Player roles

Every skater on your roster plays a role: his job on the ice. Leave a player on Auto and he plays the role he fits best, or assign him one in Role assignments. Goaltenders have none. This page covers how roles work and the six forward roles. The three roles for defensemen have their own page: defenseman roles.

What a role is

A role is a player’s job description. It tells the team when to turn to him: to set up the play, to take the shot, to defend, or to answer the rough stuff.

You set roles in Role assignments. To open it, choose Role assignments… in the Actions menu on your team page. To go straight to one player, choose Set role… from the roster or from his player page, or click his role on the roster.

A role steers the play toward a player but does not make him better at it. A sniper is the one the team looks for when a shot opens up, and whether the puck goes in still comes down to his own shooting.

A role does three things:

• In the game, it decides how often he is the one creating chances, shooting, defending, and taking part in fights and major penalties.
• On his line, it helps decide how well he carries out the focus his line or pair plays. See Roles and line focus.
• After the game, he judges his own game by what his role asks of him. That counts toward his confidence and, over a run of games, his happiness.

Auto or assigned

A skater with no assigned role plays on Auto, the role he fits best; an assigned role stays until you change it. If you want a player in a set job whatever happens to his attributes, assign it; if you are content for him to follow his best fit as he develops or declines, leave him on Auto.

The roster shows Auto as, for example, “Auto · Sniper”. His best fit is read from his attributes as they are now, so it can change as he develops or declines, and his role changes with it.

To keep a player in the role he fits best today, choose Assign this role on his Auto role.

Fit

Every role shows how well the player fits it: Poor fit, Ok fit, Good fit or Natural fit. The role he fits best is marked Best fit, and it is the role he plays on Auto. If the role he plays shows Poor fit, give him one he fits better, or give that job to a player who fits it better.

Fit comes from the attributes the role relies on, which are listed under each role below. For most roles, a key attribute that stands out against the level of his league gives a clear extra lift. So the same player can fit a role better in a lower league than in a higher one.

Fit matters more than the word suggests. The role decides how often the play goes to him, and his attributes decide what he does with it. If the role fits him poorly, the team keeps sending the play to a player who is not equipped for it.

The Role assignments screen

Role assignments lists your skaters on one side and the player you bring up on the other. Pick a role for him, and nothing changes until you choose Save roles.

Each skater has a role chip, showing either his assigned role or Auto with his best fit. Choose Set role to bring a player up. An orange dot next to a player means he wants a different role from the one he plays.

The orange dot clears once you give him the role he Wants, so check that role’s fit before you do.

When you bring a player up, you see:

• Wants: the role he would ask for himself (or No preference). In contract: appears when his contract names a role.
• Last 10 days: the days he played.
• His role at the top, with its fit and the badges Best fit, Wants this role and In contract where they apply. Below that are a short description, the attributes his fit for the role rests on, and How the role uses him: four scales running from Rarely to Very often, for creating chances, shooting, defending, and fights and majors.
• Suits: the line or pair focus that suits the role best, or Versatile when every focus suits it alike. If his current line or pair plays a focus that is not among them, the screen says so. You set the focus in Edit lineup.
• Other roles: his other roles, ordered by fit. Open one and choose Assign role.

A role you pick shows as a Pending change, and Undo takes it back. The number of changes waiting is shown next to Save roles. Cancel closes the screen without saving. A saved role applies from his next game.

Players you have assigned to your affiliate are on the list too, marked AFF, and you can set their roles here as well.

Suggest roles

Suggest roles picks the best-fit role for every skater whose assigned role is different, including players on Auto. For those players, their best fit becomes an assigned role. It replaces any picks you have made, and Undo suggest brings your own picks back. If every skater already has his best fit, the screen says there is nothing to change.

Suggest roles looks at fit only. It ignores the role a player wants and the role in his contract. After Suggest roles, an orange dot marks a player it moved off the role he wants; bring up those players, and any whose contract names a role, before you choose Save roles.

Forward roles

There are six roles for forwards. Each entry says what the team turns to him for, what his fit rests on, what he looks at after a game, and which line focus suits him.

When you build a line, mix the jobs. A playmaker and a sniper both rarely defend, so on a line with both, the third forward does more of the covering: a Two-Way forward defends most of all, and a Grinder defends more often than most.

Playmaker

A forward whose main job is to create scoring chances for his linemates. The team runs the play through him: he is more often the one who sets up the chance and picks up the assist. He takes an ordinary share of the shots. He is rarely the one defending or in fights and majors, so he works best beside a finisher and a linemate who covers.

