MLD11 line-up assassination thread

[VanIslander]

Post your completed rosters here, with captain and two alternate captains listed, and we'll critically review each other's teams, each on its own merits.

Click to read more...

 

[VanIslander]

Jokerit Helsinki

GMs: EagleBelfour & VanIslander
coach: Frank Patrick
captain: Dan Bain
alternates: Clarence McKerrow, Clem Loughlin

Steve Vickers - Dan Bain (C) - Carson Cooper
Gerard Gallant - Ray Ferraro - Cliff Koroll
Lorne Henning - Clarence McKerrow (A) - Leo Labine
Butch Keeling - Saku Koivu - Bruce Ridpath
Frank Rankin, Skene Ronan

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov - Vasili Pervukhin
Clem Loughlin (A) - Jack Campbell
Sergei Babinov - Howard McNamara
Allan Shields

Tom Paton
Pete Peeters​

 

[Hedberg]

Tidewater Sharks:

Coach: Fr. David Bauer

Starting Goalie: Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Backup Goalie: Cam Ward

Moose Goheen (A) - Oldrich Machač
Barry Ashbee - John Van Boxmeer
Kjell Samuelsson - Dolly Swift
James Stewart

Dubbie Kerr - Marc Savard - Mickey Redmond (A)
Red Hamill - Bill Thoms - Cecil Blachford (C)
Don Lever (A) - George Gee - Claude Larose
Dave Trottier - Peter Zezel - Al MacAdam
Moose Watson - Shorty Green

PP1: Dubbie Kerr - Marc Savard - Mickey Redmond - Dolly Swift - Moose Goheen
PP2: Red Hamill - Bill Thoms - Cecil Blachford - Oldrich Machač - John Van Boxmeer
PK1: George Gee - Dave Trottier - Oldrich Machač - Moose Goheen
PK2: Peter Zezel - Claude Larose - Kjell Samuelsson - Barry Ashbee

 

[Dwight]

Kitchener Schmidts

GM's: Chigurh & TheOneAndOnly
Coach: Peter Laviolette
Captain: Pat Flatley
Alternate Captains: Rick Green, Chris Phillips

Anton Stastny - Harry Smith - Marian Stastny
Pavol Demitra - Dave Gagner - Corb Denneny
Andre Pronovost - Brian Rolston - Pat Flatley (C)
Bob Probert - Rob Niedermayer - Don Metz
Mike Walton - Craig Conroy

Dan Boyle - Rick Green (A)
Dave Manson - Andrei Markov
Chris Phillips (A) - Sheldon Souray
Jim Morrison

Ron Hextall
Henrik Lundqvist​

 

[Johnny Engine]

The Flatrock Three-Wheelers

Lorne Carr - Pierre Larouche - Bob MacMillan
Doc Romnes - Gregg Sheppard - Grant Warwick
Greg Gilbert (C) - Sami Pahlsson - Bobby Gould
Stan Jonathan (A) - Steve Sullivan - Joe Lamb

Dion Phaneuf - Rod Seiling (A)
Darryl Sydor - Alex Levinsky
Sylvain Lefebvre - Brian Campbell

Mike Karakas
Bert Lindsay

Extras: Alexei Zhamnov, Wayne Babych, Gary Doak
Coach: Alf Smith

PP1 Carr - Larouche - Warwick - Phaneuf - Campbell
PP2 Romnes - Sheppard - MacMillan - Lamb - Sydor

PK1 - Gould - Pahlsson - Seiling - Lefebvre
PK2 - Gilbert - Sheppard - Sydor - Levinsky

 

[Rzeznik]

Amherst Ramblers

GM: Rzeznik
Head Coach: Viktor Tikhonov
Captain: Hobey Baker
Assistant Captains: Dave Maloney, Steve Konowalchuk

Sergei Kapustin-Brad Richards-Vladimir Vikulov
Rick Nash-Paul Haynes-Tom Hooper
Steve Konowalchuk (A)-Bobby Carpenter-Anders Kallur
Tony Granato-Keith Acton-Randy McKay
Gaetan Duchesne

Kenny Jonsson-Hobey Baker (C)
Normand Rochefort-Dave Maloney (A)
Dave Ellett-Lee Fogolin, Jr
Nikolai Makarov, Pat Quinn

Kirk McLean
Sean Burke​

 

[seventieslord]

Just for fun...

