Armchair GM Playoffs- Finals- KINKY KIRKs (1) vs Gentlemen Bastards (2)

[td_ice]

KINKY KIRKs

Forwards
Marchand - Crosby - Kurri
Zetterberg - McDavid - Bondra
LeClair - Lindros - Renberg
Parise - Arnott - Doan

Defense
Leetch - Foote
Kaspar - Doughty
Josi - Jones

Goalies
Barrasso
Moog

Press Box
Damphousse - Weight - Richer - Campbell

Powerplay
Lindros
Kurri Crosby
Leetch Doughty

LeClair
Bondra McDavid
Josi Jones

Penalty Kill
Parise - Zetterberg
Leetch - Foote

Marchand - Arnott
Doughty - Kaspar

Vs


Gentlemen Bastards

Fowards
Keith Tkachuk - Mario Lemieux - Brett Hull
Ray Whitney - Peter Stastny - Pavel Bure
Patrik Elias - Peter Forsberg - Glenn Anderson
Chris Kunitz - Guy Carbonneau - Blake Wheeler

Defense
PK Subban - Kevin Lowe
Brad McCrimmon - Andrei Markov
Niklas Kronwall - Roman Hamrlik

Goalies
Curtis "Cujo" Joesph
John Vanbiesbrouck

Press Box
Phil Kessel - Brent Sutter - Calle Johansson - Tie Domi

Powerplay
Bure/Elias--Lemieux--Anderson
Subban--Hull

Tkachuk--Stastny--Hull/Lemieux
Markov--Hamrlik

Penalty Kill
Carbonneau-Elias
Lowe-McCrimmon

Forsberg-Lemieux
Markov-Kronwall

Click to read more...

 

[KIRK]

Curious to see how each coaching staff will look to match lines and especially defensive pairings in this one. I suspect that the series will come down to that . . . and goaltending.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

After the first few picks of the draft, I pretty much knew I was going to be building a team that had to beat either a Gretzky or Lemieux lead team, if I was fortunate enough to make it to the finals.

It was a pretty logical conclusion, and my hope was the the voters would appreciate the kind of roster I built that had as little exploitable weaknesses as possible in such a draft. The KIRKs have it all... Speed, size, great transition game, elite scorers, elite two way guys, a money goalie, and intangibles out the ass.

Having a line with Zetterberg on it as my weakest line defensively, I feel is a testament to how well the KIRKs are built. This was a roster I built with my mind and not my heart, or it would have looked completely different.

I had to pass on many of my all time favorites because they simply didn't fit in with the kind of team I was trying to build. Ironically, I had to come to terms with the fact that many players I disliked were dominant two way guys, and I had to suck it up and put my personal feelings aside. I honestly have more guys I dislike on this roster than I do like, but I believe thats something I should be rewarded for... putting aside personal bias to build the ultimate team wasn't an easy thing to do.

So when I talk about how great many of these players are, it's done begrudgingly. However, it's taught me that when I view these players through a different lens, I have come to respect how great they were.

In terms of matchups, as the draft unfolded and I saw Winger was going for all out offense and speed on the wing, with little regard for two way play, I was honestly feeling good about my matchup with him if it happened. A Lemieux lead lead team with a litany of great two way players would be almost impossible to beat, and thats where I feel Winger made his mistakes I can exploit.

Lemieux was a guy that liked his LW to play down low and take on his defensive responsibilities, but when I look at the Gentleman's top six I see Tkachuk, Hull, Statsny and Bure who were all liabilities in their own end. That's going to force Lemieux to play down low against the likes of the Crosby line and the LOD. All six guys on these lines are all about the details, and they have the kind of elite skill that will make the Gentleman pay when they get sloppy (and they will).

I honestly don't see any big edge in goal or on defense between the two teams, and I like the Gentleman's bottom two lines.

Ultimately though, I just don't believe the Gentleman could beat the KIRKs in a 7 game series with so many poor two way guys in their top six. A series like this comes down to guys being on their details and I can't see how we re-write history and suddenly pretend the Gentleman's collection of weak two way players are near the level of the KIRKs cache of great two way guys.

