ATD 2022 DRAFT THREAD I

[BenchBrawl]

Kennedy will probably wear the "C" for this team, with Clapper demoted to an "A".

Just too good a fit next to Bobby Hull to pass up.

I gave him the "C" on the Roster post. Clapper an "A". Guess it doesn't matter, they're more or less equal leaders. Gave an edge to Kennedy for his playoff prowesses.

 

[The Macho King]

The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs select, with the 72nd pick:

LW Cy Denneny

This key member of the early Senators dynasty was the premier goal scorer of his day. Playing on a line with two terrific playmakers in Schmidt and Lafleur, he should have plenty of opportunities to cash in, acting as a better version of Lafleurs real life LW. Oh and he doesn't take any shit, either.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Denneny - Schmidt - Lafleur is a very nice line

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Denneny - Schmidt - Lafleur is a very nice line

I think MM is overselling Schmidt's playmaking (as a C, it's the weakest part of his game), but the line works.

 

[The Macho King]

Yes. I think MM is overselling Schmidt's playmaking (as a C, it's probably the weakest part of his game), but the line works

It may be the weakest, but it's not a weakness.

Lafleur is obviously the primary puck carrier and can distribute the puck as well as anyone from the wing. Denneny is more of a pure sniper, but one of the things I like is all three are a threat to score.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

It may be the weakest, but it's not a weakness.

Lafleur is obviously the primary puck carrier and can distribute the puck as well as anyone from the wing. Denneny is more of a pure sniper, but one of the things I like is all three are a threat to score.

I think you may be underrating Dennney's passing as much as you're overrating Schmidt's

Denneny was basically useless outside the offensive zone, but he put up pretty good assist numbers, and they couldn't have all been from rebounds.

(I don't know why I chose your line to start nitpicking things, sorry about that)

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

I think MM is overselling Schmidt's playmaking (as a C, it's the weakest part of his game), but the line works.

Agree, and Schmidt going to be the defensive conscience of the line which probably takes away from his offense somewhat, but like MM said, Lafleur can handle the primary playmaking.

 

[The Macho King]

I think you may be underrating Dennney's passing as much as you're overrating Schmidt's

Denneny was basically useless outside the offensive zone, but he put up pretty good assist numbers, and they couldn't have all been from rebounds.

(I don't know why I chose your line to start nitpicking things, sorry about that)

I mean I'll defer to your experience here.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

I mean I'll defer to your experience here.

There was a really long discussion on Dennney in the HOH Top 100 list.

 

[Sturminator]

There's an even longer meta-discussion to be had about the whole "only one puck" problem. There are certainly ways to draft in which your top three forwards all end up playing (and fitting) on the 1st line, but it's actually harder to pull off than it might seem.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Denneny was an OK defensive player. I don't agree with his characterization as a pure unidimensional sniper with some policing abilities. He was not a defensive black hole. His backchecking was praised in several game reports I've read.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Denneny was an OK defensive player. I don't agree with his characterization as a pure unidimensional sniper with some policing abilities. He was not a defensive black hole. His backchecking was praised in several game reports I've read.

Without naming undrafteds, was there anyone whose backchecking wasn't praised in a few games?

 

[Voight]

I was trying to trade up higher but @Voight apparently doesn't answer PMs.

BPA. Well done.

I saw it, but with Bathgate available I didn't want to trade

 

[BenchBrawl]

Without naming undrafteds, was there anyone whose backchecking wasn't praised in a few games?

My point is I didn't sense Denneny was less praised than others (except Nighbor). I'm well aware of the phenomenon you're talking about.

Now I didn't do a rigorous "notch count" to ratio the amount of praise, but maybe I should.

 

[The Macho King]

Without naming undrafteds, was there anyone whose backchecking wasn't praised in a few games?

You read the old game logs and everyone was a two way player.

