Jim Robson Division Quarterfinals: (3) Home Hardware 2x4s vs. (6) Minnesota F. Saints

[jarek]

Home Hardware 2x4s

Coach: Pat Quinn

Captain: Boris Mikhailov
Assistant Captains: Bruce Stuart, Lloyd Cook

Harvey "Busher" Jackson - Howie Morenz - Vladimir Martinec
George Hay - Bill Cowley - Boris Mikhailov (C)
Sergei Kapustin - Neil Colville - Jack Walker
Bruce Stuart (A) - Steve Kasper - Cully Wilson

Sprague Cleghorn - Harry Cameron
Ryan Suter - William "Hod" Stuart
Lloyd Cook (A) - Dave Burrows

Spares: Dallas Smith, D, Goldie Prodger, F/D, Harry Oliver, RW, Albert Kerr, LW

Hugh Lehman
Curtis Joseph

PP1: Jackson - Morenz - Martinec - Cleghorn - Cameron
PP2: Hay - Cowley - Mikhailov - Cook - H. Stuart

PK1: Kasper - Walker - Cleghorn - Burrows
PK2: Morenz - Colville - Suter - H. Stuart

PP spares: Kapustin, Colville, Wilson, B. Stuart, Suter
PK spares: Martinec, Hay, B. Stuart, Cook, Cameron



vs.

GM: Nalyd Psycho
Head Coach: Mike Babcock
Alternate Coach: Pete Muldoon
Captain: Clarence Day
Alternate Captains: Leonard Kelly & Reginald Smith

Depth Charts

Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing | Defence | Goalkeeper
Ilya Kovalchuk|Fred Taylor|Mats Sundin|Leonard Kelly|Ken Dryden
Jere Lehtinen|Reginald Smith|Bernie Morris|Clarence Day|Alec Connell
Reg Noble|Nels Stewart|Eddie Oatman|Doug Mohns|
Pavol Demitra|Tommy Smith|Jere Lehtinen|Hamby Shore|
Doug Mohns|Mats Sundin|Reginald Smith|Fred Lake|
Rusty Crawford|Leonard Kelly|Dustin Byfuglien|Dustin Byfuglien|
Fred Lake|Rusty Crawford|Ilya Kovalchuk|Reg Noble|
Tommy Smith|Bernie Morris|Rusty Crawford|Fred Taylor|
Nels Stewart|Reg Noble|Fred Taylor|Eddie Oatman|
Clarence Day|Pavol Demitra|Pavol Demitra|Nels Stewart|
Hamby Shore|||Reginald Smith|
Fred Taylor||||

Special Teams:

Powerplay 1: Fred Taylor-Nels Stewart-Mats Sundin-Leonard Kelly-Ilya Kovalchuk
Powerplay 2: Dustin Byfuglien-Tommy Smith-Bernie Morris-Reginald Smith-Doug Mohns
Penalty Kill 1: Jere Lehtinen-Leonard Kelly-Nels Stewart-Reginald Smith
Penalty Kill 2: Doug Mohns-Reg Noble-Clarence Day-Eddie Oatman

Spares:
Trevor Linden (RW/C), Brett Burns (D/RW) & Harry Smith (LW/C)​

Click to read more...

 

[jarek]

To be quite frank, I'm not even sure where to begin discussing this series.

 

[Iceman]

 

[jarek]

One thing I will note: Minnesota looks quite strong down the middle, but the wingers and defense definitely feel lacklustre, especially LW and D. Noble and Taylor might end up spending a significant amount of time on D, which I feel will hurt Minnesota's cause quite a bit in not having them available up front, particularly Taylor, the Saints' best forward.

Hooley Smith, the Saints' best RW by my estimation, may also be forced to spend a lot of time on D, which will really hurt the Saints' depth on RW for sure.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Minnesota could really use an estimated ice time chart.

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Nalyd's team needs to be posted in a normal lineup, it really does.

Does he have Byfuglien in the top 4 and Red Noble playing D?

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo. â€
- Bruce Lee

Coaching strategy:
The Minnesota Fighting Saints combine the two man unit line rolling of Mike Babcock with the positional fluidity of Pete Muldoon. The two man units creates chemistry. The line rolling ensures strength at all times. The positional fluidity creates controlled chaos. For the Fighting Saints this is something they have spent all year doing and learning. Learning fluid positions and fluid roles. For the opposition, it creates unpredictability.

