[angryjay93]

Pittsburgh Penguins

Team Overview: To the untrained eye, Pittsburgh looks like a world beater of a team, what with Mario Lemieux and his 100 rating. Alas, the real life story is vastly different and it is indeed a difficult task to find a competitive line, especially for those who don’t specialize in one-timers. The defense is also inflicted with similar problems as the offense, looks great, but plays below the expected level.

Forwards: This forward group reminds me a lot of Edmonton, except it doesn’t have a top 15 forward such as Petr Klima. The biggest issue facing the Penguins is a lack of speed, weight advantage and shooting. A choice must be made, load up a line with heavy guys with skills or use a line featuring weight buggers with marginal skills. Choosing the middle road isn’t an attractive option due to the fact that there will be very few strengths to utilize.

Feed Lemieux:
Mullen-Lemieux-Jagr

Lemieux is easily the most skilled player in the entire game, 4/6 shot, 6 sth, 6 pass, 5/4 skating, 6 off aware, Lemieux is the total package…except for his bulky 10 weight. Due to the fact that he can get knocked down by the majority of players in the game, Lemieux is at a distinct disadvantage when carrying the puck up the ice or dancing in the offensive zone. The user must be adept at picking their spots when deciding to go 1 on 1, if successful; Lemieux has all the tools to succeed. Where Le Magnifique really shines though is in his one-timing ability, he just sits in the slot and picks corners with sniper precision, this should be the main method of goal scoring.

Joe Mullen is plan B when it comes to scoring, his 3/5 right handed shot on the left wing is very useful for unloading one timers. With Lemieux, Jagr, and Murphy passing the puck, Mullen should get ample opportunity to shoot. Mullen’s other key attribute is his 6 weight, he is by far the most skilled Penguin at an acceptable weight, thus allowing him to be effective on defense and able to carry the puck up ice without getting mauled easily. So, whats Mullen’s glaring issue you ask? His speed, only a 4/3 skater, he is not the fleet footed man this line is desperately in need of, also, hes a mediocre 3 passer, not ideal for a guy carrying the puck a lot.

One of the more frustrating players in the game to use, Jagr is more or less in this spot by default due to his 5/4 skating, 5 sth, and 4 passing. Those skills are limited though by his 10 weight and 3/3 shot. Jagr must be used cautiously on offense, he is prone to being pushed around very easily, his passing and skating skills must be used to perfection to get much production out of him. Typically, Jagr will get attacked with vicious body checks, which could bring the defense out of position opening up a passing lane to Lemieux or Mullen, take advantage of it and try to get some quick offense. Defensively though, Jagr isn’t much help aside from the pokecheck.

This line doesn’t provide a lot of 1 on 1 razzle dazzle or defensive prowess. What it does provide though is a skilled line that should be able to cash in on a high percentage of its chances, which will be vital since chances likely won’t be aplenty.

Grinding Wings:
Mullen-Lemieux-Straka

Martin Straka is your run of the mill weight bugger, 3/3 skating, 5 weight. All we’re trying to get out of him is some solid defense on a team bloated with heavyweights. He is capable of carrying the puck up the ice and using his 3 passing to dish off to Lemieux or Mullen. Don’t get carried away with Straka on offense though, only a select few are capable of squeezing production out of him on a consistent basis.

To Hell with Skill:
Straka-Mullen-Mceachern

Mceachern is just a beefed up version of Straka, 7 weight and a 3/3 shot and skating, there isn’t much at all special about Mceachern, but for those managers looking for the most capable weight bug line available should look no further. This line possesses a capable scorer in the middle and some feisty wingers, but it provides nothing more than expansion like speed and could easily be overwhelmed by a faster team.

Other options:

There are three other players I have yet to mention who possess varying skills…but of course, have maddening weaknesses.

Ron Francis is the most balanced of the three, but that doesn’t help too much considering hes only a 4/3 skater with a 4/3 shot at 9 weight. He doesn’t provide anything particularily helpful to any line combo, but he might fit in somewhere.

Kevin Stevens is another frustrating player in that he has this great 77 overall rating, but produces very little on the ice. At 11 weight and 3/4 skating, Stevens is not suited to use his 4 passing or 3/4 shot effectively because he spends so much of his time on his butt. But if you got a thing for Stevens, then go for it.

Lastly, Rick Tochett possesses one of those coveted 4/5 shots, but at 2/2 speed and 9 weight, it won’t get used often. He is one of the worst puck carriers in the league, and thus should only be used as a one timing option.

As a whole, this group is at a real disadvantage, it takes a lot of solid passing, creativity, and timing to utilize any trio that is iced.

Forwards Rating: 4.5/10

Defense: Aside from Ulf Samuelsson and Larry Murphy, there isn’t a whole lot of depth in this unit. With that said, this group isn’t completely lost, between Murphy and Samuelsson, this is a skilled duo that can pass the puck around effectively and help keep the fore checkers at bay.

