Team: 2019-20 Custom Team

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 27, 2020

Published: Mar. 29, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Tough team to make. While the top two centers are staple-gunned into their spots, you can basically interchange the rest of the lineup. I like the fourth line though, as those players play with grit, are sound defensively and would have no issue playing a less offensive roll in order to win. I ended up picking Oshie (over Pacioretty and Gaudreau) because of his Stanley Cup experience and filthiness in shootouts. I also chose to carry two extra defencemen knowing that they are more difficult to replace than a forward and that there are talented offensive defencemen on this team - Carlson, Hughes, Werenski - who could play a limited forward role without much issue.

I decided on Petry for a number of reasons, including experience and all-around play. I also think Slavin is incredibly underrated. I liked both of their experience, coolness under pressure and all-around skill more than McCavoy (Who will suffer metal lapses in his own end) and Krug (who has been known to take a bad penalty or two).

The goaltending was easy: the only difficult decision would be who to dress. Hellebuyck is having an epic year: while I think Gibson is the best of the three, it would be too hard to ignore what Hellebuyck or Bishop are doing this season.

Team USA has an overwhelming number of players. Names like Kessel, Jack Hughes, John Marino, McCavoy, Krug, Pacioretty, and Gaudreau could have easily made this team and would have received little to no argument from me (Okay, Jack Hughes might have received a valid inquisitive glance). Loved this challenge!