Canucks Lineup to play Philadelphia for the 1974 Stanley Cup

[Kevin Biestra]

Ice your all-time Canucks lineup to play against Bobby Clarke's Philadelphia Flyers for the 1974 Stanley Cup.  You can draw from any Canucks in history, but they have to play as they did for the Canucks (i.e. you get the Sunday Skating version of Lays Chips).  Four lines of forwards, three lines of defensemen, two goalies, one coach.

 

Two spare forwards, two spare defensemen and one spare goalie.

 

1970s hockey rules.  Butterfly or hybrid style goaltending is not allowed.  You're up against the 1973-74 Flyers, with four of the seven games in their arena.  Can you put together a team to win the Cup?  You are invited to justify your picks.

 

 

I'm rolling with...

 

Pavel Bure - Trevor Linden - Stan Smyl

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Todd Bertuzzi

Orland Kurtenbach - Thomas Gradin - Tiger Williams

Geoff Courtnall - Cliff Ronning - Sergio Momesso

sp: Donald Brashear / Don Lever

 

Dave Babych - Garth Butcher

Harold Snepsts - Paul Reinhart

Ed Jovanovski - Mattias Ohlund

sp: Doug Lidster / Quinn Hughes

 

Kirk McLean

Richard Brodeur

sp: Roberto Luongo

[smithers joe]

not bad, but playing the broadstreet bullies i would want gino and cam neely and lumme in the line up. i’ld also want to balance the line out a bit. you have right shooting rw’ers  on one line and 3 left shooting guys on the 2nd line. i like that you included reinhart. still i think the most talented d-man to play here. kind of like erhoff. 

[Kevin Biestra]

3 minutes ago, smithers joe said:

not bad, but playing the broadstreet bullies i would want gino and cam neely and lumme in the line up. i’ld also want to balance the line out a bit. you have right shooting rw’ers  on one line and 3 left shooting guys on the 2nd line. i like that you included reinhart. still i think the most talented d-man to play here. kind of like erhoff. 

 

I thought about Neely but between the Neely we had here and Momesso, it was kind of a tossup.  I also beefed up the enforcing on the blueline to allow a little more room for forwards that weren't bruisers. 

 

Reinhart was quite a bit better than Ehrhoff in my opinion, especially Calgary Reinhart.  Prime Babych was close in talent level and Hughes looks like he will possibly surpass them both.

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Ice your all-time Canucks lineup to play against Bobby Clarke's Philadelphia Flyers for the 1974 Stanley Cup.  You can draw from any Canucks in history, but they have to play as they did for the Canucks (i.e. you get the Sunday Skating version of Lays Chips).  Four lines of forwards, three lines of defensemen, two goalies, one coach.

 

Two spare forwards, two spare defensemen and one spare goalie.

 

1970s hockey rules.  Butterfly or hybrid style goaltending is not allowed.  You're up against the 1973-74 Flyers, with four of the seven games in their arena.  Can you put together a team to win the Cup?  You are invited to justify your picks.

 

 

I'm rolling with...

 

Pavel Bure - Trevor Linden - Stan Smyl

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Todd Bertuzzi

Orland Kurtenbach - Thomas Gradin - Tiger Williams

Geoff Courtnall - Cliff Ronning - Sergio Momesso

sp: Donald Brashear / Don Lever

 

Dave Babych - Garth Butcher

Harold Snepsts - Paul Reinhart

Ed Jovanovski - Mattias Ohlund

sp: Doug Lidster / Quinn Hughes

 

Kirk McLean

Richard Brodeur

sp: Roberto Luongo

That’s a pretty balanced team - and toughness is what you need in the lineup against these guys.  The only line I’m unsure of is the Sedins line - would they get murdered?  Bertuzzi wasn’t much of a fighter and not very good at it when he did.   Almost wonder if we’d be better off breaking up the Sedins or if they should be there at all.  Fraser is a good option as a spare or even in the lineup - Brashear is a requirement so agree he should be a spare.   Kurtenbach is probably the biggest answer to Shultz..

 

That defense assures at least one additional bruiser is on the ice all the time - wouldn’t change it.   Also given Parents career sp is above .920 I think we’d need to answer with whomever had the hot hand - McLean is a great first option given his penchant for playing better in the playoffs.   Love the fourth line - clutch.    Really the only line I’d worry about is the Sedins - how would they react with no instigator rule and machine gun Kelly or Shultz or whomever knocking their blocks off just to take them out of the series? 
 

