How to create good lines?

[ZlobaPlays]

INTRODUCTION:

Hello everyone,

i'm new here. I'm from Slovakia and grew up while our country was demoted to C-Category of World Championship after we split with the Czechs, so you can imagine i was (and still am) huge ice hockey fan.

Back in the days i've played A LOT of NHL 99. That was the one and only NHL game i owned and played for a long time. And here i am 20 years later with XBOX ONE and NHL 19 bundle which i bought a few weeks ago.

First, i was playing exhibition matches against AI turning up the difficulty as i progressed. After i got recked multiple times at All-Star with competitive settings i've decided to move on to CHEL. Played Drop-ins till level 35, trying Goalie, Defender and Forward builds, but there is just as much what you can learn in the Drop-ins and i dodn't have the time to join a club.

So i've switched to online VERSUS mode and that was the best experience i could have. Got recked in my first matches but after i've realized what am i doing wrong (well at least the most obvious things) my play was getting better. Got to a rank 570-580 but again dropped to 500 after a few bad and laggy matches. I find the connection between the players very bad more often than not and that's something what bothers me very much.

So i jumped back to Exhibition and could tell right from the start that my play was better. I'm still not able to win consistently or easy vs All-Star AI but i'm not being recked either. Now i want to learn how to change my team to get a better chance of winning games.

Started a new Season of Austrian League, switched Zagreb for Banska Bystrica and did a fantasy draft (intentionally got players with the worst overall). I've learned something about setting up strategies so i'm trying to play 5 games before changing them to something new and see the difference.

But i'm not sure how to set up the lines, so here we go ...

THE QUESTION(S):

What is your priority when composing individual formations in Season mode? Is it any different compared to Franchise mode (i didn't touched that mode .. it just looks scary to me lol). Do you have players in their positions, or are you rather looking at which hand they are shooting with? What about their roles? Is it more important to you to combine the playmaker with the sniper, or do you put 2-way Forwards on the first two lines when they are Top2 F? What is the deciding factor to help you choose who to send on powerplay and penalty kills? Just the Overall rating?

My PP are like this - 5v4 four forwards and one defender, 4v3 only forwards (with best Overall). On the other hand, i sent three defenders to PK's based on Body / Stick checking, Shot blocking and Def. Awarrenes. I'm not sure if that makes any sence though. Shootouts - players with best Deke, Puck control and Wrist shot Acc./Power.

So how you compose those lines and do you have an overall picture/tactics for your line composition which you try to keep most of the time?

I remember back in the days there was a chemistry rating which helped with this a lot, but it was very long ago and i'm not sure if it's a thing in this game.

Thank you very much if you read the wall of text (and i'm sorry for that). And thanks in advance for any of your comments.

Click to read more...

 

[CartographerNo611]

Simming is a crap shoot so just have fun with it by mixing and mashing weird combos. Chemistry dont really matter at all. Your 4th line and 3rd pairings mean diddly so I put the cheapest goons on them.

Actual gameplay, I love a 1-2-1 passive forecheck or 2-1-2 dump and chase forecheck to go behind the net. My D need to be tall and able to handle the puck, dont really care about skating as im pass/shoot the puck as quickly as possible with my D. I find it very hard to play D with small zippy guys in my own zone so Ill scratch them for pylons lmao.

Playing around for years found me a weird player that I just dominate with. From like NHL 10-14 Mike Knubble was my dude, could pretty much score at will with that guy especially with Malkin at my Center. For current gen Dekeyser has been beast mode on the back end point shot for me, have huge issues playing with EK65 though. Goalies dont matter after 82 overall, goalie AI and animations just aint that good.

Double shift guys, put your snipers at the point, just have fun with it. You can get some pretty crazy stats.

 

[ZlobaPlays]

Thanks for your sharings. Anybody else could be so kind to share his thoughts? If you don't play Season or Versus mode i would appreciate if you share your franchise's lines too

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Simming is a crap shoot so just have fun with it by mixing and mashing weird combos. Chemistry dont really matter at all. Your 4th line and 3rd pairings mean diddly so I put the cheapest goons on them.

Actual gameplay, I love a 1-2-1 passive forecheck or 2-1-2 dump and chase forecheck to go behind the net. My D need to be tall and able to handle the puck, dont really care about skating as im pass/shoot the puck as quickly as possible with my D. I find it very hard to play D with small zippy guys in my own zone so Ill scratch them for pylons lmao.

Playing around for years found me a weird player that I just dominate with. From like NHL 10-14 Mike Knubble was my dude, could pretty much score at will with that guy especially with Malkin at my Center. For current gen Dekeyser has been beast mode on the back end point shot for me, have huge issues playing with EK65 though. Goalies dont matter after 82 overall, goalie AI and animations just aint that good.

Double shift guys, put your snipers at the point, just have fun with it. You can get some pretty crazy stats.

I've just started realizing the defensemen who rack up hits and blocks seem to result in a better team defense than a better overall speedy guy with good stick checking.

I think the game favors big and tough defensemen.

 

[CartographerNo611]

I've just started realizing the defensemen who rack up hits and blocks seem to result in a better team defense than a better overall speedy guy with good stick checking.

I think the game favors big and tough defensemen.

There is definately an "intimidation" code in the game still from I think NHL 12 when ever they redid fighting. Lay enough hits on 1 player they cough up the puck a lot more after a period or 2, really notice it in offline games. Its fun running big guys on the forecheck to lay out small D, pays dividends in the late game. I use big guys on D since D is all about small adjustments to stay in position, a smooth skater moves too far with a single push and leaves you out of position. Also the extra size helps also in block shots and poke checking. Fantasy drafting Hedman, Chara, Myers, Morin, Sustr, and Harpur just leads to so many unintentional blocked shots when you collapse in front of your goalie lmao. Uptick in redirect goals though too.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

There is definately an "intimidation" code in the game still from I think NHL 12 when ever they redid fighting. Lay enough hits on 1 player they cough up the puck a lot more after a period or 2, really notice it in offline games. Its fun running big guys on the forecheck to lay out small D, pays dividends in the late game. I use big guys on D since D is all about small adjustments to stay in position, a smooth skater moves too far with a single push and leaves you out of position. Also the extra size helps also in block shots and poke checking. Fantasy drafting Hedman, Chara, Myers, Morin, Sustr, and Harpur just leads to so many unintentional blocked shots when you collapse in front of your goalie lmao. Uptick in redirect goals though too.

Ya, so the Hawks with all their fast offensive-defenseman prospects are pretty much screwed defensively haha.

They put up points, but still lead to bad GA numbers even though they have good defensive awareness attributes.

 

[ZlobaPlays]

Good info guys, i will remember this. Keep it coming, thanks

 

[GRob83]

The hardest part about having successful lines that result in a chemistry bonus is whether the coach considers the players to be a fit for the system. I finally ended up with +5 line chemistry on the top 3 lines and all 3 defensive pairings but I had to change player types and trade for players who fit the system. Lines 1-3 I have a sniper, a playmaker and a power forward and I have an offensive defenseman and a defensive defenseman on each pairing. Drafting is especially difficult because a lot of top prospects and even NHL ready draft picks will not be a fit for the team or will be better suited for a bottom 6 role which can be frustrating because you don't want an 87 overall sniper playing on the 4th line.