Bio update: I've turned 1,026 out of 1,216 photos into text, so I am 84.4% done, and all that's left are my 5 spares and the LW/C that I settled for at the end, so the meat of my roster is all accounted for. With the end clearly in sight now, I've gotta say I've surprised myself with how much work I managed to do on bios this year. I honestly didn't think I had it in me. I thought I peaked in 2011. Also, I thought I could come into this with a laissez-faire attitude and not be so gung-ho about bios, but obviously that just can't happen. It's like I always said in the years I sat out - I can't half-ass these things.
Owen Nolan: Like Tkachuk, Nolan is a player that I was already fully aware of since I was already watching hockey by his rookie season. He was always one of my favourite players on teams other than the Leafs, so it was nice to chronicle his career. A few things I wasn't aware of: 1) how disastrous his rookie season was. He was poor offensively, defensively and in the locker room. 2) his attitude wasn't great for a few seasons. He was called difficult to coach as late as 1996. However, shortly thereafter he became the fiery leader we all knew him as, and that continued right until the end. 3) He was actually, for the balance of his career, quite good defensively, particularly for a power forward, as guys like him are typically straight line players - straight to the net, straight to your bodychecking target. But he developed a defensive game almost immediately after making it to San Jose, and killed penalties frequently from 1997 onwards, including in San Jose, in Toronto, and during his post-lockout comeback. He's only a good 3rd unit option in the ATD, but just to point out how uniue this was - his career usage was 23%. Iginla, Tkachuk, LeClair, Shanahan, Ciccarelli, Neely, Verbeek, Tocchet, Stevens, Guerin, Roberts and Dineen averaged 6.8% between them, with Shanahan's 14% being the highest among them. 4) his post-lockout comeback (and that's the right term for it, considering he hadn't played an NHL game in 31 months) was pretty damned impressive. Considering the time elapsed, and the fact that he was 34-38, scored over half a point per game, played a power game, was lauded for his leadership, and was part of successful penalty killing units, it definitely added to his career value and legacy. Still, I picked him over Rick Tocchet and I'm not even sure I should have.
Rick Tocchet: This guy came as advertised. I only remember the last 2/3 of his career, but it's like I remember - the guy was a 10/10 physically. He was an incredibly hard worker, and one of the few best bodycheckers and fighters in the game. As expected, scouting reports talked about him in terms that put him in the handful of elites in this regard. Tocchet did have that 100 point season in 1993, but his best seasons as an individual were in 1989, 1990 and 1991 when he was clearly Philadelphia's best all-around forward and even strength scorer. Needing to fill the 3rd line RW spot with a tough player, I went back and forth on Tocchet and Nolan before settling on Nolan after being assured his defense was better. This turned out to be correct, and Nolan has the superior VsX, but this is entirely due to being healthier and being better on the PP. Tocchet was by far the better even strength scorer and offense creator. After doing this bio, there's a small part of me that wants to swap Tocchet with Balderis, in order to ensure I have one physically dominant player on each line.
Dale Hunter: Hunter was one of those guys who was everything. There aren't many guys like this. He could best be described as a smaller, less speedy, wannabe Mark Messier. Or a smaller, more talented Mel Bridgman. Mean, dirty guys who could check, kill penalties, lead, and win psychological battles. I love looking at pictures of Hunter as a player. He always looks like he's guilty of something and proud of it... or he's guilty of something and not proud of it! I remember Hunter's Washington career very well, and when I was a maturing hockey fan he was just concluding his excellent prime, but as good as he was in Washington, he was outstanding in Quebec. He was an absolutely essential piece to that team, an unsung hero who balanced out the lineup, showed up to work every day, killed penalties, intimidated, and scored clutch goals. Dale Hunter, Whatta guy.
Carol Vadnais. Vadnais' career is now effectively chronicled, but there's little reason to believe he was any different a player than we already thought. My writeup when drafting him was pretty accurate. He was clearly more valuable offensively than defensively. That said, I think he was a much better player than other defensemen selected around the same time. His toughness tends to go unappreciated. He was legitimate #1 defenseman for pretty much the entirety of the 1970s, but average at best, bottom end at worst. And the thing is, elite #1 defensemen go up against the best players and excel, while the mediocre ones go up against the best players and struggle. He was the latter. He was an embarrassment of riches as Boston's #2 but a little out of his depth as the do-it-all #1 on the Seals and Rangers. If all the talent in the NHL was evenly distributed, Vadnais would have had a solid career as an average #1 defenseman on an average team, but instead it was split into extremes - outstanding #2 on an excellent team, and overworked #1 on poor teams. A special teams specialist and all-round minute muncher, he is a better version of Rob Ramage.
cool! You read it! Or.... at least looked at the picture... haha.
