The 2011 Double-A Draft (sign-up, roster, picks, everything)

[BenchBrawl]

HC Krylya Sovetov select Bob Berry LW

Ryan Clowe RW

 

[VanIslander]

Groshev played in 15 international games that mattered, scoring 18 points...

No goals against Czechoslovakia or Sweden. Maybe some assists? Beating up on West Germany and Poland in "games that mattered" matter less to me than so-called mere exhibition matches against the best two or three international teams of the time.

Groshev is a 3-time First team all-star in the Soviet league (1959, 1960, 1962). There was no available player who had done this even twice. Just six one-timers, all from the 1958-1963 era, now remain. (plus a few 80s goalies and two post-1990 players)

So your point is he stands out as the next-best Soviet pick because of his domestic league accolades? Maybe no more Soviets ought to be drafted then, or maybe domestic league accomplishments, especially in a clearly lesser era, ought to be secondary instead of primary in considerations of all-time merit?

Groshev scored 236 goals in 450 USSR league games for an average of 0.52 per game. Konstantin Loktev, considered a bonafide ATDer, scored 0.63 per game, in 110 fewer games, with far superior linemates, in a career that both started and ended a few years earlier, meaning he faced slightly lesser competition domestically. Who was the more offensively talented player? Let’s pretend the other factors don’t matter and simply look at raw GPG. Groshev scored at 84% Loktev’s rate. You tell me, where do most players who score at a rate of 84% of a bonafide ATDer get selected? Starshinov’s average was 0.75 per game domestically, meaning Groshev scored at about 69% his rate. You tell me – where do most players who score at a rate of 69% of a bonafide ATD second liner get selected?

To be clear: Loktev does have intangibles and international success that make him an all-time great Bottom-6 forward; Starshinov is a legit 2nd liner in a 40-team main ATD for reasons other than domestic league scoring. I see your reasoning but don't buy it: it's like comparing a major juniors star who never went to the pros to someone who continued into the pros and starred there too. There are plenty of junior stars who couldn't raise their game to the next level, and Groshev didn't, not against the top teams internationally, not even staying on the national team long. That means a huge question mark remains as to whether his domestic league scoring would have translated well to games against the best. Now, what domestic league team did he play for and against? If he scored a lot against the Red Army team then THAT is significant. Most of that league though was chopped liver, like those 18 international points he got weren't against the Czechs or Swedes!

As for Makarov… why snipe at me now over this? I would address your points but I addressed them all very well back in the AAA and received nary a response from you – AS USUAL

You are under the impression that having the last word means you've won. There's no contest. One person makes a point and if another makes a counterpoint then sometimes things stand like that, they agree to disagree and third parties make up their own minds.

Both The Red Machine and Road To Olympus are excellent books that document the soviet history and systems rather well, but don’t try to tell someone who has read them both, that they are excellent resources on individual players. They aren’t anything close to that. There are fleeting references to perhaps 100 players, most of whom are mentioned once and never again.

This is the sort of reasoning that makes me not even want to reply to it. I think I have amply demonstrated in my research and extensive quotes in bios that both of those books have plenty of good stuff on individual players, most recently my Svetlov and Romishevsky bios, hell the last page's Gimayev had quotes from The Red Machine about Gimayev's sparkling play with Makarov and the punchfest he had with a USA player, among the multiple references to Gimayev. There are no references in the index to your draftee Groshev and I have counted 121 Soviet player references in the index of that one book alone. Of course, if your point was that it is possible for a player to be significant and not even mentioned in those two great hockey books then fine. But to try and broadstroke the texts as if they don't talk much about players is misleadingly dismissive.

 

[seventieslord]

No goals against Czechoslovakia or Sweden. Maybe some assists? Beating up on West Germany and Poland in "games that mattered" matter less to me than so-called mere exhibition matches against the best two or three international teams of the time.

Thing is, we don't really know much about how many points other players from other countries picked up against the better and worse teams either. We kinda have to go with what we have. If Groshev had no goals in the games against good teams and piled them on against the bad teams, AND (this part is important) this wasn't a usual tendency for most other soviet forwards, I agree this is a potential concern. It doesn't, however, completely disqualify him from consideration, either.

Since chidlovski tracks only goals, we can't say where his assists came from.

So your point is he stands out as the next-best Soviet pick because of his domestic league accolades? Maybe no more Soviets ought to be drafted then, or maybe domestic league accomplishments, especially in a clearly lesser era, ought to be secondary instead of primary in considerations of all-time merit?

No, I mean he stands out because of his overall resume, which includes a reasonable weighting of his domestic and international components. Internationally I am sure you could find a dozen who compare. Domestically, I don't think any do. You should never be overly focused on just one or the other.

To be clear: Loktev does have intangibles and international success that make him an all-time great Bottom-6 forward; Starshinov is a legit 2nd liner in a 40-team main ATD for reasons other than domestic league scoring. I see your reasoning but don't buy it: it's like comparing a major juniors star who never went to the pros to someone who continued into the pros and starred there too. There are plenty of junior stars who couldn't raise their game to the next level, and Groshev didn't, not against the top teams internationally, not even staying on the national team long. That means a huge question mark remains as to whether his domestic league scoring would have translated well to games against the best.

Yes, obviously that is correct about Loktev. Let's try put that into an NHL context. Pie McKenzie, Jean Pronovost, Wilf Paiement, those are good bottom-6 ATD forwards thanks to intangibles, not necessarily their underwhelming (though decent) offensive output. Those three averaged from 0.69 to 0.82 PPG in their NHL careers. If there was a forward who played 800 games, was one-dimensional, and scored at 84% their rate (0.58 to 0.69, or 464-552 pts, a Mike Murphy or Nick Libett without the defense and physicality), yes, he would be drafted by now. Groshev, as a question mark, is not necessarily one-dimensional, but might be. which makes him a surer bet than this hypothetical player.

