René Lecavalier Quarterfinals: Pittsburgh AC vs. Detroit Red Wings

[Sturminator]

Pittsburgh Athletic Club

Coach: Anatoli Tarasov
Assistant Coach: Billy Reay

Paul Kariya-Gordie Howe
Ebbie Goodfellow-Ted Kennedy(C)
Dit Clapper(A)

Darryl Sittler (A)-Dany Heatley
Glen Harmon-Dave Taylor
Herb Gardiner

Veniamin Alexandrov-Vladimir Vikulov
Pit Lepine-Lennart Svedberg
Rod Seiling

Kelly Miller-Ryan Kesler-Ron Stewart

Johnny Bower
Roberto Luongo

Spares: Mike Green, Johnny Gagnon, Paul Shmyr

PP1: Heatley-Sittler-Howe-Kariya-Clapper
PP2: Alexandrov-Kennedy-Vikulov-Svedberg-Goodfellow

PK1: Kesler-Miller-Gardiner-Seiling
PK2: Lepine-Stewart-Goodfellow-Clapper​

Estimated Minutes:

Forward| ES | PP | PK | total
Gordie Howe|16|4|0|20|
Paul Kariya|16|4|0|20|
Ted Kennedy|16|3|0|19|
Darryl Sittler|14|4|0|18|
Dany Heatley|14|4|0|18|
Pit Lepine|14|0|3|17|
Vladimir Vikulov|14|3|0|17|
Veniamin Alexandrov|14|3|0|17|
Dave Taylor|14|0|0|14|
Ryan Kesler|3|0|4|7|
Ron Stewart|3|0|3|6|
Kelly Miller|0|0|4|4|
Total | 138 | 25 | 14 |177

Defense|ES|PP|PK|Total
Dit Clapper|17|4|3|24|
Ebbie Goodfellow|17|3|3|23|
Herb Gardiner|15|0|4|19|
Rod Seiling|14|0|4|18|
Lennart Svedberg|14|3|0|17|
Glen Harmon|15|0|0|15|
Totals|92|10|14|116

Vs.​

The Detroit Red Wings

GM - Evil Sather & Reds4Life

Coach: Mike Babcock

Bun Cook - Sergei Fedorov "A" - Gordie Drillon
Dean Prentice - Dave Keon "A" - Peter Bondra
Vincent Damphousse - Dave Poulin - Harry "Punch" Broadbent
Simon Gagne - Rick MacLeish - Rick Vaive
HÃ¥kan Loob
Marc Savard
Saku Koivu

Kevin Lowe - Ray Bourque "C"
Brian Leetch "A" - Carl Brewer
Robert Svehla - Darryl Sydor
François Beauchemin

Tim Thomas
Jean-Sebastian Giguere​

Click to read more...

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Not much action here, but I wanted to talk about the the partnership of the midfielders on my second unit. I think Taylor's a pretty well-known commodity at this point, but I was happy to select Harmon as late as I did.

Harmon's AST record is good for a second pair guy. It stands at 3, 4, 8 and a merited ASG appearance in 1950 when we have limited AST information. Harmon's 4th place was during 1945 and earned under a system that weighted votes to make all markets have the same voting power despite the number of writers voting. So if we could votes, Harmon's finish that year is 8th place.

A record of 3, 8, 8, ? still gets the job done for a #4. Consider some others

Schoenfeld: 4, 9, 10, 11, 13
Numminen: 6, 10, 12, 13
Harper: 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 13
Baun: 5, 8, 9, 11
Bergman: 8, 8, 8, 10, 11

More importantly, Harmon's skillset makes him an ideal midfielder. He was a very fast skater who was strong in the transition game. Here are a few quotes from his bio highlighting this:

...Jack (Adams) said: "You can say that again. That boy Glen Harmon has put plenty of life into them....He's travelling all the time. He's got speed to burn. He clears pretty well, is shifty, and seems to give the team more pep than they ever had early on in the season.
...
"Before he came up, Canadiens' big fault was getting the puck out of their own end. They don't have that trouble now, and from what I've seen Harmon has been the man to remedy that fault." (said Mowers)

They have one of the most mobile rearguards in the game in Glen Harmon, an underrated player who moves fast enough to cover up his mistakes and even those of his teammates, and if there is a defenceman in the league who can come out of his own end-zone with the puck faster than Glen, then we haven’t seen him.

Additionally, we have evidence over a number of years that Harmon could fill in up front.

If they decide to play four defensemen, then Butch will be back at his blueline post again and Maurice Richard will be rested. Both Glen Harmon and Leo Lamoureux have played forward positions in the past, and they will be used to fill in the vacancy on the third line.

"That means we'll have to dress five defensemen this week end," Coach Dick Irvin said last night. "They will be Bouchard, Lamoureux, Harmon, McMahon and Reardon. Both Reardon and Harmon have played forward and can take a turn up front if necessary."

"I guess Dick (Irvin) will play Glen Harmon at left wing again in Chamberlain's place," Frank Selke said yesterday. "Glen is aggressive, a fast skater and a good shot and he's right at home in the position. He proved that on Sunday when he scored a pair of goals."

This last quote is particularly impressive. With Harmon's skillset and experience filling in up front, he makes for a strong choice to play Tarasov's midfield role.

 

[Sturminator]

Harmon's AST record is good for a second pair guy. It stands at 3, 4, 8 and a merited ASG appearance in 1950 when we have limited AST information. Harmon's 4th place was during 1945 and earned under a system that weighted votes to make all markets have the same voting power despite the number of writers voting. So if we could votes, Harmon's finish that year is 8th place.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that last part, but I think ~8th place finish by modern standards is a reasonable estimation of the value of Harmon's 2nd team AST selection in the 1944-45 season, both because of the funny voting system, and because of the war. You could probably pencil in his merited ASG appearance in 1950 as an ~11th place finish or somesuch (a "relevant" season without being among the league leaders).

So yeah, a voting record like 3, 8, 8, 11 holds up just fine for a #4, and for a puckmover, Harmon seems to have been solid defensively. I thought he was one of the better late round defenseman picks where you got him, and a good fit for your midfield. Interesting that Ken Reardon also apparently played some forward in Montréal.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

Whoops that was supposed to say if we count votes, not could votes.

 

[Sturminator]

Pittsburgh wins in 5
- Three stars: Howe, Fedorov, Bower