Conn Smythe Tournament (Post 2000's) Round 1: 2001 Roy vs 2021 Vasilevsky

[blundluntman]

I know, I know... But with no Playoff games this week, we've gotta find a way to keep ourselves entertained right?

MATCHUP #1: Patrick Roy (2001) vs Andrei Vasilevsky (2021)

Patrick Roy (2000-01):
23 GP 16 W 1.70 GAA .934 Sv%

Andrei Vasilevsky (2020-21):
23 GP 16 W 1.90 GAA .937 Sv%

Round 1 Matchups:
01 Roy vs 21 Vasilevsky
02 Lidstrom vs 22 Makar
03 Giguere vs 11 Thomas
04 Richards vs 14 Williams
06 Ward vs 12 Quick
07 Niedermayer vs 19 O’Reilly
08 Zetterberg vs 09 Malkin
10 Toews vs 17 Crosby
13 Kane vs 18 Ovechkin
15 Keith vs 20 Hedman
16 Crosby vs 23 Marchessault

Click to read more...

 

[tabness]

Vasi easily over Patricia Wah

 

[JackSlater]

Roy narrowly, somewhat tougher opposition with fairly similar performance.

 

[JaegerDice]

The team in front of Vasi wasn't playing anywhere near as well as the team in front of him the year prior when Hedman won the CS.

If we're going by 'most valuable', then Vasi was more valuable to the TBL winning than Roy was behind several excellent performances both at forward and on D.

 

[Mirka the Turka]

Vasilevsky

Roy literally had a super team in front of him

 

[Regal]

Both great. Roy had better competition but also the better team. Vasi blew away expected goal numbers but we don’t have those for ‘01. I think they’re so good though that I’m leaning to the fact it’s unlikely Roy’s would be better.

 

[amnesiac]

Giguere vs Thomas should’ve been the final

 

[End of Line]

Close, but Roy


Also, Zetterberg vs Malkin is a 1st rd matchup? f***ing A

 

[blundluntman]

Close, but Roy


Also, Zetterberg vs Malkin is a 1st rd matchup? f***ing A

Lol I was pretty conservative in the Hart tournament and while it worked out fine, I want this tournament to feel more cruelly engineered

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Crazy how close their stats are. I couldn’t resist the homer vote, but I don’t think you can go wrong either way.

 

[Bouboumaster]

This is Roy here, Vasilevsky won with a super team against a broken Habs team that were the underdog by a huge margin
IMO, Price was more deserving than Vasi, for what he did with the Habs. Hell, Kucherov could have won the trophy too

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Vasilevskiy.

 

[wetcoast]

The team in front of Vasi wasn't playing anywhere near as well as the team in front of him the year prior when Hedman won the CS.

If we're going by 'most valuable', then Vasi was more valuable to the TBL winning than Roy was behind several excellent performances both at forward and on D.

At first blush this is the way I lean but really it's a pickem right?

Lol I was pretty conservative in the Hart tournament and while it worked out fine, I want this tournament to feel more cruelly engineered

Mission accomplished as these 2 performances are easily both top 5 right?

 

[bobholly39]

This is Roy here, Vasilevsky won with a super team against a broken Habs team that were the underdog by a huge margin
IMO, Price was more deserving than Vasi, for what he did with the Habs. Hell, Kucherov could have won the trophy too

Price lost the smythe in the first few games of the finals.....game 3 in particular. He was ~so-so games 1 & 2 (his first bad games of the playoffs probably)....but back home for game 3, Habs definitely going to bounce back....but nope, really bad game for Price and Habs are down 0-3.

Flipside is - Vasi played fantastic in the finals. Kucherov was definitely favorite for Smythe on the Tampa side going into finals (behind Price overall), but Vasi outplayed him in finals and I was fine with him winning.

Price did bounce back with very strong games 4 and 5 but it was too late by that point. If Price had been lights out and won game 3 with a shutout....and Habs eventually lost finals in 6 or 7 games, I think Price could still have won the smythe in a losing effort maybe.

 

[bobholly39]

I know, I know... But with no Playoff games this week, we've gotta find a way to keep ourselves entertained right?

MATCHUP #1: Patrick Roy (2001) vs Andrei Vasilevsky (2021)

Patrick Roy (2000-01):
23 GP 16 W 1.70 GAA .934 Sv%

Andrei Vasilevsky (2020-21):
23 GP 16 W 1.90 GAA .937 Sv%

Round 1 Matchups:
01 Roy vs 21 Vasilevsky
02 Lidstrom vs 22 Makar
03 Giguere vs 11 Thomas
04 Richards vs 14 Williams
06 Ward vs 12 Quick
07 Niedermayer vs 19 O’Reilly
08 Zetterberg vs 09 Malkin
10 Toews vs 17 Crosby
13 Kane vs 18 Ovechkin
15 Keith vs 20 Hedman
16 Crosby vs 23 Marchessault

Voted Roy here, but I definitely had to think about it for a bit. They're pretty close.

In the end I feel as though Roy simply faced stiffer competition, and he was particularly stellar in games 6 and 7 of the finals vs New Jersey, allowing 1 goal on 50 shots, with his team down 3-2 in the finals. In contrast - Tampa always seemed in control.

This set of polls should be fun - I think for Hart seasons it was probably easier to rank/compare seasons, because discussing and comparing hart seasons gets done often. So I knew going into the tournament which were the favorites, who would likely rank top 5, bottom 5, etc and in what order.

