Ottawa 67's 2022 Off-season Thread

[OMG67]

Not very familiar with this player to be perfectly honest with you (you're clearly older than me), but looks like a really disappointing NHL career then for someone you describe to be an unbelievable player. Only hit 20 goals once. Never hit 50 points a single time.

Multiple concussions in Junior and one Major concussion half way through his breakout season in year two with the Leafs really was the start of the end in many respects. He was really never the same player after that major concussion. He actually ended up being instrumental in the development of new helmet technology that helped reduce concussions and their severity.

The one knock on McCauley was his skating. At the NHL level, he wasn‘t an elite skater. He would have likely developed into the prototypical 2nd line centre on a Championship calibre team. Whether he would have developed into a Selke calibre level player is questionable but it was possible.

Back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the game was way too defensive for McCauley to be an elite scorer. If I had to estimate, I’d say he probably would have settled into that 50-60 point player that is a 2nd unit PP guy and first unit PK guy. If he were on a poor team and was relied upon to be the 1st line centre, you could probably add another 10 points or so to that total. That is evidenced by his playoff scoring totals with the Leafs int he 2001-02 playoffs when he subbed in for Sundin on the top line when Sundin was injured. I think that shows about where he likely would have been had he felt more at ease physically Through a longer career.

Ultimately, he was the type of player you wanted on the ice in the last minute of a game you are up by a goal.

Unfortunately, some players never truly live up to their potential as a result of serious injury. I will still dig my heels in for Eric Lindros being in the discussion of best player all time. If he played a full career without his head injuries and didn’t slaughter his knee like Cam Neely, I still think his impact would have been felt for many years in the NHL and his legacy would have been significantly changed. Pick one player for one year? I pick Lindros from ‘94-‘97. He was an absolute beast. Virtually unstoppable. And that is with no disrespect to any of the obvious candidates either. Each of them brought an elite element to their game but Lindros’ physicality combined with skill was unparalleled up to that time.

 

[beastintheeast]

Mike Peca was a solid player but he was also a leader on a team that finished last overall and was Killer’s only missed playoff. That placing led to McCauley being picked first overall the following season.

We also conveniently forget about how good Brett Seguin was. He falls just outside the 30 years mark but he had over 400 points over 4 seasons. He was just ever so slightly before my time. I started following the team most closely during their missed playoff year.

This was before Riley so I got to sit in the stands with a fairly vocal family and I can tell you that the bad year they had was not Mikes fault. Jeff Saljko and Dikeman were the "goalies" Martin Hamrlik and Johnson were the top defencemen.

Also remember that was the year that we had that all star center Mike Gamble 5'9" and skinny as hell. Never got hit by the Petes towers because they could not hit something that low to the ice.

We aren’t having a fan discussion regarding Oshawa and Ottawa. The discussion was centred around Ottawa players.

The Alyn McCauley vs Marc Savard question isn’t even a real question. There isn’t a reputable person in the OHL that would honestly rate Savard above McCauley. No disrespect meant to Marc Savard but it is what it is. McCauley’s full game was far superior and that resulted in his Team Canada invites and two MVP’s. There really isn‘t much of a discussion in that respect.

The main discussion is who was better between Player X and Player Y on the 67’s.

Ottawa has had a handful of stellar Junior players. That is for certain. Loads of quality players that will be remembered vividly. We’ve brought many of them up here.

The challenge is the further you go back, the less fans there are that can speak to the players impact as a 67. I can tell you how good of a hockey player Dennis Potvin was but I cannot tell you what he looked like in a 67’s uniform. I wasn’t even born yet!

Same goes for Alyn McCauley. The 67’s went through somewhat of a renaissance period when Jeff Hunt bought the team and plunged a ton of cash into the organization to rejuvenate it. McCauley was gone after ‘97 so many fans on this forum simply werent’ around when the organization was floundering under Montagano. So, it is realistic to only have a couple voices on here that are able to write about players like Seguin, Peca and McCauley. Co0nversely, there are a lot of people that can speak about guys like Boynton, Campbell, and Locke.

OMG You are making my point for me. Yes Alyn had the better stats and won more awards but as you know when you are a rabid fan like there used to be in this league stats mean nothing.

My star is a better player than your star and that is all that matters was the rule of law back then.

