The AAA 2013 Final: Regina Direwolves vs. Atlanta Knights

[VanIslander]

Divisional champion
Regina Direwolves

coaches Brian Sutter, Jacques Laperriere

John Sorrell - Petr Nedved - Mike Murphy (C)
Tony Granato - Art Jackson - Alexander Golikov
Buzz Boll - Cully Dahlstrom - Billy Harris
Jack McDonald - Lorne Henning - Willi Plett
Martin Havlat, Ron Murphy

Ivan Tregubov - Brad Marsh (A)
Reg Hamilton - Al Hamilton (A)
Art Moore - Patrice Brisebois
Bob Turner

Kelly Hrudey
Earl Robertson

vs.

Divisional champion
Atlanta Knights

coach Bob Hartley

George Richardson - Alexei Zhamnov - Rick Kehoe (A)
Alexander Bodunov - Tim Young - John Anderson
Bob Kelly - Peter Zezel - Martin Lapointe
Don Grosso - Stephane Yelle - Brian Gionta (A)
Petr Klima, Paul Stastny

Sergei Starikov - Robert Picard
Bret Hedican (C) - Janne Ninimaa
Bob Plager - Tom Kurvers
Richard Matvichuk, Kevin McCarthy

Felix Potvin
Hal Winkler​

Click to read more...

 

[VanIslander]

Post below your special teams, links and anything else you'd like to add.

Have a good series!

 

[seventieslord]

Coach: Brian Sutter
Assistant Coach: Jacques Laperriere

John Sorrell - Petr Nedved - Mike Murphy (C)
Tony Granato - Art Jackson - Alexander Golikov
Buzz Boll - Cully Dahlstrom - Billy Harris
Jack McDonald - Lorne Henning - Willi Plett
Martin Havlat (LW/RW), Ron Murphy (LW/RW)

Ivan Tregubov - Brad Marsh (A)
Reg Hamilton - Al Hamilton (A)
Art Moore - Patrice Brisebois
Bob Turner (D/W)

Kelly Hrudey
Earl Robertson

PP1: Sorrell - Jackson - Harris - Nedved - Tregubov
PP2: McDonald - Boll - Golikov - A.Hamilton - Brisebois
PK1: Henning - Murphy - Marsh - R.Hamilton
PK2: Dahlstrom - Granato - Tregubov - Moore

1916 or earlier - McDonald, Moore
1917-1942 - Sorrell, Jackson, Dahlstrom, Boll, R.Hamilton, Robertson
1943-1965 - Tregubov, Turner, Murphy
1966-1979 - Murphy, Harris, Marsh, A.Hamilton, Henning, Plett, Golikov, Laperriere
1980-1994 - Nedved, Granato, Hrudey, Brisebois, Sutter
1995-2004 - Havlat
in 2013 - Havlat

 

[tony d]

Best of luck to Seventies here, I'll start debate tomorrow but here's my lineup:

Atlanta Knights

coach Bob Hartley

George Richardson - Alexei Zhamnov - Rick Kehoe (A)
Petr Klima - Tim Young - John Anderson
Bob Kelly - Peter Zezel - Martin Lapointe
Don Grosso - Stephane Yelle - Brian Gionta (A)
Alexander Bodunov, Paul Stastny

Sergei Starikov - Robert Picard
Bret Hedican (C) - Janne Ninimaa
Bob Plager - Tom Kurvers
Richard Matvichuk, Kevin McCarthy

Felix Potvin
Hal Winkler

Special Teams:

PP1: George Richardson, Alexei Zhamnov, Rick Kehoe, Robert Picard, Janne Ninimaa
PP 2: Petr Klima, Tim Young, John Anderson, Sergei Starikov, Tom Kurvers
PK 1: Don Grosso, Stephane Yelle, Sergei Starikov, Bret Hedican
PK 2: Peter Zezel, Martin Lapointe, Robert Picard, Bob Plager

Link to bios:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=74602009&postcount=5

 

[tony d]

Well I made it to my first final in 1 of these, vs. seventies mind you but still a finals appearance is a finals appearance.

