Better late than never, I hope - one last post to pimp Ottawa's special teams. I think these are a real strength of my team.
Bentley-Henry-Jagr-Pronger-Simpson is among the best first units in the draft, and clearly better than New Jersey's top unit.
Henry was an all-time great power play goal scorer, with superb anticipation and stick skills around the net. Jagr and Bentley were both highly skilled wingers, and there are few better options on the half-boards than Jagr. Neither Pronger nor Simpson is a top-tier PPQB at this level, but they're both very good.
Comparing to New Jersey:
Jagr = Maurice (roughly)
Henry > Starshinov (power play only)
Bentley > Henri (power play only)
Pronger-Simpson > Boyle-Pratt
New Jersey has a better second unit. That's OK, Ottawa will ride their awesome first unit.
Penalty kill - Zetterberg-Provost-Pronger-Gerard is a terrific top unit. And Ottawa has a ton of depth after that - Samuelsson and Gusarov were both among the best PK defencemen of their time. Hay, Modano, Gottselig, Nash, even Bentley and Bain if necessary...all good options up front.
Coaching - Remember that Ottawa has Dick Irvin, one of the greatest coaches of all time. He coached forever, and created a tradition of success in both Toronto and Montreal.
Edit: I should mention that I like the leadership group I've assembled on my team as well
Former captains: Doug Bentley, Jaromir Jagr, Mike Modano, Johnny Gottselig, Dan Bain, Rick Nash, Jim Peplinski, Camille Henry, Eddie Gerard, Chris Pronger, Gary Bergman.
Bill Hay and Henrik Zetterberg were never captains but were noted for leadership - Hay was an alternate captain starting in his second NHL season. Claude Provost was also an alternate captain on two Cup-winners.
Gerard captained a dynasty, Gottselig and Peplinski captained cup-winning teams. Joe Simpson also captained a team that won the Allan Cup.
Final argument
Why should Ottawa win?
Well, I have to give credit to my opponent - he's built a strong team and has argued well in favor of it. But I built my team, I like it the best, and I think you should too. Here's why.
1. Deep forward group
Ottawa can throw 3 strong, well balanced, cohesive lines at the other team, one after another. The puck possession, high-skill game of Bentley-Zetterberg-Jagr. The great two-way, transition-controlling line of Gottselig-Modano-Provost. And the high-tempo, hard-shooting, hard-hitting line of Nash-Bain-Henderson. Hay and Peplinski are very strong fourth liners as well. - both ATD fourth liners in 30 team drafts. Dick Irvin is a forward-oriented coach, and he's got a strong group here.
2. Great top defence pairing. Gerard-Pronger can do it all.
3. Superb special teams.
Thanks for a good series, TDMM - some good arguments back and forth, without getting to stuck on the details. Good luck!