 

[dirty12]

Multiple concussions in Junior and one Major concussion half way through his breakout season in year two with the Leafs really was the start of the end in many respects. He was really never the same player after that major concussion. He actually ended up being instrumental in the development of new helmet technology that helped reduce concussions and their severity.

The one knock on McCauley was his skating. At the NHL level, he wasn‘t an elite skater. He would have likely developed into the prototypical 2nd line centre on a Championship calibre team. Whether he would have developed into a Selke calibre level player is questionable but it was possible.

Back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the game was way too defensive for McCauley to be an elite scorer. If I had to estimate, I’d say he probably would have settled into that 50-60 point player that is a 2nd unit PP guy and first unit PK guy. If he were on a poor team and was relied upon to be the 1st line centre, you could probably add another 10 points or so to that total. That is evidenced by his playoff scoring totals with the Leafs int he 2001-02 playoffs when he subbed in for Sundin on the top line when Sundin was injured. I think that shows about where he likely would have been had he felt more at ease physically Through a longer career.

Ultimately, he was the type of player you wanted on the ice in the last minute of a game you are up by a goal.

Unfortunately, some players never truly live up to their potential as a result of serious injury. I will still dig my heels in for Eric Lindros being in the discussion of best player all time. If he played a full career without his head injuries and didn’t slaughter his knee like Cam Neely, I still think his impact would have been felt for many years in the NHL and his legacy would have been significantly changed. Pick one player for one year? I pick Lindros from ‘94-‘97. He was an absolute beast. Virtually unstoppable. And that is with no disrespect to any of the obvious candidates either. Each of them brought an elite element to their game but Lindros’ physicality combined with skill was unparalleled up to that time.

It was not easy to get past his sense of entitlement, but there should be no doubt that Lindros deserves to be in the discussion as one of the all-time best. [It took one Canada Cup practice (as an 18 yr old) to forever change the way NHL players approached the off-season. Gretzky and Messier were admiringly embarrassed by him.]. It’s amazing that the Flyers could even be a top team after trading Forsberg, Ricci, Hextall, (2 vet D?), plus 1st picks, and $10M for his rights.
But the ‘great-est one’ of all-time played >96% of all NHL regular season and playoff games and world cups never showing a sign of tiring from playing or media and public adoration. That might be just as impressive as smashing every imaginable scoring record. Well, maybe not; the NHL implemented rules (now removed) to slow offence due to how much he changed the game.
If just taking the best three seasons of Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr …they were just so much better than any other player of that generation.

 

[OMG67]

It was not easy to get past his sense of entitlement, but there should be no doubt that Lindros deserves to be in the discussion as one of the all-time best. [It took one Canada Cup practice (as an 18 yr old) to forever change the way NHL players approached the off-season. Gretzky and Messier were admiringly embarrassed by him.]. It’s amazing that the Flyers could even be a top team after trading Forsberg, Ricci, Hextall, (2 vet D?), plus 1st picks, and $10M for his rights.
But the ‘great-est one’ of all-time played >96% of all NHL regular season and playoff games and world cups never showing a sign of tiring from playing or media and public adoration. That might be just as impressive as smashing every imaginable scoring record. Well, maybe not; the NHL implemented rules (now removed) to slow offence due to how much he changed the game.
If just taking the best three seasons of Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr …they were just so much better than any other player of that generation.

It’s tough to transfer players out of their generation. The reality is though that if you take a player out of one generation, give him the same training etc as the current generation, odds are pretty decent that the player would be just as impactful. But, if you pull Bobby Orr out of 1972 and don’t make any changes to his training or equipment, it would be a different story.

Lemieux was a beast. Gretzky was the best player for sure, at least in my mind. Although he did benefit from expansion a lot.

IMO, Lindros was a completely different animal altogether. It’s hard to compare different generations but it is also hard to compare non-scoring attributes. Messier is a great example of that. Did he score as much as Gretzky? No. But his drive and determination was far greater than Wayne’s.

Wayne’s offence was a complete game changer but that Oilers team seemed to have all the required elements. He was never able to duplicate his performances outside Edmonton. There are other factors as you mentioned but Messier won another Cup with Edmonton and one with NYR. To me that is a blemish on Wayne’s career. One small little cloud on what was the greatest career of all players.

I really wish we’d have had an opportunity to see Lindros play 10 prime years instead of just 3.

