ATD 2022 DRAFT THREAD I

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Montreal Wanders and the NJ Swamp Devils have swapped picks. Montreal GM tinyzombies steps to the podium and selects:

Guy Lapointe

165241271_10159109636431221_2452914351343450580_n.jpg

Position: D • Shoots: Left
Adjusted weight: 6.17, 225 lb
Born: March 18, 1948 (Age: 73-324d) in Montreal, Quebec
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player 1993

Guy Lapointe was the best offensive defenseman of Montreal's Big Three from the 1970's. He was a strong skater with a great point shot and nose for the net. He could also handle himself with the fists when required and could dish out hard bodychecks. Solid in his own end, the Big Three would switch sides and play in all sorts of combinations depending on the situation en route to four straight Stanley Cups. Lapointe and Lafleur's injuries in 1980 helped put an end to the dynasty.​
  • 6x Cup winner (1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979).
  • AS: 1 (1973), 2 (1975), 2 (1976), 2 (1977), 6, 7
  • Norris: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5
  • Was a winner with Team Canada in 1972 and 1976. Selected for Team NHL for the 1979 Challenge Cup.
  • 22nd all-time Plus-Minus (+329 in 884 games). Tied with Lidstrom for R-ON (and 0.03 ahead of Bourque). R-ON is the ratio of "team even strength goals for" to "team even strength goals against" the player was on the ice for.
  • His 166 goals are second only to Larry Robinson's 197 which came in 425 more regular season games. His 25 goals in the playoffs equaled Robinson's total, even though he played just over half as many playoff games as Robinson (112 to 203).
  • Inveterate jokester. One of his most famous pranks is probably the Vaseline coated handshake with then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau as he was visiting the Canadiens' locker room. My mother knows his wife and when I relayed the fact that he refused to sign an autograph for me once as a kid (he recognized me and knew I already had one), he signed a photo and misspelled my name on purpose. A few years ago, when he worked in management for the Minnesota Wild, he visited the scouts who were camped in a hotel for the draft. They sat there all afternoon sweating, unaware that Lapointe had cranked the heat as he left the conference room and headed to the arena for the draft.
  • Lapointe recorded 171 goals and 451 assists for 622 points in 884 games.
  • He still holds the Montreal Canadiens' record for most goals in a season for a defenceman (28), and most goals for a rookie defenceman (15).
  • His number (#5) was retired by the Canadiens on November 8, 2014. Since the #5 is already retired on behalf of Bernie Geoffrion, they will both share the honour.
 
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Chemistry and synergy is the name of the game with this pick. We'll bump Pronger to the 2nd pairing and partner King Clancy with his mentor from the Ottawa Senators. The game reports in this post do a nice job of detailing their work together.

Portland Penguins
select Georges "Buck" Boucher.

8880266_109059458920.jpg

Let's go hunt moose on a Harley! Buck Boucher!
 
Referencing the earlier discussion on which side defensemen played, I'm going to list Clancy as left and Boucher as right on my roster unless someone has insight that it should be the other way around.
 
Referencing the earlier discussion on which side defensemen played, I'm going to list Clancy as left and Boucher as right on my roster unless someone has insight that it should be the other way around.
I don’t think anybody actually knows, to be honest. I read through one of the Boucher bios (the most recent two-parter is excellent, @zffssk ), and Boucher is listed as subbing for and partnering with multiple guys, to include both Gerard and Cleghorn. He is also listed as point, coverpoint, D, LW, rover, C.

Basically, most of these early guys played multiple positions.
 
I don’t think anybody actually knows, to be honest. I read through one of the Boucher bios (the most recent two-parter is excellent, @zffssk ), and Boucher is listed as subbing for and partnering with multiple guys, to include both Gerard and Cleghorn. He is also listed as point, coverpoint, D, LW, rover, C.

Basically, most of these early guys played multiple positions.
Boucher is a somewhat special case, though, as he started his career as a rover, I believe, and played a starring role in that position during his first Cup run with the Sens before transitioning more-or-less permanently to the defense. As far as which side he played? Dunno, but probably both. He was a very versatile player.
 
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are proud to select, with the 107th overall pick:

R.b98c1b270f49557a21a5d2b6fcdf5316

D Jack Stewart

This hard nose competitor is a spectacular defender who leaves opposing forwards regretting their decision to come to his side of the ice. Placing him on a team with Milt Schmidt will require some smoothing over of egos, but better they be teammates than opponents.
 
With the least surprising pick since we took Taylor, the Vancouver Millionaires are thrilled to pick the perfect complimentary player for Esposito and select, Hooley Smith, C/RW

7045758_1041598367.jpg


The Morning Leader*-*Jan 26 said:
Rugged, fast, a great poke check and playmaker as well as possessing a personality which gives him confidence in himself to make a good fist of anything he tackles. Hooley hands out a ready body check as well and in an oratorical contest would probably finish number one of all the forwards in the league.

