[Argonaut]

SYSTEM & LINES

To go along with my tactical style, I've designed a setup for my lines that is very rigid in its approach. Rigid in the sense that I want all positions to play a certain way, and have a certain type of player.

And I want it to be the same throughout... so the 1st Line will have the same ideals as the 4th Line, the only difference will be player quality. I don't believe in a "checking" line, at least in this Hartford Whalers dynasty. Every line is trying to score on you.

Here is my system:

CENTER: Playmaker; This guy will be the player who is tasked with creating offense. The play will run through him, and he'll generate a lot of assists. Ron Francis will be my #1 in a few years, and ideally my other centers will be in his mold. Someone like Adam Oates, Pierre Turgeon, etc. Don't know if I can get that quality of players but we'll see.

LEFT WING: Two-Way Forward; I want a bit more of a conservative player in my LW slot, to help balance the quarterback at LD. I feel that traditionally the LW position has been more gritty, defensive, or more of a power forward than the RW position (there's also the LW lock). Guys like Keith Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan, and Dave Andreychuk come to mind when thinking of left wingers. I don't want my LW to be a power forward or take a lot of penalties though, just be more balanced in his game.

RIGHT WING: Sniper; I want a goalscorer at RW, pure and simple. In contrast to the LW position, I feel the RW position has had more finesse and skilled scorers, i.e. Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, Alexander Mogilny, etc. There's always exceptions to my LW/RW perception though. Even with historical Whalers LW Sylvain Turgeon and RW Kevin Dineen, who are the opposites of my perception. Anyway my RWs will be tasked to score goals and are given a bit of license to float defensively.

LEFT DEFENSE: Quarterback; Mark Howe is my best player right now and he fits here perfectly. I love offense from the back, and we'll be looking for Paul Coffey types here. We probably don't have the assets to get Coffey, but Howe is great as a #1 LD anyway. Most defensemen in the NHL, and every one of them on my team, are left-handed shots so there will be more offensive defensemen to choose from.

RIGHT DEFENSE: Two-Way Defenseman; I was originally thinking of having a stay-at-home defenseman here, but further to my plan to score as many goals as possible, I'll try the two-way version first. We want the RD to cover for the floating sniper on the right flank, but also not be afraid to add some offense. I prefer to have same-handed defensemen on each point, so I'll be looking for right-handed guys here. There's a shortage of these in the NHL (I was a right-handed D as kid, how come I didn't make it???) and I don't have any righties yet, so I'll have to acquire them.

I've attached the lines for the opening game of the season. I can't quite fully setup my system yet, it'll take a couple years to get all the right players. And Mr. Hockey wants to play power forward so we're gonna let him! He's paired up with Dave Keon on the 2nd "Old Man" Line. Mark Howe is the only guy we are planning to keep long-term, the rest will have to be moved within the next few seasons.

There's also the annoying rule in the NHL at the time where you can't dress enough guys to make 4 lines, so we'll have to work around that for a couple years. I suspect I'll actually change my setup soon and run 3 centers with 4 sets of wingers.