Well the summer is long underway—and with no hockey, it’s a tough time for us die-hard fans. We love to dream up scenarios and play games to kill time, so I have one for you.
The Challenge: Build an NHL team consisting of twelve forwards, six defensemen, and two goaltenders.
The Rules: You need twenty players, so you must use players from twenty of the thirty NHL teams, which means you can’t have two players from the same team. But the players you choose still need to fit under the $56.7 million salary cap. (The amount must be the player’s salary in '08-09). Please go to http://nhlnumbers.com for each team’s complete list of player salaries.
My Roster
Centers
Evgeni Malkin; Pittsburgh Penguins ($.984 million)
Jonathon Toews; Chicago Blackhawks ($.850 million)
Jason Arnottl; Nashville Predators ($4.5 million)
Brandon Dubinsky; New York Rangers ($.635 million)
Total: $6.97 million
Right Wingers
Brian Rolston; New Jersey Devils ($5.25 million)
Jason Pominville; Buffalo Sabres ($1.37 million)
Mike Knuble; Philadelphia Flyers ($2.8 million)
Guillaume Latendresse; Montreal Canadiens ($.850 million)
Total: $10.27 million
Left Wingers
Alex Ovechkin; Washington Capitals ($9 million)
Henrik Zetterberg; Detroit Red Wings ($2.9 million)
Trent Hunter; New York Islanders ($2 million)
Alexei Ponikarovsky; Toronto Maple Leafs ($2.24 million)
Total: $16.14 million
Defensemen
Dion Phaneuf; Calgary Flames ($7 million)
Jason Smith; Ottawa Senators ($2.6 million)
Fedor Tyutin; Columbus Blue Jackets ($2.25 million)
Francois Beauchemin; Anaheim Ducks ($1.65 million)
Erik Johnson; St. Louis Blues ($.850 million)
Paul Ranger; Tampa Bay Lightning ($.950 million)
Total: $15.3 million
Goaltenders
Evgeni Nabokov; San Jose Sharks ($5.50 million)
Josh Harding; Minnesota Wild ($.750 million)
Total: $6.25 million
Total Team Salary: $54.93 million
My Line Combinations
Line 1: Ovechkin-Malkin-Rolston
Line 2: Pominville-Toews-Zetterberg
Line 3: Knuble-Arnott-Hunter
Line 4: Hall-Dubinsky-Ponikarovsky
Defense 1: Phaneuf-Johnson
Defense 2: Smith-Beauchemin
Defense 3: Tyutin-Ranger
Goalie 1: Nabokov
Goalie 2: Harding
Lineup Analysis
What a bang for the buck with this lineup. It has a solid mix of youth and experience, is very speedy at that, and even leaves more then a million left over.
The first line consists of the two best superstars in the league, Ovechkin and Malkin, combined with an older, more defensive-minded Brian Rolston. The reason this line works is because all three can skate, pass, and score, and even take on some defensive responsibility as well.
The second line again is solid with scoring and playmaking ability. The young Toews combined with the best defensive forward in the league in Zetterberg and the speedy Jason Pominville will add depth as the second line.
This third line may be the one I’m most proud of, because not only can they score, but they’re all North American and they can all check and grind away. To me, it would be the perfect shadow line to go up against the opposing team’s top line.
The fourth line is the team youngest and feistiest. The winger Adam Hall is a solid checker who can score and plays very economically. Dubinsky is a good power forward who is also beginning to fight more. Add to that the dangerous Ponikarovsky, and this line can do a bit of everything.
This defensive corps is once again very solid and can do most anything. Is has the fighting it needs from Phaneuf and Smith, a youthful offense with Phaneuf, Johnson, and Ranger. Add to that the very solid and hard-hitting Fedor Tyutin and Francois Beauchemin, and it’s a very solid core of six.
Final Word
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a chance to one day become the general manager of a hockey franchise? I know for myself and many others it would be a dream come true.
But for most of us, it will not become a reality, so we have to play around for fun. This is a difficult challenge I’m proposing to you because not only can you not use two players from the same team, but you have to fit under the 2008-09 Salary Cap.
It’s a difficult challenge and may seem intimidating (heck, it took me almost an hour of research), but it’s a lot of fun and well worth the time.
So please, take some time throughout the day and play around with some numbers. The only reason I published this so early is because I know it may take people some time.
When you post your response, please post your lineup (players, team abbreviation, and salary included) in a comment, or if you choose to post it on your profile bio, please provide a link to it. Also, your responses don’t have to come with an analysis, unless you want to put one.
