THE 2010 DOUBLE-A DRAFT (sign-up, roster post, picks, discussion, etc)

[VanIslander]

The Blue Jays select 6'1 210 lbs. defenseman Toni Lydman, the Sabres top skater in minutes played in both of their conference finals runs in the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. The 10-year veteran has played in five World Championships, winning silver in 1998 and 1999 and bronze in 2002. He won the Pekka Rautakallio trophy as best dman in the Finnish SM-liiga in 1999-00 and immediately made the jump to the NHL thereafter. He scored 3 assists in the 2004 World Cup, as well as won silver and bronze medals at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. He is a dependable, all-around quality rearguard who can fill just about any role in an unflashy, workmanlike fashion.

Looks after his own zone first and foremost, but also possesses some puck-moving ability. Rarely gets caught out of position and is an outstanding skater.

http://forecaster.thehockeynews.com/hockeynews/hockey/player.cgi?447

A solid skater and positional player, Lydman has regularly placed in the Top 20 in shotblocking in the NHL. While his hitting has fluctuated, it has always been in the Top 5 on the Sabres team.

http://www.anaheimcalling.com/2010/7/1/1547668/ducks-sign-toni-lydman

He's not the type that's outstanding at anything, but he does everything well," Murray said. "He does power play. He does penalty killing. He's a real solid two-way defenceman, which we needed desperately."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=326286

 

[VanIslander]

I took Lydman for three reasons: 1) He was a deserving member of a long shortlist of defensemen left; 2) I personally have always been impressed by him and think him underrated, and 3) He's a present day NHLer and including one of those gives my squad a true all-time feel, representing every era.

Now, for my last pick: a backup goalie. I'm happy to see that two of the three from my shortlist are gone: Smith and Fowler. That makes my job easy.

 

[VanIslander]

The Blue Jays select goaltender Don Simmons, who was the starter in net when the Bruins made two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals runs in 1957 and 1958. He also came off the bench in Toronto to win a couple of games in the Leafs 1962 championship, so he played in the 1963 NHL all-star game (he was an all-star at four levels of pro hockey). "Dippy" only was a starter in two NHL regular seasons but saw lots of action as the backup (to Lumley in Boston, Bower in Toronto), losing only 101 games of 249 NHL starts over 11 seasons, seven times top-6 in NHL shutouts, four times top-6 in wins.

Goalie Don Simmons made nearly 250 appearances for three different NHL clubs in the 50s and 60s. He was also known as a durable competitor in the minors during a pro career that lasted nearly 20 years.

Born in Port Colborne, Ontario, Simmons played junior with the Galt Rockets and St. Catharines Teepees. In 1951-52 he won 18 games as a rookie pro with the EHL's Springfield Indians and led the league with 31 wins for the club the next season. Both years he was named to the EHL second all-star team.

In 1956-57 he replaced Terry Sawchuk in the Boston Bruins' goal part way through the season and helped the club reach the Stanley Cup finals. He helped the team return to the finals the next season and won a personal high 24 games in 1958-59.

Simmons was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Ed Chadwick in 1961 and he was a solid back up to Johnny Bower. In 1962 he won a couple of games in the playoffs while helping the club win the Stanley Cup. By the mid-60s, Simmons found himself in the minors but he responded with 35 wins for the CHL's Tulsa Oilers in 1964-65. He eventually joined the New York Rangers via the Intra-League Draft and led the WHL in wins with the Vancouver Canucks in 1966-67. Simmons played a few games on Manhattan as an injury replacement before retiring in 1969.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=18695

 

[VanIslander]

Madison has one more pick to make: a coach.

In the meantime, everyone start assembling a list of players for all-star voting.
Let's each make a list of:

The 2010 Double-A Draft All-Stars:

Best five Top-6 role forwards (any position) *maximum 1 of these from your own team*
Best five Bottom-6 role forwards (any position) *maximum 1 of these from your own team*
Best ten defensemen (any role) *maximum 2 of these from your own team*
Best three goaltenders *maximum 1 from your own team*
Best three coaches *maximum 1 from your own team*

("maximum" means you can pick 0 from your own team if and where you think other teams have better.)

