How much talent would there be in a 6-team NHL?

From the random, whimsical mind of Mark Norman:

I was wondering the other day how high the skill level in the NHL would be if the league still only had six teams. This thought process was somewhat of a continuation from various conversations about the saturation of talent in the 12-team Olympic tournament. So, naturally, I decided to do a research project to satisfy my curiosity.

The results were spectacular. Imagine Sidney Crosby centering Patrick Marleau and Teemu Selanne (a combined 119 goals and 234 points in the 2009-10 season). Or Alex Ovechkin terrorizing opponents with linemates Jonathan Toews and Jarome Iginla (107g, 245p in 09-10). Or a defensive corps that features Zdeno Chara and Brent Seabrook patrolling the blue-line in front of Martin Brodeur. You get the idea.

Before presenting the rosters, I will briefly outline the methodology behind my madness:

1. The top players were ranked at each position to fill out the six rosters (24 centres, 48 wingers, 36 defensemen and 12 goalies). Rankings were mostly based on statistical performance this season, however I subjectively included some players who may not be shining statistically this season for a variety of reasons (injury, off year, excellent player beyond statistics, etc.).

2. Having determined the top performers at each position, I sorted each position alphabetically as a way to randomize the skill level of players.

3. I then assigned players from each position to the six teams in a “draft” format (e.g. Team #1 got centre #1, #7, #13 and #19). Because the players were sorted alphabetically, this should have resulted in a random distribution of talent level to the different teams.

4. Finally, I subjectively sorted each team into four lines (centre and two wingers), three defensive pairings and a goaltending tandem. This process was based on a combination of statistics and my own perception of players’ abilities.

5. Two other points: 1) I am sure that some worthy players were excluded, and this is obviously by no means exhaustive; 2) For the sake of convenience, I used the Original 6 teams. Obviously if I was commissioner of this league, though, the Canucks would be in the league!

Okay, so without further ado, here is this puckhead’s dream-come-true—the line-ups for a modern-day Original 6 NHL:

Boston Bruins

Forward Lines
Ovechkin	Toews	Iginla
Zetterberg	Lecavalier	Perry
Frolov	Spezza	Gionta
Sullivan	Duchene	Stempniak
Defense Pairings
Keith	Green
S. Niedermayer	Brian Campbell
Robidas	Zidlicky
Goalies
Kiprusoff
Ward

Chicago Blackhawks

Forward Lines
Kovalchuk	Stamkos	Semin
Vanek	Carter	Kovalev
Burrows	Kesler	Hejduk
Backes	Mike Richards	Samuelsson
Defense Pairings
Lidstrom	Bouwmeester
Pronger	Johnson, J
Timonen	Edler
Goalies
Miller
Bryzgalov

Detroit Red Wings

Forward Lines
Marleau	Crosby	Selanne
Cammalleri	Savard	Doan
Sharp	Paul Stastny	Hemsky
Ray Whitney	Mikko Koivu	Langenbrunner
Defense Pairings
Boyle	Andrei Markov
Rafalski	Jovanovski
Ehrhoff	Visnovsky
Goalies
Nabokov Fleury

Montreal Canadiens

Forward Lines
Daniel Sedin	Getzlaf	Heatley
Kessel	Brad Richards	Bobby Ryan
Dustin Brown	Jordan Staal	Briere
Holmstrom	Bergeron	Umberger
Defense Pairings
Doughty	Suter
Blake	Erik Johnson
Pitkanen	Letang
Goalies
Luongo
Backstrom

New York Rangers

Forward Lines
Marian Hossa	Datsyuk	Nash
Elias	Henrik Sedin	Gaborik
Morrow	Joe Thornton	St. Louis
Wolski	Kopitar	Smyth
Defense Pairings
Weber	Kaberle
Myers	Gonchar
Regehr	Burns
Goalies
Vokoun
Halak

Toronto Maple Leafs

Forward Lines
Parise	Malkin	Patrick Kane
Havlat	Backstrom	Alfredsson
Tavares	Eric Staal	Gagne
Bourque	Franzen	Pominville
Defense Pairings
Chara	Seabrook
Phaneuf	Hamhuis
Komisarek	Barker
Goalies
Brodeur
Lundqvist

Around the Rink: Post-Olympic euphoria?

Every once in a while 'Nucks and Pucks will offer links to some of the best hockey stories of the past few days. It's a chance for me to share the great hockey sites, blogs, and writers that entertain and inspire me. Enjoy!

• Hockey on the cover of Sports Illustrated! As you can see in the above image, Sidney Crosby graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. This is actually a big deal, as hockey does not feature this prominently in SI very often - even the Stanley Cup champions rarely make it to the cover of America's biggest sports publication anymore. Clearly the US making the Gold Medal game generated some serious hype south of the 49th, which is great to see. [Sports Illustrated]
  

• Eyeballs glued to TV screens: That serious hype translated into amazing ratings for the game both in Canada and (more importantly for the NHL) in the US. Roughly one in three American TVs was tuned in to the hockey game last Sunday, making it the second most-watched non-NFL sporting event of the year. Furthermore, the game beat out all World Series games since 2004 and every NBA and NCAA basketball final games since 1998. Awesome news for hockey interest in the States. [Puck the Media]

