ATD Chat Thread XX

[Johnny Engine]

I've been to two Asian countries. Thailand is wonderful. So is Myanmar and I bet you didn't think that was going to be the other one.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

There are 24/7 day stores open and without any employees - you just walk in THE OPEN DOORS (no i.d. needed) any time of day and night and pick up any and all you want, then proceed to the ATM to pay, walk out the open door.

Easy peasy.

But this is South Korea, a hard-working socially-sensitive community of 50-million densely populated people who have a lot of pride (and sense of shame).

No way in hell could an open door to a store full of ice cream, cookies, sodas and other treats survive looting in any part of the Americas.

In southern Ontario, in a village around 30 min outside of Kingston, there's a family that makes butter tarts, and sells them from a small shed on their property. It's on the honour system. I wonder how many times people have stolen from them. (Since they continue doing this, maybe there's not many thieves - but there's no way that would last in Toronto, or probably even Kingston).

I'm taking my wife and kids to Japan and Korea next year. Very excited.

Enjoy! One of my friends went to Japan and loved it so much, that's the only place he ever travels to now.

My dad fled the failed 1956 Hungarian Revolution from the Soviet occupation on a plane to Toronto with a bar of soap in his pocket (given out to fend off sharks in case of mid-Atlantic crash). That journey i wouldn't want to re-do.

Have you ever visited Budapest? I'll be there in the spring.

 

[VanIslander]

In southern Ontario, in a village around 30 min outside of Kingston, there's a family that makes butter tarts, and sells them from a small shed on their property. It's on the honour system. I wonder how many times people have stolen from them. (Since they continue doing this, maybe there's not many thieves - but there's no way that would last in Toronto, or probably even Kingston).

Back in 2004 or 2005 i hiked a mountain in South Korea that had a Buddhist temple halfway up, and there was a bowl of money (about 20 to 30 Korean bills, each equivalent to about $1 U.S. (1,000 won bills) and a sign that said (in Korean) to take a bottle of ice cold drinking water from the tub in a pool in the stream and give a donation. Nobody around except us two. The Korean guy i was with put a 5000 won bill in and took out three 1000 won bills, handed me a bottle and we went on our way, he acting like this was normal.

Have you ever visited Budapest? I'll be there in the spring.

No, I haven't, but i have always thought i'd go there as part of a trip to father's home town (he has a huge family).

 

[VanIslander]

The ATD is becoming more similar to the main board. First, I'll list the player's ATD position, then where they finished in a just completed poll of the 5th-16th best players ever.

Sidney Crosby - 2, 5
Nick Lidstrom - 9, 9
Connor McDavid - 13, 6
D. Hasek - 18, 7
J. Jagr - 20, 8
OV - 24, 10

Um,.. that ain't similar.

Crosby over Orr and Gretzky, Hasek and Jagr 18th & 20th instead of top 8, Ovechkin 24th instead of top 10?

Lidstrom is the only one.

 

[Professor What]

Um,.. that ain't similar.

Crosby over Orr and Gretzky, Hasek and Jagr 18th & 20th instead of top 8, Ovechkin 24th instead of top 10?

Lidstrom is the only one.

Yeah, I agree. I don't see the concern. For one thing, the ATD doesn't purport to be rankings, anyway. Just because Lidstrom finished 9th in both doesn't mean we're saying he's the ninth best player. Top defensemen tend to come at a premium here. That and Crosby are the only places I feel the charge could be made, and that explains Lidstrom well. And then the Crosby pick was just baffling. There's nothing to be read into that beyond that.

 

[VanIslander]

NFL Superbowl "radio row" interview this week:


Joe Montana was asked which 3 defensive players he hated playing against most and he said: LT, Reggie White and Deion Sanders,... but he had Jerry, so he didn't worry about Deion!

That led me to google Sanders vs. Rice (arguably the best each ever at their position) and i uncovered this gem:

"Water covers two-thirds of the earth; Sanders covers the other third."

Just watch it.

 

[Johnny Engine]

A little more on the players that were hitting Draisaitl's age around the time I did my first ATD. Not only is it a pretty weak cohort of talent, but they all bloomed on the late side too, leaving very little to hang onto for an ATD GM looking to place them. Here are the guys who I think will end up in the top half of an ATD lineup this year.