Edit:  Neely and Fraser could score goals and fight while with us - two guys I’d consider.  Also Mogilny could play left wing too - did on the Federov line with Bure so maybe instead of the Sedins add Kesler and Mogilny?

Edited May 19, 2020 by IBatch

[Baratheon]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

That’s a pretty balanced team - and toughness is what you need in the lineup against these guys.  The only line I’m unsure of is the Sedins line - would they get murdered?  Bertuzzi wasn’t much of a fighter and not very good at it when he did.   Almost wonder if we’d be better off breaking up the Sedins or if they should be there at all.  Fraser is a good option as a spare or even in the lineup - Brashear is a requirement so agree he should be a spare.   Kurtenbach is probably the biggest answer to Shultz..

 

That defense assures at least one additional bruiser is on the ice all the time - wouldn’t change it.   Also given Parents career sp is above .920 I think we’d need to answer with whomever had the hot hand - McLean is a great first option given his penchant for playing better in the playoffs.   Love the fourth line - clutch.    Really the only line I’d worry about is the Sedins - how would they react with no instigator rule and machine gun Kelly or Shultz or whomever knocking their blocks off just to take them out of the series? 
 

Edit:  Neely and Fraser could score goals and fight while with us - two guys I’d consider.  Also Mogilny could play left wing too - did on the Federov line with Bure so maybe instead of the Sedins add Kesler and Mogilny?

Lol this would not be even close to fair for the poor Flyers.  You can't use every era of the Canucks against 1 year of the Flyers.  On defense 4 of the 6 guys are bigger than every single player on Philly's roster.  The other 2 are Reinhart and Butcher LOL.  

In the 90's when we got Bure he was like something the league had never seen before.  If you plunked that guy in to 1974 Philly would have simply heard Bure skating by.  "I couldn't see it but I assume that was Pavel again right?"

I'd leave the Sedins in!  What even is the worst case scenario for them?  They get caught out there with Bert, Ohlund and Jovo to back them up?  They'd all tower over everyone!   Best case scenario is Babych and Butcher are out there with them?  Overkill I say!  This is taking a bazooka to a knife fight.

 

Fun exercise though!  I like the idea of the thread.  1974 Flyers vs the all-time Atlanta Thrashers team might be good!

Edited May 19, 2020 by Baratheon

[canuckster19]

All you would have to do is ice the 2011 team and watch them skate circles around them all day, series over in 4 straight. I'd pick any team of today for example would handily beat the 85 Oilers, it has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with conditioning.

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Baratheon said:

Lol this would not be even close to fair for the poor Flyers.  You can't use every era of the Canucks against 1 year of the Flyers.  On defense 4 of the 6 guys are bigger than every single player on Philly's roster.  The other 2 are Reinhart and Butcher LOL.  

In the 90's when we got Bure he was like something the league had never seen before.  If you plunked that guy in to 1974 Philly would have simply heard Bure skating by.  "I couldn't see it but I assume that was Pavel again right?"

I'd leave the Sedins in!  What even is the worst case scenario for them?  They get caught out there with Bert, Ohlund and Jovo to back them up?  They'd all tower over everyone!   Best case scenario is Babych and Butcher are out there with them?  Overkill I say!  This is taking a bazooka to a knife fight.

 

Fun exercise though!  I like the idea of the thread.  1974 Flyers vs the all-time Atlanta Thrashers team might be good!

That’s Philly team was tough as nails - fighting ability and size have nothing to do with each other - you can have both or maybe not.   Parent was one of the best ever too.  When these guys aged they still did fine against the next best group of guys - who did just fine against the next group of guys (now we are into the 90’s) who did just fine against the next group of guys (now we are into the Sedin era) - so I don’t buy much about talent getting better and better as time goes on.  Skating maybe on average but the league doesn’t ice the same sort of bottom six guys anymore.

