ATD 2023 Assassination Thread - Bob Cole Division

[ImporterExporter]

@TheDevilMadeMe @BraveCanadian @Claude The Fraud @nabby12 @ChiTownPhilly @Leaf Lander @BlueBleeder

Please post your rosters here for review.

We will keep assassinations open for 2 weeks at least, through 03/20.

Thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[BlueBleeder]

St. Louis Eagles

Head Coach - Fred Shero
Captain - Messier
Alt. Cap - Clarke
Alt. Cal - Weber

Firsov- Messier (C) - Hossa
Barber - Clarke (A) - Neely
Marcotte - Kopitar - Larmer
Gillies - Roenick - Gare

Salming - Weber(A)
Pronovost - R. Blake
Lowe - Boyle

Esposito
Smith

Reserves
Pastrnak
Redden
Holik

PP1 (1-3-1)
Hossa
Firsov - Messier - Larmer
Boyle

PP2
Barber - Clarke - Neely
Salming - Weber/Blake

PK1
Kopitar - Marcotte
Salming - Weber

Clarke - Gare
Lowe - Blake

Extra PK: Hossa, Larmer, Barber.

LINE-UP Notes:

Line 1: Will primarily get offensive zone/neutral zone starts. On home ice we will try to match up Messier against smaller less physical centers if possible.
Lines 2/3: Will draw more defensive zone starts and will be matched up with the other teams top 2 lines.
Line 4: Will be used primarily as a energy unit to provide supplemental scoring and will see less defensive zone starts.

For particularly tough defensive assignments Hossa can switch with Neely.

Pasta/Holik will primarily serve as injury replacements for Neely/Roenick who have some injury history. Pasta can also be inserted if we feel we need an offensive boost.

Salming and Weber will get the majority of the defensive zone starts on the defensive side. While Lowe and Boyle will draw more sheltered offensive zone starts.

The first PP unit will be focused on getting the puck to Firsov/Larmer for one timers.

Weber will be the primary trigger man on PP2 which will look for the more traditional blasts from the point.

Usage estimates:
Line 1: 16-18
Line 2: 16-18
Line 3: 14-16
Line 4: 10-12

1st Pair: 20-24
2nd Pair: 20-24
3rd Pair: 16-18

 

[Leaf Lander]

Coach:Barry Trotz
Captain: Armstrong
Assistant: Ovechkin
Assistant: StLouis
Assistant: Burns


Ovechkin - Adam Oates- St Louis
Kariya--Dionne--Gartner
Tavares-O'Rielly-Marner
Pulford-Otto-Armstrong
Staal- Nilsson

Kelly-Hedman
JC Tremblay-Burns
McCrimmon- Baun
Hollett

Sawchuk
Hainsworth

PP1:
Ovechkin Oates StLouis
Kelly Hedman
PP2:
Kariya Dionne Gartner
Tremblay Burns

PK1:
Otto Oates Kelly Hedman
PK2:
Gartner Pulford McCrimmon Tremblay

 

[nabby12]

Nabby12 & ChiTownPhilly - Gimil Whisky Thieves

Coach: Tommy Ivan
Special Assistant To Coach: Vladimir Kostka

Ted Lindsay (A) --- Ted Kennedy (C) --- Teemu Selanne
Paul Thompson --- Leon Draisaitl --- Rod Gilbert
Claude Giroux --- Max Bentley --- Eric Nesterenko
Esa Tikkanen --- Pavel Datsyuk --- Ed Westfall
Ilya Kovalchuk

Nicklas Lidstrom (A) --- Al MacInnis
Georges Boucher --- Jan Suchy
Leo Reise Jr. --- Teppo Numminen
Leo Boivin

Frank Brimsek
Chuck Rayner

PP #1: Lidström-MacInnis-Selänne-Draisaitl-P Thompson
PP#2: Suchý- G Boucher or Kovalchuk-Giroux-M Bentley-Lindsay
spare PPers- Datsyuk, Gilbert, Kennedy

PK #1: Lidström-Suchý-Kennedy-Westfall/Tikkanen
PK #2: G Boucher/Leo Reise Jr/Numminen [3 to choose 2]-Datsyuk/Giroux-Nesterenko
spare PKers: Boivin (replaces Reise on PP #2 when starting), MacInnis

Suggested Preliminary Regular Season time-on-ice chart:

Forwards:

Forward	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
T. Kennedy	13	1	3	17
Draisaitl	11	3		14
M. Bentley	12	2		14
Datsyuk	9	1	4	14
Lindsay	15	3		18
P. Thompson	12	4		16
C. Giroux	10	3	1	14
Tikkanen	10		2	12
Selänne	16	3		19

Gilbert	15	1		16
Nesterenko	12		2	14
Westfall	11		2	13

Defense

Defenseman	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
Lidström	17	4	3	24
G. Boucher	16	3	2	21
Leo Reise Jr	13		2	15
MacInnis	18	4	1	23
Suchý	15	3	4	22
Numminen	12		2	14

All looks-

Lindsay-Kennedy-Selanne
P Thompson-Draisaitl-Gilbert

Defensive/Road look-
Giroux-M. Bentley-Nesterenko
Tikkanen-Datsyuk-Westfall

Offensive/Home look-
Tikkanen Datsyuk Kovalchuk
Giroux-M. Bentley-Westfall

7 Defensemen look
Giroux-Datsyuk-Kovalchuk
M. Bentley-Nesterenko

Kovalchuk will take G. Boucher's place up top on PP2 when going with our "offensive look." Goalie starts are 75/25 in favor of Brimsek.