PM the list to me by Wednesday night.

 

[Dreakmur]

Madison has one more pick to make: a coach.

In the meantime, everyone start assembling a list of players for all-star voting.
Let's each make a list of:

The 2010 Double-A Draft All-Stars:

Best five Top-6 role forwards (any position) *maximum 1 of these from your own team*
Best five Bottom-6 role forwards (any position) *maximum 1 of these from your own team*
Best ten defensemen (any role) *maximum 2 of these from your own team*
Best three goaltenders *maximum 1 from your own team*
Best three coaches *maximum 1 from your own team*

("maximum" means you can pick 0 from your own team if and where you think other teams have better.)

PM the list to me by Wednesday night.

Am I allowed to submit votes? I won't include anyone from our team to make sure we don't get an advantage.

 

[VanIslander]

Am I allowed to submit votes? I won't include anyone from our team to make sure we don't get an advantage.

Absolutely anyone who has been in ATDs can vote (and of course, co-GMs in this draft) the more educated input, the better! Just use the "search this thread" function to look at bios of players not linked on roster posts.

 

[seventieslord]

Don Simmons would have been the starter on my 2nd all-free agent team (I think he was the 3rd-best guy left) - I did a good bio of him a few drafts back, but I forget which.

Lydman was a pretty good pick. Seems more like a MadArcand, 70s, or TDMM pick than a VI guy though

 

[seventieslord]

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT: The all-time best of the other 5 teams get together to play against your squad in a charity benefit game. This is what I imagine:

coach Ron Wilson

Lars-Erik Lundvall - Nils Nilsson - Ronald Pettersson
Shirley Davidson - Walt McKechnie - Brian Gionta
Marco Sturm - Ron Schock - Wayne Babych
Val Fonteyne - Greg Malone - Mike Grier
X: Oren Frood, Doru Tureanu

Rod Flett - Marcus Ragnarsson
Mike McEwen - Duke Dukowski
Sean Hill - Patrice Brisebois
Bryan Marchment

Leif Holmqvist
Tommy Salo​

The highlighted are ones my team would certainly offer contracts to.

Jeez, you like my forwards.

I'll give this a shot too.

Ales Hemsky-Billy Breen-Shirly Davidson
Darcy Rota-Viktor Yakushev-Sergei Svetlov
John Marks-Curtis Brown-Mike Knuble
Dave Hunter-Mikko Koivu-Mark Hunter
ex: Don Metz, Joe Power

Duke Dukowski-Don Sweeney
Joe Matte-Rod Flett
Bingo Kampman-Sean Hill
ex: Wilf Loughlin

Leif Holmqvist
Roman Cechmanek

Bob Hartley

 

[Hedberg]

Coach Al MacNeil

Wikipedia:

During that season, the Habs struggled for a good portion of the season, at one point in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year. Ruel resigned and MacNeil took the helm; meanwhile, the club swung a major trade to net top scoring left wing Frank Mahovlich from the Detroit Red Wings. The Canadiens rallied to qualify for the playoffs as third seed in their division, then MacNeil led the team to an unexpected Stanley Cup championship. The Habs stunned the heavily favoured Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs, and then defeated the Minnesota North Stars and Chicago Black Hawks, winning the latter series after having been behind 3–2.

Crucial to the Stanley Cup victory was MacNeil's decision to use rookie goaltender Ken Dryden in the playoffs despite Dryden having played only six regular-season games in 1970–71. MacNeil was presumably impressed that Dryden won all these games, allowing only nine goals (1.65 GAA). Another crucial choice was having rookie Rejean Houle mark the Black Hawks' goalscorer Bobby Hull. Houle was nicknamed the "shadow of Bobby Hull" as Hull managed to score only one even-strength goal in the series.