Two Man units:
Kovalchuk and Taylor - Taylor is one of, if not the greatest drop and back pass playmakers, using his speed to create north-south gaps. He excels when he has players who can keep up with him and can shoot with the power and accuracy needed to score with distance from the goal. Kovalchuk is the ideal player to provide that. Options for 3rd man: Smith, provides selfless passing, strong corner and defensive work, excels at creating turnovers in the neutral zone. Lehtinen, provides strong corner work, a secondary and rebound shooter, excellent defense, can be used as a shadow if strength on strength is used against this line. Byfuglien, particularly when used with offensive zone starts, provides an enormous and infuriating front of net presence that magnifies the lethality of Kovalchuk's shooting.

Stewart and Sundin - Used only for offensive zone starts. Stewart's all-time great face-off skills will be a huge advantage when taking offensive zone draws. Stewart's high and low slot scoring abilities make him a constant threat in the offensive zone. Sundin provides size and strength on the cycle, on the boards and the ability to maintain possession under pressure. With the playmaking ability to get the puck through to Stewart. Options for 3rd man: Mohns, provides a second man on the boards, a strong shot from the outside and speed on the backcheck. Demitra, provides east west puck movement in the offensive zone combined with a willingness to backcheck. Crawford, another big hardworker to aid on the cycle, also a strong defensive player.

Stewart and Noble - Used only in defensive zone starts. Allows Stewart to take tough defensive faceoffs and then fall back into the roll of a defender. All evidence from the era show that his defensive deficiencies are in transition and that as a defenceman he was excellent at battling opposing forwards and aiding the breakout. Noble has the speed and vision to lead the attack from the center position, while lining up in the defensive position; along with the defensive play and tireless effort to hold back an attack if possession is lost. Options for 3rd man: Mohns, has the speed, shot and transition game to be the sniper on the counter attack along with the defensive experience to stay back in a defensive role. Oatman, also has the experience to play defense, has the ability to assume a playmaking role allowing Noble to be the shooter. Kelly, ensures defensive strength while allowing for an unexpected elite center leading the counter attack.

Smith and Morris - Smith is a similar player to Stewart, but without the defensive game to play in the defensive zone, but with better skating allowing for neutral zone starts. Morris is twofold beneficial. Combining the ability to be a strong playmaker from the wing while playing the defensive role of a center. The combination has the ability to shift left or right allowing for either side winger to round out the unit. Options for 3rd man: Lake, provides additional speed in transition for neutral zone starts with the ability to join the attack or form a defensive wall depending on how the play develops. Crawford, provides power down low for offensive zone starts and an additional center presence for transitional defence. Oatman, frees up Morris to shoot more while ensuring Smith's defensive woes are minimized.

Kelly and Smith - Total versatility (Kelly at center with Smith at RW, Kelly at D with Smith at C, Kelly at D with Smith at D, Kelly at C with Smith at D, Kelly at D with Smith at RW) needed to be unpredictable and elitely effective. Used against other teams top units allowing for elite defence combined with strength on strength pressure. Options for 3rd man: Lehtinen, kicks the defensive ability of the unit up a level when opposition loads up the top unit. Demitra, provides increased offensive strength, able to pass or score without hurting the team defensively. Noble, as a C/LW/D slides in as another piece in the versatility and unpredictability puzzle.

Keys to victory:
Keeping the 2x4s on their heels - The Fighting Saints have trained all year to be in a constant state of change, even if the difficult learning curve meant a poor seeding. They are now a well oiled machine that is able to slip and slide into constantly evolving roles and positions. This will ensure that the 2x4s are in a constant state of adaptation and reaction, never able to find their groove, while for the Fighting Saints, the change is their groove. Under normal circumstances, a seven game series will progress with both teams feeling out, learning and changing based on what they learn. The 2x4s will be unable to do this, while the Fighting Saints will.

Dryden - Whether Lehman or Joseph is in goal for the 2x4s, Dryden is a significant advantage for the Fighting Saints. Dryden is proven to be able to steal series from combinations that could not be recreated in an ATD such as Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Lehman lost his teams teams more playoff series than he won. Joseph built a reputation by scoring big upsets, but his upsets were followed by getting crushed. When he was in a position of strength, he was just as likely to be upset as he was to win. Dryden may be the biggest goaltending advantage of the first round.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Minnesota could really use an estimated ice time chart.

