In the early days of hockey, the guys in the starting lineup played almost the entirety of each game. Teams would have a couple of reserve players too, but they saw significant action only if a starter was forced out of a game due to injury. It's a stark contrast to today's NHL, where teams roll four lines and three defensive pairings.
In my pre-NHL Strat-O-Matic league, I've tried to strike a balance between these two extremes. My four teams have no more than a dozen players apiece on their rosters. Through the first two seasons, they've dressed one goaltender, three defensemen, and six forwards for each game. Among the forwards, the starters average about 40 minutes of ice time per game, while the second-line guys are at about 20 minutes per game. The "regular" defensemen average between 30 and 40 minutes each.
Then we have the rovers. Before the NHL, many leagues used a sixth skating player, known as a rover (often the team's best overall player), who had the freedom to float around the ice and look for opportunities to make plays wherever needed. The Strat-O-Matic Hockey game system doesn't include rules for rovers, so I've simulated this historical position using offensively skilled defensemen who get extra playing time. One such defenseman on each team -- Cyclone Taylor (Vics), Mike Grant (Comets), Hod Stuart (Thistles), and Si Griffis (Bulldogs) -- gets double-shifted and is used to quarterback his team's attack. When I was looking at ice times the other day (in preparation for allowing teams to dress four, rather than three, defensemen in the upcoming Season 3), I was flabbergasted to see that my rovers are averaging about 50(!) minutes per game. No wonder Cyclone Taylor and Mike Grant seem to assist on every goal!
A great player staying out on the ice for five-sixths of a game probably isn't out of whack from a historical perspective, but I think I'll make a few changes to ice time for Season 3 and beyond. After all, player usage evolved in real life, so why not also in my simulated league? I'll shoot for reducing the disparity in ice time among defensemen (targeting 40 minutes per game on average, with the rover-type guys getting slightly more and fringey blueliners getting slightly less) and also between the first and second lines for the forwards (targeting an average of 30 minutes per game, but with star players getting a bit more). In terms of the game impact of these changes, we may not see Cyclone Taylor run away with the scoring title again (in fairness, he did miss almost two full games in Season 2 and still finished five points ahead of Frank McGee), but overall I think it will make for a more reasonable distribution of ice time among all the players. That's especially important as I grow the league through the introduction of more players via the draft.
In my pre-NHL Strat-O-Matic league, I've tried to strike a balance between these two extremes. My four teams have no more than a dozen players apiece on their rosters. Through the first two seasons, they've dressed one goaltender, three defensemen, and six forwards for each game. Among the forwards, the starters average about 40 minutes of ice time per game, while the second-line guys are at about 20 minutes per game. The "regular" defensemen average between 30 and 40 minutes each.
Then we have the rovers. Before the NHL, many leagues used a sixth skating player, known as a rover (often the team's best overall player), who had the freedom to float around the ice and look for opportunities to make plays wherever needed. The Strat-O-Matic Hockey game system doesn't include rules for rovers, so I've simulated this historical position using offensively skilled defensemen who get extra playing time. One such defenseman on each team -- Cyclone Taylor (Vics), Mike Grant (Comets), Hod Stuart (Thistles), and Si Griffis (Bulldogs) -- gets double-shifted and is used to quarterback his team's attack. When I was looking at ice times the other day (in preparation for allowing teams to dress four, rather than three, defensemen in the upcoming Season 3), I was flabbergasted to see that my rovers are averaging about 50(!) minutes per game. No wonder Cyclone Taylor and Mike Grant seem to assist on every goal!
A great player staying out on the ice for five-sixths of a game probably isn't out of whack from a historical perspective, but I think I'll make a few changes to ice time for Season 3 and beyond. After all, player usage evolved in real life, so why not also in my simulated league? I'll shoot for reducing the disparity in ice time among defensemen (targeting 40 minutes per game on average, with the rover-type guys getting slightly more and fringey blueliners getting slightly less) and also between the first and second lines for the forwards (targeting an average of 30 minutes per game, but with star players getting a bit more). In terms of the game impact of these changes, we may not see Cyclone Taylor run away with the scoring title again (in fairness, he did miss almost two full games in Season 2 and still finished five points ahead of Frank McGee), but overall I think it will make for a more reasonable distribution of ice time among all the players. That's especially important as I grow the league through the introduction of more players via the draft.
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