This is my first time playing a full season of SimLeague Hockey, so i thought i decided to create my team to be like the Edmonton Oilers lineup based on the team from the very first NHL video game called NHL Hockey 92 by Electronic Arts (EA), and i felt like I owe it to myself to make the EA 92 Edmonton Oilers because it's the only Sega Genesis NHL game that has a certain No. 11 (Mark Messier) in an Edmonton Oilers sweater.

with the lineup i have, here's my Team Roster for the EA 92 Edmonton Oilers with the following real-life season stats:
G1: 1993-94 Bill Ranford (93-94 Oilers, 71 GP, 22 W-34 L-11 T, 2089 S, 2325 SA, 89.8 SV%, 3.48 GAA)
G2: 1995-96 Grant Fuhr (95-96 Blues, 79 GP, 30 W-28 L-16 T, 1948 S, 2157 SA, 90.3 SV%, 2.87 GAA)
C1: 1996-97 Mark Messier (96-97 Rangers, 71 GP, 36 G, 48 A, 84 P, +12, 88 PIM, 227 S, 15.9 S%, 75 DEF Rating)
C2: 1990-91 Ken Linseman (90-91 Oilers, 56 GP, 7 G, 29 A, 34 P, +15, 94 PIM, 49 S, 14.3 S%, 58 DEF Rating)
C3: 1994-95 Craig MacTavish (94-95 Flyers, 45 GP, 3 G, 9 A, 12 P, +2, 23 PIM, 38 S, 7.9 S%, 60 DEF Rating)
C4: 2001-02 Adam Graves (01-02 Sharks, 81 GP, 17 G, 14 A, 31 P, +11, 51 PIM, 139 S, 12.2 S%, 67 DEF Rating)
C5: 1996-97 Anatoli Semenov (96-97 Sabres, 25 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, -3, 2 PIM, 21 S, 9.5 S%, 63 DEF Rating)
LW1: 1993-94 Esa Tikkanen (93-94 Rangers, 83 GP, 22 G, 32 A, 54 P, +5, 114 PIM, 257 S, 8.6 S%, 59 DEF Rating)
LW2: 1995-96 Petr Klima (95-96 Lightning, 67 GP, 22 G, 30 A, 52 P, -25, 68 PIM, 164 S, 13.4 S%, 31 DEF Rating)
LW3: 1989-90 Craig Simpson (89-90 Oilers, 80 GP, 29 G, 32 A, 61 P, -2, 180 PIM, 129 S, 22.5 S%, 36 DEF Rating)
LW4: 2003-04 Martin Gelinas (03-04 Flames, 76 GP, 17 G, 18 A, 35 P, +10, 70 PIM, 139 S, 12.2 S%, 69 DEF Rating)
RW1: 1998-99 Joe Murphy (98-99 Sharks, 76 GP, 25 G, 23 A, 48 P, +10, 73 PIM, 176 S, 14.2 S%, 66 DEF Rating)
RW2: 1992-93 Glenn Anderson (92-93 Maple Leafs, 76 GP, 22 G, 43 A, 65 P, +19, 117 PIM, 161 S, 13.7 S%, 76 DEF Rating)
RW3: 1996-97 Kelly Buchberger (96-97 Oilers, 81 GP, 8 G, 30 A, 38 P, +4, 159 PIM, 78 S, 10.3 S%, 42 DEF Rating)
RW4: 1985-86 Dave Brown (85-86 Flyers, 76 GP, 10 G, 7 A, 17 P, +7, 277 PIM, 73 S, 13.7 S%, 45 DEF Rating)
LD1: 1993-94 Steve Smith (93-94 Blackhawks, 57 GP, 5 G, 22 A, 27 P, -5, 174 PIM, 89 S, 5.6 S%, 30 DEF Rating)
LD2: 1991-92 Geoff Smith (91-92 Oilers, 74 GP, 2 G, 16 A, 18 P, -5, 43 PIM, 61 S, 3.3 S%, 45 DEF Rating)
LD3: 1993-94 Kevin Lowe (93-94 Rangers, 71 GP, 5 G, 14 A, 19 P, +4, 70 PIM, 50 S, 10.0 S%, 62 DEF Rating)
LD4: 1994-95 Craig Muni (94-95 Sabres, 40 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 P, -4, 36 PIM, 32 S, 0.0 S%, 56 DEF Rating)
RD1: 1990-91 Charlie Huddy (90-91 Oilers, 53 GP, 5 G, 22 A, 27 P, +4, 32 PIM, 90 S, 5.6 S%, 58 DEF Rating)
RD2: 1994-95 Chris Joseph (94-95 Penguins, 33 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 P, +3, 46 PIM, 73 S, 6.8 S%, 43 DEF Rating)
RD3: 1995-96 Jeff Beukeboom (95-96 Rangers, 82 GP, 3 G, 11 A, 14 P, +19, 220 PIM, 65 S, 4.6 S%, 55 DEF Rating)
RD4: 1997-98 Norm Maciver (97-98 Coyotes, 41 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 P, -11, 38 PIM, 37 S, 5.4 S%, 36 DEF Rating)

