O'Brien Division Final: #1 Regina Pat Canadians vs. #3 Toledo Walleye
- Thread starter VanIslander
- Start date
Lineup change in Toledo's bottom 6 to:
Johan Franzen - Anatoli Semenov - Greg Adams
Stephane Yelle - Terry Crisp - Pentti Lund.
Johan Franzen - Anatoli Semenov - Greg Adams
Stephane Yelle - Terry Crisp - Pentti Lund.
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seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Yeah, that probably makes more sense. I had this impression in my head of Yelle being quite good as faceoffs, but looking at the stats, he's nothing special.
Useless, but fun analysis:
- Bill Juzda, Nick Mickoski, Patrik Sundstrom participate in the last matchup between Regina and Toledo in the AAA draft.
- Mickoski is the only one to switch sides. He performed decently for Regina in the AAA11 finals, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games (although 4 of his points were in the infamous goal fest of Game 1).
- Sundstrom hopes to rebound from a weak AAA11 final, where he notched only two assists
- How will the Terry Crisp, coach vs. Terry Crisp, player battle go? Obviously the coach will know how to handle the player, but will the player foresee the plans his future self would make?
- Bill Juzda, Nick Mickoski, Patrik Sundstrom participate in the last matchup between Regina and Toledo in the AAA draft.
- Mickoski is the only one to switch sides. He performed decently for Regina in the AAA11 finals, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games (although 4 of his points were in the infamous goal fest of Game 1).
- Sundstrom hopes to rebound from a weak AAA11 final, where he notched only two assists
- How will the Terry Crisp, coach vs. Terry Crisp, player battle go? Obviously the coach will know how to handle the player, but will the player foresee the plans his future self would make?
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Positions where I see an edge worth discussing:
First line LW, advantage Toledo. Mickoski was at the top of my list heading into this thing. I've had him twice before and I like the guy a lot. I'm not even a Havlat fan; his offensive skill was just too much to pass up midway through the draft.
First line C, advantage Regina. Allison easily had the skills to be a 2nd line MLD center but slipped through and I found him hovering at the top of the trash. Gradin is just OK as a first liner.
Second line C, advantage Regina. Bill Carson is massively underrated. He was just as offensively dominant as Moose Watson in senior hockey. Moose gets proper benefit of the doubt being a hall of famer and because his stats can be translated to NHLers by direct comparison with some who played senior. Carson was just as good, but proved himself in the NHL too - Watson didn't. Should Watson be picked much earlier? Yes - because he's a LW. But I wouldn't feel bad with Carson on an MLD 2nd line, not by a long shot. I think there are still centers better than Tim Young available in the AA draft. McKechnie was one.
Third line C, advantage Regina. Both Crisp and Zezel were among the better checking centers in the league, but not really among the elite. Zezel was just much more offensively skilled.
Third line RW, advantage Regina. Pentti Lund just seems a bit too "one year" for me.
Fourth line C, advantage Regina. Yelle is excellent defensively and has been a part of a couple good playoff runs. Stemkowski is also good defensively but proved his value as an even strength producer over a fairly long career. He was also a physical player, top faceoff man and most importantly, clutch playoff scorer.
First pairing LD, advantage Regina. Yeah, it's tough to quantify, but Ruttan being the only HHOFer in this draft should give him an advantage over the relatively ordinary Makarov.
Second pairing LD, advantage Toledo. Kubina has been a legit #1-2 defenseman for almost a decade now. He sometimes makes questionable decisions but he's generally been a minute munching beast with good all-around skills and a huge shot. Plager is a beast but doesn't have Kubina's overall package, not by a long shot.
Third pairing RD, advantage Regina. Malakhov was a pretty good PP specialist who was also used quite a lot at even strength and made his team's goal differential better. He could be frustrating at times, but as a whole, there should be no doubt he contributed to success. It's hard to understand what Howie Young brought, besides a wild, crazy, penalty taking presence.
Starting goalie, advantage Regina. I discovered Kralik midway through the draft and I maintain he could be an MLD starter. Lindsay was actually on my radar for a backup and was definitely one of the few best when he was taken, but he's just no Kralik.
Backup goalie, advantage Regina. Doesn't really matter. But I love Potvin as a backup and I'm still not a fan of Melanson and his three 40-game seasons.
Other than that, there are minor differences throughout, but nothing that is worth splitting hairs over.
Regina should take this one. Toledo's clutch playoff offense from Franzen, Lund and Young, as well as the clutch playoff defense of Yelle and Crisp will surely provide an X-factor that makes things interesting, but Regina has the playoff pluckiness of the entire 4th line and Zezel and Craven's long, productive two-way playoff careers to help offset that. On the blueline, the winning histories of Kubina, Bladon and Makarov are equal to those of Ruttan, Juzda and Paladiev, plus Malakhov did contribute to a cup (#4 in icetime, +3) - In net, Kralik's international heroics should outdo Lindsay's career total of five playoff games, in which he had a 1-4 record and a 4.95 GAA.
Good luck, Hedberg!
