Foster Hewitt Division 2nd Round - New York Rangers vs. Buchans Miners

[Hawkey Town 18]

New York Rangers

GMs: Hedberg & VanIslander

Coaches Billy Reay & Father David Bauer

Aurel Joliat - Joe Sakic (C) - Yvan Cournoyer
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Rick Tocchet
Johnny Gottselig - Frank McGee - Blair Russel
Smokey Harris - Marty Walsh - Reggie Leach
Louis Berlinguette, Brian Skrudland

Brad Park (A) - Rod Langway
Harry Howell (A) - Sergei Zubov
Albert Leduc - Dollard St. Laurent
George McNamara

Clint Benedict
Normie Smith​

PP1: Joliat - Sakic - Cournoyer - Zubov - Howell
PP2: Sedin - Sedin - Tocchet/Leach - Park - Leduc
PK1: McGee - Russell - Park - Langway
PK2: Walsh - Gottselig - Leduc - St. Laurent
PK3: Sakic - Joliat - Howell - Leduc

VS

The Buchans Miners

GM: Johnny Engine
Coach: Tommy Gorman
Captain: Lester Patrick
Alternate Captains: Doug Gilmour, Al MacInnis

Dickie Moore - Aleksandr Maltsev - Didier Pitre
Luc Robitaille - Doug Gilmour - Odie Cleghorn
Esa Tikkanen - Red Berenson - Bill Guerin
Percy Galbraith - Brad Richards - Floyd Curry

Doug Gilmour will take about half of the 4th-line centre shifts.

Brad McCrimmon - Al MacInnis
Jimmy Watson - Lester Patrick
Gus Mortson - Robert Svehla

Patrick Roy
Dave Kerr

Spares

Mike Richards
Paul MacLean
Ian Turnbull
Al Shields

Powerplay:
MacInnis - Moore - Robitaille - Maltsev - Patrick
Pitre - Gilmour - B. Richards - Cleghorn - Mortson

Turnbull, MacLean, Svehla and Berenson will receive occasional spot duty on the PP.

Penalty Kill
Tikkanen - Gilmour - Watson - McCrimmon
Galbraith - Berenson - MacInnis - Mortson

A third unit of Dickie Moore, Floyd Curry, Lester Patrick and Robert Svehla will receive occasional spot duty on long penalty kills.

Last minute when trailing: Moore - Maltsev - Robitaille - Gilmour - MacInnis - Patrick

Last minute when ahead: Moore - Gilmour - Tikkanen - McCrimmon - MacInnis

and a word from singer-songwriter Matthew Hornell:​

Click to read more...

 

[Johnny Engine]

I'm continuing to depend on Berenson to face another big first line like last round. Hawkey Town is PM'd.

Analysis later, if VI doesn't get to it first.

 

[Johnny Engine]

Coaching and leadership:

I consider Gorman a bit above the middle of the pack in the ATD, and with Buchans he has a collection of players who should be excellent forecheckers (Gilmour, Moore, Guerin, Tikkanen particularly), as well as a few guys who'll really benefit from sustained pressure. Reay is well placed with a furious attacking team, although I think he's below average here. I don't get why Father David Bauer is on the staff, he seems like he has the same strengths as Reay, as a nurturing players coach. Gorman also gets a boost for winning 2 cups without much in the way of prime ATD talent to work with, while Reay's teams may have disappointed.
Both teams have good leaders.
Advantage: Buchans

Top Six:
New York's first line is a high-octane group with some grit from Joliat and two-way play from Sakic. They're all small, but they're cohesive and rounded. The Sedins get a bad rap in the playoffs, and their line won't offer much two-way play, but they have a bodyguard, and it's still a talented second line. Buchans lacks a true franchise scorer, but the lines are balanced in size, style, and grit.
Advantage: New York

Bottom Six:
With Gilmour taking defensive-zone shifts, Buchans can use two shutdown lines against New York's scorers. Tikkanen and Curry have some bonus playoff scoring to support Gilmour, Berenson, and Guerin. Brad Richards is mostly there for "garbage time" shifts to keep his legs fresh. New York's bottom six are aggressive, grinding and offensive. I'm not as familiar with Harris and Russell as I'd like to be, but they seem to fit the mold.
Advantage: difficult to compare, and probably a wash.