Unfortunately, MacNeil had a frosty relationship with most of the team's francophone players, most notably Henri Richard. When MacNeil benched Richard during the final series against the Black Hawks, Richard publicly criticised the coach, calling him incompetent. In game seven held at Chicago, being tied at 2-2 after the first two periods, the Canadiens scored the winning goal early in the third to take the series and the championship, with Richard scoring both the equalizer and game winner. MacNeil and Richard hugged at the end of the game, but that did little to patch up their differences. MacNeil was demoted to head coach of the Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. MacNeil won three Calder Cup Championships (1972, 1976, 1977) in six years with the Voyageurs.

He later returned to the Canadiens winning two more Stanley Cups as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979.

 

[seventieslord]

Nice pick with MacNeil. There goes the coach of my 2nd all-free agent team. Time to readjust.

 

[VanIslander]

The 2010 DOUBLE-A DRAFT All-Stars:

MVP: Leif Holmqvist, Middlebury Panthers

1st team all-stars:

FORWARDS: Viktor Yakushev, Brian Gionta, John Marks, Ron Schock, Mike Knuble
DEFENSEMEN: Marcus Ragnarsson, Don Sweeney, Sean Hill, Dmitri Mironov, Al MacNeil
GOALIES: Leif Holmqvist, Guy Hebert
COACHES: Bob Hartley, Dave Tippett

2nd-team all-stars: Wayne Babych, Billy Breen, Scott Hannan, Ron Plumb, Mike McEwen, Mike Rathje, coach Ron Wilson​

Table
MVP= most votes
1st team all-star= 5 or more votes
2nd team all-stars=3 or 4 votes
All other picks received between 0-2 votes, with 8 people voting.

 

[Hedberg]

What does everyone want to do with playoffs? Team vs. team sim? Voting? All-Star Summit Series?

 

[VanIslander]

Team vs. team sim?

Hey, seventieslord said he wanted to sim it. I said: go ahead if he wants to!

We didn't have a playoffs the last time there was a Double-A draft. But if there is interest, then sure of course, let's do it.

Personally, I think your all-star summit series is an awesome idea. We could use the 1st and 2nd team all-stars, then to fill out the squad we could do a +1/-1 voting system on the thread akin to the Nuggets squad in a previous year. Double-A players and free agents are eligible.

 

[VanIslander]

1st team all-stars:

FORWARDS: Viktor Yakushev, Brian Gionta, John Marks, Ron Schock, Mike Knuble
DEFENSEMEN: Marcus Ragnarsson, Don Sweeney, Sean Hill, Dmitri Mironov, Al MacNeil
GOALIES: Leif Holmqvist, Guy Hebert
COACHES: Bob Hartley, Dave Tippett

2nd-team all-stars: Wayne Babych, Billy Breen, Scott Hannan, Ron Plumb, Mike McEwen, Mike Rathje, coach Ron Wilson

Yakushev, C top-6
Gionta, RW, top-6
Knuble, RW, top-6 (put on 3rd line but really a top-6 role player)
Schock, C, bottom-6 role
Marks, LW, bottom-6 role

Need:

two top-6 left wingers,
a top-6 center,
a third-line right winger,
an entire fourth line
an extra forward
no dmen, no goalies, no coaches

 

[seventieslord]

I'm open to anything. The competitive side of me actually leans toward a voted playoff like usual. But I realize how difficult that is. If all picks mad are arguably of the "next best" variety, then the margins between them are razor-thin. the exceptions are the worst picks - there's a limit as to how good a pick you can make now, but you can still make bad picks.

If we simulate, I definitely don't have to be the one to do it. But I would like to have a part in the player ratings that we use.

 

[Hedberg]

But I would like to have a part in the player ratings that we use

Maybe it should be opt in and the GM has to help with their team's ratings to qualify for the playoffs?

 

[VanIslander]

If we do a summit series, we could have

1) two Double-A all-star squads, with the draft's six teams split into two divisions; which teams are in which division will largely be decided upon based on even amount of all-stars; each team would have to sign between one to three free agents; each team would have between one to three GMs, depending on which draft GMs wish to participate in the selection process.

2) one Double-A all-star squad vs. a free agent squad

3) a standard double-a playoffs with 4 teams, determined by regular season ranking via voting.