I hope this will turn out to be a success, because I know I had a lot of fun with it—but maybe that’s just because I’m obsessed with this great sport.
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2 months ago
You shifty bastard, grabbing Malkin a year before his extension kicks in...
Great idea, I hope to take a crack at this before the day is over.
2 months ago
Here is something to ponder - How would your team measure up against the defending Stanley Cup Champions? Who seem to be unbelievable at coming in under the cap with high-end players.
Just tossin it out there!
from 2 months ago
You were right Greg, this is a fun new game. Thanks. Who says summer is devoid of hockey? It just takes a little bit of creativity!
I'll post mine in a while, when I have the time to really think about it. B/R's version of fantasy hockey.
It would be interesting to match these fake cap teams with the Wings. It's a good article topic: teams who have the best bang for their spent buck!
2 months ago
1st Line:
L: (PIT)Evgani Malkin @ .984M, C: (STL) Andy McDonald@ 3.333M R: (ANA)Ryan Getzlaf: 4.5
(first line has a lot of speed and scoring touch)
2nd Line:
L: (DAL) Brendon Morrow @4.1M, C: (WSH) Nicklas Backstrom @.850M R: (CHI) Patrick Kane @.875M
(line 2 has just as much speed as 1st one, a lot of youth made me put Morrow here for as a power forward.)
3rd Line:
L: (LAK) Anze Kopitar @ .765M, C: (DET) Johan Franzen @.900M, R: (SJS) Joe Pavelski @ 1.5M
(The Mule plays leader on this line, with two great forwards on his wings)
4th Line:
L: (OTT) Chris Neil @ 1.2M, C: (CAL) Todd Bertuzzi @1.950M, R: (MTL) Georges Laraque @ 1.5M
(the pride of my team...if you cant beat them, beat them up.)
Defense 1: (COL) John-Michael Liles @ 3.7M, (EDM) Lubomir Visnovsky @ 7M
Defense 2: (FL) Mike Van Ryn @ 3.350M, (VAN) Mattias Ohlund @ 3.5M
Defense 3: (NJD) Vitaly Vishnevski@ 1.2M, (CLB) Rostislav Klesla @ 1.65M
(when it came to D-pairings i wanted youth paired with experience but I wasn't willing to break bank, I'm happy with my choices but if I were going to spend to the cap, this is where id improve.)
Goalies: (BUF) Ryan Miller@3.5M, (NSH) Dan Ellis @ 1.5M
(Miller is a bargain as a starter, and Ellis shows lots of promise in Nashville)
Ken’s Cap = $48.63 Million
(pretty sure this is right, my calculator died, either way I'm under the cap by a long shot.)
At the end of the day I'd say they're a playoff team, possibly not a Cup winning team...but who knows.
2 months ago
yeah greg, seriously, taking malkin while hes still under a million....cheap. lol but ill have to think about this and get back to you
2 months ago
Line 1:C Evgeni Malkin ($.984 million) I too will take advantage of the last year of his entry leve contract
W Alex Ovechkin ($9 million)
W Henrik Zetterberg ($2.65 million)
Line 2: C Vincent Lecavalier ($6.875 million)
W Tomas Holmstrom ($2.25 million)
W Corey Perry ($5.325 million)
Line 3: C Mike Cammaleri ($3.35 million)
W Brandon Dubinsky ($.633 million) I know he is a center, but I’ll make him into a winger!
W Ryan Getzlaf ($5.325 million)
Line 4: C Johan Franzen ($.942 million)
W Derek Boogaard ($.950 milion)
W Danniel Carcillo (No salary yet, so I’ll use his 07-08 salary of $.640 million)
D1: Nicklas Lidstrom ($7.45 million)
Francois Beauchemin (1.65 million)
D2: Braydon Coburn ($1.3 million)
Stephane Robidas ($1.5 million)
D3: Matt Niskanen ($.850 million)
Tobias Enstrom ($.900 million)
SG: Carey Price ($2.2 million)
BG: Mike Smith ($.950 million)
Forwards: $38.924
Defense: $13.65
Goalies: $3.15 million
Total Salary: $55.724 million
Cap Space: $.976 million
By the way, I'm keeping this team and will calculate their stats at the end of the season to see where I would rank among NHL teams.
2 months ago
1st Line:
C: Evgeni Malkin (984k), L: Alexander Ovechkin ($9m) R: Todd Bertuzzi ($1.95m)
One incredible play maker, one incredible scorer and a huge body who can do a bit of both.
