ATD 2024 1st round: Hogsmeade Lunas vs. Lone Star Brahmas

[VanIslander]

Jim Robson division:

Hogsmeade Lunas

coach Tommy Ivan
goaltending coach Mitch Korn

Jamie Benn (A) - Frank Boucher - Charlie Conacher
Artemi Panarin - Hooley Smith (A) - Patrick Kane
Gordon Roberts - Joe Thornton - Vic Stasiuk
Blair Russell - Ken Mosdell - Scotty Davidson
David Backes

Allan Stanley - Bobby Orr
Scott Niedermayer - Art Coulter (C)
Jim Schoenfeld - Dan Boyle
Lennart Svedberg

Grant Fuhr
Hap Holmes


vs.


Lone Star Brahmas

coach Darryl Sutter

Valeri Kharlamov - Joe Sakic (A) - Teemu Selanne
Luc Robitaille - Doug Gilmour - Mark Recchi
Wayne Cashman - Ryan Getzlaf - Ryan Kesler
Taylor Hall - Denis Savard - Rene Robert
Bernie Federko, Doug Weight

Denis Potvin (C) - Alex Pietrangelo
Vladimir Konstantinov - Shea Weber (A)
Kris Letang - Phil Housley
Steve Duchesne

Tony Esposito
Miikka Kiprusoff​

Click to read more...

 

[VanIslander]

Add special teams and w.h.y. (what have you).

 

[Dr John Carlson]

PP1
Boucher/Kane
Panarin - Conacher - Kane/Boucher
Orr

PP2
Benn
Roberts - Smith - Thornton
Boyle

PK1
Mosdell - Smith
Schoenfeld - Orr

PK2
Boucher - Russell
Stanley - Coulter

PK3
Benn - Davidson

​

I'll explain my first powerplay unit because it may not be obvious what I'm going for (it looks like one of Pat Kane or Frank Boucher is going to be banging home rebounds in front - that's not what I'm after). It's modeled after the Capitals' excellent powerplay between around 2012-2022. Kane and Boucher taking turns quarterbacking from along the half-wall while the other sits to the left of the net as a secondary playmaker from the goal line. Panarin is in the Ovechkin spot since he runs that in real life, and Conacher is the other triggerman in the middle, taking one-timers from Kane and Boucher, while also being big enough to withstand some punishment around the slot. Orr is sort of a mix between a distributor and a pointman while being the skater most responsible for lugging the puck up ice to get zone entries started.

My special teams above. A few points on where I think I have a clear advantage:

My defense is a lot more mobile, without really giving anything up defensively. I have Orr and Niedermayer on separate pairings in the top-4, meaning I'll have an elite skater in transition from the blueline on the ice for ~35 minutes of even strength time, helping kickstart offense to let elite finishers like Conacher and Kane focus on the offensive zone rather than the neutral zone. Lone Star's best skating defensemen are on the bottom pairing, but how much even strength TOI will Darryl Sutter want to give a pairing like Letang-Housley? Their top 4 won't have any trouble moving the puck through breakout passes, but the relative lack of skating in comparison to my top 4 is something that could be exploited.

Our top 6s our built very similarly, in that the two-way play is coming from our centres and the wingers are being given free rein to do what they do. I think the horses I've got up top are a little better suited for this (VsX would say Kane and Conacher are the clear best offensive wingers here), but it's close enough that I'll leave that as it is. However, I do think Tommy Ivan, a player's coach, is a much better fit for this type of build than the conservative Darryl Sutter, who may want more two-way play from the wingers in addition to his centres. That's a real question mark to me.

Lastly, I'll keep it concise - Fuhr (or Holmes, if the need arose) has a much better track record in crunch time than Tony O.