Time to debate the forward groups:

1st Line:

The Direwolves 1st line features John Sorrell-Petr Nedved-Mike Murphy while my 1st line has George Richardson-Alexei Zhamnov-Rick Kehoe. The left wingers are the do everything John Sorrell and the goal scoring George Richardson. Sorrell could do everything but most of all he could score, that'll matter a fair bit on this line. Richardson is the goal scorer for my 1st line, he was a noted goal scorer in the early part of the game. Petr Nedved is one of the better centres in this thing as is Alexei Zhamnov. Both guys where known as good offensive guys during their careers but they had bouts of inconsistency throughout their careers. When on their games though they're going to be good for their teams. The advantage may lie in which centre plays more consistently. Our right wingers are different players, Murphy is the ultimate glue guy while Rick Kehoe is more of a goal scorer. Your 1st line may have a slight advantage over mine because it's more of a classic 1st line than mine.

2nd Line:

My 2nd line is more of a scoring line featuring Petr Klima-Tim Young-John Anderson while Regina's is Tony Granato-Art Jackson-Alexander Golikhov. The left wingers are goal scoring Petr Klima and do everything Tony Granato. Klima was a guy who only had 1 skill and that was to score goals but boy was he ever good at that. He's probably the most skilled scorers in this series having 6 30 goal seasons to his credit. As someone who had Granato I know just how good he is, you name it and he's good at it. Young and Jackson are both very good playmaking centres who can also play an adequate defensive game if need be. They should help their linemates score some goals. Anderson and Golikhov where both speedsters who where good offensively. They should be effective members of their lines.

3rd Line:

The 3rd line battle is Bob Kelly-Peter Zezel-Martin Lapointe vs. Buzz Boll-Cully Dahlstrom-Billy Harris. Kelly is going to serve as a policeman for my team, he's toughas nails and is going to make thing miserable for his opponents. I had Buzz Boll in the 2011 drafts. I liked him a lot. He's not going to wow you in any aspect but he'll always play good hockey for you. That's what you want in a 3rd liner. Peter Zezel's a good 1, an exemplary checker, special teams guy and good offensively as well. Cully Dahlstrom was the same way. This should be a good battle between pretty good 3rd line centres. The right wingers on these lines are good as well. Lapointe is a great agitator which makes him perfect for a 3rd line, he should make life miserable for his opponents in this series. Him and Kelly should do quite well. Billy Harris was a good workman like player, as good offensively as he was defensively.

4th Line:

Don Grosso is going to play a lot of roles for the Knight's 4th line just as he did in the NHL. He'll score, he'll check that makes him perfect for a 4th line. Jack Mcdonald seems like a good early star of the game, perhaps not as good a checker as Grosso but he can score and hold his own defensively, should be a good battle. The centres aren't going to add much offensively but defensively they're among the best in the draft. Both are good penalty killers. Brian Gionta is going to be a good goal scorer, he might not be your typical 4th liner but he'll do what he can to help his team. Willi Plett is going to be your team's enforcer, he might not be able to keep up with Gionta's skating but he's going to provide toughness.

These are my thoughts on the forward groups. I look forward to a rebuttal from seventies and I'll be back tomorrow to debate the defense for both teams.

 

[tony d]

Time now to debate the defenses:

Defense Pairing 1:

My 1st pairing is Sergei Starikov-Robert Picard vs. Ivan Tregubov-Brad Marsh for Regina. Tregubov and Picard who would be matched up vs. 1 another are going to be the offensive guys while Starikov and Marsh are 2 way guys and defense only respectively. This should be a good battle. I think Starikov and Picard's games are better because they have versatility and play both sides of the puck but a guy like Brad Marsh is one of the better defensive defensemen in this thing. I had him in the 2011 drafts and liked him for both his defensive abilities and his leadership as well. Tregubov offers a good defensive game. Should be a good battle here.

Defense Pairing 2:

My 2nd pairing of Bret Hedican-Janne Ninimaa goes up vs. Regina's 2nd pairing of Reg Hamilton and Al Hamilton. Hedican and Ninimaa are your classic ATD pairing of a defense only guy (Hedican) and an offense only guy (Ninimaa). They go vs. Reg and Al Hamilton who read to be much the same. I especially like the prospective battle between Bret and Reg. These are 2 guys who aren't going to back down from 1 another and they're going to play all out for their teams and make them better. Al Hamilton and Janne Ninimaa are both very good offensively and should help out their respective teams as well. The battle between these pairings should be to close to call.