Nalyd's team needs to be posted in a normal lineup, it really does.

Does he have Byfuglien in the top 4 and Red Noble playing D?

Both these things would go specifically against the fluid team I have built. Notions as top 4 and expected ice time are not concepts that fit in the Fighting Saints. Those are the types of plays that allow opposing coaches to plan and expect. We do not let coaches expect what they will have to face.

 

[jarek]

Thanks for participating Nalyd!

I don't think talking about line matching is particularly useful in this series, mainly because Pat Quinn was never really known for it and the Saints are clearly built to keep guys in ever shifting roles. So, I think it's probably more useful to talk about the quality of the personnel on each team. I don't have time for that tonight though, so I'll just leave a few comments here.

While having that versatility for the Saints is certainly a big bonus, I believe you paid a price for it in terms of the overall quality of the personnel in your lineup. Just looking at it at a glance, I don't believe the Saints have many advantages in terms of personnel at any position. The obvious ones are #1 D with Kelly and goaltender with Dryden, but after that, I don't see any obvious advantages (although admittedly I may be missing something).

I'm not sure your comments about Lehman in particular are very fair. The team lost more series than they won - this is true of any team in the history of the game. You can say that about any goalie as well. Even Roy lost more series than he won. Unless you want to claim that Lehman specifically lost more series for his team himself than he won, in which case I'm going to have to ask you to prove it. To put a clear question on this: yes, Lehman's teams didn't win a whole lot in the playoffs, but how much of that was his fault? Not only that, but isn't it also true that they had more opportunities in the playoffs than most other teams of the era? Just quickly glancing at his profile, his teams played for the Stanley Cup fairly often. Dick Irvin has the same issue as a coach - made the finals a ridiculous amount of times but couldn't get over the hump too frequently. It's hard to pin this kind of thing on a single guy unless you can prove it concretely.

While largely true about Joseph with respect to how his teams performed, I don't believe he was ever truly at fault for his teams bowing out early in the playoffs. Even with his playoff series record, he still finished top-3 in playoff save percentage 5 times.

And this directly from my bio, courtesy of overpass:

Won 6 playoff series in his 4 years in Toronto - only Roy, Hasek, Brodeur, and Belfour won more.

More info on Lehman, specifically in Stanley Cup series:

His teams played for the Stanley Cup 7 times, and he personally has a 1-6 record in those challenges (this is probably inaccurate as the Stanley Cup challenges were played in multiple stages).

In 1910, Galt got smoked by Ottawa HC 15-4. Check out the lineups and it's not hard to see why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Hockey_Association_(1909–10)#Stanley_Cup_Challenges

In 1915, Vancouver swept the Ottawa Senators 3-0, scoring 26 goals to Ottawa's 7.

In 1918, Vancouver lost 3-2 in the challenge, scoring 21 goals to Toronto's 18. The final game was lost 2-1. Pretty close series here.

In 1921, Vancouver again kept the Stanley Cup challenge very close, losing to Ottawa 3-2, scoring 12 goals to Ottawa's 12. The final game was again 2-1.

In 1922, Vancouver lost 3-2, again in a somewhat close series, despite the scores of the final two games (5-0 and 6-1 respectively). The first 3 games were close and if not for Dye's overtime heroics in game 2, the series never would have gone past 3 games.

In 1923 and 1924 Vancouver didn't appear to play for the Stanley Cup as the actual cup series in both years were played by WCHL teams. This doesn't say much, but Lehman had a GAA of 2.5 and 3 in both these years (pretty consistent with the other Stanley Cup challenges he played in), which doesn't suggest goaltending or defensive play was the issue.

I've heard a few stories from you guys about Lehman coughing up bad goals, but it really doesn't appear like this was a frequent occurrence.. how does this record of even appearing in playoffs compare to other goalies of the era? I mean, I'm not even sure if this really means much, but Clint Benedict even only had 5 appearances in Stanley Cup challenges. The point being that more opportunities in the playoffs can sometimes lead to a guy looking worse than he actually is if he loses a lot.. like Dick Irvin, again.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Lehman played in, I believe, 8 playoff series, winning once, and being a contributor defeat on two or three ocassions. The unfair part is that he almost never played in a playoff series that was not a Stanley Cup final because the PCHA used regular season to determine champions.