1. Chara
2. a goal scoring power winger
3. a zippy playmaking winger
4. a tall playmaking center
5. a gritty two way forward
6. a slick two way centre and teammate of #5
7. a goalie
8. A two way winger who played for one team
9. A two way winger who played for a lot of teams

Assuming you know who I'm talking about, how many of those would you have drafted in the top 150 picks in 2007/08 or so? Maybe just #2? I think on the Leafs board ATD #5 missed the first draft and then got taken as a third liner in the second one we did. But the rest all had a significant amount of legacy left to build in the next 5 years after that.

 

[Johnny Engine]

Also, how bad is that age range's group of defensemen that Chara is going to be the only one playing in an ATD top 4?
Sometimes the second best defenseman in a five year age range is Chris Chelios or Brad Park, this one is probably Andrei Markov (I don't care, I'm mentioning him.)

 

[tinyzombies]

Has there ever been a better trio on any team?

 

[jigglysquishy]

Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier in 1987?

 

[Dr Pepper]

 

[tinyzombies]

Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier in 1987?

Careerwise yes by far. Don’t want to go too far with literal era comparisons. Was watching 1987 and 1984 games vs Soviets and even that hockey doesn’t compare to today’s hockey. Those three could probably be futurofitted and step in game ready tho. As for the contemporary game, even tho Sid is on the downcrest, what a trio..

They do lack the edge that Messier brought- just saw some video of him telling a defenseman, “The next time you wave your stick in my face I’m going to make you eat it.”

Video in question:

 

[Johnny Engine]

Has there ever been a better trio on any team?

View attachment 976186

I had the thought recently that we've never had 3 distinct age groups of generational forwards in their primes at the same time - Lafleur was retired before Mario started and his comeback overlapped with Jagr in one non-prime season for both, et cetera.
I wouldn't call Mackinnon a distinct age group from McDavid, but it is pretty damn cool that we have these guy playing at the high level they are for the past few years.
The thought was brought on by an impending, as-yet-unrealized breakout from Bedard, and it'd be really cool to see Sid hang on long enough to share a window of dominance with both Connors.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I had the thought recently that we've never had 3 distinct age groups of generational forwards in their primes at the same time - Lafleur was retired before Mario started and his comeback overlapped with Jagr in one non-prime season for both, et cetera.
I wouldn't call Mackinnon a distinct age group from McDavid, but it is pretty damn cool that we have these guy playing at the high level they are for the past few years.
The thought was brought on by an impending, as-yet-unrealized breakout from Bedard, and it'd be really cool to see Sid hang on long enough to share a window of dominance with both Connors.

Maybe Richard, Béliveau/Howe and Hull in the late 50s, but Hull didn't explode until 1960, Richard's last season.

 

[tinyzombies]

I had the thought recently that we've never had 3 distinct age groups of generational forwards in their primes at the same time - Lafleur was retired before Mario started and his comeback overlapped with Jagr in one non-prime season for both, et cetera.
I wouldn't call Mackinnon a distinct age group from McDavid, but it is pretty damn cool that we have these guy playing at the high level they are for the past few years.
The thought was brought on by an impending, as-yet-unrealized breakout from Bedard, and it'd be really cool to see Sid hang on long enough to share a window of dominance with both Connors.

The video of Canada’s PP1 compared to the US PP1 is astounding. Doesn’t guarantee it will be more effective but OMG, the movement with and without the puck …

Maybe Richard, Béliveau/Howe and Hull in the late 50s, but Hull didn't explode until 1960, Richard's last season.

Must have been some all-star teams back when that was life or death lol…

 

[Johnny Engine]

Maybe Richard, Béliveau/Howe and Hull in the late 50s, but Hull didn't explode until 1960, Richard's last season.

Yeah, that was part of the same thought process. If Bedard takes a bit of time to take the next step, then that's likely to happen again. Hockey had both Richard and Hull as pretty good players at the same time, but not as world beaters. Bedard is currently a pretty good player and Sid is heading that way like everyone does (unless they get cut short like Orr or Bossy).

 

[BenchBrawl]

Yeah, that was part of the same thought process. If Bedard takes a bit of time to take the next step, then that's likely to happen again. Hockey had both Richard and Hull as pretty good players at the same time, but not as world beaters. Bedard is currently a pretty good player and Sid is heading that way like everyone does (unless they get cut short like Orr or Bossy).

Is Bedard even likely to become the next star at this point?

I'm not sure I would trade Demidov for him right now.

 

[jigglysquishy]

The 1979-80 season had the best forward of the 50s (Howe), 60s (Hull), 70s (Lafleur), and 80s (Gretzky).

All except Hull played in the All Star game.