Defense Pairing 3:

These pairings are not your typical shutdown 3rd pairings but rather they feature bruisers (Plager for Atlanta, Moore for Regina) and offense-only guys (Kurvers for Atlanta and Brisebois for Regina). Brisebois was said to shy away from the rough stuff so expect Moore to have to protect him a lot from the onslaught of guys on Atlanta such as Bob Kelly and Bob Plager. How well Moore protects him should be a key factor in this series and is one of the weaknesses (There aren't many) on your team. Kurvers isn't the toughest guy out there either but I think he might be a little tougher than Brisebois.

I'll be back tomorrow to talk about the goaltending, coaching and special teams. Hoping seventies chimes in here.

 

[seventieslord]

Well I made it to my first final in 1 of these, vs. seventies mind you but still a finals appearance is a finals appearance.

Time to debate the forward groups:

1st Line:

The Direwolves 1st line features John Sorrell-Petr Nedved-Mike Murphy while my 1st line has George Richardson-Alexei Zhamnov-Rick Kehoe. The left wingers are the do everything John Sorrell and the goal scoring George Richardson. Sorrell could do everything but most of all he could score, that'll matter a fair bit on this line. Richardson is the goal scorer for my 1st line, he was a noted goal scorer in the early part of the game. Petr Nedved is one of the better centres in this thing as is Alexei Zhamnov. Both guys where known as good offensive guys during their careers but they had bouts of inconsistency throughout their careers. When on their games though they're going to be good for their teams. The advantage may lie in which centre plays more consistently. Our right wingers are different players, Murphy is the ultimate glue guy while Rick Kehoe is more of a goal scorer. Your 1st line may have a slight advantage over mine because it's more of a classic 1st line than mine.

I'll give you Zhamnov over Nedved for sure. Zhamnov's peak is just as strong but he had about twice as many "good" seasons. Also, no one would ever make Nedved a captain for any length of time. Sorrell is a significant edge on Richardson though. I think Richardson is just fine here, it's just that Sorrell's numbers are MLD 1st line caliber. Kehoe is definitely a more offensively talented player than Murphy but lacks the other intangibles Murph brings. This reminds me of the comparison with Rob's team - if it were solely about offensive ability you'd have me here. But I don't think you have a guy to win the puck, cycle it, and make room for the line.

2nd Line:

My 2nd line is more of a scoring line featuring Petr Klima-Tim Young-John Anderson while Regina's is Tony Granato-Art Jackson-Alexander Golikhov. The left wingers are goal scoring Petr Klima and do everything Tony Granato. Klima was a guy who only had 1 skill and that was to score goals but boy was he ever good at that. He's probably the most skilled scorers in this series having 6 30 goal seasons to his credit. As someone who had Granato I know just how good he is, you name it and he's good at it. Young and Jackson are both very good playmaking centres who can also play an adequate defensive game if need be. They should help their linemates score some goals. Anderson and Golikhov where both speedsters who where good offensively. They should be effective members of their lines.

The thing about Klima is he looks awesome if you zero in on the one thing that he does. But offense comes from assists too, and he was pretty bad at getting those. Couple that with his very good goal scoring, and you have a point scorer who's not particularly strong. As a prime point producer, he's only in the range of a Tony Granato (who I freely admit is nothing special offensively for a 2nd line here) . Difference is Klima does nothing else and Granato does lots more.

Jackson/Young is a massive mismatch. Jackson has the best numbers of all 2nd line centers in this draft. Young's are weaker than all but a small handful (guys like McKechnie with a real two-way game). Even after adjusting to per-game numbers I don't see what makes Young a AAA scoring line player. He fits in more with guys like Brian Bradley offensively (I realize he's a better all-around player than Bradley) and isn't as strong a scorer as guys like Andy mcDonald and Derek Roy, current AA players. As for his two-way game, it's been talked about here a lot before and the evidence for it is extremely weak. (Jackson's defensive game isn't particularly well established either, but it's there)

I would have Golikov over Anderson personally, but trying to prove it with numbers would be a big waste of time. Anderson was pretty much the best guy you could get when you got him so you did well completing the line here.

