Armchair GM Playoffs- Rd 2- Gentlemen Bastards (2) vs Bjugstad Biggies (7)

[Winger for Hire]

Gentlemen Bastards

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

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

Goalies
Curtis "Cujo" Joesph
John Vanbiesbrouck

Press Box
Blake Wheeler - Brent Sutter - Calle Johansson - Tie Domi (RW)

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

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

Penalty Kill
Carbonneau--Elias
Lowe--McCrimmon

Forsberg--Lemieux
Markov--Kronwall

vs

Bjugstad Biggies

Forward
Wendel Clark - Steve Yzerman - Zigmund Palffy
Slava Kozlov - Sergei Fedorov - Alexander Mogilny
Dmitri Khristich - Henrik Sedin - Daniel Sedin
Neal Broten - Bobby Holik - Russ Courtnall

Defense
Ulf Samuelsson - Phil Housley
Vladimir Konstantinov - Sergei Zubov
Larry Murphy - Freddie Olausson

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Mike Richter

Press Box
Mark Tinordi - Pavol Demitra - Craig Janney - Keith Primeau


Powerplays
Clark - Yzerman - Mogilny
Zubov, - Fedorov

Palffy - H. Sedin - D. Sedin
Murphy - Housley

Penalty Kill
Fedorov - Courtnall
Samuelsson - Zubov

Holik - Clark
Konstantinov - Olausson

Click to read more...

 

[KIRK]

Tough matchup for Bjugstad's Biggies. I think the Gentlemen Bastards have the advantage top to bottom up front (and that's no slight to Bjugstad's Biggies, more a statement to how good the Gentlemen Bastards are up front).

Still, even with this advantage, I think the series very well may be won or lost in the net.

 

[td_ice]

The center depth in this matchup is insane. The Gentlemen with the Super Mario on L1, a terrific P. Stastny on L2, and Forsberg on line 3, damn. And also one of the best defensive centers in history in Carbonneau. Great distributors at center and a sniper on each line.

Not to be outdone, the Stud's feature crazy center depth as well. Yzerman, Fedorov, and H. Sedin with his brother riding shotgun. Crazy good. And Biggies feature their own defensive stalwart at center in Bobby Holik. Love the real world chemistry in the Sedins being together. And the Russian factor in L2.

Both teams have very good d corps. All solid, despite maybe not the high end names. And in goal, each featuring goalies that have long tenured resumes.

These teams are actually remarkably similar in my opinion.

I see this one going 7. I think a lot will depend on your view of the goalies. And probably the strength of the respective d corps. I think both teams are super close on the forward lines.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Once a stepped back and really looked at this from father back, I agree with td here. We're remarkably similar teams.

I think Lines 1 and 2 on both teams are pretty much built in the same mold and similar mindsets. However I think the talent level on the Bastards are steps above their Biggie counterparts. In Line 3 I want to say it's a push, but the Sedins real world body of work and the fact the Foppa and Whitney can get a little pass happy could push the favor towards Biggie here. And Line 4's are a toss up based on individual tastes.

I will point out that this is where Carbonneau can shine. He made his name shutting down guys with the skill level of Yzerman and he will be tasked with this here. Guy spearheaded 3 Cup wins while doing this and I will count on him to do the same here. For the home games, Kessel with dress as the 4RW because we can control and dictate the match-ups better and giving the line more dimensions. On the road, Wheeler will dress as the 4RW to give the line more of a 200ft, banging and dirty game and giving Biggies a harder time to exploit the line when they have last change.

The Bastards' defense first and second approach from the blueline certainly caps their ceiling, but gives them a very high floor. Couple that with Lines 2, 3, 4 having some defensive minded forwards the Bastards can commit to defense without having to sell-out to the philosophy. I also think that this will make more offensive minded defenders on Biggies needing to jump into the play on the offensive side more, leading to the Bastards being able to counterattack with numbers frequently, especially if Biggies fall behind early and need to generate offense. Biggies have the advantage on the blueline; a big one in term offense from there and a slight one in terms of defense.

Goalies, well, you're looking at a toss up here. MAF has the Cups on the resume, however, 1.5 as a backup and a list of playoff disasters. CuJo doesn't have the postseason glory, but how much is laid at his feet and how much was the fault of the skaters in front of him going cold? Both are capable of stealing games and are very athletic and quick. I would like to point out the MAF has never really been in the thick of Veznia discussions, while CuJo has 5 top 5 finishes with 2 runner-ups.

Overall, I think at the end of the day, the Bastards' should carry the day based on one very crucial thing... Gamebreaking Forwards. Each of the top 3 lines have a major one that would star on a majority of team's top Line; Mario, Foppa, and the, biggest X-Factor, Bure. Stastny's line and the defensive corps' commitment to defense first gives Bure free reign to do what he can to get behind the defense and keep the zone from being compacted.

 

[Winger for Hire]

This series ends up being one of the most tight checking series on record, with both teams almost being carbon copies of each other. Both bluelines and goalies decided to bring their "A games" at all times, resulting in 5 games that all ended 1-0. Game One's goal came from Fedorov, Game Two's from Hull, Game Three from Bure, Game Four from Subban (PP), and Game 5 from Hull.

Don Cherry almost dies of pleasure seeing "an old school playoff series". He went on record saying the only stain on the series was those Russians soiling the score sheet and Subban's disgraceful goal celebration.

Gentleman Bastards advance 4-1

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Tight checking?

I got my ass handed to me 4-1.

Also, f***.