Multi-positionality:

Player	Will Be Playing	Can Play (ability)
Claude Giroux	Left Wing	C (well), RW (creditably)
Kovalchuk	Right Wing	LW (well)
G. Boucher	Left Defense	RD (well)
Lidström	Left Defense	RD (creditably)
Draisaitl	Center	LW/RW (creditably)
Westfall	Right Wing	RD (passably)

 

[Claude The Fraud]

Coach: Lester Patrick
Captain: Ray Bourque
Alternate: Rod Brind’Amour
Alternate: Ebbie Goodfellow

#55 Baldy Northcott - #7 Frank Boucher - #22 Mike Bossy
#16 Cy Denneny - #17 Marty Barry - #10 Vladimir Martinec
#20 Jiri Holik - #19 Rod Brind’Amour - #33 Tony Amonte
#27 John Tonelli - #18 Walt Tkaczuk - #11 Bob Nevin
#61 Pat Lafontaine - #14 Brian Sutter

#77 Ray Bourque - #6 Alexei Kasatonov
#5 Ebbie Goodfellow - #2 Jimmy Thomson
#23 Mike Ramsey - #3 «Bullet» Joe Simpson
#96 Phil Housley

#29 Ken Dryden
#32 Jonathan Quick

PP1
Denneny(net)
Boucher-Bossy
Goodfellow-Bourque

PP2
Brind'Amour(net)
Barry-Martinec
Simpson-Kasatonov

PK1
Brind'Amour-Nevin
Ramsey-Bourque

PK2
Boucher-Martinec
Goodfellow-Thomson/Kasatonov​

 

[BraveCanadian]

Apologies for the late post.

GMs: TDMM and BC

Coaches: Anatoli Tarasov & Arkady Chernyshev

Vladimir Krutov - Wayne Gretzky (C) - Boris Mikhailov (A)
Brad Marchand - Peter Stastny - Mickey MacKay
Sergei Kapustin - Darryl Sittler (A) - Daniel Alfredsson
Doug Mohns - Nicklas Backstrom - Blake Wheeler
Spares: Shane Doan (RW/LW), (Mickey MacKay, C)

Duncan Keith - Pierre Pilote
Carl Brewer - Fern Flaman
Sergei Gonchar- Red Dutton
Spares: (Doug Mohns)

Jacques Plante
Henrik Lundqvist

PP1: Vladimir Krutov - Wayne Gretzky - Boris Mikhailov - Sergei Gonchar - Pierre Pilote
PP2: Brad Marchand - Peter Stastny - Darryl Sittler - Daniel Alfredsson - Duncan Keith

PK1: Mickey MacKay - Brad Marchand - Duncan Keith - Fern Flaman
PK2: Wayne Gretzky - Vladimir Krutov/Boris Mikhailov - Carl Brewer - Red Dutton
PK spare: Nicklas Backstrom - Daniel Alfredsson, Doug Mohns

 

[VMBM]

Vladimir Krutov - Wayne Gretzky (C) - Boris Mikhailov (A)

Offensively, that's gotta be one of the scariest lines ever on paper. They would score, score, score... The playmaking duties rest very heavily on Gretzky's shoulders, but what else is new? Defensively though, meh... But they would have the puck a lot, so it shouldn't be a big problem. And I do think that especially Krutov—Gretzky would be a very dangerous pair on the PK.

I'm not totally sure whether Krutov and Mikhailov complement each other awfully well; were their player-types possibly a little too similar? They were mostly goal-scorers and at their best and most effective in front of the net. But since Krutov was the somewhat faster/better skater and had the bigger shot, maybe let Mikhailov mostly take care of the rebounds and deflections near the crease and Krutov could have a more moving and varied role offensively. Maybe I'm over-thinking, since in real life, they did play together a bit in the 1979—80 season (with Kharlamov centering them, I think), and from my understanding, it worked out just fine.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I also see Krutov as being more dangerous off the rush and Mikhailov being more focused on the slot but I think that between the two of them we have a bit of defense by committee along with Gretzky's ability to pick pockets and intercept pass attempts. Obviously, both of the wingers were quite physical as well.

