ATD 2019 Bio Thread

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Duncan Keith​

• Norris record: 1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9, 11, 11
• Unanimous winner of the 2015 Conn Smythe
• Led 3 Cup winners in ice time by very large margins (2010, 2013, 2015) - see below
• Won 2 Gold Medals at the Olympics (2010, 2014)

• Hockey News top 50 in 2011 preview - Ranked #7 (top defenseman)
• Hockey News player polled top 50 - Ranked #44 (eight defenseman)
• Hockey News top 50 in 2014 preview - Ranked #14(third defenseman)
• Hockey News top 50 in 2016 preview - Ranked #5 (top defense)

______________________

It took a few years for Norris voters to catch up with Keith's greatness, because of lack of PP time early in his career.

Norris voting:
07-08: 11th
08-09: 6th
09-10: 1st
10-11: 9th
12-13: 6th
13-14: 1st
14-15: 7th
15-16: 11th
16-17: 4th

In particular, look at 2008-09. Keith finished 6th in Norris voting, despite being a young defenseman with limited PP time. He was 5th in PP TOI among defensemen on his own team because the Blackhawks had guys like Brian Campbell and Cam Barker: http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep....16&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=ppTimeOnIce. IMO, no way were Shea Weber and Dan Boyle better than Keith that year.

Overall, Keith's 32 even strength points tied him for 2nd leaguewide but he only had 11 PP points: http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep...,gte,1&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=evPoints

2009-10 was the first year Keith saw 1st unit PP time.​

Duncan Keith's importance to the closest thing the league has seen to a dynasty since the 1980s Oilers:

During the Blackhawks' run of 3 Cups in 6 years (2009-10 to 2014-15), Keith played 444 regular season games:

• Keith led the team with 20:20 EV TOI/GP. Brian Campbell was next with 19:27 over only 133 games. Then Brent Seabrook with 18:39 over 449 games.
• Keith led the team with 2:30 SH TOI/GP. Next were Niklas Hjalmarsson with 2:25 and Brent Seabrook with 2:21.
• Keith led defensemen with 3:03 PP TOI/GP. Next: Dustin Byfuglien with 2:43 (82 games), Brian Campbell with 2:29 (133 games) and Brent Seabrook with 2:13. 3 forwards saw more PP TOI than Keith, however - Patrick Kane (3:20), Patrick Sharp (3:09), and Jonathan Toews (3:07).
• Overall, Keith averaged 25:54 TOI / GP to 23:12 for Brent Seabrook.

In the playoffs:

• Keith played 2841:54 total minutes in the playoffs over these 6 seasons, a full 21.6% more than 2nd place Brent Seabrook's 2336:11. Next most: Niklas Hjalmarsson 2273:36, Jonathan Toews 2141:46, Patrick Kane 2057:16
• Keith led the team in EV and PP TOI/GP and was a close 2nd to Hjalmarsson in SH TOI/GP
• 2010 Cup: Keith 28:11 TOI/GP. Next highest: Seabrook 24:11
• 2013 Cup: Keith 27:37 TOI/GP. Next highest: Hjalmarsson 23:15
• 2015 Cup: Keith 31:07 TOI/GP. Next highest: Seabrook 26:17
• Keith led all Blackhawks defensemen in scoring in all 3 Cup wins
• Keith won the 2015 Conn Smythe in unanimous fashion
• I don't think anyone would have been surprised if Keith had won either the 2010 or 2013 Conn Smythe

Keith's even strength ratio in the playoffs was in the same range as Pronger, Chara, Coffey, and Chelios:

Season	Games	R ON	R OFF	INCREASE
2008-09	17	1.06	0.75	42%
2009-10	22	1.08	1.48	-27%
2010-11	7	0.57	2.40	-76%
2011-12	6	1.33	0.70	90%
2012-13	22	1.77	1.18	50%
2013-14	19	1.58	0.82	94%
2014-15	23	1.80	0.78	131%
2015-16	6	2.00	0.73	175%
2016-17	4	-	0.17	-100%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Excellent results overall. Surprisingly, the Blackhawks have a (slightly) negative ES goal ratio when Keith is off the ice. When he's on the ice, his ES ratio is in the same range as Pronger, Chara, Coffey and Chelios. (For those curious, his numbers look a lot better than Kane's and Toews'). Very strong results relative to his team in four of the Blackhawks' five runs to the conference finals.