Again, this is a line for Atlanta that makes me wonder who is going to do the dirty work for the line to succeed. You don't have to ask that about Regina's 2nd line.

3rd Line:

The 3rd line battle is Bob Kelly-Peter Zezel-Martin Lapointe vs. Buzz Boll-Cully Dahlstrom-Billy Harris. Kelly is going to serve as a policeman for my team, he's toughas nails and is going to make thing miserable for his opponents. I had Buzz Boll in the 2011 drafts. I liked him a lot. He's not going to wow you in any aspect but he'll always play good hockey for you. That's what you want in a 3rd liner. Peter Zezel's a good 1, an exemplary checker, special teams guy and good offensively as well. Cully Dahlstrom was the same way. This should be a good battle between pretty good 3rd line centres. The right wingers on these lines are good as well. Lapointe is a great agitator which makes him perfect for a 3rd line, he should make life miserable for his opponents in this series. Him and Kelly should do quite well. Billy Harris was a good workman like player, as good offensively as he was defensively.

I agree Zezel and Dahlstrom are similar in skill set, but Dahlstrom was a more prominent player in his era than Zezel. I don't think this is a particularly big difference either way. Zezel was more offensive to begin and became a specialist later on, so determining exactly how he'll perform here isn't easy. Should be a bit of a mix of each. But I don't think you can expect to get his offensive and defensive primes at the same time.

Compared to everyone else on these two lines, Boll is a whiz offensively. he gives this line a spark that Atlanta's "mostly muscle" counterpart just doesn't have. Harris is also more skilled than Kelly/Lapointe and, to be honest, I think better defensively than both, too, as they were more semi-skilled thugs (but a couple of the best in the business!) However, as I've said, although my line is adequate physically, they're not the least bit mean. You've got two guys there who are very much on the mean side. My line is better equipped as a two-way line but yours will earn a physical edge in any matchup in this series.

4th Line:

Don Grosso is going to play a lot of roles for the Knight's 4th line just as he did in the NHL. He'll score, he'll check that makes him perfect for a 4th line. Jack Mcdonald seems like a good early star of the game, perhaps not as good a checker as Grosso but he can score and hold his own defensively, should be a good battle. The centres aren't going to add much offensively but defensively they're among the best in the draft. Both are good penalty killers. Brian Gionta is going to be a good goal scorer, he might not be your typical 4th liner but he'll do what he can to help his team. Willi Plett is going to be your team's enforcer, he might not be able to keep up with Gionta's skating but he's going to provide toughness.

These are my thoughts on the forward groups. I look forward to a rebuttal from seventies and I'll be back tomorrow to debate the defense for both teams.

I think the centers are more or less a wash at even strength. Neither of us drafted them for ES play.

Grosso is not quite a McDonald-caliber player. He was also mostly a center while McDonald was always a LW. Grosso's best percentage scores look like this: 98, 47, 44, 34, 34, 33. He was basically a checker with some scoring who exploded in WW2. McDonald had a number of strong offensive seasons (vs. #1, not #2): 78, 66, 52, 51, 50, 44. Both have fairly well-established two-way games. These are both scorers who are 4th line-oriented enough to do the job, McDonald is just more skilled.

You got it with Gionta and Plett. Gionta is going to be a better scorer but I just want to point out that it's not really by much. Plett had seasons of 38 and 33 goals, plus four more with 20+. That's just one fewer than Gionta, who really just has the 2006 season to hang his hat on if we're comparing the two players as goal scorers.

I've said my 4th line is a mishmash, and I think yours is too. I think they're pretty much even in skill and defense; I've just got an "ace in the hole" toughness-wise in Plett.

 

[seventieslord]

Time now to debate the defenses:

Defense Pairing 1:

My 1st pairing is Sergei Starikov-Robert Picard vs. Ivan Tregubov-Brad Marsh for Regina. Tregubov and Picard who would be matched up vs. 1 another are going to be the offensive guys while Starikov and Marsh are 2 way guys and defense only respectively. This should be a good battle. I think Starikov and Picard's games are better because they have versatility and play both sides of the puck but a guy like Brad Marsh is one of the better defensive defensemen in this thing. I had him in the 2011 drafts and liked him for both his defensive abilities and his leadership as well. Tregubov offers a good defensive game. Should be a good battle here.

