Forward Lines
1st Lines
Kenora: Dumart - Yzerman - Geoffrion
Vancouver: Firsov - Schmidt - Richard
Overall ranking:
Geoffrion < Richard*
Yzerman > Schmidt
Dumart << Firsov
*Richard's advantage over Geoffrion is larger than Yzerman's over Schmidt
Offense basis 7yr Vs.X
We obviously don't have a score for Firsov, but perhaps we can look at some other LW's to get an idea?
Doug Bentley: 86.6
Toe Blake: 86.3
Paul Kariya: 84.9
Luc Robitaille: 84.2
Ilya Kovalchuk: 83.9
I'm going to use a score of 85 to evaluate Firsov (the last 3 players on the list clearly are not as good defensively as Firsov and therefore usually get drafted later, but offensively seem like good comparables)
Richard: 102.4
Yzerman: 93.2
Geoffrion: 89.9
Schmidt: 86.9
Firsov: 85.0
Dumart: 72.7
Total/Average per player
Kenora: 255.8 / 85.3
Vancouver: 274.3 / 91.4
Defensive Play (gaps intentional)
Dumart
Schmidt
Yzerman
Firsov
Richard/Geoffrion
Kenora has an edge defensively
Line Construction
Both lines are constructed well, I see nothing lacking on either line.
Matchup
Vancouver's best scoring threat and the best offensive players in the series, Maurice Richard, is being shadowed by a player who was capable of shutting down Gordie Howe in real life. Dumart, however, is very lacking in offense compared to the others, the counter-attack will have to come from his linemates or elite offensive Dman Red Kelly.
Up the middle we have 2-way guys on both teams, Yzerman is better offensively, Schmidt better defensively. These two will check each other well, but for my money Yzerman is the better player and will get an edge in this matchup, although not large.
Geoffrion is the better offensive player, and strictly by the numbers is better than Yzerman on a per game basis (although Geoffrion surely had better teammates). Geoffrion will not provide any defensive help against Firsov, although Firsov is not the caliber of player that requires a shadow (he's a fine 1st liner, but average 1st liners don't need shadows, this is reserved for more elite roles). Firsov is some kind of a plus defensively and will provide some help against Geoffrion, but surely isn't capable of shutting him down.
Overall
Vancouver has the better line, which is not surprising, Vancouver has their best player at each position playing on their top line, while Kenora has their 2nd best LW on the top line for matchup reasons. Kenora does however have a good setup to limit Vancouver's biggest strength, while still providing enough offense to be a serious counter-attack threat.
2nd Lines
Kenora: Blake - Malkin - Alfredsson
Vancouver: Yakushev - Lindros - Middleton
Overall ranking:
Blake > Yakushev
Malkin > Lindros
Alfredsson > Middleton
Offense basis 7yr Vs.X
Again, we don't have a score for Vancouver's Soviet player, Yakushev. I think it's generous to call him equal to Alfredsson offensively (82.3), who has a similar score to Paul Thompson (82.6), Marian Hossa (82.4), Theo Fleury (82.0), John Leclair (81.7). So to keep things simple I'm going to give Yakushev the exact same score as Alfredsson.
Malkin: 93.8 (includes 2017-18)
Toe Blake: 86.3
Lindros: 85.0
Alfredsson: 82.3
Yakushev: 82.3
Middleton: 74.1
Total/Average per player
Kenora: 262.4 / 87.5
Vancouver: 241.4 / 80.5
Defensive Play (gaps intentional)
Alfredsson
Middleton
Blake*
Lindros
Yakushev
Malkin
*Not factoring in Blake's great PK abilities
Close defensively, slight edge to Kenora
Line Construction
Again, both lines are constructed well, I see nothing lacking on either line.
Matchup
Lindros is not good enough defensively to handle Malkin, and at this point Malkin is a much better offensive player. Lindros obviously has a physical edge on Malkin, but Malkin has size, he doesn't use it aggressively to go after people, but he is not easy to push around, and does not get intimidated. Lindros will not be able to impose his will like he could against a smaller and/or softer center.
Blake and Middleton are both two-way guys, who will help check each other, but Blake is easily the better offensive player.
Alfredsson and Yakushev are similar offensively, but Alfredsson should be more effective back checking. Yakushev does have some size advantage on Alfredsson, but Alfie is a pretty gritty player, and will not be intimidated, but there is some advantage size-wise for Vancouver.
Overall
Kenora has the much better line here, and the one elite offensive 2nd liner, Malkin, does not have someone to shadow/strongly check him.
Scoring Lines Summary
Vancouver has the advantage on the 1st line while Kenora has the advantage on the 2nd line. The offensive advantage for Kenora's 2nd line (21.0 vs.X pts) is actually slightly higher than Vancouver's 1st line (18.5 vs.X pts). Further, Kenora's 1st line is better set up to limit Vancouver's advantage on the 1st line than Vancouver's 2nd line is set up to limit Kenora's 2nd line advantage. A lot of this is due to the fact that Dumart is shadowing Richard, while Vancouver doesn't really have an answer for Malkin.
That is all I have time for today. I hope to get to the 3rd/4th lines tomorrow.