I'm biased but I think this is a line that will be very difficult for teams to handle.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Nabby12 & ChiTownPhilly - Gimil Whisky Thieves

Coach: Tommy Ivan
Special Assistant To Coach: Vladimir Kostka

Ted Lindsay (A) --- Ted Kennedy (C) --- Teemu Selanne
Paul Thompson --- Leon Draisaitl --- Rod Gilbert
Claude Giroux --- Max Bentley --- Eric Nesterenko
Esa Tikkanen --- Pavel Datsyuk --- Ed Westfall
Ilya Kovalchuk

Nicklas Lidstrom (A) --- Al MacInnis
Georges Boucher --- Jan Suchy
Leo Reise Jr. --- Teppo Numminen
Leo Boivin

Frank Brimsek
Chuck Rayner

Suggested Preliminary Regular Season time-on-ice chart:

Forwards:

Forward	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
T. Kennedy	13	1	3	17
Draisaitl	11	3		14
M. Bentley	12	2		14
Datsyuk	9	1	4	14
Lindsay	15	3		18
P. Thompson	12	4		16
C. Giroux	10	3	1	14
Tikkanen	10		2	12
Selänne	16	3		19

Gilbert	15	1		16
Nesterenko	12		2	14
Westfall	11		2	13

Defense

Defenseman	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
Lidström	17	4	3	24
G. Boucher	16	3	2	21
Leo Reise Jr	13		2	15
MacInnis	18	4	1	23
Suchý	15	3	4	22
Numminen	12		2	14

PP1: Lidström-MacInnis-Selänne-Draisaitl-P. Thompson
PP2: Suchý-G. Boucher-C. Giroux-M. Bentley-Lindsay
extra PPers: Datsyuk, Gilbert, Kennedy

All looks-

Lindsay-Kennedy-Selanne
P Thompson-Draisaitl-Gilbert

Defensive/Road look-
Giroux-M. Bentley-Nesterenko
Tikkanen-Datsyuk-Westfall

Offensive/Home look-
Tikkanen Datsyuk Kovalchuk
Giroux-M. Bentley-Westfall

7 Defensemen look
Giroux-Datsyuk-Kovalchuk
M. Bentley-Nesterenko

Kovalchuk will take G. Boucher's place up top on PP2 when going with our "offensive look." Goalie starts are 75/25 in favor of Brimsek.

Multi-positionality:

Player	Will Be Playing	Can Play (ability)
Claude Giroux	Left Wing	C (well), RW (creditably)
Kovalchuk	Right Wing	LW (well)
G. Boucher	Left Defense	RD (well)
Lidström	Left Defense	RD (creditably)
Draisaitl	Center	LW/RW (creditably)
Westfall	Right Wing	RD (passably)

@ChiTownPhilly

As I began to review your team I don't see any PK units listed, and while you have a minutes chart, this does not appear to be accurate numbers-wise. You are over on your forward ES minutes , which total 146 and should be only 138 (the issue appears to be at RW).

I'll wait for you to correct this before giving my review.

 

[nabby12]

@ChiTownPhilly

As I began to review your team I don't see any PK units listed, and while you have a minutes chart, this does not appear to be accurate numbers-wise. You are over on your forward ES minutes , which total 146 and should be only 138 (the issue appears to be at RW).

I'll wait for you to correct this before giving my review.

From the roster thread, here is the most updated version of our team:

nabby12 & ChiTownPhilly - Gimil Whisky Thieves

Coach: Tommy Ivan
Special Assistant To Coach: Vladimir Kostka

Ted Lindsay (A) --- Ted Kennedy (C) --- Teemu Selanne
Paul Thompson --- Leon Draisaitl --- Rod Gilbert
Claude Giroux --- Max Bentley --- Eric Nesterenko
Esa Tikkanen --- Pavel Datsyuk --- Ed Westfall
Ilya Kovalchuk

Nicklas Lidstrom (A) --- Al MacInnis
Georges Boucher --- Jan Suchy
Leo Reise Jr. --- Teppo Numminen
Leo Boivin

Frank Brimsek
Chuck Rayner

Regular season time-on-ice charts:

First number- Defensively-oriented "road-game" template
Second number- Offensively-oriented "home-game" template
Third number- Template for dressing 7 Defensemen

C	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Kennedy	13	1	4	17
Draisaitl	11	3		14
M. Bentley	12	2		14
Datsyuk	9	1	2	13

W	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lindsay	15	3		18
P. Thompson	12/12/14	4		16/16/18
C. Giroux	10/10/14	3	2	15/15/18
Tikkanen	10/10/X		4/3/X	14/13/X
Selänne	16/15/16	3		19/18/19
Gilbert	14/15/16	1		15/16/17
Nesterenko	11/X/13		2/X/4	13/X/17
Westfall	11/11/X		2/3/X	13/14/X
Kovalchuk	X/11/13	X/3/3		X/14/16

