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Your NHL94 underdogs redux!


NHL94 underdogs  

5 members have voted

  1. 1. Which team is the best underdog?

    • Montreal
      1
    • Calgary
      1
    • Quebec
      2
    • Philadelphia
      1
    • Pittsburgh
      0
    • New York Rangers
      0
    • New Jersey
      0
    • Boston
      0
    • St.Louis
      0
    • Hartford
      0
    • Toronto
      0
    • Edmonton
      0
    • New York Islanders
      0
    • Washington Capitals
      0


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This time around, I'm redoing the poll I've made for many months now. I figure that there were a few entries I might have missed, so I'm going to include them here. Corrections shall be included too, so excuse the copypasta procedure I decided upon to remake the poll.

An underdog is basically someone or a team that has the odds stacked against them. People normally pick the powerhouse to win a playoff series and even though the underdog has a certain something, the fans and experts go with what they see is great. It's up to the underdog to prove them wrong and show them that they can win against the best. And yes, they can be the ones that use the classic 'No one believed in us other than the men in our locker room!'.

The first 3 entries I made the copypasta operation from angryjay in the best NHL94 team poll. The others I have included them myself.

Montreal:

Pros: The 2nd best rated goalie and arguably the best goalie due to his perfect glove side ratings. The defense runs 3-4 deep with Brisebois and Daigneault being lightweights with various offensive skills. Schneider provides all around ability while still being defensively competent. The forwards run 6 deep, any combination of Bellows, Muller, Damphousse, Lebeau, Leeman, and Savard will give a diversified line with strengths all along the board.

Cons: No gamebreaker to speak of aside from Roy, more team concept as opposed to one man army.

Calgary

Pros: Have a top tier sniper in Roberts, solid passers in Reichel and Makarov, and Fleury rounds out the line with his speed and dominant checking ability. Macinnis owns a booming shot and Suter is a solid option on the back line who can distribute the puck with the best of them. A total powerhouse of an offensive machine.

Cons: Team Defensive awareness always seems to be an issue which leaves a lot of odd man chances for Vernon to face, and hes not good enough to sustain many of them and keep a team in the game for long. Also lack a bone crushing d-man.

Quebec

Pros: Blessed with immense offensive talent, Sakics all around excellence, Sundings sniping, Kamenskys booming shot, Kovalenko is a beast, Nolan is as steady as they come, Ricci can snipe almost as well as Sundin and theres even more options after that still. Duchesne can help kick start the offense, Gusarov is a steady calming presence and Leschyshyn can provide solid blue line skating.

Cons: A lack of team speed, average goaltending, and the lack of a true shutdown defender just barely keep the Nords out of the top tier, because after all, you can only ice 3 of those amazing forwards at once.

Philadelphia:

Pros: Good things can be said about the starting line. Lindros can score and hit, Brind'Amour can bring it on at anytime on the ice and Mark Recchi is as tough as they come. They have good depth in forwards with Andrei Lomakin, Kevin Dineen and Brett Fedyk and can be used at any time. Yushkevich and Galley aren't fast, but they're functional as d-men, although they're a little close to 200 lbs.

Cons: Galley and Yushkevich aren't very good when it comes to shot power and accuracy; they're better off on defense. Brind'Amour and Lindros (ESPECIALLY Lindros) are pretty heavy with Recchi being the only light forward on the best line. Tommy Soderstrom is good enough, but not spectacular.

Pittsburgh

Pros: Anything I could say about Super Mario comes up short when we compare to his greatness. Jagr may not be a burner like Bure or R. Courtnall, but he gets the job done and Kevin Stevens has good shot and pass accuracy to go up with Lemieux. Ulf Sammuelson is a people cruncher and though he can get penalty minutes, he can take anybody out and Larry Murphy has a strong slapshot and good passing skills to go up to the opponents attack zone. Ron Francis and Rick Tocchet can be interchangable, but Francis along with Troy Loney can come up with the hits up front. Joe Mullen can pass and shoot, but I don't know why he's on the checking line. =P Barraso is underrated because he's a very good goalie and he'll make the stops when the game's on the line.

Cons: The Penguins got shafted when it came to the weight bug because a lot of the players are heavy, but as smozoma said, with that fixed Super Mario and the crew will make you rue the day you stepped on the ice.