Did a quick little analysis of my team. I wrote down the first and last season in which each of my players played hockey at a "significant" level. That is, anything not junior up to 1926, anything pro up to about 1946, and only AHL/NHL/Top European league past that.

I wanted to see if I had an unbroken chain of years covered throughout hockey history. I do not.

I am happy to say that those years happen to be 1943, 1944, and 1945 - the three most war-depleted years in NHL history. I did not do this deliberately, and there were some wartime I'd have definitely taken but never had the chance to, such as Bodnar, Cain, and Carr.

Most represented periods in history:

1930-1932: In these three seasons, 6 of my guys were active: Wilson, Halderson, Munro, Himes, L.Goldsworthy, and Cude.
1926-1929: In these four seasons 5 of my guys were active: Wilson, Halderson, Munro, Himes, and L.Goldsworthy.
1911-1915: In these five seasons, 5 of my guys were active: Lake, Shore, Smaill, Maxwell, Wilson.
1922-1925, 1933-1937, 1971-1972, 1998-2003: I had four active players for each of these 2-6 year periods.

Least represented periods in history:
1887-1896: I have no players who played in these periods, although semi-competitive hockey was being played from 1887-1893 and the cup was competed for from 1894 and on.
1943-1945: As above.

1897: Just Farrell was active.
1902: Just Scanlan was active.
1904: Just Lake was active.
1942: Only L.Goldsworthy was active, in the minors.
1946-1952: Only Gardner was active.
1983-1987: Only Barrasso was active.

Overall, I am happy with the all-timeness of my team. I have five pre-NHL guys, three Western league players, one pre-pro player, two non-NHL europeans, and a few active players. I only wish I could have drafted a WHA guy to complete the cycle, but one other team prevented that by taking all WHA guys available, from the great to the mediocre.

Anyone else want to analyze their all-timeness? I'm all ears.

 

[Hedberg]

Anyone else want to analyze their all-timeness? I'm all ears.

My team has players who were active in every decade of hockey history:

1890's: James Stewart, Dolly Swift
1900's: Cecil Blachford, Dubbie Kerr
1910's: Moose Goheen, Dubbie Kerr
1920's: Moose Goheen, Shorty Green, Moose Watson
1930's: Bill Thoms, Dave Trottier
1940's: George Gee, Red Hamill, Bill Thoms
1950's: George Gee
1960's: Claude Larose Oldrich Machac, Mickey Redmond
1970's: Barry Ashbee, Claude Larose, Don Lever, Al MacAdam, Oldrich Machac, Mickey Redmond, John Van Boxmeer
1980's: Don Lever, Al McAdam, Kjell Samuelsson, John Van Boxmeer, Peter Zezel
1990's: Kjell Samuelsson, Peter Zezel
2000's: JS Giguere, Marc Savard, Cam Ward

 

[seventieslord]

My team has players who were active in every decade of hockey history:

1890's: James Stewart, Dolly Swift
1900's: Cecil Blachford, Dubbie Kerr
1910's: Moose Goheen, Dubbie Kerr
1920's: Moose Goheen, Shorty Green, Moose Watson
1930's: Bill Thoms, Dave Trottier
1940's: George Gee, Red Hamill, Bill Thoms
1950's: George Gee
1960's: Claude Larose Oldrich Machac, Mickey Redmond
1970's: Barry Ashbee, Claude Larose, Don Lever, Al MacAdam, Oldrich Machac, Mickey Redmond, John Van Boxmeer
1980's: Don Lever, Al McAdam, Kjell Samuelsson, John Van Boxmeer, Peter Zezel
1990's: Kjell Samuelsson, Peter Zezel
2000's: JS Giguere, Marc Savard, Cam Ward

but is every year covered?

