ATD2021 Bob Cole Divisional Semi-Final: New Jersey Swamp Devils vs. Cleveland Spiders

[BenchBrawl]

New Jersey Swamp Devils

Coach: Toe Blake

Sid Abel (A) - Jean Beliveau (C) - Bernie Geoffrion
Smokey Harris - Russell Bowie - Alexander Maltsev
Marty Pavelich - Anze Kopitar - Tony Amonte
Patrick Marleau - Phil Watson - Ed Westfall
Spares: Todd Bertuzzi, Jack Adams

Serge Savard (A) - Pierre Pilote
Art Ross - Fern Flaman
Barry Beck - Si Griffis
spare: Nikolai Sologubov

Georges Vezina
Alec Connell

PP1: Sid Abel - Jean Beliveau - Alexander Maltsev - Bernie Geoffrion - Pierre Pilote
PP2: Patrick Marleau - Russell Bowie - Phil Watson - Art Ross - Si Griffis

PK1: Marty Pavelich* - Ed Westfall - Serge Savard - Fern Flaman
PK2: Anze Kopitar - Phil Watson - Barry Beck - Art Ross
PK spare: Alexander Maltsev - Patrick Marleau, Pierre Pilote

*See Pavelich's profile - he was shifted to C to shadow Jean Beliveau at one point. So he should be able to take faceoffs on penalties - in fact using an even strength winger at C on the PK is exactly something Toe Blake would do


vs.​

Cleveland Spiders

coach; Joel Quenneville

Captain: Bobby Clarke
Alternates: Larry Robinson, Carl Brewer

Bill Barber-Bobby Clarke-Teemu Selanne
Syd Howe-Mike Modano-Gordie Drillon
Mats Naslund-Joe Primeau-Jimmy Ward
Dave Balon-Fleming Mackell-Owen Nolan

Extra: Charlie Simmer, Brad Richards

Ivan Johnson- Larry Robinson
Carl Brewer-Babe Pratt
Art Duncan-Lloyd Cook

Extra: Lars Erik Sjoberg

Martin Brodeur
Gerry Cheevers

Special Teams:

PP 1: Syd Howe, Mike Modano,Teemu Selanne, Babe Pratt, Bill Barber
PP 2: Mats Naslund, Bobby Clarke, Gordie Drillon, Larry Robinson, Carl Brewer

PK 1: Bobby Clarke, Jimmy Ward, Larry Robinson, Ivan Johnson
PK 2: Dave Balon, Fleming Mackell, Carl Brewer, Art Duncan​

Click to read more...

 

[tony d]

Best of luck to @TheDevilMadeMe in our series

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Good luck, tony. I'll post a few things a bit later.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Well, this week passed me by. Just a few brief points.

• I see Toe Blake using the Bowie line primarily in offensive situations, and the Kopitar and Watson lines primarily in defensive ones. The Beliveau line is an all-situation line, obviously more geared towards offense, but capable of playing big minutes in all situations.
• I like Cleveland a lot and have no doubt they would have had home ice advantage in this round in most other divisions in ATD history. They do have a weakness though - Bill Barber on the first line. I get the Clarke chemistry, but Barber really should be used in a bottom 6 role in a draft this size. Compare him to NJ's "two way" bottom 6ers. 7 year VsX Marleau 73.2, Amonte 73.0, Barber 70.0. 10 year VsX Marleau 69.7, Amonte 67.5, Barber 66.2
• The biggest gap between the teams IMO is on the power play. Namely, NJ has one of the better PPs in the draft, with a first unit build as much as possible to resemble the dominant PP of 1950s Montreal. While Cleveland's biggest weakness is on the PP, particularly the point men. Barber is ok as a triggerman on the point I guess, but I'm not totally sold on Babe Pratt being the prime PP QB on a 1st unit - he only really put up good offensive numbers in the war-weakened NHL, and generally seems to have been a pretty stupid player, despite his physical gifts.
• Having a better PP allows NJ to play the game a little rough. NJ also has notable agitators in Smokey Harris and especially Phil Watson to try to draw penalties.

Good luck, tony. I think you build a really great team this year, with only a few things to really attack.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I might as well re-post my pro-Kopitar post from the HOH Top 200 project. I really don't think much separates him from guys drafted way ahead of him. In the context of this series, I honestly think he's just as good as Mike Modano, with Modano having small offensive advantages and Kopitar having small defensive ones.

Anze Kopitar

This is a quick-and-dirty comparison of Anze Kopitar and a few other two-way centers who have either been added to our list, or soon will be candidates. I'm using 7 year and 10 year VsX averages, which really, were never intended to be anything more than rough estimates. \

Other factors (such as Toews scoring a high percentage of his points at even strength) should be taken into account in one-on-one comparisons.

7-year VsX:

Pavel Datsyuk 82.5
Doug Gilmour 82.0
Mike Modano 81.5
Sergei Fedorov 80.8
Henrik Zetterberg 79.5
Anze Kopitar 79.2
Hooley Smith 78.0
Jacques Lemaire 77.9
Dave Keon 74.3
Jonathan Toews 73.7
Patrice Bergeron 68.0

10-year VsX:

Mike Modano 77.7
Sergei Fedorov 77.1
Doug Gilmour 77.1
Pavel Datsyuk 77.1
Anze Kopitar 76.5
Henrik Zetterberg 74.7
Jacques Lemaire 71.7
Dave Keon 70.7
Jonathan Toews 70.3
Hooley Smith 69.5 (10 year VsX might be unfair to players who played entirely pre-expansion)
Patrice Bergeron 65.5

Comparing Kopitar to Zetterberg with VsX

• Virtually the same 7-year average, better 10-year average VsX score
• As good as Drew Doughty is, he's no Niklas Lidstrom when it comes to helping the forwards on his team put up points. IMO, Kopitar should get a bit of a mental statistical boost versus ALL Detroit forwards.

The main bullet points on Kopitar (read only this part if you don't care about the VsX stuff)

• 2 Selke wins (one of only 8 players to do so)
• 5-time Selke finalist, tied with Sergei Fedorov, John Madden, and Bob Gainey* for 9th all-time. *Gainey obviously would have more if the award had been around for his whole career. Source: Selke trophy - top fives
• Heavily relied upon (by a team that won 2 Cups): Since 2010-11 (Kopitar's age 23 season and his first season in the top 10 of Selke votes), he's #2 in average TOI per game among forwards, after Connor McDavid: NHL Stats
• Through 2019-20, the Kings had a 1.12 GF/GA ratio with him on the ice at even strength, but only a 0.92 ratio with him off the ice. (Source = overpass's adjusted stats spreadsheet)
  
• Led the LA Kings in scoring TWELVE times. Every season of his career except 2007 (3rd) and 2017 (2nd).
• On pace to lead the LA Kings in scoring a 13th time in 2020-21.
• Led the playoffs in scoring both times the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup.

I intentionally had Kopitar ranked back-to-back-to-back with Fedorov and Gilmour on my top 200 list. Maybe I went too far (I definitely did according to the opinion of our voters!), but I do think he should be #1 this round.