I could do a similar analogy with Starshinov replaced by a marginal 2nd line center like a Roenick or Brad Richards.

The analogy about junior players is not valid at all. The difference between the soviet league and international play in the late 50s and early 60s is not analogous to the difference between junior and the NHL in modern times - not even close.

Now, what domestic league team did he play for and against? If he scored a lot against the Red Army team then THAT is significant. Most of that league though was chopped liver, like those 18 international points he got weren't against the Czechs or Swedes!

Groshev was a member of Krylya Sovetov Moscow. He played mostly with scrubs. I don't know, of course, who he scored against. Maybe it was that he gave the Red Army team trouble that earned him more all-star votes than his raw stats suggested he should.

You are under the impression that having the last word means you've won. There's no contest. One person makes a point and if another makes a counterpoint then sometimes things stand like that, they agree to disagree and third parties make up their own minds.

Believe me, I am more than fine with the bolded. But let me just clarify one important piece for you - i do not think having the last word means I won. This is the second time you've made such an accusation. If I ever complain that you didn't reply, it is not in a "you never replied, therefore I win" context, it is a complaint that you didn't engage me in the conversation/debate as much as you could have, and failed to take it further. As it applies to Makarov - what I am saying is, if you wanted to say something like that about that pick, there was a time and a place for it, and it's passed, and I wanted you to make comments like that so that they could be addressed and so that I could make the attempt to have my player stand up to critical analysis.

This is the sort of reasoning that makes me not even want to reply to it. I think I have amply demonstrated in my research and extensive quotes in bios that both of those books have plenty of good stuff on individual players, most recently my Svetlov and Romishevsky bios, hell the last page's Gimayev had quotes from The Red Machine about Gimayev's sparkling play with Makarov and the punchfest he had with a USA player, among the multiple references to Gimayev. There are no references in the index to your draftee Groshev and I have counted 121 Soviet player references in the index of that one book alone. Of course, if your point was that it is possible for a player to be significant and not even mentioned in those two great hockey books then fine. But to try and broadstroke the texts as if they don't talk much about players is misleadingly dismissive.

No, that wasn't really my point. The very best players are talked about a lot. But I'm not talking about a lot of players, and certainly none that were available even at the MLD level. Some lesser players are mentioned a very small handful of times - nothing that a good bio can be based on, but certainly seasoning for the main course. But follow most of those 121 references and they lead to passages that don't tell us anything about the player that can really be useful.

One of the 121 is Nikolai Makarov. Here's what they say. "Nikolai Makarov, the 33-year old brother of Sergei, who played 13 seasons as a defenseman with Traktor of the elite division, was sent to Finland."

Another one of those 121 is Romishevsky. Here's the one reference to him: "The five players chosen were given the name "the system". They were *******, Romishevsky, Mishakov, ****** and *******."

There are many, many examples like this. The amount of players that The Red Machine can actually be a useful reference for is quite small. (there might be variance between your definition of useful and mine)

Sorry for my tone earlier on today.... bad day.

 

[seventieslord]

Willie Huber, D, who will play on my first pairing. He averaged over 23 minutes a game in his career, a rarity for a player taken as we approach pick #1700. Huber is the second highest scoring defensemen of all-time still available, is the 3rd-most-used special teams defenseman left, and has real experience playing on NHL top pairings (2nd, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd in ES TOI in his five prime years). Do your top pairing defensemen have this experience?

Huber had very imposing size (6'5", 228 lbs in the 1980s) but since he wasn't simultaneously the league's largest player and its most physical, he became a lightning rod for fan criticism. Also, because he didn't fit the stereotype for a big defenseman (the "tower of strength" or "rock of gibraltar") he was not always fully appreciated. Huber was more of an offensive specialist. But he was not so greatly deficient in any area that he should be denied recognition in the AAA or AA draft.

Let's go over some numerical reasons why he's a worthy pick:

He averaged 23.63 minutes played per game. That's awesome for a player who is available this late. Although his +/-, adjusted and raw, is among the worst of all-time, he was a guy who was counted on for big minutes in all situations. It's true that he wasn't a great defensive player at even strength, but he was a massive PK minute muncher: 41%, to be exact. A guy who is that extensively used on the PK can't be as bad defensively as he was sometimes made out to be. Coaches speak the loudest with the minutes they hand out, and he played a ton.

He started as Detroit's #4 in his rookie season but spent the next two season as their #2 guy - Reed Larson's understudy. In 1982 he was the #1, before dropping back below Larson in 1983. In 1984 he was 2nd to Barry Beck in NYR ice time (a 93-point team!). He then spent two years as a #5, including one where he helped them to the conference finals, losing to Roy's Habs. In 1987 he rebounded as a #3, before bouncing around during the 1988 season, a year he spent mostly in Vancouver as their #3.

His biggest critic would tell you he was just once a top-3 defender on a team over .500. His biggest fan would counter that he was a top-2 defenseman on his team five times, that's not easy to find this late, and you should blame the worst players that the teams were bad, not the best players. How good is Huber? Somewhere in the middle.

Some called him a Gulliver among the Lilliputians when he skated down the ice. Others saw him as a dinosaur, towering over the cavemen. Willie Huber was a giant among men, but he wasn't a bully and therein lay the problem.

Performing effectively on defense wasn't Huber's problem in Detroit. It was playing the way the fans wanted him to play which created the dilemma.

Detroit's top pick in the 1978 NHL amateur draft, Huber arrived in a 6-foot-5, 228-pound package.

People expected him to topple forwards like bowling pins, but that wasn't Huber's style. He wasn't afraid of physical play, it simply wasn't the No. 1 facet of his game.