I have a question about George Gee. He's on your 3rd line, which appears to be a checking line with Larose and Lever. He was on GBC's 3rd line last MLD which was also meant to be a defensive unit. GBC claimed last draft that Gee was the second best defensive center in the MLD, after Charlie Burns, and even ahead of Brian Skrudland.

I was about to take him this draft after that glowing praise, especially considering my offensive studies have shown him to be fairly accomplished, both as a scorer and a playmaker. I thought it would be a great way to make my "two-way" third line that can score and defend.

However, I went looking for published quotes about his defensive ability and there are none. I have many bio books, particularly about the original six, I know all the places to search online, and I have four different books about the red wings that all cover that period very extensively and he barely gets mentioned. Even some AAA-level players get bios in these books, but he does not. I have a Gordie Howe biography that doesn't mention him, as well as a Chicago Blackhawks history.

Either my books are failing me and someone knows something I don't, or he's being sold as something he's not. Can someone please clarify George Gee for me? GBC and VI don't appear to have the answers and they usually do.

 

[VanIslander]

Laval Titan

Head Coach: Lindy Ruff

Captain: Jamie Macoun
Assistant Captains: Slava Bykov, Scott Mellanby

Valeri Kamensky - Slava Bykov (A) - Andrei Khomutov
John Ogrodnick - Don Raleigh - Jimmy Ward
Rejean Houle - Wayne Merrick - Jamie Langenbrunner
Kelly Miller - Mike Ridley - Scott Mellanby (A)
Dave Schultz, Jason Allison

Brian Engblom - Jamie Macoun (C)
Alexei Gusarov - Gary Galley
Mario Marois - Miroslav Dvorak
Warren Godfrey

Jim Henry
Ed Johnston​

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

The Trenton Devils

Coach: Marc Crawford
Captain: Glen Wesley
Assistants: Mike Richards, Jeff Beukeboom

Herb Cain - Barry Pederson - Todd Bertuzzi
Stephane Richer - Scott Gomez - Tony Amonte
Jay Pandolfo - Cully Dahlstrom - Doug Brown
Tony McKegney - Mike Richards(A) - Nikolai Drozdetsky
Extras - Johan Frazen, Darren McCarty


Glen Wesley(C) - Robert Svehla
Dick Redmond - Jeff Beukeboom(A)
Dave Lewis - Ed Jovanovski
Extra - Doug Young

Olaf Kolzig
Felix Potvin


PP 1: Cain-Pederson-Bertuzzi-Redmond-Richer
PP 2: McKegney-Gomez-Amonte-Wesley-Jovanovski

PK 1: Pandolfo-Dahlstrom-Lewis-Beukeboom
PK 2: McKegney-Richards-Wesley-Svehla
PK 3: Amonte/Richer-Brown-Lewis-Beukeboom

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Tidewater Sharks:

Coach: Fr. David Bauer

Starting Goalie: Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Backup Goalie: Cam Ward

Moose Goheen (A) - Oldrich Machač
Barry Ashbee - John Van Boxmeer
Kjell Samuelsson - Dolly Swift
James Stewart

Dubbie Kerr - Marc Savard - Mickey Redmond (A)
Red Hamill - Bill Thoms - Cecil Blachford (C)
Don Lever (A) - George Gee - Claude Larose
Dave Trottier - Peter Zezel - Al MacAdam
Moose Watson - Shorty Green

I've concerned with how hot and cold your goaltenders are. When they are hot, there are few, if any, better in the league, and they both have a tendency to get hot in the playoffs, which is great. But they both had seasons where they looked like borderline starters at best. I guess you can hope that if Giguere is cold, Ward won't be.

Relatedly, while both guys have 2 elite playoff performances, neither is a stand out in the regular season.

I also have concerns about Savard centering the first line in the playoffs. He has been in the playoffs twice in his career, was bad the first time, and good the second time.

Love Zezel as a checking center.