Murphy-Samuelsson

Murphy has some elite skills at defense, 4/2 shot, 4 passing and sth, and 4/5 awareness. The downside though is his 10 weight and slightly above average 4/3 skating. I find it preferable to hide Murphy behind Mullen or Straka because they can then help cut down or slow down on rushing forwards into Murphy’s area and it allows him to be a bit more freewheeling with his rushes up the ice. Although he isn’t a quality body checker, Murphy does seem rather adept at protecting the slot in the defensive zone and picking off many passes that come his way, thus salvaging at least a little defensive value from him.

Ulf is a very solid defensive option, even though he is not a great open ice hitter, his 5 defensive awareness will often times keep him in the defensive zone protecting the slot. Like Murphy, Ulf is also adept at snuffing out passes in the offensive zone, hopefully that skill can help kick start some counter attacks. What really makes Ulf useful though is his 4/4 skating, this skill allows him to keep up with some of the faster forwards in the game and apply a solid poke check.
If injuries or penalties arise, Paul Stanton is the best option, his 3/3 skating, 4 passing and 4/1 shot at 8 weight allow for a lot of the same skills that Murphy has in a slightly more user friendly package.

Defense Rating: 6/10

Goalie Zone: With 4 ratings all across the board, Barrasso couldn’t be much more solid without being spectacular. At 10 weight though, he can be a bit cumbersome to use in net as his acceleration is lacking, on the flip side, he will be very tough to ram into the net. He is typically picked in the top 5-10 goalies in most draft leagues and performs reasonably well.

Goalie Zone: 7/10

Final Word: Typically in the discussion for worst non-expansion team, the Penguins are a very difficult team to use. Despite this fact though, most users seem to do fairly well with them in classic league play, which means the skills of Lemieux, Samuelsson, Murphy, and Barrasso must be getting this team somewhere.

[RedWingDevil]

Leaving Lemieux off the ice can be a dilemma for some. His skills are pretty high and if you can move through the lines he strikes gold either with the slapshot or his one-timer. Typically, it takes skill to be able to use these guys and win big in leagues. In that respect, the Flyers may have an edge with the forwards, but in d-men the Penguins have it better.

Barraso is solid, no question. He can come up with clutch saves and it's tough to break through his defenses if the other player is on the ball with him.

[smozoma]

Weight Bug Fix Analysis

This team is completely transformed from a team of slow-moving punching bags to a team of slow-moving wrecking-balls by the weight bug fix (WBF). The weight bug fix allows all their forwards to live up to expectations and transforms their blueline into one of the most frustrating in the game.

Forwards

With the WBF, no team can boast as intimidating a first line as the Stanley Cup Champions. Chuck Norris once shed a tear playing against this team (he was in the Blitz Farm league, it's true!).

Mario Lemieux now has the strength to carry the puck and go to the net. His 3 in checking makes him a respectable defensive force, as well, dropping his checking effectiveness just a bit from 10 to 9.6. The only downside remaining with Lemieux now is that his high weight still makes his acceleration pretty low. Still, he has the best deking hands in the game, in my experience, and a breakaway sense matched by few (and can't be run over from behind anymore).
Jaromir Jagr is still hampered by a disappointing 3/3 shot, but his 10/4 checking gives him a 10.9 checking effectivness, which, combined with his 5/4 skating, makes him great at creating turnovers or carrying the puck up the wing with straight-line speed. It's no surprise that he's 3rd all-time in assists in Blitz.
Kevin Stevens takes his place as a premiere power forward. Why he has a relatively average 3 rating in checking is a bit of a mystery, but combined with his 11 weight, it gives him a 10.4 checking effectiveness. His high weight and 3/4 skating will unfortunately make him difficult to control, but on the plus side he has a better shot than Jagr, 3/4.
Ron Franics isn't quite first-line material due to his 4/3 skating, but he also cracks the 10 barrier in checking effectiveness with his 9/4 weight/checking.
Joe Mullen and the other weight buggers aren't great options anymore due to their 3 speeds. Rick Tocchet is a little more useful now, but his 2 speed is still crippling.


Defense

Pittsburgh's defense is also greatly improved by the weight bug fix.
Larry Murphy becomes one of the most skilled defensemen in the game who can also dish out a body check, with his decent 4/3 skating, rare 4/2 shot, 4s in stickhandling and passing, and 4/5 awareness. He's been on the same team in the Blitz league for 4 seasons (making the finals twice), so at least one person is a big fan of his.
Ulf Samuelsson, despite his low 8 weight, has a 5 in checking, giving him a massive 10.6 checking effectiveness. While lots of players have a higher value than his, none other has it in such a mobile package. His 8 weight and 4/4 skating make him incredibly quick, able to line up and deliver checks harder and faster than any defensemen except Bourque. He is also ferocious under AI control. He leads all Blitz Defensemen in checks through the first 4 seasons (although Scott Stevens is hot on his tail).
Next, we have the best checking player in the whole game: Kjell Sameulsson. He's a completely useless offensive player with his 2s in agility, speed, and passing, but his 14 weight and 4 checking give him a 13.9 checking effectiveness.

All in all, this is a great team that could also compete well with line changes on.

This post has been edited by smozoma: 20 April 2010 - 05:30 PM