Contemporary accounts (via Dreakmur):

With the Blackhawks, Keith emerged as one of the premier two-way defenseman in the National Hockey League, often paired on the blueline with partner Brent Seabrook.

Keith is probably a little undersized by NHL standards for a defenseman, but there isn't another blueliner in the game who is as smooth a skater. Keith uses his mobility to both create offense from the back end and shut down his opponents. After the playoffs, his courageousness can't be questioned.

His work in the 2010 Cup run was Conn Smythe-worthy, even if Jonathan Toews was the award. Keith munches minutes, forming a super-tandem with Brent Seabrook and now tutors Dylan Olsen.

Perhaps his value has been inflated a little with his play in the Blackhawks' run to the Stanley Cup, which was terrific. A little undersized for the position, Keith skates the puck out of the zone as well as he passes it.

You look at Keith and wonder how this undersized, skinny guy gets it done. But he wins Norris Trophies because he plays both ends of the ice with equal ablomb and logs big minutes, patricularly in the playoffs. There might not be a better pure skater from the back end in the NHL today.

Keith's Conn Smythe Trophy puts an emphatic stamp on his value. Even though he wasn't a finalist for the Norris, Keith was a cyborg during the post-season, logging enormous amounts of ice time and keeping his game at a ridiculously high level at both ends of the ice.

Assets: Is as good a skater as you can find from the back end. Can log ridiculous amounts of ice time effortlessly. Excels at using his mobility to shut down opposing forwards. Has above-average two-way instincts for the blueline position. Plays a very cerebral game, too.

Flaws: Is a little undersized to play against giant-sized NHL forwards. May not be capable of taking his offensive game to the next level, as he's not a natural power-play quarterback. Could also stand to improve his shot from the point.

Career Potential: Elite all-round defenseman.

He thinks the game as well as anyone. He's so calm and you don't notice him a lot of the time because he's doing everything so well.

Keith offers a heady mix of high-end speed, smart reads and courage without any noticeable holes, unless you count the chasm where seven of his front teeth had been rooted until they intercepted a puck two weeks ago at the end of the Western Conference final.

Keith might soon have a Cup, with a side order of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.He already has that other modern measure of success—6,824 members of the Facebook group Duncan Keith's Missing Teeth. The Blackhawks, who faced a possible clincher on Wednesday after a wild 7--4 win over Philadelphia in Game 5, have been chasing a Stanley Cup dream that has languished since before the age of color television. The genesis of the revival of an Original Six franchise from moribund to incandescent, from patsy to powerhouse, probably started in 2002 when the team drafted Keith in the second round. Although Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are the faces of the franchise, Keith, a Norris Trophy finalist, is the face of playoff hockey. In the finals against a Flyers club with almost cartoonlike resilience, Keith has been more than a missing piece of the puzzle. He is the whole damn Jigsaw.

Offense pays the bills in the NHL, and Keith's 69 points this season (Seabrook had 30) was second among all defensemen in the league. His upside remains enormous. A couple of years ago, when the team went through physicals, former Blackhawks skating coach and retired Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen noted that the only person he's seen with a higher VO2 max (a measure of aerobic capacity and fitness) than Keith was Lance Armstrong. It's safe to say that the 28 minutes of ice time Keith averaged during these playoffs (about four minutes more than Seabrook; for one thing, Keith generally gets additional time on the power play) didn't take a toll on his body. Keith's athleticism and ability to recover have always set him apart. "When we saw him at Michigan State, he skated like his feet never touched the ice," Tallon says.

