Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafs67
Definitely agree with this proposal. I think special teams in general could use some changes.
Along with more clarity about the positioning/tactics, I think individual player roles should be changeable across situations. For example, I might want Barkov to be a two-way forward at 5v5, but on the powerplay, maybe I'd rather he be a screener (given the set-up in the OP's picture). The same thing goes for the penalty kill. I might want Barkov to be a two-way forward at 5v5, but when he's on the penalty kill, he can shift his role to being a shadow or something.
This would also help avoid the phenomenon for AI where their best offensive players aren't on the powerplay. For example, I've seen the Edmonton Oilers playing Connor McDavid on their second PP unit because his all-situations role is two-way forward, and instead some third line talent with a playmaker role will be the top unit PP guy.
I also find that ice-time distribution doesn't work. No matter how high I put the second PP unit's ice-time %, they always play significantly less than the first unit. This pretty much forces you to operate with a loaded top unit instead of splitting talent across two units.
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Completely agree with all of this. The AI decisions on who to use on the PP continues to baffle me, I've seen both McDavid and MacKinnon on the second unit in the middle of their primes before.