D	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lidström	17/17/16	4	4	24/24/23
G. Boucher	16/16/14	3/3/0	0	21/21/16
L. Reise Jr	13/13/11		1	15/15/13
L. Boivin	X/X/10		2	X/X/10
MacInnis	18/18/16	4	1	23/23/21
Suchý	15/15/13	3	4	22/22/20
Numminen	13/13/11		2	15/15/13

PP1: Lidström-MacInnis-Selänne-Draisaitl-P. Thompson
PP2: Suchý-G. Boucher-C. Giroux-M. Bentley-Lindsay
extra PPers: Datsyuk, Gilbert, Kennedy

PK1: Lidström-Suchý-Tikkanen-Kennedy
PK2: G. Boucher-Numminen-Datsyuk/Giroux-Westfall/Nesterenko
extra PKers: Reise Jr, MacInnis

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

I only checked the first one, but forward minutes still over

 

[nabby12]

Just assassinate the damn roster. Don't worry about the ice time for now.

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

I only checked the first one, but forward minutes still over

First of all, let the record reflect that any errors in the minutes calculations are 100% my own. I'll request some indulgence while I work through the corrections. That said, I'll cop a plea for "degree-of-difficulty" factor, since I'm currently trying to arrange the numbers in a manner that accounts for all of the "looks" that an opponent is likely to see from us. [By the way, it's actually something of a relief that I'll be able to reduce the load placed on Selänne(!)]

This team differs from any team I've ever been involved in, to the extent that there will be defined uses for ALL 23 players on the roster. Everyone will be put in a position to contribute. and everyone except Boivin and Rayner should expect to play more games than not. [And even THAT's not set-in-cement, as Boivin seems to have some Penalty Kill bona fides, and by the time I'm through researching, it may be something closer to a "platoon" arrangement between the two Leos, when not using seven Defensemen.]

Current PK arrangements are: PK#1: Lidström, Suchý, Tikkanen, Kennedy... PK#2: G. Boucher/Reise (OR Boivin), Numminen (spare- MacInnis), Datsyuk/Giroux, Westfall/Nesterenko. The significant asterisk to THAT set-up is that, on those occasions where opposition disbursement would allow us to play two RHS Forwards with negligible ill-effect, then Westfall and Nesterenko can expect to see PK minutes increase, and Tikkanen can expect to see such minutes decrease. Furthermore, Boivin will be a clear choice for PK#2 when he gets starts.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Nabby12 & ChiTownPhilly - Gimil Whisky Thieves

Coach: Tommy Ivan
Special Assistant To Coach: Vladimir Kostka

Ted Lindsay (A) --- Ted Kennedy (C) --- Teemu Selanne
Paul Thompson --- Leon Draisaitl --- Rod Gilbert
Claude Giroux --- Max Bentley --- Eric Nesterenko
Esa Tikkanen --- Pavel Datsyuk --- Ed Westfall
Ilya Kovalchuk

Nicklas Lidstrom (A) --- Al MacInnis
Georges Boucher --- Jan Suchy
Leo Reise Jr. --- Teppo Numminen
Leo Boivin

Frank Brimsek
Chuck Rayner

Suggested Preliminary Regular Season time-on-ice chart:

Forwards:

Forward	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
T. Kennedy	13	1	3	17
Draisaitl	11	3		14
M. Bentley	12	2		14
Datsyuk	9	1	4	14
Lindsay	15	3		18
P. Thompson	12	4		16
C. Giroux	10	3	1	14
Tikkanen	10		2	12
Selänne	16	3		19

Gilbert	15	1		16
Nesterenko	12		2	14
Westfall	11		2	13

Defense

Defenseman	Even-Strength	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
Lidström	17	4	3	24
G. Boucher	16	3	2	21
Leo Reise Jr	13		2	15
MacInnis	18	4	1	23
Suchý	15	3	4	22
Numminen	12		2	14

PP1: Lidström-MacInnis-Selänne-Draisaitl-P. Thompson
PP2: Suchý-G. Boucher-C. Giroux-M. Bentley-Lindsay
extra PPers: Datsyuk, Gilbert, Kennedy

All looks-

Lindsay-Kennedy-Selanne
P Thompson-Draisaitl-Gilbert

Defensive/Road look-
Giroux-M. Bentley-Nesterenko
Tikkanen-Datsyuk-Westfall

Offensive/Home look-
Tikkanen Datsyuk Kovalchuk
Giroux-M. Bentley-Westfall

7 Defensemen look
Giroux-Datsyuk-Kovalchuk
M. Bentley-Nesterenko

Kovalchuk will take G. Boucher's place up top on PP2 when going with our "offensive look." Goalie starts are 75/25 in favor of Brimsek.

Multi-positionality:

Player	Will Be Playing	Can Play (ability)
Claude Giroux	Left Wing	C (well), RW (creditably)
Kovalchuk	Right Wing	LW (well)
G. Boucher	Left Defense	RD (well)
Lidström	Left Defense	RD (creditably)
Draisaitl	Center	LW/RW (creditably)
Westfall	Right Wing	RD (passably)

Here is my review of your team. I have some concerns, but many of them can be addressed by making lineup changes.

