ATD2010 Bob Cole 1st round: Nova Scotia Voyageurs (4) vs. New Haven Nighthawks (5)

[VanIslander]

The Bob Cole Division Quarterfinal Round:


Nova Scotia Voyageurs

coach Glen Sather

John Bucyk (A) - Bill Cowley - Mike Bossy
Alexander Yakushev - Jack Marshall - Frank Foyston
Nick Metz - Don McKenney - Bobby Rousseau
Eddie Shack - Doug Weight - John McKenzie
Bruce MacGregor, Konstantin Loktev

Nikolai Sologubov - Chris Chelios (C)
Carl Brewer (A) - Carol Vadnais
Calle Johansson - Bert Corbeau
Jimmy Roberts

George Hainsworth
Dave Kerr


vs.


New Haven Nighthawks


coach Anatoli Tarasov

Alex Ovechkin - Vladimir Petrov - Punch Broadbent
Valeri Kamensky - Joe Nieuwendyk (A) - Steve Larmer
Tony Leswick - Craig MacTavish - Ed Westfall (A)
Ab McDonald - Edgar Laprade - Jamie Langenbrunner

Larry Robinson - Hap Day (C)
Eduard Ivanov - Earl Seibert
Ulf Samuelsson - James Patrick

Turk Broda
J-S Giguere

​

Click to read more...

 

[VanIslander]

Nova Scotia Voyageurs

PP1: Bucyk-Cowley-Bossy-Vadnais-Rousseau
PP2: Yakushev-Foyston-McKenzie-Sologubov-Chelios

PK1: McKenney-Metz-Brewer-Chelios
PK2: Marshall-Rousseau-Johansson-Corbeau

vs.

New Haven Nighthawks

PP1: Petrov-Broadbent-Ovechkin-Day-Robinson
PP2: Kamensky-Nieuwendyk-Larmer-Ivanov-Patrick

PK1: MacTavish-Westfall-Robinson-Seibert
PK2: Leswick-Laprade-Samuelsson-Day​

 

[seventieslord]

Jeez, Tarasov vs. Sather (with a team awesomely suited to Tarasov) and Broda vs. Hainsworth (in the playoffs, no less!) makes this seem easy off the bat. Rzeznik should demonstrate that his lineup is much stronger in other areas to overcome those deficits.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

It's a good thing for Nova Scotia that New Haven's offense isn't overwhelming once you get past Ovechkin. Otherwise Sologubov could get into real trouble on the top pairing.

 

[Rzeznik]

Line-up changes for the Voyageurs: Doug Weight will be swapping in to the second line center position for Jack Marshall, who will be moved down to the 4th line left wing spot. Bruce MacGregor will be inserted into the line-up as the 4th line center and Eddie Shack will be scratched.

What this does for our team:
- Gives us two capable shut-down tandems; one physical, one positional. Our fourth line will match against NH's top line and our 3rd line will line up against their second line. With Ovechkin and Broadbent on the wings, we need two physical wingers who will be able to dish out and take punishment. Marshall and McKenzie can both do that well. MacGregor is a very good defensive player and should be in his element in a shutdown role. He will also take Jack Marshall's place on the PK, which gives us a capable reserve who can play both forward and defense, should one of my penalty killers be the one in the box.

One other change, we will be swapping Vadnais and Corbeau on the defensive side of things.

What this does for our team:
-Moving Corbeau up to the second pairing allows us to give him more minutes, while not taking any minutes away from my top two defenseman. Vadnais is a wanderer, so we feel he is best suited to playing with Johansson at even strength, who is great positionally and doesn't have the offensive game that Brewer has for Vadnais to hinder.
-With Corbeau, although we don't know a whole lot about his defensive game, we do know that he was very physical and we can assume that he didn't rush near as much as Vadnais. This will allow Brewer to focus more on offense at different points in the game, rather than covering for his partner.

New Line-up for the Voyageurs:

Bucyk-Cowley-Bossy
Yakushev-Weight-Foyston
Metz-McKenney-Rousseau
Marshall-MacGregor-McKenzie

Sologubov-Chelios
Brewer-Corbeau
Johansson-Vadnais

PK1: McKenney-Metz-Brewer-Chelios
PK2: MacGregor-Rousseu-Johansson-Corbeau​

 

[seventieslord]

Weight>>Marshall, as a 2nd-line center.

 

[VanIslander]

Weight>>Marshall, as a 2nd-line center.

100% right.

Weight is a scoring line player or an extra forward, like Henrik Sedin. Marshall is more valuable to a starting line-up and ought to be drafted higher, but is a Bottom-6 player, and a 4th line starter on any all-time great team.

Foyston loses a real-life NHA linemate and Stanley Cup champion chemistry partner in Marshall, but in Weight he gains a skilled passer who can distribute the puck to the dominant scorer or to big Yakushev toward the net.

 

[seventieslord]

Marshall is more valuable to a starting line-up and ought to be drafted higher, but is a Bottom-6 player, and a 4th line starter on any all-time great team.

Or a 3rd pairing defenseman. (I've had him as both)

Foyston loses a real-life NHA linemate and Stanley Cup champion chemistry partner in Marshall, but in Weight he gains a skilled passer who can distribute the puck to the dominant scorer or to big Yakushev toward the net.

Marshall was a defenseman for the blueshirts in the NHA, so they weren't exactly "linemates" but yeah, they'd have been on the ice an awful lot together.

 

[Nighthawks]

Nova Scotia has a great Top 6 with size (Bucyk, Yak), playmaking (Cowley, Weight, Foyston), and scoring (Bossy, Foyston), but I feel I have one of the better Bottom 6s this year and matchup extremely well.

