ATD 2025 Line-Up Assassinations

[nabby12]

Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk

Head Coach: Glen Sather
Captain: Connor McDavid
Assistant Captains: Alexander Ovechkin, Victor Hedman

Alexander Ovechkin - Connor McDavid - Hooley Smith
Baldy Northcott - Leon Draisaitl - Nikita Kucherov
Claude Giroux - Auston Matthews - Punch Broadbent
Nick Metz - Jack Eichel - Jimmy Ward
Extras: Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Scheifele

Victor Hedman - Alex Pietrangelo
Babe Siebert - Red Horner
Rod Flett - Red Dutton
Extras: Cy Wentworth, Josh Morrissey

Charlie Gardiner
Connor Hellebuyck

PP1: Draisaitl-McDavid-Kucherov Ovechkin-Hedman
PP2: Giroux-Matthews-Broadbent Pietrangelo-B. Siebert

PK1: Northcott-Metz-Flett-Pietrangelo
PK2: Ward-Giroux-Hedman-Horner

 

[Professor What]

Ottawa 67's

Coach: Pat Burns
Captain: Eddie Shore
Assistant: Boris Mikhailov
Assistant: Derian Hatcher

#27 Keith Tkachuk - #6 Frank Nighbor - #5 'Boom-Boom' Geoffrion
#15 Alexander Yakushev - #91 Sergei Fedorov - #13 Boris Mikhailov
#26 Jere Lehtinen - #10 Steven Stamkos - #42 Blake Wheeler
#16 Rusty Crawford - #29 Joel Otto - #9 Glenn Anderson
Spares: #19 Brad Richards, #21 Brent Sutter, #11 Brian Sutter

#3 Derian Hatcher - #2 Eddie Shore
#17 Jan Suchy - #7 Alexei Kasatonov
#33 Vladimir Lutchenko - #58 Kris Letang
Spares: #34 Ott Eller

#29 Ken Dryden
#1 George Hainsworth

PP1
#15 Alexander Yakushev - #91 Sergei Fedorov - #13 Boris Mikhailov
#17 Jan Suchy - #7 Alexei Kasatonov

PP 2
#27 Keith Tkachuk - #10 Steven Stamkos - #42 Blake Wheeler
#5 'Boom-Boom' Geoffrion - #2 Eddie Shore

PK 1
#6 Frank Nighbor - #26 Jere Lehtinen
#3 Derian Hatcher - #2 Eddie Shore

PK 2
#91 Sergei Fedorov - #16 Rusty Crawford
#33 Vladimir Lutchenko - #7 Alexei Kasatonov

Starting with the first line: Tkachuk seems like a weak candidate for a first line position, but I like the potential chemistry, and there's no doubt that Nighbor and Geoffrion belong there. But I really like your second line. It's rightly the second line, as I feel that its overall talent level is less that the first, but there's something I like about these all Russian lines. There was such a strong system that in some ways it feels like those Soviet-era guys are plug and play. You can put any of them in there, and you're going to get something workable. Of course, results will vary because of talent levels and such, but you've got good talent here -- two guys in the Hall and one that should be.

I've got to gripe about your third line. It's got Lehtinen. We wanted him. Lol. No, all jokes aside, he's a great defensive conscience for a line, and a surprisingly good source of goals. I like Wheeler as a setup man for Stamkos too. He might not be a Kucherov, but I think he's one of the great playmaking wingers of our time, and I don't think Stamkos's goalscoring needs anything to be said for it. The fourth line is solid enough. I don't think it needs a lot to be said personally.

That first defensive pair is going to be heck to play against, but I think they're going to take more than their fair share of penalties. I know Hatcher "calmed down" later in his career, but I'm guessing that you want this pairing playing physically. This is probably a good time to say that I like your penalty kill though I'm a little concerned by how strongly those guys feature in it.

I find the Suchy-Kasatonov pairing interesting. I think it's a reasonable facsimile of Fetisov and Kasatonov, though I do prefer Fetisov defensively over Suchy. Still, it's not a bad look to have the European Bobby Orr there. The third pairing is a good third pairing. I don't have a lot to say about that.