Strengths:
- Your 1st line (The T-Line) is well put together, both chemistry and ability wise. Playing on a line where the wingers drove the offense is something both Lindsay and Selanne had real life success with and Kennedy is a great guy to play the middle on a line like that, as he's extremely well rounded and a "willing to do whatever it takes" type of player.
- Lidstrom - MacInnis is one of the best top D pairings in the draft, it reminds of a rich man's Lidstrom - Murphy that was able to shut down the Legion of Doom.
- Goaltending is slightly above average
- Great leadership

Questions/Concerns:
- Personnel-wise you have a strong 2nd D pair, but I'm unclear on Suchy's defensive game. I see quotes about how he was one of the first Europeans to block shots, but then you hear so much about his offense and that he was called the European Bobby Orr. I think Boucher is best paired with a more well-rounded partner or a defense-first partner, as opposed to an offense-focused guy, so I'd like to hear the case for Suchy in that regard.
- Related to the above is Suchy on the top PK unit. Even if he is better defensively than I may have thought, I don't think he's 20-team ATD 1st unit PK good. Also, he had a short prime, so I think less PK time (where risk of injury is higher) would be better for him.
- Draisaitl's minutes seem high to me considering his career/prime length and who your other centers are. IMO Datsyuk should be getting more ES minutes with how valuable he is defensively. He's likely your go-to option for defensive zone draws as you'll probably want to save that top line for scoring situations. I'll be interested to see what other possible combos you come up with, it really feels like Draisaitl should be your #4 at ES.
- I may have missed you saying this when you drafted him, what is the dynamic going to be between Ivan and Kostka? Basically, what value do you think Kostka will bring and how will that compliment Ivan?
- This was brought up by me before when making my case for Zetterberg, Datsyuk did not PK very much in real life and minutes-wise he's your #1 PK forward.

Suggestions:
- I'm a fan of loading up the 1st PP unit, I'd go Lindsay and Selanne with either Bentley or Giroux up front. It feels weird to have Giroux over Bentley, but he's something of a PP specialist and Bentley often played the point, so he may be the better option, as there's no room for him on the point with Lidstrom - MacInnis back there, who are a fantastic PP point pair. You may want to consider putting Bentley on the point for PP 2 and going with Thompson - Draisaitl - Gilbert up front, taking out Boucher or Suchy to give them more even strength minutes.
- More PK time for Westfall and Nesterenko. They both PK'd a ton in real life (way more than Tikkanen) and for teams well above league average. They should be the wingers on your 2 PK units, with Tikkanen as spare or 3rd unit option. Westfall in particular is a great PKer.

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

I had composed the following revised time-on-ice chart before I read your review- and will submit it here, in a panel that I can access, so that I can revise it if further miscalculations are discovered:

To review, first number is road/defensively oriented line-up, second number is home/offensively oriented line-up, and 3rd number is the 7D look, which will primarily be used at home, too. the */† symbols indicate that either Nesterenko OR Westfall will be used for the assignment- it'll be Westfall more often than not.

Center	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Kennedy	13	1	5	19
Draisaitl	12	3		15
M Bentley	11	2		13
Datsyuk	11	1	1/1/2	13/13/14

Winger	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lindsay	15/14/16	3		18/17/19
P Thompson	11/11/12	4		15/15/16
C Giroux	9/9/10	3	1/2/2	13/14/15
Tikkanen	9/10/X		2/2/X	11.12/X
Selänne	14/14/16	3		17/17/19
Gilbert	12	1		13
Nesterenko	11/X/12*		2/X/4*	13/X/16*
Westfall	10/10/12†		2/X/4†	13/X/16†
Kovalchuk	X/11/13		X/3/3	X/14/16

Defenseman	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lidström	17/17/16	4	3	24/24/23
G Boucher	16/16/14	3/X/X	2	21/18/16
Leo Reise Jr	13/13/11		2/2/X	15/15/11
Leo Boivin	X/X/10		X/X/2	X/X/12
MacInnis	18/18/16	4	1	23/23/21
Suchý	13/13/14	3	4	22/22/21
Numminen	13/13/11		2	15/15/13

Here is my review of your team. I have some concerns, but many of them can be addressed by making lineup changes.

