Playoff All-Star Teams

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Agree here. For 2010 Briere ahead of Toews for sure. It's a bit strange, although Briere was the leading scorer last year, he got awfully little press/recognition

Realistically, there's no way the Conn Smythe winner doesn't get on the post-season all-star team.

I totally remember Yzerman on RW in 2002 now. That lets you use Forsberg at center, which he surely deserves.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

yzerman played RW in '02 and was better than hull.

datsyuk played LW in '08 and was better than franzen, who also played LW in '09.


i might put briere ahead of toews. briere was a much bigger factor in the finals and scored many big goals, including vs boston. leino plays RW. hartnell plays LW.

Thanks for the clarification on the Red Wings.

Briere had a great playoffs last year, but I don't think you can leave any Conn Smythe winner off the list. It's not like he blew Toews away in scoring either. He had one more point in one more game. If this was just for the Finals I would say go with Briere, but it's for the entire playoffs. Toews was phenomenal against Nashville when the rest of his team was not, and was also great against Vancouver and San Jose who are top level teams and probably better than anyone the Flyers faced on their way to the Finals.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Trying a few more

1993
Muller - Gretzky - Sandstrom
Desjardins/Blake/McSorley
Roy

1992
K. Stevens - Lemieux - Jagr
Chelios - Murphy
Barasso

1991
K. Stevens - Lemieux - Recchi
Bourque - Murphy
Barasso

(Tough not to have Neely on there)

1990
Simpson - Messier - Neely
Bourque - S. Smith
Ranford

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Trying a few more

1993
Muller - Gretzky - Sandstrom
Desjardins - ???
Roy

1992
K. Stevens - Lemieux - Jagr
Chelios - Murphy
Belfour/Barasso

1991
K. Stevens - Lemieux - Recchi
Bourque - Murphy
Barasso

(Tough not to have Neely on there)

1990
Simpson - Messier - Neely
Bourque - S. Smith
Ranford

nice choices. a few quibbles:

it sounds weird to say, but mcsorley was far and away the best defenseman in the '93 playoffs. would probably also put blake above desjardins, great as he was. was ray ferraro a RW? would be tempted to replace sandstrom on RW with him.

belfour's performance in the '92 finals should automatically disqualify him from top goalie status. also, that was easily barrasso's best playoff year.

tempted to go with casey instead of barrasso in '91 though. i'm with you on the (admittedly tough) choice of recchi over neely.

 

[HangFromRafts]

Realistically, there's no way the Conn Smythe winner doesn't get on the post-season all-star team.
QUOTE]

But realistically, Was Toews really a stand out CS winner? Can you honestly say that he stood above everyone else? especially in the final?

If Pat Sharp had gotten the CS, if Keith gets the CS, i don't think it would have been that shocking. I still don't think Briere gets enough credit here.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

But realistically, Was Toews really a stand out CS winner? Can you honestly say that he stood above everyone else? especially in the final?

If Pat Sharp had gotten the CS, if Keith gets the CS, i don't think it would have been that shocking. I still don't think Briere gets enough credit here.

Yes, but the fact is that Toews did win, and for these lists to have any sort of legitimacy, they really shouldn't contradict a vote that actually took place. Just my opinion.

 

[Derick*]

Pronger should have won the Conn Smythe

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Pronger should have won the Conn Smythe

I think he lost any claim to the Smythe when Chicago stopped matching Bfygulin against him, and instead put their speed guys against him, which he couldn't handle.

 

[JackSlater]

Yes, but the fact is that Toews did win, and for these lists to have any sort of legitimacy, they really shouldn't contradict a vote that actually took place. Just my opinion.

I agree for the most part, but there have been times when the Hart trophy winner hasn't made the first all star team. It isn't completely out of the question for the Conn Smythe winner not to make the first all star team once in a while.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

nice choices. a few quibbles:

it sounds weird to say, but mcsorley was far and away the best defenseman in the '93 playoffs. would probably also put blake above desjardins, great as he was. was ray ferraro a RW? would be tempted to replace sandstrom on RW with him.

belfour's performance in the '92 finals should automatically disqualify him from top goalie status. also, that was easily barrasso's best playoff year.

tempted to go with casey instead of barrasso in '91 though. i'm with you on the (admittedly tough) choice of recchi over neely.