For this tournament....I have no idea. I'm leaning Malkin for #1 (Giguere maybe? But his team lost and his finals wasn't as strong) but not sure, and no idea who is top 5, or in what order. Should be a fun one.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Price lost the smythe in the first few games of the finals.....game 3 in particular. He was ~so-so games 1 & 2 (his first bad games of the playoffs probably)....but back home for game 3, Habs definitely going to bounce back....but nope, really bad game for Price and Habs are down 0-3.

Flipside is - Vasi played fantastic in the finals. Kucherov was definitely favorite for Smythe on the Tampa side going into finals (behind Price overall), but Vasi outplayed him in finals and I was fine with him winning.

Price did bounce back with very strong games 4 and 5 but it was too late by that point. If Price had been lights out and won game 3 with a shutout....and Habs eventually lost finals in 6 or 7 games, I think Price could still have won the smythe in a losing effort maybe.

I can agree with that, but Price was still the Habs MVP like, every single series
Vasi wasn'y Tampa's everytime
At the end of the Day, Price was still more deserving than Vasi IMO

On the other hand, Roy stonewalled a solid New Jersey team

 

[x Tame Impala]

That 2021 Finals was happening in a crazy context with the bubble and pandemic. The Habs had no business being there are it’s arguably the easiest SCF opponent for any of the winners this century.

Going Roy here

 

[blundluntman]

At first blush this is the way I lean but really it's a pickem right?


Mission accomplished as these 2 performances are easily both top 5 right?

For this tournament....I have no idea. I'm leaning Malkin for #1 (Giguere maybe? But his team lost and his finals wasn't as strong) but not sure, and no idea who is top 5, or in what order. Should be a fun one.

They're definitely up there that's for sure. I can think of 7 playoff runs that have an argument for a top 5 spot but putting them in order is definitely pretty tough. 3 of them may have an argument for #1

 

[wetcoast]

That 2021 Finals was happening in a crazy context with the bubble and pandemic. The Habs had no business being there are it’s arguably the easiest SCF opponent for any of the winners this century.

Going Roy here

You do realize that the Conn Smythe is for the entire playoffs right?

 

[bobholly39]

You do realize that the Conn Smythe is for the entire playoffs right?

Yeah but going into that finals in 2021, Vasi wasn't even the leader of his team in the smythe race, it was definitely Kucherov. There's probably some worth to the opinion that having a weaker opponent in the final in 2021 allowed Vasi to differentiate himself more/win the smythe above Kucherov than if he had faced a tougher opponent.

 

[Voight]

This is Roy here, Vasilevsky won with a super team against a broken Habs team that were the underdog by a huge margin
IMO, Price was more deserving than Vasi, for what he did with the Habs. Hell, Kucherov could have won the trophy too

You could make the argument that the 2001 Avs were a superteam too.

Price lost the smythe in the first few games of the finals.....game 3 in particular. He was ~so-so games 1 & 2 (his first bad games of the playoffs probably)....but back home for game 3, Habs definitely going to bounce back....but nope, really bad game for Price and Habs are down 0-3.

Flipside is - Vasi played fantastic in the finals. Kucherov was definitely favorite for Smythe on the Tampa side going into finals (behind Price overall), but Vasi outplayed him in finals and I was fine with him winning.

Price did bounce back with very strong games 4 and 5 but it was too late by that point. If Price had been lights out and won game 3 with a shutout....and Habs eventually lost finals in 6 or 7 games, I think Price could still have won the smythe in a losing effort maybe.

0 chance that would've happened with plenty of worthy candidates on the winning team.

Giggy was lights out in 03 but he was helped by the fact that nobody on NJ really stood out.

 

[x Tame Impala]

You do realize that the Conn Smythe is for the entire playoffs right?

Roy posted a .938 SV% and had a 1.57 GAA in seven games against a great Devils team. You don’t think that’s a greater accomplishment than Vasi’s cakewalk against a #12 seed?

It’s a drastically different circumstance and when we’re comparing Smythe performances it’s definitely relevant to me at least.

 

[Bouboumaster]

You could make the argument that the 2001 Avs were a superteam too.

100% but the Devils were Infinitly better than the 2021 Habs AINEC

 

[Regal]

100% but the Devils were Infinitly better than the 2021 Habs AINEC

They played more than just one team though. Florida and Carolina were strong teams Tampa played. Not as strong as Jersey, but neither was Tampa as strong as the Avs. The Avs also played St.Louis who were good, but LA and Vancouver weren’t anything special. I do think Roy faced tougher competition but he also had slightly weaker stats. Vasi had a .943 against the Habs. You can only play the hand you’re dealt to some degree.

 

[wetcoast]

Roy posted a .938 SV% and had a 1.57 GAA in seven games against a great Devils team. You don’t think that’s a greater accomplishment than Vasi’s cakewalk against a #12 seed?

It’s a drastically different circumstance and when we’re comparing Smythe performances it’s definitely relevant to me at least.

Sure but are we really going to fault Vasi for who the opposition was?

He also had a .943 save% in the finals that year and in the 2 previous rounds he had 9.940 and .940 and his "weakest" round was the first round with a 929.

Roy in the first round against my Canucks had a .898 save percentage and the avs powerhouse offense scored 16 goals in a sweep.

Of course Roy got better but his first 2 opponents were really weak as well.

I think the first round separation is the difference and like I said it's close at first blush and doubt anyone is doing the hours of watching tape and research to come to a conclusive answer here,

The reality with polls like this people have a gut immediate reaction and most of that is in regards to all time ranking and they don't instantly remember either or both runs to be sure.

I did a quick look before posting and always try to critically look at my choice with some information but to be true one really needs to do a lot of research to have a more solid answer.

As I write this post there have been 47 votes and I'm betting well over half of them decided the answer instinctively just by looking at the name and their reaction all time to the names.