Strengths:
- Your 1st line (The T-Line) is well put together, both chemistry and ability wise. Playing on a line where the wingers drove the offense is something both Lindsay and Selanne had real life success with and Kennedy is a great guy to play the middle on a line like that, as he's extremely well rounded and a "willing to do whatever it takes" type of player.
- Lidstrom - MacInnis is one of the best top D pairings in the draft, it reminds of a rich man's Lidstrom - Murphy that was able to shut down the Legion of Doom.
- Goaltending is slightly above average
- Great leadership

Questions/Concerns:
- Personnel-wise you have a strong 2nd D pair, but I'm unclear on Suchy's defensive game. I see quotes about how he was one of the first Europeans to block shots, but then you hear so much about his offense and that he was called the European Bobby Orr. I think Boucher is best paired with a more well-rounded partner or a defense-first partner, as opposed to an offense-focused guy, so I'd like to hear the case for Suchy in that regard.
- Related to the above is Suchy on the top PK unit. Even if he is better defensively than I may have thought, I don't think he's 20-team ATD 1st unit PK good. Also, he had a short prime, so I think less PK time (where risk of injury is higher) would be better for him.
- Draisaitl's minutes seem high to me considering his career/prime length and who your other centers are. IMO Datsyuk should be getting more ES minutes with how valuable he is defensively. He's likely your go-to option for defensive zone draws as you'll probably want to save that top line for scoring situations. I'll be interested to see what other possible combos you come up with, it really feels like Draisaitl should be your #4 at ES.
- I may have missed you saying this when you drafted him, what is the dynamic going to be between Ivan and Kostka? Basically, what value do you think Kostka will bring and how will that compliment Ivan?
- This was brought up by me before when making my case for Zetterberg, Datsyuk did not PK very much in real life and minutes-wise he's your #1 PK forward.

Suggestions:
- I'm a fan of loading up the 1st PP unit, I'd go Lindsay and Selanne with either Bentley or Giroux up front. It feels weird to have Giroux over Bentley, but he's something of a PP specialist and Bentley often played the point, so he may be the better option, as there's no room for him on the point with Lidstrom - MacInnis back there, who are a fantastic PP point pair. You may want to consider putting Bentley on the point for PP 2 and going with Thompson - Draisaitl - Gilbert up front, taking out Boucher or Suchy to give them more even strength minutes.
- More PK time for Westfall and Nesterenko. They both PK'd a ton in real life (way more than Tikkanen) and for teams well above league average. They should be the wingers on your 2 PK units, with Tikkanen as spare or 3rd unit option. Westfall in particular is a great PKer.

A couple of your well-considered points are addressed with the info above. To begin with, Datsyuk is not our leading PK forward, Kennedy is. Secondly, we'll be leaning a bit more on Westfall and/or Nesterenko (but not at the same time) on the Penalty Kill.

The Penalty-Kill credentials for Suchý (with supporting video) may be found here:

The penalty killing of Jan Suchy during his peak years: A video study

One thing that has impressed me very much when watching peak Jan Suchy play is how great of a penalty killer he was. Because of this I decided to take a in-depth look at the penalty killing of Suchy during the 66/67-70/71 time frame by analyzing the available video footage from major...

forums.hfboards.com

Of course, we all recognize that calling Suchý "European Bobby Orr" is a bit of an over-hype. However, just as casuals (but not cognoscenti!) under-rate Bobby Orr's defensive-zone play, even serious hockey-history analysts may sometimes be prone to under-rating Suchý's defensive-zone play.

Re: Draisaitl: in last year's ATD, McDavid, on his way to finishing up his seventh season, was 2C for the ATD Champion. This year, Draisaitl is on his way to wrapping up his eighth complete season (ninth overall, counting his rush-to-service year as a teenager). Draisaitl played 116 NHL games before it was legal for him to publicly consume an alcoholic beverage in America. Interesting, huh? Well (digression alert), Ilya Kovalchuk played 227 NHL games before his 21st birthday.*

Re: Power Play- particularly P Thompson and Lindsay: as I'd hinted before in the "Line-Up Advice" thread, the two good things depression-era Chicago could typically do were: 1) play great defense, 2) convert power plays. Paul Thompson was the league's premier Power Play Forward of mid-to-late '30s- more than Nels Stewart, more than Sweeney Schriner.

Re: expending a draft-pick on Kostka: around Round 19. Gimli started discussing the acquisition of Kostka. We had noted, with interest, that several teams, including one Divisional rival, had starting Units of all L-hand shots. Kostka was pretty much the author of a proven defensive scheme that could be applied for just such a situation. Please note that I'm certainly not suggesting that Gimli's the only one could could set up a LW-lock (c.f.: my comments about all of the 1-3-1 Power Play set-ups out there). That said, we wanted to make it a point of emphasis- and expect that on those occasions we decide to deploy it, we'd be able to do so more effectively than anyone else in the League, with the possible exception of the Bowman-coached team.

