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SNES - Line Changes ON Team Rankings


dangler

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In preparation of starting a line changes league, here's some proposed team rankings to help guide the drafting process. I'm excluding the bottom 5 expansion teams from this list (ANA, FLA, OTT, SJS, TBL) because they can barely ice one good line. So for the remaining 21 teams I will rank them based on my own opinion of who I'd prefer to play with. You'll notice throughout this topic, I will reference the recent SDL draft history to see how many of these players are included. You'll also notice that I will completely ignore goaltenders in my analysis, I'm only looking at the top 9 F and top 6 D because all SNES goalies suck anyways. All proposed lineups are just off the top of my head while trying to balance the top 2 lines slightly as they'll be the most used in a line change league. You'll want to practice some games and juggle some of the lines if things aren't gelling like you'd hoped.

#1 Calgary Flames

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Fleury Roberts Reichel Suter MacInnis
Line 2 Makarov Otto Nieuwendyk Musil Petit
Line 3 Ashton Ranheim Lindberg Johansson Dahl

This is my favourite team for line changes. Look at that depth in the top 2 lines. There is hardly a dropoff at all in skills and the 3rd line can definitely hold its own as well with Lindberg being the only player without SDL draft history.

#2 Los Angeles Kings

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Carson Sandstrom Kurri Zhitnik Blake
Line 2 Gretzky Robitaille Granato Sydor McSorely
Line 3 Donnelly Millen Taylor Huddy Hardy

This lineup is scary good as well. Sandstrom and Robitaille centering the top 2 lines with those lethal shots and very good wingers feeding them can definitely do some damage. A very solid top 4 D core as well. The 3rd line takes a bit of a drop off with Taylor and Hardy having no SDL draft history, but you can shield them by heavily using SC1 and SC2

#3 Montreal Canadiens

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Lebeau Muller Damphousse Schneider Desjardins
Line 2 Savard Bellows Leclair Daigneault Ramage
Line 3 Dionne Keane Leeman Odelein Brisebois

There's no doubt about the forward depth on Montreal. The only question mark in that top 6 is Leclair but he can be very effective when he's having a good game. All 6 defensemen also have SDL draft history and anyone that knows me, knows I typically dress Odelein as a starter and I love me some Bellows. Leeman is the only player with no SDL draft history which actually surprises me because he's a pretty good, reliable player.

#4 Detroit Red Wings

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Fedorov Yzerman Drake Lidstrom Coffey
Line 2 Ysebaert Ciccarelli Probert Chiasson Konstantov
Line 3 Gallant Primeau Ogrodnick Howe Racine

Detroit is one of only two teams with 15/15 players with SDL draft history. I've tried to balance the lines so only the RW position is getting exposed. Right wingers don't kill penalties anyways so that's the best position for a weaker player in my opinion. Two lines centered by Yzerman and Ciccarelli will be a serious threat with those deadly shots. Thanks to AJ for catching me mistakenly having Ogrodnick on D.

#5 Vancouver Canucks

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Bure Linden Ronning Lumme Lidster
Line 2 Courtnall Nedved Adams Slegr Diduck
Line 3 Momesso Ward Craven Murzyn Babych

Vancouver is the other team that has 15/15 players with SDL draft history. They even have a 7th D-man (Plavsic) with some SDL history. That is some impressive depth for a line changes league! There is a bit of a dropoff in talent between line 1 and line 2 which bumps them down the list a bit. I'd be curious to see what Nedved can do with that 6 shot accuracy at 2C. They do probably have the best 3rd line options in the game though.

#6 New York Rangers

  LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Tikkanen Gartner Nemchinov Leetch Patrick
Line 2 Turcotte Messier Olczyk Lowe Zubov
Line 3 Amonte Kovalev Graves Andersson Beukeboom

No surprise that NYR has some depth in this game. Andersson is the only player without SDL draft experience. I like those top 2 lines especially and the 3rd line is decent enough to not get exposed while it's out there.

#7 Pittsburgh Penguins

PIT LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Jagr Lemieux Francis Samuelsson Murphy
Line 2 Stevens Mullen Tocchet Stanton Samuelsson
Line 3 Straka McEachern Tippett Taglianeti Ramsey

It's a bit surprising to see arguably the best team in SNES 94 this far down the list, but their depth is not as good as others for a line changes league. That 3rd line is atrocious and you're not going to want them out here too long but thankfully the top 2 lines will be able to carry the majority of the play.

#8 Toronto Maple Leafs

TOR LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Cullen Gilmour Borshevsky Ellett Rouse
Line 2 Anderson Andreychuk Clark Gill Macoun
Line 3 Krushelski Zezel Foligno Mironov Berehowsky

All of Toronto's forwards and all but one defense (Berehowsky) have SDL draft experience which is some impressive depth. The top 2 lines are pretty balanced and will be able to contribute. There's a bit of a drop off in line 3 but that's going to happen with all of the teams going forward.

#9 Washington Capitals

WSH LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Bondra Ridley Miller Iafrate Cote
Line 2 Carpenter Khristich Pivonka Johansson Hatcher
Line 3 Elynuik Hunter MacDermid Cavallini Langway

Really good balance in the top 2 lines here with hardly any flaws. I like to spread out Iafrate and Hatcher so you have a heavy D man on each of the top 2 lines.