I'll say this though - with a handful of notable exceptions, the middle 80% of a forwards (especially a winger) ability to impact a game defensively is pretty compressed. Unless you're just completely disinterested or a complete stud, as long as you give a shit you're doing your job.

There's an even longer meta-discussion to be had about the whole "only one puck" problem. There are certainly ways to draft in which your top three forwards all end up playing (and fitting) on the 1st line, but it's actually harder to pull off than it might seem.

When i was able to get Lafleur this is the line I targeted as possible to get that fits together.

If Firsov fell to me I probably would have taken him but he definitely would have had to be on the second line.

 

[Sturminator]

I think Denneny and Lafleur will work together quite well. Schmidt's role is a little less certain, as his real-world lines were quite different in terms of role and personnel. Milt's a wonderful player, though, and I'd expect him to be fairly adaptable. This one's right on the edge for me where I'd consider splitting up the forwards if they were mine. Schmidt - Lafleur is a nice pairing (Milt's real-world RW was called "the brains of the line"), but his LW was a far cry from Denneny, and the line was very much deployed as a 2-way unit.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

There's an even longer meta-discussion to be had about the whole "only one puck" problem. There are certainly ways to draft in which your top three forwards all end up playing (and fitting) on the 1st line, but it's actually harder to pull off than it might seem.

I think that in reality many players likely were/are more flexible in this regard, but simply never had the chance to play with the type of player to show that because they just weren't available as a teammate or because management wanted to spread out the talent.

Some guys we know had issues sharing the puck, like Mikita and Hull (although this seems to have changed for Hull as he matured/was exposed to the European style), but look at Patrick Kane, most probably thought he was a player who needed to have the puck on his stick all the time, but then he got the chance to play with another highly skilled player and we saw how well he could play off the puck as well and he ends up winning the Hart trophy. (Don't get me wrong, Kane was still carrying the puck more than anyone else on that line, and they had a center who basically never carried the puck, but we got to see a different side of Kane). How many players just never got that kind of opportunity?

 

[ResilientBeast]

81, 86 & 87 can all be yours if the price is right.

Please direct your PMs to @rmartin65 and myself

 

[tabness]

I will pick Jari Kurri. Was originally happy with the 86/87 spots and figured Kurri would be gone by then, but as he hasn't been picked yet, and @Professor What has Gretzky and is about to pick (sorry if this was your plan but also lol SCOOPED HARD), was worth a shot to move up to get him. Think I can get my other guy I would pick at 87 at 100 anyway.

Kurri is so perfect for what I'm trying to do with this team, and he's got the Coffey connection as well. To me he's easily the most underrated dynasty Oiler, all of the other guys got their due because they were somewhat separate from Gretzky, Messier was on the other line and different stylistically, Coffey was a defenseman, the goalie, and so on. Not Kurri, who will always be unfairly dinged more than he should as a product of Gretzky.

His scoring is amazing, but the numbers don't pop out to you as much as you'd think someone playing with Gretzky would. Well, a closer look tells you why. Obviously Kurri missed time during his peak, the per game numbers are great. Then there is the very low powerplay numbers, as the Oilers got low opportunities and there were a lot of other guys getting the touches.

Kurri's even strength and shorthanded numbers are staggering. He's one of just six to get 100 even strength points in a season, add shorties and only Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman score more in a year. That's just one year though, Kurri easily paces for above 100 even strength/shorthanded points in 1983-1984, and he would just be at the mark again in 1985-1986. His road stats are excellent as well.

Fundamentally though, Kurri gave up even higher numbers because of the role he played on that team. As Gretzky says "Jari Kurri was one of the most unselfish players I ever played with. He could easily have score 20 more goals a year if he'd been more selfish. It was amazing, especially on our hockey club, the way he always put defense ahead of offense."