"I don't go out looking for trouble," Huber explained. "But if someone starts getting rough with me, you can bet that I just won't shy away." The numbers were there to back up his statement. Huber led the Wings with 164 penalty minutes in 1979-80, his second NHL campaign. But his game was skill.

Huber was an amazingly agile skater for his size, an excellent puck-control defenseman with a booming shot, which he employed effectively from the point. In 1981-82, Huber and winger Mark Osborne shared the team lead in power-play goals with five apiece.

"He was our most consistent defenseman, throughout the season," Wings coach Wayne Maxner said during the 1981-82 campaign, a season in which Huber and Greg Smith formed Detroit's No. 1 defense pairing.

The Wings tried to groom Huber slowly, sending him for a 10-game stint with Kansas City of the CHL during his first NHL season in 1978-79. Huber still managed to garner seven goals and 31 points in 68 games and was named Detroit's rookie of the year.

"If we can develop two or three young men like Huber, I think our future will be bright," said Bobby Kromm, the Wings coach at the time.

The German-born Huber moved with his family to Canada as an infant. Huber was a junior teammate of fellow Red Wing Dale McCourt in Hamilton, where they won a Memorial Cup together in 1975-76. The following season, Huber played for Canada in the World Junior Championship.

Huber played for his country again at the 1981 World Championship, but a broken cheekbone kept him out of the 1982 tournament.

A consistent goal-scoring machine from his defense position, Huber tallied 17 times in 1979-80 and scored 15 goals each in the 1980-81 and 1981-82 campaigns. He was selected to play in the 1983 NHL All-Star Game and put together a string of four 40-point seasons between 1979-80 and 1983-84.

struggled at times and went to minors for a brief visit but was an effective regular by end of season... very strong but not a goon type... agile for size... has hard slap shot from the point but doesn't get it off quickly enough to be consistently dangerous...

the biggest man in the NHL but remarkably quck and agile for his size... has improved considerably in his first two seasons... handles the puck well...

needs to improve defensive play...

always seems capable of much more than he delivers... could still be key man if team would establish some stability...

surprisingly agile and mobile... handles the puck well, has a good shot and is among the best at clearing traffic from the front of the net...

Like Barry Beck, he worked and worked and turned Garden's critics around... excellent hand-eye coordination makes him best passer on team and accurate shooter... had fine playoff...

Barret Jackman, a double-tough crease clearing, teammate-sticking-up-for, penalty killing beast of a defenseman. Though only once the top dog, he has been in his team's top-4 his entire career (3, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1, 4, 3 this year) - at even strength he has ranked 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, and down to 3rd this year as he begins his graceful decline at age 32. Four times a top pairing even strength defenseman, for a guy who is so defensively inclined, and averages about 20 points per 80 games, is awesome. He hits, blocks shots, and has a fight about every 10 games. Just three available defensemen have better numerical PK credentials than his: 46% usage, 7% better performance than average. Not only has he played big even strength minutes, he has managed to post a positive career adjusted +/- despite making little to no offensive contribution to the cause.

Jackman has the brain of a 35-year old defenseman in a 22-year old's body. The Blues defense looked on the brink of collapse in training camp without Pronger, but up stepped Jackman to partner with MacInnis and look like an all-star himself while doing it. Jackman's game is so complete, so rock-solid, that it was incredible to think he was a rookie. Strength on the puck? Check. Positioning? Check. Intelligence? Check. Checking? Check. Jackman is a smooth skater with above average NHL speed. He has a great passing touch, either in an offensive mode or to make the first pass..his offensive contributions will be modest... Jackman doesn't panic under pressure and plays odd man rushes wisely, seldom getting suckered out of position. Jackman didn't just play last season. He faced opposing teams' top lines night after night. He was sent out in crucial situations. He had to grow up in a hurry... Jackman isn't huge, but he is strong, tough and aggressive. He'll fight if he has to, and he's not scared of league heavyweights, even if he isn't one himself.

stay at home defenseman who plays like he's 240 pounds... a leader in the dressing room... never takes a shift off. He often, sometimes recklessly, throws his body into whatever it takes to win. This results in frequent injury problems, but when he's healthy, the Blues are a much better squad... second on the team in both hits and blocked shots... defensive stalwart, often relied upon to provide leadership and experience... now an embattled veteran... puts his body on the line every night, starting to feel the effects... when healthy, a great leader, shot blocker and shutdown defender...

 

[Hobnobs]

DAY 2:

Josef Cerny, Rick Lanz (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Chris Gratton, Craig Muni (Garnish Bulldogs)
Frank Martin, Kevin Miller (Saskatoon Sheiks)
Ernie McLea, Toni Lydman (Rensselaer Engineers)
Tom Poti, Juha Widing(HC Krylya Sovetov)
Horace Merrill, Gord Pettinger (Michigan Wolverines)

DAY 3:

Andrei Kovalenko, Danny Markov (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Michel Larocque, Brad Boyes (HC Krylya Sovetov)
John Michael Liles, Urpo Ylonen (Garnish Bulldogs)
Ron Grahame, Jorgen Jonsson (Rensselaer Engineers)
Horace Merrill, Gord Pettinger (Michigan Wolverines)
Bob Froese, Jason Woolley (Saskatoon Sheiks)

anyone else see a problem?

 

[Hobnobs]

Michigan Wolverines selects:

Willard Ikola, G

Alexander Edler, D

Travis Green, C

Viktor Kozlov, LW

Dean Evason, C/W

Stan Weir, C

 

[Velociraptor]

Pretty sure Willie Huber was snagged up in the MLD by jkrx, seventies.

EDIT: And after taking a quick scan I believe I am wrong, Huber is still available!

 

[tony d]

Defenseman Steve Konroyd and Centre Darren Turcotte

Much like Muni and Orpik Konroyd is mainly a defensive defenseman and will be used on the Garnish penalty kill.

