Rene Lecavalier Division Discussion Thread

[jarek]

NOTE: Please read the following prior to discussion.

The discussion in this thread is related to the division specified in the title only. All other potential matchups that could occur league wide are irrelevant as it pertains to the results of voting in this division. As such, compare only the 3 teams in this division to each other when voting.

@ImporterExporter @Habsfan18 @TorontoTrades

Please post your rosters as you'd like us to view them as it pertains to voting. Mods, can you guys please make sure the 3 roster posts are at the top of the thread and all in-between posts are deleted?

Discussion may begin once all rosters are posted.

Click to read more...

 

[Habsfan18]

General Manager: Habsfan18

Vancouver Millionaires

Head Coach: Hap Day

Captain: Milt Schmidt
Assistant Captain: Maurice Richard
Assistant Captain: Fern Flaman

Roster:

Anatoli Firsov - Milt Schmidt - Maurice Richard
Alexander Yakushev - Eric Lindros - Rick Middleton
Esa Tikkanen - Guy Carbonneau - Danny Gare
Mats Naslund - Pit Lepine - Reggie Leach
Extras: Bernie Nicholls, Brian Bellows

Marcel Pronovost - Al MacInnis
Barry Beck - Fern Flaman
Sandis Ozolinsh - Jean-Guy Talbot
Extras: Wade Redden, Craig Ludwig

Bill Durnan
Eddie Giacomin

PP1: Firsov-Lindros-Richard
MacInnis-Pronovost
PP2: Yakushev-Schmidt-Middleton
Ozolinsh-Beck

PK1: Carbonneau-Tikkanen
Beck-Flaman
PK2: Lepine-Firsov
Pronovost-Talbot​

 

[ImporterExporter]

Home Arena:
Duquesne Gardens

Pittsburgh Bankers Team:


Head Coach: Tommy Gorman

Captain: Wayne Gretzky
Alternate Captain: Dit Clapper
Alternate Captain: Ted Kennedy


Forwards:

Frank Foyston - Wayne Gretzky (C) - Vladimir Martinec

Nels Stewart - Ryan Getzlaf - Punch Broadbent

Sid Smith - Ted Kennedy (A) - Ed Westfall

Bob Bourne - Claude Giroux - Wilf Paiement

Extras:

Phil Kessel
Nikita Kucherov
Rick Macleish



Defensemen:

Jacques Laperriere (19+0+5=24 min/night) - Dit Clapper (A) (19+4+2=25 min/night)

Pat Stapleton (17+2+2=21 min/night) - Bill White (17+0+5=22 min/night)

Frank Patrick (13+2+0=15 min/night) - Si Griffis (13+0+0 =13 min/night)

Extras:

Craig Hartsburg



Goalies:

Patrick Roy
Jonathan Quick



Penalty Kill:

Ted Kennedy - Ed Westfall
Jacques Lapierriere - Bill White

Bob Bourne/Wayne Gretzky - Vladimir Martinec
Pat Stapleton - Dit Clapper



Power Play:

Wayne Gretzky (floater)
Nels Stewart (net front)
Vlad Martinec (half wall)
Dit Clapper (trigger)
Ryan Getzlaf (QB)

Ted Kennedy (half wall)
Claude Giroux (half wall)
Frank Foyston (slot)
Pat Stapleton (QB)
Frank Patrick (trigger)

 

[TorontoTrades]

Port Stanley Sailors

Coach: Darryl Sutter

Captain: Jonathan Toews
Alternate: Rob Blake
Alternate: Lanny McDonald


Markus Naslund - Pavel Datsyuk - Jaromir Jagr
Luc Robitaille - Dale Hawerchuk - Lanny McDonald
Gary Roberts - Jonathan Toews - Claude Lemieux
Patrick Marleau - Butch Goring - Bill Guerin

Extras:
C - Pierre Turgeon
RW/D - Jim Roberts



Paul Coffey - Adam Foote
Harry Howell - Rob Blake
Phil Housley - Brent Seabrook

Extras:
D - Brian Campbell
RW/D - Jim Roberts



Martin Brodeur
Carey Price


1st unit Power Play

Robitaille - Hawerchuk - Jagr
Blake - Coffey

2nd unit Power Play

Roberts - Datsyuk - Naslund
Marleau - Housley

1st unit Penalty Kill

Toews - Marleau
Howell - Foote

2nd unit Penalty Kill

Datsyuk - Goring
Blake - Seabrook
​

 

[ImporterExporter]

Reasons why I think the Bankers should/will advance in the best of 7 format.