1993 defenseman are narrowed down to Desjardins, McSorley, and Blake. I have a tough time leaving Desjardins off, and for some reason my memory is that Blake was better than McSorley. I definitely could be wrong on this though. I would love to hear input from some others.

Ferraro was a name that instantly popped into my head for '93. A couple sites I checked had him as a Center, but I don't know if that is 100%.

Agree with Barasso for '92. It was the homer in me that had Belfour on there.

I would also like to hear some more opinions on the '91 goalie spot.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

What are you saying? All our shots were peripheral because they were too fast for us to play our puck possession game so we never got a good breakout. Their defense, depth and speed destroyed us. Goaltending was definitely not the difference in that series.

I'm saying Niemi made a lot of great saves, more than Nabokov. I remember Niemi as Chicago's best player in Game 1, a 2-1 victory that set the tone for the series. Considering the series ended in a sweep, that was the key turning point. In my estimation, Niemi was the best Blackhawk in that particular series.

I can see what you are saying but Halak was a one man show, especially vs Washington. Washington badly outplayed the Habs and Halak shut them down and it was against the best team in the regular season. I do not think Niemi was close to as good as Halak.

Osgood always got the same disrespect as Niemi did last season but he actually played well in the playoffs the two times the Wings made the final recently. Niemi actually was very average. I would say that 20 other goalies could have won the Cup with that Chicago team behind them. Doubtful many goalies are going to beat Pittsburgh and Washington with that Habs team behind them. Maybe a couple of goalies but not the average goalie in the league.

Halak was great, no question. But Washington and Pittsburgh did their part in helping him look good at the same time. I think it's a situation where either goalie is a defensible choice (they're the only two possible choices really) so I figured I'd throw Niemi's name into the ring since he seemed to get the "Osgood treatment" that you point out.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Adam Foote over Ray Bourque in 2001. He absolutely manhandled Keith Tkachuk in the WCF, while putting up a similar number of points through four rounds. As good as Bourque was against Los Angeles, I thought Foote's series against St. Louis was one of the better series from a shadowing defenseman in the decade.

 

[Derick*]

I'd take Anderson before Niemi.

 

[Padan]

1997 - Definitely Konstantinov for the 2nd defenseman. I have read articles about how much of a problem he was for Lindros in the Finals and also Forsberg in the Conference Finals.Here is one

It was Lidstrom and Murphy who went out against Lindros in the '97 finals.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Adam Foote over Ray Bourque in 2001. He absolutely manhandled Keith Tkachuk in the WCF, while putting up a similar number of points through four rounds. As good as Bourque was against Los Angeles, I thought Foote's series against St. Louis was one of the better series from a shadowing defenseman in the decade.

Interesting perspective. As a Devils fan, Blake and Bourque were the guys who "impressed" me the most in the finals. I definitely remember Foote getting lots of praise for the job on Tkachuk, though.

The thing with Bourque though is the huge inspiration he was to the rest of the team. (Plus from a realistic perspective, there is no way that the media wouldn't vote him onto a postseason all-star team).

 

[King Forsberg]

Where's Briere for 2010?

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Where's Briere for 2010?

He played Center, and I went with rule that the Conn Smythe winner had to be on the team, so he loses out to Toews.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

With all of these great players being left off maybe it would be best to go to a 3 Forward format instead of LW-C-RW. Isn't that what they do for the Olympic All-Star Selections?

 

[ContrarianGoaltender]

With all of these great players being left off maybe it would be best to go to a 3 Forward format instead of LW-C-RW. Isn't that what they do for the Olympic All-Star Selections?

I think that would make more sense, or at the very least you could go with C-W-W. Doesn't make much sense to me to have, for example, Martin Havlat make the team in '09 over Alex Ovechkin just because Johan Franzen also played left wing.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I think that would make more sense, or at the very least you could go with C-W-W. Doesn't make much sense to me to have, for example, Martin Havlat make the team in '09 over Alex Ovechkin just because Johan Franzen also played left wing.