2nd Line:
C: Nicklas Backstrom (850k) L: Jonathan Toews (850k) R: Brendan Morrow (4.1m)
Tons of offensive ability here and speed to burn, with a bit of grit.
3rd Line:
C: Rod Brind'Amour L: Ales Hemsky ($3.6m) R: Jason Pominville
Rod and Pomy are gritting with some offensive upside, while Hemsky just sets up all the goals.
4th Line:
C: Andrew Brunette ($2.5m) L: Milan Lucic ($585k) R: Alexander Radulov ($984k)
Lucic and Brunette play nothing but heart and soul hockey with Radulov to provide a boost offensively.
Defense 1: Nicklas Lidstrom ($7.4m) Braydon Couburn ($1.2m)
Defense 2: Scott Niedermayer ($6.75) Jack Johnson ($850k)
Defense 3: Rostislav Klelsa ($1.65m) Erik Johnson ($850k)
(With the defense, I wanted two pillars and lots of solid youth.)
Goalies: Martin Brodeur ($5.2m) Carey Price ($850k)
Dominant goalie with the wonder boy as his backup.
Cap total=$55.38 (I think, I exed it out as I was going to type and I'm too lazy to go back)
2 months ago
I kinda found that everyone's team looks the same to me. Using guys like Malkin and Toews who are on entry level contracts to find a loophole to stack the teams haha. Anyways, here's my squad using players that are most likely not on your lists.
Mind you this would be realistic for a young team that has a lot of speed and plays a tough grinding style.
Jarome Iginla, Eric Staal, Rick Nash
Wojtek Wolski, Mike Richards, Milan Michalek
Jordan Staal, Sam Gagner, Taylor Pyatt
Sergei Kostitsyn, Dominic Moore, Nick Foligno
Nicklas Lidstrom, Marc Staal
Brent Burns, Duncan Keith
John Erskine, Jack Johnson
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Dan Ellis
Total cap used: $55.97/$56.7M (I had all the numbers at home but I can't get onto nhlnumbers from here at work. Check it out if you guys want.
2 months ago
I only used established players, only radulov is on the cheap, with entry contract
solid team all around, every center is responsible defensivly and the team leans towards the Defense side, with every dmen able to play as a 1# or 2# type
eager is for fistacuffs, nash the big scorer along with richards and staal leading the team,
madden, langenbruener, jonkien can kill penalties, plus jonkien will win some shootouts for you.
Ryan miller is cheap for being a top 5 goalie in the league.
Richards, Mike C 5.75
Staal, Eric C 4.5
Madden, John C 2.939
Pahlsson, Samuel C 1.4
Michalek, Milan R 4.333
Williams, Justin R 3.5
Langenbrunner, Jamie R 2.8
Radulov, Alexande R 0.886
Nash, Rick L 5.4
Fedotenko, Ruslan L 2.25
Jokinen, Jussi L 1.812
Eager, Ben L 0.6
Rivet, Craig D 3.5
Regehr, Robyn D 4
Leopold, Jordan D 1.5
Komisarek, Mike D 1.7
Suter, Ryan D 3.5
Coburn, Braydon D 1.3
Miller, Ryan G 2.667
Boucher, Brian G 0.65
54.987
from 2 months ago
u have coburn and mike richards, both from philly
way to try and pull a fast one haha jk man
from 2 months ago
same with eric staal and justin williams from carolina, radulov and suter from nashville and langenbrunner and madden from nj
2 months ago
The one player per team thing is hard.
from 2 months ago
Exactly.
from 2 months ago
thats what makes it a challenge.
greg this was an awesome idea!
from 2 months ago
Thanks Chris! I have a few POD votes so far, so maybe it'll get recognized and more people will see and play it.
2 months ago
With the amount of work I put into my team, i know this took so hard work Greg. Hope you get P.O.D.
2 months ago
*Price in brackets is the line as a whole
Line 1: Tomas Holmstrom - Ryan Getzlaf - Patrick Kane ($11,300,000)
Line 2: Nikolai Zherdev - Brad Boyes - Niklas Hagman ($9, 500, 000)
Line 3: Darcy Tucker - Phil Kessel - Colby Armstrong ($5, 560, 000)
Line 4: Jarkko Ruutu - Steve Begin - Steve Downie ($3, 178, 667)
*Price in brackets is the pair together
Defense 1: Dion Phanuef - Mike Green ($11, 750, 000)
Defense 2: Hal Gill - Joe Corvo ($4,700,000)
Defense 3: Brad Lukowich - Paul Ranger ($2,500,000)
*Individual salaries
Goalie #1: Roberto Luongo ($6, 750, 000)
Goalie #2: Patrick Lalime ($1,000,000)
Total: $56, 238, 667
Cap Space: $461, 333
Excellent game Greg, I really enjoyed it. Also, I know this has nothing to do with the game, but as a GM, I'd pick Ken Hitchcock for my coach. Although I have some offensive forwards/defensemen, I like Hitchcock's defensive aspect to the game.
