Bob Cole Division Finals: #1 Trail Smoke Eaters vs #2 Nanaimo Clippers

[BM67]

The Trail Smoke Eaters will face the Nanaimo Clippers in the Bob Cole Division Final. Trail defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a best of seven second round series, winning in five games. The Clippers defeated the Hartford Whalers in a best of seven second round series, winning in six games.

TRAIL SMOKE EATERS​

Coach: Dick Irvin Sr.
Captain: King Clancy
Alternates: Trevor Linden, Tim Horton, Ron Francis​

#27 Frank Mahovlich-#21 Ron Francis-#10 Guy LaFleur
#19 Toe Blake-#12 Joe Primeau-#22 Rick Tocchet
#25 Vincent Damphousse-#18 Ralph Backstrom-#15 John MacLean
#9 Esa Tikkanen-#11 Kirk Muller-#16 Trevor Linden
#24 Mickey Redmond

#3 J.C. Tremblay-#2 Tim Horton
#7 King Clancy-#8 Terry Harper
#6 Harry Cameron-#5 Bill Barilko
#4 Gary Bergman

#31 Grant Fuhr
#1 Lorne Chabot
#30 Sean Burke​

Nanaimo Clippers

Head Coach: Glen Sather
Captain: Phil Esposito
Alternate Captains: Dit Clapper, Dick Duff

Sweeney Schriner-Phil Esposito-Punch Broadbent
Markus Naslund-Bill Cowley-Charlie Conacher
Dick Duff-Norm Ullman-Claude Lemieux
Nick Metz-Derek Sanderson-Bob Nystrom
Ken Mosdell

Dit Clapper-Marcel Pronovost
Bill Gadsby-Ken Reardon
Buck Boucher-Joe Hall
Carol Vadnais

Ken Dryden
Eddie Giacomin
Normie Smith​

Click to read more...

 

[pitseleh]

This series is going to be a war. Both teams have a lot of cups between them (69 for Trail compared to 58 for Nanaimo).

In terms of coaching, Trail has a clear advantage. Sather was a good coach, but Irvin is one of the best ever.

For goaltending, the opposite is true. While Fuhr is a clutch goaltender, he wasn't as dominant as Dryden. Giacomin is a better goalie than Chabot as well.

I like Trail's top-2 for defense, but I feel that Nanaimo has better depth. Both teams have a good mix of tough, gritty crease clearers and offensive stalwarts.

Trail definitely has the advantage in the first line, with two of the top 20 or so forwards of all time. Nanaimo's second is stronger though, overall. For the bottom-6, Trail will get more scoring from their 3rd line, which Nanaimo will have to contain with one of their top-2 lines, whereas Nanaimo will have to hope the defensive play of their bottom two lines is able to contain the top 2 lines of Trail.

 

[God Bless Canada]

I'll post my in-depth thoughts on this series later today. But the marquee match-up is definitely the Tikkanen-Conacher battle. We're going to sick the Backstrom line out there against Esposito's line, and try to have Horton or Harper out there against Espo as much as possible. We like that match-up, as the smart and savvy Backstrom can definitely keep up with Espo, while Horton and Harper can take away Espo's space in front of the net.

But this series will be won or lost based on how Tikkanen does against Conacher. If Tik can contain Conacher, in much the same way that he contained so many great players in the late 80s/early 90s, we definitely have the edge. If Conacher can break free from Tik's checking, then The Big Bomber could go for seven or eight goals in a seven-game series. Part of that will also be Muller's ability to stop Cowley from getting the puck to Conacher. We definitely like the Linden-Naslund match-up, as Nazzy hasn't always been the best playoff performer, and Linden's playoff record as a two-way player definitely speaks for itself.

When the division setup was announced, this was my match-up that I was both looking forward to the most, and the one I was dreading the most. I was looking forward to it from the perspective of a fan of hard-nosed hockey. There will be some awesome battles and some great match-ups. I was dreading it because I knew that the areas where I had an edge on most teams - character, leadership, team play, playoff experience, will to win - went out the door against Nanaimo.

