Foster Hewitt Division Finals - Ottawa Senators (1) vs Spokane Canaries (2)

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OTTAWA SENATORS (1)

GM: BenchBrawl

Coach: Hap Day
Captain: Mark Messier
Assistant: Punch Broadbent
Assistant: Jimmy Thomson

HEAD COACH

Hap Day

ROSTER

Sweeney Schriner - Mark Messier (C) - Alex Kovalev
Artemi Panarin - Jeremy Roenick - Tony Amonte
Gabriel Landeskog - Frank McGee - Punch Broadbent (A)
Gregg Sheppard - Doug Risebrough - Russ Courtnall

Sprague Cleghorn - Jimmy Thomson (A)
Al Arbour - Guy Lapointe
Ryan McDonagh - Jack Laviolette

Henrik Lundqvist
Normie Smith

Spares: Brenden Gallagher, Marc Savard, Sheldon Souray

PP1: Schriner-Messier-Kovalev-Cleghorn-Lapointe
PP2: Panarin-Roenick-Broadbent-Arbour-Thomson

PK1: Sheppard-Risebrough-Lapointe-Thomson
PK2: Messier-Courtnall-Cleghorn-Arbour
PK3: Sheppard-Broadbent


VS


Spokane Canaries (2)


Coach:
Mike Sullivan

Cy Denneny- Wayne Gretzky (C)- George Armstrong (A)
Bob Pulford- Phil Watson- Aleksandr Maltsev
Dave Balon- Ryan O'Reilly- Eric Nesterenko
Thomas Vanek- (double shifting Gretzky/Maltsev/Watson/O
Reilly)- Al MacAdam
Tiger Williams- Jason Allison

Valeri Vasiliev (A)- Harry Cameron
Mark Gioirdano (A)- PK Subban
Francois Beauchimen-Goldie Prodgers- Doug Barkley (Rotate depending on situation)

Hap Holmes
Andrei Vasilevskiy

PP1: Denneny- Gretzky- Maltsev- Subban- Prodgers
PP2: O'Reilly- Gretzky- Vanek- Cameron- Giordano

PK1: Pulford- Armtron- Vasiliev- Girodano
PK2- O'Reilly- Nesterenko- Beauchimen- Barkley​

Click to read more...

 

[rmartin65]

Hoping to find the time to put a few thoughts out this round. Here's to a good series, @BenchBrawl

First, I'm making the following line-up changes:

Defense: I'm following the advice given in assassinations, and moving Subban down.
Valeri Vasiliev (A)- Harry Cameron
Mark Giordano (A)- Doug Barkley/Prodgers
Francois Beauchimen-Goldie Prodgers- PK Subban (Rotate depending on situation)

Bottom 6: Swapping MacAdam for Nesterenko. Makes the line a little worse defensively, but provides more offensive punch (while still being strong on defense). Gretzky, Maltsev, and Watson get additional time on the 4th line.

Dave Balon- Ryan O'Reilly- Al MacAdam
Thomas Vanek- (double shifting Gretzky/Maltsev/Watson)- Eric Nesterenko

PP: Again, following assassination advice. Cameron moves to the top unit, Prodgers moves down.
PP1: Denneny- Gretzky- Maltsev- Subban- Cameron
PP2: O'Reilly- Gretzky- Vanek- Prodgers- Giordano

In situations where a goal is needed, the Canaries can run a line of Denneny-Gretzky-Maltsev. When protecting a lead: Pulford-O'Reilly-Armstrong.

Secondly (and briefly)- I think the Canaries win because Ottawa doesn't have the horses to keep up offensively or the defense to slow the Canaries down to Ottawa's level.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Hello, thanks for starting this. I won't be able to participate much, but I will make the following comments:

You say I don't have the horses on the defense; is that really the case? I have three excellent defensemen, one of which will almost always be on the ice at ES, in Cleghorn, Lapointe and Thomson. Ottawa is build on that Big Three foundation. Granted stopping Gretzky completely is out of the question, but it's not like my blueline is vulnerable.

The difference in quality between Ottawa's Top 4 defense and Spokane's is enormous, and this is coming from maybe the biggest Harry Cameron fan in the ATD community.

I also have a center in Mark Messier that can go against Gretzky, which is not a given for a draft of this size.

Hap Day, despite the not-perfect fit with my wingers, is still much better than Mike Sullivan. As for Kovalev, he played and thrived under Mike Keenan, an authoritarian coach, so I'm sure Day can handle him (and conversely, that Kovalev can handle Day). And a comment on Kovalev being on the 1st line: He was my 3rd drafted RWer, after Amonte and Broadbent. I just like the fit with Messier, as they proved to some extent IRL, and because I wanted to balance my lines.

Guess the key for Ottawa is to impose the tempo via its Big Three on the defense and control the play that way, as well as imposing the tempo with their rough-around-the-edges centers. We need a big performance from Messier and Cleghorn in particular.

