With Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals set to go tonight
in East Rutherford, those select few who predicted New Jersey and Los Angeles
would meet in the final series are revelling in their luck glory, and
the two teams in question are buckling down for what could be a long,
competitive series.
Many people are raising the question, how did these two
teams get to the final? The simple answer is that they won 12 postseason games.
But nothing is simple, and these two teams were built, starting long before
this season even began.
Additions and subtractions have been made along the way,
but it’s always an ongoing process, as professional teams are always under
construction.
Pay attention GMs and coaches around the league, because
here’s how to build a team that will go all the way to the final.
Have an unorthodox
goaltender
New Jersey has Martin Brodeur, winner of almost half as
many awards as Nicklas Lidstrom, and who still employs the classic two pad
stack on a nightly basis. His superior stickhandling is something which more
goalies are starting to emulate, but it’s still unusual to see a tender with
dangles like Marty.
At the other end, Jonathan Quick is nominated for his
first Vezina this season, and brings back memories of JS Giguere by getting
really low in his stance to see the puck (but I bet Quick is hoping he has a
better result than Giguere did in the finals vs these Devils). Both Brodeur and
Quick have had to swim through their creases to make ridiculous saves this season,
and while many goaltenders today use the butterfly, I hope the unorthodox stays
at least in a couple of nets.
Have a big,
strong, European centre (preferably from an obscure country)
The Kings have Slovenian superstar Anze Kopitar, who is
no slouch at 6’3, 225 lbs. Lining up across from him could be New Jersey’s Dainius
Zubrus from Lithuania, who stands 6’5 while also weighing 225 lbs. Kopitar is
definitely the more skilled player of the two, but having a big hulking centre
has paid off for New Jersey as well. It’s no secret that having a great centre
is key to success (See Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman,
etc), but having one who is talented as well as physically imposing and
punishing is extremely beneficial. The fact that these two are European as well
as big is a big middle finger to the notion of the past that all Europeans were
skinny little fast guys.
Defence must be
anchored by a shot-blocking machine
Anton Volchenkov and shot blocking have been synonymous
since his days in Ottawa, when he led the league consistently in this stat.
While not blocking as many now in New Jersey, Volchenkov is still one of the
best at it, and the less shots that get through, the less chances of scoring
the opposition have (yeah, I’m a mathmetician).
The man leading the playoffs in blocked shots going into Game 1 of the
finals was Los Angeles’ Matt Greene, who looks about as fearless as he is, and
was a big reason the Kings were able to so easily dispose of St Louis in the
second round. These two guys don’t get a lot of credit in the media, but they
have been big factors since arriving with their respective clubs. (Note: Shots
were 25-17 in favour of LA in a game of 68 minutes. That’s an average of about
0.6 shots a minute. Shot blockers of the world, Unite!)
Captain America
Zach Parise wears the ‘C’ for New Jersey, and his
counterpart Dustin Brown has done so in Hollywood for a few seasons now. They’re
both good talents and scorers, but as has become evident over the past few
months is that they’re both solid leaders as well. The only question is, which
one of them will wear the ‘C’ for the United States at the Olympics in 2014?
Have lots of trade
rumours about said captains at the deadline
I expect that next year we’ll be hearing rumours out of
every NHL city that they’re set to trade their captain. This was the case for
both teams this season, as Parise is in the final year of his contract, and
Brown at the time was an underachieving player on an underachieving team.
Luckily for both teams, both players stayed put. Brown answered in his first
game after the deadline with a hat trick, and Parise went on a tear of his own
down the stretch. Both players are valid Conn Smythe nominees for their teams
this postseason, and are good at both ends of the ice. That being said, I still
think it’s good strategy to start those rumours for teams on the playoff
bubble.
