NHL 09 Player Attributes

So why pick either type of defenseman to go online?  I can't make an argument to do so at this time.  You are at least 9 points down to start with (that's one whole level) and you never will make that up in progression.  Maybe they make it up in much higher defensive attributes.  Let's look.

First there are some attributes to throw out because they are either equal across all types or they make little to no difference in the human game and probably should never have points spent upon.

I think there are seven attributes that fall into this category and these include offensive awareness, defensive awareness, endurance, toughness (fighting), durability,   and discipline.

More to come...

The revised total in the table above is the total with the subtraction of the seven categories.  Among the seven categories one falls under offense and three each under defense and athletics.  NHL 09 is obviously slanted towards offense despite the new defensive controls.

Before I go further let me say that I'm not doing this to prove the game is broken or to even complain about the slant.  Personally, I agree with the slant as I can tell after playing in 26 online games that people care more for their goals/assists stats than they do about their win record and plus/minus.  And that's OK.  I would think that most people do have more fun in 5-4 shootouts than in 2-1 defensive battles.

The point of all this is to hopefully provide some insight into what kind of skater to create and which ones to avoid.  I would say that if you know you will always play defense and never play another position it would be all right to create a defenseman.  However, the likelihood of that is nil so it is best to use a defensive type of checking forward in defense when you have to unless you want to redistribute all of your points every time you play another game.

I plan to go a little deeper into each of the player types, but for starters I will say that if you like to play forward and defense or anticipate having to do both it is probably a good idea to start with a power forward or a grinder.  These types of forwards can fit in well on the blue line and all they are really giving up is acceleration and balance ratings over a defensive d-man.  The GR is a better checker and shot blocker than a defensive d-man.  The PF has better puck control which can be crucial in the defensive zone with aggressive forecheckers.

About the only thing the offensive d-man has over the two defensive forwards is shot accuracy, passing, and the deke.  He really is worse on defense than both a grinder and a power forward.  In fact if you want to make an o-d-man you should just create a playmaker instead.  You'll get more offensive bonuses and not lose hardly anything on the defensive side.

More to come....

Looking more and more at the Dangler it seems almost like this could be a base type for everyone and then you distribute to what you want to become.  The type is the most athletic and defensive deficiencies could be overcome with time.

I'm pretty confident you lose speed and acceleration with bigger bodies, too..