 

[KIRK]

@Mr Jiggyfly is correct about the 'weakness' with the Gentlemen Bastards. Another may be that the Bastards defense doesn't really have shut down personnel. Good to great defensemen? Absolutely. The type of guys who made careers shutting down guys like Crosby, McDavid, and Lindros? Not necessarily seeing that.

By the same token, the Kinky Kirks defense doesn't necessarily scream 'shut down' to me. Combined with the 200 foot personnel up front, perhaps it's enough. But, I just witnessed the Gentlemen Bastards forwards take it to arguably 2 of the 3 greatest defensemen of the Armchair GM Draft eligible players (admittedly without as much 200 foot talent in front of them, but still . . .).

Initial reaction based on the @Mr Jiggyfly write up . . . puck possession will be one of the big keys to the series.

EXIT QUESTION: @Mr Jiggyfly, any individual match ups you're looking for or to avoid? Same question for @Winger for Hire . . .

 

[Winger for Hire]

Alright, I'm back. I needed a break after writing something like 4500 words on the match-ups yesterday.

@Mr Jiggyfly, congrats on making it this far. Lets give them a final series to remember.

First thing I'm going to do is tinker with my defensive pairings a tad. I'm going to flip Subban and McCrimmon. I think pairing Subban with his main partner, Markov, during his Norris winning season will bring out the best in him and pairing Lowe and McCrimmon will give me a pairing that I can deploy similar to the famed Gill/Scuderi pairing that the Pens rode to a Cup.

With all due respect to Jiggy's read of the teams, I think he's selling the defensive capabilities of the Bastards short. I'l agree it's not a full two-way lineup, but I think Elias, Foppa, Anderson, Kunitz, Wheeler, Carbonneau are all top shelf defensive forwards and to a lesser extent, Tkachuk. being freed up from being a main cog in an offense, can serve as the down low force that Mario desires and the defensive minded forward for L1.

What the Bastards lack in two-way forwards is compensated for in their blueline. The defensemen back there don't have to worry about jumping into plays regularly or forcing offense because of the high powered lines in front of them, which allows them to worry more about positioning.

One match-up we are going to exploit is Mario's line vs McDavid's line. McDavid's line can be a very dangerous line that can keep a puck pinned in the offensive zone when given the chance. Lining up Mario's line will look to make that harder for them by having Mario dominate in the face-off dot. McDavid's less than stellar 43% in the circle can be exploited by Mario. Then there's the size advantage Mario's line has. Mario and Tkachuk are both heavier- by 25+ lbs- and taller- by 2 or more inches- than anyone on that line. The reach of those two, and Tkachuk's physical style of play, should be enough to keep possession from the McDavid line and be a tough match-up for them to counter.

Another match-up we'll be looking for is Forsberg's line. Foppa is one of the few elite centers that can match Sid's tenacity and skill up and down the ice. Elias is easily one of the more underrated defensive wingers in this format and Anderson brings a physical edge to battle with Marchard, making this line an ideal match-up for the KIRKs top line. They may not be the line to outscore Crosby's line, but I think it's a great match-up to limit their damage while not having to ignore generating offense.

The last match-up we'll look to really get will be the pairing of Kronwall and Hamrlik vs the LOD. I think these two can best handle the physical aspect the LOD brings. Both Kronwall and Hamrlik are very good at making zone entries tough, both can lay the lumber when needed. The pairing doesn't match-up by height and weight to the LOD, but they play a bigger game than their size and both are strong on their skates and don't get bullied.

I know my 4th line leaves some to be desired and is a very, specialized line. Which is why I will be limiting their minutes as a unit. That doesn't mean those players will be nailed to the bench. Carbonneau and Kunitz will be peppered into different lines when the situations arise. Carbonneau will take a fair amount of Whitney's shifts when the Stastny line finds themselves out there against the LOD. Kunitz can be sprinkled in any of the other lines, at either wing, to give each one a different dimension. Wheeler is a bit of the odd-man out here, but he still has his uses as a 200ft player who loves going into corners, he won't be forgotten.

Goalies in this match-up are may seem like a wash, but dig in a little deeper and take a look at some numbers:

Barrasso carries a postseason .902 SV% and .301 GAA (119 games)
Cujo carries a postseason .917 SV% and 2.42 GAA (133 games)

Barrasso can do his job, but Cujo can steal a series.

