AAA 2015 Lineup Assassination Thread

[seventieslord]

Post your completed lineups here, including special teams units.

With only six teams in this draft, I should have no problem reviewing all of them. Who's with me?

Click to read more...

 

[ResilientBeast]

Coach - Dave King, Clare Drake

Bohuslav Stastny --- Robbie Ftorek --- Haviland Routh
Anton Stastny --- Aleksander Kozhevnikov --- Mac Colville
Jochen Hecht--- Ron Schock (C) --- Ric Seiling
Dave Hunter--- Manny Malhotra --- Mike Grier
Extra : Andrew Cassels, Sergei Mozyakin

Keith Carney --- Anders Eldebrink
Eric Brewer (A) --- Al Hamilton (A)
Jim Morrison --- Dave Maloney
Extra : Tom Poti

Marty Turco
Felix Potvin

PP1
Bohuslav Stastny --- Robbie Ftorek --- Haviland Routh --- Anders Eldebrink --- Al Hamilton
PP2
Anton Stastny --- Aleksander Kozhevnikov --- Mac Colville --- Dave Maloney --- Jim Morrison

PK1
Ron Schock - Jochen Hecht
Keith Carney - Eric Brewer

PK2
Manny Malhotra - Ric Seiling
Dave Maloney - Al Hamilton

 

[ResilientBeast]

You review me and I'll do you

 

[tony d]

Rum River Renegades

Coach: Terry Crisp

Shawn Mceachern-Don Raleigh-Blaine Stoughton
Jeff Friesen-Michal Pivonka-Earl Robinson
Andre Pronovost-Larry Patey-Lucien Deblois
Jim Riley-Mike Bullard-Scott Young

Ted Graham-Doug Lidster
Chris Phillips-Paul Martin
Hy Buller-Uwe Krupp

Bill Ranford
Jim Henry

Bench: Cecil Blachford, Johnny Sheppard, Kyle Mclaren, Tobias Enstrom

Special teams:

PP 1: Mceachern-Raleigh-Stoughton-Lidster-Martin
PP 2: Friesen-Bullard-Robinson-Buller-Graham

PK 1: Pronovost-Patey-Graham-Phillips
PK 2: Pivonka-Deblois-Krupp-Martin

Leadership: Doug Lidster (Captains), Chris Phillips (Alternate), Michal Pivonka (Alternate)

 

[chaosrevolver]

Belleville Bulls
2x Eastern Conference Champions, 1x OHL Champions

Head Coach: Jacques Martin

Vaclav Prospal - Billy Reay - Vincent Lukac
Joe Juneau - Clare McKerrow (A) - Charles Tobin
Harry E. Watson - Bob Gracie - Ron Duguay
Shawn Burr - Laurie Boschman (A) - Pat Boutette

Alex Smith - Arthur Moore (C)
Bob Murdoch - Mark Hardy
Gary Sargent - Reg Hamilton

Billy Nicholson
Marc-Andre Fleury

Spares
LW - Martin Gelinas
LW - Jay Pandolfo
F - Darcy Tucker
D - Bert Marshall

Power Play
Vaclav Prospal - Billy Reay - Vincent Lukac
Alex Smith - Gary Sargent

Harry E. Watson - Bob Gracie - Charles Tobin
Clare McKerrow - Mark Hardy

Penalty Kill
Shawn Burr - Clare McKerrow
Bert Marshall - Arthur Moore

Joe Juneau - Laurie Boschman
Mark Hardy - Reg Hamilton​

 

[BubbaBoot]

Haven't I been through an assassination already? I mean, it was trecommended that I add/drop half my team....