This will be a battle between two teams that are a mirror image. It will definitely be a seven-game war.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Goaltending: Nanaimo. The Dryden-Fuhr battle isn't as big of a mis-match as it would be in the regular season. But you still have to give the edge to the Clippers. Much like Brodeur, Dryden's in his element - he's in the playoffs, and he's playing behind a team that won't surrender a lot of shots per game. On the flip side, Fuhr's in his element, as he's on a team that's going to be involved in a lot of one-goal games. Nanaimo has the back-up edge, too, with Giacomin - the best goalie to never win a Stanley Cup - a bit better than Chabot. Not saying I agree with them, but THN's top 100 did have Chabot at No. 84, while Giacomin wasn't ranked. So at least someone out there thinks Chabot is better.

Defence: Trail. A very, very tough call here. On a strictly blue-line basis, I think it's a dead heat. Neither team has a top 10 guy, but both teams have two guys in the 10-20 range: Trail has Horton and Clancy, Nanaimo has Clapper and Gadsby. Both teams have a strong No. 3 who can play on a top pairing - Tremblay for Trail, Pronovost for Nanaimo. I think Trail has the edge for the No. 4 with the ultra-underrated Harry Cameron. Nanaimo has a bit of an edge with the third pairing. Very little to choose from. I think Trail has a bit of an edge when it comes down to overall team defence, with a stronger collection of defensive forwards. But both squads have the luxury of having three penalty killing units, and two lines that can be used when leading by a goal late in a game.

Scoring: Trail. Another tough call, as neither team is built for run-and-gun hockey. Both teams have a few game-breakers - Mahovlich, LaFleur, Blake and Primeau for Trail; Conacher, Cowley, Schriner and Espo for Nanaimo. Both teams have a good mix of supporting cast players who can chip in on offence, especially during playoff time. Nanaimo has the edge down the middle, but Trail has much more offensive depth on left wing. Both teams have offensive potential on the right side. Trail has a little more offensive potential from the blue line, with the presence of Cameron, Clancy, and Tremblay - and even Tim Horton had a lot of offensive potential. Trail can also insert Mickey Redmond into the lineup in the second line RW spot, and move John MacLean into the 13th forward role. While capable offensive, Ken Mosdell is better suited to a two-way role.

Coaching: Trail. If the Smokies have a definite edge in this series, it's in the coaching department. That's not to say that Sather isn't a bad coach - he's a great coach, one of the top 10 of all-time in my books. But he favours a free-wheeling, offensive approach, and he isn't going to get that from the Clippers. Dick Irvin has the type of team he wants, filled with character and leadership.

Grit: Nanaimo. You have no idea how hard it is for a GBC-managed team to say that an opponent has a grit edge. But that's the reality of the situation here. Nanaimo's RW corps might be the toughest of the draft, with Broadbent, Conacher, Claude Lemieux and Nystrom. They also have good grit spread out over the bottom two lines, and on their defence. Trail has some banger defencemen, but Nanaimo's is tougher.

Intangibles: Trail. An incredibly tough call. There are very few teams that can keep up with Trail as far as intangibles. This is one of them. Both teams are filled with guys who know what it takes to win. Incidentally, if you include Sather's coaching wins, Nanaimo has 62 Cup rings compared to Langley's 69. Nanaimo has the two best leaders in the series in Espo and Clapper, but I would say Trail has the better depth of leadership. Kirk Muller isn't even wearing an “Aâ€, they have that many leaders. Both teams have clutch players who can score big goals. And both teams have lots of character.

Prediction: Well of course I think Trail is going to win. I wouldn't be doing my job as a GM if I thought that Nanaimo was going to win this series. But it's going to be a gruelling, gritty and at times vicious seven-game series.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

This should be a great series.