This should be a very interesting match-up. I look forward to discussing it further.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Alright, I'm back. I needed a break after writing something like 4500 words on the match-ups yesterday.

@Mr Jiggyfly, congrats on making it this far. Lets give them a final series to remember.

First thing I'm going to do is tinker with my defensive pairings a tad. I'm going to flip Subban and McCrimmon. I think pairing Subban with his main partner, Markov, during his Norris winning season will bring out the best in him and pairing Lowe and McCrimmon will give me a pairing that I can deploy similar to the famed Gill/Scuderi pairing that the Pens rode to a Cup.

With all due respect to Jiggy's read of the teams, I think he's selling the defensive capabilities of the Bastards short. I'l agree it's not a full two-way lineup, but I think Elias, Foppa, Anderson, Kunitz, Wheeler, Carbonneau are all top shelf defensive forwards and to a lesser extent, Tkachuk. being freed up from being a main cog in an offense, can serve as the down low force that Mario desires and the defensive minded forward for L1.

What the Bastards lack in two-way forwards is compensated for in their blueline. The defensemen back there don't have to worry about jumping into plays regularly or forcing offense because of the high powered lines in front of them, which allows them to worry more about positioning.

One match-up we are going to exploit is Mario's line vs McDavid's line. McDavid's line can be a very dangerous line that can keep a puck pinned in the offensive zone when given the chance. Lining up Mario's line will look to make that harder for them by having Mario dominate in the face-off dot. McDavid's less than stellar 43% in the circle can be exploited by Mario. Then there's the size advantage Mario's line has. Mario and Tkachuk are both heavier- by 25+ lbs- and taller- by 2 or more inches- than anyone on that line. The reach of those two, and Tkachuk's physical style of play, should be enough to keep possession from the McDavid line and be a tough match-up for them to counter.

Another match-up we'll be looking for is Forsberg's line. Foppa is one of the few elite centers that can match Sid's tenacity and skill up and down the ice. Elias is easily one of the more underrated defensive wingers in this format and Anderson brings a physical edge to battle with Marchard, making this line an ideal match-up for the KIRKs top line. They may not be the line to outscore Crosby's line, but I think it's a great match-up to limit their damage while not having to ignore generating offense.

The last match-up we'll look to really get will be the pairing of Kronwall and Hamrlik vs the LOD. I think these two can best handle the physical aspect the LOD brings. Both Kronwall and Hamrlik are very good at making zone entries tough, both can lay the lumber when needed. The pairing doesn't match-up by height and weight to the LOD, but they play a bigger game than their size and both are strong on their skates and don't get bullied.

I know my 4th line leaves some to be desired and is a very, specialized line. Which is why I will be limiting their minutes as a unit. That doesn't mean those players will be nailed to the bench. Carbonneau and Kunitz will be peppered into different lines when the situations arise. Carbonneau will take a fair amount of Whitney's shifts when the Stastny line finds themselves out there against the LOD. Kunitz can be sprinkled in any of the other lines, at either wing, to give each one a different dimension. Wheeler is a bit of the odd-man out here, but he still has his uses as a 200ft player who loves going into corners, he won't be forgotten.

Goalies in this match-up are may seem like a wash, but dig in a little deeper and take a look at some numbers:

Barrasso carries a postseason .902 SV% and .301 GAA (119 games)
Cujo carries a postseason .917 SV% and 2.42 GAA (133 games)

Barrasso can do his job, but Cujo can steal a series.

This should be a very interesting match-up. I look forward to discussing it further.

I said I liked the Gentleman’s bottom two lines, so definitely recognized those lines were built well.

I was also thinking how much I loved Cujo when I was a kid. He never won a cup, but I think he was the kind of goalie that could steal a series. Not necessarily like Hasek, but he was a lot like Barrasso in the fact he could allow your team to play high octane offense and get shelled... while making those key saves at the right time.

I agree the McDavid line is the one weakness the KIRKs have in terms of defense. However, that is specifically why I drafted Zetterberg for that line. If McDavid is struggling with his matchup defensively, I gave this lineup the flexibility to switch Zetterberg to center on that line.