 

I don’t think your giving that team enough credit.  They beat Boston who was one of the best teams ever (Orrs team, who like Bure is considered one of the best skaters ever), and they were the only team to beat the Red Army who came in and toasted one NHL team after another until facing the Stanley Cup champs.  They didn’t call it the Philadelphia Flu for nothing .... not only is it considered a top ten all-time team, it’s the toughest of the bunch.  Maybe watch some documentaries on the team - there is some excellent ones.   Parent was like Roy or Hasek back then.    How many HHOFers did they have anyways?  And they had some very good players that didn’t quite make the cut too, plus their bruisers could also pot 20 goals in.

 

Like I said - not sure how the Sedins would react to a full on beating - sure we’d have deterrents but so did every other team they played back then.   Ten pounds here or there and one or two inches in height doesn’t mean squat if you can’t fight back.

 

Edit:  To give some credit where credit is due - the MTL dynasty took their crown but they were still contenders...right through that dynasty and into the next one in 1980 against the NYI - under Quin set a record that will never be beaten in today’s game (not ties anymore) 35 games unbeaten and six games into the final ... we’d be so lucky to contend that long and like I said they beat the Big Bad Bruins on the way to their time at the top too - no small thing.  All four of those teams are considered top ten all-time teams - PHI is ranked 7th, one ahead of the Detroit teams of the late 90’s early 2000’s.    Wonder how we could create a team to beat those guys?  2002 had something like 10 HHOFers on it ha ha. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by IBatch

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Baratheon said:

Lol this would not be even close to fair for the poor Flyers.  You can't use every era of the Canucks against 1 year of the Flyers.  On defense 4 of the 6 guys are bigger than every single player on Philly's roster.  The other 2 are Reinhart and Butcher LOL.  

In the 90's when we got Bure he was like something the league had never seen before.  If you plunked that guy in to 1974 Philly would have simply heard Bure skating by.  "I couldn't see it but I assume that was Pavel again right?"

I'd leave the Sedins in!  What even is the worst case scenario for them?  They get caught out there with Bert, Ohlund and Jovo to back them up?  They'd all tower over everyone!   Best case scenario is Babych and Butcher are out there with them?  Overkill I say!  This is taking a bazooka to a knife fight.

 

Fun exercise though!  I like the idea of the thread.  1974 Flyers vs the all-time Atlanta Thrashers team might be good!

Oh ha ha.  I’d agree if we didn’t have Brashear or maybe Odjick in the lineup it would be like bringing a knife to a gun fight / but the other way around and even then we might be in trouble.  PHI had 4-6 very good fighters on their team all the time.  Plus the entire team got into it and had majors year in year out and never backed down.   I don’t think you truly understand what the game was like back then.   Babych was like Tim Horton - a league strongman who didn’t fight.  Yes Butcher did and he’d do fine.  Williams fought some of these guys he’s a must have IMO.   Jovo?  Well yeah he beat Deadmarsh but lost to better fighters too.   Ohlund had like two fights his career.    Snepsts is a must.  Bertuzzi couldn’t fight his way out of a phonebooth despite his size.   Kelly would clean his clock.  Kurtenbach would do fine.  Linden couldn’t fight and Courtnall was marginally better at it.  Momesso could and would be a must.  
 

Point is back then without the instigator anyone was fair game.  Sure there was a code but PHI used fighting as a tactic.  Seriously it’s an interesting story and worth looking into.   Yes we would need some skill to beat them especially with Parent in net.   They’d test us first scrum and if we gave an inch they’d take a foot.   

[Baratheon]

2 hours ago, IBatch said:

Oh ha ha.  I’d agree if we didn’t have Brashear or maybe Odjick in the lineup it would be like bringing a knife to a gun fight / but the other way around and even then we might be in trouble.  PHI had 4-6 very good fighters on their team all the time.  Plus the entire team got into it and had majors year in year out and never backed down.   I don’t think you truly understand what the game was like back then.   Babych was like Tim Horton - a league strongman who didn’t fight.  Yes Butcher did and he’d do fine.  Williams fought some of these guys he’s a must have IMO.   Jovo?  Well yeah he beat Deadmarsh but lost to better fighters too.   Ohlund had like two fights his career.    Snepsts is a must.  Bertuzzi couldn’t fight his way out of a phonebooth despite his size.   Kelly would clean his clock.  Kurtenbach would do fine.  Linden couldn’t fight and Courtnall was marginally better at it.  Momesso could and would be a must.  
 