I agree that it doesn't make sense and these things ideally are just 3 forwards.

But the NHL has always done a LW-C-RW thing for the regular season postseason awards.

 

[King Forsberg]

He played Center, and I went with rule that the Conn Smythe winner had to be on the team, so he loses out to Toews.

Fair enough. Briere actually started the playoffs on the wing but was moved to center after Carter got hurt. I agree the Conn Smythe winner has to be on there but the leading playoff scorer has to be on there as well. Just my opinion.

The forwards would be
Daniel Briere
Jonathan Toews
Mike Cammallari

The Defense
Chris Pronger
Duncan Keith

The goalie
Jaroslav Halak

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Fair enough. Briere actually started the playoffs on the wing but was moved to center after Carter got hurt. I agree the Conn Smythe winner has to be on there but the leading playoff scorer has to be on there as well. Just my opinion.

The forwards would be
Daniel Briere
Jonathan Toews
Mike Cammallari

The Defense
Chris Pronger
Duncan Keith

The goalie
Jaroslav Halak

I would keep Kane over Cammallari if we are just doing 3 forwards.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Here is a quick re-do with the 3 Forward format. Still some debatable spots, but this feels much better.

2010
Toews - Briere - Cammallari/Kane
Keith - Pronger
Halak


2009
Zetterberg - Malkin - Crosby
Lidstrom - Gonchar
Osgood

2008
Zetterberg - Hossa/Crosby/Datsyuk
Lidstrom - Kronwall
Fleury

(Pick 2 of those 3)

2007
Getzlaf - Alfredsson - Pahlsson
Niedermayer - Pronger
Giguere

(I think I'm leaning toward Spezza on this one)

2006
Staal - Brind'amour - Pisani
Pronger - Spacek/Niedermayer
Ward


2004
St. Louis - B. Richards - Iginla
Boyle - Regehr
Kiprusoff

2003
Gaborik - Madden - Langenbrunner
Niedermayer - Stevens
Giguere

2002
Forsberg - Yzerman - Sakic/Roberts
Lidstrom - Chelios
Hasek

2001
Elias/Tanguay - Sakic - Hejduk
Blake - Bourque
Roy

(No change here)

2000
Arnott - Modano - Hull
Stevens - D. Hatcher
Brodeur

1999
Modano - Joe Nieuwendyk - Forsberg
Alexei Zhitnik - Sergei Zubov
Dominik Hasek

1998
Tomas Holmstrom - Yzerman - Fedorov
Nicklas Lidstrom - Larry Murphy
Olaf Kolzig

1997
Lindros - Fedorov - C. Lemieux/Sakic
Nicklas Lidstrom - Konstantinov
Mike Vernon

1996
Valeri Kamensky - Joe Sakic - Forsberg
Sandis Ozolinsh - Ed Jovanovski
John Vanbiesbrouck

1995
Stephane Richer - Sergei Fedorov - C. Lemieux
Scott Stevens - Paul Coffey
Martin Brodeur

1994
Pavel Bure - Mark Messier - Trevor Linden
Brian Leetch - Sergei Zubov
Kirk McLean

1993
Gretzky - Gilmour -Carbonneau
Desjardins/Blake/McSorley
Roy

1992
Francis - Lemieux - Jagr/K. Stevens
Chelios - Murphy
Barasso

1991
K. Stevens - Lemieux - Recchi
Bourque - Tinordi
Casey

(No change here...Still tough not to have Neely on there)

1990
Tikkanen - Messier - Neely
Bourque - S. Smith
Ranford

(HM: Craig Simpson)

 

[Padan]

(Pick 2 of those 3)

2007
Getzlaf - Alfredsson - Heatley/Spezza
Niedermayer - Pronger
Giguere

(I think I'm leaning toward Spezza on this one)

What about Pahlsson?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

With 3 forwards

I would lean towards Spezza over Heatley in 2007 too. He just seemed like more of a catalyst to me.

Conn Smythe winner Claude Lemieux takes the forward spot over Broten in 1995. No question. The 3 forwards remain unchanged.

Carbonneau over Damphousse in 1993.