More on Konroyd can be found by clicking the following link:

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10817

Some stats on Turcotte:

- 2 time 30 goal scorer
- 411 points in 635 games
- 1991 NHL All Star

More on /turcotte can be found by clicking the following link:

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11668

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Turcotte was so fast in NHLPA '93.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

D Marc Staal and LW Curt Bennett

22:10 TOI in 321GP
x1 NHL ASG (2011)

Curt Bennett had a 10-year NHL career, and was a full-time NHL player for seven seasons. A self-described "defensive forward", he was a massive body in his time (6'3", 195 lbs) and a good checker and fighter, yet a clean player.

Bennett had just 347 PIM in 580 NHL games, but with his 27 fights taken out, had just 0.36 PIM/game, or a minor penalty about every 5-6 games. Bennett rarely got PP time (23% in his career), but in the two years that he did, he scored 30+ goals and 60+ points. Aside from that, he had four seasons of 34-47 points with minimal PP time. As such, he has a very strong adjusted ESPPG of 0.46. He is a rarity this late in the draft: a skater who played in two all-star games. Bennett makes an excellent 4th liner; he would be to the AAA draft what Harry P. Watson is to the ATD.

He also represented the USA three times from 1976-1979 in the Worlds and the Canada Cup, scoring 7 points in 23 games.

"My best years were with Atlanta. I led the team in goal scoring 1975-76, and 1974-75. When I scored 31 goals in 1975, I was the first American bred player to score 30 goals or more in the NHL. I scored 34 the next year. I had to work hard to stay in the league and was always in good shape."

Curt Bennett was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on March 27, 1948, but grew up in Rhode Island. The move to the United States came when Curt was just 3 months old as his father, Harvey Sr., was a goaltender for the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League. Curt remained in Cranston until he was 21, being a high school hockey star at Cranston East and later a collegiate star at Brown University. He excelled at both defense and forward while at Brown and was an All-American choice at defense in 1970.

During his sophomore year at Brown, 1968, Curt was drafted 16th overall by the St. Louis Blues. However it wasn't until Curt graduated from Brown University in 1970 before the Blues saw him turn professional. Bennett spent his first pro season playing left wing with the Kansas City Blues, the Blues farm team. He played well in the CHL, scoring 19 goals and 42 points in 63 games. He even got a late season call up and scored his first two NHL goals in 4 games before appearing in 2 1970-71 playoff games.

Curt was unable to use his rookie glimpses of success as a springboard to full time NHL employment in 1971-72. He split the season between the Blues and their farm team, this time with the WHL's Denver Spurs. He scored just 3 goals and 8 points in 31 quiet regular season games with the Blues, and no points in 10 playoff games. During the summer, the Blues sent Curt packing to the New York Rangers to complete an earlier trade for troubled tough guy Steve Durbano.

Bennett played briefly with the New York Rangers, appearing in limited ice time in 16 games, and picking up just one assist. He was then traded to the Atlanta Flames in exchange for Ron Harris.

It was in Atlanta that Curt blossomed into a full time NHLer. In his first of two stints with the Flames he topped the 30-goal mark twice and twice represented the Flames at the NHL all star game. Curt was a consistent 20 goal man while rarely missing a game due to injury. A big man, playing at 6'3" and 195 lbs, Curt wasn't noted as the toughest guy in hockey, but he did use his size when needed.

"I came into the league when Americans had to use their fists instead of scoring goals. This was good because I had a tough time scoring goals," said Curt.

Late in his career Curt rejoined St. Louis for parts of two seasons before returning to Atlanta for one more season to close out his NHL career. Ironically Curt's last NHL season was in 1980 with the Atlanta Flames, the organization's last year in the state of Georgia (They made the move Calgary after that season).

"The media talk in Atlanta was, 'Hell, if Curt can't play for the Flames anymore we're going to get rid of them," joked Curt.

Bennett retired from the NHL with 152 goals, 182 assists and 334 points in 580 regular-season games.

 

[seventieslord]

Another case of me taking a player I am not even that fond of. Saskatoon selects Sergei Samsonov, LW.

At this point, how do you say no to Samsonov? Even if he got there ugly (inconsistent, just about played his way out of the league once, mostly one-dimensional) it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t have the best offensive resume of all available players.

- He has the most career points among them, by a margin of 71 points
- He has the most ESP among them, by a margin of 43 points entering this season
- He has the 3rd -most PPP among them
- He isn’t just leading these categories because he played 888 games. His career adjusted ES points per season average of 48 is the highest among available players as well
- Strangely, his downside as a producer is that his 18 adjusted PP points per season is exceeded by a good number of available players despite a similar degree of usage. You would think that a player like him would have an easier time on the PP, but paradoxically he excelled much more at even strength.
- Best 5 % scores: 78, 78, 52, 48, 48

Now, to balance this out, I select a player that I actually am fond of. With Samsonov gone, this player is:

- The 6th -highest scorer of all-time available with 441 points heading into this season.
- The 2nd -highest ES scorer of all-time available with 333 ES points heading into the season
- Has the 6 th -highest adjusted ESP per season average among available players, with 46
- He is the only player who has maintained an average of 40+ ESP/season over more than 750 games (i.e. all the others with similar per-game averages have not been able to maintain it like he has)
- He is known as a very solid two-way player and has an excellent PK resume, killing 29% of penalties in his career at a rate 10% better than the league average.
- He can play both LW and C

Based on all this, you probably still don’t know who I am talking about, because he has so quietly gone about his solid business for nearly 800 games since 1999. I am talking about Jochen Hecht. Hecht’s excellent ES scoring resume will make my 3rd line particularly dangerous, without taking a hit on the defensive side. Hecht will have a major role on our PK as well.