• But let's keep it in perspective... As Puck Daddy points out, many of these viewers are casual sports fans who will not automatically start following the NHL. Nonetheless, the momentum may generate interest in the sport amongst young athletes and hopefully help grom the game at a grassroots level. [Puck Daddy]
  

• Sid's celebration: Speaking of Puck Daddy, the blog launched an impromptu Photoshop competition in honour of Sidney Crosby's epic "golden roar" celebration pose. The first gallery is up here. My (weak) Microsoft Paint submission is below - it celebrates Crosby's maturation and ownership of Alex Ovechkin in major competitions, as well as Ovechkin's unfortunate freak-out following Russia's elimination at the tournament. [Puck Daddy]

• Meanwhile, From the Rink is bully on the mainstream publicity that Crosby is receiving - despite him not ranking as one of the game's all-time greats. [From the Rink]

• And finally, in case you missed it, Canada's Gold Medal victory touched off celebrations across the country. I posted three galleries of photos from the Toronto celebrations at Dundas Square, and posted some photos and video at Nucks Misconduct. Please do check it out! [Nucks Misconduct]
  

Penguins dance with Lord Stanley

The title of this post is a reference to the commentary of the Penguins legendary, high-octane announcer Mike Lange:



Lange has given us some gems over the years, from "Get in the fast-lane grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!" to "He smoked him like a bad cigar!" to, on the occasion of the Pens' first Cup victory, "Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, get me the brandy!" And he had reason to celebrate again last night, as the Penguins atoned for last year's loss to the Red Wings by taking an exciting Game 7 2-1.

It is a great story for these young Penguins (who, by the way, the announcers did not constantly refer to as "too young to know any better" - hopefully that moniker is never heard again in NHL broadcasting unless, for some reason, a Timbits Hockey team takes on the Leafs, Senators, Lightning or any other team they may have a chance against).

First of all, there is the NHL's wonderboy Sidney Crosby becoming the youngest captain to lift the Stanley Cup. And he was the main reason that the Penguins even survived the first and second rounds, carrying the team on his shoulders against the Flyers and Capitals. He led the playoffs with 15 goals and finished second to teammate Evgeni Malkin with 31 points.

Malkin emerged as a playoff force, leading the playoffs with 36 points and becoming the first Russian to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy - which, incidentally, he can place on his mantle next to the Art Ross Trophy he earns this year for leading the league in scoring in the regular season.

Malkin turns 23 this year, and Crosby will be 22 by the time the 2009-10 season starts. These guys haven't even hit their prime yet, and seem poised for many years of greatness with the Penguins.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was excellent in Game 7, and shook the label of not being able to win the big game (hmm, I wish another French-Canadian goalie would do the same thing). Grinder Max Talbot emerged as the Stanley Cup hero, scoring both goals for the Penguins. And the Pens played a solid team game to defeat the very talented Wings.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins, your 2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

And congratulations to the NHL's marketing department for producing this commercial, which captures some of the heartbreak of the Penguins to the Red Wings in last year's Final and somehow makes this year's victory seem all the sweeter for them:



Here's hoping they'll pull off something similar with the Canucks and Roberto Luongo this coming October, and the Canucks will proceed to knock off the Blackhawks in the Conference Final.

Game 7 Excitement

Tomorrow night Gary Bettman will hand the Stanley Cup to either Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby, and the curtain will fall on an exciting 2008-09 NHL season. It has been a great Final (with the exception of the 5-0 rut by Detroit in Game 5) featuring some of the best and brightest stars of the hockey world: Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk et al.

Some random questions heading into Game 7:

• Will home ice advantage continue to define this series? The home team has won each of the first six games. At home, the Wings have outscored the Pens 11-2. At the Igloo, meanwhile, the Penguins hold a 10-5 edge. My feeling is that the adrenaline, passion and win-or-go-home desperation of a Game 7 trumps home ice advantage, which is a big plus for the Penguins.

• Will Sidney Crosby emerge as a force? Thus far he has been limited to 3 points (1G, 2A) in the series, while being shadowed by the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. Without a doubt this is the biggest game of his career, and it represents a chance to carve out a legacy at this early stage of his young career.
  

• Speaking of Zetterberg, how amazing is the Wings' depth and team game that they can use him in a checking role? This is a guy who had 92 points two seasons ago, 73 this year and won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season. And Mike Babcock has enough faith in his team to stick Zetterberg on Crosby, and rely on the rest of the team to pick up the offensive slack.

• How will the goaltenders play? As mentioned, both have given up a lot of goals on the road and not many at home, which would suggest an advantage for Chris Osgood. Osgood also the advantage of experience, having already played in 128 playoff games and won three Stanley Cups (two as a starter). Fleury, on the other hand, has played just 48 playoff games (almost half of which have been this post-season) and has only last year's Final loss to draw upon.

• Will the role players decide the outcome? Hitherto unknown Justin Abelkader stepped in and scored two huge goals for the Wings in Games 1 and 2. Tyler Kennedy busted out a two point game, including scoring the game winner, in the Penguins 2-1 Game 6 win. Lesser lights such as Jordan Staal, Dan Cleary, Max Talbot and Darren Helm have all made significant contributions to their teams' success throughout the series. This game may be decided by Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom or Datsyuk. But don't be surprised if it's Kris Draper or Matt Cooke who emerges as the hero of the game.

All these questions will be answered in less than 36 hours. I can't wait, it should be an amazing conclusion to the season.