 

[BubbaBoot]

CITY POINT CLOVERS

Head Coach: Vladimir Yurzinov

Cory Stillman - Bronco Horvath - Dave Christianhttp://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=107490405&postcount=15
Josef Cerny - Jozef Stumpel - Ray Sheppard
Don Smith - Jiri Novakhttp://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=107565165&postcount=52 - Mikael Renberg (C)
Yevgeny Mishakov - Bryan Smolinskihttp://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=107965589&postcount=175 - Jim Peplinski (A)

Joe Jerwa - Ivan Tregubov
Sergei Babinov (A) - Jim McKenny
Bob Turner - Rudolf Potsch

Vladimir Myshkin
Leif Holmqvist

- spares -
Doug Brown - RW/LW/CTR
Vic Lynn - LW/D
Ronald "Sura-Pelle" Pettersson - RW [F/D]
Behn Wilson - D


- PP1 -
Cerny - Stumpel - Sheppard
Jerwa - Potsch

- PP2 -
Stillman - Horvath - Christian
McKenny - Tregubov

- spot duty PP forwards -
Novak / Renberg / Smith / Smolinski

- PK1 -
Mishakov - Smolinski
Turner - Tregubov

- PK2 -
Christian - Peplinski
Jerwa - Babinov

- spot duty PK forwards -
Stillman / Renberg / Novak / Turner
​

 

[seventieslord]

Regina Amber Alerts

Coach - Ted Nolan

Andrew Brunette - Olli Jokinen - Joe Lamb
Danny Grant - Robert Reichel - Jeff O'Neill
Buzz Boll - Kelly Kisio (A) - Chico Maki
Eddie Shack - Cully Dahlstrom - Mike Keane (A)

Brad Marsh (C) - Bruce Driver
Scott Hannan - Kent Douglas
Dave Manson - Bill Brydge

Viktor Konovalenko
Nikolai Khabibulin

spares: Jack Marks (W/D), Dolly Swift (C/D), Warren Godfrey (D), Serge Bernier (RW/C)

PP1: Brunette - Jokinen - Lamb - Driver - Douglas
PP2: Grant - Reichel - O'Neill - Manson - Brydge
PK1: Dahlstrom - Keane - Marsh - Hannan
PK2: Boll - Maki - Manson - Brydge

 

[Hedberg]

Selkirk Fishermen
co-GMs: Hedberg & VanIslander

coach Pete Muldoon

John Sorrell - Billy Breen (A) - Bob McDougall
Steve Payne - Dutch Reibel - Alexander Golikov
Gaetan Duchesne - Bob Carpenter (A) - Randy McKay
Magnus Arvedson - Vladimir Golikov - Duane Sutter
Fred Whitcroft - Vladimir Zabrodsky - Vlastimil Bubnik

Victor Hedman - Phat Wilson (C)
Rick Green - Ron Plumb
Ralph Bowman - Darius Kasparaitis
Hobey Baker

Bert Lindsay
Gilles Meloche
PP1: Payne - Breen - McDougall - Hedman - Wilson
PP2: Sorrell - Reibel - McKay - A. Golikov - Plumb

PK1: Duchesne - Carpenter - Green - Bowman
PK2: Arvedson - V.Golikov - Hedman - Wilson

 

[VanIslander]

My favorite line from each of the other clubs (in order of submission to this thread):

Edmonton Oil Kings' 1st line: Bohuslav Stastny - Robbie Ftorek - Haviland Routh

While I've always thought of Ftorek as more of a second-line center (due to his tiredless checking - a real puckhound in all three zones), the 4-time WHA all-star is ideally paired with a two-way Stastny known for puck recovery and the Czechoslovakian had real chemistry with goal-scoring Martinec so having offensively-flaired Routh on the right side might be magic, with both the center and left winger as the ideal linemates for defense-negligent Routh. Well done!

Rum River Renegades' 3rd line: Andre Pronovost - Larry Patey - Lucien Deblois

The team's fourth line may be extremely offensively oriented, but the third line is equally rock-'n-roll defensively. Patey was the fast and strong hound dog between hard-checking lunch bucket Pronovost and skilled utility player DeBlois. The trio are understandably at the forefront of the team's penalty kill units and ought to lead all forwards on the squad in ice time when short handed. It's obviously built to be a shutdown line and there's no reason to think it won't succeed more times than not.