Yet for all his dynamic ability—he has drawn comparisons to Norris Trophy winner and skating wizard Scott Niedermayer—and all his deceptiveness with the puck, Keith understands and appreciates what Seabrook does to help trigger his game. Just as Rangers great Brian Leetch thrived next to Jeff Beukeboom and the Oilers' Paul Coffey was helped by being alongside Charlie Huddy, Keith benefits from the security Seabrook brings.

"Keith's an exciting guy to watch," says one impressed Eastern Conference scout, "he's not only a great skater, he's a fluid and effortless one as well. His acceleration allows him to join the rush, and his passing will bring a solid transition game to any team he's on."
...
Keith is well aware of this despite his 5-11, 168-pound frame that some traditionalists might consider less than desirable for a defenseman.
...
"His size isn't a problem with me," Mason explained, "even though it may not be preferred at the pro level, they're finding out in the NHL that skills are being more appreciated and recognized in players his size. He'll fill out, and by the time he's up to 180, he'll have everything he needs."

"He does need to get stronger," said another scout bluntly, "but with the tools he has, a guy his size can be successful because of his skating ability."
...
Gazing into his crystal ball, Keith hopes to someday become the finest mixture of Bobby Orr, Brian Leetch, and Nicklas Lidstrom.

"Those three are pretty much my idols," said Keith, who rooms with fellow 2002 draft hopeful Jim Slater. "I've watched old tapes of Bobby Orr, and try and bring part of his game to mine, but I also like how Leetch jumps up and anticipates the play and gets open for a shooting lane or pass, and I like Lidstrom's calm on the ice, and how he controls the play."

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Guy Carbonneau
​

Guy Carbonneau became the standard of defensive excellence in the post Bob Gainey/Doug Jarvis era. The premier defensive shadow in the age of high scoring stars such as Gretzky, Yzerman and Lemieux, Carbonneau was a masterful face-off specialist and a superb shot blocker. And he excelled while his team was shorthanded. An incredible penalty killer, Carbonneau was always out against the other team's power plays, especially in the dreaded 5-on-3 penalty kills.

While he was not in the same class as the superstars of his era, Guy Carbonneau will always be mentioned in the same sentence as the Gretzkys, Lemieuxs, Yzermans and Hulls - as the man who shut them down.

​

• 3 time Stanley Cup winner (1986, 1993, 1999)
• 3 time Selke winner (1988, 1989, 1992)
• Captain of the Montreal Canadiens from 1989-90 to 1993-94

• Selke record by year: 5th (1985), 3rd (1986), 2nd (1987), 1st (1988), 1st (1989), 2nd (1990), 4th (1991), 1st (1992), 4th (1994), 9th (2000)
• Carbonneau's knee problems, which caused him to miss 21 games in 1992-93, prevented him from 10 consecutive top 5 finishes in Selke voting. But later that year, he would have the most impactful playoffs of his career.

Short handed goals:

• Top 10 in short handed goals three times: 2, 3, 7
• 14th all time in career regular season short handed goals

Carbonneau is the Canadiens’ wise man, the coach-without- portfolio. Kirk Muller has called him the smartest player he has ever seen. Demers trusts his judgment. “I say what I think about different players,” Carbonneau said. “I’ve been around 11 years and I know the players and I know the reaction to hockey in Montreal as well as anyone.” While Carbo is first team All-Yap on the ice, he is less scattershot with his words in the dressing room.

. He does not outscore Wayne Gretzky, Peter Stastny, Denis Savard and Mario Lemieux--the league's most explosive centers. He usually stops them.

Shutting down Wayne Gretzky in the 1993 Stanley Cup finals:

Carbonneau's knee was bothering him all season in 1992-93 (he missed 21 games and didn't have a high Selke finish for the only time in a 10 year stretch). So he originally wasn't assigned to play against Gretzky:

It may have seemed like a no-brainer to stick a player widely regarded as the best defensive forward of his generation on Gretzky, but Carbonneau was slowed by an injury all season and was not seeing nearly as much ice that spring as he usually did.