Point is back then without the instigator anyone was fair game.  Sure there was a code but PHI used fighting as a tactic.  Seriously it’s an interesting story and worth looking into.   Yes we would need some skill to beat them especially with Parent in net.   They’d test us first scrum and if we gave an inch they’d take a foot.   

I don't really disagree with most of your points.  Although yes the game was pretty nuts back then (I can't watch the 72 Canada Russia series without laughing a few times at the craziness) it was still hockey and I don't think that it devolves in to a 40 man UFC event.  Though Biestra did add some more than capable fighters to the line-up.  It's not just the size difference that is huge it's also the speed.  If you watch a game from 74 and then watch a game from 94 right afterwards the difference is shocking!  The hits would be GIGANTIC!  I'm not sure if the Flyers would even be physically capable of dropping the gloves after a couple games of that.  Especially with what they allowed during the 70's.  I just don't think you can convince me that 1 year of the Flyers would have any kind of chance against 50 years of Canucks.  (though my wife will gladly tell you how often I'm wrong haha)

 

Adding Brashear to the line-up just makes it worse!!

Brashear vs any Flyer from 74

 

 

 

Edit: To give this a fair chance (and cause I'm in quarantine lol) I am currently watching game 2 of that 1974 finals (couldn't find game 1 but didn't look hard)  Flyers @ Bruins!  Home team wearing the whites as it should be!!  Good stuff so far

Edited May 19, 2020 by Baratheon

[coho8888]

Need to consider other factors as well.  Equipment?  Wood sticks vs. Composite?  what about conditioning?  Do the flyers have to be in 1974 conditioning?  

[the grinder]

8 minutes ago, coho8888 said:

Need to consider other factors as well.  Equipment?  Wood sticks vs. Composite?  what about conditioning?  Do the flyers have to be in 1974 conditioning?  

yep like is there smoking between periods ? with beers ?  1974 rules and refs?   is Bobby Clarke allowed 2 handed slashes breaking  ankles with no suspension?

[Baratheon]

10 minutes ago, coho8888 said:

Need to consider other factors as well.  Equipment?  Wood sticks vs. Composite?  what about conditioning?  Do the flyers have to be in 1974 conditioning?  

I'm currently watching Game 2 of the 1974 finals.  Watching it with an open mind and just kinda taking a few notes whenever something happens.  It's a pretty fun experience so far.

[IBatch]

3 hours ago, Baratheon said:

I don't really disagree with most of your points.  Although yes the game was pretty nuts back then (I can't watch the 72 Canada Russia series without laughing a few times at the craziness) it was still hockey and I don't think that it devolves in to a 40 man UFC event.  Though Biestra did add some more than capable fighters to the line-up.  It's not just the size difference that is huge it's also the speed.  If you watch a game from 74 and then watch a game from 94 right afterwards the difference is shocking!  The hits would be GIGANTIC!  I'm not sure if the Flyers would even be physically capable of dropping the gloves after a couple games of that.  Especially with what they allowed during the 70's.  I just don't think you can convince me that 1 year of the Flyers would have any kind of chance against 50 years of Canucks.  (though my wife will gladly tell you how often I'm wrong haha)

 

Adding Brashear to the line-up just makes it worse!!

Brashear vs any Flyer from 74

 

 

 

Edit: To give this a fair chance (and cause I'm in quarantine lol) I am currently watching game 2 of that 1974 finals (couldn't find game 1 but didn't look hard)  Flyers @ Bruins!  Home team wearing the whites as it should be!!  Good stuff so far

Howe scored 40 ish points as a 50 year old in what 1980?  Spend some time and look at your hero’s and see how they did against the next crop - and how they did against the ones before them.   As far as fighting goes well I’ve watched 1000’s of them and Brashear was one tough SOB but also rarely opened up and went toe to toe - instead hugged the other guy an pounded away at the side of whoever’s head and helmet.  Probert called them butterfly kisses compared to the shots he took over his career.   Said Crowder was the best he’d ever fought.  Really who did he ever ko?  Nobody.  Brown did way more damage- so did Kocur - so did Shultz and even Stan Jonathon.   The odd time he did open up its was 50/50 when it was a heavy ... Belak, Laraque and some big farmer all fed it to him.   So no I don’t think your hulk meme is accurate.   Shultz ... well guess you need to watch some more footage.  
 