Good luck mate!

 

[rmartin65]

Hello, thanks for starting this. I won't be able to participate much, but I will make the following comments:

No worries at all.

You say I don't have the horses on the defense; is that really the case? I have three excellent defensemen, one of which will almost always be on the ice at ES, in Cleghorn, Lapointe and Thomson. Ottawa is build on that Big Three foundation. Granted stopping Gretzky completely is out of the question, but it's not like my blueline is vulnerable.

You have 3 good defensemen- excellent (in the ATD) is a bit of a stretch. If this was a 25 team draft, nobody would be considering that group of D as excellent, while the Gretzky/Denneny duo and Maltsev on the second line would still be considered excellent offensively. What it basically boils down to is that while you have created a Top-4 that is quite good for a 40 team draft, Spokane has a Top6 that would still be considered quite good in a 25 team draft.

I also have a center in Mark Messier that can go against Gretzky, which is not a given for a draft of this size.

The legend of Messier as this defensive monster C needs to die. According to HR, Messier had Selke finishes of 28, 16, 16, 15, 14, 9, 8, and 17. That is not a C that can give Gretzky a real challenge. Additionally, Gretzky has Denneny to help curb Messier's antics.

Just like Ottawa's D, Lundqvist in net is certainly acceptable, but doesn't exactly match up with the firepower that Spokane possesses.

 

[BenchBrawl]

No worries at all.

You have 3 good defensemen- excellent (in the ATD) is a bit of a stretch. If this was a 25 team draft, nobody would be considering that group of D as excellent, while the Gretzky/Denneny duo and Maltsev on the second line would still be considered excellent offensively. What it basically boils down to is that while you have created a Top-4 that is quite good for a 40 team draft, Spokane has a Top6 that would still be considered quite good in a 25 team draft.

No offense, but this is a ridiculous argument. First, since I have arguably the best Big Three in the draft, what you're implying is that argument alone means your team should just streamroll to the championship, because no one will have the horses to face them. Secondly, your Top 6 have Georges Armstrong, Bob Pulford and Phil Watson in it, not players I'd be impressed with inside a Top 6 in a 25 teams draft.

The legend of Messier as this defensive monster C needs to die. According to HR, Messier had Selke finishes of 28, 16, 16, 15, 14, 9, 8, and 17. That is not a C that can give Gretzky a real challenge. Additionally, Gretzky has Denneny to help curb Messier's antics.

Just like Ottawa's D, Lundqvist in net is certainly acceptable, but doesn't exactly match up with the firepower that Spokane possesses.

Huge strawman: I never talked about Messier's defensive ability in my argument. I said Messier is one of the rare center who can go power vs. power against Gretzky.

As for Denneny curbing Messier, Sprague Cleghorn will be on the ice most of the time too, so he'll have his hands full.

 

[rmartin65]

No offense, but this is a ridiculous argument. First, since I have arguably the best Big Three in the draft, what you're implying is that argument alone means your team should just streamroll to the championship, because no one will have the horses to face them. Secondly, your Top 6 have Georges Armstrong, Bob Pulford and Phil Watson in it, not players I'd be impressed with inside a Top 6 in a 25 teams draft.

Talk about a strawman- no where do I state or imply that Spokane will steamroll its way to a championship. I don't even think they'll steamroll Ottawa- I think it will be a close battle, but in the end, Spokane has more offensive ability than Ottawa has defensive to a greater degree than Ottawa's offense over Spokane's defense. And again, nowhere did I say that my entire Top 6 looks like a 25 team offense- just the first line and Maltsev. Armstrong is a perfectly acceptable glue guy in the top 6, and has been used there in the past (unless I am misremembering... certainly possible). Pulford is a fine glue guy in a 40 team draft. Watson is definitely on the weaker end of centers, no arguments there. Though, surprisingly, Watson actually has a AS2 win, while Roenick tops out on the 4th team. Watson also has more top 10 points finishes.

Huge strawman: I never talked about Messier's defensive ability in my argument. I said Messier is one of the rare center who can go power vs. power against Gretzky.

I guess we dont have the same idea about what power on power means. I take it to mean that one's top line can handle the other team's top line, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, Gretzky is clearly better than Messier. Thus, I believed you were saying Messier would interfere with Gretzky's offense significantly in order to make up the gap... thus indicating that Messier was a top defensive player. I apologize if I misunderstood your intent, but I would then ask what you mean by Messier being able to go power vs power against Gretzky. Especially because- as I understand it- Gretzky "struggled" (if you could really call it that) against more cerebral defenders (such as Kaspar) as opposed to power centers. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, however.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Messier wasn't a great defensive center per se, but he was really good at going head to head against star centers in big games and just dominating them physically. Not saying he's going to dominate Gretzky by any means, but I think if I have to pick a center to go head to head against the Great One, Mess would be high on my list.