And I will agree that Joseph was the fifth best goalie of his era, and that his era is one of the top two eras for goalies.

But I still maintain significant goaltending advantage.

 

[seventieslord]

Does Minnesota have only one goalie??

 

[BenchBrawl]

^^ Wondering the same thing.

In any I'm intrigued how this series will play out, especially given it's in my division.Nalyd's team is a nice concept but a bit confusing to attack or defend (both ways).

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Does Minnesota have only one goalie??

I will update my roster tomorrow. Alec Connell, Hamby Shore, Fred Lake, and Pete Muldoon are missing from my roster and Trevor Linden, Brett Burns and Harry Smith on my bench.

 

[Sturminator]

Lehman played in, I believe, 8 playoff series, winning once, and being a contributor defeat on two or three ocassions. The unfair part is that he almost never played in a playoff series that was not a Stanley Cup final because the PCHA used regular season to determine champions.

That's not true. The PCHA had three game playoff series between the 1st and 2nd place finishers for most of its existence.

 

[Sturminator]

I've heard a few stories from you guys about Lehman coughing up bad goals, but it really doesn't appear like this was a frequent occurrence...

You've "heard a few stories", eh? Feigning ignorance about your own player is an interesting tactic.

 

[jarek]

Lehman played in, I believe, 8 playoff series, winning once, and being a contributor defeat on two or three ocassions. The unfair part is that he almost never played in a playoff series that was not a Stanley Cup final because the PCHA used regular season to determine champions.

And I will agree that Joseph was the fifth best goalie of his era, and that his era is one of the top two eras for goalies.

But I still maintain significant goaltending advantage.

No question, the goaltender advantage is in your hands by a considerable margin. Without looking too deeply, it wouldn't surprise me if it *was* the largest goaltending advantage in the first round.

You've "heard a few stories", eh? Feigning ignorance about your own player is an interesting tactic.

Dude, that IS all I heard. When I asked what his weakness was, you guys mentioned he had a long shot weakness, but never actually showed me any specific examples (to be fair, I didn't ask). I'd like to see those, if possible, specifically paying attention to the frequency, and the dates. If I have forgotten something, please remind me. I am not trying to be dishonest here.

Near as I can tell, in actual cup challenges, Lehman's teams went 1-3 in ones where his teams weren't horribly outclassed. Of those:

- they swept one quite decisively
- two others were kept extremely tight right until the end where they lost 2-1 in both deciding games (I think it'll be extremely important if in those particular games, April 4th, 1921, and March 28th, 1922, Lehman blew it for the team on the winning goal)
- one other which was kept very close and could have been swept in the first three games, then got totally outclassed the last two games

Is this record good? No, but it's not like Lehman ever got consistently blown out in important games. Obviously we can't ignore the other cup challenges entirely, but I'll need to dig deeper to find the actual scoring results for the two series in 1924 and 1925, while I do want to discard the results of 1910 simply because Lehman's team was playing against a vastly superior Ottawa team who I would have considered a joke if they didn't dominate it.

Now, all that being said, Lehman is still likely going to end up as a below average playoff goalie in this ATD. We're talking about the best of the best here. But is he a liability? Show me that he is. I just don't buy it, looking closer at the actual results.

 

[Sturminator]

Dude, that IS all I heard. When I asked what his weakness was, you guys mentioned he had a long shot weakness, but never actually showed me any specific examples (to be fair, I didn't ask). I'd like to see those, if possible, specifically paying attention to the frequency, and the dates. If I have forgotten something, please remind me. I am not trying to be dishonest here.

Ok...here is all the relevant information that I know of:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230327&printsec=frontpage&hl=en (scroll to page 16) - Lehman's most famous bad goal, against the Ottawa Sens in the playoffs (though not the finals).

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=NSoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=368,14064824&hl=en - Lehman's first known gaffe, in game 5 of the Cup finals.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=96423781&postcount=58 - a description of the 1919 PCHA playoffs, in which Lehman had another bad moment. I have seen the source document for the game in question, but do not have a direct link to it, sorry.

