A breakdown of the series, using six key components for the playoffs:
OFFENCE. Edge: Vancouver. If Vancouver wants to win this series, they're going to have to get Trail to play their style: wide-open, high-octane offence. A definite edge here, and Vancouver has defencemen who can get the puck to their forwards. The Yzerman-Sakic combo is the best 1-2 punch up the middle in the draft. Lecavalier and McGee are potent offensively, too. Howe, Gilbert, Bailey, Sandstrom and Parise are very good to excellent offensively, too. Art Ross must have been pretty good offensively - the league wouldn't have allowed the top scorer award to be named after Ross if his skill level mirrored Randy Wood's. Trail has a lot of players who had a knack for coming up big in the post-season, and they'll get more offence from their defence, but they'll lose a series that features 6-5 games instead of 3-2 games.
DEFENCE. Edge: Trail. Biggest edge in the series right here. Trail has always loaded up on defence early, and while it's not as good as their best defences in terms of personnel, we believe that this is our best-built defence. Every defenceman can move the puck, and every defenceman can take care of his own zone. Good size, too, with the smallest blue-liners at 5'11" - a switch from past drafts. An excellent team defensive system with players like Richard, Geoffrion and Keats who are excellent defensively to go with offensive skills, in addition to defensive aces like Provost, Otto, Hunter and Fraser. Winnipeg's defence is the worst in the draft. With the exception of Red Horner, there's nobody who intimidates anybody. They should get a lot of help from the forwards, though, as most of the forwards on Winnipeg are very responsible defensively. Yzerman, Sakic, Syd Howe, Bailey and Parise will need to further their reputations as guys who can play defensively.
GOALTENDING. Edge: Trail. In the regular season, I'd give the edge to Winnipeg. But much like the Siberia/Saskatoon series, that edge switches in the playoffs. Fuhr was the No. 1 goalie for four championships. Esposito had as much to do with his one championship as Fuhr did with his fifth championship. This was the time of year that Grant Fuhr loved. It's the playoffs. The regular season is over. Time for Fuhr to really care. Esposito's most memorable playoff moment is giving up a parking lot goal to Henri Richard in Game 7 of the 71 Cup final. And geez, look who Trail's top centre is.
COACHING. Edge: Trail. I know what you're saying: Geez, GBC, didn't you pass up on Imlach to pick Sinden in your first draft. Correct. But I also had Carl Brewer on my roster. And while the thought of Brewer/Imlach Round 2 sounds appealing, I went with better judgement and basically threw out the first coach and bypassed Imlach. I did say, after claiming Imlach in the minor league draft, that I would have picked Imlach if not for the presence of Carl Brewer. Sinden's an excellent coach, don't get me wrong. But Imlach's a better coach, and Trail has the character for Imlach to thrive. It's not a big edge, but I think Imlach is the better coach.
INTANGIBLES. EDGE: Trail. We said from the start that at the very least, we felt we had the team that would win the intangibles battle with any team in the draft. Sixty-eight Stanley Cup rings. An excellent captain in Hap Day, and leader after leader dotting the roster. An excellent work ethic. Guys with big game mentalities. The gap in intangibles isn't that large, you never question the intangibles of a team with Sakic, Yzerman, Henderson, Duff, McGee and Thomas (who is an excellent No. 13 forward), but if this series comes down to factors such as experience, leadership and character, we really like our chances.
GRIT. EDGE: Trail. Toughest call of the series. Went with Trail because the two teams have a good blend of grit and defensive play up front, but Trail has a definite edge on the blue line with Blake, Day and four-time PIM king Gus Mortson, against Jovanovski and Horner for Winnipeg.
KEY MATCHUP: Trail's defence versus Sakic and Yzerman. The Smokies have boasted from the start that they have a well-built defence, with six guys who are excellent in their own zone. Sakic and Yzerman will put GBC's claims to the test. We don't have a set pairing that we'll throw out there against Sakic and Yzerman, since we think all six defencemen can keep them in check, but we'd really like Hap Day out there against one of them as much as possible.
PREDICTION: Trail in five. Too much defence, too much experience, too much will to win. Defence wins championships. Trail's going to put that theory to the ultimate test. Winnipeg wins one when Yzerman and Sakic break through on home ice.
THREE STARS:
1. Red Kelly
2. Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion
3. Steve Yzerman
