Jim Coleman Conference - Round 1 - Vancouver Millionaires (2) vs Gallifrey TARDIS (7)

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BEST OF 7 FORMAT:


Vancouver Millionaires (2 Seed)

Coach: Lester Patrick

Syd Howe --- Phil Esposito --- Hooley Smith (A)
Gordon Roberts --- Connor McDavid --- Nikita Kucherov
Fred Harris --- Patrice Bergeron --- Mickey MacKay
Ilya Kovalchuk --- Igor Larionov --- Eddie Oatman

Eddie Gerard (C) - Bobby Orr
Cyclone Taylor - Valeri Vasiliev (A)
Mike Grant - Cy Wentworth

Vladislav Tretiak
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Spares: Frank Patrick, D ; Tommy Smith, LW/C ; Mark Stone, RW

PP1: McDavid --- Esposito --- Kucherov --- Taylor --- Orr
PP2: Howe --- MacKay --- Roberts --- Kovalchuk --- Orr/Taylor
PK1: Smith --- Bergeron --- Gerard --- Orr
PK2: MacKay --- Howe --- Vasiliev --- Wentworth


VS


Gallifrey TARDIS (7 Seed)

Coach: Glen Sather

First Line: Valeri Kharlamov-Wayne Gretzky(C)-Boris Mikhailov
Second Line: Bill Barber-Bill Cowley-Vladimir Martinec
Third Line: Reg Noble(A)-Nels Stewart-Vaclav Nedomansky
Fourth Line: John Tonelli-Cooney Weiland-Bobby Rousseau

First Pair: Rod Langway(A)-Al MacInnis
Second Pair: Tom Johnson-Alexei Kasatonov
Third Pair: Alexander Ragulin-Joe Hall

First PP Unit
Stewart
Kharlamov-Gretzky-Martinec
MacInnis

Second PP Unit
Mikhailov
Barber-Cowley-Rousseau
Kasatanov

First PK Unit: Gretzky-Mikhailov-Langway-Johnson
Second PK Unit: Weiland-Martinec-Ragulin-Hall

Goalie: Bill Durnan, George Hainsworth

Spares: Ted Green(D), Joe Nieuwendyk (C), Vic Stasiuk (W)

Notes: The "second" and "third" lines should be considered on a par, as they are intended to receive very similar ice times. In late game situations where additional offense is required, the line labeled second will see an increase in ice time at the expense of the line labeled third. In cases where additional defense is required, the reverse will be true. In those situations, the right wings will be swapped. In late game cases where defense is particularly important, the fourth line will receive additional ice time, and that line will also take particularly important defensive draws throughout the game.

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[ResilientBeast]

@Professor What we meet again

Orr v Gretzky

 

[VanIslander]

Without an uber-nasty opponent, you ice Kharlamov-Gretzky and 1 or 2 games are in the bank.

 

[ResilientBeast]

I'll get some analysis and matchup notes tomorrow morning hopefully @rmartin65 will contribute as well.

 

[rmartin65]

Alright, let's get after it a bit.

I think the difference here is defense. Both teams can create offensively (though I won't argue that Gallifrey is the superior offensive team- I think they are probably the strongest team offensively in the ATD), but only Vancouver is well-suited to parry some of the offense in this series. Orr is the greatest D of all time, and is partnered with another high end defenseman in Gerard. Taylor brings strong offense from the blueline (even if you want to penalize him a bit for being on D), and is paired with a legit number 2 defenseman in Vasiliev. Indeed, I'd argue that Vancouver has the advantage for defensemen at each slot 1-4. Vancouver also has the better set of forwards defensively; Bergeron is one of the best defensive forwards of all time, and leads a checking line full of strong defensive players. Smith and Howe and line 1 also bring strong defensive play. Additionally, Vancouver has the best goalie in the series.

Hopefully I'll have time to be more in depth later today, but I wanted to at least provide the primary reason why Vancouver wins this one.

 

[The Macho King]

I actually think all of Gallifreys lines will work (although Nedomansky is a tougher fit), but they don't really have the checking/two way lines.

I think you can make that work as a team concept. Go full 80s Oilers. But I don't think the horses in the back end are built for the forwards. Some more mobile defensemen better at moving the puck and joining the rush would have been a better fit.

Conversely, I dont love Vancouvers second line. Active player-heavy without long resumes plus not great defending. That being said - tremendous third line and well done building around Espo.

 

[rmartin65]

Conversely, I dont love Vancouvers second line. Active player-heavy without long resumes plus not great defending.

Short resumes... I guess. McDavid is in his 7th season, which is the traditional marker for a player. In that time- whether it be short or not- he's racked up 4 first team AS nods at center, 3 Art Ross wins, two Harts, and whatever he adds this year (probably another 1 AS and Art Ross, but let's go ahead and leave those out right now). That's a heck of a career- regardless of how long it is. Kucherov is in his 8th year (plus one playoff "season"). Injuries have held him back, but, again, we are talking about a player who's career to date warrants his placement. It doesn't take any projection to value Kucherov as a top 6 wing here- two time first team AS, two time second team AS, a Hart, an Art Ross, twice leading the playoffs in scoring (both over 30 points!). Again, I'm not saying we should project out their dominance- just look at what they have already done.

The defense on that line is weak, I don't think you'll see me or @ResilientBeast argue otherwise. We are going to be leaning heavily on the Bergeron line in defensive situations.

 

[Dreakmur]

I actually think all of Gallifreys lines will work (although Nedomansky is a tougher fit), but they don't really have the checking/two way lines.

I think you can make that work as a team concept. Go full 80s Oilers. But I don't think the horses in the back end are built for the forwards. Some more mobile defensemen better at moving the puck and joining the rush would have been a better fit.

Conversely, I dont love Vancouvers second line. Active player-heavy without long resumes plus not great defending. That being said - tremendous third line and well done building around Espo.

Gallifrey forward are great, but who gets the puck into their hands? That blueline is pretty awful at moving the puck.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Another point is despite having Esposito and McDavid we probably don't have the worst two centers defensively in this matchup which is another silver bullet for us.

Cowley and Stewart are probably worse than both Esposito and McDavid which is going to matter over the course of the series.

Our defense is stronger by a substantial margin 1-4
Our goaltending is stronger by some margin as Tretiak is average at 18 teams and Durnan is below
Coaching is a toss up, PW really built a nice time for Sather to coach but as touched on before puck moving from the back end is going to be a liability for the Tardis in this matchup. Our wingers are speedy and aggressive which will pressure them into turnovers

Active player-heavy without long resumes plus not great defending

Both have played 6/7ish peak season and if their careers ended due to injury tomorrow still are well justified in their placement. The second line is built for offense and to attract checking attention to hopefully force our opponents to make compromises defending against Esposito/Orr/Taylor

I believe @rmartin65 and I are happy to have the Bergeron and Esposito line take some of the heavier matchups given the support they have on the wings.