Might be easier to compare Tregubov to Starikov since they're both soviets who never played in the NHL. I attempted to lay down the "pecking order" of soviet defensemen earlier on in this draft. I haven't seen anyone else put a competing list together. Tregubov was a significantly more decorated player and Starikov played at a time when competition was stronger. Which outweighs which? Who can say for sure? I think the degree of Tregubov's dominance is well ahead of the degree to which competition increased. Compared to north american players, all we know is that Lynn Patrick wanted Tregubov on the Bruins, Joe Pelletier says he would have starred in the NHL, and he won best defenseman at the worlds twice over players we consider ATD and MLD players, as well as north americans who had short NHL careers. Starikov? Well, he came to north america and wasn't even a good AHL defenseman.

Picard is a pretty decent player, but he and Marsh were about equally important to their teams in terms of minutes. However, Marsh's totals weren't padded with easy PP minutes and Picard had a ton of them. Marsh's teams were outstanding and Picards were pretty.... meh. Marsh was simply more important to better teams.

Defense Pairing 2:

My 2nd pairing of Bret Hedican-Janne Ninimaa goes up vs. Regina's 2nd pairing of Reg Hamilton and Al Hamilton. Hedican and Ninimaa are your classic ATD pairing of a defense only guy (Hedican) and an offense only guy (Ninimaa). They go vs. Reg and Al Hamilton who read to be much the same. I especially like the prospective battle between Bret and Reg. These are 2 guys who aren't going to back down from 1 another and they're going to play all out for their teams and make them better. Al Hamilton and Janne Ninimaa are both very good offensively and should help out their respective teams as well. The battle between these pairings should be to close to call.

Al Hamilton and Niinimaa are fairly similar in value.

Reg is a good deal better than Hedican, though. Hedican was a fairly useful #2-3 defenseman in a 30-team NHL, but there are plenty of modern defensemen in this draft who can make that claim. Hamilton played 8 seasons worth of games in the O6 era and he did it for teams that were excellent the whole way through. Very few O6 players drafted in the AAA can make a similar claim: Bob Turner, Alex Smith, Joe Cooper are close. Simply, Reg has a long way to rise and Hedican is being drafted right around where he belongs.

Defense Pairing 3:

These pairings are not your typical shutdown 3rd pairings but rather they feature bruisers (Plager for Atlanta, Moore for Regina) and offense-only guys (Kurvers for Atlanta and Brisebois for Regina). Brisebois was said to shy away from the rough stuff so expect Moore to have to protect him a lot from the onslaught of guys on Atlanta such as Bob Kelly and Bob Plager. How well Moore protects him should be a key factor in this series and is one of the weaknesses (There aren't many) on your team. Kurvers isn't the toughest guy out there either but I think he might be a little tougher than Brisebois.

I'll be back tomorrow to talk about the goaltending, coaching and special teams. Hoping seventies chimes in here.

Plager and Moore are about the same. If I could have taken Plager I probably would have because I had already done a bio on him.

Brisebois vs. Kurvers is pretty simple: Same player. Kurvers has a better offensive peak (but don't get too seduced by 1987-1991 scoring numbers, though, Brisebois has 8 seasons with 33-42 adjusted points and Kurvers 5 from 33-54) and Brisebois had better longevity (1009 games to 659), played for better teams , enjoying more success (98 playoff games and a cup, compared to 57 and no cup). As for being tougher or any better defensively... no way. Kurvers was as one-dimensional as it gets. He was the same player, but Brisebois either had the tools or found a way to last in the NHL 50% longer doing the same thing:

In fact, reading this, physically/defensively he might have even been weaker than Brisebois considering the breakdown in minutes he was given - more offensively and less defensively than Brisebois. He is, however, a more proven offensive performer, no doubt. At least for peak.

