BubbaBoot
Registered User
Flett is a character guy with decent skills. 3 20+ goal seasons and another with 43, on some not so good teams also. He had solid WHA stats. He was known to be tough but not really a fighter, like I said a character guy who played if fairly clean. What stood out was his 9 SH goals also....obviously he had some wheels and a decent shout/moves. While researching him I thought he was a bit underrated myself. Like the Turk, Derek Sanderson, I wonder how good he could've been if he hadn't partied as hard as he did.I know Flett is here for more reasons other than just scoring (and I also know how hard it is to get a scoring player with intangibles to flank our one dimensional centers); you basically have him to be your MLD version of Keith Crowder, but I think he’s lacking in a big way. He did have one excellent season but beyond that, was always scoring 30-45 points. He didn’t kill that many penalties so he’s not a defensive stud from what I can tell, and I’ve always had the impression his toughness gets overrated (maybe it’s the beard?) – he didn’t post high PIM totals and had 14 fights in his 951-game NHL/WHA career. I don’t get the impression he’s terrible in any one area, but I don’t think he’s got the upside to put on a 1st line even as a complementary guy, and I don’t think he’s got quite the complementary skills to overlook his offense.
Again, this is the AAA, the deficiencies will be more pronounced. Better over-all players have been picked and quite frankly, I like "character" guys. He's not for being ferocious and yes, very workman-like, especially on the PK....and as was noted on his bio, "20th All-Time among Soviets in goals/game". That's a pretty good stat in my eyes, especially since most of the guys in the top 25 have been already selected in previous drafts and/or are from earlier eras.Mishakov is in quite the same boat – let me explain. He seemed to be an OK finisher but both internationally and domestically his assist stats were brutal, leading to offensive stats that were very underwhelming. Although he did have three 7+ point international tournaments, this was when the Soviets were making a mockery of the world championships and their leading scorers had 14, 21, and 19 points. Mishakov peaked at 12th in scoring in the 1970 tourney, tied for 7th on his own team. Domestically he had seasons in 8th and 10th in points, just before the caliber of the league took off. So I have serious doubts about his offensive chops. However, I realize that you probably have him for similar reasons that you have Flett – he has a bit of a reputation as a combative Soviet. That said, I must question whether that reputation stems entirely from one fight at the Summit Series. In the SS, he earned almost half of his career international PIM total even though that was just 6 of his 43 international games. In the Soviet league, he had a career high of 24 PIMs and that didn’t even put him past the halfway mark in the league, and that was the most PIMs he ever had. (I’m not saying PIMs are a good thing necessarily, just that they at least serve as evidence of combativeness) So Gee is going to really have to carry this line. At worst, these two wingers are still what I’d class as “workmanlike†and could get the job done.
Honestly, while they are studs with super sharp skills, I have no problem with this 1st line, I think they set the tone for what I want out of these guys. Really, the flaws of the players from this draft, (and on down) are more pronounced and instead of looking for that massive skill set you trend to look at good skill sets from guys that wion;'t hurt you with what they don't excel in.
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All of the Soviet and damn near all of the Euro and North American CTRs of note have been taken by now, so there will be deficiencies. This is supposed to have been the "Golden Era" for Soviet hockey and he still is in the middle of the pack and stands out among a lot of other CTRs from the era that are/were available.The second line contains a trio of players I unfortunately have to harp on a bit. Anisin has a decent and long international career. And he DID peak as a USSR leading scorer and that’s worth noting. BUT, aside from that, he never again finished in the top-10 in Soviet league scoring, or in an international tournament. If we’re trying to compare him to NHL players where does that leave him?
Seriously, a 2nd or 3rd line Soviet CTR, very creative from all accounts, that's flirting among the top 10 scorers in the Soviet League and International competition is better than most of the same ilk in other eras, eh?
A quick glance through some of the years he played showed him to be top 3rd or 4th among his position in the Soviet League, with all, (save one, whom I'm happy he survived and plan to pick immediately in the AA draft), of the other CTRs pretty much already picked in the ATD and MLD drafts..... and a significant number of wingers were long to boot.
In the 3 WCs of which he had significant playing time, he ranked 5th / 9th / 3rd in scoring among the CTRs. Not too shabby, especially considering most of the others in the top 10 have been long gone in the ATD and MLD drafts also.
Even near the end of his Soviet career, where he was the 2nd line CTR for Spartak Moscow, he scored 19 points. But take into consideration that season had 10 CTRs, between the #6 through the #15 scorers who were all between 23 and 18 points....he still skated with them.