First line LW, advantage Toledo. Mickoski was at the top of my list heading into this thing. I've had him twice before and I like the guy a lot. I'm not even a Havlat fan; his offensive skill was just too much to pass up midway through the draft.
First line C, advantage Regina. Allison easily had the skills to be a 2nd line MLD center but slipped through and I found him hovering at the top of the trash. Gradin is just OK as a first liner.
Second line C, advantage Regina. Bill Carson is massively underrated. He was just as offensively dominant as Moose Watson in senior hockey. Moose gets proper benefit of the doubt being a hall of famer and because his stats can be translated to NHLers by direct comparison with some who played senior. Carson was just as good, but proved himself in the NHL too - Watson didn't. Should Watson be picked much earlier? Yes - because he's a LW. But I wouldn't feel bad with Carson on an MLD 2nd line, not by a long shot. I think there are still centers better than Tim Young available in the AA draft. McKechnie was one.
Third line C, advantage Regina. Both Crisp and Zezel were among the better checking centers in the league, but not really among the elite. Zezel was just much more offensively skilled.
Third line RW, advantage Regina. Pentti Lund just seems a bit too "one year" for me.
Fourth line C, advantage Regina. Yelle is excellent defensively and has been a part of a couple good playoff runs. Stemkowski is also good defensively but proved his value as an even strength producer over a fairly long career. He was also a physical player, top faceoff man and most importantly, clutch playoff scorer.
First pairing LD, advantage Regina. Yeah, it's tough to quantify, but Ruttan being the only HHOFer in this draft should give him an advantage over the relatively ordinary Makarov.
Second pairing LD, advantage Toledo. Kubina has been a legit #1-2 defenseman for almost a decade now. He sometimes makes questionable decisions but he's generally been a minute munching beast with good all-around skills and a huge shot. Plager is a beast but doesn't have Kubina's overall package, not by a long shot.
Third pairing RD, advantage Regina. Malakhov was a pretty good PP specialist who was also used quite a lot at even strength and made his team's goal differential better. He could be frustrating at times, but as a whole, there should be no doubt he contributed to success. It's hard to understand what Howie Young brought, besides a wild, crazy, penalty taking presence.
Starting goalie, advantage Regina. I discovered Kralik midway through the draft and I maintain he could be an MLD starter. Lindsay was actually on my radar for a backup and was definitely one of the few best when he was taken, but he's just no Kralik.
Backup goalie, advantage Regina. Doesn't really matter. But I love Potvin as a backup and I'm still not a fan of Melanson and his three 40-game seasons.
Other than that, there are minor differences throughout, but nothing that is worth splitting hairs over.
Regina should take this one. Toledo's clutch playoff offense from Franzen, Lund and Young, as well as the clutch playoff defense of Yelle and Crisp will surely provide an X-factor that makes things interesting, but Regina has the playoff pluckiness of the entire 4th line and Zezel and Craven's long, productive two-way playoff careers to help offset that. On the blueline, the winning histories of Kubina, Bladon and Makarov are equal to those of Ruttan, Juzda and Paladiev, plus Malakhov did contribute to a cup (#4 in icetime, +3) - In net, Kralik's international heroics should outdo Lindsay's career total of five playoff games, in which he had a 1-4 record and a 4.95 GAA.
Good luck, Hedberg!
I know I'm not supposed to admit this, but I pretty much agree with everything posted. Overall, I can't honestly claim Toledo should beat Regina in any way other than get massively lucky/Lindsay pulls an 03 Giguere (and there's no precedent for that with Lindsay)/everyone on Regina gets a serious flu.
TheDevilMadeMe
Registered User
Malakhov was 4th in ice time on the 2000 Devils?
Strange how that ends up being calculated - he was clearly a bottom pairing defenseman on the team. Stevens-Rafalski and Daneyko-Niedermayer took the lion's share of the important minutes. Malakov played with rookie Colin White in mostly sheltered minutes, plus time on the excellent 2nd PP unit with Niedermayer.
Edit: Even though he was the clear cut #5 in importance, the team was definitely missing his puck moving from the bottom pair in the 2001 playoffs.
Strange how that ends up being calculated - he was clearly a bottom pairing defenseman on the team. Stevens-Rafalski and Daneyko-Niedermayer took the lion's share of the important minutes. Malakov played with rookie Colin White in mostly sheltered minutes, plus time on the excellent 2nd PP unit with Niedermayer.
Edit: Even though he was the clear cut #5 in importance, the team was definitely missing his puck moving from the bottom pair in the 2001 playoffs.
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seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Keep in mind I'm not particularly proud that he was 4th - it really only shows he was a contributor and not a bit player.
VanIslander
A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
seventieslord
Student Of The Game
Surprised to get all three stars, thought someone like Mickoski or Poile would take one at least.
Thanks for the series, Hedberg!
Thanks for the series, Hedberg!
TheDevilMadeMe
Registered User
Oops, I forgot to vote. Nice to see that my vote wouldn't have changed anything (except maybe giving the 3rd star to one of Toledo's wingers).
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