Overall Highlights of Series
-Coaching
I think this is a slight win for the Americans with Tarasov. I'll concede that he gets that based on longevity but it's important to consider the time period he dominated (50's and 60's) was not the much tougher 70's and 80's, domestically and more importantly internationally. Gorman's regular season is very average but he made his mark in the postseason leading 2 different and very poor teams to Stanley Cups back to back in 8 years. The 1930's NHL was much superior to 50's and 60's Russia/international scene.
-Leadership/Intangibles:
I think the Bankers strongly win here. Pitt possesses 3 of the top 10-15 captains of all time in Gretzky, Clapper and Kennedy and other strong candidates for letters in Foyston, Getzlaf, Westfall, and Griffis. The Bankers ooze leadership up and down the lineup all the way back to Roy. The other major factor to consider here is the ridiculous amount of elite postseason players for Pittsburgh. Gretzky (1), Roy (2), Kennedy (9), and Foyston (40) all placed on the HoH top 40 playoff performers project last year. The Americans don't have 1 player on it. 2 year wonder Bernie Parent may be their best hope. The Bankers simply own NY in terms of clutch play and that is a big factor in a 7 game series.
-Offense:
This is an advantage for Pittsburgh. Both top lines are heavily slanted towards offense and Foyston-Gretzky-Martinec simply produces much more of it than Kariya-Mikita-Mikhailov. Plus my top line is elite in terms of clutch play. They are all great to elite playoff/international performers whereas you can only say that about Mikhailov on the other side.
The Americans have a better 2nd scoring line but not enough to completely bridge the offensive gap in the top 6. And again where is the clutch play coming from for NY? Stamkos and Gilbert have nothing to note as postseason guys. Abel won 3 Cups in Detroit but was overshadowed by many others of that generation in the playoffs. Nels Stewart was elite on the 26 Maroon Cup winning team and Broadbent was a key member of the Ottawa dynasty of the early 1920's. Each 2nd line also only possesses 1 plus defensive player.
Pittsburgh has the best overall bottom 6 player by a mile in Ted Kennedy and are simply better down the middle and overall IMO. If you want to put money on a guy in this group that will score a huge goal or win an important draw, look no further than Teeder.
Overall: Pittsburgh has the better 1st, 3rd, and 4th lines here IMO. This is a pretty decent advantage for Pitt i think.
-Defense:
Nobody is going to deny that the Americans have the better overall top pair. But just consider the Bankers already beat a top pairing consisting of Orr-Horton and Kelly-Bouchard. And Salming-Park never won a Cup so they're limited on the biggest game experience compared to Laperriere-Clapper.
It's debatable if Siebert-Goldham is even as good as Stapleton-White, but even IF they are they don't possess the real life chemistry that Stapleton-White did for years in Chicago when they were one of the better defensive pairs of their time. This goes to the Bankers IMO.
And I certainly think the Bankers are slightly ahead on the 3rd pairing as well. You're not going to convince me that Joe Hall was better than Frank Patrick. The only thing he had on Patrick was longevity. Patrick was a more dominant scorer at his peak and had plenty of playoff success. And he didn't have the problem of taking ridiculous number of PIM's that Hall did throughout his career. Patrick was the better player and wasn't a lunatic, but did beat the crap out of Hall on multiple occasions fighting. Griffis and Davydov are a wash. Splitting hairs there but remember Patrick-Griffis was the best D paring in hockey during their peak in the 1914-1917 range. More real life chemistry advantage for Pitt.
Overall: The edge here goes to Americans because of their top pairing. But the Bankers are facing far less of a gap defensively than we were against Toronto or Kenora, and we obviously won those series. And I think we edge the Americans on the 2nd and 3rd pairings as well.
Goalies:
This doesn't need to be much. Pittsburgh has a massive advantage in net with Roy vs Parent. Personally i believe this is where the series definitively shifts in my favor.
-Special Teams:
As I outlined earlier, the Bankers are superior on both the PP and PK, imo, especially when looking at the PK defensemen and PP forwards.
Pittsburgh also possesses home ice advantage in the series.