HITME Los Angeles Kings shaping up nicely

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned how I was joining the retro simulation hockey league HITME, and was running the 1972-73 Los Angeles Kings. After running through an anything but historically correct draft and free agency period, here's why team looks like up as the season starts. Original Kings are in red.

Bob Berry	Butch Goring	Reggie Leach
Mike Corrigan	Juha Widing	Serge Bernier
Murray Wilson	Ralph Backstrom	Bobby Rousseau
Bill Lesuk	Vic Venasky	Chico Maki

on defense:

Ron Plumb	Barry Long
Gilles Marotte	Ron Busniuk
Noel Price	Terry Harper
Neil Komadoski	Dave Hutchison

And in goal: Rogatien Vachon and Gary Edwards.

Now this team certainly is still a long shot to contend, but I feel much more confident about this team's immediate and mid-range futures than I did when I first drew the Kings franchise.

Obviously in a simulation league the game play is based more on the assigned ratings rather than historical accuracy. The ratings aren't as close to history as I'd like, that's for sure.

I'm hoping this team, if healthy, has some nice chemistry. I like the top 3 lines. Goaltender Rogie aside, there's no superstars here, but there's balance. Berry and Corrigan have solid years in '72-73, which will help me get to the following seasons when Leach and Bernier explode into scoring sensations. I'm pretty happy down the middle with Goring, Widing and Backstrom.

My defense is obviously pretty thin. I think any simulation team relying on Ron Plumb to be your #1 guy is in trouble.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on simulation hockey, the HITME Kings, line combination possibilities and especially any insight on the SimonT Hockey Simulator.