Since we've started drafting, there have been research surprises in both directions- pleasant ones (like Paul Thompson's Power Play impact), and unpleasant ones (like Datsyuk's lack of Penalty-Kill usage IRL). Because we're playing, first and foremost, to learn, I thought I'd pass on some of what I've picked up on- good and bad-

Additional negative-ledger discoveries: it wasn't stunning for us to see that Kovalchuk was something of a "home-boy." [86 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] What WAS surprising was that Tikkanen was nearly as much of a "home-boy." [84 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] Leo Boivin is even more of a "home boy." [153 points of plus/minus difference between home and road- data excludes the '50s, where plus/minus stats aren't available.] And our biggest home-boy of all is Ed Westfall(!) [180 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] Nonetheless, he is NOT the biggest home-boy in the Division. We found someone on another team- who was minus 234 between home and road. Basically, this might make the guy ATD useless at even-strength on-the-road. Still- we'll spend more time concerning ourselves with the planks in our eyes, and not so much the specks in other people's eyes.

Contrarily, Eric Nesterenko is our depth-forward Road Warrior, and, for his career, was event-positive on-the-road (but still better at home). This data comes with the bug/feature/caveat that Nesterenko played eight complete seasons before plus/minus stats become available. We've already discussed Paul Thompson and his era-topping Power Play points. We should make a concluding note about Datsyuk's takeaway numbers. Yeah, we know that advanced metrics afcionados tend to look down on the takeaway stat, for many of the same reasons that they look down on the "hits" stat. (You don't have the puck if you're registering a 'hit.' And if you spend a lot time not having the puck, how does that reflect favorably on you?) Still, it's not like the Red Wings of Datsyuk's era were known for loose possession- and even at that, Datsyuk's takeaway numbers are so vastly ahead of his pursuers that even if the metrics were suspicious, they'd have to be about 20%+ suspicious over a 10-year period to make an appreciable difference to his own era-leading totals.

*[from above re: Kovalchuk- not so much a statistically relevant point as much as it's a human interest perspective- consider Kovalchuk at the end of his first three years. He's three seasons into his career, staked out his ground as the NHL goal-scoring leader before turning age 21 [in spite of playing for a craptastic team], and at that point in his recently starting-to-be-hopeful career, he gets hit by the lockout. The "what-might-have-beens" concerning Kovalchuk's career may have their origins in the bad taste in the mouth that must have left...]

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

I had composed the following revised time-on-ice chart before I read your review- and will submit it here, in a panel that I can access, so that I can revise it if further miscalculations are discovered:

To review, first number is road/defensively oriented line-up, second number is home/offensively oriented line-up, and 3rd number is the 7D look, which will primarily be used at home, too. the */† symbols indicate that either Nesterenko OR Westfall will be used for the assignment- it'll be Westfall more often than not.

Center	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Kennedy	13	1	5	19
Draisaitl	12	3		15
M Bentley	11	2		13
Datsyuk	11	1	1/1/2	13/13/14

Winger	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lindsay	15/14/16	3		18/17/19
P Thompson	11/11/12	4		15/15/16
C Giroux	9/9/10	3	1/2/2	13/14/15
Tikkanen	9/10/X		2/2/X	11.12/X
Selänne	14/14/16	3		17/17/19
Gilbert	12	1		13
Nesterenko	11/X/12*		2/X/4*	13/X/16*
Westfall	10/10/12†		2/X/4†	13/X/16†
Kovalchuk	X/11/13		X/3/3	X/14/16

Defenseman	ES	PP	PK	TOT
Lidström	17/17/16	4	3	24/24/23
G Boucher	16/16/14	3/X/X	2	21/18/16
Leo Reise Jr	13/13/11		2/2/X	15/15/11
Leo Boivin	X/X/10		X/X/2	X/X/12
MacInnis	18/18/16	4	1	23/23/21
Suchý	13/13/14	3	4	22/22/21
Numminen	13/13/11		2	15/15/13

A couple of your well-considered points are addressed with the info above. To begin with, Datsyuk is not our leading PK forward, Kennedy is. Secondly, we'll be leaning a bit more on Westfall and/or Nesterenko (but not at the same time) on the Penalty Kill.

The Penalty-Kill credentials for Suchý (with supporting video) may be found here:

The penalty killing of Jan Suchy during his peak years: A video study

One thing that has impressed me very much when watching peak Jan Suchy play is how great of a penalty killer he was. Because of this I decided to take a in-depth look at the penalty killing of Suchy during the 66/67-70/71 time frame by analyzing the available video footage from major...

forums.hfboards.com

Of course, we all recognize that calling Suchý "European Bobby Orr" is a bit of an over-hype. However, just as casuals (but not cognoscenti!) under-rate Bobby Orr's defensive-zone play, even serious hockey-history analysts may sometimes be prone to under-rating Suchý's defensive-zone play.

Re: Draisaitl: in last year's ATD, McDavid, on his way to finishing up his seventh season, was 2C for the ATD Champion. This year, Draisaitl is on his way to wrapping up his eighth complete season (ninth overall, counting his rush-to-service year as a teenager). Draisaitl played 116 NHL games before it was legal for him to publicly consume an alcoholic beverage in America. Interesting, huh? Well (digression alert), Ilya Kovalchuk played 227 NHL games before his 21st birthday.*

Re: Power Play- particularly P Thompson and Lindsay: as I'd hinted before in the "Line-Up Advice" thread, the two good things depression-era Chicago could typically do were: 1) play great defense, 2) convert power plays. Paul Thompson was the league's premier Power Play Forward of mid-to-late '30s- more than Nels Stewart, more than Sweeney Schriner.