Nova Scotia has stated that at home he'll matchup Metz-McKenney-Rousseau against my second line of Kamensky-Nieuwendyk-Larmer.

I'll take this as it keeps Nick Metz, his best defensive forward, away from both Ovechkin and Broadbent on my first line. Ovechkin, Petrov, and Broadbent all have the potential to score and it'll be interesting to see if Marshall, McGregor, and McKenzie can stop them from doing so. Robinson, Day, and/or Ivanov can also can also rush the puck strong enough to aid Ovechkin in the transition attack, if necessary, as there have been questions about Petrov, Broadbent's speed differential. Petrov is an ideal trailer into the zone with his heavy slapshot.

Stopping Nova Scotia's Top 6
When at home I'd prefer to matchup:
Bucyk (6'0" - 215) with MacTavish (6'1" - 195)
Cowley (5'10" - 165) with Leswick (5'7" - 160)
Bossy (6'0" - 186) with Westfall (6'1" - 197)

Mike Bossy, perhaps the best sniper, will be checked by arguably one of the top five defensive forwards of all time in Ed Westfall. Bill Cowley, their playmaker and catalyst, will be checked and agitated by the ultimate pest in Tony Leswick. John Bucyk's size will be negated by the body of Craig MacTavish.

Yakushev (6'2" - 198) with McDonald (6'3" - 192)
Weight (5'11" - 196) with Langenbrunner (6'1" - 205)
Foyston (5'9" - 158) with Laprade (5'8" - 160)

Their other power forward, Alexander Yakushev's size will be matched by Ab McDonald's similar frame. McDonald, of the original Scooter line, was known for his excellent two-way play and checking ablilty. Doug Weight will be matched up with the sound, but not spectacular, defense of Jamie Langenbrunner. Frank Foyston is an excellent talent, but this is exactly the case where having Edgar Laprade on my fourth line will be beneficial.

Laprade:

Blessed with exceptional lateral mobility and an effortless skating style, he was a brilliant penalty killer and determined checker. Laprade could also score and was one of the league's most dangerous skaters on the counterattack

Foyston:

An exceptional scorer and playmaker, Frank C. Foyston was capable of dominating a game from center, rover or either of the wing positions. He was a supreme natural talent who earned accolades and fame wherever he played. While playing in the top leagues on the continent, Foyston was one of the first players to score over 200 career goals.

Laprade was an excellent skater and I feel that is exactly what is needed to limit a dynamic player like Foyston's chances.

On the road, if my 3rd line is matched up against Nova Scotia's 2nd, Ed Westfall will check Foyston as he'd be the most dangerous player on the ice.

New Haven's Defense
Outside of the "team defense" that will be played I have the luxury of having Larry Robinson or Earl Seibert out on the ice for a large percentage of the shifts being played. New Haven will make a point to punish Nova Scotia's players along the boards. We have a very physical, but clean (obviously not Ulf), team. We hope our physicality will lead to turnovers and transition offense. We feel all of our lines will be strong on the counter-attack.

Powerplay
Our PP1 will use an umbrella formation with Larry Robinson running the point. Ovechkin and Day in the faceoff circles and Broadbent and Petrov will mix it up down low. Metz and Chelios form a very formidable half of their PK1.

Our PP2 will be a standard positional/cycling powerplay. Nieuwendyk will make his home in front of the net hoping to deflect James Patrick's trademark low slap shots. Ivanov, Kamensky, and Larmer all can pull the trigger if necessary.

Penalty Kill
Although New Haven has a team built to avoid taking penalties when possible we feel we have perhaps the best two PKs on any team in the draft. Robinson, Seibert, and Samuelsson all have the ability to clear the front of the crease. Leswick-Laprade actually played together and MacTavish-Westfall pairs a strong face-off man with one of the best PKers of all time.

Goaltending
Perhaps our most clear advantage in the series. Turk Broda vs. George Hainsworth.

In the playoffs, Broda lowered his regular season 2.53GAA 20% to 1.98 in the playoffs. His shutout percentage raised from 10% to 13% and he won the cup 39% of the time he was in the playoffs.

Hainsworth, on the other hand, had no change in his 1.93GAA between the regular season and playoffs. His SO% dropped from 20% to 15% in the playoffs and he won the cup only twice in ten tries; half the success rate of Broda.

 

[seventieslord]

Goaltending
Perhaps our most clear advantage in the series. Turk Broda vs. George Hainsworth.

In the playoffs, Broda lowered his regular season 2.53GAA 20% to 1.98 in the playoffs. His shutout percentage raised from 10% to 13% and he won the cup 39% of the time he was in the playoffs.

Hainsworth, on the other hand, had no change in his 1.93GAA between the regular season and playoffs. His SO% dropped from 20% to 15% in the playoffs and he won the cup only twice in ten tries; half the success rate of Broda.

Now I don't think any goalie should take too much credit or blame for victories and losses, unless it is made clear that he played a very huge part in it, but these are still pretty telling stats.

I think if you take Hainsworth's whole career, year by year, and include the WCHL, it shows that he had an average drop of 2% in his GAA but scoring dropped across the board at an average rate of 24%. Considering that Hainsworth was one of the goalies counted in the average, it means that the average other goalie was likely seeing about a 30% GAA drop, but he was nowhere near that.

 

[Nighthawks]

Fair enough. I wanted to illustrate Broda raising the level of his game come playoff time. I think it's clear he's superior to Hainsworth and his playoff achievements are the stuff legends are made of.

I laid out a loose framework for what to expect. Anyone have any comments/criticisms?

 

[VanIslander]

ATD 2010 1st round result:

The New Haven Nighthawks UPSET the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 6 games.

The three stars of the series:

1. Mike Bossy, Voyageurs
2. Turk Broda, Nighthawks
3. Larry Robinson, Nighthawks