He’s specifically one of those guys I mentioned I hated, but put my heart in my pocket and drafted him because he fit what I was doing to a T. He was a great shutdown guy at both LW and pivot, and I wanted that flexibility just in case.

With Zetterberg at center, the whole dynamic of that line instantly changes and the KIRKs can use him in a shutdown role agt any of the Gentleman’s top three lines.

KIRKs were just built to exploit their opponents weaknesses, while having very few themselves and the flexibility to adjust on the fly when certain matchups aren’t favorable them. Gentleman don’t have nearly as much roster flexibility because of how the top six is built with so many weak two way guys. Not like they could bring Kessel into the top six to shore things up defensively.

And again this roster would not have been possible if I didn’t put my dislike for so many of these guys aside, but I can’t deny how great they were at what they did, and that’s ultimately why I passed on my “guys” and took these players.

 

[td_ice]

I know some of the shine might be off of Kessel with the way he is playing this season, but the dude is a big game player. He could have easily been the Conn Smythe winner in '16, leading the Pens in scoring. And he has been a consistent playoff performer his whole career.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I know some of the shine might be off of Kessel with the way he is playing this season, but the dude is a big game player. He could have easily been the Conn Smythe winner in '16, leading the Pens in scoring. And he has been a consistent playoff performer his whole career.

Ya, but ton of guys on these rosters can fill the net and are known for stepping up in the biggest moments. Kessel wouldn’t be unique in that way, and his two way game isn’t close to a guy like Marchand... being elite complete players that can fill the net is what will set guys apart in a tournament like this. Which is again why I took guys I disliked such as Marchand and Zetterberg over Kessel, Kovy and Tkachuk.

Kovy and Kessel were big games guys, but their two way game is/was lacking. Tkachuk I passed over because his two way game was weak and he never showed up big in the playoffs. I can’t pretend otherwise just because I liked these guys.

These are just factors I had to take seriously when I passed over my favorites and took players I disliked. I honestly have only five guys on my roster I liked... the rest I disliked for a myriad of reasons, but in the end I couldn’t lie to myself about their talent and how they fit the roster.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Superior two-play is indeed one way to play and try to win, however, it's not the only way and forwards are only a thrid of the team.

A balanced, two-way heavy team can be a good thing, but it makes a team homogeneous and easy to deploy a strategy against. If each line is going to play a 200ft, two-way game, I can, and really am, going to devise a single strat to try to counter that, not to mention you lack, outside of Sid, Lindros, Kurri, any true game breaking skills and ability to change your style of play.

This is not even mentioning that your defensive pairings all grade out pretty bad in context of the league. In terms of H-R's Point Shares, your pairings all grade out in the bottom 3 in each pairing. That's fairly easily exploitable by a high-powered offense like the Bastards possess.

(Yes I know Point Shares is not a hard science, but it gives a way to quantify something that's hard to and a nice to way to help compare players over the history of the game as it adjusts based on the amount of goals being scored in every season. So a great defender playing the goal happy 80s isn't going to be punished over a poor defender playing in the low scoring clutch and grab era)

And using Point Shares, your forwards grade out as the 2nd best in terms of defensive Point Shares (dwarfed only by @Dr Pepper squad who were buoyed by Thornton, Iginla, and Tanguay grading out as defensive monsters). The Bastards were on the lower side, but only 22 Point Shares behind your squad (261 to 239).

So yes, your squad has a two-way edge, but it's not a giant edge that's going to dominate the series.

And quickly back to the defenders and Point Shares. Your defense doesn't grade out well defending as a group. Here are the career DPS for the groups, with their total Point Shares in parenthesis-

KIRKs
Doughty- 63.2 (97.8)
Foote- 61.8 (71.5)
Leetch- 60.4 (146.6)
Kasparitis- 36.7 (37.8)
Josi- 34.1 (65.2)
Jones- 20.4 (37.7)

Bastards
McCrimmon- 82.9 (93.5)
Hamrlik- 68.5 (114.9)
Lowe- 62.5 (74.9)
Markov- 55.6 (104.0)
Kronwall- 43.2 (73.6)
Subban- 39.0 (52.8)

 

[Shady Machine]

Sid vs Mario is an interesting finish since most (not all) of us are primarily pens fans.

