Allright, I guess I'll get the ball rolling. I don't care much about the last two spares, anyway.
Biggest Steal(s) of the draft: Ivan Hlinka - his scoring numbers compared to Martinec are pretty stunning. I think he's probably on the Sundin/Frederickson level among scoringline centers at this point.
Biggest Reach(es) of the draft: Clark Gillies / Vladimir Konstantinov - paper knew it when he took him, but I still have to call it out. I mean, Gillies was drafted between Petrov and Savard. That's the wrong spot in the draft for him. Konstantinov is similarly overvalued where he was taken.
Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft: Toe Blake - 87and71 snagged Blake right as the coaching run was beginning. By the time he came back up, another six coaches had gone.
Biggest blunder selection of the draft: Viktor Tikhonov - reuniting him with Larionov is a very bad idea. Coaching really matters, people.
A Player finally getting respect in the draft: Bobby Bauer - not so much based on draft position (maybe that will come up in the future), but hopefully people realize now that he was considerably better than his VsX numbers indicate.
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft: Cam Neely - obvious reasons.
A player you've discovered in this draft: Konstantin Loktev
Most underrated player taken: Dany Heatley - I mean underrated by consensus, not by any given GM. I get that a lot of people "just don't like" Heatley, but he is consistently by far the best scoringline LW available when he is picked, and a great value for whoever takes him.
Most overrated player taken: Alexei Kasatonov - again going against the apparent consensus, but I don't see what makes Kasatonov worthy of a #106 pick.
Favorite scoring line of the draft: Firsov - Delvecchio - Jagr - I'd pay good money to see those guys play together.
Favorite checking line of the draft: Metz - Watson - Provost - I like the fit and the value where these guys were taken.
Best assembled line of the draft: Foyston - Barry - Bathgate - mercy, that is a nasty 2nd line.
Worst assembled line of the draft: Sedin - Lemieux - Starshinov - mainly because Starshinov is no kind of right wing.
Favorite pairing of defensemen: Clancy - Johnson - think they'd fit each other like a glove
Most puzzling pairing of defensemen: Fetisov - Blake - no problem with the talent level, but somebody has to defend. I think Blake is best served by a quite defensive-minded partner.
Team in the other conference it'd be interesting to meet in the finals: n/a
Team in the other conference you wouldn't want to meet in the finals: n/a
A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft: I learned that Toe Blake as coach once took a swing at a referee, and opened a fan's head with a stick during a brawl in LA.
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Best selection: You cannot vote for players you own
1st round: n/a
2nd round: Frank Boucher - what separates him from Trottier and Sakic?
3rd round: Glenn Hall - the 3rd round goalies were all good value; I think Hall was the best.
4th round: Ted Kennedy - I realize he wasn't a huge scorer, but Teeder was a hell of a hockey player. #82 feels too low for him.
5th round: Frank Brimsek - another early goalie at nice value. 50+ picks between Dryden and Brimsek is too many, and Dryden wasn't a bad pick.
6th round: Dave Keon - sort of like Ted Kennedy, I think he's getting underrated because of his regular season scoring, and people are forgetting how good he was at everything else.
7th round: Roy Conacher - not an amazing value (there were none in this round), but I think Conacher slipped a bit further than he should.
8th round: Tony Esposito - he slipped so far this year, I wonder if some GMs even realized he was still on the board when he was taken.
9th round: Darryl Sittler - consistently goes later than Savard and Hawerchuk, who weren't any better.
10th round: Dany Heatley - just doesn't get enough love for having been a very good player.
11th round: Bernie Morris - another offensive winger who went too late.
12nd round: Daniel Sedin - and another...
13th round: Jiri Holik - maybe this is the year we finally appreciate this guy for the great player that he was?
14th round: Phil Watson - I feel like he goes late relative to his value as a two-way player, and general pain in the ass.
15th round: Ivan Hlinka - probably the last of the Golden Age Europeans who we had really undervalued.
16th round: Vitali Davydov - I know he's toiling on a bottom pairing, but I think Davydov is good enough to be a nice #4, and is better than a number of defensemen picked before him.
17th round: Rusty Crawford - very nice gritty scoring wing for this point in the draft. Also played for some of the most amazingly named teams in the history of sport, including the Prince Albert Mentos and the Saskatoon Hoo-Hoos.
18th round: Nicklas Backstrom - best scoring center taken since Hlinka. Sets up the amazing double-Backstrom attack.
19th round: Boris Mayorov - still underrated.
20th round: Tommy Dunderdale - I wish we knew more about him, but even just going by the numbers, this seems awfully late for Dunderdale.
21st round: Pat Verbeek - was an insufferable *****. Perfect 4th liner.
22nd round: Viktor Kuzkin - not that far behind Davydov - a good #5, I think. Shame he's just a spare this year.
23th round: Vladimir Dzurilla - sad Vlad makes me smile.
24th round: Brent Burns - some were surprised by the pick, but I think Burns is quite useful. One of the very few modern players who is legitimately good both as a forward and as a defenseman.
25th round: meh
'Worst' Selection
1st round: n/a
2nd round: Steve Yzerman - often goes too early. Should not go before Trottier, Sakic, Boucher or Lalonde, imo.
3rd round: Duncan Keith - I don't mean to sound reactionary. I don't have that much problem with Keith at this spot, but it still feels a bit too high. Has he really passed Jack Stewart?
4th round: Georges Vezina - great goalie, but I don't understand why he should be chosen before Tretiak and especially Brimsek.
5th round: Brendan Shanahan - meh. Did a lot of valuable things, but just not talented enough for this spot in the draft. Not meaningfully better than LeClair or even Krutov.
6th round: Yvan Cournoyer - sorry to pick on you LL, but he needs to drop some more. Simply not productive enough for this spot.
7th round: Mike Gartner - not as good as a number of scoring line RWs taken later.
8th round: Clark Gillies - if Gillies hadn't played for a dynasty team, he would be a 4th liner.
9th round: n/a - nothing stands out as especially egregious to me in this round. No, not even Drew Doughty.
10th round: Bill Mosienko - an unspectacular scorer who brings nothing else to the table. Probably not as good as Mogilny, who was taken three rounds later by the same team.
11th round: Derian Hatcher - people who claim there is bias against modern players in the ATD need to take a long look at Hatcher's placement in the draft relative to some older defensemen like Colville, Duncan, Wentworth, etc.
12nd round: Tommy Ivan - I'm not sure there's ever a good reason to draft Ivan before Blake.
13th round: Brian Rafalski - doesn't belong on an ATD 2nd pairing, yet is consistently drafted like a 2nd pairing defenseman.
14th round: Ulf Samuelsson - also not a 2nd pairing defenseman at this level, imo.
15th round: Danny Gare - persistently overrated.
16th round: Dustin Byfuglien - really?
17th round: Wendel Clark - grinder who couldn't stay healthy. Yay.
18th round: the coaches - waiting until super-late to draft a coach almost never works out. These guys are an example of why that is.
19th round: Mel Bridgman - a forgettable player from a memorable team. Center is so deep...this guy should probably be in the MLD.
20th round: Kris Draper - why take Draper when guys like Bill Thoms, Troy Murray and Brent Sutter are still on the board?
21st round: Viktor Tikhonov - certainly worth the pick at this point if you have the right team for him, but Atlantic City is not the right team.
22nd round: Larry Robinson/Ken Hitchcock - there are very few scenarios in which assistant coaches matter. I don't think either Miami or Guelph will get anything out of these picks.
23th round: Andrew Ladd - why?
24th round: meh
25th round: meh
