Need some help picking which team suits MY style..

[CJ2KSnowww]

I consider myself to be quite good at NHL '11 at this point, and enjoy relative success in all modes of play..however, now that I've played long enough to really get the game down, I want to get into BeAGM and see where it goes. My problem is that I don't know ANYTHING about the NHL..to be honest, I hadn't watched a game in a couple years up until these past few weeks when I've gotten back into watching the Bruins.

Before I start my BeAGM, I want to know from experienced NHL fans how certain teams play in real life so I can get a good match-up with how I play.

My preferred offensive strategy is to set up in the zone and pass around outside the slot for a slap shot, or get it inside for a one timer or a deke if I have the space.
If I either don't have the patience to set this up or I am being outplayed, I tend to press heavy with the forecheck and play for interceptions or poke checks for quick breaks.

Defensively I often end up leaving my 2 D-Men alone when I forecheck heavy (as you might have guessed) but if my offense is clicking I like to keep my matchups as tight as possible and pressure the puck with a rotating series of players ending up in the slot eventually blocking a shot or checking somebody.

If none of this makes sense to hockey enthusiasts, help me in this way if you can:

I want, if possible, to have an extremely skilled offensive player on my team who has an excellent shot and secondarily good stick skills.

I've been playing with the Bruins as a starting point, and I really enjoy the effect Zdeno Chara brings into the game but I fear I'm not even using him to his full potential because 8/10 times I end up throwing a check at someone and missing, leaving a big slow guy way out of position (when he hits though, wooo).

Defensively, I don't need anything spectacular, I find myself to be pretty good defensively in relatively tough situations (3-2, 2-1, 3-1 breaks) so that part of the criteria is pretty open-ended.

Help me pick a team?

(if any or all of this needs to be clarified, let me know, lol)

[Nickflyers]

Try Tampa Bay, Stamkos is beast especially with that one-timer and shot.

[jmon]

Uh you sound like you want to play an uptempo puck control game and sort of ignore defense (not that you can't play it, as you said your good on odd man rushes)
I would play with washington or chicago if thats what your looking for. Both of them can score in bunches, and both have fast-ish teams that can make up for mistakes. Pittsburg is another option if you want 2 elite players.

Chicago has 3 great forwards Kane has elite stick skills but not the best shot, Toews is great in all 3 zones, and hossa seems to just do everything well. They have a very good top 4 d, but there bottom pairing and goalies are lacking, as well as not having very good forwards after there top 6.

Washington, Ovechkin is in my opinion the best player in the game. Theres nothing he cant do in the game and probally (without looking) has the best shooting stats in the game. Has 2 other very good forwards one being a playmaker, and one being another sniper/dangler, the rest of there forwards are all solid and there much more skill on the caps than basically any other team in the league. There D is ok but there goalies are pretty bad. But young.

Pittsburg has 2 Elite centers in crosby and malkin, another great center in staal, and Decent depth in the rest of the forwards spots. There D is solid and there goalie is solid. But if your a bruins fan you can't play as them. **** Matt Cooke. POS. Only player in any sport who I want to see his career ended.

I'm not sure you could of picked a team that plays more differently than you want to than the bruins.... though there not bad at trading chances, they just dont do it very often in real life.

GL finding a team to play with in the game Tampa is also a good suggestion, though in my opinion they are a better long term option if you plan on playing multiple season,.

[speels]

I would say that the best team to play with in your case would be the Flyers. They have solid D, Timmonen, Pronger, Coburne, and Carle that can fire the puck as well as play good defense. With Richards, Leino, Carter, and Giroux, you get skilled forwards who have high defensive ratings and are great forcheckers. Briere can snipe one timers with the best of them and you have Carcillo to keep d-men on their toes. Boborovsky(sp?) in net is only a 77 with EA, but I find him quite good and he has good rebound control which helps a lot.

Or play with the Leafs as they have no system and you can make them play anyway you want.

[jmon]

If he were to do a be a gm with the leafs wouldnt he have to gift wrap bruins players/picks to keep it realistic.

[CJ2KSnowww]

Thanks for the replies. I still haven't had a chance to get into Be A GM, exams this week in school so I have some more time to think it over. So far I'm thinking Tampa Bay, I really like how Stamkos plays (thanks Nickflyers), and I do plan on multiple seasons so a bit of a project team is quite welcome.

The Flyers, Capitols and Penguins are all teams I really like as well however they are a little too 'good' for my liking in the sense that no team building is necessary in order to reach high levels of success.

Again thanks everyone for the replies, any other ideas let me know.

S/N: Through experimentation I found San Jose to be really effective with my style of play as well, I guess it's between them and the Lightning at this point.

[CJ2KSnowww]

I decided to stick with the Bruins, just doesn't feel right any other way. Lol. Read the news here! http://www.operationsports.com/CJ2KSnowww/dynasty/

[Red71Star]

Well, you could always play with the Oilers. They're one of the fastest teams in the game (if not the fastest), they have big defensemen with heavy shots a decent starting goalie and although they don't have that bonafide star forward, with all of the young talent, you could always trade for one.