I agree with you on how one-dimensional this 2nd line is and I didn't realize until after the fact, which is the reason why I concentrated hard on trying to make my 3rd and 4th lines a little more well rounded than just the usual 3rd line checking / 4th line energy roles.As for Audette and Huselius, there’s not much to say other than they were very *average second line players who tended to ride better linemates, and their offensive figures are surely nothing special for AAA 2nd liners. They both are better scorers than a number of players such as Ysebaert, Murray Balfour, Matt Moulson… but they don’t have the other skills these players have and that, too, is a concern because this 2nd line is probably as one-dimensional as it gets. Swapping one of these wingers with the first line would probably be a good thing because then at least you get one good workmanlike guy on each line.
Huselius has 6 20+ goals seasons and a 30+ goal season. He's got talent, good on his skates and a bit of a sniper mentality/skill set....but he is a bit of a loose cannon and head case. His international and Swedish numbers are pretty good also and he can play either wing.
Audette has 4 20+ goal seasons and 2 30+ goal scoring seasons. He's actually tougher than you give him credit for and was always near the net, especially during PP's where t's noted he would dive into the crease area fray.
The line is smallish / not so gritty overall at first appearances so I'll proabably be giving more TOI to the 3rd and 4th lines to compensate and use these guys more on PP play.
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These guys are unheralded IMO. Yeah Franzen ain't a star on a team of stars, (detroit), but I won't hold that against him. Walker on a higher profile team/city would be touted higher than he has. He really is a nose dirty guy who also has 3 20+ goal seasons.The third line has good wings. You may know I’m not a huge Franzen fan, but he did drop to a more reasonable spot this year, and he CAN score in the playoffs. Walker’s even better. I had this guy on my radar for a long time and just kept thinking of good reasons to take other players. I actually did give good thought to whether I wanted him over Plett on the 4th line. Super solid player.
I pondered him mightily myself but I finally went with what I know:Jokinen? I’m not sure why you took him. He’s not close to the first guy I’d think of for offense and he’s not close to the first guy I’d think of for defense either. And especially not toughness. I’d consider him as a possible spare due to his versatility, but when guys like DeBlois, Cooke, Boutette, Kevin Miller, Havlat, Murphy and Anderson are available it’s a bit of a stretch to even put him there. Also, why is he wearing a letter? What’s his leadership resume? I am asking because I honestly don’t know.
- he's an infuriating SOB. yeah, he dives on occasion but he draws a buttload of penalties.
- he can play all 3 forward positions.
- he was used on the #1 PK unit when he was with Carolina, where also had his best offensive year too.
- the book says he's soft by NHL standards. I don't believe that. Everytime I see him he's getting knocked about but keeps on coming.
- he wore both the C and the A as a Jr Finn and also wore the A in the last WC's. He was 12th overall in scoring and 3rd among the 4th place Finns, (canada was 5th, the Swedes 6th and the US 7th).
- Right now he's on a 30 goal pace season. He's 3rd in goals and 4th in scoring as a 3rd line LWer. I'm sure that he'll drop in production, but not effectiveness in other aspects of the game. I think he's a catalyst for a solid 3rd line.
As I had mentioned to Hobnobs via some pm's a while ago, it's very hard to get a read on soem of the early guys, (as well as the Euros, especially in the PP / PK depts). I like the 4th line a lot....they may be a tad rowdy for some folks but I think they have the skill level to garner more minutes than your average 4th line does, much like the current Bruins 4th line. (Gee, can you guess who i try to model my teams after?)4th line is super solid. I like Vic Lynn a lot. Poulin works. Herberts was an absolute steal where you got him, when you consider his scoring and Hart record. There’s reason to believe he was gritty too, but I with I had been able to substantiate that better in the past.
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I iline my defensemen up in what is generally their natural position, not by value of position #...Cooper is a natural righty so I'm assuming he played the right side. This is how I determine my defensive pairs.Cooper is your #1 defenseman in my eyes.
SCHWING!!!!!In fact, I have him as one of the finest defensemen in the draft.
