First, I have no idea how you can lump Samuelsson in with Ozolinsh and Gonchar, he is one of the toughest meanest defensemen and in my opinion one of the most underrated from a pure defense standpoint. I will make no qualms about it - your defense is better than mine is but at the same time to discount the Blazers/Cowboys defense as a bunch of players who can't take care of their own zone is only setting yourself up for disappointment.
With regards to matchups.
I would much rather have both Makarov as well as Krutov from an individual standpoint (with Morenz being obviously better than Larionov) although from a cohesive unit standpoint I would take the KLM line over your top line every day of the week. You have pieced together three players and I don't know how well they will mesh together.
One the second line it is one of the slowest in the draft and I question how well Denneny a slow player would do against a tough, speedy player in Fleury. Kerr and Tkachuk are two players who are very similar although Tkachuk has an increased versitility that Kerr doesn't have and I think he is an all-round better player.
On the third line is where the offensive domination begins. LeClair - Lindros - St. Louis is in my opinion what will make your defense's lives miserable and the line that will pot a large number of goals. Clark - Maltsev - Bellows is nice and all but in terms of peak production I would take my trio every day of the week (LeClair>Clark, Lindros>Maltsev, Bellows=St. Louis)
From an offensive perspective I have no doubt that the Cowboys Blazers are significantly better than the Metros
, I like this rivalry already, I was not quite done my analysis but got interrupted, I still needed to say, I think Plante is obviously the best goalie, though Espo's effect is pretty limited in a 7 game series. And I do believe that Clint Benedict is horribly underrated, I'd take him over Hainsworth.
Anyway, as for Samuelsson, consider me not a fan, I think he is really overrated and that his stature in the game was overblown by Don Cherry of all people, I think Cherry really played up his battles with Neely, which Neely routinely won and gave him more of a name than he deserved, but thats just me.
As for the KLM line, I think Krutov is definetaly the weak link compared to Bill Cook, Cook was stellar, 11 times he was top 10 in goals over a 15 year pro career, 4 times lead his league, 3 times finished second he was among the top 2 goal scorers in the league for essentially half his career. I don't think Krutov had that kind of ability. I'll give you Makarov over Yakushev, but even with bonuses for chemistry, I don't think I'd take the KLM line over the Metro's top line not a chance.
I think Denneny's speed is also overblown, I think writting off his effectiveness and saying Theo could deal with him because he is speedy and tough is wrong, Denneny was top 3 in goal scoring 7 times in 12 years and in the top 8 nine times over 12 years, those are outstanding numbers, against all the greats of the games earliest times, I just can't see Theo being in his class skill wise.
About Tkachuk being better all around than Kerr, fair enough, I don't think Tkachuk has the top end talent that Kerr does however, Kerr's peak value as a goal scorer is something Tkachuk couldn't touch, though I love Tkachuk and think he is very undervalued all time.
As for Messier/Clarke, I would take Clarke for leadership personally, Mess is clearly the better player and the matchup should be judged according, I don't know if there are many players I would take over Clarke for leadership purposes however (only cats like Beliveau, Orr, maybe Espo, a select few others) and Mess isn't one of those guys, despite his famed skills at it. Add to that Clarke is far and away the best two way player on either team and Mess's skills may be neutralized a touch.
With the third line, I agree, the Lindros line is clearly better offensively than the Maltsev line, but considering they will be facing mostly the Robinson/Wilson and Lowe/Ludwig pairings, I don't think they will be able to dominate down low like they planned.
Anyway, I still think the Metro's top two lines would have their way with the Cowboy's defense, Pospisil is solid, but not a top pairing guy, Blake is solid, somewhere around Wilson all time I think, though he had more longevity, I don't see that as a legit top pairing that could handle a top line. I don't think Smith is a legit top 4 guy either, I'd consider him more on par with Ken Morrow than with Kevin Lowe in an all time draft, Chara is tough to gauge, but would have to carry that pairing IMO. I don't think the Ozo/Sammy/Gonchar triumvarite could handle anything but the Metro's 4th line personally, they would have to be sheltered and I think that would just put more strain on the already overmatched top 4 guys. I think Plante would have to stand on his head, and that is certainly possible, but as I said earlier, Benedict is no slouch.
Anyway, that was a lot of writing, I like this playoff format already
, I will leave this one to the voters. Best of luck.