I love the power play. The first unit looks like a Russian Five with a Czech, which I think works for the same reason I like the chemistry with your second even strength unit. It feels like a safer way to go for the real Russian Five or the Green Unit. It doesn't have the actual demonstrated chemistry, but it's got great theoretical chemistry, and I don't think anybody's going to ping it on that. I think the fact that Stamkos, Geoffrion, and Shore are (rightly) on the second unit says a lot.

As for your goaltending, I like it. High-midlevel started, and a guy with a ridiculous mid-career peak. (I don't care what the scoring environment is like. A sub one GAA and shutouts in literally half of your games is impressive.)

All things told, I like your team. I'm not sure if there's anything particularly game-breaking built here, but I don't feel like there are any major weaknesses either. It's a really solid effort. Good luck going forward!

 

[Professor What]

Agreed, I think Z - Richard - Bure and Shanny - Thornton - Hull is the optimal setup for that top six, and it's a pretty strong top six IMO.

You've done a bunch so I'll return the favour.

Hap Day seems like a very good fit for the forwards, with each of these centres being capable-to-strong defensive pivots. I'm less sure about his fit for the blueline. Conacher-Konstantinov is a real swashbuckling second pairing and the bottom pairing isn't exactly safe and sturdy either. I'm not sure how they'll manage in the tight structure Day will want to implement. But team defense starts with the forwards, and they're good enough, so I think it's alright.

Top line has everything you want, including proven chemistry, and a good Larionov upgrade in the middle.

Unsure about the second line, which I think may be less than the sum of its parts. I like putting a triggerman next to Oates, a la Hull/Bondra, to dart in and out of the defense to find soft spots on the ice, but Mahovlich and Gilbert are both rushing, puck carrying wingers. Are those two wingers a bit redundant together? I think a puck retrieval type of guy might've been better in Gilbert's case. Mahovlich being overqualified for a 2nd line role is a good bonus, though.

Third line is obviously very strong defensively. Weak offensively which I think it a bit of an overlooked attribute for elite shutdown lines - the best way to keep the puck out of your own net is to have it 200 feet away from you. But Rod The Bod brings enough offense that it should be able to do its job effectively.

I'd like to hear more about the fourth line, as I'm not sure what its identity is.

Top pairing looks very good.

As I said, this is a swashbuckling pair, and I don't know how Day will like that. It brings some much needed physicality though to balance out a forward group that skews more toward finesse.

Gonchar-Boyle feels redundant to me. Would've liked a sturdier partner for either of these two.

The two Bills in goal are good. Smith is overqualified to be a backup, but as a tandem goalie he'll be fine on the bench.

Not much to add about the special teams beyond the pieces are very strong. Boyle on PK2 sticks out a bit, though. I don't know how much PKing he did in TBL but with San Jose he was usually a second unit guy on a very middling PK. The kill in Tampa typically wasn't great either. Did he do any PKing for Canada at the Olympics?

Overall, the strength of this team rests in its excellent two-way capability up the middle, which will allow its highly-skilled wingers to focus on scoring. The biggest questions are on those bottom two pairings, as I wish you played it a bit more safe with them.

Apparently, we accomplished what we wanted with the first line. Hitru was a big proponent of something like what we built, as he very early on had the idea of targeting both Makarov and Krutov. I talked him into the trade where we picked up Sakic, and we pretty quickly decided that was where we were going to try to go. Honestly, it felt really good to push someone like Mahovlich to the second line and have it make sense. Our left side should be strong, I feel.

As for the second line, our thinking was to try to give Oates plenty of opportunity for setup. I don't think I have to sell either of the wingers as a threat there. Is there a problem of not enough pucks to go around? Maybe. But I think Gilbert and Oates are both good (or great, in Oates' case) at distributing as well, so I think they can all get their share.

Lehtinen was on our ideal third line, but we got sniped on him, so I agree that there's not as much of an offensive threat as might be ideal. But one thing we felt we'd missed in recent years was a line that could be put out there to put an iron clamp on a lead, and we wanted to build something like that this year.

