first unit. Gretzky is at the goal line, free to wander behind the net for his own patented plays, but also able to hand it back and forth with Lafontaine on the right wall - with RHS Pat facing one way and LHS Wayne facing the other, they're both on their strong side. I've made sure Blake is on the same side as the puck will be most of the time, because he's going to be called on to hold the line more often and Bure isn't a defenseman.

The interesting thing with the second unit is that both Barber and Giroux have experience playing the point, and we've noted that Stevens and Chara have experience roughing it in the slot. If Overpass is correct, then Stevens might be the more accomplished player here, but moving on...
The decision to created a similar overload/goal line slide setup is partially for team continuity, but mostly so that I've got the one defenseman on the ice a little further back in case things go sideways. I've entrusted Palffy to play the slippery goal line role, and Cournoyer is on the right wall - unlike Lafontaine, Yvan is a LHS but I think that's fine because he's more of a shooter.

Now you may be asking why Johnny, are you having Barber and Stevens switch postions when Barber is a perfectly gritty forward for the net front? Well, because I had fun writing it and I thought getting that thought experiment out there was worth it. I hope it was thought provoking at the very least.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Should I stick with

Zach Parise / Mats Sundin / Jarome Iginla
Michel Goulet / Rod Brind'amour (C) / Jack Walker

Or should I panic and put Goulet on 2nd line despite it making my 2nd line less than the sum of their talent and making my 3rd line worse on offense? I feel like I have potentially a hole in my boat by putting Parise in top 6 who's skillset definitely feels like a bottom 6er on superteams.

 

[Hitru]

I personally would drop Parise to 3rd line