Belleville Bulls' 2nd line: Joe Juneau - Clare McKerrow - Charles Tobin

A pivot who skates well and checks, scores, works hard, and is renowned for his character seems like at least alternate captain material; his stickhandling must certainly have been world class to captain Canada's national lacrosse team and be compared to Newsy Lalonde as arguably the best player that people have ever seen at that difficult eye-hand coordinated sport. His linemates are equally committed to playing defense, Juneau morphing his skills into a checker's role over his career and Tobin the PCHA veteran who also brought speed and skill in addition to some noted boardwork and backchecking. This line might hold its own in a Bottom-6 role in a MLD.

City Point Clovers' 3rd line: Don Smith - Jiri Novak - Mikael Renberg

A six-time Czechoslovakian world championships national team center in their heyday of the 1970's, known as a "two-way" player, between a speedy Smith who is an impact scorer at this level of competition as well as fiery competitor, and on the right side a slow-skating but fast-shooting winger in Renberg, a responsible backchecker and usual third forward into the offensive zone. This line is basically a second second line in terms of their skillset.

Regina Amber Alerts' 4th line: Eddie Shack - Cully Dahlstrom - Mike Keane

The center was 24 when he finally broke into the NHL and was early on a clutch scorer and had an 8-year career as a responsible player and penalty killer. He has a spitfire on his right in Keane, renowned for channeling his anger into hits and scrambles all over the ice, excelling in tight games of frenzied play. On the left side is one of the flashiest rough-and-tumble players in NHL history in Shack, who will drop the gloves a lot. It's an energy line and a utility line, as it has two popular hotheads and the team's top two penalty killing forwards. It's the sort of line that sees a lot of ice time when a team is trailing by 3 or more goals.

 

[seventieslord]

Really wanted to do 5 reviews in the last two days, but I've had a nagging task that is six months old and could not justify spending time on this when I should have been completing this other task. Now that it's out of the way... I'm good to go.

 

[chaosrevolver]

I'll try and get at least a few done. Had something really tragic go down in my life and I've been consumed by it the last couple days.

 

[tony d]

I'll do some this week as well

 

[tony d]

Coach - Dave King, Clare Drake

Bohuslav Stastny --- Robbie Ftorek --- Haviland Routh
Anton Stastny --- Aleksander Kozhevnikov --- Mac Colville
Jochen Hecht--- Ron Schock (C) --- Ric Seiling
Dave Hunter--- Manny Malhotra --- Mike Grier
Extra : Andrew Cassels, Sergei Mozyakin

Keith Carney --- Anders Eldebrink
Eric Brewer (A) --- Al Hamilton (A)
Jim Morrison --- Dave Maloney
Extra : Tom Poti

Marty Turco
Felix Potvin

PP1
Bohuslav Stastny --- Robbie Ftorek --- Haviland Routh --- Anders Eldebrink --- Al Hamilton
PP2
Anton Stastny --- Aleksander Kozhevnikov --- Mac Colville --- Dave Maloney --- Jim Morrison

PK1
Ron Schock - Jochen Hecht
Keith Carney - Eric Brewer

PK2
Manny Malhotra - Ric Seiling
Dave Maloney - Al Hamilton

Time to review this roster:

Forward Line 1:

I had Stastny in a previous draft year, very good player, reads as a solid glue guy for any team, I think he'll fill that role here as well. I had Ftorek last year, he's a very good #1 centre in this, good skater as well as a playmaker, he'll serve this team well. In Routh you have a good goal scorer who will benefit a lot from Ftorek's passes. Overall this is the classic draft line as it has a playmaker, goal scorer and glue guy, solid line.

Forward Line 2:

Anton Stastny is another good 1, solid player for sure. Kozhevnikov reads as a solid player but 1 that may have some attitude problems, hopefully those don't get in the way of him playing a good game. I had Colville last year, solid glue guy, hopefully he'll hold Kozhevnikov in check, if he does that then you have a solid 2nd line.

