NHL 09 – Edit Lines - Part Two

Offensive Lines is probably the most important screen of the Edit Lines section. You have four attacking lines, each consisting of two wingers and a center. Each of your attackers has certain style – he is either a Sniper (SNP), a Power Forward (PWF), or a Dangler (DNG). Besides taking advantage of the unique abilities, you should do your best to combine different types of players in each line. It will result in a bonus – appearing as Chemistry. Three different player types have a chance of giving you a “+3 Chemistry” – which is actually an increase in each of the relevant line players; overall level by 3 points. On the contrary, putting “same-type” players in one line can result in negative chemistry – damaging the overall performance of the line.

Another important point is that you will not necessarily have enough players for each position. You might have six Right Wingers and only two Left Wingers. This is not critical, by default the computer will pick the players by their default positions, but you can actually alter that, putting a Left Winger or even a defender on the right wing of your attack. You need to remember, though, that the center will take the faceoffs and needs to be a player with high a face-off skill.

Once again, you have different player types, this time Offensive and Defensive Defensemen. To get the most of your lineup, put an OD-DD pair into each of your defensive lines and get extra chemistry points. Another important thing to have in mind is the preferred hand of your players. Putting right-handed players on left wing (both defensively and offensively) will provide better shooting (as the stick is turned towards the center), but puck control and holding the zone will suffer as it's harder to contain pucks coming up the boards.

My advice is to put your best players in the PP line, regardless of their position – although having at least one defender (preferably OD) is desirable. Face-offs are VERY important: the center position should be examined carefully. For the 4-man power play the logic is the same.

For Penalty Killing units, I would recommend on using two defensive defensemen and two forwards with a good checking rating. If you want to have the opportunities to score shorthanded, put a quick and skillful player at one of the forward positions. Winning face-offs is important, turning stopages in play into the killing of even more time.

Hero Line - pick the players with the highest hero rating in your team and assemble this mega-star lineup. Remember, in overtime and critical stages of the game those will be the players who lead you to glory.

Penalty takers - not a very important lineup, as shootouts are very rare. Scoring ability is really the only thing to look at here.

Extra Attacker - this is the player who substitutes for your goalie when a delayed penalty is called. This is also a man that is brought when you pull your goalie in a desperate attempt to score a game-tying goal in the closing seconds. Remember, when the player is already on the ice, the position will be “filled-up” by the player in same position from the next line. Thus, use two players from different lines as two extra-attacker options.