 

[tony d]

Many thanks to seventies for the fair rebuttal and debate. Time now to look at the goaltending:

Goalies:

Felix Potvin and Hal Winkler vs. Kelly Hrudey and Earl Robertson

As evidenced by the all star voting Potvin and Hrudey are the best goalies here in the AAA draft. Both goalies had great peaks and met in the 1993 Campbell Conference final which was won by Hrudey. Hrudey and Potvin where among 5 names I had for my #1 goalie and they made the strongest cases to be selected by me so if you ask me this #1 goalie matchup is thisclose. As to Winkler vs. Robertson, that's a good battle as well. I had Robertson last year and know he was met with a high regard in that when I drafted him, so if Hrudey should go down to injury or not play well Robertson should step in and perform quite well. Hal Winkler will provide the same service for the Knights. Basically like other things in this series the goalie match is thisclose and depends on Potvin getting hot and staying hot.

Coaching:

Both coaches where guys I had on my coaching list going into this draft so I was glad to see both get selected and see both of them get to the finals. Still I think I have the advantage in the coaching battle. Hartley always seemed to get his teams further than Sutter (4 straight West final appearances + 1 Cup Win) as well as leading Atlanta/Winnipeg to their only playoff appearance and doing a decent job in Calgary this season. Brian Sutter is no slouch either but his teams despite being talented couldn't take that next step come playoff time. Jacques Laperriere is a good assistant but that's all he is is an assistant. As I've said there's nothing wrong with Brian Sutter as a coach but Hartley's playoff record and ability to get a little more out of his teams gives the Knights the coaching advantage IMO.

Special Teams:

No comments really. I think that both teams have the right players for both special teams units and which special teams unit performs better could end up deciding this series.

Final Thoughts:

This is a very evenly matched series between 2 really good teams. Seventies has a strong team as do I. I think what this series comes down to is which team plays up to its skill the best. This certainly will not be a quick series. I wish seventies good luck here and anticipate a further rebuttal from him.

 

[seventieslord]

Many thanks to seventies for the fair rebuttal and debate. Time now to look at the goaltending:

Goalies:

Felix Potvin and Hal Winkler vs. Kelly Hrudey and Earl Robertson

As evidenced by the all star voting Potvin and Hrudey are the best goalies here in the AAA draft. Both goalies had great peaks and met in the 1993 Campbell Conference final which was won by Hrudey. Hrudey and Potvin where among 5 names I had for my #1 goalie and they made the strongest cases to be selected by me so if you ask me this #1 goalie matchup is thisclose. As to Winkler vs. Robertson, that's a good battle as well. I had Robertson last year and know he was met with a high regard in that when I drafted him, so if Hrudey should go down to injury or not play well Robertson should step in and perform quite well. Hal Winkler will provide the same service for the Knights. Basically like other things in this series the goalie match is thisclose and depends on Potvin getting hot and staying hot.

I have Hrudey just a bit above Potvin in most areas. But literally just a bit. The two are pretty close in accomplishments and vital stats. However, Potvin was a little better playoff goalie. So in all honesty they are probably even in this series.

Coaching:

Both coaches where guys I had on my coaching list going into this draft so I was glad to see both get selected and see both of them get to the finals. Still I think I have the advantage in the coaching battle. Hartley always seemed to get his teams further than Sutter (4 straight West final appearances + 1 Cup Win) as well as leading Atlanta/Winnipeg to their only playoff appearance and doing a decent job in Calgary this season. Brian Sutter is no slouch either but his teams despite being talented couldn't take that next step come playoff time. Jacques Laperriere is a good assistant but that's all he is is an assistant. As I've said there's nothing wrong with Brian Sutter as a coach but Hartley's playoff record and ability to get a little more out of his teams gives the Knights the coaching advantage IMO.

I don't know about Hartley getting more out of his teams. Yes, he absolutely has had better team success but that's also because he has had better teams. If coaches were considered the biggest reason teams advanced, then Scotty Bowman would go 1st overall, and Blake/Arbour would be first round picks too. Colorado was excellent before Hartley arrived and after he left. Sutter has a proven history of making teams better; they also regressed after he left. So it's not as simple as just saying the guy with more team success was better.

In fact, Colorado's OT point adjusted win% was .640 in the two full seasons before he arrived, .624 with him, and .646 in the 133 pre-lockout games after he left. there's not much indication he did anything to "get more out of them".