Forward Line 3:

Hecht is a solid 3rd line player and should give other teams fits, solid pick. Schock is another prototypical 3rd line centre, solid pick. Seiling is a good one as well, also good offensively as well. This line probably will be more of a defensive game but they won't hurt you offensively either, solid line.

Forward Line 4:

Dave Hunter is a solid player, plays a chippy game but it's also clean so he won't hurt your team in taking costly penalties. Malhotra offers a good defensive game as well. Mike Grier looks like your team enforcer. Overall a line that's going to be tough to play against for sure.

Defensive Pairing 1:

Carney's a good defensive defenseman, don't know if he belongs on a top pairing here but he definitely belongs in the AAA. Eldebrink is a guy I think me and Dave G introduced to the draft 5 yrs. ago, he's a very good offensive defenseman and should serve your team well. Solid pairing.

Defensive Pairing 2:

Eric Brewer had a short peak but when he was at his best there wheren't as many defensive defensemen in the league as he was, solid player. Al Hamilton is a solid player and rightfully wears a letter for your team, he's good offensively as well, overall a solid pairing here.

Defensive Pairing 3:

Jim Morrison should be a solid secondary scoring option for your defense, solid pick. Dave maloney is a solid pick as well, he'll help out offensively but should be the defensive conscience for this pairing, overall, a solid pairing for sure.

Goaltending:

Turco's a decent goalie, had him as my goalie for a draft in a previous year as well. Potvin's another guy I had in a previous draft year, solid goalie too. Overall you have a good goaltending duo, I expect a platoon here with the best goalie getting the bulk of the starts in the playoffs.

Coaching:

Dave King is a solid coach, moreso internationally than in the NHL though.

Extras:

Clare Drake: My opinion on assistant coaches is well known, also Drake is a bit of a weak pick too as well.

Andrew Cassels: A good extra, I expect him to slot into your top 6 from time to time in place of Kozhevnikov.

Sergei Mozyakin: Another solid extra, should fit in quite well.

Tom Poti: Good offensive option but your team has plenty of offensive defenseman, you could have used another defensive defenseman as an extra.

Special Teams:

No comments really, everyone looks like a fit in their position.

Final Thoughts:

Overall this is a solid team, good luck to you in this.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Time to review this roster:

Forward Line 1:

I had Stastny in a previous draft year, very good player, reads as a solid glue guy for any team, I think he'll fill that role here as well. I had Ftorek last year, he's a very good #1 centre in this, good skater as well as a playmaker, he'll serve this team well. In Routh you have a good goal scorer who will benefit a lot from Ftorek's passes. Overall this is the classic draft line as it has a playmaker, goal scorer and glue guy, solid line.

Forward Line 2:

Anton Stastny is another good 1, solid player for sure. Kozhevnikov reads as a solid player but 1 that may have some attitude problems, hopefully those don't get in the way of him playing a good game. I had Colville last year, solid glue guy, hopefully he'll hold Kozhevnikov in check, if he does that then you have a solid 2nd line.

Forward Line 3:

Hecht is a solid 3rd line player and should give other teams fits, solid pick. Schock is another prototypical 3rd line centre, solid pick. Seiling is a good one as well, also good offensively as well. This line probably will be more of a defensive game but they won't hurt you offensively either, solid line.

Forward Line 4:

Dave Hunter is a solid player, plays a chippy game but it's also clean so he won't hurt your team in taking costly penalties. Malhotra offers a good defensive game as well. Mike Grier looks like your team enforcer. Overall a line that's going to be tough to play against for sure.

Defensive Pairing 1:

Carney's a good defensive defenseman, don't know if he belongs on a top pairing here but he definitely belongs in the AAA. Eldebrink is a guy I think me and Dave G introduced to the draft 5 yrs. ago, he's a very good offensive defenseman and should serve your team well. Solid pairing.

Defensive Pairing 2:

Eric Brewer had a short peak but when he was at his best there wheren't as many defensive defensemen in the league as he was, solid player. Al Hamilton is a solid player and rightfully wears a letter for your team, he's good offensively as well, overall a solid pairing here.

