ATD 2021 Lineup Advice Thread

Who should be my captain? Schmidt, Cleghorn, Coulter or Siebert? Before you laugh, Cleghorn was named captain of every team he played for except Ottawa, which already had Eddie Gerard. He was captain of the Wanderers (not sure which year), of the Montreal Canadiens when they won the cup, and the first ever captain of the Boston Bruins.

Right now I gave it to Coulter, but all four seem like great leaders of men.
 
I'll ask a captaincy-related question as well. For now, I'm leaning toward Lindsay as my captain because of his leadership in the first attempt at a players' union and his being willing to but his neck out on the line, but I'm not sure about which way to go with my alternate positions. Right now, I have Francis, Gadsby, Richard, and Vasiliev who all have experience as a captain. I'm interested in knowing what factors the veterans around here have considered in assigning those posts in years past.
 
I'll ask a captaincy-related question as well. For now, I'm leaning toward Lindsay as my captain because of his leadership in the first attempt at a players' union and his being willing to but his neck out on the line, but I'm not sure about which way to go with my alternate positions. Right now, I have Francis, Gadsby, Richard, and Vasiliev who all have experience as a captain. I'm interested in knowing what factors the veterans around here have considered in assigning those posts in years past.

Some things to consider outside of simply how good a leader you think a player is...

- How they fit with your coach/team's playing style

- If you have an important player, or a player with issues, you could give an A to a teammate that might help (like a former real life teammate or for international players a fellow countryman)

- If they are a D/F and you have no other captains at that position (all else being equal if my C and first A were F's I'd give the other A to a D and vice versa)

- If they are on the same line/pairing as one of your other captains (all else being equal I'd pick the guy that wasn't on the same line as my C or other A)
 
Burns- PPQB, or PP trigger man? I know he has been more of the trigger man since EK got to SJ, but, unless I am remembering incorrectly, Burns was the QB until then. His assists number seem to back that up, but I want to double check with the people.
 
Burns- PPQB, or PP trigger man? I know he has been more of the trigger man since EK got to SJ, but, unless I am remembering incorrectly, Burns was the QB until then. His assists number seem to back that up, but I want to double check with the people.
I think that's a case where you let the rest of the roster guide your approach. In your case, Chara and Horton seem more like PP2 guys, a potent collection of forwards (at least one of Lach or Blake would have to go to PP2) and you have a big shot in Stamkos and also Heatley as well. I think you'd have to draft an absolutely incredible offensive defenseman for your third pair (who would necessarily be a very flawed player at that point), to conside putting Burns anywhere but the very top, and I'd buy him there. Looking at who you have, I see Heatley and Stamkos on either side of Burns looking to pull the trigger, with Howe and Lach down low.
 
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Additionally @rmartin65 it’s worth noting that both Burns and Stamkos are RHS, so if you were to take the aforementioned 3rd-pair dwinger to play QB and either drop Lach and move Heatley closer to the net, or drop Heatley, you’d end up with two guys that shoot the same way from similar distances.

I’m aware that the arrangement I suggested is more vulnerable to shorties than most units, but I like that you can put together a pretty good second group with some solid players who’ll watch for a guy sneaking out of the box as the PP winds down.
 
Additionally @rmartin65 it’s worth noting that both Burns and Stamkos are RHS, so if you were to take the aforementioned 3rd-pair dwinger to play QB and either drop Lach and move Heatley closer to the net, or drop Heatley, you’d end up with two guys that shoot the same way from similar distances.

I’m aware that the arrangement I suggested is more vulnerable to shorties than most units, but I like that you can put together a pretty good second group with some solid players who’ll watch for a guy sneaking out of the box as the PP winds down.
I appreciate the advice- I was already leaning towards your suggested arrangement, so that just sealed the deal for me.

I might drop Lach to PP2 and pickup a better corner/netfront guy, but I think that’s about it right now.
 
Burns- PPQB, or PP trigger man? I know he has been more of the trigger man since EK got to SJ, but, unless I am remembering incorrectly, Burns was the QB until then. His assists number seem to back that up, but I want to double check with the people.

As I learned last year, Burns was much better at ES than on the PP. I wouldn’t lock him into the top unit yes, since there are numerous better guys still available.
 
So looking at my group so far

Busher Jackson --- Cyclone Taylor --- Daniel Alfredsson
XXX --- Newsy Lalonde (A) --- Mickey MacKay
XXX --- XXX --- XXX
XXX --- XXX --- XXX

Ebbie Goodfellow (A) --- Dit Clapper (C)
Ken Reardon --- Jack Crawford

My thoughts for top PP unit

Jackson - Lalonde - Goodfellow - Taylor - Alfredsson

Any strong opinions?
 
So looking at my group so far

Busher Jackson --- Cyclone Taylor --- Daniel Alfredsson
XXX --- Newsy Lalonde (A) --- Mickey MacKay
XXX --- XXX --- XXX
XXX --- XXX --- XXX

Ebbie Goodfellow (A) --- Dit Clapper (C)
Ken Reardon --- Jack Crawford

My thoughts for top PP unit

Jackson - Lalonde - Goodfellow - Taylor - Alfredsson

Any strong opinions?

