Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
2024 Playoffs
First Team:
F Connor McDavid
F Aleksander Barkov
F Leon Draisaitl
D Gustav Forsling
D Evan Bouchard
G Igor Shestyorkin
McDavid - no contest. Barkov - no contest. That third forward spot is a little dicey because Draisaitl disappeared for the tough series. He must have been hurt. I had Draisaitl as my #1 Conn Smythe pick into the first week of June on my Smythe tracker. So, I'm not gonna rip his playoffs completely away from him despite a very poor Final.
Forsling had consistently been on my ballot for basically the duration of the playoffs, peaking as high as 2 at one point during the Final.
Bouchard is a mess and his production rate overrates his overall contribution, but his two strengths are a perfect fit for 97 - he's a wonderful stretch passer and he has a bomb of a shot. 97 is the best ice stretcher in the league and there's only one other shooter on either PP unit (well, the one...) and it's Draisaitl who stands below the goal line practically. So Bouchard adds a scoring threat from the middle which changes the dynamics of things. So credit where credit is due, he had a productive postseason. His defensive play and overall compete and decision making are lackluster, but there was enough productivity to cover it up versus the field.
Maybe it's considered controversial to have Igor over Bob, but I don't think it's even close. Outside of playing the dog **** team that Washington visited the playoffs with, the Rangers got fed their lunch all playoffs long and Igor was miraculous in keeping them alive as long as he did. Bob didn't lose games behind the league's best team defense, but it felt like he faced three chances a game for the entire playoffs until late in game 3. And a lot of the good chances that Edmonton got went in.
I'm sure the averaging stats are well preserved, but he didn't do a lot in this playoffs that made me go "wow, this guy is really carrying them" - he didn't cost them, generally, which is all you need. But Igor meant more to his team on a per game basis than Bob by a mile for me.
Second Team:
F Matthew Tkachuk
F Wyatt Johnston
F Carter Verhaeghe
D Mattias Ekholm
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson
G Sergei Bobrovsky
Matthew Tkachuk had some quiet spots, but he dialed it up quite a bit. Probably would have been more productive, but he had a linemate in Evan Rodrigues that can't give or receive passes like a top 9 forward in this league. He soldiered on despite that (I know ERod had some points in the Final). Verhaeghe's interior game sometimes left me wanting a bit more, but he was dangerous off the rush, and generally felt like an ice tilter.
Wyatt Johnston had a really nice playoffs. He's one of the few Stars (along with Heiskanen and Duchene, probably Harley too) that really popped. Offense was tough to find for Dallas and Johnston was the lead purveyor of it. He deserves a lot of credit.
I thought OEL had a really nice playoff and he seemed to get better as it went along. Surprisingly good two-way play from him. I don't think he had a lot of points, but I just really liked his game all over the ice. Ekholm is a rock back there for Edmonton and he's defending for two on that team, he deserves some thanks for his more or less thankless role.
Bobrovsky fits the bill here. He had a fine playoffs. This doesn't pull him out of the "playoff failure fire" for his career, just like Keith Primeau doesn't get all of his sins erased for his unreal 2004. But it's a big step in the right direction, three years ago, no one would have ever imagined he'd be on a playoff all star team in a positive light.
HM: Vincent Trocheck (one of the few Rangers that consistently showed up, he's not the most efficient player, but he makes up for it with compete), Zach Hyman (16 is a big number), Sam Reinhart, and Sebastian Aho in Carolina - too bad he couldn't get a save, Carolina probably wins it all with Kochetkov, in my opinion...
First Team:
F Connor McDavid
F Aleksander Barkov
F Leon Draisaitl
D Gustav Forsling
D Evan Bouchard
G Igor Shestyorkin
McDavid - no contest. Barkov - no contest. That third forward spot is a little dicey because Draisaitl disappeared for the tough series. He must have been hurt. I had Draisaitl as my #1 Conn Smythe pick into the first week of June on my Smythe tracker. So, I'm not gonna rip his playoffs completely away from him despite a very poor Final.
Forsling had consistently been on my ballot for basically the duration of the playoffs, peaking as high as 2 at one point during the Final.
Bouchard is a mess and his production rate overrates his overall contribution, but his two strengths are a perfect fit for 97 - he's a wonderful stretch passer and he has a bomb of a shot. 97 is the best ice stretcher in the league and there's only one other shooter on either PP unit (well, the one...) and it's Draisaitl who stands below the goal line practically. So Bouchard adds a scoring threat from the middle which changes the dynamics of things. So credit where credit is due, he had a productive postseason. His defensive play and overall compete and decision making are lackluster, but there was enough productivity to cover it up versus the field.
Maybe it's considered controversial to have Igor over Bob, but I don't think it's even close. Outside of playing the dog **** team that Washington visited the playoffs with, the Rangers got fed their lunch all playoffs long and Igor was miraculous in keeping them alive as long as he did. Bob didn't lose games behind the league's best team defense, but it felt like he faced three chances a game for the entire playoffs until late in game 3. And a lot of the good chances that Edmonton got went in.
I'm sure the averaging stats are well preserved, but he didn't do a lot in this playoffs that made me go "wow, this guy is really carrying them" - he didn't cost them, generally, which is all you need. But Igor meant more to his team on a per game basis than Bob by a mile for me.
Second Team:
F Matthew Tkachuk
F Wyatt Johnston
F Carter Verhaeghe
D Mattias Ekholm
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson
G Sergei Bobrovsky
Matthew Tkachuk had some quiet spots, but he dialed it up quite a bit. Probably would have been more productive, but he had a linemate in Evan Rodrigues that can't give or receive passes like a top 9 forward in this league. He soldiered on despite that (I know ERod had some points in the Final). Verhaeghe's interior game sometimes left me wanting a bit more, but he was dangerous off the rush, and generally felt like an ice tilter.
Wyatt Johnston had a really nice playoffs. He's one of the few Stars (along with Heiskanen and Duchene, probably Harley too) that really popped. Offense was tough to find for Dallas and Johnston was the lead purveyor of it. He deserves a lot of credit.
I thought OEL had a really nice playoff and he seemed to get better as it went along. Surprisingly good two-way play from him. I don't think he had a lot of points, but I just really liked his game all over the ice. Ekholm is a rock back there for Edmonton and he's defending for two on that team, he deserves some thanks for his more or less thankless role.
Bobrovsky fits the bill here. He had a fine playoffs. This doesn't pull him out of the "playoff failure fire" for his career, just like Keith Primeau doesn't get all of his sins erased for his unreal 2004. But it's a big step in the right direction, three years ago, no one would have ever imagined he'd be on a playoff all star team in a positive light.
HM: Vincent Trocheck (one of the few Rangers that consistently showed up, he's not the most efficient player, but he makes up for it with compete), Zach Hyman (16 is a big number), Sam Reinhart, and Sebastian Aho in Carolina - too bad he couldn't get a save, Carolina probably wins it all with Kochetkov, in my opinion...