With the fourth line, honestly, we were thinking more about getting role players. We needed a center for the PK, and Weiland was a good fit. We wanted a solid goalscorer to put on the line with him and who could help out on the powerplay, so we went with Palffy. With Kapustin, honestly, it was a thing where we felt like we were getting a guy that was overqualified for the role, and thus a luxury. I think he's generally a third line guy, but he's been played on the second line before. It might be a bit of an odd fit, but I think that all the guys can play the roles that we've drafted them for.

Conacher and Konstantinov were planned to bring some grit. Yeah, they're going to take their share of penalties, and yeah, it might be a bit reckless, but I don't think there's anywhere else on the roster that we're going to take that kind of hit, so I think I'm okay with it. I don't have a problem with agreeing that our third pair is probably our weakest point.

We also apparently got what we were going for with our goaltending. We felt like we waited too long with goaltending last year, and we wanted to improve there, which I feel Durnan did. Then, when I recommended Smith to Hitru, I was thinking that he was a guy that, even when the #1 guy, was platooned, and so he wouldn't be the kind of guy to demand too many games. But, if the unthinkable happens and Durnan goes down in the playoffs, we're set with a bonafide proven playoff performer.

Thanks for the review, in what I think was a constructive, well thought out breakdown. I'm planning to do more of these, and I do intend to return the favor (I went ahead and did Claude's today because I'd already been thinking about it).

 

[Hitru]

I will also mention that while Konstantinov will be in the box for his fair share he will also draw a lot of penalties from opposing teams, which balances it out to some extent.

Regarding our 3rd line I agree it is on a weaker side offensively, but they will get the tough matchups and a lot of draws from our own end. For this job they are, in my opinion, excellent.

Thank you for hour feedback.

 

[tabness]

Gonna help @Professor What out with the load, not gonna be as detailed and critical as most assassinations though, more like @VanIslander's real nice idea of "lineup appreciations"

Regina Capitals
Coach: Jon Cooper

Bobby Hull - Ron Francis - Dino Ciccarelli
Tommy Phillips - Evgeni Malkin - Cam Neely
Don Marshall - Frank Fredrickson - David Pastrnak
Zach Parise - Phil Goyette - Ace Bailey
Dolly Swift, Mikko Rantanen

Ivan Johnson - Pierre Pilote
JC Tremblay - Joe Hall
Pat Stapleton - Bill White
Nikolai Sologubov

Marty McSorley (D/RW)

Terry Sawchuk
Carey Price

PP1
Bobby Hull - Ron Francis - Dino Ciccarelli
Frank Fredrickson - Pierre Pilote

PP2
David Pastrnak - Evgeni Malkin - Cam Neely
Ivan Johnson - Tommy Phillips

PK1
Goyette-Bailey
Pat Stapleton - Bill White

PK2
Marshall - Francis
JC Tremblay - Joe Hall

Minutes (using the 7 minutes PP/7 minutes PK method)
Forwards

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
B. Hull	16	5	0	21
R. Francis	15	4	2	21
D. Ciccarelli	15	4	0	19
E. Malkin	15	3	0	18
T. Phillips	15	3	0	18
C. Neely	15	3	0	18
F. Fredrickson	10	3	0	13
D. Marshall	9	0	3	12
D. Pastrnak	10	2	0	12
P. Goyette	6	0	4	10
A. Bailey	6	0	4	10
Z. Parise	6	0	0	6

B. Hull will occasionally take Pastrnak's spot on PP2 and Marshall's spot on line 3

Defence

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
P. Pilote	18	4	0	22
I. Johnson	18	3	0	21
P. Stapleton	13	0	4	17
B. White	13	0	4	17
JC Tremblay	15	0	3	18
J. Hall	15	0	3	18

This is my first time putting minutes together too.

First line has two guys that some may say are overachieving on a 20 team draft first line, but Bobby Hull is a superstar's superstar, and I like the fit personally.