 

[papershoes]

here you go - team wha

TORONTO MORNINGSTARS

GM's: kruezer & papershoes
Coach: Bill Dineen, Bobby Kromm
Captain: Al Hamilton
Assistant Captain: Paul Shmyr, Rick Ley

#8 Robbie Ftorek - #17 Mike Rogers - #17 Blaine Stoughton
#12 Morris Lukowich - #7 Andre Lacroix - #9 Real Cloutier
#27 Marty Howe - #23 Christian Bordeleau - #21 Serge Bernier
#24 Bobby Guindon - #88 Terry Ruskowski - #16 Rich Preston
extra: #11 Peter Sullivan

#2 Rick Ley (C) - #3 Al Hamilton (C)
#10 Gordie Roberts - #6 Paul Shmyr (A)
#60 Ron Plumb - #88 Jim Dorey
extra: #4 Barry Long

#31 Ron Grahame
#1 Joe Daley​

PP1: Robbie Ftorek - Mike Rogers - Blaine Stoughton - Rick Ley - Al Hamilton
PP2: Serge Bernier - Andre Lacroix - Real Cloutier - Paul Shmyr - Ron Plumb

PK1: Bobby Guindon - Rich Preston - Paul Shmyr - Gordie Roberts
PK2: Terry Ruskowski - Andre Lacroix - Rick Ley - Al Hamilton

 

[VanIslander]

Tidewater Sharks

Moose Goheen (A) - Oldrich Machač
Barry Ashbee - John Van Boxmeer
Kjell Samuelsson - Dolly Swift
James Stewart​

REVIEW: TOP END DEFENSE TO WRITE HOME ABOUT

Tidwater's top pairing are quality all-time greats worthy of the highest level of competition, except for the question marks.

Goheen was certainly most important to the development of the game in the State of Hockey, as the key performer on the two-time U.S. national amateur champion St. Paul Athletic Club. He was exceptional from 1915 onwards and when the NHL came a calling for his services, he was by then in his thirties, with a decade of hockey behind him. Would a thirtysomething Goheen have flourished in the young NHL? It's almost unfair to ask, given his age by then and how fragmented the leagues were in the oldest eras of hockey. To a certain extent, all players from before the 1920s have question marks. That is no reason in itself to discount his worth in an all-time context. He could be a decent extra skater in the main draft and ought to be in terms of historical significance and potential upside.

Machac is as worthy as Pospisil of main draft selection but one drops to this level and the other consistently goes mid-ATD. Of course, Pospisil twice won the Golden Stick award for his play in the Czech elite league and twice was named world championship tourney top defenseman. But was his longtime pairing partner below him much in terms of all-time worth? Machac lacks the individual awards, but he was more of a defensive defenseman, ("considered to be a very tough player who excelled with his fine physical play. Very sound defensively") a kind of player often undercelebrated. The fact that Machac played on the top pairing with Pospisil on each and every of the three gold medal world championship teams that beat the mighty Soviets in the 1970s is significant, as is his actually being 2nd all-time in games played on the national team.

Nevertheless, the duo is in this draft and on this team and go wonderfully together. Goheen's end to end rushes and Machac's more defensive game perfectly compliment each other, one with the size and speed to handle physicality up ice, the other with the toughness to take on the best down low. One of the best top pairings in this draft. They might be able to take on the very best hockey has ever had.

Aside from those two, Ashbee may look like a third all-time great defenseman on this roster, but there are reasons to doubt it. For sure, he was named to the NHL 2nd all-star team just days before an eye-injury ended his career, halfway through the playoffs in 1974. But, how important was Ashbee to the Flyers since the team went on to win the cup without him that postseason and the next? He was a 7-year AHLer who benefited from NHL expansion, going on to three decent NHL seasons and one great regular season. The trophy named after him came right on the heels of his leukemia-caused death so it smells of a pity move to honor a good friend more than a compelling move to honor an all-time great (unlike the Gaetan Duchesne trophy of the Caps, which was clearly motivated simply to honor ability and effort). The upshot is, it is misleading to look at the fact that his name is on a Stanley Cup, his jersey number was retired by his team and a trophy was named after him. That said, he did have one great season and was clearly tough as nails mentally:

"I remember saying [in the locker room] my first season, ''We have nineteen chickens on one team.'' I was just trying to get them ready for the game but Ashbee took it personally. He wanted me to name names," the legendary coach recalled in The Broad Street Bullies.

