Draft Questions re: 1967-1969

[Lowetide]

This is more "what do you think?" than a trip down memory lane but recently I made a list of players 1967-1969 who SHOULD have been eligible for the NHL Amateur Draft but had been signed by NHL teams (Orr may have been a Oakland Seal!).

Anyway, if the current rules had applied in 1967 plenty of 18 year olds would have been eligible and a pretty good 19 year olds too. So my two questions are:

1. How would you rank these players (who from what I can tell would have been eligible in 1967 under today's rules) 1-10:

Rene Robert, Andre Dupont, Marc Tardif, Reggie Houle, Butch Goring, Serge Bernier, Dick Redmond, Ivan Boldirev, Ron Stackhouse, Bobby Clarke.

2. Of those players, how many (if any) would have (iyo) made the NHL before age 20?

Click to read more...

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Clarke still would't have gone very high. Too many teams were afraid of his diabetes.

Boston passed on him 3 times, New York and Minnesota twice each. Flyers head scout Jerry Melnyk was dying for Keith Allen to take him in round one, and pretty much demanded that the Flyers take him when he was still there in round two.

 

[Lowetide]

Clarke still would't have gone very high. Too many teams were afraid of his diabetes.

Boston passed on him 3 times, New York and Minnesota twice each. Flyers head scout Jerry Melnyk was dying for Keith Allen to take him in round one, and pretty much demanded that the Flyers take him when he was still there in round two.

Agreed. In fact even after he was drafted and made the club in the fall of 1969 it was a big deal. From the November 28, 1969 Hockey News:

Some skeptics are certain to accuse the Philadelphia Flyers of cruelty, forcing Bob Clarke to play such a rugged sport at his own risk. Clarke disagrees violently.

"I never thought of anything but playing pro hockey. If the Flyers didn't draft me, I'd be playing just as hard in Flin Flon. Even if a doctor told me to quit, I'd probably sneak out and play pickup games. If I had to go back to school to learn some trade I'd be miserable."

No NHL team drafted Clarke (one of Canada's five top amateurs) on the first round last June, so the Flyers picked him in the second round. He was the 19th player drafted.

Clarke had a goal and 5 assists in the first 13 games according to that issue. Lew Morrison was also big news in terms of rookies (5-2-7, he was their 1968 1st rder) and Bob Currier who had been selected in the first round by the Flyers was struggling in Quebec City (9-0-2-2).

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Agreed. In fact even after he was drafted and made the club in the fall of 1969 it was a big deal. From the November 28, 1969 Hockey News:

Some skeptics are certain to accuse the Philadelphia Flyers of cruelty, forcing Bob Clarke to play such a rugged sport at his own risk. Clarke disagrees violently.

"I never thought of anything but playing pro hockey. If the Flyers didn't draft me, I'd be playing just as hard in Flin Flon. Even if a doctor told me to quit, I'd probably sneak out and play pickup games. If I had to go back to school to learn some trade I'd be miserable."

No NHL team drafted Clarke (one of Canada's five top amateurs) on the first round last June, so the Flyers picked him in the second round. He was the 19th player drafted.

Clarke had a goal and 5 assists in the first 13 games according to that issue. Lew Morrison was the big news in terms of rookies (5-2-7, he was their 1968 1st rder) and Bob Currier who had been selected in the first round by the Flyers was struggling in Quebec City (9-0-2-2).

Currier never made it to the NHL. He was big and well ... he was big.

The "Moose" went 8th in the 69 draft .... he ended up being a huge part of the Cup winning Flyers teams after they aquired him from St. Louis.

 

[Lowetide]

Currier never made it to the NHL. He was big and well ... he was big.

The "Moose" went 8th in the 69 draft .... he ended up being a huge part of the Cup winning Flyers teams after they aquired him from St. Louis.

It's funny flipping through this HN how much of the Flyers Cup team was already in the system. The parent club on that date was Parent and Favell in goal, Van Impe, Joe Watson, Larry and Wayne Hillman, Ralph MacSweyn and Don Cherry's brother Dick.