A very classic style of building the forward lines that is uncontroversial. Feel like Pasta could stand to play more actually, he's real good.

Defense is solid and happy to see Sawchuk's rep rising in the draft generally. From my looking into the original six Wings his reputation contemporaneously far exceeds the later constructions based on stats/awards.

I'd put Marshall on the first penalty kill unit (unless you are simply trying to manage minutes).

Detroit Vipers

Head Coach: Lester Patrick

Syd Howe - Phil Esposito - Martin St. Louis
Roy Conacher - Ted Kennedy (C) - Theo Fleury
Johnny Gottselig (A) - Mike Modano - Vaclav Nedomansky
Blair Russel - Duke Keats - Tim Kerr

Rod Langway (A) - Bobby Orr
Cyclone Taylor - Jack Crawford
Gus Mortson - Brian Rafalski

Turk Broda
Jiri Holecek

Spares: Bill Mosienko (RW), Moose Vasko (D), Daniel Sedin (LW), Henrik Sedin (C)

Power Play 1:
Esposito
Fleury - St. Louis
Orr - Rafalski

Power Play 2:
Kerr
Conacher - Modano - Nedomansky
Taylor

Penalty Kill 1:
Gottselig - Kennedy
Langway - Orr

Penalty Kill 2:
Modano - Fleury
Mortson - Crawford​

Very interesting build that seeks to embrace and go beyond the Orr Espo dynamic with a guy like Keats and Taylor being stylistically similar. You do a good job of mitigating the skating of your centers with Modano and your quick wingers.

Defense core is one of the only ones I think that hangs in the same league as mine. The Orr/Langway pairing is obviously going to be a draft favorite in terms of style and reputation, even I personally would offer some cases where I don't like this type of pairing (see Langway's struggles with speed being exploited by the Soviets during the 1987 Rendezvous series which had him replaced with Bourque and Coffey who were much more effective despite not having the same defensive reputation), but honestly, with Taylor and your other guys available you don't even gotta worry about it as adjustments are easy with your personnel.

Absolutely lethal powerplay, it's almost unfair

Savannah Ghost Pirates
coach Pat Quinn

Joe Malone - Newsy Lalonde (C) - Didier Pitre
Paul Kariya - Norm Ullman - Teemu Selanne
Herbie Lewis - Marty Barry - Larry Aurie
Artemi Panarin - Darryl Sittler (A) - Frank Finnigan
Tommy Smith, Butch Goring, Bob Nevin

Slava Fetisov - Tim Horton
Hap Day (A) - Cale Makar
Doug Wilson - Ken Reardon
Bob Goldham

Patrick Roy
Tiny Thompson
​

PP1: Kariya - Lalonde - Selanne - Fetisov - Makar
PP2: Lewis - Malone - Pitre - Wilson - Horton
PK1: Ullman - Finnigan - Day - Horton - Roy*
PK2: Barry - Aurie - Fetisov - Reardon - Roy*
* your G is your #1 PKer

My favorite top nine in the draft, just unbelievable how well you managed the aesthetics and reunited lines one and three. Mostly it speaks for itself. Only nit would be that maybe Ullman a bit soft to center Kariya and Selanne, given the size you giving up by going heavily early era, but he otherwise fits nicely on that line anyway.

Getting Wilson so deep in the draft was just a cherry on top to a solid defense core. Wilson liked to play on the right for his big shot on the powerplay though, I would suggest that you bump him up to the first powerplay unit with Fetisov and put Makar down on two.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Quebec HC

Coach: Pete Green
Assistant Coach: Paul Maurice

Jamie Benn (A) - Howie Morenz - Andy Bathgate
Doug Bentley - Pavel Datsyuk - Babe Dye
Paul Thompson - Bob MacDougall - Shirley Davidson
Jimmy Gardner - Pud Glass - Eric Nesterenko
Dan Bain - Billy Gilmour

Sprague Cleghorn - Chris Chelios (C)
Weldy Young (A) - Guy Lapointe
Jim Schoenfeld - Jack Campbell
Quinn Hughes

Frank Brimsek
Paddy Moran


PP1: Thompson - Morenz - Bathgate - Cleghorn - Lapointe
PP2: Davidson - MacDougall - Dye - Campbell - Bentley

PK1: Glass - Nesterenko - Schoenfeld - Chelios
PK2: Datsyuk - Davidson - Young - Lapointe​

I'll do one that hasn't been done yet.

