VanIslander
A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
yeah, everybody can reflect on the draftDo both VCL and I need to send in the call up list?
(takes 5 minutes to do)
yeah, everybody can reflect on the draftDo both VCL and I need to send in the call up list?
he was among 6 on our shortlist for third or fourth line left winger
the little guy was deemed not defensive enough for third line duty (Mondou fit the bill all around, was a pretty easy choice for us; especially getting Greg Sheppard at the same time, a guy who could move up to third-line left wing for prolific clutch playoff two-way play)
I agree that Hextall should have gone earlier (but so should have Mondou, Krusher and Sheppard)
The Bulldogs are proud to select G Johnny Mowers.
Mowers only had a handful of NHL seasons, but he had by far the most dominant season of any remaining goaltender, winning the Vezina and a First Team All Star selection in 1943. More importantly, he was able to carry the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup, recording shutouts in the final two games of the finals. In the event that our third goalie has to play on a team like this, Mowers has the biggest to carry our team at this point. It should also be considered that he lost two seasons to the War.
He was also selected with the 646th pick in the main draft.
Two things for each of us to do Friday
(1) Take a moment to look over the list of drafted players and PM me a list of call-up players, your opinion as to which players (drafted by whatever teams) have no place in the minor leagues, ought to surely be in the main draft! Your list can be long or short, ideally one at every position (though there may not be that), but if more, then indicate order of priority in your voting.
(This is NOT an all-star list of best talents in the draft, but instead, most valuable to a topend team: call-up players. It's very doubtful that an offensive-oriented first line centre from this draft ought o be in the main draft but assuredly there are some role players, enforcers, penalty killers, powerplay specialists and/or one-dimensional exceptional talents who have a place among the very best 24-man squads. I think we have drafted one of the best hitters in the history of the game, one of the best coaching records in the NHL, one of the best backup goalie careers, and several solid fourth line candidates on any all-time team, and a few third defensive pairing options on any all-time team. Point them out, as far as you see.)
(2) And ensure that your roster page post shows updated powerplay and penalty kill units, a captain and two alternate captains.
Nice pick. I had outside hopes I could grab him as a free-agent but I had a feeling someone would steal him ... also have a feeling that Stan Jonathan and Pat Verbeek mated many years ago and the offspring was Jordin Tootoo and Sean Avery ...Winger STAN JONATHAN
Nice pick. I had outside hopes I could grab him as a free-agent but I had a feeling someone would steal him ... also have a feeling that Stan Jonathan and Pat Verbeek mated many years ago and the offspring was Jordin Tootoo and Sean Avery ...
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/...p?player=10302... As a rookie with Toronto, he scored 12 goals and 22 points in 69 games. Although his goal production was not as high as the Leafs had hoped for, his tremendous speed opened up opportunities, especially for his linemates.
In 1984, Courtnall also suited up for the Canadian Olympic team, which finished out of the medals at the Sarajevo Games. Upon returning, he rejoined the Maple Leafs. In 1985-86, Courtnall broke the 20-goal barrier, notching 22 to go along with 38 assists for 60 points. His offensive numbers improved the following year with 29 goals and 73 points, but he always seemed unable to please head coach John Brophy, who clearly preferred the big, rough-and-tumble type of players to that of Courtnall's speed and finesse.... In 64 games, Courtnall put up just 39 points with the Habs, but his lightning fast skating and breathtaking moves made him a fan favourite. Some said his style of play reminded them of Yvan Cournoyer of a generation before. Being more at ease with his new club, Courtnall saved his best performance for the playoffs, where the Canadiens advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Calgary Flames. In 21 post-season games, Courtnall contributed eight goals and 13 points.
Courtnall enjoyed another two-and-a-half years in Montreal before joining the Minnesota North Stars for the 1992-93 season. In 84 games, he managed a career-high 36 goals and 43 assists for 79 points. He followed that up with an 80-point season in the team's first year of play in Dallas. Late in the 1994-95 season, Courtnall was traded to the Vancouver Canucks where he teamed with his brother, Geoff, for 13 games that year.
... a solid two-way forward who played over 700 games in the 80s and 90s. Comfortable at centre and left wing, he registered three 20-goal seasons and was effective on both specialty teams.... a top high school player in 1978-79 when he scored seven points in five games for the USA at the World Junior Championships... led the WCHA in goals, assists and points, was placed on the conference's first all-star team and named to the NCAA Championship all-tournament team. He capped off his dream season by playing his first two NHL games and skating for the U.S. at the World Championships.... enjoyed a solid rookie NHL season with 39 points in 58 games.... a versatile player... joined his brother Neal on the U.S. Canada Cup team that reached the semi-finals in 1984.... played for the U.S. at the World Championships in 1986 and 1987 as well as the 1987 Canada Cup. In 1987 and 1988, the talented forward was at his most productive with consecutive 26-goal seasons.