 

[tinyzombies]

Toe Blake, LW

There was nothing at which he did not excel. He was a strong, fast skater; he could and did pick the corners with his shots; his passing left little to be desired; he was a past-master at both fore and back checking; his services were in demand when his team had the odd-man advantage and he was often pressed into service when his team was short-handed.​

- Weekly Sports News of October 1948 by H.P. Zinck

Hart Trophy (1939)

1937-38 NHL NHL All-Star Team (2nd)
1938-39 NHL NHL All-Star Team (1st)
1939-40 NHL NHL All-Star Team (1st)
1944-45 NHL NHL All-Star Team (1st) * War year*
1945-46 NHL NHL All-Star Team (2nd)

Top 10 points: 1, 3*, 3, 6, 7, 9
Top 10 goals: 2, 3*, 3, 8, 10
Top 10 assists: 3*, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10

*War year

he is a worker. Every second he is on the ice, he is digging. He skates ceaselessly, bores in all the time, and is trying every inch of the way.

"The hallmark of Blake's success is his doggedness,"

What most impressed the fans was his fiery temperament. "If ever there was a player in the league with more spirit, we haven't seen him," Dink Carroll wrote.

Toe Blake is Getting Reputation as a Fighter
Toe Blake's outbreak at Detroit is nothing new for the fiery Frenchman from norther Ontario. They say that when he was in the Canam league earlier this year with Springfield he was willing to take on all comers and got into some glorious brawls.

still a canny player and a wizard at killing off penalties.

 

[tinyzombies]

Top line completed:

Blake - Yzerman - Howe with Park

Blake the perfect buzzsaw type player to add to those two I would think. Takes the load off Howe to do all the digging and can distribute the puck and help alleviate defensive pressures on Stevie Y so he can do his thing a bit more on offense.

These four can zing the puck around and can all skate and all are well-rounded.

 

[Professor What]

Okay, you know what? It took me longer to load the dishwasher than to realize that there was an obvious answer. (Wouldn't have taken any time if I hadn't been so excited about getting tantalizingly close to reuniting Gretzky and Kurri.) If I can't reunite two-thirds of one elite line, why not reunite two-thirds of another? Gretzky might want to learn the русский язык, as he's going to be sandwiched between Валери Харламов и Борис Михайлов (Valeri Kharlamov and Boris Mikhailov)!

 

[Dreakmur]

Top line completed:

Blake - Yzerman - Howe with Park

Blake the perfect buzzsaw type player to add to those two I would think. Takes the load off Howe to do all the digging and can distribute the puck and help alleviate defensive pressures on Stevie Y so he can do his thing a bit more on offense.

These four can zing the puck around and can all skate and all are well-rounded.

I'm still not sold on Blake's defensive abilities. I've seen two contemporary quotes and they're both from after his NHL career was over and we was playing in the minors.

 

[Dreakmur]

Okay, you know what? It took me longer to load the dishwasher than to realize that there was an obvious answer. (Wouldn't have taken any time if I hadn't been so excited about getting tantalizingly close to reuniting Gretzky and Kurri.) If I can't reunite two-thirds of one elite line, why not reunite two-thirds of another? Gretzky might want to learn the русский язык, as he's going to be sandwiched between Валери Харламов и Борис Михайлов (Valeri Kharlamov and Boris Mikhailov)!

Good pick. I considered both him and Kurri to play with Clarke, but I thought I needed somebody with a little more offensive bite.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Okay, you know what? It took me longer to load the dishwasher than to realize that there was an obvious answer. (Wouldn't have taken any time if I hadn't been so excited about getting tantalizingly close to reuniting Gretzky and Kurri.) If I can't reunite two-thirds of one elite line, why not reunite two-thirds of another? Gretzky might want to learn the русский язык, as he's going to be sandwiched between Валери Харламов и Борис Михайлов (Valeri Kharlamov and Boris Mikhailov)!

Kharlamov-Gretzky-Kurri would be insanely soft, so I think he did you a favor by scooping you. Kharlamov-Gretzky-Mikhailov isn't exactly a big line and isn't all that great in its own end, but I think it works better. (Either line would obviously be incredible in the offensive zone).