4) another option

 

[VanIslander]

3) a standard double-a playoffs with 4 teams, determined by regular season ranking via voting.

or

5. all six teams play a challenger series first round, reducing teams to three, then vote to rank the remaining three, and a team of free agents takes on the top seed while the second and third seeds square off for a place in the finals!

 

[MadArcand]

That option 5 sounds good.

 

[VanIslander]

a concern: whatever we do we should do it quickly and end the process within 2 weeks. as a rule, we should NOT go into the new year: it's a 2010 draft and so should on principle be entirely done with this year.

so, in the interests of expediency:

1. Post HERE your commitment to include your team in a Summit Series. Do so within the next 36 hours, by early Friday evening.
2. Hedberg post the rating categories ASAP that he could sim.
3. Each committed GM prepare a rating of each player on the roster according to the categories; at the same time, we discuss on the thread what the ratings will be for the 1st all-stars and 2nd all-stars, with all-stars getting a clear ratings advantage over ALL non-all-stars, in terms of overall value. So we'll have to adjust our non-all-star ratings as we go. The important thing to get doing fast is determining each player's strengths and weaknesses in each ratings category. This needs doing before we compare players to each other and adjusting final numbers relative to the whole group.
4. We reach agreement through discussion on ratings. What constitutes agreement will be decided once we know how many GMs wanna commit to this process (time commitment this weekend!!).

 

[VanIslander]

3) a standard double-a playoffs with 4 teams

This would be sooooo easy.

We are a week before Christmas. Then there's one week before Christmas and New Year's. Not a lot of time!

But whatever. Let's see: vote on sim vs. voting while you're at it.

 

[Hedberg]

If we want it done quickly, voting is probably the way (or we just sim the games and they aren't watched for quality control). If we could get 5 voteres, I think we could do that

The categories for player ratings are (all out of 100 unless noted):
Speed:
Acceleration:
Agility:
Deke:
Balance:
Puck Control:
Endurance:
Face Offs:
Passing:
Slap Shot Power:
Slap Shot Accuracy:
Wrist Shot Power
Wrist Shot Accuracy:
Hero Rating ("Clutch"):
Aggressiveness:
Checking:
Toughness:
Resist Penalties:
Resist Injuries:
Potential:
Prestige (out of 15:
Shoot-Pass (out of 15):
Pass-Carry (out of 15):
Defense-Offense (out of 15):

Goaltenders
Speed:
Recovery:
Agility:
Breakaways:
Five-Hole:
Rebound:
Endurance:
Passing:
Glove High:
Glove Low:
Stick High:
Stick Low:
Poke Check:
Toughness:
Intensity:
Potential:
Style (out of 2):
Positioning (out of 2):
Flopiness (out of 2):
Consistency (out of 2):

 

[VanIslander]

Is there an overall value function (OV?), that is, some way of knowing how the individual ratings add up? or is it just individual factor by factor?

 

[Hedberg]

Is there an overall value function (OV?), that is, some way of knowing how the individual ratings add up? or is it just individual factor by factor?

Yes, there is, but you can't edit, only boost it with the other ratings.

The most important to edit I think are:
Speed:
Balance:
Puck Control:
Face Offs:
Passing:
Slap Shot Power:
Slap Shot Accuracy:
Wrist Shot Power:
Wrist Shot Accuracy:
Aggressiveness:
Checking:

 

[Hedberg]

For example, here is Brian Gionta’s in game rating:

Overall: 84
Speed: 92
Acceleration: 94
Agility: 97
Deke: 91
Balance: 79
Puck Control: 86
Endurance: 92
Face Offs: 66
Passing: 83
Slap Shot Power: 87
Slap Shot Accuracy: 88
Wrist Shot Power: 86
Wrist Shot Accuracy: 85
Hero Rating ("Clutch"): 94
Aggressiveness: 87
Checking: 64
Toughness: 65
Resist Penalties: 70
Resist Injuries: 99
Potential: 83
Prestige (out of 15): 72
Shoot-Pass (out of 15): 2
Pass-Carry (out of 15): 11
Defense-Offense (out of 15): 9