Pete Green is a pretty good fit. He'll like the very mobile blueline here, and Datsyuk has the super active stick that Frank Nighbor had in the middle. I'd be curious to hear the rationale behind PoMo as assistant.

Love the top line. Morenz needs a playmaker like Aurele Joliat and Bathgate does a nice job of that. I really like Jamie Benn in the ATD, took him last year as my 1LW because he brings so much as a complementary piece. Works nicely here.

On the other hand, I don't like the second line nearly as much... It's awfully light. I sometimes forget that Babe Dye, unlike a lot of sniping wingers of the day, didn't bring much physicality. Honestly, I just don't think much of Dye as a player, unless he's next to a pure setup guy like a Frank Boucher or Adam Oates or Joe Thornton. I see Datsyuk as somebody who you'd rather have a smart, versatile winger next to him instead. Evidence: in Datsyuk's two best points/assists seasons, his main goal scoring linemates were Zetterberg and Hossa, who were both super adaptable. Bentley fits well in this regard, Dye not so much.

You're the expert on MacDougall and Davidson so I'll trust that you know what you're doing here. I wonder if MacDougall is quite good enough to be a 3C in the ATD with how deep the position is, but you've sold me that Davidson is worthy.

I like Pud Glass from the pre-WW2 draft... actually, I think I took Gardner too in that draft? So obviously I like this 4th line, haha. Wait, I had Billy Gilmour in that, too!

Cleghorn-Chelios is crazy. Got all you could ever hope for on a top pairing, offensively and defensively, skating, physicality, intimidation... only problem is discipline, as you know. I also really like Young-Lapointe. Hm, I really like the bottom pairing too... this is a really good blueline, all the pairings fit together nicely, lots and lots of skating.

Brimsek is a good starter. Moran is weaker but we're both Moran supporters so I have no problems here.

Tons of good powerplay options here. I'd think Dye ought to be on PP1 but Thompson is a better option for the net front role, so I think how you have them is correct. Should Davidson really be on a PK unit? Again, I'll trust you on this but my first thought was that Benn would look better here, who doesn't figure on either special teams unit but was a longtime PKer for Dallas. I like the quotes about Davidson's backchecking, but for the PK I like to defer to the guys who did it more often, you know?

Overall, the blueline and goaltending is the clear strength of the team, with some questions in the middle six up front for me. But I think you did a good job of taking your guys while putting them in good positions to succeed.

 

[rmartin65]

Thanks for the review!

curious to hear the rationale behind PoMo as assistant.

Purely a decision made on hedging my bets in case someone doesn't like having an old-time coach.

On the other hand, I don't like the second line nearly as much... It's awfully light. I sometimes forget that Babe Dye, unlike a lot of sniping wingers of the day, didn't bring much physicality. Honestly, I just don't think much of Dye as a player, unless he's next to a pure setup guy like a Frank Boucher or Adam Oates or Joe Thornton. I see Datsyuk as somebody who you'd rather have a smart, versatile winger next to him instead. Evidence: in Datsyuk's two best points/assists seasons, his main goal scoring linemates were Zetterberg and Hossa, who were both super adaptable. Bentley fits well in this regard, Dye not so much.

Yeah, I agree with all of this- I don't love my second line either. It starts off well with Bentley and Datsyuk, but I gambled and waited just a bit too long on 2RW and ended up with Dye. He's a lethal shooter, but I don't think he really brings all that much more.

You're the expert on MacDougall and Davidson so I'll trust that you know what you're doing here. I wonder if MacDougall is quite good enough to be a 3C in the ATD with how deep the position is, but you've sold me that Davidson is worthy.