2 months ago
Line 1: Evgeni Malkin [PIT] (.984m) - Anze Kopitar [LAK] (.765m) - Henrik Zetterberg [DET] (2.9m)
Line 2: Dustin Brown [LAK] (2.6m) - Sam Gagner [EDM] (.875m) - Rick Nash [CBJ] (6.5m)
Line 3: Phil Kessel [BOS] (.850m) - Johan Franzen [DET] (1.15m) - Sergei Kostitsyn [MTL] (.550m)
Line 4: Torrey Mitchell [SJS] (.715m) - Samuel Pahlsson [ANA] (1.4m) - Chris Kelly [OTT] (1.8m)
Forwards - $21.089m
D-1: Brian Campbell [CHI] (7.1m) - Niklas Kronwall [DET] (3.0m)
D-2: Mike Komisarek [MTL] (1.9m) - Francois Beauchemin [ANA] (1.65m)
D-3: Mike Green [WSH] (5.25m) - Ryan Whitney [PIT] (3m)
Defensemen - $21.9m
Starter: Carey Price [MTL] (.850m)
Back-up: Ty Conklin [DET] (.750m)
Goalies - $1.6m
Total - $44.589m
Notta too bad of a team. A contender, but loaded at the back end.
2 months ago
FORWARDS
Line 1:
Malkin-Ovechkin-Hemsky {$13.584 million}
Line 2:
B. Morrow-P. Stastny-Zetterberg {$7.71 million}
Line 3:
S. Begin-C. Kelly-S. Upshall {$3.85 million}
Line 4:
K. Wellwood-T. Zajac-G. Parros {$2.557 million}
DEFENSE
Pairing 1:
D. Phaneuf-E. Johnson {$7.85 million}
Pairing 2:
K. McLaren-J. Johnson {$3.35 million}
Pairing 3:
N. Welch-M. Staal {$1.54 million}
GOALTENDING
T. Thomas-I. Bryzgalov {$5 million}
TOTAL: $45.441 million; $11.25 million in cap space left
Definetly an upper-tier team, top of the conference, and a ton of cap space to add another couple of bodies.
2 months ago
I went by what your linked site said were their current teams, not wanting to rely on my ability to remember changes of address. I also skipped new FAs since they were not on this list and were probably overpaid anyway.
LW: Morrow (C, 4.1, Dal), Zetterberg (2.65, Det), Torres (2.25, Edm), Chimera (1.87, Cmb)
C: Koivu (A, 4.75, Mtl), McDonald (3.333, StL), Brind'Amour (3.6, Car), Backstrom (2.4, Was)
RW: Knuble (2.8, Phi), Sykora (2.625, Pit), Dvorak (1.55, Fla), Kobasew (2.333, Bos)
D: Regehr (A, 4, Cal)-Ohlund (3, Van), Martin (3.833, NJ)-Keith (1.475, Chi), Vlassic (1.1, SJ)-Michalek (1.21, Pho)
G: Miller (2.667, Buf), Harding (0.725, Min)
TOTAL PAY: $52.261 million--14.608 on D (2.435/), 14.083 on C (3.521/), 10.87 on LW (2.72/), $9.308 on RW (2.213/), and 3.392 on G (1.696/). That leaves me $4.439 million to sign two forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie who can step in if there are injuries, or almost $1 million/player.
All four of my lines are dangerous and I have depth behind them, I am loaded with leadership, I have a couple vets and young guys but most players near their prime, and my D has a good mix of skill and impregnability. I have playoff experience in net, and championship experience for FIVE players. I have a plethora of grit on my forward lines, and a couple big hitters on the blue line, too. My one weakness is having only a couple of fast skaters, but you have to be physical to win in the playoffs.
from 2 months ago
Captain Morrow! I love it. I'm surprised someone else too Andy Mac, hes a first liner for me...watching him pass to Teemu all these years i knew he could put it on Malkin and Getzlaf's stick! Although thinking about it, i might move Malkin to 2nd line and promote Morrow. Eh, i dunno, man this was fun. Nice Team MJ!
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