Shero assured Ashbee that he was not among the "chickens."

Ashbee may have been mostly a career minor leaguer who benefitted from the right fit on the Broadstreet Bullies but his partner on the Tidewater blueline is the opposite, as Boxmeer was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a bonafide NHL talent first languishing without ice time on a stacked Habs team for four years before insisting on a trade that let him thrive with five years of high assists and good plus-minus and praise with the awful Rockies and rising Sabres.

The third pairing in Tidewater has a funny story about water, as told by Floyd Conner in his book Hockey's Most Wanted: in 1895, playing for Quebec, Dolly Swift poured a pail of water over the head of Ottawa's Weldy Young during a game to "revive" the player with a reputation for fake fainting spells to draw penalties. Dolly Swift led the AHAC in goals the previous season, and seems like a good fit with Stanley Cup champion Samuelsson as a bottom pairing.

Info provided on Tidewater's extra defenseman James Stewart would be appreciated.

 

[Hedberg]

Info provided on Tidewater's extra defenseman James Stewart would be appreciated.

Stewart played a stay-at-home, shot blocking style for the Montreal AAA. Allan Cameron's defensive abilities were noted as being "every bit as sharp as Stewart's" which suggests Stewart was the measuring stick for 1890's defensive play. Stewart also would cover for Cameron in case Cameron was caught up ice. However Stewart had little in the way of an offensive game:

http://www.hockey-notes.com/1800_hockey_flash1.html
http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/6/11/906115/the-first-stanley-cup-champions
http://www.hockey-notes.com/1800_hockey_allancameron.html

-----------

I'm working on finding information on Gee's defensive game.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Kitchener Schmidts

GM's: Chigurh & TheOneAndOnly
Coach: Peter Laviolette
Captain: Pat Flatley
Alternate Captains: Rick Green, Chris Phillips

Anton Stastny - Harry Smith - Marian Stastny
Pavol Demitra - Dave Gagner - Corb Denneny
Andre Pronovost - Brian Rolston - Pat Flatley (C)
Bob Probert - Rob Niedermayer - Don Metz
Mike Walton - Craig Conroy

Dan Boyle - Rick Green (A)
Dave Manson - Andrei Markov
Chris Phillips (A) - Sheldon Souray
Jim Morrison

Ron Hextall
Henrik Lundqvist​

I don't know if this changes anything for you, but Brian Rolston has always been more comfortable playing wing than center. He has and can play center, but I don't know if he can do it well enough to be relied on as a checking guy.

Bob Probert... ugh. Might be a team that we all have to dress an enforcer against.

 

[VanIslander]

Kitchener Schmidts

Coach: Peter Laviolette

Anton Stastny - Harry Smith - Marian Stastny
Pavol Demitra - Dave Gagner - Corb Denneny

extras: Mike Walton, Craig Conroy​

REVIEW: STEADY SECONDARY SCORING TOP LINES

At first glance the offensive lines of Kitchener are pedestrian. But on second thought they are pretty good, even if clearly MLD-level. And with a slight adjustment, they could be better.

The best the Stastny brothers ever did in the high-scoring NHL era they played in, in terms of regular season peak, was 8th in assists for Anton in the '82-83 season and 9th in points per game for Marion that same season. However, the postseason right before that year, the two brothers combined for 29 playoff points in the Nordiques 16-game playoff run. Instant chemistry on the top line. And given their decent career point totals, the duo should provide consistent even if secondary scoring for Kitchener in the MLD. But their center is Harry Smith not Peter Stastny. The Silver Seven's eighth man and second center was exceptional at times and arguably as important to his team's success at times as Peter was to the production of the Nordiques line, but not clearly so. This is not one of the top lines in the draft, but it may not have to be, since Kitchener's second line will also produce. In fact, this team looks to have more of a 2A, 2B line formation in terms of offensive production.