Up front they had Earl Heiskala, Andre Lacroix, Simon Nolet, Jean Guy Gendron, Dick Sarrazin, Reg Fleming, Bill Sutherland, Gary Dornhoefer, Bob Clarke, Lew Morrison and Terry Ball is listed as a forward even though I always thought he was a Dman.

Nolet was in the AHL and so was Serge Bernier (he got called up that week).

Fun stuff.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

It's funny flipping through this HN how much of the Flyers Cup team was already in the system. The parent club on that date was Parent and Favell in goal, Van Impe, Joe Watson, Larry and Wayne Hillman, Ralph MacSweyn and Don Cherry's brother Dick.

Up front they had Earl Heiskala, Andre Lacroix, Simon Nolet, Jean Guy Gendron, Dick Sarrazin, Reg Fleming, Bill Sutherland, Gary Dornhoefer, Bob Clarke, Lew Morrison and Terry Ball is listed as a forward even though I always thought he was a Dman.

Nolet was in the AHL and so was Serge Bernier (he got called up that week).

Fun stuff.

Parent was traded and then later re-aquired (final piece to the puzzle). At that points the the foundation had been laid, but the snipers (MacLeish, Barber) and the brawn (Schultz, Saleski, Kelly, Dupont) hadn't yet arrived ... the the Flyers were taking beatings from the Plager brothers and the rest of the Blues.


A great site for Flyers fans, but also hockey fans: http://flyershistory.com/
Has somethings that even hockeydb.com does not.

A list of every trade the Flyers have made.
The boxscore for every Flyers playoff gams.
The boxscore for every regular season except the years (90-91 to 93-94), and they'll be added shortly.

 

[Lowetide]

Parent was traded and then later re-aquired (final piece to the puzzle). At that points the the foundation had been laid, but the snipers (MacLeish, Barber) and the brawn (Schultz, Saleski, Kelly, Dupont) hadn't yet arrived ... the the Flyers were taking beatings from the Plager brothers and the rest of the Blues.


A great site for Flyers fans, but also hockey fans: http://flyershistory.com/
Has somethings that even hockeydb.com does not.

A list of every trade the Flyers have made.
The boxscore for every Flyers playoff gams.
The boxscore for every regular season except the years (90-91 to 93-94), and they'll be added shortly.

Yeah, I've been on that site. A great one. btw, the HN Draft Preview '89 had an interview with Bob Currier who stated that he felt he could have played in the NHL had he been drafted by a different team. He felt he was an offensive player in a defensive system and that he was a target that first year in camp.

"Oh yeah, I was a target that year. I was only 160 pounds, 6'1....."

According to the article, the Flyer scouts who wanted Currier were Alex Davidson and Eric Coville. Melnyk was a first year scout and here is how he told the story in 1989:

"Our eastern scouts were pushing for a guy named Bob Currier," he says. "Of course I never saw him play. At this time I just did the west, I was just starting out. I said 'Geez, there's a kid out west, he's a hell of a hockey player. I just came out of the game and this kid is a better player than I ever was playing pro all these years."

"They (Flyers staff) sort of batted it back and forth," Melnyk recalls. "and said, 'No, this is the guy we're going to take' and they went along with this Currier kid."

"We came around a second time and they're hemming and hawing again about this and I'm really pushing for Clarke," he says. "And all they're worrying about is that the kid's a diabetic. And I said 'Geez the kid plays 40 to 45 minutes a game and he's a leader. I don't give a damn if this kid's got one leg, he's the best player I've ever seen at this level."

"But they're batting it back and forth and finally Keith Allen says 'Let's listen to this guy."

Article goes on to say that Snider did get involved and backed the scout. Article also states that Red Wing scout Jimmy Skinner was doing the identical thing at the Detroit table but was overruled.

Wish they'd put it on television.