ATD 2015 - Draft Thread I (picks start at post 185)

[TheDevilMadeMe]

His Bryan Hextall Sr. such a hot commodity at this point in the draft? He was one hell of a steal when he was getting picked in the 200's, a good value in the mid 100's, but does his credentials really warrant a selection in the 10X? His skillset is definitely attractive, but so does other players still undrafted. I would be interested to see a comparision between Hextall and the next few forwards drafted with the same skillset and see where he stands.

Best right wing available when I drafted him IMO - a couple of others could be argued as better, but none of them power forwards.

I think he's a small step down from Iginla/Mikhailov and a fairly big step up from the next right wings of his skill set.

I believe that his power forward capacities were somewhat a matter of speculation in the past. With overpass finding that article during the wingers project which establishes the full extent of Hextall's physical game, his stock was bound to rise a little bit.

And hey, this pick drew Sturminator out of his slumber.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Hextall has been the best RW power forward on the board since Iginla was taken. TDMM wanted a RW power forward for his first line, and according to RB Hextall wouldn't have made it to TDMM's next pick. Seems like a fine choice to me.

 

[SchultzSquared*]

Chatham selects a big tough rear guard to round out its top pair... the indomitable

Ivan "Ching" Johnson

 

[BraveCanadian]

Does Hextall get the same * some players do by having every season of note in his career occur during the war?

Was he just unlucky in timing and his prime was at the same time as the war or was he lucky that he was playing during one of the weakest times for the NHL?

He looks and sounds impressive but how are people gauging that?

 

[Sturminator]

Does Hextall get the same * some players do by having every season of note in his career occur during the war?

Was he just unlucky in timing and his prime was at the same time as the war or was he lucky that he was playing during one of the weakest times for the NHL?

He looks and sounds impressive but how are people gauging that?

Huh? His prime was before the war.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Huh? His prime was before the war.

I think the bigger problem is the depression teen era is really unimpressive war or no war. The prewar years were a lull to begin with.

 

[EagleBelfour]

Fair enough on Hextall Sr. I had him three drafts in a row, but never thought he would take such a leap in the draft. His statistics are indeed impressive and very well-rounded player. I guess going down the list of wingers, there's definitely better overall players, but only a handful owns his special set of skills. Better than Cam Neely I fully believe.

On that note, I have a selection to make soon, but not soon enough that I feel comfortable sending a list. I've done my homework for that next selection, so I can of know where I'm going! I try to look at the draft as much as I can, but nights in here are a bit crazy. Some of you have me on Facebook, so it's much better if you send me a message on there: it appears on my phone right away.

EDIT: is it REALLY a big deal if you receive 3-4 PM's if you're up? Just delete them and move on?

 

[BraveCanadian]

Huh? His prime was before the war.

Looking at it more carefully I guess he did squeeze in 2-3 seasons before the NHL was gutted in 42-43. But didn't some players start exiting as early as 39?

So tough to gauge the 40s.

Fair enough on Hextall Sr. I had him three drafts in a row, but never thought he would take such a leap in the draft. His statistics are indeed impressive and very well-rounded player. I guess going down the list of wingers, there's definitely better overall players, but only a handful owns his special set of skills. Better than Cam Neely I fully believe.

On that note, I have a selection to make soon, but not soon enough that I feel comfortable sending a list. I've done my homework for that next selection, so I can of know where I'm going! I try to look at the draft as much as I can, but nights in here are a bit crazy. Some of you have me on Facebook, so it's much better if you send me a message on there: it appears on my phone right away.

EDIT: is it REALLY a big deal if you receive 3-4 PM's if you're up? Just delete them and move on?

Yeah, Neely is still too high. Really loved the kind of player he was but.. I would take Hextall over him as well.

 

[Sturminator]

Looking at it more carefully I guess he did squeeze in 2-3 seasons before the NHL was gutted in 42-43. But didn't some players start exiting as early as 39?

So tough to gauge the 40s.

Hextall played five full seasons from 1937-42. His last real peak season came in 1942-43, which I don't consider especially problematic from a benchmarking perspective due to the quality at the top of the scoring leaderboard. Schmidt and Apps played partial seasons that year, but other than that, the previous scoring leaders were still around.

The early 40's was not a great era, in general, but Hextall is far from the only player who should be called in for criticism if we're going there. I believe a few minor leaguers began enlisting as soon as Canada joined the war, but at the NHL level, the effects didn't become meaningful until 1942-43.

 

[BillyShoe1721]

This is the craziest post in ATD history. There were 27 better dmen when Chara was picked and Neely is not a top 60 winger. The funny thing is if anyone disagreed with this post and I was able to post all the players I just referenced, they'd reply "Sorry Hawkman, you're right."

