Why Pittsburgh should win series:
- Big advantage among the F's
-I think the top line is a big advantage for Pittsburgh. Beliveau is far and away the best player on either line or team for that matter. We know his exploits especially in the postseason where he's pretty much a universally thought of top 5/10 player of all time. Balderis provides, IMO, as much offense as Nels Stewart who is playing his secondary position. I'd be shocked if Balderis ever played w/a better combo, but I'll certainly defer that to the hardcore Soviet historians. And his style is quite similar to Geoffrion/Cournoyer, two players Beliveau thrived with. Blake Wheeler is over his head on a top line.
The 2nd line is much closer but most people have Bowie rated slightly higher than MacKay all time, Smokey Harris gets a big jump based on the info I provided and given his additional AS nods, elite speed, defense, both of which are clearly improved over what we knew before this year, I don't see him THAT far behind Tommy Smith. Smith obviously provides better offense but Harris is miles better as an all around player and was capable of blowing up offensively, with or without stars around him. Playing with a pair like Bowie/Russell, we should see the absolute peak out of Harris.
Blair Russell gives Bowie (both of them) a big boost from a chemistry standpoint. Bertuzzi is only marginally better than Bowie as an offensive presence but loses A LOT of ground in terms of defensive impact. Plus Blair Russell is in the HOF to top it off. If we talk about Bowie being tough to build around, that isn't in question with Russell and Harris flanking him. Again, one thing that Pittsburgh managed to do well here was match/elevate most of the linemates of real life duos. Balderis is not terribly far behind Geoffrion and is equal to Cournoyer in my eyes. Smokey Harris is miles better than anything Bowie/Russell had in Montreal and the 3rd line is one of the best pure checking units ever put together in the ATD which gives Pitt, IMO, a decided advantage when looking at who our scoring lines will be going against vs the other team. Even when teams can match Pittsburgh's top line (which isn't often) you're dealing with Gainey-Jarvis-Westfall.
I'll gladly put up Pitt's 4th line with any in this league. You have a HOF C in Westwick who reads like a dominant/perfect 4th line option. Wasn't elite in any one thing but just did everything really well while being the toughest SOB in the league given his size and many citations. Cully Wilson was an AS caliber player in 2 leagues, in a very competitive league. And Kunitz has a resume and playing style that stacks up and beats many players drafted well above him for bottom 6 roles. Has anyone ever put together a 4th line that has 2 wingers that were postseason AS's with a HOF'er to cap it off? Maybe in a much smaller draft? I don't know.
- Playoff/Clutch performers
-Beliveau is a top 5 playoff performer of all time. Balderis has, based on everything I've read to date, a very strong international record in a time when hockey was quite developed not only in the USSR but other European nations as well. Harris had a monster performance in the 1915-16 finals, when George Kennedy called him the best all around hockey player that he'd seen that year. Bowie and Russell never really had a chance to shine in SC challenges given they were both on a subpar team relative to Ottawa and Montreal Wanderers. I have the game reports from their one run in with the Senators where they were vastly overmatched. Bowie and Russell literally being singled out as the only capable players on the Vics. Bowie in particular mentioned as having "no support".
Gainey is a Conn Smythe winner. Jarvis played very well for the Habs over the course of his time there. Westfall's point production increases form 0.51 PPG to 0.62 in the playoffs. He led the postseason in SHG's 4 different times. There are 11 SC winners on this line alone. So many big games for these guys to fall back on.
Kunitz won 4 SC's which is the most of the cap era i believe. He scored some massively important goals in his time in Pittsburgh, none more important than the Game 7, double OT winner in the ECF's against Ottawa a few years back (actually scored both goals in that game). Also chased down puck and got secondary assist on the Cup clinching goal that year against Nashville. He's a nice gamer to have on a 4th line. A lot of Westwick's exploits are in the bio I posted (which I still need to tidy up). He was a fantastic performer for Ottawa during the Silver Seven days in their many runs to glory, being mentioned along the likes of Harvey Pulford in terms of importance to Ottawa winning Cup challenges.
Duncan Keith is one of the best Dman all time in the postseason. Another Smythe winner and someone I trust explicitly in big game spots. I outlined a lot of his major bullet points already. Art Coulter managed to lead NY to a title after taking over the C from Bill Cook and was a key piece of the Blackhaws winning it all earlier in his career.
Shore and Lake's impact on the Senators under Green was massive, including the SC matches. They shut down players like Cyclone Taylor (the stacked Renfrew team as a whole) and gave Newsy Lalonde fits. You can see a lot of that in the bio I posted on them.
