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

Apologies for the radio silence

I haven't been able to post in some time, due to a combination of schoolwork, travel and the wedding celebrations of a very good friend. I am currently in one of the NHL cities that has not won a cup since 1967,* before returning home to another next week. I'm not sure how much time I will have to post while I'm away, but keep checking back throughout the dog days of summer. For those of you wondering what is coming up on the blog, here is a preview of coming attractions:

- Continuing to revisit my frequently-terrible predictions for the 08-09 NHL season

- A couple creative ideas for the NHL to increase local fan interest

- A look at some of the biggest hockey upsets of all time

- And, of course, the long-awaited Mid-Year Reader Comment Awards

Hope you are enjoying the summer, and thanks for reading!

* The complete list is: Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Columbus, Los Angeles, Miama (Florida), Minneapolis-St.Paul (Minnesota), Nashville, Ottawa, Phoenix, San Jose, St. Louis, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington

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.

The Best of the All-Star Weekend

I have to admit, I was strangely interested in the All-Star Weekend this year. I say "strangely" because I can't remember the last time I really watched and had more than a passing interest in either the Skills Competition or the All-Star Game itself. It was probably the 1998 game, which was played in Vancouver and in which then-captain (ugh) Mark Messier scored the winning goal.

Why was this year's event so riveting? I think there are a few reasons. For one thing, it is the centre-piece of the Montreal Canadiens ongoing 100th Anniversary celebrations. No NHL team is as steeped in history as the Habs, no city is as rabid about hockey as Montreal and no organization pulls off large-scale hockey events with style and class as well as the Canadiens.

Secondly, there is an abundance of extremely talented and young players in the NHL right now, led by Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This year's game also featured youngsters such as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter, Carey Price and Shea Weber. All these guys are tearing it up right now, and look to be NHL stars for at least the next decade.

Finally, there is the fact that both the Skills Competition and the game were far more interesting than in years past. The NHL has made an effort to make the Skills Competition more fan-friendly, tweaking the breakaway skills challenge and changing the shoot-out to an individual, elimination style event.

The game was its usual high-scoring affair, but players actually seemed to be trying as the game wore on and headed in to overtime - witness the hooking penalty taken by Mike Komisarek to prevent a scoring chance in the extra frame. The shoot-out was exciting, with hometown hero Alex Kovalev and everyone's favourite player Alex Ovechkin scoring to seal the win for the East.

Here is a rundown of my favourite moments from the 2009 All-Star Weekend:

Alex Ovechkin winning the Breakaway Challenge. Just watch the clip, it speaks for itself:



Zdeno Chara in the Hardest Shot Competition. Forget the fact that his shot of 105.4 MPH set a new Skills Competition record, breaking Al Iafrate's record from 1993. Far cooler was the fact that he turned the event into a charity fundraiser. Chara is a huge supporter of Right to Play (as am I!), and last summer climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with the winner of a fundraising auction in support of the charity. At the skills contest he convinced the participants to each chip in $1000, which their clubs matched. The NHL and NHLPA each matched $6000, making a total pot of $24,000 to go towards the winner's charity of choice. On the last shot of the event Chara set his new record, and scored a huge victory for Right to Play:

Montreal Canadiens fans mercilessly booing rival Boston Bruins players throughout the weekend - but having the class to cheer for them when they did something special. I love intense, but respectful, rivalries. The Habs faithful heckled Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard throughout the Skills Competition and All-Star Game. They even gave Blake Wheeler heck during the Young Stars game. Yet the fans applauded, for example, when Chara won the Hardest Shot contest and when Tim Thomas made a great save in overtime of the game. Well done Montreal Canadiens fans.

And finally, Ovechkin again providing a moment of levity. As the Jumbotron showed a couple of girls dancing in the audience, Alex paused to took a look - only to have the camera cut away to show him watching the performance: