Second Team
First Line
LW Archie "Bones" Briden
- Briden was an underrated player. He was named a PCHA 2nd team all-star twice in 1923 and 1924, though he had only 7 goals in the first year. 1924 was his best season, when he was 6th in the PCHA in goals and 8th in points. The next year in the WCHL he was 6th in goals and 7th in points, all behind drafted players and ahead of many others. He was the top-scoring LW in the league but did not make the all-star team. The following year he slipped to 14 goals, still good for 9th in the WHL, again, behind all drafted players. This all may not sound that special, but Briden had a decent start to his pro career in the NHL in 1918 before leaving to serve in WW1 for two seasons. Then when he came back, he played in the Alberta Big-4 league. He finished 3rd in scoring one year, and 2nd the next. The other top players in this league? ATDers Duke Keats, Barney Stanley, Herb Gardiner, Red Dutton, and Joe Simpson, MLDers Harry Oliver & Gord Fraser, and AAA/AA draftees Art Gagne & Bob Trapp.
C Vladimir Golikov
- A phenomenal offensive player who would be more highly regarded if he wasn't done hockey at age 31. Domestically, he scored 172 goals and roughly 170 assists in 435 Soviet league games. In 1978, he was 2nd in assists and 3rd in points in the Russian league and then put up 36-39 points in each of the next three seasons which wasn’t quite top-10 material but was close. Represented the USSR in 129 games, 59 of which were significant. He had 25 goals and 24 assists in these games. Internationally, he was great, scoring 49 points in 59 big games. His best tournaments were the 1978 WC, when he was 3rd in goals behind Balderis and Mikhailov, 1979, when he was 3rd in assists behind Mikhailov and Petrov, 1981, when he led the team in goals and was 2nd behind Maltsev in points, and 1982, when his 9 points were behind only Makarov, Kapustin, and Larionov.
RW Alexander Golikov
- Another great offensive talent, and even better than his brother. Alex had 225 goals in 385 Russian league games. Finished 7th in the Russian league in scoring in 1977, then 6th in 1978, 4th in 1979, and 8th in 1980. Represented the USSR in 95 games, 43 of which were significant. He had 20 goals and 23 assists in those 43 games. Most significant were the 1979 WC, where his 12 points were behind only Petrov and Kharlamov, and the 1980 Olympics, where he led the team in goals and points. Chidlovski’s site says
†was one of the top scoring forwards of the Russian Elite League of the 1970s…Khimik was a rare Russian team of the 1970s that followed a distinct defensive style. Alexander Golikov managed to develop into a skillful scorer of the Russian League even with a team where scoring was rather secondary to a strict defense… Soviet hockey, Alexander Maltsev... Both Golikov's brothers played for the Team USSR and were inducted into the "Russian Hall of Fame" for their outstanding achievements… In 1974, Golikov was 22. He was selected as a candidate for the Team USSR 1974 at the Summit Series but he didn't play a single game in the Series.â€
Second Line
LW Ken Smith
- I found 4 LWs who had remarkably similar careers. All four started their careers between 1942 and 1945. All of them played between 331 and 426 games. All had between 171 and 224 points.
All had between .52 and .55 career points per game. All lost at least one Stanley Cup final. All were top-20 in goals twice. For each one, it was quite easy to find quotes supporting their toughness and/or defensive ability. It was tough to choose exactly where to slot them all, but all four will make the 2nd or 3rd team. Ken Smith starts us off, mainly because his playoff production is the best of the bunch. With 21 points in 30 games, it’s a shame he only played in one final series. In the regular season, Smith was a top-20 goalscorer twice, including once in the top-15. He had defensive ability, too – from LOH.net:
"Pound for pound, he is one of the best players in the NHL." This is the praise that Dick Irvin gave Kenny Smith as he watched him check his Canadiens star Maurice Richard in the 1945-46 Stanley Cup finals. “Players†notes that Smith was “tough as nails and particularly resilient, once playing in 237 consecutive games.†Amazing that a tough player like Smith only amassed 49 PIMs in 331 NHL games.
C Michal Pivonka
- Robert Lang is probably a better individual talent than Pivonka, having better stats in a tougher era, but Pivonka gets the nod for the second line thanks to his all-around game and how he helped lift Bondra to be the game’s top goalscorer. Pivonka was never top-10 assists but did finish 13th and 16th. He had good size – 6’2â€, 200 lbs, and was far from soft. From LOH.net:
filled an important void created by the retirement of Bengt Gustafsson. Pivonka centred a line between Bobby Gould and Gatean Duchesne, making a good impression from the start with his strong skating, excellent passing, and willingness to play physically. Pivonka remained as a fixture with the Caps for 12 seasons. By the early nineties, fellow countryman Petr Bondra joined the club, uniting with Pivonka to make an effective offensive duo. In tandem, they raised each other's gameâ€. Had a decent 55 points in 95 playoff teams and was a 1998 Stanley Cup finalist, though by then he was not an impact player.
RW Alexander Martynyuk
- Martynyuk was a very skilled offensive winger who placed in the top-4 in Russian League scoring at a time when making the leaderboard was not an easy task: 3rd in 1970, 4th in 1971, and 2nd in 1973. Only Maltsev, Kharlamov, Petrov, and Mikhailov topped him during these seasons. He finished with 212 goals in 410 league games. Strangely, Martynyuk only played 20 significant international games for the USSR, and I’m assuming it’s because his all-around game wasn’t great. But he had 16 goals and 24 points in the games he got into – in the 1973 WCs, only the Petrov line had more goals or points than him. If you want an offense-only RW, at this point martynyuk is your man.
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