 

[Winger for Hire]

If you want to see where a real big advantage lies, according to the numbers. Look at the Offensive Point Shares for the forward groups...

Total for KIRKs fowards- 881.9
Total for Bastards forwards- 1021.8

And to dispel the myth...
Marchand Defensive Point Shares- 21.7
Kurri Defensive Point Shares- 18.7

Tkachuk Defensive Point Shares- 23.5
Hull Defensive Point Shares- 20.3

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Superior two-play is indeed one way to play and try to win, however, it's not the only way and forwards are only a thrid of the team.

A balanced, two-way heavy team can be a good thing, but it makes a team homogeneous and easy to deploy a strategy against. If each line is going to play a 200ft, two-way game, I can, and really am, going to devise a single strat to try to counter that, not to mention you lack, outside of Sid, Lindros, Kurri, any true game breaking skills and ability to change your style of play.

This is not even mentioning that your defensive pairings all grade out pretty bad in context of the league. In terms of H-R's Point Shares, your pairings all grade out in the bottom 3 in each pairing. That's fairly easily exploitable by a high-powered offense like the Bastards possess.

(Yes I know Point Shares is not a hard science, but it gives a way to quantify something that's hard to and a nice to way to help compare players over the history of the game as it adjusts based on the amount of goals being scored in every season. So a great defender playing the goal happy 80s isn't going to be punished over a poor defender playing in the low scoring clutch and grab era)

And using Point Shares, your forwards grade out as the 2nd best in terms of defensive Point Shares (dwarfed only by @Dr Pepper squad who were buoyed by Thornton, Iginla, and Tanguay grading out as defensive monsters). The Bastards were on the lower side, but only 22 Point Shares behind your squad (261 to 239).

So yes, your squad has a two-way edge, but it's not a giant edge that's going to dominate the series.

And quickly back to the defenders and Point Shares. Your defense doesn't grade out well defending as a group. Here are the career DPS for the groups, with their total Point Shares in parenthesis-

KIRKs
Doughty- 63.2 (97.8)
Foote- 61.8 (71.5)
Leetch- 60.4 (146.6)
Kasparitis- 36.7 (37.8)
Josi- 34.1 (65.2)
Jones- 20.4 (37.7)

Bastards
McCrimmon- 82.9 (93.5)
Hamrlik- 68.5 (114.9)
Lowe- 62.5 (74.9)
Markov- 55.6 (104.0)
Kronwall- 43.2 (73.6)
Subban- 39.0 (52.8)

Basically disagree with most of this... obviously.

Game breaking talent...

KIRKS have Crosby, McDavid, Bondra, Kurri, Leclair and Lindros.

Gentleman have Lemieux, Bure, Foppa, Hull and Stastny.

Can’t see where Gentleman have the edge.

On defense...

Using fancy stats to grade out the defense means little for this matchup if we are being honest.

Three of the KIRKs top four blueliners all played major roles in winning cups, including CS winner Leetch.

The fourth, Kaspar, helped shutdown and frustrate Lemieux in his prime, playing on the greatest Pens team ever assembled. That’s specifically why he was picked.

Simply put, this is a group of blueliners that know how to get it done in the biggest moments. I see a lot more question marks for the Gentlman’s defense... ie...

I have a lot of respect for McCrimmon, but dude was slow and will have trouble defending the KIRKs speed.

Lowe was a very solid blueliner, and he will have to play a phenomenal series to mitigate Subban’s penchant for turning pucks over and being an adventure in his own zone. All Subban has even proven when it really matters, is that he can be abused by the KIRKS captain.... not exactly a guy I’d be comfortable with in my top four, especially in this particular matchup.

Like I said, Gentleman have way too many guys that are pure offense and are bound to make coverage mistakes, not dump pucks in at the appropriate time, not cover for pinching blueliners, etc.

Details matter in matchups like this. Having two lines that can be exploited like the Gentleman, because of a lack of responsible players in your top six, is a big disadvantage in this series. All these guys in the top nine for both teams can fill the net, and the team making the most mistakes will lose the series.

I guess we can make some argument the KIRKs responsible two way guys would for whatever reasons, suddenly go agt the grain of what made them so great and stop being so good at the little details of the game, but that’s a tough sell for anyone who truly knows all these players well.