Goaltending: Nanaimo has a big advantage here. Dryden is one of the top 7-8 goalies of all-time while Fuhr is one of the weaker starters in this draft. Fuhr’s major advantages (clutch play and multiple Cup rings) won’t be a factor here, as Dryden was at least as good of a playoff performer. The interesting thing to note is that Fuhr was usually at his best seeing 35+ shots per game while Dryden preferred to see fewer than 25. Since these two teams are evenly matched, I don’t expect either team to badly outshoot the other. I wonder how the goalies will respond to different shot totals (far less than usual for Fuhr and far more for Dryden). Giacomin and Chabot are both above-average backups, though I might give a slight edge to Chabot for the two Cup rings.

Offense: Very close overall. GBC has the better top line (and is one of the few teams that can boast two of the top five players in their respective positions). Offensively, Lafleur and Esposito are about equal and Mahovlich should match Schriner’s production. However, I don’t know if Broadbent has enough talent for the top line—aside from one monster year where he won the Art Ross, he never finished higher than 9th in scoring. Nainamo has better depth. Charlie Conacher, one of the top ten goal-scorers of all-time, means that GBC will have to focus his attention on two very dangerous lines. Naslund (great at cycling the puck) and Cowley (a top playmaker for many years) are a perfect complement to Conacher’s skills and his tendency to crash the net. Trail Smoke has more guys capable of 70-80 points on their bottom two lines, but none of them were as dominant as Ullman. Finally, both teams will get a lot of offense from their bluelines; Clancy/Cameron and Clapper/Boucher were great rushers, while Horton/Tremblay and Pronovost/Gadsby were good at getting the puck out of their own zone.

Defense: The top pairings are too close to call: both teams have a rock-solid, defense-first player paired with a strong offensive contributor. I’d give Nainamo the edge for the second pair (Reardon’s outstanding defensive play and intimidation factor gives him the edge over Harper while Gadsby, overshadowed by Harvey and Kelly, should match Clancy). GBC has a big edge on the third pair, with the outstanding rushing Cameron, who can provide a lot of offense from a depth position. The defensive forwards are very close as well. However, I’d give GBC the edge as he has two great shutdown lines (the third line being led by the extremely underrated Backstrom) while I don’t see an Ullman-led line shutting down too many players.

Coaching: Clear edge to Trail Smoke. Irvin was probably one of the top five most successful and innovative coaches ever.

Grit: Edge to Nainamo. All six of his defensemen are tough and strong, and the intimidation factor from Reardon and Hall is tough to match. Pitseleh also has some top power forwards in Conacher and Broadbent. Both teams have a lot of grit on the bottom two lines.

Intangibles: Trail Smoke; it’s tough to argue with so many Cup rings. Both teams have lots of leaders, clutch goalies, and strong playoff performers. Both teams have very few real-life teammates, but given the fact that both teams are composed of clutch players with good work ethics, I don’t see chemistry being a major factor.

Trail Smoke wins if: their third and fourth line can shut down Nainamo's very dangerous second line.

Nainamo wins if: Grant Fuhr is not at his very best.

I’m not entirely sure who will win this, but I am fairly sure it will take them seven games.

 

[Murphy]

Wow, two teams that are a mirror image of each other. I don't think Trail is at much of a disadvatage in net either. I just can't imagine Dryden having as much success as Fuhr if they switched teams. Then again Fuhr might not have been effective playing behind such a strong defense like Dryden. Anyways I'm of the opinion that Dryden was a great goalie no doubt but not as great as his defense made him out to be.

The rest is a real hard call. You see Toe Blake as a second line winger and go yikes, that has to be an advatage but Nanaimo has one heck of a 1-2-3 punch up the center. Trail has an edge in top end talent but not by much, it's negated by the depth of of Nanaimo anyways.

The defense? Might as well switch teams, it wouldn't make a difference. Two identical corps as far as I can see.

 

[God Bless Canada]

I think there's still a legitimate edge for goaltending in Nanaimo's favour, but I don't think it's as big of an edge as it would be in the regular season. Dryden and Fuhr are two of the top five to 10 clutch goalies ever. They combined to win 10 of 18 Stanley Cups from 1971 to 1988.

