OT: Create a team comparable to 06/07 Ducks team

[Lupul1990]

After going through a thread on main board about Ducks 06/07, I've started wondering if it would be possible to create a equivalent team in the current NHL based only on players who played in 17/18 season. Since it's the off-season, I gave it a try.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threa...-of-the-cup-winning-teams-since-them.2486689/

I came up with something like this:

Giroux-Marchessault-Mantha / Selanne-McDonald-Kunitz
Ritchie-Point-Tkachuk / Penner-Getzlaf-Perry
Lowry-Boyle-Dubinsky / Moen-Pahlsson-Niedermayer
Reaves-Zajac-Kassian / Thornton-Marchant-Parros

Karlsson-McDonagh / Niedermayer-Beauchemin
Hedman-Boychuk / Pronger-O'Donnell
Kempny-Dotchin / DiPenta-O'Brien

Quick / Giguere
Raanta / Bryzgalov

First thought - it's though to find a 2nd year centerman like Getzlaf and a 3rd liner like Pahlsson (almost won Selke in 06/07). Also I picked Giroux because of his comeback season. The team obviously doesn't look as good as the 06/07 Ducks team, but I think it's close.

What do you think? What would your team look like? Let's have some fun with it.

Click to read more...

 

[AngelDuck]

What's crazy is it's almost impossible to pick a defense on par with that 06/07 team. Karlsson = Niedermayer but there isn't a player in the league close to Pronger

Nice work on the forwards though

 

[Paul4587]

I don’t know if there’s a forward in the league that’s close to what Pahlsson was for us back then. He was so good defensively and at shutting down opposing teams top lines.

 

[Elvs]

Shane O'Brien was traded before the deadline, he wasn't on the cup team. The third pairing was mostly DiPenta and Huskins, with Ric Jackman drawing in for DiPenta here and there in the postseason. Also, George Parros was mostly in the pressbox as the 13th/14th forward back then. Brad May was a regular.

Anyway, fun idea for a thread. It was more difficult than I thought. Quite impossible when you try to combine age, experience and playing styles. But here's my attempt:

Nick Foligno - Vincent Trocheck - Phil Kessel | Kunitz - McDonald - Selanne
Patrick Maroon - Bo Horvat - Josh Anderson | Penner - Getzlaf - Perry
Marcus Foligno - Brian Boyle - Riley Nash | Moen - Pahlsson - R. Niedermayer
Jordan Nolan - Tomas Plekanec - Ryan Reaves | May - Marchant - Thornton

Erik Karlsson - Aaron Ekblad | S. Niedermayer - Beauchemin
Victor Hedman - Dan Girardi | Pronger - O'Donnell
Klas Dahlbeck - David Schlemko | DiPenta - Huskins

 

[Lupul1990]

It must have been the trade in which we packaged O'Brien and 3rd round pick and got a 1st rounder from Tampa, I guess? I thought it was a couple years later.

Brad May was a TD acquisition, so he didn't play a lot of games for us that year, but you're right, he was a regular after the trade.

Good idea with Trocheck, I thought he was over 6'0, but turns out he's more like 5'10. Although he is more of a goal scorer and Andy was mostly a playmaker.

Maroon is a way better pick as a Penner replacement than Ritchie, that's for sure.

I don't see Ekblad as a fit for Beauchemin, however. Ekblad is a high potential player who was drafted very high, more like Ed Jovanovski. I think that Beauch was a little bit unheralded and he kinda arrived out of nowhere and then became a minute-muncher for us.

 

[Trojans86]

What this says to me is that if you want to win a cup build from the goaltending and d outward.

 

[Paul4587]

I think the Kessel comparison for Teemu is selling him a bit short. Teemu was a miles better goal scorer than Phil and was more productive in general. He also took the top defensive matchups where as Phil plays against 2nd and 3rd d pairings mostly.

Teemu in 07 in terms of impact (not style of play) is basically current day Ovechkin. Except Teemu was a better playmaker and Ovi a slightly better goal scorer.

 

[duxfan1101]

What this says to me is that if you want to win a cup build from the goaltending and d outward.

What does Pittsburgh's cup winning team from last year tell you?

 

[Paul4587]

What does Pittsburgh's cup winning team from last year tell you?

Having two close to generational talents down the middle and a great coach can make up for having a crappy blueline.

 

[Trojans86]

What does Pittsburgh's cup winning team from last year tell you?

I actually think they could be a lot better than they are. Crosby and Malkin is an unreal combo with very good goaltending. Centers are extremely important but not as much as d unless you are talking two of the top 3 centers in the league.