Carbonneau It was my left knee. I had a Porsche at the time and I couldn’t even drive it because of the clutch. Jacques was trying to go offence against offence, their best line against our best line. But my point to him was, this is something I’ve done all my career — to play against the best — and I’ve done a good job. I just felt like if I can do a job against him, that would free up guys and they would have more space to score goals.

After Gretzky burned Montreal for 4 points in LA's 4-1 Game 1 victory, Carbonneau asked to be assigned to shadow him for the rest of the series:

Carbonneau was genuinely angry over what he considered a lack of effort, seething at first and but soon thinking. He saw how many times the Canadiens No. 11 went into 99, knew Montreal had to free Muller for more creative work and remembered times when the Canadiens had slowed Gretzky by assigning a full-time shadow. Then he stuck his hand up.
Take me. I volunteer.

This is not ego. It is leadership. Carbonneau doesn’t want credit, he wants responsibility. He is saying give me Gretzky, give me minutes with the best player in the world and we’ll see. I’ll take the biggest guy in the room. Carbonneau is sticking his neck out knowing Gretzky can do some cross-border chopping, but he has had a fine playoff by a more modest standard. This has not been Carbo‘s year. He is 33. Chronic tendinitis in his left knee nakes him walk with a slight limp. He didn’t score against a goalie after Nov. 9 during the regular season, but he has had two playoff game winners in overtime.

What does Gretzky bring out in you?

“The best, I hope.”

Like the playoffs.

The idea is intriguing. Captain vs. captain. Class vs. class. Smarts on smarts. The best offensive player (a page of NHL records) against the top defensive player (three Selke Trophies) of their eras. Physically Carbonneau can’t stay with 99 forever, but this is temporary work. Two weeks, tops. If the Canadiens aren’t careful, it could be sooner.

So Carbo wants 99. He is saying pretty please. If Doug Gilmour in Toronto couldn’t burn both ends of the candle successfully against Gretzky for seven games, maybe Muller can’t either. Carbo wants the chance.

This gargoyle deserves it.

1993 Stanley Cup archive: Habs' Carbonneau wants to take on Gretzky

Jacques Demers had this to say about Carbonneau asking to cover Gretzky:

Gretzky, the first game, toyed with us. And Carbo had played against [Mario] Lemieux, against [Eric] Lindros. He said his knee was OK, he’s ready to go. He got Gretzky and we never looked back. I had an open-door policy for a reason. Your captain comes to see you and feels comfortable saying he wants Gretzky, you’re absolutely going to oblige him.

Celebrating the '93 Montreal Canadiens and Canada's last Cup

Carbonneau's job on Gretzky was considered a key to Montreal coming back and winning Game 2. Gretzky was held completely scoreless:

Gretzky, who collected a goal and three assists in the Kings' 4-1 Game 1 victory, was handcuffed by Carbonneau and the resilient Canadiens Thursday night en route to Montreal's 3-2 overtime triumph that evened the championship series at one game apiece.
Carbonneau helped shut down the Kings' usually potent power play in eight chances, dropping to the ice to get in front of shots set up by Gretzky's pin-point passing.

'We let him do what he wanted in the first game but we went after him tonight,' said Carbonneau, who only played four minutes opposite Gretzky in Game 1 as Montreal Coach Jacques Demers rotated players in search of an effective antidote.

Gretzky has 50 career points in the Stanley Cup finals but was prevented from picking up the lone point he needs to pass Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe on the all-time list.

'He did a great job,' said Gretzky of Carbonneau, whose positioning and superior footwork enable him to keep up with the game's trickier players. 'We didn't play a whole lot against eachother (5-on-5) but he did a nice job on me. I think he had a tremendous game for them tonight. '
Carbonneau was so good, he managed to turn a 5-on-3 skating disadvantage for the Canadiens early in the third period into a partial breakaway. The defensive specialist scooped the puck up on the left- defensive boards and sped past Gretzky at the point before skating in on Kelly Hrudey. With Jari Kurri draped all over him, Carbonneau could only manage a weak shot that Hrudey easily smothered.