Defense:
Park and MacInnis fall into the middle of the pack as #1 defensemen. Park has an edge in even-strength play. After that, the pairings are set up quite differently. Langway is the third-best defenseman in the series, but Buchans can have a serious impact defenseman (Patrick, Mortson) on the ice with a safe partner for the whole game. Leduc and St. Laurent are a decent bottom pairing, but there won't be a single shift where either is the best D-man on the ice.
Advantage: an edge to New York

Goaltending:
Patrick Roy vs. a good goaltender who's closer to average in a condensed 28-team league.
Advantage: Buchans

Special Teams:
Powerplay highlights for the Rangers include Sakic's wristshot from the circle, Zubov quarterbacking, and Brad Park on the second unit, and the Sedin line. Question marks include both Howell, and the lack of a big forward to bother Roy on the first unit. Buchans is loaded with PP role-players, and can compensate for the lack of a first-round forward in the mix if everyone does what they're good at. Langway is the big PK star in the series, and everyone else looks pretty solid on both teams.
Advantage: even

The Big Questions:
Can Buchans score enough on point shots, rebounds, and opportunistic play to give Roy a cushion?
Are the Sedins positioned well-enough in the lineup that they won't wilt under second-round pressure?
Can Patrick Roy and Gorman's balanced group of defensive players contain the Ranger's first line?

 

[Hedberg]

I think that's one of the most fair analyses I've seen in an ATD playoff - it looks pretty spot on to me.

My biggest concern for Buchans is how will Gilmour handle the double shifting? Centring both the secondary shutdown and scoring lines seems like a large task to handle. Pat Quinn said recently in a radio interview:

There comes a point where your play will drop off, whether it’s in the third period or whether you coast a little bit so you reserve energy in the third period, you’re not at the maximum you can bring each night… That’s why I knew in ’94 we were going to beat Toronto, because they wore Gilmore out. He could hardly play against us in the semi finals.

 

[BraveCanadian]

I think that's one of the most fair analyses I've seen in an ATD playoff - it looks pretty spot on to me.

My biggest concern for Buchans is how will Gilmour handle the double shifting? Centring both the secondary shutdown and scoring lines seems like a large task to handle. Pat Quinn said recently in a radio interview:

No doubt it eventually takes a toll but Gilmour thrived playing a lot of minutes during that time period.

He played a ton in 93 and kept going right through three straight 7 game series. In the third series he outplayed Gretzky and had 3 points in the 21st game.

In 94 he was injured and taking therapy and injections to his ankle to even play each game. Kirk McLean also picked a good time of year to play out of his mind.

...
Maple Leaf center Doug Gilmour is adding a chapter this spring, playing magnificently despite a painfully swollen right ankle.

Before he can stuff his sore foot into his skate boot, Gilmour must ice it. Then he undergoes therapy. Then he winces. A lot. But he unfailingly plays an aggressive two-way game, usually playing double shifts.

Despite the injury--a tendon damaged when he tangled with Gary Suter in Game 5 of the Leafs' first-round series against Chicago--Gilmour plays on the power play, kills penalties and takes key faceoffs. Oh, and he leads playoff scorers with 19 points.
...

Source

So glad I got to see him those couple of seasons.

 

[Johnny Engine]

Thanks for that BC, that's my thinking on the matter.

For a last bit of gamesmanship, I'm going to spend my fairness karma give you my Buchans-centric answers to the big questions:

Can Buchans score enough on point shots, rebounds, and opportunistic play to give Roy a cushion?

Yes. Every player in the top six can hold their own in their role, and the Berenson-Guerin duo are legitimate threats. The lack of a Sakic-type catalyst is the only hole, and after that, is a core of Joliat/Cournoyer/Sedin(s) any better than Maltsev/Robitaille/Moore/Pitre? I ask that not to put down the Rangers, but to compare the Buchans group to reasonable ATD expectations. I say there's enough.

Are the Sedins positioned well-enough in the lineup that they won't wilt under second-round pressure?

Not enough. If you're worried about the extra minutes for Gilmour, consider that he's playing a lot of those shifts up against Henrik Sedin. That's not calling Sedin a shrinking violet - he'll take Gilmour's chippiness, but he won't give anything back to make Gilmour's minutes harder. Also, the lack of a serious two-way forward to compliment the brothers means if they lose the puck, they'll have a hard time getting it back. Gorman has up to 7 games to decide whether to meet that line with a smart, mobile pairing of Watson-Patrick, or a nasty, strong pairing of Mortson-Svehla, and either could be a major pain for them.

Can Patrick Roy and Gorman's balanced group of defensive players contain the Ranger's first line?

Yes. Roy has the opportunity to take over the series without having to see a big tough man with top-end goal-scorer's hands. There's talent, and there's Tocchet playing a role he's just barely qualified to play with more talented linemates, and there are some good gritty 3rd liners, but no one in the mold of Dickie Moore. New York is a great team playing the worst type of opponent. They have what it takes to outshoot the Miners, but not to break them.

That's my sales job during voting period. Be convinced or not convince, vote with your heart!

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

New York Wins in Game 7 OT

 

[Hedberg]

Thanks for the evaluation and close series Johnny