1. Gretzy, Roy, Kennedy and company's playoff record
-No other team in the division or ATD has such high end talent when it comes to postseason dominance. I have a slew of players who are battle tested and quite accomplished in the playoffs (not that the 3 above weren't dominant in the regular season either). Experience matters quite a bit. The Bankers have it in spades.

2. Best skater and goalie
-It's not often you see a roster have the best overall skater AND goalie together. And in a division with Brodeur and Bill Durnan I'm glad I have Pat Roy. There should be lots of great goaltending and I think the Bankers come out on top there.

3. Center depth
-Obviously Gretzky stands out but I think Getzlaf is an underrated 2nd liner in this. His scoring is good enough to anchor a 2nd line and his style of play is condusive to playoff hockey. Plays a 200 foot game, is a big, physical PITA who is slanted heavily towards playmaking which bodes well for his wingers. Ted Kennedy on the 3rd line? That's going to be a mismatch many times. And he'll play more than the typical 3rd liner, especially at ES and on the kill. The only real knock on Kennedy would be his VsX is a bit lacking on a scoring line but as a 3rd liner he's fantastic and his game is elite in the other areas. He can match up against other teams top C and have some success in containing their abilities while also providing good counter attack production unlike many bottom 6 forwards. Giroux is more than qualified to anchor a 4th line. Given his great year in 17-18 his 7 year VsX is going to rise to the mid 80's and he's decent enough defensively, great in the dot and plays an energetic and abbrasive style of hockey.

4. Strong special teams
-Our 1st unit PP will be among the best in the ATD and our kill is superb. Kennedy-Westfall-Lappy-White might be the best pure kill in the draft if we're not just star watching. It certainly is in the upper echelon. Martinec is a very strong 2nd unit F with what we've discovered on his abilities for the Czech national team. Plus Gretzky will see a little time there (Bourne will get more looks) and he's the most prolific scorer short handed, ever. You need strong special teams to win and I think the Bankers check of those boxes well.

5. Chemistry on D
-While Clapper is certainly one of the weaker #1's here, he's paired up with a pretty strong #2 and from a style standpoint they fit very well together. Stapleton-White is one of the better real life duo's in hockey history and was a big reason why I made the trade to aquire White post draft. It's a strong 2nd pairing but also has the bonus of being a real life combination so you don't have to worry about familiarity or cohesiveness between the two. The 3rd pairing is much like the 2nd. Frank Patrick makes for a strong #5 here and has the benefit of playing with his long time real life teammate in Si Griffis. Obviously in those days you had rovers so it wasn't a traditional defensive pairing but they would be extremely familiar together and I think that adds to the value.

6. Coaching
-Gorman is a pretty universal top 10 coach ever and with Hap Day in the division I'm glad to have someone who was a master manager and reputed players coach who routinely got the best out of teams who might not have been the best on the ice every night. I think a hidden bonus is I have a couple of players who would know the ins and outs to Hap Day's strategies in Ted Kennedy and Sid Smith. They played most of their careers under Day and can pass along his trade secrets to Gorman and the gang.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Division "bests" IMO:

Coach (edge) - Vancouver (Hap Day)
Overall Player - Pittsburgh (Gretzky)
Center (big gap) - Pittsburgh (Gretzky)
Wing - Vancouver (M. Richard)
Dman - Port Stanley (Coffey)
Scoring Line (wash) - Vancouver (Firsov-Schmidt-Richard) Pittsburgh (Foyston-Gretzky-Martinec)
Defensive Line (edge) - Vancouver (Tikkanen-Carbs-Gare)
Top Pairing (wash) - Vancouver (Pronovost-MacInnis) Pittsburgh (Laperriere-Clapper)
2nd Pairing - Port Stanley (Howell-Blake)
3rd Pairing - Pittsburgh (Patrick-Griffis)
Goalie - Pittsburgh (Roy)
Power Play - Pittsburgh (see above)
Penalty Kill - Pittsburgh (see above)

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Reasons why I think the Bankers should/will advance in the best of 7 format.

Is this how we're deciding which teams from each division make the playoffs? I thought it was based on regular season play.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Is this how we're deciding which teams from each division make the playoffs? I thought it was based on regular season play.

Like a dolt, I realized it was based on regular season well after I made the initial post. I'm leaving it up there as it has good information but yeah we should be focusing more on regular season play here. There aren't many guys on my team that have the bulk of their value in postseason play anyway.

Doesn't change the fact I still think the Bankers are the best team in the division of course.

 

[jarek]

Voting is now open for the regular season of the ATD and will close on Sunday, April 1st at midnight EST. Please send your votes to @Theokritos.

Please vote for each division separately. You may, if you wish, compare the teams to teams outside of their divisions in order to rank them, but this is neither required nor encouraged.