If you want to see where a real big advantage lies, according to the numbers. Look at the Offensive Point Shares for the forward groups...

Total for KIRKs fowards- 881.9
Total for Bastards forwards- 1021.8

And to dispel the myth...
Marchand Defensive Point Shares- 21.7
Kurri Defensive Point Shares- 18.7

Tkachuk Defensive Point Shares- 23.5
Hull Defensive Point Shares- 20.3

So basically for anyone who watched these guys play, these numbers are saying “don’t ever trust fancy stats because they lie to you”.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Lowe was a very solid blueliner, and he will have to play a phenomenal series to mitigate Subban’s penchant for turning pucks over and being an adventure in his own zone.

FWIW, I addressed that in my initial post when I swapped pairings to take advantage of Markov and Subban's pairing that won Subban a Norris.

Also, I'm not saying that stats are an end all argument winner. I think I've stated in many different threads over my years here that I'm a staunch believer in combining the eye test and the stats. I initially turned to the stats on a lot of guys because I was like 4 when a lot of these guys were lighting it up in the 80s. A lot of the scouting reports I was able to dig up about guys like Lowe and McCrimmon and Stasny and different guys saw the PS line up close to what professional eye tests were saying.

Also, if we want to talk about major roles in winning Cups and playoffs... Lowe was an anchor for 5 Edmonton Cups and traded for by the Rangers to shore up their Cup run; McCrimmon was the defensive rock in Calgary's last Cup; Kronwall played 23 minutes a game to help the Wings to their last Cup; The Preds rode Subban 25 minutes a night to their only Cup appearance and Subban was the guy that helped hold Sid to a single goal while blocking shots like Torts was coaching him.

Again, I'm not using just the numbers to inform, just using them to illustrate the gap in a way that's concrete over anecdotal evidence that can easily be colored in different lights.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

FWIW, I addressed that in my initial post when I swapped pairings to take advantage of Markov and Subban's pairing that won Subban a Norris.

Also, I'm not saying that stats are an end all argument winner. I think I've stated in many different threads over my years here that I'm a staunch believer in combining the eye test and the stats. I initially turned to the stats on a lot of guys because I was like 4 when a lot of these guys were lighting it up in the 80s. A lot of the scouting reports I was able to dig up about guys like Lowe and McCrimmon and Stasny and different guys saw the PS line up close to what professional eye tests were saying.

Also, if we want to talk about major roles in winning Cups and playoffs... Lowe was an anchor for 5 Edmonton Cups and traded for by the Rangers to shore up their Cup run; McCrimmon was the defensive rock in Calgary's last Cup; Kronwall played 23 minutes a game to help the Wings to their last Cup; The Preds rode Subban 25 minutes a night to their only Cup appearance and Subban was the guy that helped hold Sid to a single goal while blocking shots like Torts was coaching him.

Again, I'm not using just the numbers to inform, just using them to illustrate the gap in a way that's concrete over anecdotal evidence that can easily be colored in different lights.

I said Lowe was a really solid blueliner, so can’t really pick on him, and I saw where Subban was switched. He’s still in the top four and Crosby is going to be getting matched against him as much as possible. Just a very favorable matchup the KIRKs would be foolish not to chase.

Maybe Subban’s dragon breath will work this time....

 

[Winger for Hire]

Subban has faced Sid in the playoffs in 2 series, 13 games, and has helped hold him to 2 goals (1 in each series).

In fact, in the series that Subban beat Sid he was joined by Markov and Hamrlik on the Montreal blueline (though Markov only dressed for 1 game due to Matt Cooke taking out his leg after 5 shifts).

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Subban has faced Sid in the playoffs in 2 series, 13 games, and has helped hold him to 2 goals (1 in each series).

In fact, in the series that Subban beat Sid he was joined by Markov and Hamrlik on the Montreal blueline (though Markov only dressed for 1 game due to Matt Cooke taking out his leg after 5 shifts).

Sid finished with seven points in the cup and took Subban’s lunch money, and that was with the corpse of Kunitz and Sheary anchored around his legs, and zero transition game from the back end with Letang out.

Now he only has one of the greatest snipers of all time on his RW and Leetch and Doughty to feed him pucks...

 

[Shady Machine]

Good back and forth!