 

[jarek]

Ok...here is all the relevant information that I know of:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=PLWDSxI5WzYC&dat=19230327&printsec=frontpage&hl=en (scroll to page 16) - Lehman's most famous bad goal, against the Ottawa Sens in the playoffs (though not the finals).

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=NSoMAAAAIBAJ&pg=368,14064824&hl=en - Lehman's first known gaffe, in game 5 of the Cup finals.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=96423781&postcount=58 - a description of the 1919 PCHA playoffs, in which Lehman had another bad moment. I have seen the source document for the game in question, but do not have a direct link to it, sorry.

Thanks Sturm. What do you make of this in light of his teams' performances in the playoffs? Lehman wouldn't be the last goalie to make blunders at critical moments and his generally high amount of opportunities in the playoffs, at least in this respect, would work against him. I think the fact that his teams performed fairly well in the vast majority of games in the cup finals should lend credence to the idea that Lehman was good much more often than not.

Honestly, when people were talking about Lehman as a bad playoff goalie, I was expecting quite a few blowouts on his record. In terms of goals against, and again, without looking too deeply, it does seem he compares pretty well against his contemporaries. Aside from these few moments, it doesn't seem like his bad playoff reputation is very warranted.

Now, that being said, if you compare his playoff record against the very best, he probably still doesn't come out looking too great. I knew that coming into this. My position is that he isn't the liability that I initially thought, and my team should generate more than enough offense to cover up the odd time he does make a bad play.

EDIT: So just reading through these reports, the very first one was in 1923, close to the end of Lehman's career when Vancouver didn't make it to the finals. Worth noting is that it seems Ottawa pretty decisively outplayed Vancouver (the game ended 5-1) so it's pretty hard to blame Lehman for that.

The second one however is indefensible and it could be argued that Lehman's gaffe cost the team the series. The game ended 2-1 so he very likely would have been overall very good, but not good enough of course.

Don't have time right now to read the third report, I'll get to it when I get home.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

GM: Nalyd Psycho
Head Coach: Mike Babcock
Alternate Coach: Pete Muldoon
Captain: Clarence Day
Alternate Captains: Leonard Kelly & Reginald Smith

Depth Charts

Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing | Defence | Goalkeeper
Ilya Kovalchuk|Fred Taylor|Mats Sundin|Leonard Kelly|Ken Dryden
Jere Lehtinen|Reginald Smith|Bernie Morris|Clarence Day|Alec Connell
Reg Noble|Nels Stewart|Eddie Oatman|Doug Mohns|
Pavol Demitra|Tommy Smith|Jere Lehtinen|Hamby Shore|
Doug Mohns|Mats Sundin|Reginald Smith|Fred Lake|
Rusty Crawford|Leonard Kelly|Dustin Byfuglien|Dustin Byfuglien|
Fred Lake|Rusty Crawford|Ilya Kovalchuk|Reg Noble|
Tommy Smith|Bernie Morris|Rusty Crawford|Fred Taylor|
Nels Stewart|Reg Noble|Fred Taylor|Eddie Oatman|
Clarence Day|Pavol Demitra|Pavol Demitra|Nels Stewart|
Hamby Shore|||Reginald Smith|
Fred Taylor||||

Special Teams:

Powerplay 1: Fred Taylor-Nels Stewart-Mats Sundin-Leonard Kelly-Ilya Kovalchuk
Powerplay 2: Dustin Byfuglien-Tommy Smith-Bernie Morris-Reginald Smith-Doug Mohns
Penalty Kill 1: Jere Lehtinen-Leonard Kelly-Nels Stewart-Reginald Smith
Penalty Kill 2: Doug Mohns-Reg Noble-Clarence Day-Eddie Oatman

Spares:
Trevor Linden (RW/C), Brett Burns (D/RW) & Harry Smith (LW/C)[/CENTER]

 

[jarek]

Just read the description of the 1919 playoffs. The goal seems to have been bad, however, seems the entire team was bad. Again.. not sure how much to blame Lehman for this one when it's noted that he kept the team in the game as long as he could against an onslaught of shots.