A lot has changed for active players since some of those lists were made. Chara added a 2nd and 5th in Norris trophy voting since then, which would certainly vault him up that list a good bit.

As seventies (I think) said, those lists have put guys in a roughly correct order with the tiers being basically right, but there's plenty of room to argue within those tiers.

 

[jarek]

Haha I passed out basically right around when SS picked.

Since we have the dubious distinction of having two of the allegedly dirtiest players to have ever played on our team, we're going to take this guy to help kill off the parade of penalties:

Frank "Mr. Zero" Brimsek

PM'ing next.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Good picks with Ching and Mr Zero. Best players available at their positions IMO.

The more we find out about Ching, the less justification there is for the perceived gap between Savard, Langway, Stewart, and him.

 

[jarek]

Good picks with Ching and Mr Zero. Best players available at their positions IMO.

The more we find out about Ching, the less justification there is for the perceived gap between Savard, Langway, Stewart, and him.

Yeah Brimsek kinda just fell into our laps. Ultimately we didn't see a whole lot of value at other positions right now.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Yeah Brimsek kinda just fell into our laps. Ultimately we didn't see a whole lot of value at other positions right now.

Same thing happened to me when I got him a few years ago. Wasn't excited by what else was available, so I figured I might as well take the best goalie available.

 

[jarek]

Same thing happened to me when I got him a few years ago. Wasn't excited by what else was available, so I figured I might as well take the best goalie available.

My stance on certain positions (especially goaltender) is that the best time to take them is when they just fall to you for whatever reason and give you a good amount of value for taking them. Eddie Gerard was our ideal pick but I knew he wasn't going to fall to us.

 

[King Forsberg]

I'm interested to see what Nayld does from here on out. So far he's got 4 parts of an amazing top 6, especially on the wings. I imagine it's going to be a matter of team defense and goaltending rather than building around a #1 guy. For your sake I hope there's not another major run in d men before your next pick.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

I'm interested to see what Nayld does from here on out. So far he's got 4 parts of an amazing top 6, especially on the wings. I imagine it's going to be a matter of team defense and goaltending rather than building around a #1 guy. For your sake I hope there's not another major run in d men before your next pick.

There is always a run on defence...

 

[King Forsberg]

There is always a run on defence...

That's why I specified major run. It's just a matter of whether or not your pick falls in line with a run.

 

[EagleBelfour]

I'm interested to see what Nayld does from here on out. So far he's got 4 parts of an amazing top 6, especially on the wings. I imagine it's going to be a matter of team defense and goaltending rather than building around a #1 guy. For your sake I hope there's not another major run in d men before your next pick.

Wow, yea I don't think we've ever seen a team not picking a defenceman/goaltender before pick 160. However, if there's someone that can pull it off, it's Nalyd. And I'm sure he's got a plan all etched up in his head.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Sorry for the wait peeps. I must have gone around my list 100 times on this one.

Really torn on this one so I'm going to go with a pretty safe, smooth, two-way, all around defender and great penalty killer:

2 time Olympic Gold medalist, 8 x Soviet League All Star, and 1981 Canada Cup All Star:

D, Alexei Kasatonov
Dang that was my guy.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Sorry for the wait peeps. I must have gone around my list 100 times on this one.

Really torn on this one so I'm going to go with a pretty safe, smooth, two-way, all around defender and great penalty killer:

2 time Olympic Gold medalist, 8 x Soviet League All Star, and 1981 Canada Cup All Star:

D, Alexei Kasatonov

Nice pick. Nothing flashy, just a solid #2/3 type depending on how your roster shakes out.

 

[King Forsberg]

Pick #110

Well I'm sure this pick will be met the same way as my Coffey pick was. But I think I've created an ideal situation for this guy to flourish. I have a fantastic outlet passer on the blue line and two physical, two way players to help support this guy. I'm trying to beat Reds4life in terms of best skating team. Anyway...

Welcome to Orlando, RW, Pavel Bure


Excellent Bio from bluesfan

 

[ImporterExporter]

I have a proxy for nik jr.

The Connecticut College Camels select: Georges Boucher D

 

[Johnny Engine]

The most ridiculous sentence you'll hear today:

"Hooley Smith is the newest Angry Turnip."

 

[Dwight]

Ok, tough choice. Either way, I'm leaving a really good player on the board. That said, I think this guy works better with Yammy because he'll just barrel his way to the net for the tip-ins/rebounds, and go in the corners and do the dirty work when he needs to as well.

Brendan Shanahan, LW