Make an
acquisition at the deadline that will raise some eyebrows
Los Angeles got Jeff Carter, who had been essentially a
non-factor on a terrible Columbus team this year. He has stepped in and
performed admirably with former Philadelphia teammate Mike Richards, but at the
time of his trade to LA many people questioned whether this would work, or
whether the two would revert back to their party animal ways which got them
shipped out of Philly. Well, it’s worked.
Another move which worked at the deadline was Marek
Zidlicky going to the Devils from Minnesota, to help boost the blueline
offensively. At the time of the trade, Zidlicky had a measly 14 assists. Now in
the playoffs, he has 7 assists to go with a goal, and plays the point on the
powerplay. Another successful trade in the end.
Have a defenceman
with two first names
New Jersey has Peter Harrold. Los Angeles has Willie
Mitchell. Enough said.
Someone needs to
play close to 2:00 on every powerplay
Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty rose to fame with his play in
the 2010 Olympics, and ever since breaking into the NHL has been a regular on
the Kings’ powerplay. He will usually play the majority of the powerplay time,
as does Ilya Kovalchuk for New Jersey. It’s interesting to see CBC track his
ice time over the course of the game, and see how his average shift time starts
out at something like 30 seconds, pretty normal for a forward. After the first
couple of Devil powerplays, his average shift time will rocket up to over a
minute, something not many forwards are used to. The stamina of these two
important powerplay pieces will be something to watch as the series goes on,
but neither one looked close to burning out in Game 1.
Have a player
whose last name is Bernier
Los Angeles’ backup goaltender is Jonathan Bernier, while
New Jersey forward Steve Bernier is routinely on the third line. If your name
is Bernier, and you’re coming up through the draft system, I like your chances.
Head coach needs
to say not very much, but a lot at the same time
The dryness of both head coaches is astonishing. We all
know that Darryl Sutter is not very outspoken, but when he talks, it’s
profound. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Peter Deboer has had his personal shouting
matches differences with John Tortorella well documented, but that being
said, he’s got a persona in press conferences that isn’t too unsimilar to
Sutter. I enjoy these coaches for their brief, succinct and often humourous (though not always intentionally so) press conferences. And their hair is outstanding too. Sutter's hair makes him look like a mad scientist of sorts.
Be located on the
coast of an ocean
Sorry most teams, looks like you’ll have to relocate.
Parting Shots:
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Nick Lidstrom retired this week after a 20-year
career in which he never missed the playoffs. I was very surprised nobody on
the TSN Panel ranked him as their #1 defenceman of all time. Nothing against
Bobby Orr, he revolutionized the position of defenceman and was stellar for his
whole career, but it was a short career. In my mind, Lidstrom is the best there
ever was. To play 24+ minutes on average every game for his entire career of 20
years is remarkable. He was +450 over his career and scored half of his goals
on the powerplay (and 30 of his 54 career postseason goals too). The game of
hockey is going to miss this guy.
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Tim Thomas has announced he’s considering taking
a year off from hockey. Hm. Going into the final year of his contract.
Interesting. Should I be surprised, given the antics of the Bruins’ goaltender
over the past few months? No. Am I? Yes. I feel like not many teams are going
to want to take a gamble on a netminder of his age and media past who has sat
out for a full year and a bit (probably around 16 months by the time training
camps roll around next year). It will be interesting to see now what Boston
will do with his contract over his summer.
-
Speaking of old goaltenders who have been out of
the game a while, rumours began circulating that Dominik Hasek is looking to
stage yet another comeback in the NHL. Yeah, right, next thing you know, Peter
Forsberg will sign another NHL contract, Mark Messier will suit up for the
Rangers again, and Jaromir Jagr will return again. What’s that, Jagr did
return? Well then. Say hello to Paul Kariya ladies and gentlemen.
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Is anyone else really upset that Claude Giroux
and Danny Briere are still leading the postseason in goals?? I mean come on,
they only played two series and really only scored in the disastrous embarrassment
that was the Pittsburgh series!
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In case anyone cares, the NHL combine is going
on right now. Oh, nobody cares? Well this is a waste of a point.
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