#10 Quebec Nordiques

QUE LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Nolan Sundin Ricci Leschyshyn Duchesne
Line 2 Kamensky Sakic Kovalenko Gusarov Tatatrinov
Line 3 Twist Cavallini Young Huffman Foote

Another well balanced top 2 lines and could be very even to Washington's team but I gave WSH the edge for their defense. There's probably slightly more skill and scoring touch on Quebec's top 6 F group. P.S. Tony Twist is terrible, don't use him. He was drafted once in SDL as a joke which is why he made it on this list. But he also scored 1 goal on 1 shot.. so maybe use him?

#11 Boston Bruins

BOS LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Oates Neely Juneau Sweeney Bourque
Line 2 Kvartalnov Ruzicka Poulin Wesley Featherstone
Line 3 Donato Heinze Pantaleyev Roberts Shaw

Another surpise this team has dropped so far in my rankings but other than the top line, and 1 or 2 good spares, the depth is not there. Maybe you could split up Oates and Neely to spread it out a bit more but I still don't love the options with this team and that 3rd line is a severe liability.

#12 New Jersey Devils

NJD LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Semak Richer Zelepukin Fetisov Stevens
Line 2 Stastny Lemieux Holik Niedermayer Driver
Line 3 Nicholls MacLean Pellerin Albelin Daneyko

I really like the depth at forward and the top 4 D on this group. I debated ranking them ahead of Boston. That 3rd line is not even that bad. Both top 2 lines have a great mix of skill and size to get the job done.

#13 Winnipeg Jets

WPG LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Steen Selanne Shannon Housley Olausson
Line 2 Davydov Zhamnov Tkachuk Bautin Numminen
Line 3 Borsato Eagles King Carlyle Ulanov

The top 4 defense core is really solid without many flaws. The RW position is a bit lacking on both top 2 lines but there is enough balance that both lines can be effective and provide enough offense.

#14 Chicago Blackhawks

CHI LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Ruutuu Roenick Murphy Smith Chelios
Line 2 Sutter Larmer Goulet Marchment Kucera
Line 3 Murray Graham Noonan Muni Brown

Again with a big drop off from one of the best teams in the game, but like mentioned above, aside from the top line the depth is not there. Goulet on the 2nd line? Gross.

#15 Buffalo Sabres

BUF LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Hawerchuk Mogilny Sweeney Svoboda Smehlik
Line 2 Khmylev Lafontaine Errey Ledyard Bodger
Line 3 Patterson Ray Audette Carney Moller

Here's another team that's struggling with depth outside of the top line, that will be the story for the rest of the teams on this list so I'll stop mentioning it. I tried to spread things out with Lafontaine centering SC2 but he's got some garbage wingers to work with. The top 4 defense can hold their own though.

#16 St. Louis Blues

STL LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Janney Hull Sutter Brown Butcher
Line 2 Emerson Shanahan Miller Giles Quintal
Line 3 Bassen Wilson Korolev Norwood Zombo

Not a bad top 2 line options, only the RW position being a bit on the weak end. Bob Bassen on the 3rd line can provide a scoring option as well if he gets out there.

#17 Edmonton Oilers

EDM LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Corson Klima Weight Manson Kravchuk
Line 2 Ciger Simpson MacTavish Richardson Benning
Line 3 Elik Todd Hudson Werenka Glynn

Klima and Simpson provide great center options with those shots. EDM also can ice 6 pretty decent and reliable defensemen. The winger options do look a bit ugly outside of Corson though.

#18 New York Islanders

NYI LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Hogue Turgeon Ferraro Kasparaitis Malakhov
Line 2 Thomas King Volek Norton Lachance
Line 3 Mullen Flatley McInnis Kurvers Krupp

I debated putting Hogue on line 2 here and it might be the better option to spread things out. Outside of Turgeon and Hogue all the wingers are pretty blah but the defense can hold its own, similar to EDM above.

#19 Dallas Stars

DAL LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Gagner Modano Broten Tinordi Sjodin
Line 2 Dahlen Courtnall Gilchrist Hatcher Matvichuk
Line 3 Craig McPhee Propp Ludwig Berry

We're getting into the bottom few teams here and it's starting to show. Ony Tinordi and Sjodin have SDL draft experince on the D end so that is where this team is definitely lacking. The top 6 forwards are not that terrible.

#20 Philadelphia Flyers

PHI LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Eklund Lindros Dineen Yushkevich Galley
Line 2 Brindamour Recchi Beranek Hawgood Nattress
Line 3 Acton Fedyk Snuggerud Carkner McGill

Haven't quite figured out what the optimal lineup would be here because it's really limited. There's only 5 forwards and 3 defensemen with SDL draft history on this team... it's bad.

#21 Hartford Whalers

HFD LW C RW LD RD
Line 1 Sanderson Verbeek Janssens Zalapski Burt
Line 2 Poulin Cassels Kron Weinrich Pederson
Line 3 Leach Nylander Petrovicky Keczner Houda

Similar to PHI, there's only 5 forwards and 3 defensemen with SDL draft history on this team and overall they're much worse than Philly.

           
           
           
           
Edited by dangler
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I created this spreadsheet to coincide with dangler's rankings. I moved some teams around a bit based on my own rankings. It's sorted by tiers and includes player overalls.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vfEOfOERVjddJlbpW88jrGRyG3sTfvVLRN9YgtF6FE8/edit?usp=sharing

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