Dave Gagner is the posterboy for the MLD. He will likely never get picked in the main draft but will remain a solid pivot at this level of competition. Like the Stastny brothers he put up good numbers for several years in a high scoring era with little to show for it in terms of top-10 stats. But also like the brothers, he had an exceptional playoffs, leading the North Stars with 12 goals, earning 27 points in 23 games on their '91 Stanley Cup run.

Pavol Demitra is the one of this bunch with all-time hardware in a Lady Byng trophy, three all-star game appearances, two top-10s in assists and a third season he was top-10 in points, not to mention his great play in two Olympics. If he had played his best years in Montreal instead of St. Louis he might have gotten more respect for what he could do, and might have done more to solidify his place in history.

Corb Denneny IS the all-time great of the Kitchener top-6 forwards, with several goals in both Stanley Cups his team won over a five-year peak to his career between 1918-22 which saw him finish in or close to top-5 in goals and assists four of the five seasons. He simply was one of the best at the time. History will not forget Cy's brother. He is arguably the best second line right winger in this draft.

Thus completes a second line that could be better than the first line. Demitra and Denneny certainly seem more worthy of all-time selection than the Stastny wingers in terms of accomplishments and accolades, and so in some respects this formation seems more fitting:

Demitra-Smith-Denneny
Stastny-Gagne-Stastny

In any event, the two lines will score consistently.

Extra skater center Mike Walton was the Leafs top scorer in 1967-68, finishing 9th in NHL goals that season. He also had two remarkable offensive seasons in the WHA. But what he brings to this squad is his Stanley Cup winning experience, finishing 7th in team scoring in each of two winning postseasons, 7 points with the Leafs in 1967 championship and 12 with the Bruins in 1972.

The other extra forward Conroy adds nothing really to the roster and a winger would have been better as a pick for this team. Conroy did center the Iginla line on the Flames 2004 Stanley Cup run and recorded a team-high 11 assists that postseason. Other than that, he has once finished 9th in NHL assists during the regular season, and seems even as a center to be below the worth of some undrafted pivots.

Perhaps the coach had a hand in the Conroy selection. This certainly is a high tempo passing team in terms of its top two lines. It's a perfect fit for coach Laviolette.

 

[chaosrevolver]

BELLEVILLE BULLS

Head Coach: Tom Johnson
Assistant Coach: Punch McLean
Captain: Dickie Boon
Assistant Captain: Jimmy Gardner
Assistant Captain: Boris Mayorov

Jimmy Gardner - Tom Lysiak - Rick Kehoe
Haviland Routh - Viktor Zhluktov - Boris Mayorov
Don Grosso - Brian Skrudland - Jack Findlay
Murph Chamberlain - Laurie Boschman - Paul Holmgren
Lasse Oksanen

Dickie Boon - Yuri Fedorov
Allan Cameron - Dmitri Yushkevich
Lee Fogolin Sr. - Willie Huber
Pavel Kubina

Viktor Konovalenko
Vladimir Myshkin​

 

[Leafs Forever]

North Pole Dancers

GM's: Dreakmur and Leafs Forever
Head Coach: Jimmy Skinner
Captain: Al Arbour
Assistant Captains: Mike Ricci, Dave Baych

Lynn Patrick-Billy Taylor-Yevgeny Babich
Smokey Harris-Bill McGimsie-Alf Skinner
Baldy Cotton-Mike Ricci (A)- Mush March
Bob Gracie-Andy Blair-Bill Fairbairn

Dave Babych (A)-Billy Coutu
Gord Fraser- Bob Rouse
Al Arbour (C)- Bryan McCabe

Don Edwards
Johnny Mowers

Extras: D Larry Hillman, LW/C Mike Krushelnyski, RW Wally Hergesheimer​

Looking for feedback on captaincy; something I am willing to change.