I'm glad I've got another person accepting Davidson here! I'll admit that I took another swing with MacDougall, and I don't know if it will pan out. The community seems to be good with the top tier players of the 1900s players being second liners (Bowie is at 2C, Phillips is at 2LW, ), so I'm curious to see if the top scorer of the 1890s (at least in the East... the West is trickier to get a handle on) is worthy 3rd liner. If so, great. If not, I'd love to know what the thought process is there.

I like Pud Glass from the pre-WW2 draft... actually, I think I took Gardner too in that draft? So obviously I like this 4th line, haha. Wait, I had Billy Gilmour in that, too!

Haha, I knew you had Gilmour, but I didn't remember the other two.

Cleghorn-Chelios is crazy. Got all you could ever hope for on a top pairing, offensively and defensively, skating, physicality, intimidation... only problem is discipline, as you know. I also really like Young-Lapointe. Hm, I really like the bottom pairing too... this is a really good blueline, all the pairings fit together nicely, lots and lots of skating.

I'm really happy with how my defensive group ended up.

Should Davidson really be on a PK unit? Again, I'll trust you on this but my first thought was that Benn would look better here, who doesn't figure on either special teams unit but was a longtime PKer for Dallas. I like the quotes about Davidson's backchecking, but for the PK I like to defer to the guys who did it more often, you know?

I'll gladly move Benn to the PK there instead of Davidson. Thanks!

 

[tabness]

Let's keep it going with three more that haven't had comments yet

Dawson City Nuggets
Head Coach - Tommy Gorman

Cy Denneny - Wayne Gretzky - Jari Kurri
"Busher" Jackson - Max Bentley - Yvan Cournoyer
Esa Tikkanen - Igor Larionov - Ilya Kovalchuk
"Smokey" Harris - Michael Peca - Jack Darragh
x - Fleming Mackell, Eddie Oatman, Alexei Kovalev

Scott Stevens - Harry Cameron
Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Alexander Ragulin - Eric Desjardins
x - Leo Boivin

Clint Benedict
Alec Connell

PP1 - Denneny - Gretzky - Kurri
Jackson - Cameron

PP2 - Kovalchuk - Larionov - Kovalev
Keith - Seabrook

PK1 - Peca - Tikkanen
Stevens - Desjardins

PK2 - Larionov - Darragh
Ragulin - Boivin​

Gretzky Kurri is always an ace duo that can pretty much carry whatever else they got to work with. Now in your case I get why you have Denneny there, and I wouldn't put Jackson in that slot over Denneny, but perhaps you want to consider Tikkanen there? I know in general the draft meta will likely frown upon Tikkanen as a first liner (I got some criticism of having him on the first line in a 40 team draft, much less a 20 team one), but at least from my point of view, Tikkaken is far better than his stats suggest, and I'm not just talking about his defensive play or pest ability, I'm talking about his offensive ability. When I drafted him I pointed to his scouting reports and playoff stats when he was required to fill in a scoring role of how well he did. It's little wonder that he spent most of his career on a first line. He'll bring not only a level of physical play and (additional) defensive responsibility to your first line, he can really just skate with Gretzky/Kurri, better than Denneny is reputed to be able to.

If not first line, I like Tikkanen on the fourth line with Peca a lot, being a complete bitch line to play against swapping places with Smokey Harris who seems to fit in with the jive of the third line nicely enough.

I really like Larionov and Kovalchuk together, and the second line is a nice fast offensive strike line that can be sheltered in their matchups due to the staggering challenge that Gretzky Kurri will provide teams at even strength.

Defense looks pretty good, Stevens Cameron is a classic pairing, and while I never was that high on Keith, I was more high on Seabrook than he got credit for, so by putting them together there's not many questions.