New York Rangers

Pros: They got a nice pair of d-men in James Patrick and Brian Leetch as they're capable on both sides of the ice. Mark Messier may not have the gaudiest stats when it comes to shots, but you can't question his great passing ability and puck handling and when you get hit by him, you'll know it. Same with Esa Tikkanen, but he has better shooting and Mike Gartner is the Speedy Gonzales of the Rangers because he can be a nightmare on opposing d-men when he gets rolling. They have depth on goalies with Mike Ritcher and John Vanbiesbruk.

Cons: Some guys tend to change Messier for Adam Graves because of his large weight and low shot stats (Being on the 50-60 range doesn't sit well with them, I guess) or with Tony Amonte, but they're either on the level or lower than Messier. The depth's good and it's there but not great.

Ney Jersey

Pros: With Alexander Semak and Stephane Richer, the Devils got a good 1-2 punch on the forward line that make them interchangeable; Fetisov and Scott Stevens can hit ya hard when you think you're safe and Claude Lemieux may not be the best shooter, but he's mustarded and may surprise you. Valeri Zelepukin or Peter Statsny can be brought in at any time if you think Lemeiux isn't good enough if you want offense.

Cons: Despite having good offense, Semak and Richer aren't speedsters and I know some guys would want that. Bobby Holik is decent, but I think his stats can make him underapreciated. Chris Terreri works as a goalie but his stick and glove work is on the 50s and you'd want to have better stats on that.

Boston:

Pros: Adam Oates can shoot goals and serve for more as he's one of the better centers of the league. Cam Neely is a sniper and Joe Juneau is a very good wingman. Ruzicka, Donato and Kvartalnov bring good depth to an otherwise nice offensive line. Don Sweeney and Glen Wesley are interchangable; one's a tough defender, the other has good offense. Ray Bourque.... what can I say about Ray? He shoots, he passes and hits people as though it's all going out of style. He's the complete package and few defensemen can come close to his shoes.

Cons: Andy Moog's stats make him look like he's past his prime, but he can surprise people with great saves. Boston, along with Pittsburgh, got shafted with the weight bug in this game, especially concerning players like Bourque. However, it's not impossible to win with this team.

St. Louis:

Pros: The Blues got Brett Hull, who's great as a right winger and can be brought in for center at any time. Plenty of power and some decent accuracy. Shanahan strikes a good balance in shot accuracy and power and has nice awareness on both sides of the ice and Craig Janney is underrated as he's a pretty good center. CuJo is a pretty good goalie, so count on him for some tough saves with his glove and stick. Butcher and Brown can hit, though Brown is the more offensive guy of the two, but...

Cons: This is where it gets downhill. Butcher and Brown are pretty heavy and even Stephane Quintal, a good checker, is heavy. There isn't much good depth to speak of on the offense either. Nelson Emerson might do the trick, but beyond him there's nothing else to say. On top of that, both Hull and Shanahan are heavy and that presents a dillema if you change either one. Like I say, depth in this team leaves a lot of wanting.

Hartford:

Pros: Nice endurance on the starting line. Cassels, Sanderson and Verbeek can shoot pretty well and have good awareness on both sides of the ice. Zalapski and Weinrich are good d-men, strong defensive awareness and can hit. Nylander could step in to surprise people when they least expect it. Sean Burke is a surprisingly decent goalie with nice puck control, glove work and a good right stick. His low defensive awareness can hurt him, though.

Cons: The forward trio are used a lot, but both Zalapski and Weinrich are pretty damn heavy, so there's gonna be some switcharoos with Adam Burt and Doug Houda, but at best they're a bit decent, so you'll probably stick to the starting line for better or worse.

Toronto:

Pros: I don't see them in the Best Teams, but they're not on the bad teams either, so the Maple Leafs stay here. Doug Gilmour is a center than many would want: Apropiate weight, nifty shooting, nice stickhandling and passng, excelent awareness, good speed and likes to hit like a ton of bricks. It's no wonder he was loved in Toronto. Flanking him are Dave Adreychuk, who's slow, but has better shooting ability than Gilmour and hits nicely. The one defects he was is his low passing, so-so stickhandling, his large weight and his aforementioned speed. Nikolai Borshevsky has better speed, decent stick work to along with his accuracy and could hit decently. Ellet and Gill can smack you around and possess good defensive awareness and endurance. Ellet shoots the hardest of the pair, but chances are you won't use his shot much. Felix Potvin is as good as they come as goales go. Darren Puppa can step in if you feel confident enough.