 

[VanIslander]

Flatrock Three-Wheelers

coach: Alf Smith
captain: Greg Gilbert
alternates: Rod Seiling, Stan Jonathan

Lorne Carr - Pierre Larouche - Bob MacMillan
Doc Romnes - Gregg Sheppard - Grant Warwick
Greg Gilbert (C) - Sami Pahlsson - Bobby Gould
Stan Jonathan (A) - Steve Sullivan - Joe Lamb
Alexei Zhamnov, Wayne Babych

Dion Phaneuf - Rod Seiling (A)
Darryl Sydor - Alex Levinsky
Sylvain Lefebvre - Brian Campbell
Gary Doak

Mike Karakas
Bert Lindsay​

REVIEW: WOULD THE REAL LEADERS PLEASE STAND UP

The captains of Flatrock are puzzling on the face of it.

Captain Gilbert was never an NHL captain and he was a marginal player not a leader in the Islanders 1983 cup and Rangers 1994 cups. He had leadership qualities to the degree that he worked hard as a checking line role player, setting a good example. So it sort of makes sense that Flatrock coach Alf Smith, as tough and nasty as they come, would want a grinder who is on Flatrock's third line to wear a letter, in this case the 'C'.

Alternate captain Jonathan is of that mold of hard working role players, though one with more punch to his game, so to speak. The full-blooded Tuscarora Indian would wear the 'A' on Don Cherry's team, no doubt about it. He can check and fight and bring energy and even a couple of goals as he can fill a valuable role on the fourth line of any MLD-level team. But like Gilbert he doesn't have the resume for leading an entire team, nor does he seem to have the qualities to handle the dressing room, the on ice officials, the media, in fact any of the duties of a captain other than leading by example. He could be inspirational in his fearless and hard working approach to the game without necessarily being a captain. He's a rich man's Jordin Tootoo.

Alternate captain Rod Seiling rounds out the Flatrock captaincy and he too never was captain, nor alternate captain during the bulk of his career when with the Rangers. He played a stay at home style of conservative, quiet defense. He could perhaps be another lead-by-example type of captain, plus is a steady eddie with officials and in the dressing room. He might be a decent alternate, but not clearly so.

Together the three certainly have the lunchpail type mentality and coach Alf Smith would want the team to check like they do. But are they the right fit as captains for this team in general?

The first line has the offense but no clear candidates. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Pierre Larouche didn't like to backcheck, so the star center might not be the best captain for an Alf Smith coached team, granted. Lorne Carr might have been playoff hero in two postseasons, won two Stanley Cup championships as an impact player, and led his team in scoring twice in the regular season. But he too wasn't known to check and never was a captain. MacMillan led two NHL franchises in scoring but never was a captain, and as a Lady Byng winner, wouldn't get in Alfie's good books.

Romnes is another offense-focused talent and a Lady Byng. Lionel Conacher, Canada's athlete of the half-century, called Romnes one of the best centers he ever skated with. But he's a left winger on this team, and apparently deemed less fit to lead than a third liner, a fourth liner and a defensive defenseman.

Is everyone on this team going to be expected to backcheck? If so, the captains listed might be the best fit of this lot. But Larouche, Carr and Romnes certainly ought not to be forced to play that way, contrary to their style. And they are THE stars of this squad, and it's just odd that none of them are captain or even alternate captain.

The natural candidate to be captain, a player who took some mean-spirited penalties, who had natural charismatic leadership abilities so vaulable in the dressing room, is Calder trophy winning NHL all-star gamer Grant Warwick, the playing coach and inspirational force behind the 1955 world champion Penticton Vees when they beat the unbeaten Russians. There are descriptions of his very real leadership ability, pulling together a rag tag group.

There is one player with experience and that's Phaneuf, who has only four years of professional playing experience but is an NHL alternate captain, a clear leader and impact player that coach Smith ought to like. He was a leader on the world juniors gold medal winning team, on a world championship goal medal winning team and is a two-time NHL all-star gamer with big game mentality and star power.