Hecht has been an excellent NHL player for over a decade now, on both sides of the puck. With 444 points in 772 games, he was a solid producer throughout the dead puck era as well as a great defensive forward, though not to the level that would earn significant Selke recognition. Both his adjusted ESPPG (5th, 0.56) and his total adjusted PPG (0.75, 13th) are among the best among available players, so he's not just some run-of-the-mill two-way forward. He's been very well respected in the NHL for ages.

His career adjusted +/- is an excellent +94. His usefulness is demonstrated by his career average of 17.52 minutes per game.

Hecht has 32 points in 59 NHL playoff games, 6 points in 20 best-on-best international games as a German underdog, and 15 points in 38 World Championship games.

a rangy forward who can handle all three forward positions... He is a good skater with a good passing touch, more of a playmaker than a scorer. He plays with a straight-up stance that allows him to see everything. He stickhandles in close, and has a great move walking out from the corner or behind the net... A very smart player with deceptive speed... he is a tough read for opposing defensemen because he doesn't do the same thing every time... Hecht plays with drive. He doesn't quit. He's never going to be the big star on a team but he's going to be a big part of a team. Hecht is a guy who will show up to play every night. he can kill penalties and adds depth... physical play doesn't bother Hecht, but he doesn't initiate it... He has to get stronger and learn to play in the dirty areas of the ice... He doesn't mind sticking his nose in...a well-conditioned athlete... an underrated forward.

provided a solid two-way presence in the top-six... smart, well-rounded forward who can excel in different roles... solid complementary player, does all the little things well... a stable skater with deceptive acceleration and top speed... protects the puck well and is a good passer... misses that mean physical edge needed to exploit his excellent strength and ability to create space along the boards.

A consistent second line scorer... Buffalo felt Hecht's injury in the playoffs as their PK tanked... has only one season where he recorded a minus, despite often playing for middling teams.

 

[Hedberg]

The Engineers select:

G Bohumil Modry

1947 World Championships Gold Medal (He allowed 10 goals in 7 games with 2 shutouts)
1948 Olympic Silver Medal
1949 World Championships Gold Medal

AGRS.cz:

Bohumil Modrý was unsurpassable when in the gate. In his times he was considered an unmatched goalie. In 1947 and 1949 he played an important part in the Czech team obtaining the gold medals. A short time afterwards he was tried unjustly in a communist trial and sent to prison. The price given to the best player of the league voted for by the players carries his name.

From a post on HFBoards: (http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=149416):

None of the remaining Czechoslovakian players had ever seriously considered defection, although they had quite a few chances to do so. Always, the team had returned without incident from past tournaments. But these facts were not taken into consideration by the Czechoslovak Supreme Court and at 8 p.m. on October 7, 1950 the players were sentenced. Goaltender Bohumil Modry received 15 years in prison, forward Gustav Bubnik, 14 years; forward Stanislav Konopasek, 12 years in prison; Vaclav Rozinak and Vladimir Kobranov, 10 years each. Seven other players were given prison sentences ranging from 8 months to 6 years.

Most of the players spent 5 years in jail, after which their passion for hockey--to say nothing of their lives--was seriously damaged. Modry, for example, who some claim to be the greatest Czechoslovak goalie of all-time, was released from prison at the age of 39 and couldn't go on with his brilliant career. He had been one of the LTC Praha players who made an historic trip to Moscow in 1948 for the first international games against Soviet hockey players. Now he was all but forgotten and labelled as a political criminal. During the 1959 World Championships in Czechoslovakia, nobody from the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Union would even invite him to watch their games or talk to him. But surprisingly, Soviet coaches Anatoli Tarasov and Arkady Chernyshev did talk to him, and even brought Modry back to their team bus and he sat on the Soviet bench at every game.

In 1963, just a few months after Modry's death, Tarasov and Chernyshev were in Czechoslovakia again and invited Modry's widow Erika to their hotel. She recalled: "I came into the room and saw Tarasov, Chernyshev and couple of high officials from the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Union. Tarasov introduced me to the officials and said: 'This is Mrs. Modry. Do you know who her husband was? He taught us how to play hockey and we will never forget that."

It still remains uncertain why it was decided that Modry was named as the "main figure" in the potential defection plan--particularly in light of the fact that by 1950 he was no longer a member of the national team--but the official decision that he was the ringleader also profoundly affected 21-year-old Gustav Bubnik. Despite their age difference, he was a close friend of Modry. It was the decision of the court that "Modry influenced the situation through the help of Bubnik." The young star forward was one of the few players who appealed the court decision. On December 22, 1950 the appeal of his 14-year sentence was declined, but Bubnik was able to talk to the court chairman right after that. Bubnik said: "I remember him well. He wasn't afraid to talk to me. He said, 'You were used as an example for all Czechoslovak athletes to show what would happen to them. The decision wasn't made in the courtroom."

Greatest Hockey Legends:

Bohumil Modry played mostly with LTC Prague from 1936 through 1950. Described as a natural born leader, he is two time world champion (1947 and 1949), and six time Czechoslovakia champ.

Modry became known to astute observers in Canada after the 1948 Olympics when he shutout Canada in a scoreless tie. He also helped to build the game, serving as role model for future goalies and publishing his goaltending philosophies in Czech magazines.

During his playing days he was known as the best
goalie in Europe, and a legend in Czechoslovakia - so much so that when the communists took over they were looking to make examples of people of higher social classes to intimidate the general population and as a result Modry was imprisoned for 15 years based on fabricated charges. He would be released in 1956 at age 39.