 

[Lupul1990]

More like, you need at least two HHOF-quality players in their primes and you have to supplement them with good depth including ELC players. Preferably, the best players on the team will be on ELC's.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but the Penguins were able to win the cup in the seasons when Crosby and Malkin cap numbers were relatively low. Same goes for the Blackhawks and it is the reason why the Oilers won't win anything in the next few years. Also, Leafs and Jets best chance will be in 2018/19, while Matthews, Marner, Laine and Connor are still on ELC's. Actually, the Jets best chance is probably right now, but they should be a contender the next year, too. Tampa Bay is in even better situation, because they have signed their star players to relatively cheap deals and have a couple good players on ELC's. They have Stamkos, Hedman and Kucherov signed for a total of 21 mln until Kucherov's contract runs out after 2018/19 season. Also Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev are on ELC's.

Upon checking the numbers, when the Penguins went to the Finals in 07/08, they had both Crosby and Malkin on ELC's. Then in 08/09, they still had Malkin on ELC, while Crosby signed a 8,7 mln contract (17,3% of the cap when it was signed). Then in 09/10 Malkin signed a similar 8,7 mln deal (15,4% of the cap), so two players combined for over 30% of the team's cap. The next time they had won the cup (15/16), Malkin had a 9,5 mln deal and Crosby had a 8,7 mln deal, but relative to the 71,4 mln cap it was just 25,5% and it's decreasing each year.

The Blackhawks have won their first cup when both Toews and Kane were on ELC's, and then the next two cups when they combined for 12,6 mln caphit (around 20%, +/-2% during the 5-year term). Now that they both got older and the Hawks spend over 30% of the cap on them, they won't win anything.

Actually, I just realised that the Hawks have signed 30-year-old Kane and Toews for the same amount of cap money, that Tampa Bay used on Hedman, Stamkos and Kucherov and they are all younger than the Hawks duo.

 

[Duck Off]

What's crazy is it's almost impossible to pick a defense on par with that 06/07 team. Karlsson = Niedermayer but there isn't a player in the league close to Pronger

Nice work on the forwards though

Yeah, I think that's where that cup team stood out against other cup teams. I don't think there's a defenseman in the league who was as good as those two that cup year. That's what made that cup team stand out so much.

I don’t know if there’s a forward in the league that’s close to what Pahlsson was for us back then. He was so good defensively and at shutting down opposing teams top lines.

Yeah Bergeron is who I think of defensively, but obviously he's on another level offensively.

 

[Duck Off]

N. Foligno - Marchessault- Kessel | Kunitz - McDonald - Selanne
Maroon - Barkov - J.Anderson | Penner - Getzlaf - Perry
Dubinsky- Couturier- Lowry| Moen - Pahlsson - R. Niedermayer
Kassian - Plekanec - Reaves | May - Marchant - Parros

Doughty - Phanuef| S. Niedermayer - Beauchemin
Weber - Manson| Pronger - O'Donnell
Forbort- Schlemko | DiPenta - Huskins

 

[Lupul1990]

Yeah Bergeron is who I think of defensively, but obviously he's on another level offensively.

2006-07 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com

If I didn't miscalculate anything, 141 people voted for Selke that year. Only 61 people voted for Pahlsson and 76 people voted for Brind'Amour. Still, Sami gained the most 1st place votes and pretty much lost the award because of the 4th place votes (he had only 4 and Rod had 23). The voting that year was really wide open, but it's impressive that Pahlsson had only 26 points that year and Brind'Amour had 82 points and still Sami lost by as little, probably due to lack of recognition in the East. I mean, 4 of the top 5 guys in voting were from the East.

 

[Terry Yake]

there really aren't any players in the league today who play the style pronger did

the only one who comes to mind is byfuglien

 

[Paul4587]

there really aren't any players in the league today who play the style pronger did

the only one who comes to mind is byfuglien

Byfuglien but streets ahead in his own end. Chara in his prime is the only thing really close to Pronger was back then and Pronger was still much better.

 

[SmokeyDuck]

This is what I came up after a toke or two. No way cap compliant lol

Ovechkin-Giroux-Marchand / Selanne-McDonald-Kunitz
Simmonds-Draisaitl-Tuch / Penner-Getzlaf-Perry
T. Wilson-Kesler-Winnik / Moen-Pahlsson-Niedermayer
N. Ritchie-Brodziak-Reaves / May-Marchant-Thornton

Karlsson-Giordano / Niedermayer-Beauchemin
Byfuglien-Hjalmarsson/ Pronger-O'Donnell
McCabe-Cole/ DiPenta-Huskins

Fleury/Gigure

 

[Kariya 9]

That’s tough.

Marchand-Couture-Laine
JVR-Schifle-Simmonds
Lowry-Zajac-Hanzal
Matt Martin-Yakupov-Andrew Shaw

Ekholm-Karlsson
McNabb-Weber
Pettersson-Orpik

Rinne
Dell