The Ottawa Citizen - Jan 31 said:
Hooley Smith was in his element. The favorite son of Balmy Beach revelled in the rough going. He took them all on one after another, missing only XXX, and it cannot be said that any of his opponents took down the decision. Hooley's crouch-check and poke-check worked havoc with the Maroons all evening.

The Ottawa Citizen - Feb 2 said:
Who in hockey has not heard of Hooley Smith, daring, dauntless and doughty, fearing no man, and accordingly to report few women, as John Bassett said at the banquet to the Senators last spring when they were acclaimed world's champions.
 
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are proud to select, with the 107th overall pick:

R.b98c1b270f49557a21a5d2b6fcdf5316

D Jack Stewart

This hard nose competitor is a spectacular defender who leaves opposing forwards regretting their decision to come to his side of the ice. Placing him on a team with Milt Schmidt will require some smoothing over of egos, but better they be teammates than opponents.

Good pick and makes my next pick a little easier
 
With the least surprising pick since we took Taylor, the Vancouver Millionaires are thrilled to pick the perfect complimentary player for Esposito and select, Hooley Smith, C/RW

7045758_1041598367.jpg
Hooley was a great player and is a good fit with Phil Esposito, though you probably shouldn't expect "full value" out of him on the wing. Hook-checkers needed to be in the middle of the ice in order to maximize the effectiveness of that particular technique. Moving a hook checker from center to wing is going to be more defensively limiting than it would be for a more conventional player, though obviously he's a strong defensive player no matter the position. Almost all of Hooley's award recognition came as a center for the Maroons after the famous line on which he played RW was broken up, and he only played the wing in Ottawa because of the presence of Frank Nighbor.

Phil Esposito is arguably the ATD's trickiest puzzle and Hooley is a good fit on his wing, but he's a guy who loses a little shine when taken away from his natural position, as most players do. Still, it's about as good a fit as you're likely to find for Esposito's wing among players actually worthy of skating on an ATD 1st line.
 
I'll pick tough guy defensive defenseman Ivan "my nickname was cool in the 30s" Johnson

IMO, he's the best defenseman left by far.

3x 1st Team All-Star (1928*, 1932, 1933)
3x 2nd Team All-Stat (1927*, 1931, 1934)

*GM voted team

Only 1 voting point behind Howie Morenz for the 1932 Hart Trophy (Overall Hart record: 2nd in 1932, 5th in 1928)

#1 defenseman on Bill Cook's Rangers team that won 2 Cups
____________

We have a bunch of "all-time all-star teams" made by hockey people:

Most mentions among defensemen:
Eddie Shore 20
Eddie Gerard 10
Sprague Cleghorn 10
Ivan Johnson 9
Dit Clapper 6
undrafted pre-consolidation dman 5
undrafted pre-consolidation dman 5
King Clancy 5
Georges Boucher 4
Earl Seibert 4

All Time Best Players - Lists by their contemporaries
__________________________

Johnson will form a nasty physical trio of defensemen with Doug Harvey and Bill Gadsby
 
I'll pick tough guy defensive defenseman Ivan "my nickname was cool in the 30s" Johnson

IMO, he's the best defenseman left by far.

3x 1st Team All-Star (1928*, 1932, 1933)
3x 2nd Team All-Stat (1927*, 1931, 1934)

*GM voted team

Only 1 voting point behind Howie Morenz for the 1932 Hart Trophy (Overall Hart record: 2nd in 1932, 5th in 1928)

#1 defenseman on Bill Cook's Rangers team that won 2 Cups
____________

We have a bunch of "all-time all-star teams" made by hockey people:

Most mentions among defensemen:
Eddie Shore 20
Eddie Gerard 10
Sprague Cleghorn 10
Ivan Johnson 9
Dit Clapper 6
undrafted pre-consolidation dman 5
undrafted pre-consolidation dman 5
King Clancy 5
Georges Boucher 4
Earl Seibert 4

All Time Best Players - Lists by their contemporaries
__________________________

Johnson will form a nasty physical trio of defensemen with Doug Harvey and Bill Gadsby
If he was still there at my next pick I was going to fill out my top 4 with him.
 
I've read a lot about Ching Johnson, and his long hockey stick isn't cited as much as his short temper. He comes across as like Cleghorn. Maybe it's the product of his era.
 
I've read a lot about Ching Johnson, and his long hockey stick isn't cited as much as his short temper. He comes across as like Cleghorn. Maybe it's the product of his era.
Fighting (including stick fighting) was a much bigger part of the sport back then. Maybe he was just fulfilling his role on the team? He does have five seasons in the top-10 in PIMs, but who knows how many of those were fighting majors?
 
