OPPF 2024: Champìonship Series: Pittsburgh vs. Gallifrey

VanIslander

20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
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Two teams vie for the cup.
Two other teams could try to challenge.



Pittsburgh Hornets

coach Toe Blake

Valeri Kharlamov - Mario Lemieux - Bill Cook (A)
Bill Barber - Mark Messier (C) - Charlie Conacher
Patrik Elias - Joe Sakic - Theo Fleury
Craig Ramsay - Sergei Fedorov - Vladimir Martinec

Denis Potvin (A) - Eddie Shore
Erik Karlsson - Earl Seibert
Rod Langway - Drew Doughty

Patrick Roy
Roy Worters


Vs.


Gallifrey TARDIS

Coach: Al Arbour

Bobby Hull - Jean Beliveau (C) - Gordie Howe
Frank Mahovlich - Sidney Crosby (A) - Mike Bossy
Sweeney Schriner - Bobby Clarke (A) - Teemu Selanne
Baldy Northcott - Anze Kopitar - Pavel Bure

Scott Stevens - Bobby Orr
Paul Coffey - Sprague Cleghorn
King Clancy - Bill Gadsby

Vladislav Tretiak
Andrei Vasilevskiy

 
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Professor What

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Sep 16, 2020
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Gallifrey
Power Play 1:
Howe
Hull - Beliveau - Bossy
Orr

Power Play 2:
Mahovlich
Selanne - Crosby - Bure
Coffey

Penalty Kill 1:
Clarke - Northcott
Stevens - Cleghorn

Penalty Kill 2:
Kopitar - Bure
Clancy - Gadsby
 

tony d

New poll series coming from me in June
Jun 23, 2007
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Special Teams:

PP 1: Valeri Kharlamov-Mario Lemieux-Bill Cook-Denis Potvin-Erik Karlsson
PP 2: Bill Barber-Mark Messier-Charlie Conacher-Sergei Fedorov-Eddie Shore

PK 1: Craig Ramsay-Sergei Fedorov-Rod Langway-Earl Seibert
PK 2; Patrik Elias-Mark Messier-Denis Potvin-Drew Doughty
 

Professor What

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Sep 16, 2020
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We feel like we carry the advantage on the top two lines, especially the first line since Bobby Orr will be playing a lot of time with it and in the top four on defense. We do feel like our opponent has an advantage on the fourth line, but as the top two lines will take up the lion's share of the ice time, we feel good about that, and we feel like the fourth line that we have is capable enough of doing its job.

The net is the other area where we are at a slight disadvantage, but Tretiak is plenty capable of holding his own. There was some good discussion on Tretiak in the ongoing goalie project, and I feel that he probably made up some ground on Brodeur and Hall from his standing on the board before the project began. When you look at the blue line in front of him, we feel pretty good there. Pittsburgh has an excellent first pairing, but on the power of having Orr, we feel like ours is slightly better, and Stevens is a good shutdown man. They should be rock solid in front of Tretiak. On the second pair, Cleghorn and Seibert are virtual equals, but we feel that Coffey is probably more of an offensive threat than Karlsson, as much as I love Karlsson. Both have a solid partner to allow them to do what they do best, but we feel that we'll get more of that from Coffey.

On the power play, I'd hate to have to face our second unit, and they're our second unit for a reason. Our first unit, no doubt thanks in part to the smaller nature of this draft is perhaps the scariest one that I've seen in my four years of drafting on this board. I'm not going to say that I think either side has a massive advantage on the PK, because I think that both teams look solid there. I'd just say to watch out for our second unit on the counterattack. Bure was always dangerous in that role.
 
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tony d

New poll series coming from me in June
Jun 23, 2007
76,697
4,607
Behind A Tree
Thanks @Professor What for your points, I'll offer a rebuttal:

Your 1st line is awesome, it can be said that Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe are amongst the top 5-7 players to ever play the game. Kharlamov, Lemieux and Cook on my 1st line are no slouches but you do have an advantage on your 1st line. Your 2nd line looks good as well, Crosby and Bossy would be fun to watch but I wonder what Mahovlich will do on that line? Wasn't he mainly a goal scorer? My 2nd line may not have the offensive oomph of my opponents but the all around game may be better.

As to the bottom 6, I feel comfortable with my bottom 6. Craig Ramsay on my team gives me one of the top defensive wingers of all time. Aside from Gordie Howe your right wingers are more offensively oriented so I expect Ramsay to have somewhat of a field day in matchups against your right wingers. Bure was surprisingly a good producer at scoring short handed goals but not sure about other aspects of the pk for Bure.

I do like the Orr-Stevens pairing on your team and think Stevens should provide protection for Orr especially against my 1st pairing which has Eddie Shore. On the 2nd pairing we have 2 great offensive defenseman in Paul Coffey for you and Erik Karlsson for me. Cleghorn was someone I drfated in the ATD this year and as good he was at what he did will be stay out of the penalty box long enough to do it?

As I said with your 1st line your 1st PP unit is greatness and I won't argue vs. it in favor of mine because I won't win. Hull and Bossy are amongst the greatest goal scorers ever and you add in Bobby Orr and that's a really good PP unit. The PK unit for your team features Sprague Cleghorn, who would fill in for Cleghorn in that role when he is in the box?

In Roy I have the best goalie ever, Tretiak was quite good in his own right but Roy gives me a great advantage in net especially against the strength of your great 1st line.

In closing, good luck to your team, this was a fun draft to do even with the small size.
 
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Professor What

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As for the question of who fills in when Cleghorn is in the box, we have a couple of options. Orr isn't on or PK, so he could pick up minutes there if needed. He had a reputation for killing off penalties just through possession. If he's getting too many minutes, we could also use Northcott. Defensively solid and played some blue line.
 
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VanIslander

20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
36,204
6,880
South Korea
One team has a 2nd line that forces Mess into a passing and stay-high-to- backcheck role in a Toe Blake system? Or else expose a lot of odd-man rushes against.

The other team has a puzzling top line that seems only fit for an all-star game, due to hard-to-imagine chemistry. What happens when they lose faceoffs? Can they even handle the speed of a 4th line Fedorov-Martinec rush?
 
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