Cons: There are a bit of depth issues in left wing and defensemen. Since Ellet is large, you'll stick Mironov in there more often than not, who's light but doesn't check as well as Ellet. Wendell Clark has good shooting. stick handling and hits well, but his low offensive awareness and weight kinda drag him a bit. There aren't that many big issues with this team, but good management is needed if you want to go far with this team.

Edmonton:

Pros: Doug Weight is underrated and servicable and I believe someone here loves Petr Kilma, who's not bad at all at right wing. Good speed, accuracy and great stickhandling can help his case as a mainstay. Shayne Corson can hit hard, has good stick handling and decent speed gives him some use. Manson and Kravchuk have nice stick handling, good defensive awareness and can deliver hits. Bill Ranford has nice work with his glvoe and stick, and controls the puck well.

Cons: Holy crap, if you thought Boston and Pittsburgh were a bunch of fatties, you haven't seen Edmonton. From the starting line, only Weight and Kilma are the lightweights; Todd Elik and Zdeno Ciger could step in for Corson, since they're decent. They aren't spectacular, however, and no matter how you see it, you're stuck with Manson and Kravchuk on defense. since everyone else are fatties. Lotsaluck!

New York Islanders:

Pros: Hogue, Thomas and Turgeon are as good a trio as any seen in this game; almost comparable to say, Robitaille, Sandstrom and Gretzky. Turgeon is a great all-around center you wouldn't mind taking; Benoit and Thomas can pass the puck well with Turgeon and they also have high offensive awareness and on top of that they can check pretty nicely. Kasparitis is a keeper, though his defensive awareness could be better and his cohort Malakhov is a shooter, though his weight can get him benched. Derek King is actually effective on offense, but his weight and speed limit him from time on the ice.

Cons: Depth hurts this team. Uwe Krupp, Tom Kurvers, Volek, and some others are rather heavy and some of their stats are unbalanced. Glenn Healy is terrible as a goalie, but only Herbert and Sidorkiewicz are worse, but that's not saying much. This team really needs a lot of things to come together and their saving grace is the trio of Turgeon, Hogue and Thomas. Not a horrible team, but they got a long ways to go.

Washington:

Pros: Dimitri Khristich is a nice winger to have, underrated in a certain way. Bondra is a speedster, that's a given with some good stats that can have him step into center as well. Mike Ridley is above average and serves well as center; not spectacular, but stable. Hatcher and Iafrate are as tough as they come and they're arguably the hardest shooting tandem in the game. Not a bad line to have if you choose to keep it. Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka, Bob Carpenter and Pat Elynuik provide good depth for the forwards

Cons: Cote, Johansson and Cavallini are good d-men off the bench, since both Iafrate and Hatcher are rather heavy. However, you have to pick which ones you'd want to step up without losing too much face. Hunter, Pivonka, Carpenter and Elynuik can only specialize in 2 things so it can be a little tough to replace either one of the 3 starting forwards. A bit similar to Toronto, but Beaupre is pretty bad as a goalie, although I could name at least 5 goalies alone that are lower than him.

I'm taking into account the classic ROM. Make your opinons.

Edited by RedWingDevil
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Roberts and top tier sniper dont go together

I'm taking into account the classic ROM and the bug-fixed ROM, along with the SNES version. If you guys want to correct things or include another underdog, feel free to ask. If you have more than 1 team you feel they're underdogs, I made the poll into multiple choices, so it's your call.

Hows that possible when classic rom and wgt bug fix are completely different?

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Roberts and top tier sniper dont go together

Don't quote me on that. AJ's the one who said it; take it up to him.

Hows that possible when classic rom and wgt bug fix are completely different?

Fixed. I deleted that last part.

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gotta go with the nords here. throwing ricci, sundin and sakic up front is just pure win on offence, and duchesne and leschyshyn (sic?) on D provide solid coverage, and some extra offensive threats. if only we could send hextall an intervention, this team would be domination on ice.

This was my opinion from the old thread, back in the days when I hadn't thought of checking deeply for more backups (ie Kovalenko, Kamensky, Gusarov), and as well hadn't realized capatalization on the interweb was an option. I still stand by les Nords, though.

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I added the Capitals into the poll. What the hell was I thinking in not including them??? Anyone can vote for them now if they're your underdogs.

I can't decide for sure who's my underdog, but each team has its good cases to be tough underdogs for any guy to achieve victory.

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