Shadowing Gretzky puts Carbonneau in limelight

Still, Montreal was down 2-1 late in the game, when Jacques Demers asked the referees to measure Marty McSorely's stick. The stick was found to be illegal and Montreal tied the game on the ensuing PP, before winning in OT. The article states that it was Carbonneau who spotted the illegal stick back in Game 1.

Carbonneau, Montreal's captain and one of only two players left from the 1986 Cup-winning team, made a pair of shrewd observations in Tuesday's series opener that he felt obliged to share with Coach Jacques Demers.

The first was to notice excessive, and illegal, curving on the blades of Marty McSorley's and Luc Robitaille's sticks, information he mentally filed for use when the Canadiens could best profit from a penalty against the Kings.

...
Less happily, he noticed that Demers wasn't always sending him out to check Wayne Gretzky's line. For Carbonneau, three times a winner of the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive player in his 11 seasons, that hurt his pride. He was also puzzled that Demers more often leaned on Kirk Muller. Carbonneau considers that a waste of Muller's offensive skills.

"I don't want to take anything away from Kirk. He's a great player offensively and defensively, but when a guy like Gretzky is out there, that takes away from your offense to have Kirk's line checking him," said Carbonneau, who centered for Benoit Brunet and Denis Savard in Game 1 and for Brunet and Ed Ronan in Game 2. "Our line is a good line defensively. We don't have to change anything in our game to play against them, while Kirk's line has to change and it takes away from our offense when it has to change.

STANLEY CUP FINALS : Carbonneau Had Plan and Then Stuck to It : Canadiens: Center spotted McSorley's illegal stick in Game 1 and shut down Gretzky in Game 2.

Montreal ending up winning games 2-5 for a 4-1 series win. Gretzky, who had 4 points in game 1 had 0 in Game 2, 2 points in game 3, 1 point in game 4, and 0 points in game 5.

 

[Dreakmur]

Kevin Stevens !!!


Awards and Achievements:
2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1991, 1992)

First Team All-Star (1992)
2 x Second Team All-Star (1991, 1993)

Hart voting - 8th(1992)
All-Star voting - 1st(1992), 2nd(1991), 2nd(1993), 8th(1994)

Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 2nd(1992), 12th(1993)
Goals - 2nd(1992), 8th(1993), 15th(1994), 16th(1991)
Assists - 7th(1992)

PP Goals - 4th(1993), 6th(1991), 6th(1994), 8th(1992)

Play-off Points - 2nd(1992), 3rd(1991)
Play-off Goals - 1st(1991), 2nd(1992)
Play-off Assists - 4th(1992), 7th(1991), 7th(1993)


5-Year Peak: 1990 to 1994
11th in Points, 84% of 2nd place Adam Oates
5th in Goals, 88% of 2nd place Luc Robitaille
4th in Power Play Goals, 86% of 2nd place Dave Andreychuk

3rd in Play-off Points, 87% of 2nd place Mark Messier
3rd in Play-off Goals, 95% of 2nd place Brett Hull


Percentages: 106(1992), 75(1991), 75(1993), 73(1994), 54(1990), 45(1998), 40(1999), 39(1995)
Best 6 Seasons: 428​

 

[Dreakmur]

Rick Tocchet !!!


Awards and Achievements:
Stanley Cup Champion (1992)

All-Star voting - 4th(1993), 5th(1989), 5th(1990)

Offensive Accomplishments:
Points - 14th(1993), 15th(1990)
Goals - 11th(1989), 15th(1993), 16th(1991)
ES Goas - 7th(1991), 13th(1989)

Play-off Points - 8th(1987), 8th(1992)
Play-off Goals - 5th(1987)
Play-off Assists - 7th(1992)
ES Play-off Goals - 1st(1987), 9th(1993)


5-Year Peak: 1989 to 1993
18th in Points, 77% of 4th place Brett Hull
10th in Goals, 70% of 2nd place Steve Yzerman
10th in Even Strength Goals, 67% of 2nd place Steve Yzerman


Percentages: 74(1990), 74(1993), 62(1991), 58(1989), 52(1999), 51(1992), 50(1995), 50(1996), 49(1988), 49(1998), 45(1987)
Best 6 Seasons: 371​

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Seems Ron Ellis has never actually had a bio here.