 

[jarek]

VsX7 table for the top-6 guys and other notable offensive players:

Red = 2x4s
Blue = Saints

Howie Morenz | 102.2 Bill Cowley | 97 Nels Stewart | 90.3 Busher Jackson | 89.5 Ilya Kovalchuk | 83.9 Mats Sundin | 82.1 Hooley Smith | 78 Pavol Demitra | 74.5 Neil Colville | 72.1

Adding the top-4 for each team
2x4s: 360.8
Saints: 334.3

The 2x4s hold a very slight edge.

Notable omissions
2x4s: Mikhailov, Martinec, Hay, Kapustin
Saints: Taylor, Morris, Noble

I believe the omissions likely work against the 2x4s moreso than the Saints, though not by a great deal, and it may very well be a wash. Taylor is the best of the omissions, then Mikhailov and Martinec, followed by Morris, Hay, Noble and Kapustin (Kapustin may be ahead of Noble.. not sure).

Among the forwards, I am surprised to find the Saints aren't terribly far behind the 2x4s offensively, despite how the PP units compare.

PP1: Jackson - Morenz - Martinec - Cleghorn - Cameron
PP2: Hay - Cowley - Mikhailov - Cook - H. Stuart

vs.

Powerplay 1: Fred Taylor-Nels Stewart-Mats Sundin-Leonard Kelly-Ilya Kovalchuk
Powerplay 2: Dustin Byfuglien-Tommy Smith-Bernie Morris-Reginald Smith-Doug Mohns

The first units are fairly close I believe, but the 2x4s run away with the advantage on the second unit.

I think where the 2x4s offensive advantage really shows up is on D.

By my estimation, Kelly, Day, Mohns, Shore and Lake are likely to play most of their shifts on D, with splashes of Noble, Taylor, Stewart and Byfuglien. I think this particular D-corps overall is going to struggle to move the puck, and this lack of transition from the Saints' D is going to be a key piece of this series.

Every single defense pair on the 2x4s is able to effectively move the puck. Kelly might be the best offensive D in the series, but the 2x4s by my estimation have the next 4 in Cleghorn, Cameron, Stuart and Cook, and it isn't particularly close. Mohns is probably the closest the Saints have to a guy who can compare with the 2x4s group, and him being the 2nd best puck distributor on D is going to spell trouble for the Saints.

When you consider the impact the defensemen are likely to have in this series in transition, the 2x4s are pretty handily the better team here offensively.

 

[jarek]

Also of note is that despite the fluidity of the Saints' lineup being an advantage in their favor, it isn't as much as one may think it would be considering Pat Quinn never cared much for matching lines. So the Saints' fluidity won't concern Quinn too much, he will likely deploy his lines as he did in real life, perhaps paying a little extra mind when Taylor or Stewart step over the boards.

 

[Sturminator]

I think the fact that his teams performed fairly well in the vast majority of games in the cup finals should lend credence to the idea that Lehman was good much more often than not.

Honestly, when people were talking about Lehman as a bad playoff goalie, I was expecting quite a few blowouts on his record. In terms of goals against, and again, without looking too deeply, it does seem he compares pretty well against his contemporaries. Aside from these few moments, it doesn't seem like his bad playoff reputation is very warranted.

I have seen plenty of playoff game reports which describe Lehman standing on his head. He definitely wasn't bad all the time in the postseason, and was often good. Overall, his playoff GAA is pretty much the same as his regular season GAA, so it doesn't appear that he simply collapsed with any kind of regularity.

It's certainly possible that Lehman in the playoffs was more schlamazel than schlemiel, but the historical record is what it is.

 

[Iceman]

Nalyd, I got a question, mostly out of curiosity;

What was the reason you drafted so many multi-positional players? Was it just to make it easier to make the 2 man forechecking "unit" work in games against all time greats? I mean, I guess just drafting a center and a winger could've worked, albeit a bit harder to get it to work if your single-position player of choice got drafted.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Nalyd, I got a question, mostly out of curiosity;

What was the reason you drafted so many multi-positional players? Was it just to make it easier to make the 2 man forechecking "unit" work in games against all time greats? I mean, I guess just drafting a center and a winger could've worked, albeit a bit harder to get it to work if your single-position player of choice got drafted.

Because I wanted to. I have never done a concept team and felt that, and was correct, that this was one that could be seen through to the end. Plus I liked this one because I oppose the rigidity of ATD teams as it is unrealistic. So it seemed like fun that if I was to reject rigidty to jump into the deepend headfirst with the most fluid team possible.