IB, can i be your European/Swedish scout? I got to Sweden almost every year and i was the first one to be high on Karlsson, Lehner, Petersson, Silfverberg

IB It seems we all want you as our boss hahaha

It took some doing but I got my team figured out. I tried to only use signed players so I didn't have to be making up numbers, but the couple I did were players I just really like for my team, 1.5 for Ryan Johnson and 1.25 for Tim Kennedy. Both guys with real good speed and Ryan Johnson is a faceoff and penalty killing guru.

Centers: Patrice Bergeron, Derek Roy, Valtteri Filppula, Ryan Johnson, R.J. Umberger, Brian Boyle

I've got everything I wanted for centers, speed, skill, two-way play, a bit of size in Umberger and Filppula, all guys who can win face-offs, a couple who can play the wing, guys who can play on the PP, guys who can play on the PK, some who can do both. I would almost certainly move Brian Boyle to the wing and staple him to the top of the opponent's crease. And people think Byfuglien is hard to move...

Left Wing: Erik Cole, Tim Kennedy

Right Wing: Jason Pominville, Byron Bitz, Drew Stafford, B.J. Crombeen, Michael Grabner

Again, everything I want in my wingers, speed, speed, some skill and more speed, plus a couple big kids in Bitz and Crombeen to send to the front of the net and corners. Crombeen is also my team's enforcer and he scored a bunch of goals in junior so with the right linemates you never know. I went short on natural left wingers because 3 of my centers and at least two of my right wingers can also play left wing.

Francois Beauchemin-Shea Weber
Tim Gleason-Tom Gilbert
Dennis Seidenberg-Marek Zidlicky
Brian Lee

Real good right-side defensemen are so much harder to find than lefties, so if possible, my franchise should be a right shot like Shea Weber or Drew Doughty. Like I said, aside from Weber I have 2 powerplay specialists in Zidlicky and Gilbert and two penalty-kill specialists in Seidenberg and Gleason. Plus Beachemin can do everything and all 6 guys are capable of playing in all situations. Lee is the kind of kid who is going to be the exact kind of player I want for my team if he develops properly.

Dwayne Roloson
Ty Conklin
Jhonas Enroth (in the minors)

Just a couple solid veterans who come cheap while I develop my young goalies and slowly work them into the rotation.

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^^ See you in the Stanley Cup finals.

Minus Patrice Bergeron, I really REALLY like your team concept IB. Those defense pairings are some kind of awesome too.

Haha, I know, the concussion problems are a huge concern, but he is an Olympic gold medalist, one of the best face-off guys in the league, a good penalty-killer and, if he can manage to stay healthy, I think could be a Selke candidate someday.

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I certainly hope you're not defending Bergeron based on what he did at the Olympics...he wasn't very good there.

I dunno, I'm just not a fan of his I guess. But he does fit the mould you're after - responsible 2-way centres who aren't afraid to check.

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He was bad in the Olympics, but he's a good player, fits IB's mould like you said.

Like I said, IB, see you in the finals.

Haha no, I know he didn't fair so well at the Olympics and ended up losing pretty much all of his ice-time to Jonathan Toews. I'm not sure what the issue was for him there, but my point was just that he impressed Hockey Canada brass enough for them to put him on the team and he clearly didn't suck bad enough that he cost them the Gold medal.

And yes, he fits my team perfectly, especially in that he is so good on face-offs, which is just HUGE in the playoffs. In my opinion, there was 3 reasons Edmonton made it to the finals back in 06, Chris Pronger, Dwayne Roloson and a bunch of centers who won a ridiculous percentage of faceoffs. Their depth of puck-moving defensemen and skilled forwards who moved the puck around so well and bought into Mac-T's trap system was also huge, but you can't move the puck if you don't have possession, and the Oilers had possession an AWFUL lot that spring thanks to Horcoff, Peca and company.

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^^ Pulled groin. That's why he didn't have an impact in the Olympics.