Vezina is every bit as good as Sawchuk in the postseason and I think Vezina's legendary calmness and consistency actually gives him a slight edge over the more volatile Sawshuk in a 7 game series, even though Vezina is a few spots behind Terry on the all time ranking chart among G's. Especially considering the defensive presences and shot blocking talents that are up and down Pittsburgh's lineup, whether talking about F's or the D corps. Vezina is already well above the bar as a playoff goalie. Add in I think Portland will struggle to produce offense in part because the F group, specifically the C's are below average offensively and facing extremely strong defensive F's, not to mention a pretty air tight D corps.
And Pete Green can absolutely hang with Lester Patrick as a postseason coach and isn't far behind him in an overall light now IMO.
Real life duo's on the top 3 F lines. Lines that are all fantastic fits for the teammates/roles expected. Top pairing that is about as good a fit as you'll see anywhere and can transition the puck on both sides especially Keith, while also both being able to play well above the bar defense, especially Coulter who I'd classify as elite in his own end. Real life 2nd pairing that Pete Green coached through the back end of a dynasty in Ottawa. 3rd pairing that stylistically is fabulous.
Pittsburgh can play play a transition game like you saw in the first tenure of Green, given the many great to outright elite skaters on the AC's roster. You have numerous great to elite defensive F's (Harris, Russell, entire 3rd line) who can all replicate any of the defensive systems Green was using. Other F's who were certainly above average (Olmstead, Westwick and Beliveau) with both 4th line wingers being plenty responsible. The only F that you can classify as subpar as a back checker is Balderis but I'm confident the coach and leadership available in Pittsburgh will get Balderis to buy into playing harder going the other way.
As Sprague Cleghorn said about Green when he was in Montreal: (one of my favorite finds on Green as far as peer adulation goes)
I don't see Coffey having anything remotely close to the amount of support he enjoyed in real life. He always played with legendary offensive C's (Gretzky/Lemieux) or the more run of the mill superstar HOF'ers like Messier and Yzerman. Nels Stewart is out of his normal spot at C and with Hooley Smith being the only real defensive conscious on his line, will be forced to play a more passive role offensively which impacts the real life combination between he and Nels.
- Defensemen that are just as good as Portland w/less holes defensively
Coffey is going to be shouldering so much Portland's offensive load here I can see a lot of odd man rushes going back the other way, especially with the defensive acumen of Pitt's wingers and their great to elite skating, especially the 2nd and 3rd lines. I'm not sure Coffey will be very effective anyway, given what I outlined just above about his lack of support among F's and Pittsburgh's ability to skate with him and check him at a very high rate.
There isn't a single defender on Pitt you can classify as below average defensively. Keith is good, if not great in his own end. Coulter is elite. Lake was compared to Tommy Phillips as an AS F and was routinely cited as a very strong defender of his own net. Keith is a great skater. Coulter is above average. Shore is elite, Lake is great (read the bio if not sure). Ivanov is at least great based on what I read. Girardi being the only meh skater of the group but he's the #6 and playing a strictly defensive role anyway. Physicality? Coulter is elite, Keith is above average. Lake is great. Even Shore was capable of throwing some big checks. Ivanov was noted as being one of the most physically imposing defenders of his day. Girardi will block shots for days and threw over 2000 hits in his career.
The only thing Portland has over Pittsburgh here are the point men on the top PP unit. I think it's pretty evident that Pittsburgh has superior F's on the PP, namely Beliveau and Bowie on the 1st unit and Balderis on the 2nd. I don't see any argument for Pitt not having vastly superior PK forwards. It's a legendary group which will help greatly against the Coffey/Duncan tandem up top. And I'll take Coulter who is the best PK defender in this series with Lake fitting the bill as a very solid option given his defensive reputation and heavy physicality. Keith/Orpik/Girardi is the best 2nd pairing on the kill that I can see anywhere. Let's not forget Larry Robinson gives the entire special teams a boost as well as the D corps across the board given his resume improving these things everywhere he went as a coach in real life.
I think teams, especially Portland are going to have a rough time scoring on these units.
- Keeping pace with Lester Patrick and Sawchuk
I've already beat this one to death but Green's win/loss resume is sterling. His contributions to hockey beyond that are many and extremely important. No two ways about it anymore. Tactics, conditioning, scouting, player development of numerous HOF'ers, pre and in game adjustments, etc, etc. Peer testimony both during his career and post death are numerous. I'm fine giving Patrick a nod here but it's a slight one in my book as I have Green in the top 10 certainly. His innovations all pre-date Patrick's as a coach/administrator and Patrick (along with Gorman) were vocal in their affection and appreciation for what Green did for them in their own professions after he died.
I've got Sawchuk 6th all time and Vezina 10th. Small gap and in a playoff series I'll got to bat all day with Vezina here especially with the skaters playing in front of him and the coaching staff/systems that will be used.