My first thought is that it's confusing when you put your dman 3rd in a single line of 5 :laugh:

In terms of talent, I'm not sure if I prefer MacKay or Alfredsson out there.
 
My first thought is that it's confusing when you put your dman 3rd in a single line of 5 :laugh:

In terms of talent, I'm not sure if I prefer MacKay or Alfredsson out there.

Well I figured it might make more sense to have Goodfellow in the "Ovechkin" spot since his noted hard shot and tried my best to represent that lol
 
Pleased with my team thus far but looking at my right wingers they seem to be more offensively oriented (Selanne and Drillon) do I keep that with the rest of my right wingers or draft some defensive minded right wingers?

Also for Clarke, do I play him on the power play or draft a more offensive minded centre to fill out pp duty?
 
So with my starting forward corps complete, I'm at:
Valeri Kharlamov - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Sweeney Schriner - Pavel Datsyuk - Nikita Kucherov
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen
Dave Andreychuk - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Dino Ciccarelli

However, I also though of a bit of chemistry exploitation to go with:
Dave Andreychuk - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Valeri Kharlamov - Pavel Datsyuk - Nikita Kucherov
Sweeney Schriner - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Dino Ciccarelli
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen


Thoughts? Too offensive? (the 4th line would still be used as defensive matchup line)


 
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen
Damn. What a Hell of a shut-down line. And you're in my Division, too.

I hope The Panel still finds ATD-value in lines like this.

As for Starshinov- I think that ATD-cant is that he's a finishing Center who benefits from set-up oriented teammates- and I don't know the best way to get there from here (presuming the cant is true).

Looks better to the eyes if the Kesler line is listed third in both instances (but maybe that's just me).
 
So with my starting forward corps complete, I'm at:
Valeri Kharlamov - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Sweeney Schriner - Pavel Datsyuk - Nikita Kucherov
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen
Dave Andreychuk - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Dino Ciccarelli

However, I also though of a bit of chemistry exploitation to go with:
Dave Andreychuk - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Valeri Kharlamov - Pavel Datsyuk - Nikita Kucherov
Sweeney Schriner - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Dino Ciccarelli
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen

As for Starshinov- I think that ATD-cant is that he's a finishing Center who benefits from set-up oriented teammates- and I don't know the best way to get there from here (presuming the cant is true).

Schriner setting up Starshinov and Ciccarelli seems like a workable, if not ideal solution - sort of like Kariya in that his goal-scoring results are better, but you still want the puck in his hands. Andreychuk-Starshinov-Ciccarelli on the first roster seems like a weird bit of anti-chemistry where they all want to score from the same place. So the second roster is more balanced. I'd either go with that one or explore a trade for one of your 4th line wingers (but only if it fills someones need on the PP and you can strike a good deal, don't go getting hosed to solve a problem you already have a workable solution for).
 
Schriner setting up Starshinov and Ciccarelli seems like a workable, if not ideal solution - sort of like Kariya in that his goal-scoring results are better, but you still want the puck in his hands. Andreychuk-Starshinov-Ciccarelli on the first roster seems like a weird bit of anti-chemistry where they all want to score from the same place. So the second roster is more balanced. I'd either go with that one or explore a trade for one of your 4th line wingers (but only if it fills someones need on the PP and you can strike a good deal, don't go getting hosed to solve a problem you already have a workable solution for).

Everything looks fine except the 4th line. I would probably just draft another winger that fits better. Bench Andreychuk or make a trade with somebody who really wants a PP net presence.
 
Schriner setting up Starshinov and Ciccarelli seems like a workable, if not ideal solution - sort of like Kariya in that his goal-scoring results are better, but you still want the puck in his hands. Andreychuk-Starshinov-Ciccarelli on the first roster seems like a weird bit of anti-chemistry where they all want to score from the same place. So the second roster is more balanced. I'd either go with that one or explore a trade for one of your 4th line wingers (but only if it fills someones need on the PP and you can strike a good deal, don't go getting hosed to solve a problem you already have a workable solution for).
There's also this option (swapped Kucherov and Ciccarelli):
Dave Andreychuk - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Valeri Kharlamov - Pavel Datsyuk - Dino Ciccarelli
Sweeney Schriner - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Nikita Kucherov
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen


Makes the balance of goalscorers and playmakers much better distributed. The only question is really if running three strong offensive lines is the way to go.
 
There's also this option (swapped Kucherov and Ciccarelli):
Dave Andreychuk - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Valeri Kharlamov - Pavel Datsyuk - Dino Ciccarelli
Sweeney Schriner - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Nikita Kucherov
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen


Makes the balance of goalscorers and playmakers much better distributed. The only question is really if running three strong offensive lines is the way to go.

Andreychuk makes that first line essentially ineffective.
 
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So with my starting forward corps complete, I'm at:
Valeri Kharlamov - Doug Gilmour - Andy Bathgate
Sweeney Schriner - Pavel Datsyuk - Nikita Kucherov
Craig Ramsay - Ryan Kesler - Jere Lehtinen
Dave Andreychuk - Vyacheslav Starshinov - Dino Ciccarelli

This is the better of the 2 you posted, but I think I agree with Dreakmur to get a different LW on the 4th line.

I think you should also consider switching Kharlamov and Schriner
 
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