GM: Claude the Fraud
Coach: Pat Burns
Captain: Mark Messier
Alternates: Rod Langway, Brian Leetch
Roster
#7 Keith Tkachuk - #11 Mark Messier - #88 Patrick Kane
#61 Rick Nash - #13 Mats Sundin - #9 Lanny McDonald
#19 Shane Doan - #18 Pavel Datsyuk - #26 Jere Lehtinen
#10 Gary Roberts - #25 Joe Nieuwendyk - #16 Trevor Linden
Spares: #29 Lynn Patrick - #27 Reggie Leach
#2 Brian Leetch - #4 Rob Blake
#5 Rod Langway - #56 Sergei Zubov
#3 Flash Hollett - #52 Adam Foote
Spares: #55 Ulf Samuelson - #28 Reed Larson
#33 Patrick Roy
#31 Grant Fuhr
Powerplay
#7 Keith Tkachuk - #11 Mark Messier - #88 Patrick Kane
#2 Brian Leetch - #56 Sergei Zubov
#61 Rick Nash- #13 Mats Sundin - #9 Lanny McDonald
#3 Flash Hollett - #4 Rob Blake
Shorthanded
#26 Jere Lehtinen - #18 Pavel Datsyuk
#5 Rod Langway - #52 Adam Foote
#19 Shane Doan - #25 Joe Nieuwendyk
#2 Brian Leetch - #4 Rob Blake
Coaching and Leadership: You've got some
strong personalities in the room here, with tough guy Burns, and your two best players are likely diagnosable psychopaths. Strictly on paper, you've got a below-average coach and a top-3 captain, and run-of-the-mill alternates. The roster is mostly full of good guys absent of any real complainers. Nash is a bit of a floater who requires some motivation, but he's got plenty of that from his teammates. I see one possible real-world conflict, and another guy who won't fit in at all, but we'll get to that later.
Top six forwards: Average first line, very weak second line. Between Messier, Kane and Tkachuk, there's a nice mix of passing and shooting skill, and brute force from two of them, allowing Kane to sit high in the zone and gather the puck after his linemates shake it loose. Messier's the only one to write home about defensively, but you've got another line for that. The second line is what happens when you don't look at half of the players available to you, and I think you know that and will be ready next time. Sundin's average at best in his role, McDonald an acceptable 3rd wheel if you need a speedy shoot-first grinder, and Nash is a guy we've been using as a 2nd line 3rd wheel in 32-team drafts, so a marginal power play specialist at best in a league this size. It's not any stronger in terms of personnel than the third line, but perhaps with some soft matchups Sundin could do some damage.
Bottom six forwards: Lots of good, solid Pat Burns kind of players. Datsyuk and Lehtinen is two thirds of a killer checking line, and Doan is kind of a space-filler there. The fourth line includes three guys who aren't really as good as you'd think they are once the entire history of the game is taken into account, but it hangs together fine and having an all time great faceoff man on that line can be useful. While you'd never mistake him for Marty St. Louis, Linden being a converted centre gives you some help in setting up the atypically shoot-first Nieuwendyk, and I can't help but think about what Blake Wheeler would have looked like in that spot. Also, can we talk about Linden on a Messier team? Part of me thinks it'd be fine in this context, as Linden strikes me as quite conflict-adverse, and Linden isn't coming into this team as the previously anointed leader, but it still could be a sore spot.
Defense: Leetch is a budget #1 defenseman, but the depth improves in the 2, 3 and 4 spots. So I'd call this an average to good top 4. And you'd better hope their good, because with a riverboat gambler #5 and very weak defensive #6, Burns is going to go to great lengths to never use his bottom pair, and play the hell out of his top four. Hollett picking up a few shifts on Sundin's line is an intriguing thought, though I'm not sure Burns ever did something like that. Others have noted the lack of a true defensive presence on the top pair, but there's at least some diversity in their skillsets (Blake can take the man, Leetch should have decent instincts for where to go when he does), and it's still the best arrangement possible for the guys you have. You have a variety of forward line options to pair them with, so you can send Datsyuk in to help out, or go all out with Messier, and so on.
Goaltending: Roy is a top-3 goaltender, any way you look at it. Fuhr is another example of a guy who has an added benefit you don't really need - Roy's as clutch as starters come. Either way, great #1, good #2, you're set.
Special Teams: Hey, I recognize that first unit! Except Kovalev is calling himself "Kane" and Graves is calling himself "Tkachuk". Good talent, good diversity of skills, and you've actually got two defensemen worthy of the role. In fact, you've got 4 power play ready defensemen on your team, and that's the main strength of your second unit. Your weak second line looks a little better here, as a lot of teams are starting off their 2nd units with their 5th most dangerous forwards instead of their 4th - had you promoted Sundin to the top unit, a Nash-Nieuwendyk-McDonald group would be pretty smelly. The first PK unit has three strong pieces and a seat-filler, and the second unit is nothing but seat-fillers. Would Blake bullying people at net-front look better next to Langway than Foote? Is that just moving deck chairs around? At least the second unit can win faceoffs.
Spares: Poor, poor Lynn Patrick. You've got "twinkletoes" sitting in the press box on a team coached by an ex-cop, captained by an alpha male egomaniac, with a nearly-equal alpha male egomaniac for a starting goalie. Patrick won't be a problem for your dressing room, but your dressing room will be a problem for him. If anything, he'll function as a whipping boy to scare Nash, Hollett and others into doing what Burns wants. The other spares are solid. You don't have an extra centre, but I don't think the ones you have are injury prone, and Linden can move sideways if needed.
TLDR: The team has a few big holes that should serve as a teachable moments for next year, but Messier and Roy can win the right matchup by themselves.
