I agree, I try to keep at least 2 strong 2-way forwards on each of my top two lines, helps tremendously with the forechecking game. I also had some decent luck on pack pulls with d-men, but I'm actually finding this to compensate for my pretty terrible forward corps I'm rocking at the moment (≤ 86 for the most part) and underwhelming goalies (MOV Mike Smith and Dubnyk).

so my d-lines are: 1)(Non-tradeable) Ekman-Larsson/Weber (100k this weekend) 2) (N-T) Hedman/TOTW Seabrook (pull, sitting around 70k last night I think) 3) Mov Kronwall/Mov Burns

By clumping together the forwards that are better at defense on top two lines (Hudler, Koivu, MOV Sharp, MOV Steen, etc.) and relying on the strengths of my bottom players (e.g., 4th line of MOV Vrbata//MOV Nugent-Hopkins//Kreider usually runs overload from LW, 3rd line of Toffoli//Helm//MOV Ennis runs behind the net from RW), I can usually neutralize the talent difference on the top few lines with good defensive play and have been grinding out some wins where I was previously failing (working my way back into div. 2 right now). I usually end up picking up a few points off my bottom few lines.

The other big thing that's helped me recently was adjusting the strategies for the lines, in particular the block/don't block slider. I still let the top 3 lines block some, but turning it towards don't block has generated more breakaways (as players challenge the puck carrier with a poke check rather than stopping to try to block the shot), more blocks by my defensemen, and fewer screened shots for my goalies.

Also MOV Ennis is a stud for me, he's pretty easily disrupted, but he's so fast and skilled that if you can generate some space, he's deadly. He can pretty easily take over a game once you figure out your opponent's defensive tendencies, which is huge on the 3rd line.