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

Who will have the best goaltending at the 2010 Olympics?

My friend Becky (R.A. DePalma in the Comments) emailed me about an ESPN article, suggesting that the USA might have superior goaltending to Canada at the 2010 Olympics. From Becky:

I just wanted to know what you think of this statement from a Scott Burnside article: (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4369012) 10. Right now, who has the better goaltending lineup for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics? The Canadians likely will go with Martin Brodeur, who hasn't advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2003, and Roberto Luongo, who imploded in the second round this past postseason and has never played in a conference finals game, let alone a Stanley Cup finals matchup. The Americans will go with Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller, who has backstopped the Buffalo Sabres to two berths in the Eastern Conference finals since the end of the lockout. Just asking. I wanted to post the question of what do people think about this on your blog... I think that it is foolish to say that Thomas and Miller are better than Luongo and Brodeur just because they have had more post-season success. Was it Luongo who imploded or the Canucks defense? Do we possibly think that the Canadian defense will be the same? And what illusion is it that Olympic hockey is between the USA and Canada. There are many other countries contending for that championship.

So, as Becky asks, what are your thoughts about goaltending for Canada, the US or any other team? Feel free to join the conversation in the comments sections.

Personally, I think Canada has the deepest selection, but that at the tournament many other countries have great goalies who can step up and lead a charge if they get hot. Here's my breakdown of the netminding situation for some of the countries in the tournament:

Canada - I don't think you can go wrong with either Brodeur or Luongo. I know some people (including Scott Burnside) are worried about the relative lack of playoff success by the two goalies in the past few seasons. However, anyone who is championing Cam Ward over these two should remember that he didn't exactly light it up in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Penguins: the Pens outscored the Hurricanes 20-9 in four games (a GAA of 5.00 for those of you scoring at home). By comparison, the Canucks were outscored 23-19 in 6 games (a 3.83 GAA) by the Blackhawks in the Second Round. The two Finals goalies were both Canadian, but would you really feel comfortable with Chris Osgood or Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes in Vancouver? Yeah, me neither.

In the end, I think one of Luongo or Brodeur will seize the moment and be The Guy for Canada - and I think either of them will do a lights-out job of trying to push their team to Gold Medal glory.

United States - I think Ryan Miller is a very good goalie, but I wouldn't put him in the same category as Luongo, Broduer, Henrik Lundqvist or Evgeni Nabokov. Still, if he can get hot or if Tim Thomas can continue his remarkable run from the past season, then the US might become a Cinderella in this tournament.

However, I don't think Burnside's insinuation that the US has superior goaltending to Canada because Thomas won the Vezina and Miller helped the Sabres to two Eastern Conference Finals carries any water. Brodeur won the previous two Vezinas to Thomas (narrowly beating out Luongo in 2006-07, a season in which Luongo was also runner-up for the Hart and Pearson Trophies). And if you're going to claim that 2006-07 was too long ago to have relevance to this deabte, then check out the last time Miller played in the Conference Finals. Oh yeah, it was also the last time the Sabres made the playoffs.

Russia - Russia is pretty solid in net, thanks to Evgeni Nabokov. If he falters, youngster Semyon Varlamov proved in the playoffs that he can play at a high level for at least a short period of time. And don't count out Nikolai Khabibulin, who will be 37 by the time the Games begin. While many are slagging the Oilers for signing the 'Bulin Wall, he did record the third highest GAA in the league last season and helped the Blackhawks to the Western Conference Final - no mean feat. Khabibulin wasn't invited to the Russian orientation camp, but I would imagine that a strong start to the NHL season would put him in contention.

Sweden - Henrik Lundqvist, who helped Sweden capture the Gold Medal in 2006, is one of the best goalies in the league. As long as he's healthy, the Swedes will be a favourite - along with Russia and Canada - in 2010.

Finland - Finland is a bit of a goaltending factory, so the team is guaranteed to have solid netminding. Unfortunately the rest of the Finns' line-up is not as strong, but with the likes of Niklas Backstrom, Miikka Kiprusoff, Pekka Rinne, Vesa Toskala, Kari Lehtonen and Antero Niittymaki to choose from, you have to assume they'll be solid between the pipes. Did you know that Finland's only Gold Medal ever in men's ice hockey came in the 1995 World Championships. In all the tournaments they've competed in (World Championships, World Cups, Canada Cups, Olympics) since 1939, they have just the one first place, nine second place and six third place finishes.

Czech Republic - The Czechs are not as strong between the pipes since the retirement of Dominik Hasek, but still have Tomas Vokoun to backstop them. If he falters, the fortunes of the Czech team could head south very quickly.

Goaltending isn't everything, but in a short tournament whose latter rounds are single-knockout it can prove to be the key to success. Anyone who remembers the 1996 World Cup, whose MVP was US goalie Mike Richter, can attest to the huge impact that top-notch goaltending can have on an already-talented roster.

Okay, those are my thoughts. What are yours? Who has the best goaltending heading into the 2010 Olympics?