D Petteri Nummelin

- Record 15 appearances at the World Championships
- 2006 Olympic Silver Medal
- 5x World Championship All-Star (2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2010)
- 2x World Championship Best Defenseman (2000, 2010)
- 2x Most Assists at the WC (2001, 2006)
- 1995 World Championship Gold Medal
- 4x World Championship Silver Medal

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

If we are going to value 1950s Soviets and Swedes, I don't see why we wouldn't value late 1940s Czechoslovakians. Czechoslovakia was the class of Europe for a few years at the end of the 1940s - until the famous plane crash and later the arrest of most of the national team for not being Communist enough destroyed the team for a generation.

Good pick with Modry.

 

[BenchBrawl]

HC Krylya select Alex Burrows RW

 

[seventieslord]

Saskatoon selects Jason Blake, F.

Blake has a lot going for him: He was 10th in the NHL in goals in 2007 (it was Yashin-fueled, but Yashin's not a great playmaker himself), he has blazing speed, he is fearless, he can kill penalties, and he's a very pesky agitating presence.

He's scored 20 goals four times in addition to his 40-goal season, and his five 50+ point seasons are the most among available guys. Although I don't particularly like the Masterton trophy being a "disease award", Blake won it in 2008 for coming back from preseason Cancer and not even missing a game.

Blake's career average of 44 adjusted ESP per season is 9th-highest among among available players - despite this average being wrecked by three offensively inept seasons played on checking lines. No one available has maintained an average close to this, for nearly as many games. He's killed 19% of his team's penalties in his career. Among the handful of available players who have put up multiple 50-point seasons, he has been by far the most prolific penalty killer.

Blake's raw career totals of 206 goals and 474 points are 3rd and 4th among all available players.

Best 5 percentage scores: 61, 57, 54, 53, 49.

Blake makes a good spare forward because he can be a complementary player on a scoring line at this level, keeping up with his speed, breaching the zone and finishing. He can also just be a 4th line pest, or a 3rd line defensive forward who kills penalties. He doesn't need to be on the PP to post decent scoring totals. In addition, he can play any forward position if he has to. He has at least three seasons of NHL experience at each position.

a hyperactive sparkplug who darts all over the ice thanks to his outstanding speed and skating ability... has good hands and excels at rushing the puck through the neutral zone and gaining the offensive blueline, though his repertoire f moves has grown predictable... ultimately effective playing an abrasive style, fearlessly driving his tiny body into high traffic areas...less effective in traffic and missing that mean passionate edge since being diagnosed in 2007 with leukemia... still proved a capable torpedo with the ducks as he creates turnovers and forecheck confusion that played a part in linemates' strong finish.

------------------------------------

next, I select a player who impresses me more each time I look at him: Playmaking RW Nelson Emerson. Emerson topped 50 points four times, including 70 twice. (the 1995 lockout season would have projected to 63 points for him, too) At this time his 488 career points are 3rd among available players. He's actually been just as productive as Blake on a per-game basis, except that he wasn't as effective at ES and was instead heavily utilized on the PP where his playmaking skills served him well.

Best 5 percentage scores: 66, 55, 53, 51, 50.

Crazy stat time: Emerson's 148 career power play assists are 34 more than any other available player!

He was not a hugely renowned two-way forward, but he wasn't bad, and he did kill a fair amount of penalties: 18%, for teams 3% worse than average. Not bad.

Emerson will complete our 2nd line and of course play on the 1st PP unit, possibly on the point.

speed, speed and more speed. Add some puck control, and you have the essence of Emerson... on the PP, Emerson can play either point or work down low. He has an excellent point shot, keeping it low, on target and tippable. He is very intelligent with the puck and doesn't always fire from teh point, but works the puck to the middle of the blueline and uses screens well... Emerson works well down low at even strength. He is mature and creative, with a terrific short game. He has quick hands... He likes to work from behind the net, tempting the defense to chase him behind the cage... he has good quickness and balance, and he darts in and out of traffic in front of the net. He's too small to do any physical damage. He can use his speed to drive wide on a defensman...

Emerson has good skating balance, and that will give him a little edge to knock a bigger player off stride once in a while. He will work hard defensively but has to play a smart small man's game to avoid getting pasted... Emerson will never be a star, but he will rack up 70 points and give the jets a strong second line. He is developing into a top-notch two-way forward.

 

[tony d]

Sergio Momesso, Left Wing and Dainius Zubrus, Right Wing

Momesso:

Momesso will be the glue guy of my 3rd line, a role he is perfect for and a role he filled in the top 6 of many teams including in St.Louis with Brett Hull and Adam Oates. Over his NHL career Momesso had 345 points in 710 games.

For more on Momesso click the following link:

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11138

Dainius Zubrus:

Some stats on Zubrus:

- 510 points in 1013 games
- 2 Seasons of 30 or more assists
- 1 top 10 finish in SHG for a season

More on Zubrus can be found by clicking the following:

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=15188

 

[Hobnobs]

Michigan Wolverines selects:

Dan Cleary, RW

Pat Elynuik, RW

 

[tony d]

Always good to see a fellow Newfoundlander picked, Cleary has stepped up his career the past few seasons, next to Keith Brown Cleary is probably the best player this province has ever produced.

Great pick seventies with Nelson Emerson, I remember his case for being picked being argued last year a little, just a really good player. I was going to pick him today if he was still available.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

F Mike Corrigan and Coach Gerry Cheevers

x2 20gs, x1 30gs
x1 Top 10 Shooting %
347 points in 594GP

Left winger Mike Corrigan played his Junior A hockey with the Toronto Marlboros, scoring 25 goals and 61 points in 41 games in 1965-66. From there, he toiled in the minors with the Tulsa Oilers of the CPHL and the Rochester Americans of the AHL. The big break for Corrigan, and many others, came in 1967 when the NHL announced it was expanding by six teams.

In 1967-68, Corrigan joined the Los Angeles Kings for five games while playing the bulk of the season in the AHL with the Springfield Kings. He had a very productive season, scoring 24 goals and 54 points in 58 games but he failed to earn a roster spot with Los Angeles the next season. However, Corrigan was inserted into the Kings lineup for 36 games in 1969-70 where he scored ten points.