Defensive Pairing 3:

Jim Morrison should be a solid secondary scoring option for your defense, solid pick. Dave maloney is a solid pick as well, he'll help out offensively but should be the defensive conscience for this pairing, overall, a solid pairing for sure.

Goaltending:

Turco's a decent goalie, had him as my goalie for a draft in a previous year as well. Potvin's another guy I had in a previous draft year, solid goalie too. Overall you have a good goaltending duo, I expect a platoon here with the best goalie getting the bulk of the starts in the playoffs.

Coaching:

Dave King is a solid coach, moreso internationally than in the NHL though.

Extras:

Clare Drake: My opinion on assistant coaches is well known, also Drake is a bit of a weak pick too as well.

Andrew Cassels: A good extra, I expect him to slot into your top 6 from time to time in place of Kozhevnikov.

Sergei Mozyakin: Another solid extra, should fit in quite well.

Tom Poti: Good offensive option but your team has plenty of offensive defenseman, you could have used another defensive defenseman as an extra.

Special Teams:

No comments really, everyone looks like a fit in their position.

Final Thoughts:

Overall this is a solid team, good luck to you in this.

Thanks for the review tony, I'll return the favor later tonight. Just a couple of comments.

- Yes Kozhevnikov has attitude issues but I feel like my team given it's abundance of leaders and experience will keep him mostly in line when the games count.

- Carney is a minute eating penalty killing machine who's record as an excellent high TOI D man will be used to great effect and think he's a solid #2 same with Eldebrink. It's not the best top pairing in this, but they'll at least hold their own. I think my D depth will allow me to counteract the lack of a top tier #1.

- Clare Drake I think gets severely underrated, he inspired and developed the techniques of most western Canadian coaches and Canadian coaches in general. Two of the more famous examples are Babcock and Hitchcock. They still employ his systems. As a sidekick to King I think I have two of the best coaches available.

 

[BubbaBoot]

I'm just really, really busy, I hope to get at least one in this week......I just can't keep this schedule up anymore, I'm so tired.

 

[seventieslord]

I guarantee that I'll be reviewing every team and won't just butt in with side comments about other reviews... but for now:

- tony, did you just call Grier an "enforcer"? A guy with less than half a PIM per game in his career and 25 fights in 1200 games?

- I think I can get on board with Clare Drake being an assistant here. As a head coach, I wouldn't take a guy best known as a Canadian college coach even in a single A draft, but like a couple other guys I can think of, his influence is to be respected and he's a viable option here.

- RB, you may misunderstand what Carney was. He's definitely not a "minute eating" kind of guy. He averaged 20.02 minutes a game in his career. That profile is not particularly impressive at this level, and not indicative of a top pairing guy (perhaps in an AA draft, or even in a AAA draft that started at pick 1200, not 1000). His all-time value is really as a defensive support guy and as a penalty killer. Earlier in the draft I remarked at how he may have been taken too early simply in response to the exact same thing happening a year ago. He looked much better in the 1200-1500 range that he was in for four years before that.

- I wouldn't worry about Kozhevnikov's supposed attitude. We're in the AAA draft where, if you're drafting someone with a possible claim to "best offensive player" you're getting some kind of baggage along with that. It's par for the course.

 

[BubbaBoot]

- I wouldn't worry about Kozhevnikov's supposed attitude. We're in the AAA draft where, if you're drafting someone with a possible claim to "best offensive player" you're getting some kind of baggage along with that. It's par for the course.

Yeah, I got Sheppard and Horvath, a couple of guys who rubbed more than a few people the wrong way.....but I also got Peplinski, Smith and Renberg to keep them from being total jerks.

 

[seventieslord]

Yeah, I got Sheppard and Horvath, a couple of guys who rubbed more than a few people the wrong way.....but I also got Peplinski, Smith and Renberg to keep them from being total jerks.

Yep, and I've got Jokinen, O'Neill and Douglas (and O'Neill didn't even really have a claim to "best offensive", more like "best offensive who can hit"), but I've got Marsh, Kisio and Keane to keep them in line.

