ATD 2017 Draft Thread IV

[Leaf Lander]

Time to review recent picks:

Bill Guerin: A name I've looked at in the past, brings toughness as well as goal scoring to any team.

Claude Giroux: Had I gone for an offensive 4th line it was between Giroux and undrafted for me. Having a down yr. in real life but for his career he's done good. I like the makeup of your 3rd line, goal scoring Nash, playmaker Giroux, glue guy Colville.

Floyd Curry: Had him in a past draft. One of the better penalty killing wings in this thing.

Pierre Turgeon: A favorite of mine growing up, he should do well on a line with Bure but those 2 together are as soft as a feather, not sure how Sutter will react to that. Having Dino on the line will help.

Bobby Rowe: Don't know much about him but he seems like a good player, reading his bio he was rough so that's good to have.

Tommy Dunderdale: Reading up on Dunderdale he seems like a good scoring line centre, good for a scoring 4th line.

Carol Vadnais: Had him last yr. as an extra, still he's a good offensive defenseman who should mesh well with the more defensive Joe Hall.

Gregg Sheppard: Seems like a scrapper, a perfect fit for a 4th line, should fit well with Topazzini.

Randy Carlyle: I've always found it hard to peg him. He usually is a bottom pairing guy around here but I wonder if he's good enough for that, sure he has a Norris but it's just the 1. Again not to slight you ck26 but it's just a pick I can never peg.

Rob Ramage: Time to do some damage because you got Rob Ramage. . It's a good pick. Here's some more trivia for you, in the loaded 1979 draft it was Rob Ramage who went #1 overall.

Wally Stanowski: Not a bad pick for a #6 especially when Leaf has strong defenseman like Orr and Chara. Maybe drafting a good #7 in his next round of picks would be a good idea.

5 of my 6 dman have been considered the #1 dman on their teams Orr Chara Thomson Ramage and Stanowski. Mortson was always a #2.

 

[Sturminator]

In terms of being selected in the ATD, sure, like I said he can easily fit into a team and with different types of players. In terms of purely ranking the best coaches of all time, no.

Ivan's relative versatility makes him interesting to more teams, and thus more likely to be taken early. I don't see how it makes him more valuable to the team that drafts him, though.

 

[jarek]

Ivan's relative versatility makes him interesting to more teams, and thus more likely to be taken early. I don't see how it makes him more valuable to the team that drafts him, though.

Is it going to help strictly in a "this quality of his will directly lead to more wins" kind of way? No. But it frees up a lot of options for team building.

 

[jarek]

Anyways, I'm going to go into much more detail about this come assassinations, but I loved Ivan due to his teams being very disciplined, well balanced offensively and defensively, and that he was able to shuffle his lines around in a seemingly intelligent manner.

That last bit may need some further explanation. My roster post has Joliat taking extra shifts with the second line, Richard taking extra shifts with the 4th line, and Bathgate taking extra shifts with the 3rd line. I have full confidence that Ivan would not only be able to do this in a way to maximize the benefits, but also be willing to do it based on the one quote of his in the bio.

 

[Voight]

Burns demanded backchecking. He sent Joe Thornon back to the minors because he wasn't checking (Burns loved the other 1st round Bruins, praising him constantly, the 18 year old IHL defensive player of the year who had a Calder trhy worthy NHL rookie campaign under Burnsie).

Thornton went straight from the Greyhounds to the Bruins and has never played in the AHL.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Ivan's relative versatility makes him interesting to more teams, and thus more likely to be taken early. I don't see how it makes him more valuable to the team that drafts him, though.

