Team 30+ vs Team 25 and under

[Bounces R Way]

Who would you pick to win one game and one playoff series between these two teams?

Team 30+
Ovechkin-Malkin-Kane
Giroux-Crosby-Tavares
Marchand-Bergeron-Wheeler
Backstrom-Kopitar-Toews
Benn, ROR, Pavelski

Hedman-Doughty
Josi-Pietrangelo
McDonagh-Letang
Burns, Carlson

Price
MAF

Team 25 and under
Draisaitl-McDavid-MacKinnon
Matthews-Barkov-Pastrnak
Rantanen-Aho-Marner
Tkachuk-Point-Pettersson
Ehlers, Barzal, Hughes

Heiskanen-Makar
Werenski-McAvoy
Chabot-Ekblad
Chychrun, Fox

Blackwood
Hart

Obviously going to be disagreement on who should be on these teams and in what order so if you feel strongly go ahead and post your lineups or what changes you would make.
Who are you taking to :
1) Win one game
2) Win a best of 7 games playoff series

Pick two choices

Click to read more...

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Young bulls win in a beat down.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

team Boomer wins this, especially in a playoff series.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Team 30+ would be very difficult to play against. Team 25 and under is still mostly unproven in the playoffs.

 

[Kcb12345]

That's a tough one. Could see it going either way but the speed advantage is pretty insane for the young team

 

[blundluntman]

As good as 25- may be, the weakness in goaltending is way too big for me not to pick 30+

 

[Love]

Goalies for 25 and under should be 2 of Nedeljkovic/Demko/Shesterkin not Blackwood or Hart.

 

[Ace of Hades]

Team 30+ in a very close series.

You are better off replacing Hart with upgrades in Demko or Shesterkin.

 

[T REX]

Why not make it 26 and under and 27+

You are missing Kuch and Vasy.

Good lord.

Split it up.

Seems way rando to me.

 

[Gurglesons]

Team 30 because their goaltending duo isn't awful.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Definitely team 30+

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

30+ for a series. Young guns top 6, other than MacK and Pasta, is full of playoff chokers and/or unknowns. While 30+ is full of Smythe winners. On D same story: bunch of proven playoff performers (including the best Dman in the world) vs unknowns. Goaltending is a landslide for 30+

 

[ted2019]

Team 30 wins the playoff series.

 

[untouchable21]

Aside from Point, Pastrnak and Heiskanen none of the under 25 team players have proven capable of contributing to their team’s success in a deep playoff run.
I think the over 30 team has too many intangibles while still being greatly skilled that they’d find a way to frustrate and ultimately defeat the younger team.

* HUGE goaltending edge to the over 30 team as well *

 

[Buck Naked]

30+ for a series. Young guns top 6, other than MacK and Pasta, is full of playoff chokers and/or unknowns. While 30+ is full of Smythe winners. On D same story: bunch of proven playoff performers (including the best Dman in the world) vs unknowns. Goaltending is a landslide for 30+

Point - Such a choker.

 

[Lawzy]

30+ for a series. Young guns top 6, other than MacK and Pasta, is full of playoff chokers and/or unknowns. While 30+ is full of Smythe winners. On D same story: bunch of proven playoff performers (including the best Dman in the world) vs unknowns. Goaltending is a landslide for 30+

What number of games does a player have to play in the playoffs for you to no longer consider them unknown? The top 6 of the young guns are 1, 2, 7, 9, 27, and 53 in playoff PPG (>10 gp) since 2014-2015 (the year the oldest of these gentlemen would have joined the league). Not to mention that nearly all the remaining players in the top 25 from that list are the bottom 6. For reference, the old boys top 6 are 15, 16, 23, 32, and 41, respectively. Before you answer, no I don't think that is a fair analysis because obviously comparing the PPG of players in or near their peak vs. veterans will yield skewed results, I just think the claim that these players are playoff chokers or unknowns is a bit much. With the exception of Toews and Malkin, none of the old boys had Smythe's by their 25th birthday either. Hell, Ovechkin and Backstrom were considered chokers well into their late 20s/early 30s (personally, I don't agree).

Now, if your argument is simply that the old boys are all playoff-tested veterans that would ultimately win out based on experience, I entirely agree. I think, in a vacuum, I will always take the more experience players if they have roughly the same amount of skill (or at least did at the same age). Also helps that I relate to the old farts more since I'm about to fall in that age bracket myself.

 

[Sempiternal]

Younger is better nowadays, but I think Victor Hedman tips the scales for the boomers.

 

[jetsforever]

Weird how neither have great goalies

 

[jetsforever]

team Boomer wins this, especially in a playoff series.

Younger is better nowadays, but I think Victor Hedman tips the scales for the boomers.

Aren't the old guys Millennials though?

 

[nowhereman]

You're all aware that the term "boomer" doesn't mean "someone over 30", right?

Anwyay, I'll take the older team by a hair. Those guys have all been there, done that (many times over) and know how to win. Their fowards are also vastly superior, top to bottom, from a defensive standpoint. A Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron line would be absolutely deadly in playoff hockey.

 

[txpd]

There are a lot of issues with both teams. How many actual wingers are there on the 30+ team? Carlson and Fox are on 4th pairs and taking scratches? Really?

 

[Fig]

I feel like 30+ would be more capable of having the group play cohesively to win, even though it's not how many of them would normally play. I think 30+ would play in a pure shut down and physical manner and just bide their time. A lot more cerebral. I think they might take the series.

<25 would be deadly playing their own style though. But I think they'd basically play their normal game but just different variations of intensity. It would be basically pure brute force. I think they'd take a game or so.

It's not to say the <25 group cannot adjust their playstyle. I just think that the 30+ would be more capable of doing it more effectively due to experience and likely must play that way well as they cannot keep up to the <25 due to stamina, likelihood to injury etc.

 

[thethirdhockeyman91]

How about the sweet spot, team late 20s?

 

[Varan]

I feel like the 30+ guys are still very capable of playing at a high level and aren’t washed up yet. Lots of the young guns have not been pretty in the playoffs, whereas you have some of the best to do it in the older group

30+ for a playoff series

25 and under for RS play

 

[ForsbergForever]

This needs to be the next all-star game.

Kids could skate through the 30+ team for one game (see: team North America in the World Cup) but I think the vets could gut it out for a series win.