Chicago Shamrocks


Coach: Tommy Ivan

Dickie Moore - Jean Beliveau (C) - Patrick Kane
Michel Goulet - Gilbert Perreault - Vladimir Martinec
Marty Pavelich - Neil Colville - Cecil Dillon
Ed Sandford - Ken Mosdell - Joe Pavelski

Jacques Laperriere - Earl Seibert (A)
Georges Boucher - Fern Flaman (A)
Ryan McDonagh -"Bullet" Joe Simpson

Jacques Plante
Percy LeSueur

Spare Fwds: Rick Nash, Bob Bourne
Spare Dmen: John Carlson, Lloyd Cook

PP1
Beliveau
Moore - Perreault - Kane
Boucher

PP2
Goulet - Pavelski - Martinec
Seibert - Simpson

PK1
Pavelich - Mosdell
Laperriere - Seibert
PLANTE

PK2
Colville - Dillon
McDonagh - Flaman
PLANTE

Extra PK F: Pavelski
Extra PK D: Boucher

​

Regular Season Estimated Minutes
Forwards

Players	ES	PP	PK	Total
D. Moore	14	4		18
J. Beliveau	16	5		21
P. Kane	13	5		18
M. Goulet	14	2		16
G. Perreault	13	4		17
V. Martinec	14	3		17
M. Pavelich	11		4	15
N. Colville	10		3	13
C. Dillon	12		3	15
E. Sandford	7			7
K. Mosdell	7		4	11
J. Pavelski	7	2		9
TOTAL	138	25	14	177

Defense

Players	ES	PP	PK	Total
J. Laperriere	17		4	21
E. Seibert	18	2	4	24
G. Boucher	17	4		21
F. Flaman	17		3	20
R. McDonagh	12		3	15
J. Simpson	11	3		14
TOTAL	92	9	14	115

A very "classic" ATD build that's nicely done. I like Dickie Moore and Beliveau together, and while I'm not super high on Kane, he seems like he will fit in quite nicely. A strong first line given that you only took one forward I assume with your top three picks? I like the second line a lot too, another case of a nicely focused group sheltered by the first, though of course not as much Dawson City can just ride their first line at even strength (Kane and Beliveau are both powerplay reliant greater than usual for their scoring), should play nicely with Goulet, putting a Euro league career like Martinec is always a bit risky with NHLers, but he and Perreault should be able collaborate nicely given their immense finesse skills. I also like that this line is more independent from collaboration from the blueline than the first, given the relative lack your defense corps has in that area from the players your first liners used to play with.

D core perhaps lacks the pedigree of other teams but I like how your put them together. In general the roster top to bottom and coaching style may not have the defensive pedigree of others, but you got a top notch goalie in Plante to mitigate.

View attachment 999373

Hogsmeade Lunas

Barry Trotz
Wendy Marco (skating coach)

Ted Lindsay - Sid Abel (c) - Gordie Howe
Bert Olmstead - Nels Stewart - Helmuts Balderis
Gordon Roberts - Aleksander Barkov (a) - Claude Provost
Shane Doan - Ryan Getzlaf - Tom Wilson
Vic Stasiuk (LW/RW), Dick Irvin (C)

Serge Savard (a) - King Clancy
Ebbie Goodfellow - Jimmy Thomson
Ryan Suter - Art Duncan
Miro Heiskanen

Georges Vezina
Roy Worters


PP1
Nels Stewart
Gordie Howe - Sid Abel - Ted Lindsay
King Clancy

PP2
Bert Olmstead
Helmuts Balderis - Gordon Roberts - Ebbie Goodfellow
Art Duncan

PK1
Aleksander Barkov - Claude Provost
Ryan Suter - Serge Savard

PK2
Ryan Getzlaf - Tom Wilson
Ebbie Goodfellow - Jimmy Thomson

PK3
Bert Olmstead - Shane Doan​

Once I was able to put together the Production Line, I figured I'd try to build my team's identity around them, which meant physicality mixed with skill; a good fit for Barry Trotz, who is supported by a top-flight skating coach who has excelled with big skaters.

The first line obviously needs no justification.

The second line is built around Stewart, so I've got a cornerman and a puck carrier on his wings. Barry Trotz knows exactly how to deploy a unique line like this, because the archetype of 'physical triggerman + fast, finesse distributor + puck-winning glue guy' was what won him his Stanley Cup, with Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson in 2018.