• Fit: passing above all, then puck handling.
• After a game he looks at his assists and how many of his passes were completed.
• Suits a scoring line.

Sniper

A forward whose main job is to finish. When a shot is there, he is more often the one who takes it. He takes an ordinary share in creating chances, and is rarely the one defending or in fights and majors. He relies on his linemates to set him up and to cover behind him.

• Fit: shooting above all, then puck handling.
• After a game he looks at his goals and his shots on goal.
• Suits a scoring line.

Power Forward

A strong forward who combines scoring with a physical game. He is more often the one who shoots and more often the one in fights and major penalties. He takes an ordinary share in creating chances and in defending.

• Fit: shooting and physical play weigh most, with passing and puck handling behind them. Size counts: a big, strong forward fits the role better.
• After a game he looks at his points and his physical game, meaning hits or a fight. Shots on goal also count.
• Suits any line focus.

Two-Way

A forward with responsibilities at both ends. Of all the forwards, he is the one the team turns to most often in its own end, and he is more often involved in creating chances as well. He takes an ordinary share of the shots and of fights and majors.

• Fit: defense above all, then passing.
• After a game he looks at his points and his plus-minus. Takeaways and blocked shots also count.
• Suits a two-way line.

Grinder

A forward whose value lies in work rate and checking. He is more often involved in defending and less often in creating or finishing chances. He takes an ordinary share of fights and majors.

• Fit: spirit above all, then physical play and skating.
• After a game he looks at his hits, takeaways and blocked shots. An assist also counts.
• Suits a checking or energy line.

Enforcer

A physical forward who protects his teammates and sets the tone. He is the player most likely to be in fights and major penalties. He is less often involved in creating or finishing chances, and takes an ordinary share of the defending.

• Fit: physical play above all, then spirit.
• After a game he looks for a fight or his hits. A point also counts.
• Suits a checking or energy line.

Roles and line focus

Each role suits some line focuses better than others, so match the roles on a line to the focus it plays. A Scoring line suits playmakers and snipers, a Two-way line a Two-Way forward, and a Checking or Energy line grinders and enforcers; a Power Forward fits any of them.

Every forward line and defense pair plays a focus, which you set in Edit lineup (see lineup). At even strength, the game keeps testing whether each player on the ice carries out his unit’s focus. Three things decide it: his own game in what the focus asks for (checking and defending on a checking line, for example), how well his role suits that focus, and how well he fits his role. When the whole unit carries it out, the team can gain momentum, and a failure can cost some. Each attempt also moves the player’s confidence a little and counts toward his rating for the game.

How well each forward role suits each line focus:

Role	Suits best	Works well	Weak match
Playmaker	Scoring	Two-way	Energy; Checking is a poor match
Sniper	Scoring	Two-way	Energy; Checking is a poor match
Power Forward	Every focus equally	—	—
Two-Way	Two-way	Checking	Scoring, Energy
Grinder	Checking, Energy	Two-way	Scoring is a poor match
Enforcer	Checking, Energy	—	Two-way; Scoring is a poor match

Roles, confidence and happiness

A player judges every game by his role, and through the season he weighs the role he plays against the one his contract promised. If his contract names a role (In contract), moving him to a role he dislikes costs him happiness; a role he likes costs less, and matters mostly when his ice time also falls short. A player loyal to the club does not mind.

After every game, each skater who played compares his game with what his role asks of him (listed under each role above). In a regular-season or playoff game, meeting it counts toward a step up in his confidence, and falling short toward a step down, together with the rest of his night; the game report shows how he measured up under “What we ask of him”. A run of good or bad games also leaves him happy or unhappy with how he is playing. See player form and happiness.

Roles also follow him into contract talks. A player asks for a role he fits well and that suits his personality; a player who is not tough will not usually ask to be an enforcer. The screen shows that role as Wants, and a contract can name a role, shown as In contract. He weighs his ice time against the contract too. A greedy, cocky player measures both against the role he wants now instead of the contract. See player contracts.

Worth knowing

• A role steers the play toward a player; it does not make him better at it.
• Auto is not locked in: a player’s role on Auto can change as he develops or declines.
• For most roles, a key attribute that stands out in his league lifts his fit, so the same player can fit a role better in a lower league.
• Suggest roles looks at fit only; it ignores the role a player wants and the role in his contract.