The Vancouver Canucks acquired Corrigan's services for 1970-71, and in 76 games he notched 21 goals and 49 assists. Midway through the next season, he was sent back to Los Angeles for his second go-round with the Kings where he played a regular role for the club. Corrigan's best individual season came in 1972-73 when he scored 37 goals and 67 points with 146 minutes in penalties, all of which were NHL career highs.

This is OPC card #37 from the 1974-75 season. It is of Mike Corrigan, a rough and tumble player best known with the Los Angeles Kings. Though most sources list him as a left winger, he played all three forward spots with proficiency. In fact, one newspaper report suggested Corrigan was the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals at each of the three positions.

The Toronto Marlies grad spent several seasons apprenticing in the minor leagues. Turning pro in 1966, Corrigan never stuck in the NHL until he left the Kings organization and joined the Vancouver Canucks in 1970.

Corrigan responded with a 20 goal rookie season. But part way through the following campaign the Canucks traded Corrigan back to the Kings.

That turned out to be a very astute move by the Kings. Corrigan found a home on the "Hot Line" with Bob Berry and Juha Widing. In 1972-73 he would have his best season, scoring 37 goals and 146 penalty minutes.

Corrigan's numbers never reached that level again, although his exuberance remained. He led the Kings in penalty minutes in three consecutive seasons. He played on with L.A. until joining the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1976, originally as an injury replacement for Lowell MacDonald. He played two more years with the Pens before his career all but officially ended with a badly broken leg.

In total Mike Corrigan played in 594 career NHL games, scoring 152 goals, 195 assists and 347 points. He added another 2 goals and 5 points in 17 post season contests. One of those playoff goals was particularly memorable for Kings fans. In game six of the 1976 quarterfinals vs Boston Corrigan scored a goal while lying flat on the ice. The goal forced over time in a game eventually won by the Kings.

204-126-46
x2 Top 3 Adams Finishes (3rd, T3rd)
Led the Bruins to 1st and 2nd place finishes league-wide during Adams finalist years
Lost to Islanders 4-2 in Conference Finals in '83, Lost to Canadiens 3-0 in first round of '84 playoffs

If the Boston Bruins are becoming paranoid, who can blame 'em? Their head coach, Gerry Cheevers, did the best job of any of his peers in the league this season, lifting his team to first-place overall in the in the toughest of the NHL's four divisions. He achieved this despite the worst injury record (Terry O'Reilly out for whole season, Steve Kasper out for most of it, defenceman Ray Bourque out at various times, etc) and the trauma that beset the club after Normand Leveille's tragic brain hemmorage.

Yet 11 of the 33 members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association who pick the Coach of the Year (Jack Adams trophy) didn't even include Cheevers in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place on their ballots, causing him to come third, after Chicago's Orval Tessier and Washington's Bob Murray - despite the fact he got the most first-place votes.

Probably the 11 broadcasters who ignored Cheevers altogether did so because "Cheesy" happens to be a regular, old-fashioned guy with one of the drier wits in the game and who refuses to complicate matters with modernesque gobbledygook.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7GUxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SaUFAAAAIBAJ&dq=langway%20norris&pg=2199%2C3577993

Here's an article from '83 titled "The Doggone Bruins May Go All The Way" that provides a great look into the Bruins who led the league before a disappointing postseason.

"This group is completely different from any other Boston team I've seen," says Naples, who claims to have missed only four Bruin home games in the last 44 years. "This team doesn't have the big scorers, and you don't see the bench-clearing brawls anymore. The Big Bad Bruins are gone. Nobody comes here saying, 'Let's see a shootout and a free-for-all.' This is a bunch of kids who'll check you all over the ice. Look at them. They work like dogs."

And they're beginning to cotton to that canine handle. "About six weeks ago, [right wing] Keith Crowder started calling us the Dogs because of the way we work and check," says General Manager Harry Sinden, who by means of a 50% turnover in players the past 22 months has converted Boston from an aging team of playoff losers—three games to none to Minnesota in the first round in 1981—to a young pack of Cup contenders. "They're all dogs," says Sinden. "They want to be dogs. They think a dog is a great thing to be."

From the opening whistle the Bruin forecheckers are indeed relentless at hounding their opponents. "We'll have two forwards—and sometimes all three forwards—deep in the offensive zone, working for the puck," says Coach Gerry Cheevers, "but I don't let our defense-men rush in very often. That way, even if all our forwards get trapped, the worst we're going to give up is a three-on-two, which isn't really that high a percentage opportunity."

As a Boston goaltender in the glory years of Orr and Phil Esposito, Cheevers faced more than his share of two- and three-on-ones as the Bruins committed everyone but the stick boy to the attack. The idea was that a 9-7 win was just as good as 2-0.

"Now goals are precious to us," says Sinden, "not so much because we don't score that many as because we know we have the ability to protect the goals we get. We can go into the third period with a one- or two-goal lead and make it stand up." Indeed, through Sunday the Bruins were winning games by an average score of 4.03 to 2.63. Their defense, stingiest in the league at giving up goals, has been strong enough to support a so-so ninth-place offense.

...On Thursday, while the Bruins' dogged checking held Quebec's high-scoring Stastny brothers to a total of three shots on goal, Peeters repeatedly short-circuited the Nordiques' tic-tac-toe passing by intercepting their centering plays and poke-checking pucks away from their forwards. At one point, with the Bruins clinging to a 4-3 lead, he jabbed the puck off the stick of top-scorer Peter Stastny before Stastny could get off a shot.