The recommended captains for Flatrock are:

Grant Warwick, captain
Pierre Larouche, alternate captain
Dion Phaneuf, alternate captain

Then again, perhaps the captains as already chosen might be sufficient. This team has no clear cut captain candidates. Larouche seems to have the star quality to be a captain, the ego to appreciate it and the responsibility to perform to need it; and Warwick has real world experience leading a team, to victory no less. But Seiling brings a long career of blueline stability so can be a veteran leader. Gilbert and Jonathan? The jury is still out.

 

[seventieslord]

Bob Probert... ugh. Might be a team that we all have to dress an enforcer against.

Not necessarily.

Being that this is the MLD, Probert isn't completely out of his depth skill-wise compared to a lot of 4th liners in this thing. He can be a big, strong, tough, intimidating forechecker with the ability to beat up anyone in the draft. But he's not the kind of guy who's gonna go fighting just because, and not the kind of guy you have to line an enforcer up against.

REVIEW: [COLOR="IndigoRomnes is another offense-focused talent and a Lady Byng. Lionel Conacher, Canada's athlete of the half-century, called Romnes one of the best centers he ever skated with. But he's a left winger on this team, and apparently deemed less fit to lead than a third liner, a fourth liner and a defensive defenseman.

That might be my fault. I mistakenly listed Romnes as a C/LW when I posted him in the original post. Then I realized when someone took Grosso, that it was Grosso I was thinking of that could play both. Romnes is just a center.

The recommended captains for Flatrock are:

Grant Warwick, captain
Pierre Larouche, alternate captain
Dion Phaneuf, alternate captain

Then again, perhaps the captains as already chosen might be sufficient. This team has no clear cut captain candidates. Larouche seems to have the star quality to be a captain, the ego to appreciate it and the responsibility to perform to need it; and Warwick has real world experience leading a team, to victory no less. But Seiling brings a long career of blueline stability so can be a veteran leader. Gilbert and Jonathan? The jury is still out.[/COLOR]

I am really, really surprised you'd recommend Larouche.

 

[Hedberg]

The recommended captains for Flatrock are:

Grant Warwick, captain
Pierre Larouche, alternate captain
Dion Phaneuf, alternate captain

I have to say our reads on Phaneuf are completely different. It seems like Calgary gave Phaneuf the A because they hoped he would grow in to a leader, not because he already was one.

Phaneuf still seems to have some immaturity issues both on and off the ice (do you want your alternate captain bailing on his country for Elisa Cuthbert?) There has to be better candidates in an all-time context than Phaneuf.

 

[seventieslord]

^^^ I agree with Hedberg.

 

[pitseleh]

Some brief thoughts:

- It doesn't surprise me that VanI and EB put together the team with names unfamiliar to me.

- Tidewater's top-4 on defense is pretty stacked.

- I don't know who I'd have as the #1 on Kitchener (that's a good thing). Hextall had an unbelievable rookie season that tops anything Lundqvist has done and he played for a longer period of time, but Lundqvist has put up five consecutive seasons of extremely high level play - 3 Vezina nominations, a sixth place finish this season, and the SEL MVP trophy during the lockout year in a league full of NHL players.

- Stan Jonathan and Steve Sullivan playing on a line together is a very interesting combination.

- Kapustin-Richards-Vikulov might be the most skilled top line in the draft.

- Has anyone reunited Kamensky-Bykov-Khomutov before? A big thumbs up from me.

- As a Canucks fan, it brings back bad memories to see a team with Crawford, Bertuzzi, and Potvin, all together.

- Lacroix and Cloutier are dynamic players to have on a second line. I also think Toronto has the best collection of names that sound like hockey players.

- I think Konovalenko is the best goalie in the MLD.

- There's an awful lot of talent sprinkled throughout North Pole's forward group.

 

[Leafs Forever]

- I think Konovalenko is the best goalie in the MLD.

- There's an awful lot of talent sprinkled throughout North Pole's forward group.

Thanks for the small kudos.

As good as Konovalenko is, I think you missed the part where seventies drafted Barasso.