...more of a playmaker and checker for his new club (Minnesota) and was on hand in September when Minnesota ventured to Moscow as part of the Friendship Tour. Before the 1990-91 season commenced, he was claimed on waivers by the lowly Quebec Nordiques. Broten was unhappy on the sad sack Nords and was part of mid-season trade that saw him join teammates Michel Petit and Lucien Deblois in Toronto. The trio helped the Maple Leafs bounce back from a miserable start and play fairly competitive hockey in the second half of the season. Broten retired in 1992 after playing 25 games for the Winnipeg Jets.
... a fine playmaker and checker who played nearly 1,000 NHL games in the 1980s and '90s. His quick hands made him a dangerous passer and a tough opponent on faceoffs.
...represented the U.S. at the 1982 and 1983 World Junior Championships and was named to the CCHA first all-star team after scoring 50 points as captain of the Spartans in 1984-85. Late that season, Miller joined the Rangers for five regular season and three playoff games before playing for Team USA at the World Championships.
In 1985-86, Miller scored 13 goals and played solid defence and helped the team reach the Prince of Wales Conference finals. The next year, he was traded to the Washington Capitals along with Mike Ridley for former 50-goal scorer Bob Carpenter. Miller was one of the Caps' best workers for many years. His creativity on offense and his willingness to stay with his man and backcheck helped the club reach the Stanley semi-finals in 1990 and the final in 1998. He was also the club's NHLPA representative and served as interim team captain twice.
That's what it's there for!Stealing without remorse from the free agent list
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=14087...making his NHL debut as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs for a season and a half. His most important legacy at the Gardens was to have convinced veteran goaltender Johnny Bower to join the Blue and White.
After Toronto, Reay made stops in Bellville, Sault Ste. Marie, and Buffalo before settling into his spiritual home as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1963. For the 13 seasons that followed, he led his club to numerous first-place finishes... In 1976, Reay finally retired as one of the winningest coaches in NHL history with 598 victories to his credit.
http://www.ahiha.org/articles.asp?ID=24&Path=T1,0003Billy Reay always knew how to press the right button.
When his Blackhawks were struggling, he resisted conventional dogmas. Many coaches would lean on players, schedule an extra practice or hold a meeting to establish a heightened degree of creative tension. But Reay, who respected the adults in his locker room, went the other way.
However, on numerous occasions when the Hawks were on a roll, Reay would assert his authority, usually without a word. He wasn't a screamer. He didn't have to be.
During one lengthy unbeaten streak, his men gathered in a Philadelphia hotel bar, oblivious to the curfew. Suddenly, well past Reay's bedtime, he calmly strode through the watering hole, from front door to back wall, just staring at his collection of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers. They didnt refer to him as "X-Reay" because he was a great after-dinner speaker.
Then he walked out. That was last call. They knew. The next morning's skate would not be about penalty-killing or about the upcoming opponent, but about guilt. The guys never wanted to disappoint Billy Reay because he never disappointed them.
Reay, 86, who died Thursday of liver cancer in Madison, Wis., was a players' coach before the term came into vogue, and he did it the old-fashioned way, without a roster of assistants, nutritionists and psychologists.
Reay worked in a simpler time, true, but to speculate that he could not motivate today's multimillionaires or cope with the ever-multiplying media is to diminish what made him tick-a love of the game he played at the NHL level and a passion for the coaching profession that brought him 516 victories, a franchise record not likely to be surpassed by any of those temps passing through Chicago's revolving door.
To the three or four regular reporters he encountered daily, Reay was a complete company man. He was neither a good sound bite nor a source of juicy scoops, but he never lied, not even to a young pipsqueak whose first real job was to cover hockey for the Tribune.
Reay didn't appreciate every headline or gratuitous wisecrack about those ties-23 in 1973-74-but yesterday's disagreement had a short shelf life. Reay, you see, was not just a company man. He was a man. That's why the free-wheeling Hawks listened after a last-place finish in 1968-69 on a yield of 246 goals.
Reay opened camp by preaching defense, and it didnt hurt having a fabulous rookie netminder like Tony Esposito on hand. The Hawks went from worst to first.
The next spring, the Hawks had a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals and a 2-0 lead in Game 7 at the Stadium. But another masked marvel, Montreal's Ken Dryden, would not allow defeat, nor would Henri Richard. That hurt Reay, but even without Bobby Hull, the Hawks went back to the finals two years later. In 1976, management unconscionably fired Reay just before Christmas with a note under his office door. He remained a member of the extended Hawks family, though, because he still cared, and because he never threw stones when he could have thrown boulders.
Reay wasn't one to polish apples or lick boots, either, and perhaps this is why he has been denied a place in hockey's Hall of Fame.
He wore flashy hats with those dapper suits. Otherwise, Reay shunned center stage. He answered his own phone. The show was out there, on the ice. And if one of his guys blew an assignment, he exercised selective amnesia when asked to name names
The Estevan Strippers select in the expansion draft to replace Joe Watson:
Mario Marois
Defenceman Mario Marois was a fine playmaker with a hard shot from the point that also thrived by playing it rough in his own end. He suited up for over 950 games with five different clubs during a solid career.