If we're going to win this, we're going to have to rely on our big edge in coaching. It's the only big edge we have in the series. We believe that against most teams, we can "will our team to win," using our edge in championship rings, proven post-season performers, leadership, team play, work ethic and defensive play. We can't rely on that in this series. We think we had an intangibles edge, but it's not significant, and we can't rely on it like we did against Toronton.

 

[raleh]

This is a really tough one to call, but I definately forsee Horton having his way with Espo.

 

[Leaf Lander]

BS

 

[Frightened Inmate #2]

BS

Huh? I don't understand what the problem is.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Huh? I don't understand what the problem is.

I'm guessing that LL thinks it's BS that I'm in the division final instead of him. He's entitled to his opinion. And frankly, I'd probably think the same way if he beat me. (I'd just articulate it in a different way). After all, I'm not doing my job as a GM, and I'm selling my team short, if I don't think I'm going to win.

Or maybe he thinks it's BS that I believe I had a big edge on intangibles on him in our series.

 

[Murphy]

I thought LL didn't think Horton would handle Espo very easily but being a Leaf diehard I can't think thats what he'd mean?

I do think it would be a great battle, nobody handled Espo in front of the net very well.

 

[God Bless Canada]

The one element not mentioned yet, which could be a (very) big one is Dit Clapper's versatility. It's one that we're well aware of, and with Dick Irvin behind the bench, it's one that our coach is well-versed in.

We all know about Clapper's greatness as a defenceman. He's a top 20 all-time defenceman and he was named to three straight first team all-star squads. But he was also a two-time second team all-star RW, and would have been an all-star in 1930 if it existed that year.

It was noted earlier that Broadbent might not be an ideal first line RW. I think Broadbent will work in the same way on Espo's line that Cashman did, and Cashman was very effective in that role. But if it's the final 5 to 10 minutes of a game, and Nanaimo is down, they can put Clapper up front on Espo's line (Dit scored 40 goals in 1929-30), and adjust their third and fourth lines accordingly. Carol Vadenais, a very capable defenceman, can definitely play on a top six in this draft.

It's an option that Coach Irvin has already prepped us for, and we'll be ready should it happen.

 

[pitseleh]

It was noted earlier that Broadbent might not be an ideal first line RW. I think Broadbent will work in the same way on Espo's line that Cashman did, and Cashman was very effective in that role. But if it's the final 5 to 10 minutes of a game, and Nanaimo is down, they can put Clapper up front on Espo's line (Dit scored 40 goals in 1929-30), and adjust their third and fourth lines accordingly. Carol Vadenais, a very capable defenceman, can definitely play on a top six in this draft.

It's an option that Coach Irvin has already prepped us for, and we'll be ready should it happen.

I'm with you on this. Broadbent may not be an ideal first liner but I figure he complements the line well by doing the little things down in the trenches, and makes room for Schriner and Espo to work their magic. He was also an excellent defensive player, and hopefully this balance will allow the line to succeed.

That's also an excellent point about Clapper. His versatility definitely opens a lot of options when it comes to line juggling and mixing depending on the situation.

 

[Transplanted Caper]

I'm with you on this. Broadbent may not be an ideal first liner but I figure he complements the line well by doing the little things down in the trenches, and makes room for Schriner and Espo to work their magic. He was also an excellent defensive player, and hopefully this balance will allow the line to succeed.

That's also an excellent point about Clapper. His versatility definitely opens a lot of options when it comes to line juggling and mixing depending on the situation.

I think the same could be said in terms of Traill's first line. Despite his point totals, there are likely numerous players who would be taken ahead of Francis as Top line centres, but given his playmaking abilities and the skill on his wings, and real issue there is essentially negated. This is an excellent matchup IMO. While I think Traill's biggest issue (at least in comparative terms) is goaltending, is that issue enough to put the Clippers ahead?

 

[Murphy]

I read in the hockey news last night that the first injury to Orr's knee was caused by a check from Marcel Pronovost. He caught his leg as Orr was trying to sneak through by the boards. I did not know that.