 

[ResilientBeast]

I guarantee that I'll be reviewing every team and won't just butt in with side comments about other reviews... but for now:

- tony, did you just call Grier an "enforcer"? A guy with less than half a PIM per game in his career and 25 fights in 1200 games?

- I think I can get on board with Clare Drake being an assistant here. As a head coach, I wouldn't take a guy best known as a Canadian college coach even in a single A draft, but like a couple other guys I can think of, his influence is to be respected and he's a viable option here.

- RB, you may misunderstand what Carney was. He's definitely not a "minute eating" kind of guy. He averaged 20.02 minutes a game in his career. That profile is not particularly impressive at this level, and not indicative of a top pairing guy (perhaps in an AA draft, or even in a AAA draft that started at pick 1200, not 1000). His all-time value is really as a defensive support guy and as a penalty killer. Earlier in the draft I remarked at how he may have been taken too early simply in response to the exact same thing happening a year ago. He looked much better in the 1200-1500 range that he was in for four years before that.

- I wouldn't worry about Kozhevnikov's supposed attitude. We're in the AAA draft where, if you're drafting someone with a possible claim to "best offensive player" you're getting some kind of baggage along with that. It's par for the course.

I confused Brewers TOI with Carney's my bad

 

[seventieslord]

Rum River Renegades

Coach: Terry Crisp

Shawn Mceachern-Don Raleigh-Blaine Stoughton
Jeff Friesen-Michal Pivonka-Earl Robinson
Andre Pronovost-Larry Patey-Lucien Deblois
Jim Riley-Mike Bullard-Scott Young

Ted Graham-Doug Lidster
Chris Phillips-Paul Martin
Hy Buller-Uwe Krupp

Bill Ranford
Jim Henry

Bench: Cecil Blachford, Johnny Sheppard, Kyle Mclaren, Tobias Enstrom

Special teams:

PP 1: Mceachern-Raleigh-Stoughton-Lidster-Martin
PP 2: Friesen-Bullard-Robinson-Buller-Graham

PK 1: Pronovost-Patey-Graham-Phillips
PK 2: Pivonka-Deblois-Krupp-Martin

Leadership: Doug Lidster (Captains), Chris Phillips (Alternate), Michal Pivonka (Alternate)

Crisp is an OK AAA coach. This draft is actually full of those. No one jumped right out at me. Even my own coach, I thought he had the best credentials but he didn't overwhelm me. We did a really good job grabbing the best guys in the MLD so no one looks like a steal or particularly weak.

As for your captains and assistants: why Lidster? Phillips wore a letter in Ottawa for years, so that I can see. Most pictures of Pivonka don't show him wearing a letter at all. I know they captained crappy teams, but McEachern and DeBlois are your most accomplished leaders, having led NHL squads for two years apiece. You should have DeBlois as a captain, with McEachern and Phillips as the assistants. Still, the leadership group on this team is not great.

Raleigh is nothing special as an AAA center, at least not in this group of players (a few years ago in a draft that went deeper than picks 1000-1150 he looked outstanding). Stoughton is just about as good as it gets for offensive wingers at this point. McEachern is a little hit and miss as a first line glue guy. He's OK offensively, good enough to hold his own, and OK defensively, maybe not enough to carry the load, but reasonable. However, physically, he was weak. Despite his enthusiasm the scouting reports annually reported his frequent losing of puck battles. That's not a "puckwinner", though his willingness to backcheck will come in handy.

Pivonka is a decent 2nd line center. When you selected him there were a good dozen left with better offensive numbers, but he does bring a little bit of a defensive game. It's a risky game bringing a player into a scoring line role in an all-time setting when they spent so long as the second wheel to a clearly superior offensive player. His point collaboration score isn't great, not Chris Kunitz territory, but it does show he had a ton of help putting up the points he did. Robinson is like Stoughton, pretty much an offensive ringer. A few years back he looked stellar at the AAA level, but again we were far deeper in at that point. He's merely OK in this draft. Friesen I thought was picked a bit early, but now I'm not so sure. He was competitive and gritty, fairly responsible defensively and scored a pretty decent amount for the era. He won't punish anyone but he will be an effective worker bee for this line.

