Building a Winner

Just over a year ago I did an article where I built my own NHL dream team using actual player salaries and the actual NHL salary cap. Since the NHL season is quickly approaching I thought that I would do it again and see how much my team has changed/improved/worsened.

I got the salary info from http://www.nhlnumbers.com/.

After reviewing my team I challenge you to come up with a better one. Also try and justify or explain why you made certain choices instead of just copying and pasting a team.

Keep in mind that the salary cap for the upcoming year is $56.8 million and that you must have a full team. 12 forwards, 6 defense, and 2 goalies. Also for fun choose a coach.

Here is my team: the Las Vegas Hot Dice (in a tribute to the Roller Jam team)

Forwards

1st Line

C Evgeni Malkin – 9

LW Alexander Semin – 5

RW Martin St. Louis - 4

2nd Line

C Jonathan Toews - .850

LW Zach Parise – 3

RW Patrick Kane - .875

3rd Line

C Ryan Kesler – 1.75

LW Alex Burrows – 2

RW Bobby Ryan - .765

4th Line

C Darren Helm - .500

LW Milan Lucic - .685

RW Kyke Okposo - .850

Defense

Brooks Orpik – 3.75

Kris Letang - .685

Shea Webber – 4.5

Nicklas Lidstrom – 7.45 (Captain)

Niklas Kronwall – 3.25

Luke Schenn - .875

Goalies

Cam Ward – 3.5

Ty Conklin - 1.2

Total = $54.43 million

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So there is my team. I personally feel like they would dominate the league and I even left myself a little extra cap space in case I need to sign someone else. Now obviously I picked some guys whose contracts will expire at the end of the season but all in all I think it is a great team.

OK so now on to the justification. When building this team I started with the goalies and then worked my way forward. Cam Ward was an easy choice for goalie seeing that is young (25), experienced (won a Stanley Cup), and can single handedly win games. Ty Conklin was an easy choice at back up as well as all he does is win games (in his NHL career he is 73-43).

Moving on to the defense. I feel like there is a good mix of offense and defense here with the whole unit being anchored by arguably the best defenseman of my generation in Nicklas Lidstrom. Now I know I always bag on the Leafs and give Bryan "Red Rings of Death" Cruse about Luke Schenn but in the end his contract was too good to ignore. Add to the fact that he will be able to learn from quality defensemen and I think he would develop from a pylon into a player.

Do I really need to justify my forwards? NHL point leader (78 of those were assists so he knows how to share the puck) Evgeni Malkin playing alongside play maker Martin St. Louis and notorious tough guy Alexander Semin is a winning combination. The 3rd line is pure shut down and smack talk as you know Burrows and Kesler will cause problems for opposing teams while still lighting the lamp. Throw Bobby Ryan in there, even though he isn't a 3rd line player, and you are rolling 4 lines of talent so good not even the Net Detective could stop them.

Lastly I need to pick a coach. Since Scotty Bowman is out of the game I will have to go with the next best guy and pick Mike Babcock. I was contemplating Ted Nolan but I felt he might try and sleep with all the player's wives which would cause some problems. The guy is a proven winner, 282-139 coaching record, and has won the Stanley Cup. He also knows how to handle big egos which this team is full of.

So there is the Las Vegas Hot Dice and their Head Coach. Now it's your turn. Use the site I used and build your own team and copy and paste it into the comments section. Just know that every team posted will be fighting for 2nd place.

Random Youtube Video (May Have Used this Before but Who Cares)