Agreed

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

The Borg are pleased to complete their starting forwards with the assimilation of Bruce MacGregor, aka. Bruce MacBorgor

Some stand out quotes:

Originally Posted by Brad Park
The surprise was Bruce MacGregor, who, until then, I hadn't considered a particular asset to the club. As we were both on the right side, I got a chance to observe his remarkably steady play, up and down the wing, and the job he does checking

MacGregor was a slick and speedy forward who was a coach's dream. He was never an outstanding scorer, topping 20 goals only three times in his 13 year career, but he would do anything the coaches needed him to do, and with great proficiency. Using his incredible acceleration and his equally impressive hockey sense, he was a great utility player, filling in admirably wherever and whenever the team asked him to. He was also a mainstay on the penalty kill unit

A solid and reliable two-way player, MacGregor played all of the '60s with Detroit before moving to the Rangers and finishing his career in the WHA with the Edmonton Oilers. The centre was nicknamed the "Redheaded Rocket" for his hair colour and his speed. MacGregor set career highs in 1966-67 with 28 goals and 47 points.

It all started shortly before Game Four with a private meeting between XXX XXXXX, the scrappy chancellor of the Rangers' exchequer, and the man they call Murdoch. The 33-year-old MacGregor is a quiet redhead who has skated in obscurity through most of his 13 NHL seasons. As he suspected, XXX wanted to discuss Yvan Cournoyer, the Montreal Roadrunner, who had deflated the Rangers in Games Two and Three by scoring five goals.

"XXX said we had to contain Cournoyer, or else," MacGregor says. "He asked if I'd switch from right wing to left wing, forget all about my own offense and think only about shadowing Cournoyer. He told me that if I could keep Cournoyer off his game even a little bit, then things might fall into place for us."

While MacGregor admittedly cannot skate as fast as Cournoyer—who can?—he accepted the assignment. "I had never played head to head against Cournoyer," MacGregor says, "but I knew his game. He plays the percentages. He likes to sneak between or behind the defense and get a long lead pass from Jacques Lemaire or one of the defensemen. My job, as I saw it, was to stay between Cournoyer and [Ranger Goaltender] Eddie Giacomin. I had to be the middleman at all times. I knew if Cournoyer got between Giacomin and me on a breakaway, it probably would be curtains. There's no way I'd ever catch him in a race. It would be worse than the tortoise and the hare."

In three games MacGregor had out-shot Cournoyer nine to five and out-scored him four to nothing, leaving Bowman with a strange look on his face. "I didn't think New York had anyone who could slow Yvan down," he said. "I thought XXX XXX was the only New York player who could skate with him, and they traded XXX to Los Angeles. That MacGregor, he's pretty smart."

The Rangers defeated Montreal for third straight game eliminating them from the opening round of the playoffs.

...

They did it because of an air-tight checking job on Yvan Cournoyer by Bruce MacGregor, who also pitched in with a series-high six goals.

MacGregor Line To Check Bobby Hull

Abel said he plans to use MacGregor's line, including XXX XXXXXXXX and Paul Henderson to check Bobby Hull, Chicago's record-breaking goal-scorer.‎

Fairbairn and then Bruce MacGregor were used to check Hull, with Park backing them up. Hull got off one shot in the game.

Resistance is Futile.​

 

[tony d]

With pick 458 I go for Mr. St.Louis Blue who's now going to have to be Mr.Toledo Goal Digger.

Left Winger Brian Sutter.

Sutter's going to help with the physicality on the left wing side for my team and bring a great work ethic to my team. Glad to get him.

 

[Voight]

Indiana Ice will select C/LW Mel Bridgman!

Should pair well with Peca on the 4th line.

 

[Sturminator]

The Miami Screaming Eagles listpick C/RW Ed Litzenberger.

 

[ck26]

Ahh, the good old days, back when the Red Wings actually employed Americans ... like MacGregor ...

Every game photo I've seen of Sutter makes him look like a Slapshot character.

 

[King Forsberg]

With pick 458 I go for Mr. St.Louis Blue who's now going to have to be Mr.Toledo Goal Digger.

Left Winger Brian Sutter.

Sutter's going to help with the physicality on the left wing side for my team and bring a great work ethic to my team. Glad to get him.

Great pick tony. Sutter was one guy I was hoping to finish off my fourth line with.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Anyone here know ways to access Boston newspapers from the 1920s? Google news archive doesn't have any newspapers from this period of time, and I've tried to look elsewhere, but they're either blocked by a paywall or I need a Boston library card.