so far, i've played this team as is, and i have a W-L record of 1 win and 40 losses. I was told that i need to blend in my type of team with the flow of the season, and play around with the coaching options for the skaters and defensemen. I'll give you my list of lines and pairs for reference:
Line 1: Messier, Tikkanen, Murphy
Line 2: Linseman, Klima, Anderson
Line 3: MacTavish, Simpson, Buchberger
Line 4: Graves, Gelinas, Dave Brown
Pair 1: Steve Smith, Huddy
Pair 2: Geoff Smith, Chris Joseph
Pair 3: K-Lowe, Beukeboom
PP Line 1: Messier, Tikkanen, Anderson
PP Line 2: Graves, Gelinas, Murphy
SH Line 1: Klima, MacTavish
SH Line 2: Graves, Linseman
4-on-4 OT Line: Messier, Tikkanen

I had to put Ranford and Fuhr in a timeshare because of all the losing, and my only 1 victory came with Fuhr. and to make matters worse, i went through a streak of 3 scoreless games in a row before snapping the streak with only one unassisted goal by Gelinas, only to go back to being scoreless in my 27th game of the season.

That's why i've decided to come here to the forums for help/advice on how to help my team score and win games with the team i have put together. I was told Aggressive offense is only for big-time goal scorers like Gretzky, Mario etc., but then i tried to go without all my lines and pairs playing Aggressive offense for 1 game, only for the team to go scoreless and only attempting just 6 shots on the opposing goalie the next game.

1: I know my PIM is too high for the type of team i'm fielding on ice, but even then, how do i work around all my respective lines and pairs (including even strength, power play and short handed) just to get them to even attempt to shoot on opponents' goals and maybe even score goals too?

2: how do i save my team's season without having to use the waiver wire and stray away from what i designed my team as?

3: I know each line and pair are different, but based on the real life stats above for each skater and defensemen, how do i work around each line and pair based on their real life stats as mentioned above?

4: as for default offense styles, which one of Aggressive, Medium, Conservative and/or Checking would work for Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as PP Lines 1 and 2, SH Lines 1 and 2, and the 4-on-4 OT Line?

5: and for shooting behavior of defense pairings, which one of "No shooting restrictions", "Let forwards take the majority [of shots on goal]", or "Rarely shoot" would work better for Pairs 1, 2 and 3, as well as PP Pairs 1 and 2, and SH Pairs 1 and 2?

Welcome to the hockey sim Diam0nd! Just a few observations as I am on my phone which makes it hard to type. First, I am assuming you are in an open league. Your defensive ratings are poor for your d men. When I build a team, I build from the back-end out. I choose a tender with about75%games played and a save % of around 91. A back up should be about 30% games played with a save % of about 89 ish. Remember a season is 82 games, so draft goalies that played in a total of at least 90. You should have at least 3 d men rated in the 90’s. Go with at least 75% games played. Don’t overpay for goals as you want to set d men to rarely shoot since you want your forwards taking the shots when the sim awards one. I don’t go below 80 for my other d men, but I usually have at least 4 in the 90’s. Don’t overpay for d men! For forwards, you should have one defensive minded forward on each line. There are some good cheap d minded forwards (Dugan, Langlois, Helman). Then put a higher shot, high shooting % guy on each line with an assist guy on each line. Aggressive setting usually doesn’t work. A mix of the other three is the way to go. Also keep in mind this is a simulation that relies on percentages. While guys like Gordie Howe was a great player, he pretty much stinks in the sim due to percentages. It’s always fun to draft a team of your favorite players, but without the above basics, you’ll get the record you are experiencing.
Hope that helps a little! Good luck!

OBTW, real life stats mean pretty much nothing in the sim. It is all about percentages in relation to stats. I’d rather have a guy that took 230 shots in a season that scored 52 goals with a shoot % of 22% than a guy who had 52 goals that took 390 shots in a season with a shooting % of 12. That’s just me though. Look at the players on other teams and look for a little bit of a pattern. Don’t copy their teams, but just look for common players like the 3 forwards I listed above.

Just as my own way of paraphrasing chuck's advice: Select players who give you outlying efficiency for their player cost.
ie Defencemen with high Defense ratings rather than shooting percentage or even points scored. Non-scoring forwards with high Defense in relation to their cost. Definitely forwards with efficiency in terms of balance between shots taken and shooting percentage.

Just looking at your Oilers team first line, I would guess that Tik, Murphy and Huddy do not perform up to their costs in the Sim. And Smith belongs nowhere near a Sim lineup.