Here's one:

Ron Ellis, RW

4 All-Star Games: 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970.
7th in goals in 1970
4th in even strength goals in 1968, 3rd in even strength goals in 1970

For 15 seasons, Ron Ellis of the Toronto Maple Leafs was one of the NHL’s most respected two-way players and one of the game’s greatest gentlemen

THE INTERVIEW: Ron Ellis | London Ontario Sports

Even strength scoring

Ellis was a player who did most of his scoring at even strength. His even strength VsX is similar to Owen Nolan, Craig Ramsey, Wilf Paiement, Charlie Simmer, Bill Barber, Rick Vaive, George Armstrong, Claude Lemieux, Esa Tikkanen, Clarke Gillies, and Ryan Kesler.

He peaked at 4th and 3rd in even strength goals in 1968 and 1970.

It was 1964 and the Leafs had won three straight Stanley Cups. The team was a dynasty, stacked with stars like Dave Keon, Red Kelly and Frank Mahovlich. Ellis was just 19 years old, a rookie among legends. His success scoring goals in junior meant nothing now. “All these guys were stars on their junior team,” Ellis remembers thinking. “For me to have a career and not just a cup of coffee, I was going to have to diversify my game.”
Over the next two decades, Ellis became one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL. “I knew I wasn’t a Bobby Hull. I knew I wasn’t a Jean Béliveau,” he says. “I knew where I fit in.” As a winger, he averaged more than 20 goals a season, while backchecking with such tenacity that Johnny Bower considered him one of his the most valuable assets on the team.

Greatest Maple Leafs: No. 25 Ron Ellis - Sportsnet.ca

He was one of the most conscientious defensive hockey players who ever played in the NHL

Ron Ellis was definitely a favorite of coach Punch Imlach. With his team-first approach and consistent game in and game out effort and production, Imlach could only hope all his young players could be as good as the stocky right winger.
...
Ron was one of the fastest breakaway skaters in the league, Ellis had a fine accurate shot. He was also a very sound player positionally.
....
In 1972 he played for Canada vs. the Soviets in the classic 8 game summit series. His assignment was to neutralize the swift skating Soviet wingers, and he did it very well. He played mostly on a line together with Bobby Clarke and Paul Henderson. Around the NHL Ron had picked up the tag from rival players as the hardest working two-way forward in the league.

Toronto Maple Leafs Legends: Ron Ellis

After Game 1 of the 1972 Summit Series, Ellis was the man tasked with shadowing Valeri Kharlamov:

The only line remaining from Game 1 - and the only one that will remain so throughout the series - is Clarke-Henderson-Ellis. The reasons are clear to everyone: they can check as well as score, having netted two of Canada's three goals on Saturday night. The only problem is that Ron Ellis injured his neck in a fall against a Soviet player's leg, and the neck has stiffened so painfully that he can't look down to shoot. Although Ellis is afraid the disability will keep him out of the series, Sinden gives him a special defensive assignment: to act as Valeri Kharlamov's shadow.

Cold War

The book even has a chapter (chapter 11) entitled "the lonely mission of Ron Ellis" about Ellis's assignment to match up against Kharlamov.

Ace Bailey admired Ellis so much that he asked for his jersey number to be temporarily unretired:

Ellis earned an unusual tribute in 1968 when former Leafs star Ace Bailey—then working as a timekeeper at Maple Leaf Gardens—declared that he admired Ellis so much, he wanted the team to give his retired #6 to Ellis. Bailey's number had been retired following his career-ending injury in 1933. Ellis, who had been wearing #8, changed to #6 for the rest of his career, after which the number was re-retired.

- wikipedia

 

[BenchBrawl]

Anatoli Firsov !!!


​

I'll create a new thread for 2020, post it in the new one.

 

[Theokritos]

I'll create a new thread for 2020, post it in the new one.

Thank you.

I have moved the bio to the new thread, but that makes it the OP of that thread since it was posted earlier.