I'll pick tough guy defensive defenseman Ivan "my nickname was cool in the 30s" Johnson

IMO, he's the best defenseman left by far.

Once Weber, Lapointe, and Stewart went, he was probably the last of that tier.

I looked at him, along with Jack Stewart, when I took Weber. Very little separated them for me, but I went with Weber because he plays a similar intimidating defensive game without taking a lot of penalties.
 
All three of those d men i pondered before going with a 2-time Art Ross winger in a smaller draft where good d's and c's ain't so rare.
 
I found it!

Ching getting drafted motivated me to dig up this video of Foster Hewitt with the 1933 Cup champion Rangers. It's such a strange document...amateur porn-quality lighting; the ice looks like a sand pit; and Ching and his partner are hanging out at their own (invisible) blueline while the forwards go into the zone. Also, a f***ing wicked line brawl. Just delightful. Hockey has really evolved a lot over the years. There's undrafteds mentioned in the commentary here, so mute your computers, or something.

 
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"Put the puck where the goaltender isn't."
Bill Cook.

That is the best line from that clip. He went on, beside the point, to score the game-winning goal.

One wonders if he may be flummoxed by Hasek (in the same division in this draft).
 
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It was brought up a few times in the HoH section, in reference to Mario Lemieux I think, and probably using as an example his famous goal against the North Stars, how the ability to receive a pass―without losing a beat and regardless of its accuracy―is an underrated skill and a sign of quality in a player.

I found interesting info on Busher Jackson's ability to do just that.

From his linemate Charlie Conacher:
The line’s left-winger, Busher Jackson, had more natural ability than any player I ever saw. Bush could take a pass in full flight on one of his skates and somehow flick the puck up onto his stick without breaking stride. He was one of the greatest rushers largely because of the most unusual of athletic gilts, a natural shift. Red Dutton, who played defense for the New York Americans and later became president of the National Hockey League, once told me about that shift from the point of view of a defenseman: "He comes at you taking a stroke on his left skate and then, instead of taking his next stride on his right foot, he seems to take another with his left."

And from a 1935 article by Ted Reeve:
Which, when you stop to think about it, seems hardly fair to the Defensemen’s Union. Add to this a knack of weaving past a rearguard so close that he practically brushes their sweaters, a terrific backhand shot and the ability to take a pass on his skates or stick at almost any angle or speed, and you have Harvey Jackson, the successor to Howie Morenz.
 
Chemistry and synergy is the name of the game with this pick. We'll bump Pronger to the 2nd pairing and partner King Clancy with his mentor from the Ottawa Senators. The game reports in this post do a nice job of detailing their work together.

Portland Penguins
select Georges "Buck" Boucher.

8880266_109059458920.jpg

Let's go hunt moose on a Harley! Buck Boucher!

Georges Boucher mentored King Clancy when he was on the back-nine of his career, forced into a more defensive/leadership role by Mother Time and a bad knee. Would prime Georges Boucher be a great partner for Clancy? It's unclear, given both players' propensity for offense, but if there's one thing Boucher did well it is to adapt himself to his team's needs.
 
Boucher is a somewhat special case, though, as he started his career as a rover, I believe, and played a starring role in that position during his first Cup run with the Sens before transitioning more-or-less permanently to the defense. As far as which side he played? Dunno, but probably both. He was a very versatile player.

I've got this, plus some equivalently minor evidence Gerard played RD, so we can probably assume Boucher played LD. But who knows?

Game 2: Ottawa Citizen Mar 12, 1924 (2-4 L vs. MTL, loses series by 3 goals)

Position: LD (Partner: XXXXX RD)

Game #7 - Ottawa Citizen Dec 8, 1926 (3-2 W vs. CHI, 1 goal)

Position: LD (Partner: Clancy)

Game #8 - Ottawa Citizen Dec 10, 1926 (3-1 W vs. DET, 1 goal)

Position: LD (Partner: Clancy)

Game #26 - Ottawa Citizen Feb 2, 1927 (2-4 L vs. NYA)

Position: LD (Partner: Clancy)
 
With the least surprising pick since we took Taylor, the Vancouver Millionaires are thrilled to pick the perfect complimentary player for Esposito and select, Hooley Smith, C/RW

7045758_1041598367.jpg


Early in the draft after picking Hull, I played with the idea of reuniting him with Espo and form a Bobby Hull - Phil Esposito - Hooley Smith line. Risky business, but it would have been an interesting experiment.
 
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...the ability to receive a pass―without losing a beat and regardless of its accuracy―is an underrated skill...
The kick from skate to stick to puck in net i have seen a few guys do, including drafted Yzerman, Bure and undrafted but i will soon if no one else does....
 
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