Re: expending a draft-pick on Kostka: around Round 19. Gimli started discussing the acquisition of Kostka. We had noted, with interest, that several teams, including one Divisional rival, had starting Units of all L-hand shots. Kostka was pretty much the author of a proven defensive scheme that could be applied for just such a situation. Please note that I'm certainly not suggesting that Gimli's the only one could could set up a LW-lock (c.f.: my comments about all of the 1-3-1 Power Play set-ups out there). That said, we wanted to make it a point of emphasis- and expect that on those occasions we decide to deploy it, we'd be able to do so more effectively than anyone else in the League, with the possible exception of the Bowman-coached team.

Since we've started drafting, there have been research surprises in both directions- pleasant ones (like Paul Thompson's Power Play impact), and unpleasant ones (like Datsyuk's lack of Penalty-Kill usage IRL). Because we're playing, first and foremost, to learn, I thought I'd pass on some of what I've picked up on- good and bad-

Additional negative-ledger discoveries: it wasn't stunning for us to see that Kovalchuk was something of a "home-boy." [86 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] What WAS surprising was that Tikkanen was nearly as much of a "home-boy." [84 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] Leo Boivin is even more of a "home boy." [153 points of plus/minus difference between home and road- data excludes the '50s, where plus/minus stats aren't available.] And our biggest home-boy of all is Ed Westfall(!) [180 points of plus/minus difference between home and road.] Nonetheless, he is NOT the biggest home-boy in the Division. We found someone on another team- who was minus 234 between home and road. Basically, this might make the guy ATD useless at even-strength on-the-road. Still- we'll spend more time concerning ourselves with the planks in our eyes, and not so much the specks in other people's eyes.

Contrarily, Eric Nesterenko is our depth-forward Road Warrior, and, for his career, was event-positive on-the-road (but still better at home). This data comes with the bug/feature/caveat that Nesterenko played eight complete seasons before plus/minus stats become available. We've already discussed Paul Thompson and his era-topping Power Play points. We should make a concluding note about Datsyuk's takeaway numbers. Yeah, we know that advanced metrics afcionados tend to look down on the takeaway stat, for many of the same reasons that they look down on the "hits" stat. (You don't have the puck if you're registering a 'hit.' And if you spend a lot time not having the puck, how does that reflect favorably on you?) Still, it's not like the Red Wings of Datsyuk's era were known for loose possession- and even at that, Datsyuk's takeaway numbers are so vastly ahead of his pursuers that even if the metrics were suspicious, they'd have to be about 20%+ suspicious over a 10-year period to make an appreciable difference to his own era-leading totals.

*[from above re: Kovalchuk- not so much a statistically relevant point as much as it's a human interest perspective- consider Kovalchuk at the end of his first three years. He's three seasons into his career, staked out his ground as the NHL goal-scoring leader before turning age 21 [in spite of playing for a craptastic team], and at that point in his recently starting-to-be-hopeful career, he gets hit by the lockout. The "what-might-have-beens" concerning Kovalchuk's career may have their origins in the bad taste in the mouth that must have left...]

Thanks for your reply, nice to see you guys decided to take some of my suggestions.

In regard to your comments on Draisaitl compared to McDavid's use in last year's ATD, there are some stark differences that should be considered:

For one, while Draisaitl is in his 8th complete season this year, he is only in his 7th prime season starting from the 2016-17 season. McDavid's prime started from his very first season where he was 4th in points per game in an injury shortened year and then went on to win the Hart/Pearson/Ross the following season. So essentially when making the comparison of McDavid last year vs. Draisaitl this year, you're talking about the same number of prime seasons, and obviously McDavid's prime was on a much higher level than Draisaitl's over those 7 seasons. Looking at offense only, my very rough estimate is that Draisaitl's 7yr vs.X will be around a 95 after this year, whereas after last year McDavid was a 104.5 (and that's with him getting dinged for the injury shortened year). Obviously McDavid has racked up a lot more awards as well and is the #1 focus of opponents when those two are playing on separate lines.

Second, and perhaps more important, is the setup of the ATD Champ last year was different than your team. With Bergeron and Larionov as the 3rd/4th line centers McDavid was easily the best choice among those 3 for a 2nd line scoring line role, but you have Max Bentley as an option, and a clearly better option IMO. Also, as I mentioned before, unless you want your top line taking a lot of D-zone draws, Datsyuk seems to be the main option there. So just simply in terms of getting the most out of what you have, I would want Bentley and Dastsyuk getting more ES time than Draisaitl.