Peeters' flashy play sometimes causes observers to overlook what his defensemen are doing in front of him, which is allowing opponents only about eight shots on goal per period. Chief among them is 22-year-old Raymond Bourque...he's the one defenseman Cheevers hasn't shackled to the blue line...

Says Milbury, "It's easy to play defense when you know you're not expected to contribute a lot of offense. Bourque and O'Connell rush the puck sometimes, but Gerry wants us to get it over the red line and dump it in. Let the forwards go to work."

That is to say, unleash the dogs. Their tenacity as forecheckers, said Ranger Coach Herb Brooks after Boston's 3-1 win on Jan. 24 in New York, "forces you to do things you don't want to do."

One of those things is taking a hit. While these Bruins may not play rough-house hockey like Da Broons of yore—"I was a goon goalie," Cheevers has said, "but I'm not a goon coach"

...Considering the gravity of the Bruins' injuries—12-year stalwart Terry O'Reilly out for the season after having knee surgery; Steve Kasper, the top defensive forward in the league last year, out at least until March after undergoing shoulder surgery; and Normand Leveille, the spark-plug left wing, out of hockey forever after suffering a near-fatal stroke last October—it's a tribute to the young dogs' scrapping spirit that they've gone as far as they have.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120502/3/index.htm

 

[Hobnobs]

Always good to see a fellow Newfoundlander picked, Cleary has stepped up his career the past few seasons, next to Keith Brown Cleary is probably the best player this province has ever produced.

Great pick seventies with Nelson Emerson, I remember his case for being picked being argued last year a little, just a really good player. I was going to pick him today if he was still available.

You might be right about Cleary, his development into a warrior has been amazing to watch.


I was also going to pick Emerson today. Great pick seventies.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Zubrus is one of the best guys along the boards that I've ever seen. Solid defensively. Hands of stone, though - most of his points come from getting the puck to more talented linemates.

 

[seventieslord]

...it is amazing how many career points he has accumulated, based on that.

So far there have been very few picks I really didn't like. Most were guys I had at least longlisted. Others, I should have.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

...it is amazing how many career points he has accumulated, based on that.

So far there have been very few picks I really didn't like. Most were guys I had at least longlisted. Others, I should have.

Zubrus is pretty good in front of the net too. He's kind of a "Dahlen-lite" type guy. I obviously remember him more from recent years than his earlier years with the Flyers. To be honest, if his hands were close to the rest of his game, he'd easily be a MLD-calibre glue guy... or better.

 

[BenchBrawl]

HC Krylya select Jay McClement C

McClement is a solid all-around player who is also a great addition to our PK unit.He is also a great faceoff man , especially when shorthanded.

 

[VanIslander]

Both co-GMs of the Engineers have researched and are proud to draft Skinner Poulin, a player in the thick of the top action, with intangibles like hard checking, determination and popularity, a guy in demand who was front and center on a couple of the best teams of his era. He may not be anything more than a decent Bottom-6 forward in the Double-A Draft, but he might be more than that.

He was a center, though sometimes at rover and on defense, with a reputation for physicality and in demand by top clubs. He played for Rat Portage in 1908, one of four players recruited along with Lalonde, Pitier and Bernier to play for the new French club the Montreal Canadiens. The 23-year-old Poulin then scored the first game-winning goal in Habs history. Georges "Skinner" Poulin, Newsy Lalonde and Art Skinner each scored two goals in that game, Poulin's second marker sealing the 7-6 triumph, the clincher coming 5:35 into overtime. While Poulin would head west for several years, he was brought back to the Canadiens for their Stanley Cup winning 1916 season.

The Patricks stole players away from the East for their new PCHA and Poulin was one of them. He was the center of the home team in the first ever PCHA game in 1912. He scored 9 goals for the Victoria Aristocrats that inaugural season, the same as Walter Smail, one less than Bobby Rowe and Lester Patrick, and significantly less than his wingers, the two biggest producers on the team Tom Dunderdale and Don Smith who were top-5 PCHA scorers at 24 and 19 goals respectively. With Bert Lindsay in net, it was one fine club to center!

That Skinner Poulin, the popular Victoria hockey star... the peppery Victoria rover... the "pepper box"... Poulin is now working on the harvest in Saskatchewan along with Bobby Rowe.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=3362,3196800&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

Skinner Poulin, the stocky rover of the Victoria team, is admittedly the best referee in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, and when the day arrives that he can no longer hold down his job with the champions he can get a steady position with the Patricks as an official referee. Poulin is right on top of the puck all the time and he makes up his mind with no hesitation whatsoever.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=4602,6564045&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

"The ex-coast player started out to bump everybody in sight against the Torontos"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=5080,3698115&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

"He can play forward or defense equally well. He is a heavy checker but does not hand out anything he isn't prepared to take... Poulin is not as speedy as some of his teammates on the Canadiens, but he is a heady player and a good scorer. He is bound to give Dick Irvin a great old tussle in centre ice... Poulin will be one of the sharp-shooters.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6868,3038134&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

Skinner Poulin played center and.. He checked back like a fiend

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=3914,4550073&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

Skinner Poulin, former Canadien star, and one of the smartest hockey players who ever participated in the game.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6728,2835583&dq=skinner-poulin+hockey&hl=en

George Poulin was born in Smith Falls, Ontario. He first became prominent in the hockey world with a team known as Rat Portage in 1908. He then jumped to Galt before joining the Canadiens for two years, including their inaugural campaign. Poulin decided to move west to play in Victoria (British Columbia) for four seasons. He returned to the Canadiens in time for 1916 Stanley Cup championship. Montreal made several pre-season veteran acquisitions that made them a contender for biggest prize in hockey. Finally, Poulin wound wind-down his hockey career playing for Saskatoon of the Western Canadian Hockey League.

http://www.martinezgazette.com/sports/story/i76/2009/01/18/ristad-88-recalls-playing-hockey-canadiens