In a series of interviews, Scotty Bowman spoke with Sportsnet.ca about a range of issues, from his nine Stanley Cup victories as a coach to this year's matchup of the Detroit Red Wings - a team for which Bowman works as a consultant - and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Read more from Bowman Thursday in the fourth edition of our online Playoffs '08 Magazine.
By Perry Lefko -- Sportsnet.ca
Q: What are your thoughts about the Pittsburgh-Detroit matchup?
A: "You've got two good teams. They both finished right at the top in the regular season. Pittsburgh didn't have (Sidney) Crosby the last little while and Detroit's the best team in the West, so you've got the two best teams."
Q: So this is like the cream rising to the top?
A: "Both teams had terrific seasons, that's exactly right. Pittsburgh most likely would have been No. 1 if they had Crosby all year. You've got some real good forwards on both teams. You've got a lot of youth on Pittsburgh and a lot of experience on Detroit."
Q: Do you expect this series to go the full seven games?
A: "You can't tell how many games. Teams get on a run and there's an injury factor. It looks pretty close on paper, for sure."
Q: This is only Sidney Crosby's third year in the NHL. Are you surprised he's made it to the Cup this quickly?
A: "He's been ahead of the curve all the way up; he's been a marked player. He didn't come out of nowhere. He's been a phenom. In junior, he took his team Rimouski to the Memorial Cup final. And Pittsburgh has some good, young players to go with him, which made it a lot better for him."
Q: Do you see Pittsburgh as a team similar to the Oilers in the '80s with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, a collection of solid, young stars?
A: "Edmonton had to break up their team because they won many times, but it's a lot different now with the salary cap. After the third year, players can negotiate big contracts. Edmonton had to make some trades. They couldn't keep all their players."
Q: Were you surprised goalie Chris Osgood was able to step in and become the dominant player that he is right now after the switch was made early in the playoffs to go away from Dominik Hasek?
A: "Chris trained well all year. He played half the games and led the league in goals-against and everything else, so it's not a big surprise to us. Maybe it is to other people."
Q: Would you say in this series Detroit has good, young stars, but a slightly older, maybe more mature, team?
A: "Pittsburgh has some experience, not as much. On defence they have Sergei Gonchar and Hal Gill, but Detroit has Brian Rafalski, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios and Brad Stuart is a pretty veteran player, so they've got good experience back at the blue line."
Q: This series is also interesting because of Chelios of Detroit and Pittsburgh's Gary Roberts, both of whom have been in the league a long time and this could be their last opportunity of playing for a Cup?
A: "They've both missed games in the playoffs - Roberts with pneumonia and a groin injury and Chelios has had a bad knee - but there's good experience there, no question about that. You never know if this will be their last chance. Chelios wants to play again next year. I don't know what the Roberts' situation is."
Q: The last time Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup (1992) you were the coach and the last time Detroit won the Cup (2002) you were the coach. You have connections and roots to both teams.
A: "I've been with Detroit for 15 years and I still work with them. The Pittsburgh team has completely changed."
Q: But Mario Lemieux was there as a player the last time you coached Pittsburgh and is still there as an owner now. Any thoughts about all he's been through with the ownership situation and to be in the position where he is right now?
A: "The team is at its highest peak with the new arena coming, there's no question marks there. They've got good, young players, too. They had some tough years to get some of these young players aboard. It will be a hang of a franchise. It's a good one now, but it will be better when they get the new rink because of the suite revenue."
Q: Detroit has players such as Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, two young stars, and Pittsburgh has Evgeni Malkin and Crosby. It looks like it's a showcase for the current and future stars of the NHL?
A: "There's a lot of good, young players in the league now. Throw (Washington's) Alexander Ovechkin, (Calgary's) Jarome Iginla, who's not as young as Ovechkin, Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal, who's pretty good. There's a lot of good, young players in the NHL, that's for sure."
Read the full interview on Thursday in Playoffs '08