Still think your underrating that team, it was very tough and had a lot of skill to go with it.   Sure maybe in some multiverse we could create a team to beat it.  But it wouldn’t be that easy.   Like I said  earlier / Sedins getting beat up every game until they quit doesn’t seem far fetched.   Five for fighting - no ejections etc.  No misconducts.  If you couldn’t fight back you couldn’t play in that league period. 

 

Edit:  As far as hitting goes I’d recommend watching some Lindros footage...swear he creamed Stevens about ten times just as bad as he got hit ... it’s devastating stuff. 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by IBatch

[Baratheon]

4 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Howe scored 40 ish points as a 50 year old in what 1980?  Spend some time and look at your hero’s and see how they did against the next crop - and how they did against the ones before them.   As far as fighting goes well I’ve watched 1000’s of them and Brashear was one tough SOB but also rarely opened up and went toe to toe - instead hugged the other guy an pounded away at the side of whoever’s head and helmet.  Probert called them butterfly kisses compared to the shots he took over his career.   Said Crowder was the best he’d ever fought.  Really who did he ever ko?  Nobody.  Brown did way more damage- so did Kocur - so did Shultz and even Stan Jonathon.   The odd time he did open up its was 50/50 when it was a heavy ... Belak, Laraque and some big farmer all fed it to him.   So no I don’t think your hulk meme is accurate.   Shultz ... well guess you need to watch some more footage.  
 

Still think young underrating that team, it was very tough and had a lot of skill to go with it.   Sure maybe in some multiverse we could create a team to beat it.  But it wouldn’t be that easy.   Like is said earlier / Sedins getting beat up every game until they quilt doesn’t seem far fetched.   Five for fighting - no ejections etc.  No misconducts.  If you couldn’t fight back you couldn’t play in that league period. 
 

 

Belak and Laraque are in a completely different weight class from anything the 74 flyers had.  I agree Brashears huggy style was not fun to watch.  He is far from my favorite fighter.  Effective?  Definitely and I still think too physically strong as well.  

 

I am determined to have an open mind though!  I had to step away to do the dishes but I'm through the first period of Game 2 of the 74 final!  I am taking notes of what happens during scrums, goals, penalties, hits etc.  I'm really enjoying it so I'll probably continue to do the same for the rest of the series.  Phil Esposito was one of my childhood heroes.  So far it's a very good game but not the legendary nastiness that you hear tale of!  Good scrappy little fight between Schultz and O'Reilly.  Reminded me of a shorter Rypien fight where they both got a handful of quick punches off.  Everyone dropped the gloves at that time but only Schultz and O'Reilly were really fighting.  The rest were just holding each others arms and watching the fight.  All the gloves and sticks everywhere made it look pretty crazy though haha.  

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Baratheon said:

Belak and Laraque are in a completely different weight class from anything the 74 flyers had.  I agree Brashears huggy style was not fun to watch.  He is far from my favorite fighter.  Effective?  Definitely and I still think too physically strong as well.  

 

I am determined to have an open mind though!  I had to step away to do the dishes but I'm through the first period of Game 2 of the 74 final!  I am taking notes of what happens during scrums, goals, penalties, hits etc.  I'm really enjoying it so I'll probably continue to do the same for the rest of the series.  Phil Esposito was one of my childhood heroes.  So far it's a very good game but not the legendary nastiness that you hear tale of!  Good scrappy little fight between Schultz and O'Reilly.  Reminded me of a shorter Rypien fight where they both got a handful of quick punches off.  Everyone dropped the gloves at that time but only Schultz and O'Reilly were really fighting.  The rest were just holding each others arms and watching the fight.  All the gloves and sticks everywhere made it look pretty crazy though haha.  

Man.  Wendel Clark and Williams were sub 6 feet and 200lbs and did pretty good - you either know how to fight or you don’t.  Bieksa and all of his 190lbs and sub-six feet (ok maybe six feet) beat the tar out of Marleau at 6’2” 220lbs ... Kocur who’s regarded as the hardest puncher in league history played at 6’ 205 lbs.    Why the obsession on size? Sure most bigger fighters that are good at it do better.   Gino was only 210lbs..tall and lanky.   Domi 5’9 is generous... Fun thing is you can trace back who beat who all the way back.  