Since I've started participating in these drafts I've learned a lot about players I'v enever known, their eras, etc....it has been a real eye opener. Cooper, who I knew nothing about, is now one of those guys that I wished I had seen playI often bristled at him earning MLD all-star votes and I think that’s fair, however, he fell quite a bit and the analysis I did on all these O6-era defensemen indicates he really shouldn’t have. In the ATD and first part of the MLD, I’d say we’ve all done a really good job of “sorting out†these players. Mainly because we have voting records to confirm how they were regarded in the hockey world. However, we have done a relatively poor job of sorting out the next tier. Forwards are easy because they have offensive numbers to compare – defensemen really don’t. Along the way we forgot that simply being in the O6 NHL meant something. My little analysis I did to compare these guys was, to my knowledge, the first quantitative and qualitative analysis of this tier of MLD defensemen and it was pretty eye-opening. Although somewhat simplistic (and isn’t any numerical analysis of O6 defenseman going to be simplistic?) it clearly demonstrates which defensemen were regarded highly enough by the hockey powers to hold down one of these exclusive jobs for an extended period, and it even looks at how strong the teams were that used these players. Cooper looks excellent by this measure, and will receive a high all-star vote from me.
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Decent? Good PMDs are at a premium nowadays....especially those on the right side. These guys are more than decent in my eyes.Romishevsky and Marjamaki are passable #2/3 guys.
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Again, I try to line up my defensemen as they would've probably played. Dewsbury was a natural lefty. Juzda, (who was my original #2), a natural righty. I don't know for sure but for the sake of their stick sides I am lining them up as such. I also have a tendency to try and match PMD's with a stay-at-home partner.The part about O6 defensemen cuts both ways, and as such, I see Dewsbury as your #4. And not a particularly strong one. He only played 5 seasons worth of NHL games, and he did it for abysmal teams, too. It’s fathomable that if he belonged to even an average NHL organization, that he might never have played a game for them. In comparison, Juzda looks like an absolute stud on the 3rd pair, and in fact might be the best player on any 3rd pairing in this draft. Sweeney is a completely stable 3rd pairing guy too. I always struggle with how to rate him but I am sure he won’t hurt a AAA 3rd pairing.
I know that Sweeney is a natural lefty but played the right when he was paired with Bourque. He was accused of riding Bourques coat tails but that's not a very fair assessment. I watched him for his entire career and he wasn't spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, just quietly efficient and he hit a LOT harder than his 5'10" frame would indicate. Being a Harvard boy you'd also think he was a smart player and you're right. He wasn't a blazer on his skates but he did have decent jump and played the angles very well. he was a #2/#3/ guy his entire career so being on the 3rd pairing with Juzda makes this a solid duo IMO.
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There's a huge drop off ion talent and skill level. I think Johnston played very well for some abysmal Bruins teams, and at times even shone mightily during post-expansion.Johnston is an average AAA starter, Turek a below average backup. Not much more to say there.
The only thing bad I can say about Turek is he can be hot and cold.....he had some stellar seasons and when he was hot, he was white hot.
Not enough on Yurzinov to definitively judge but the company he kept....for as long as he did....and his resume.....I have no idea how to rate Yurzinov; let’s just say he’s OK. O’Reilly is a guy I’d never even thought of taking in these things; not sure how much he helps, but the alternative was to take some mediocre player as a spare, right?
O'Reilly was a player's coiach so I'm playing the cold Soviet off the very human North American here.....O'Reilly is the epitome of a heart and soul guy who made himself a better player....and my team has a certain similarity more times than not.
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Utility men at both forward and defense, those that are more than competent, are very rare nowadays. Dandenault fits the bill of an emergency guy that can do well and not hurt you over an extended period time at this level.I like your spares collection. I advocated for Dandenault down in the 1900-2000 range, he surely doesn’t look as solid this high, but he does play two positions. Virta might be a little behind some other spare D. But Creighton is a stud for a spare center. I’m really intrigued by his 1400 career pro games. What if he was 10 years younger and was still NHL-caliber when the league expanded? What might his career have looked like?
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Recommendations: there are still better goalies than Turek out there; you might want to consider an add/drop. I’d also consider an add/drop on Jokinen as there are so many more useful players out there to center a 3rd line. (S.H, A.S, M.S, J.D, D.R, T.G, S.O, F.K, J.M….)
Virta is a pure PMD, to be shuffled in and out of the lineup according to the opponents. He has some damn good numbers at every level so I don't feel to hesitant about him.
Creighton I thought seriously about as a 3rd line CTR but quite frankly this is all about the quandary I had mentioned....I have no idea how much PP / PK time the guy has had and how effective he was. I do know about Jokinen and they're better than I expected.