He did redeem himself greatly in Atlanta though. the team was already on the rise as an expansion team, but he clearly improved them right when he arrived, leading to steady improvement and two seasons which are still the best two that the franchise has ever experienced. Then they got worse after he left. Very.... Brian Sutter-like.

Calgary.... well, they're just brutal. I'm not going to hold anything against him there.

Special Teams:

No comments really. I think that both teams have the right players for both special teams units and which special teams unit performs better could end up deciding this series.

I think our PP1 units are very similar. You have a tad more firepower, but you don't have a board guy/net presence. That could be important.

PP2 units are again very similar. With McDonald and Boll, I have more firepower up front, but you've got slightly better pointmen. Kurvers is one of the very few PP2 specialists who could outdo Brisebois in this thing. So overall I can't really give anyone a PP advantage.

The PK is where this regina team really specializes, though. You have an outstanding PK specialist on your first unit in Yelle: 41% killed for units 8% better than average. But Henning's got him easily beaten, with 57% killed for units 25% better than average. Henning was simply more important to more successful penalty kills. Murphy was a very experienced penalty killer himself. Comparing him to Grosso is tough, we have to assume Grosso could kill penalties alright, but how well? On D, Marsh has impreccable PK stats himself, and Hamilton is more like Grosso - a guessing game. Hedican's PK stats are pretty weak for a first unit guy: 34% (his even share would be 33%) for teams 3% worse than average. And Starikov, do we actually know anything about his PK game? I mean, we're drafting him for his work with the national team, but with Fetisov, Kasatonov, Bilyaletdinov and Pervukin there, how much PK experience does he even have? Sorry but I honestly don't know the answer to that. Even if the question marks wash out, Marsh and Henning are huge advantages on the first units.

You have Martin Lapointe on a PK? OUCH! He was only out there for his team 11% of the time, extremely low for any PKer, even if this is a AAA draft 2nd unit. Zezel and Dahlstrom should wash out fairly well but Granato over Lapointe is a fairly sizeable edge. On D, Picard killed a lot of penalties for bad units, and Plager killed a ton for average units, so that's not bad. Tregubov and Moore should, based on their skill sets, be very good penalty killers and that's pretty much what Picard and Plager are, so we can call that a wash. Basically Regina's got a better PK2 because Atlanta's has a player on it with no business on a PK unit.


Question about leadership: Can you please outline to me Rick Kehoe and Bret Hedican's leadership resumes? Here are the leaders on Regina:

1 Mike Murphy (C) – captained the LA kings for six seasons, scouting reports said he was “very respected in NHL circlesâ€
2 Brad Marsh (A) – outstanding leadership skills well-supported in his bio. Wore the C for a season in Atlanta and again in Ottawa
3 Al Hamilton (A) – 4 year Edmonton captain in the WHA
4 Art Moore – captained the Ottawa Silver Seven for their last Stanley Cup
5 Tony Granato – outstanding leadership skills well-supported in his bio, wore an A most of his career.
6 Ivan Tregubov – “dedication, ruthlessness, loathing for defeatâ€
7 Billy Harris – some decent mention of leadership in his bio

 

[VanIslander]

Vote today or tomorrow!

Send the winner and in how many games and three stars to Billyshoe1721.

 

[seventieslord]

Why Regina should prevail:

- Better constructed first line with a “glue guy” that Atlanta’s missing
- Same story on the second line and also a major skill mismatch at center
- More skilled 3rd line, both offensively and defensively
- Better first pairing defensemen
- Hamilton over Hedican is a major 2nd pairing edge as well
- Better penalty kill units
- Superior leadership throughout the lineup

Why Atlanta could steal it:

- The Lapointe/Kelly duo represent the 2nd and 3rd toughest forwards in this series and they’re on the same line. They could combine to form a devastating physical package.
- Atlanta’s goalie, Felix Potvin, does have a better playoff record

 

[BillyShoe1721]

Regina defeats Atlanta in 6 games

Three Stars:

1. John Sorrell
2. Felix Potvin
3. Kelly Hrudey

 

[seventieslord]

Thanks for the great draft, everyone! Congrats to Atlanta for an excellent showing and a fun final.

 

[tony d]

Congrats to seventies on the win. Was great to finally make a final in this, hopefully not my last final in one of these. Congrats to everyone on a good draft, now on to the A draft.