[Kevin Biestra]

10 hours ago, IBatch said:

That’s a pretty balanced team - and toughness is what you need in the lineup against these guys.  The only line I’m unsure of is the Sedins line - would they get murdered?  Bertuzzi wasn’t much of a fighter and not very good at it when he did.   Almost wonder if we’d be better off breaking up the Sedins or if they should be there at all.  Fraser is a good option as a spare or even in the lineup - Brashear is a requirement so agree he should be a spare.   Kurtenbach is probably the biggest answer to Shultz..

 

That defense assures at least one additional bruiser is on the ice all the time - wouldn’t change it.   Also given Parents career sp is above .920 I think we’d need to answer with whomever had the hot hand - McLean is a great first option given his penchant for playing better in the playoffs.   Love the fourth line - clutch.    Really the only line I’d worry about is the Sedins - how would they react with no instigator rule and machine gun Kelly or Shultz or whomever knocking their blocks off just to take them out of the series? 
 

Edit:  Neely and Fraser could score goals and fight while with us - two guys I’d consider.  Also Mogilny could play left wing too - did on the Federov line with Bure so maybe instead of the Sedins add Kesler and Mogilny?

 

Yeah, the Sedins are a bit of a gamble but I figured I would take a chance on adding their scoring and chemistry and hope their durability saves the day.  Their ironman abilities came into play...as they did a little bit with Lever.  If they get hit so much they don't want the puck anymore (like Housley against us in 1992) then they'll be out of the lineup for the spares.

 

But if they hadn't been picked, the guys you named - Neely, Fraser, Kesler and maybe Mogilny - were the next guys I was considering.  Not sure about Mogilny.  He's not exactly a playoff guy, but he's also not not a playoff guy.  He rose to the occasion at times.

 

A few others I considered were Glen Cochrane on D.  And with the forwards up front, it was Brashear, Odjick or Crowder as a nuclear deterrent and I had to pick one.  I want to keep Bernie Parent busy with a lot of skill.

 

And if we had acquired Mel Bridgman a little earlier in his career, he'd have been in there I think.  I still considered including the 1989 version.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[Kevin Biestra]

7 hours ago, IBatch said:

Parent was like Roy or Hasek back then.    How many HHOFers did they have anyways?  And they had some very good players that didn’t quite make the cut too, plus their bruisers could also pot 20 goals in.

 

Those Flyers Cup teams are kind of the exact measuring stick for who gets into the HOF and who just misses the cut.

 

The difference between Bill Barber (in) and Reggie Leach (out) or Rick MacLeish (out) is pretty fine.

 

One more Cup and I think Leach and MacLeish both Clark Gillies / Glenn Anderson their way in.  One less Cup and Barber probably doesn't make it (gets the Charlie Simmer / Rick Martin treatment).

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[Baratheon]

57 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Man.  Wendel Clark and Williams were sub 6 feet and 200lbs and did pretty good - you either know how to fight or you don’t.  Bieksa and all of his 190lbs and sub-six feet (ok maybe six feet) beat the tar out of Marleau at 6’2” 220lbs ... Kocur who’s regarded as the hardest puncher in league history played at 6’ 205 lbs.    Why the obsession on size? Sure most bigger fighters that are good at it do better.   Gino was only 210lbs..tall and lanky.   Domi 5’9 is generous... Fun thing is you can trace back who beat who all the way back.  

For sure!  As a fight fan I love seeing the smaller guy win!  Mike Tyson wasn't particularly large but WOW!  However while size is not the determining factor of a fight, it is still a factor.   For whatever reason Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture is coming to mind.  Brock the guy who is well known for being "one-dimensional" and not taking a shot well.  Randy Couture the legendary 2 weight champion who earned himself the nickname "Captain America" for a reason.  Brock was just too much.  And again keep in mind that we're not just talking about who wins at fighting but who wins a playoff series.

 

I'm 2 periods through note taking of that Game 2.  It's a small sample size for sure but already in that 2nd period I have sort of an example of what I'm talking about.  Ken Hodge catches Bobby Clarke with a good hard shoulder to shoulder hit behind the net.  Clarke gets knocked over and it's exactly the kind of hit that you want to see.  (It's honestly probably the nicest hit of the game so far but there was one other solid one that I liked)  The announcer then says "I've never seen Bobby Clarke hit harder than that!"  It was honestly just a normal hit by todays standard though.  You'd expect to see it quite a few times in a game of todays standard and certainly way more than I've seen through 2 periods.  The skating is smooth and has a nice pace to it.  It's pretty clear though that they aren't close to as agile or explosive as most of the guys on @Kevin Biestra's team.  So far it appears that the 74 guys would have a very hard time avoiding BIG hits.\

 

2 periods is not a lot though so I will press on!  Things could always get crazier! 