 

[Winger for Hire]

2 of those assists in the Nashville series were on the PP, so 2-8-10 in 13 games at EV vs Subban. Wouldn't exactly call that stealing lunch money. Effectly limiting damage of on of the top players of all-time.

6% shooting in those as well for Sid.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

2 of those assists in the Nashville series were on the PP, so 2-8-10 in 13 games at EV vs Subban. Wouldn't exactly call that stealing lunch money. Effectly limiting damage of on of the top players of all-time.

6% shooting in those as well for Sid.

Sid took his lunch money and rumors are in the handshake line Subban whispered “I enjoyed watching you and Doughty win gold while I was a duster on the bench”

So basically in picture format..

Sid:

Subban:

Note that’s original Listerine. The kind that tastes like urine (or so I’ve been told).

 

[KIRK]

I really like the Markov-Subban pairing in this matchup.

I think the McCrimmon-Lowe pairing is susceptible to the Kinky Kirk's speedier lines.

One interesting side note about @Winger for Hire's choice to use Kronwall-Hamrlik against @Mr Jiggyfly's LOD line: Scotty Bowman had a comparable defensive pairing in Fetisov-Konstantinov available for the 1997 Cup Finals matchup against the LOD line and instead surprised everyone and deployed Lidstrom-Murphy against the LOD line wherein their ability to move the puck quickly to neutralize (out pace really) the LOD line's vaunted forechecking. So, a little surprised that @Winger for Hire wouldn't employ a similar strategy and use his more mobile, better puck moving Markov-Subban unit against the LOD line . . . unless that was the plan and I just let the cat out of the bag.

 

[KIRK]

BTW, Sid versus PRIME Foppa is going to be one hell of a matchup.

 

[Winger for Hire]

One interesting side note about @Winger for Hire's choice to use Kronwall-Hamrlik against @Mr Jiggyfly's LOD line: Scotty Bowman had a comparable defensive pairing in Fetisov-Konstantinov available for the 1997 Cup Finals matchup against the LOD line and instead surprised everyone and deployed Lidstrom-Murphy against the LOD line wherein their ability to move the puck quickly to neutralize (out pace really) the LOD line's vaunted forechecking. So, a little surprised that @Winger for Hire wouldn't employ a similar strategy and use his more mobile, better puck moving Markov-Subban unit against the LOD line . . . unless that was the plan and I just let the cat out of the bag.

To be perfectly honest with you, I was clueless to that fact. In '97 I was still learning the rules and basic strategies of hockey, so I'm not very well versed in the historical match-ups and tactics.

My rational with that pairing over the Markov/Subban one, outside of physicality, was risk avoidance. Kronwall and Hamrlik are more apt to make the easy clear and the safe pass out of the zone and not try to create something out of nothing in a high danger area. Based on the match-ups I will be trying to get, I felt that the LOD would be the hardest to neutralize with the defenesmen I have, so I figured the safe, physical pairing that I have with Hammer/Kronwall would be able to fit that bill.

I can certainly see Bowman's logic in what he did, however, I'm not sure my troops could pull that off seeing as how his surprise plan was to deploy two of best defenesmen of their generations (at least one of the Top 5 defenders of all time).

 

[KIRK]

Definitely a very hard vote. Thanks to @Mr Jiggyfly and @Winger for Hire for their matchup input.

 

[td_ice]

The results are in!!!

The winner of the championship of the inaugural season of the "Armchair GM Playoffs"!!


The KINKY KIRKs!!!

In a very close series, with a 6-4 advantage in the voting, the KIRK's prevailed. They were the regular season champs with the #1 seed, and took the playoff championship title as well.

Take a bow Jiggy!

Congrats also to the Gentlemen Bastard's!! Heck of a team, heck of a run from #2 seed, to the finals. Great job.

 

[td_ice]

Well that's a wrap!

Thanks to everyone for their participation. It was a new venture, so I appreciate everyone taking the plunge and helping to make the league happen.

Thanks to all the members!

@Mr Jiggyfly
@Winger for Hire
@KIRK
@Fenway
@Dr Pepper
@sarge88
@Honour Over Glory
@BMC
@TropicalFruitGirl2
@Asuna
@Shady Machine
@DegenX