Pronovost is a guy I still find it hard to get a read on. Honestly, he's never even close to the top of my list for a checking winger when he gets selected. He isn't my classic "two way" kind of guy with a decent offensive game, and I don't like how little his defensive game is substantiated currently. There's basically one great quote and then little bits here and there about how he was a checking line player. Also, he wilted outside of Montreal. Patey is one of the best pure defensive players in this draft, probably top-3. DeBlois is a great jack-of-all-trades but he's probably not as established defensively for a third line spot in this more competitive AAA draft. And that's from the guy who literally wrote the book on DeBlois (see last year's bio).

Riley is best suited as a spare... actually, probably should have been a dropper. His offensive numbers are very weak, weaker when you consider who he played with. He has little else to his game that's substantiated, aside from the ability to occasionally drop back to the blueline, which is why I say he might be a better spare than starter. Bullard was one of the finest scorers available when you took him, but he did little else than score and looks useless in a 4th line role. Young is an OK speedster and triggerman who could be a decent finisher in the AA draft on a scoring line, or the third man on a solid 3rd/4th line in this draft. But in this case he's your most solid two-way player on the line, and that's a problem. Another problem - this might literally be the most goals-biased line I have ever seen in one of these things.

Suggestion - switch Bullard and Pivonka. Bullard is undoubtedly the superior offensive player, and Pivonka is a little more suited to 4th line duty. It makes better use of their strengths, and the pure playmaking Pivonka really balances out that 4th line better. And the 2nd line, for that matter, since Friesen is more of a playmaker than Young, and Robinson had more assists than goals in an era where most wingers did not.

Lidster is exactly the type of minute munching player you should want manning a top unit in the AAA draft. He played 22 minutes for 900 games, and had seven seasons where he was either named his team's best defenseman or was 1/1a in icetime for a top-6 defensive team. Not too shabby. Graham is a really solid complement to the softish Lidster, too.

Phillips/Martin is just about a perfect 2nd pairing too. I might get in trouble saying this, because there are just 6 teams and room for just 12 top unit defensemen, but I think they are both potentially top pairing defensemen here. I've always said Martin was the perfect partner for Marsh as they complement eachother so perfectly, and Phillips is a good substitute for Marsh in that equation. I'd have grabbed Martin but he's a really weak PP option and I wanted to make sure I had four OK guys for that role.

Buller reads as pretty much a specialist at this level which is OK, we all need one. Krupp is a puzzling partner for him though. You could call the guy a poor man's Kubina, he had all the tools but couldn't translate that into being an excellent defensive player (he was merely OK). And I think what you want next to a specialist is an excellent defensive player as a safety valve, right?

I don't know what to make of Ranford. In recent years he wasn't anywhere near the top of my list when selected by other GMs. He had two very bright flashes of success in the spring of 1990 and the summer of 1991, and those were actually two of his three seasons where he had an above average sv% (the other was 1988 with Boston) but other than that his NHL stats were terrible, he was never above the league average again and looking back I can't tell if he was always getting shell shocked or was he just dining out on past success for too long? I think it was both. I mean, it's not impossible to put up strong save percentage stats on weak and/or run and gun teams at least a few times, even for goalies at this level. Meloche, Potvin, Khabibulin... they all did it. Plus late MLD picks Burke and Hrudey. On the other hand, 1990 and 1991 did happen. He seems like a lesser version of Barrasso/Vernon/Richter/Giguere, guys who do well in "accomplishment counting" but taking a wider look at their career and their average, day-to-day performance is far less flattering. Would I play Jim Henry above Ranford? Yes, personally, I would.