[IBatch]

40 minutes ago, Baratheon said:

For sure!  As a fight fan I love seeing the smaller guy win!  Mike Tyson wasn't particularly large but WOW!  However while size is not the determining factor of a fight, it is still a factor.   For whatever reason Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture is coming to mind.  Brock the guy who is well known for being "one-dimensional" and not taking a shot well.  Randy Couture the legendary 2 weight champion who earned himself the nickname "Captain America" for a reason.  Brock was just too much.  And again keep in mind that we're not just talking about who wins at fighting but who wins a playoff series.

 

I'm 2 periods through note taking of that Game 2.  It's a small sample size for sure but already in that 2nd period I have sort of an example of what I'm talking about.  Ken Hodge catches Bobby Clarke with a good hard shoulder to shoulder hit behind the net.  Clarke gets knocked over and it's exactly the kind of hit that you want to see.  (It's honestly probably the nicest hit of the game so far but there was one other solid one that I liked)  The announcer then says "I've never seen Bobby Clarke hit harder than that!"  It was honestly just a normal hit by todays standard though.  You'd expect to see it quite a few times in a game of todays standard and certainly way more than I've seen through 2 periods.  The skating is smooth and has a nice pace to it.  It's pretty clear though that they aren't close to as agile or explosive as most of the guys on @Kevin Biestra's team.  So far it appears that the 74 guys would have a very hard time avoiding BIG hits.\

 

2 periods is not a lot though so I will press on!  Things could always get crazier! 

The two guys Gretzky feared most were Denis Potvin and Clark Gillies (getting hit from).  Both those guys started their careers in the 70’s ... and Gretzky played until 1999 including when players got bigger and bigger.   If you think players hit harder now then maybe sleeping on the 90’s a bit.  Stevens and Lindros especially were brutal - watched 20 minutes of Lindros hits recently I forgot how great he was at it - guys literally flew 15-20 feet into the boards on some of them.   Also whenever I watch old hockey one of the first things I notice is how everyone is finishing their checks and giving a little extra shot.   Today’s game is tamer IMO and has been since the lockout in 2004. 

[Baratheon]

3 minutes ago, IBatch said:

The two guys Gretzky feared most were Denis Potvin and Clark Gillies (getting hit from).  Both those guys started their careers in the 70’s ... and Gretzky played until 1999 including when players got bigger and bigger.   If you think players hit harder now then maybe sleeping on the 90’s a bit.  Stevens and Lindros especially were brutal - watched 20 minutes of Lindros hits recently I forgot how great he was at it - guys literally flew 15-20 feet into the boards on some of them.   Also whenever I watch old hockey one of the first things I notice is how everyone is finishing their checks and giving a little extra shot.   Today’s game is tamer IMO and has been since the lockout in 2004. 

This is something that I did expect to see actually.  So far it has been pretty tame by todays standards or 90's standards.  Perhaps Gretzky was speaking respectfully of the players of the past?  Or maybe they got crazier later in their careers?  I'm not sure what the case would be.  I can say that having seen the 94 playoff run many times (including live) I am quite familiar with what that hockey looked like.  The hits were visibly much harder than what I have so far seen.  The skating is night and day.  As I continue to watch this series I expect (or hope?) that the hits will get harder but I doubt that I'll see any kind of drastic change in the skating.  

There's also so much room on the ice!  My goodness the Sedins would have a field day on the PP even if you only used them as specialists.  So far though I have seen no reason why the Sedins would need to be used as specialists (2011 was way worse than anything I've seen so far).  

 

We'll see!  I do promise that I'm paying close attention and trying to keep an open mind.  Although I have critiqued the 1974 skating, I was actually surprised at how fast they get going north-south once they build up some steam.  They (Esposito, Clarke, Cashman etc.) must be in waaay better shape here than they were in the 1972 summit series.  I do not remember them looking like this during that 72 series.