 

[VanIslander]

... I've lived too long. (Dreading my upcoming 50th b-day.)

No one but me around here remembers Pat Burns criticizing Thornton CONSTANTLY his rookie season for lack of scoring and sending him down because of it?

I hate the ignorant **** I have to deal with sometimes around here.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

... I've lived too long. (Dreading my upcoming 50th b-day.)

No one but me around here remembers Pat Burns criticizing Thornton CONSTANTLY his rookie season for lack of scoring and sending him down because of it?

I hate the ignorant **** I have to deal with sometimes around here.

Do you mean scratched or maybe that he was sent down to a lower line? Thornton was never sent down to a lower league.

 

[VanIslander]

I went to 8-11 games in Boston during Thornton's rookie year and he played ONCE! The knock on him was his lack of backchecking. I was 28 years old in grad school in Toronto and hated the Leafs so only went to Montreal, Buffalo and Boston to see games live (otherwise on T.V.).

*sigh* I'm sure he was sent down somewhere. I remember the report vividly (preseason?).

Gawd, I feel old. It was like 19 years ago!

 

[jarek]

Well, West Lafayette is skipped.

The Austons select Ted Harris, D.

He will be "the answer to Gordie Howe".

 

[Johnny Engine]

I'll take the apparently bio-less Andrei Markov, and work on that.

 

[Theokritos]

About Joe Thornton's first season in the NHL:

Hall of Famer Pat Burns was the Bruins coach at that time, and the hard-nosed bench boss helped Thornton's transition to the pro game. Thornton played 55 games his rookie season and registered only three goals and four assists for seven points. "I probably spent more time in his office talking to him than I did on the ice that year," Thornton recalled... (Source)

While averaging 8minutes 5seconds of ice time per game, he accumulated 3 goals and 7 points in 55 games... (Source)

Thornton spent much of his rookie season with the Bruins as a healthy scratch. (Source)

Thornton's rookie season was a long and tedious learning process... "Joe was so good in juniors he didn't have to work at it," says Sinden. "When he got here, he didn't understand that when he has the puck, someone really wants to take it from him." Are the Bruins disappointed in him? "No, but we're going to be if he doesn't pick up his intensity," says Sinden. (Source)

 

[VanIslander]

There's no way Joe Thornton played 55 games his rookie season.

Maybe in the press box!

I watched most of the Bruins games that season (more than half of them) and he was NOT in most of them!!!

No way.

 

[jarek]

There's no way Joe Thornton played 55 games his rookie season.

Maybe in the press box!

I watched most of the Bruins games that season (more than half of them) and he was NOT in most of them!!!

No way.

Facts appear to disagree with your assessment..

 

[VanIslander]

So-called "facts" can go **** themselves.

History ain't always recorded accurately.

 

[jarek]

So-called "facts" can go **** themselves.

History ain't always recorded accurately.

So are you telling me that whoever was responsible for keeping track of the amount of games Joe Thornton played got it wrong?

VI, it's entirely possible in his rookie season that he only played 1-2 minutes or something like that a few games, and that could be why you don't remember him playing that much. However, I am very certain that 55 games played is accurate.

And unfortunately it appears impossible to verify this as TOI didn't start getting recorded until the season after..

 

[Voight]

So-called "facts" can go **** themselves.

History ain't always recorded accurately.

I hope your tinfoil hat is on

I went to 8-11 games in Boston during Thornton's rookie year and he played ONCE! The knock on him was his lack of backchecking. I was 28 years old in grad school in Toronto and hated the Leafs so only went to Montreal, Buffalo and Boston to see games live (otherwise on T.V.).

*sigh* I'm sure he was sent down somewhere. I remember the report vividly (preseason?).

Gawd, I feel old. It was like 19 years ago!

Go to whatever hockey website you want and look up Joe Thornton. He literally never spent a day in the AHL or any other minor league.

 

[jarek]

I hope your tinfoil hat is on



Go to whatever hockey website you want and look up Joe Thornton. He literally never spent a day in the AHL or any other minor league.

Does the swiss league count as minor?