AHC: The Battle of Alberta, 2006

Your challenge: have the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oil face off against each other in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs and give the outcome. Of all of the matchups that spring, this is the one that I really would have wanted to see the most--the two hottest goaltenders (Kiprusoff and Roloson) going head to head behind arguably the NHL's two best defensive teams.

Who do you favor in this playoff series and why?


MalcontentRex
 
The OP's pretty easy: just have Calgary beat Anaheim (they took them to seven games, five of which were decided by one goal), and keep the rest of the Western series the same: Calgary as the highest remaining seed will play Edmonton, the lowest seed in the second round.

I'd give it to Edmonton in 6 games or less: the Flames looked a lot better than they really were that year, thanks to Kiprusoff.
 
The OP's pretty easy: just have Calgary beat Anaheim (they took them to seven games, five of which were decided by one goal), and keep the rest of the Western series the same: Calgary as the highest remaining seed will play Edmonton, the lowest seed in the second round.

I'd give it to Edmonton in 6 games or less: the Flames looked a lot better than they really were that year, thanks to Kiprusoff.

Just had a thought about a major butterfly that this scenario could cause.
If Anaheim doesn't make it to Conference finals, they may not be as attractive a location for Chris Pronger. Where else could he wind up (first thought is San Jose).
 
Having the two teams in the Cup Final relies on the NHL's division system being different, and that's a challenge. Edmonton IIRC barely got into the playoffs that year but went on to haul ass within them (it took them six to beat Detroit, but they did fine after that), so changing the Conferences to not being strictly divided East/West would be an option, or just having the sixteen best teams in the league get into the playoffs - the latter option would help Edmonton (they'd have played Dallas rather than Detroit) but would have been a wash for Calgary as they would have played Anaheim either way.
 
Having the two teams in the Cup Final relies on the NHL's division system being different, and that's a challenge. Edmonton IIRC barely got into the playoffs that year but went on to haul ass within them (it took them six to beat Detroit, but they did fine after that), so changing the Conferences to not being strictly divided East/West would be an option, or just having the sixteen best teams in the league get into the playoffs - the latter option would help Edmonton (they'd have played Dallas rather than Detroit) but would have been a wash for Calgary as they would have played Anaheim either way.

See Hashooh's post on the subject.
 
See Hashooh's post on the subject.

Nope. Unlike my post which was a misreading of the OP, the Mann is stating that the OP's "Challenge" really isn't a "Challenge" at all and instead substituted a more difficult alternate scenario.

That being said, I can't see the NHL going with such a scenario as any regional matchups in the Stanley cup final would seriously impinge on TV revenues.
 
Top