Third line is a shutdown line that can actually score, with Barkov and Provost among the best at their position defensively while Roberts brings size and shooting along with responsible play.

Then my fourth line is all energy and guts. 28 years of combined captaincy in the NHL between Getzlaf and Doan, plus Wilson is penciled in as the next Capitals captain. All three are big men who rack up hits and defend capably. Getzlaf excelled as a matchup centre for Anaheim against the big boys out West for many years, and is overqualified as a 4C here, so I have no concerns about throwing this line out for a few shifts against top lines to establish the forecheck and set the tone physically. Sort of a Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck line on steroids, which was the heart and soul of the Islanders teams that Trotz squeezed every single drop out of a few years back.

Not as much to say about the defense, as each pairing feels pretty natural IMO. Savard-Clancy just feels like an obvious fit, plus I can utilize both of their abilities to play either side, depending on the matchup. Savard's size and steady two-way generalship complement the excitable and dynamic Clancy, who fills the Red Kelly role to support the Production Line. Goodfellow-Thomson is a similar idea. Less dynamic but maybe a bit safer. Suter-Duncan brings very strong skating for a bottom pairing. Nobody here who needs sheltering on either end of the rink.

Letting Nels Stewart clean up whatever mess the Production Line leaves around seems like a good formula on PP1. PP2 is set up slightly differently, as Olmstead will be more of a distributor from the side of the net than a crash-and-band rebounder. Goodfellow is utilizing his big shot from the half-wall, and will also take faceoffs, as he had strong offensive years at C.

PK1 feels obvious. PK2 might raise eyebrows with Getzlaf making an appearance, but he was a regular PKer for the duration of his prime in Anaheim, as well as being a regular PKer for Team Canada in most of international appearances in depth roles.

Vezina is a solid starter in this draft. Worters is a very good backup.

I love how you built this team. If you put many of these players together in a roster without your explanations I don't think I'd like it as much either. I love how you explained your thought process.

You put together the production line and then set the theme for your team. You picked a coach that would gel with the roster (although I know and think of Trotz more as a defensive coach from his Nashville days, you obviously know him from his Washington days). You helped mitigate the main weakness that could be pointed out (skating), by picking a skating coach (really liked this move). Even the second line which I feel like is the easiest to criticize on the team, you justified stylistically (and then of course you got the skating coach lol). One of my favorite picks was you picking Tom Wilson late, because of how you justified it (and it really helps with the year he is having and that the spotlight was on the Capitals due to Ovechkin's chase of the record, which really showed how much Wilson is helping Ovechkin, and how well he can really play).

Will be an absolute pain to play against. The easiest hope is to get on the powerplay a lot against you. I wouldn't want to meet your team in the playoffs, and if a team does get past you, I would bring up that they must be banged up like hell lol

Not really much more to say, it looks like you really enjoyed building this team and that is infectious.

 

[Johnny Engine]

Here's my roster, the one I assembled all by myself, with no help from anyone, my roster for sure.

Canadiens de Montréal


Cecil Hart

Aurèle Joliat-Mario Lemieux (A)-Bill Cook (C)
Anatoli Firsov-Jonathan Toews (A)-Daniel Alfredsson
Matthew Tkachuk-Frank McGee-Alf Smith (A)
Bob Davidson-Dale Hawerchuk-Bobby Bauer
Ryan O'Reilly, Mel Bridgman

Brian Leetch-Art Coulter (A)
Hod Stuart-Harvey Pulford (A)
Art Ross-Frank Patrick
Allan Cameron

Andrei Vasilevskiy
Henrik Lundqvist

pp
Joliat-Lemieux-Cook
Leetch-Patrick

PP2
Firsov-McGee-Smith
Stuart-Alfredsson

PK
Firsov-Davidson
Pulford-Coulter

PK2
Toews-Alfredsson
Ross-Stuart

Let me know your thoughts and I will try not to take them in a deeply personal manner.

 

[Professor What]

What's the plan? I'll get back to some assassinations if we want to take the time, but we also should get this moving along soon. This is a tradition that needs to be continued.