From a glance it looks like the forwards are advantage Vancouver, defence is advantage Detroit and goaltending is advantage Vancouver. I'll take Imlach and Vigneault over Ross and Percival as well.
But, digging a little deeper:
Line 1 - As a whole, You have the better 1st line EB, but I have the best forward in the series by a light year obviously. I'l take issue with anyone who says Briere is some scrub at this level (Im looking at you TDMM), thats now 94 points in his last 93 playoff games and as we all know he lead the league in scoring last year.
Line 2 - No contest here IMO. I have one of the most effective 2nd lines in the league.
Line 3 - Again, I'll put my third line up against most - I definitely have the edge here.
Line 4 - Now I'll admit I dont know much about your two Russians on this line. Shack is a great 4th liner. I'll call the 4th lines a wash, only because Parise has only been at a high level for 3 years.
Defence: Obviously you have one of, if not the best defence cores in the league. This will be hard for my team to get around. But lets look at this a little closer:
Harvey>Horton, no arguements here.
Goodfellow>Flaman
Chara>Hollett
Corbeau>=Magnuson
Rowe>Svehla
Hamrlik>Korab
An easy edge, but no real blowout.
Give me a two time cup winner and a guy with a GAA under 2.00 in the playoffs over Al Rollins anyday.
Overall I truly think my team could take the Falcons, but I could be extremely biased as well.
I'm boarding my plane in 40 minutes, so I'll try to be quick:
1st line: Although you do have by a good margin the best hockey player in Howie Morenz, my first line is in my opinion, a far better first line than yours. I feel like my first line has a great balance between playmaking and goalscoring and are all adept player at their role. In between Morenz, you've got Steve Shutt who's another shoot first player and probably the most out of place player of this draft in Daniel Briere. This line in my opinion is not well constructed and one puck will not be able to shoot between them. Billy Shoe already explain how having Briere at RW is a very bad plan. The edge is pretty huge.
2nd line: I'm taking your second line before mine because of the big edge you have in Eric Lindros over Tod Sloan. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Krutov is a better player in almost every way over John Leclair, but I understand that people like to hit on the guy because of the Vancouver fiasco and the steroids accusation. On the right side, Vikulov is a far superior playmaker to Wharram while having more offensive tools. However, that Leclair-Lindros-Wharram line is better constructed than your first line and they will work effectively.
3rd line: I don't want to argue too much on that line. Two pretty good 3rd line in my opinion. People can look at them and nitpicked which of them they prefer.
4th line: I'm still unsure how you plan to use the Parise-Draper-Deadmarsh line, as it seems like it miss a purpose. It pretty much look lie a random collection of three forwards thrown on the ice for a couple of shifts a game. It would be nice if you could explain your point of view on this. My fourth is an offensive oriented line with some grit that will be use to be a momentum changer and will be thrown sporadically on the ice. They definitely have enough firepower to change the momentum of the game by a nice scoring change, or at the very least with Shack throwing his body around or fight the first player that dare to watch him the wrong way. (Feel free to click on Almetov or Loktev link to read their biography and learn more on them)
1st D-pairing: I have probably the best first pairing of the draft (at least top-3) in Harvey-Flaman. Both of them are incredible in the transition game and will be able to use the speed of Firsov - Lach and Dillon very effectively. Tim Horton is a rock at defence, but will it really be enough to stop all those guys, while trying to repair Flash Hollett mistakes. We both don't have a Patrick Roy in goal to repair our defenceman mistake, so that matchup could be very costly to you.
2nd D-Pairing: Ebbie Goodfellow is a versatile, great defenceman, but Zdeno Chara, especially with another Norris nomination this year, is really closing in on him. Keith Magnusson was a nice physical defenceman, but you're underselling Bert Corbeau if you think the edge is very small between both of them. Feel free to click those biography links on my team to learn on him.
3rd pairing: I like Roman Hamrlik and he's a decent #6 defenceman in this draft, but Jerry Korab was one of the best offensive weapon from the backend in the 1970's. He was a monster and an extremely physical player. He's paired with a nice defensive d-man in Bobby Rowe, 5-time PCHA AS.
Goaltending: I think I've spent enough time selling Al Rollins. Whenever someone is unsure of him and have 30-40 minutes to lose, just read the biography I've done on him, it's worth it I think. with that in mind, I would like some education on Lorne Chabot and why you think you have any kind of edge over me in that regard. Counting cups and statistics without any backgrounds isn't worth a whole lot. In my evaluation of Rollins placement, after reading on Chabot, it's clear in my mind that he was the better goaltender, but you might know something I don't
Special team: Something that cannot be forgotten. I have one of the best overall PK unit of the entire draft, and my #1PK is perhaps the best around. My 1st PP unit I feel is extremely well builted and could be deadly. I do like however the players on your first PP unit, but I'm unsure how they will work. Again, will one puck be enough on the ice?
Coach: I really like my pairing of Art Ross and Lloyd Percival. Ross is a defensive oriented coach with a strict attitude, which fit my team like a glove, and Percival will be up there to keep my players and tip-top condition for all season. You do seem to have a team than mesh well with Punch Imlach, which is not always easy to do.
Overall, I think I will win this serie. Will Lindros be able to keep his head up and not get destroyed by one of Harvey, Flaman, Chara or Corbeau? Will Horton be great enough to counter all of Harvery and Flaman strong transitional play and Firsov, Lach and Dillon speed while trying to find a way to keep Hollett out of trouble in the defensive zone. Having a Leclair-Lindros second line could be deadly against a lot of teams, but I don't think they got the greatest matchup against Zdeno Chara and Bert Corbeau, two monster that definitely have the muscle to keep up with them? Is Morenz enough of an incredible player to counter the fact that he's playing with a below average first liner and a very out of place first line RW and not be badly outscore by Harvey, Lach, Firsov, Dillon and co? The voters will decide I guess!
I'm missing batteries and I need to catch my plain now. Good Luck Monster_Bertuzzi.