 

[dirty12]

It’s tough to transfer players out of their generation. The reality is though that if you take a player out of one generation, give him the same training etc as the current generation, odds are pretty decent that the player would be just as impactful. But, if you pull Bobby Orr out of 1972 and don’t make any changes to his training or equipment, it would be a different story.

Lemieux was a beast. Gretzky was the best player for sure, at least in my mind. Although he did benefit from expansion a lot.

IMO, Lindros was a completely different animal altogether. It’s hard to compare different generations but it is also hard to compare non-scoring attributes. Messier is a great example of that. Did he score as much as Gretzky? No. But his drive and determination was far greater than Wayne’s.

Wayne’s offence was a complete game changer but that Oilers team seemed to have all the required elements. He was never able to duplicate his performances outside Edmonton. There are other factors as you mentioned but Messier won another Cup with Edmonton and one with NYR. To me that is a blemish on Wayne’s career. One small little cloud on what was the greatest career of all players.

I really wish we’d have had an opportunity to see Lindros play 10 prime years instead of just 3.

The cup win in Edmonton was very good for Messier.
Absolutely crushing for Wayne to be bested by Roy I’m sure, but otherwise the disappointment in Gretzky not winning a cup for LA is overstated a bit, I think. The kings including Carson in the deal for a player 10 years into his career was too much too soon imo.

 

[beastintheeast]

It’s tough to transfer players out of their generation. The reality is though that if you take a player out of one generation, give him the same training etc as the current generation, odds are pretty decent that the player would be just as impactful. But, if you pull Bobby Orr out of 1972 and don’t make any changes to his training or equipment, it would be a different story.

Lemieux was a beast. Gretzky was the best player for sure, at least in my mind. Although he did benefit from expansion a lot.

IMO, Lindros was a completely different animal altogether. It’s hard to compare different generations but it is also hard to compare non-scoring attributes. Messier is a great example of that. Did he score as much as Gretzky? No. But his drive and determination was far greater than Wayne’s.

Wayne’s offence was a complete game changer but that Oilers team seemed to have all the required elements. He was never able to duplicate his performances outside Edmonton. There are other factors as you mentioned but Messier won another Cup with Edmonton and one with NYR. To me that is a blemish on Wayne’s career. One small little cloud on what was the greatest career of all players.

I really wish we’d have had an opportunity to see Lindros play 10 prime years instead of just 3.

Unfortunately, both Lindros boys got painted with the Bonnie brush and the colours that it painted did not do them any favours.

 

[beastintheeast]

There is always one returning player that blows people away. in the mid 90's it was Sean Blanchard.

Who do you think will show up ready for war on the ice more than they did last year.

I would love to see a new Barlas. But I think it could be Johnson also.

Both of these guys have stuff to prove.

 

[OMG67]

There is always one returning player that blows people away. in the mid 90's it was Sean Blanchard.

Who do you think will show up ready for war on the ice more than they did last year.

I would love to see a new Barlas. But I think it could be Johnson also.

Both of these guys have stuff to prove.

Blanchard was a 1st round pick. You have to expect him to make a significant improvement in year two. Same goes for Barlas. I fully expect Barlas to come into camp this year more physically able as well as with a stronger mindset. We have to remember that these kids pretty much had a year off and that affected some more than others. I’m not saying it is a guarantee but I think it is reasonable to expect Barlas to make more of an impact as a 17 year old.

Johnston doesn’t really need to prove anything so much as he needs to stay healthy. HE stuggled with injury last season and never really got into a groove at all. I expect him to play a 3rd line role and chip in some offence.

The players that I would look at as more traditional leaping improvement are:
Sawyer
Mayich
Sirman
Gill-Shane
Boucher

Those are the guys that are more likley to make a significant step forward and become more impactful. I think when we look at the ones that seem to be more of a surprise are the 18 year olds like Dan Tudin. Guys like Mark Mancari that frustrated us for a few years and then comes out and transforms himself and his impact. A kid like Corey Locke is another great example. Or maybe someone like Jack Quinn that comes out of Tier II as a 17 year old and within two seasons is a key contributor and a top 10 NHL Pick.

I know what I expect from the guys on that list I provided but I am reasonably certain that one of those players, I don’t know which one, but one of them is going to make a statement early and carry that momentum throughout the season. We will look back on it and say, “Wow, I knew that kid could be good but I didn’t know he could be that good.”

 

[EON]

season thread: Ottawa 67's 2022-23 Season Thread