Spares are good. I especially like Blachford there. Sheppard is a fairly versatile player who isn't especially great on any line at this level but can fill in. McLaren is at least better than Leschyshyn. Enstrom was a bit of a surprise. I don't think he's quite an AAA player. Decent fill-in for Buller though.

on the PP, if your goal is loading up the line as much as possible I'd swap Bullard with Raleigh. And Buller absolutely needs to be on the first PP unit; otherwise, why even have him? There's also the fact that he's clearly your best offensive blueliner. Lidster will have to stay up there - he's not a great PP player but he is the second best you've got.

On the second unit you're probably stuck with Martin and Graham. Both are awful PP options but it's too late to do anything about that. They're going to be effective even strength players for you so you should happily live with the weak 2nd PP unit. Actually, why not at least Krupp over Graham? Seems like a no-brainer there. Graham is a career 38 point scorer, Krupp at least had 37+ three times, and 95 career PP points.

On the PK, I definitely agree Patey needs to be on your top unit. Pronovost might be the best bet for a partner for him, though we can't be sure how much he actually killed penalties. One shorthanded point in his entire career doesn't bode well, though. on the 2nd unit, Deblois is the next most experienced guy you have, so I agree he should be there, but Pivonka didn't kill a great number of penalties - Scott Young is actually more experienced in that area. You might want to swap them, since DeBlois can play center. For defensemen, I like the two rocks on the first unit, and Martin's stats are so excellent he has to be on the 2nd. You might want to consider Lidster over Krupp though; I think he's got the better defensive reputation. However, putting a third pairing guy on two special teams is nice too because you can really rest those top guys. if you take my advice and put Krupp on the PP, then you have only Martin and Krupp playing two special teams, and both are 2nd unit.

Overall? I can't really say. I haven't sorted out these six teams yet. I think you have an adequate coach, decently built top-6 with underwhelming centers, a really weird 4th line, outstanding top-4 on defense, and special teams need some work but there's time to fix that.

 

[tony d]

Thanks seventies for your suggestions, will take them under advisement and will review your roster later today.

 

[seventieslord]

oops - my sheets weren't working for most of the time I spent doing your review and I need to make one correction - Paul Martin IS a pretty good PP scorer for the AAA draft. He can stay up on that first PP unit but Buller should join him. Lidster and Krupp would be the obvious next two, with Graham and Phillips simply not options.

 

[Hobnobs]

I guarantee that I'll be reviewing every team and won't just butt in with side comments about other reviews... but for now:

- tony, did you just call Grier an "enforcer"? A guy with less than half a PIM per game in his career and 25 fights in 1200 games?

- I think I can get on board with Clare Drake being an assistant here. As a head coach, I wouldn't take a guy best known as a Canadian college coach even in a single A draft, but like a couple other guys I can think of, his influence is to be respected and he's a viable option here.

- RB, you may misunderstand what Carney was. He's definitely not a "minute eating" kind of guy. He averaged 20.02 minutes a game in his career. That profile is not particularly impressive at this level, and not indicative of a top pairing guy (perhaps in an AA draft, or even in a AAA draft that started at pick 1200, not 1000). His all-time value is really as a defensive support guy and as a penalty killer. Earlier in the draft I remarked at how he may have been taken too early simply in response to the exact same thing happening a year ago. He looked much better in the 1200-1500 range that he was in for four years before that.

- I wouldn't worry about Kozhevnikov's supposed attitude. We're in the AAA draft where, if you're drafting someone with a possible claim to "best offensive player" you're getting some kind of baggage along with that. It's par for the course.

He was an enforcer in the old school sense and not the 70s-90s goon sense maybe?

Tough player who would defend teammates when needed without going out there to look for fights. Might not go as far as call him an enforcer.

 

[VanIslander]

Tough player who would defend teammates when needed without going out there to look for fights.

Sorry, man. I NEVER saw that during his Sabres or Sharks years (two teams of which I've watched the lion's share of games). He was such an unassuming lunchbucket, skating, positional, puck-pursuing, CALM and efficient checker. I admired his attitude. I can't recall him ever joining the fray or defensing teammates. That simply wasn't the style of play I've seen him play.

EDIT: Maybe back in his Oilers days?