ATD 2020 Draft Thread V

[Hawkey Town 18]

With the 2nd of our 2 skipped picks Chicago selects Morgan Rielly, D

 

[tinyzombies]

With the 2nd of our 2 skipped picks Chicago selects Morgan Rielly, D

THAT's the guy I should have picked (the guy Bergevin claims he wanted but it was his first year and he didn't want to undermine the scouts in picking Galchenyuk). However, it kind of undermines the scouts in hindsight to say that...

 

[seventieslord]

Wow, OEL and Morgan Rielly just 20 picks apart? Someone either got awful or excellent value.

 

[ImporterExporter]

@Sprague Cleghorn was skipped at 1:46 PM.

@ResilientBeast is up.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Round out my team with a goon on the bench Lou Fontinato, D

Former Rangers defenseman Lou Fontinato, a symbol of old-time, two-fisted hockey, dies at 84 - TheHockeyNews

They

didn’t call defenseman Lou Fontinato, who died on Sunday at 84, “Leapin’ Louie” for nothing. He earned the nickname although by the time he became the undisputed favorite of New York Rangers fans in the late 1950s, some New Yorkers preferred the appellation Louie The Leaper, as in Jack The Ripper. No matter how you called him, the Guelph, Ont., native got that handle because his boiling point was so low that when called for a penalty Fontinato reacted like a gushing oil well, spurting all over the place as he leaped in protest.
But that wasn’t the beauty part of his game. Fontinato’s lust for hefty bodychecks, his unadulterated passionate play and, most of all, old-time, two-fisted fighting inspired fans to scream in delight at the old Madison Square Garden. I speak firsthand about my old pal, Louie, since we simultaneously broke in with the Rangers in 1954-55, him on the ice and me in the club’s publicity department.
“Louie is just the player I’ve been waiting for,” my boss, PR director Herb Goren enthused once Fontinato became a full-timer in the 1955-56 season. “He not only can fight but he actually can play defense.”

 

[overpass]

The Corpus Christi Ice Rays select an excellent defensive defenceman with a long and successful career, the underrated Alexei Gusarov, D.

Alexei Gusarov was a defensive specialist with good size, skating, and puck skills, who played at the highest level for almost 2 decades as an excellent defender. He's a member of the Triple Gold club. Gusarov was often overlooked for several reasons – his career was split between the Soviet Union and North America, he was a defence-first player who didn’t make big hits, and he was a shy person who avoided the spotlight, and never gave an interview during his career.

Terry Frei, guest column in Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Dec 30, 1999:
Gusarov is one of seven players who have been with the Avalanche since the franchise moved from Quebec in 1995, yet he remains among the most obscure. That's mostly his choice, since he prefers not to do interviews. For official purposes, his English is limited. He is an intelligent and prideful man who doesn't enjoy the frustration of being unable to say exactly what he means. Russians are raised on the Cyrillic alphabet, and it makes the transition to English tougher. Yet other NHL Russian players have become amazingly eloquent in English, and Gusarov can converse when he desires. This is his way of retaining his barriers of relative anonymity and privacy.

Know how you can look at someone, and the corner of the mouth always seems to be turned up in that perpetual wry smile, as if he's laughing inside?

That's Gusarov, the enigmatic and alleged 35-year-old defenceman.
…
With such teammates -- on both the Red Army and national teams -- as Igor Larionov, Pavel Bure, Slava Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov, Gusarov wore Olympic gold medals in 1984 and '88. As the world changed, he was allowed to join the Nordiques in early 1990, and he has been with the franchise ever since. His game is like his manner, more sly than intimidating. He has spent most of the Avs' stay in Denver as the steady partner of the more aggressive Adam Foote, and the pairing has worked well. At 35 (at least), he probably is in his final season with the Avs.

Yet after all these seasons, we hardly know Gusarov -- and we probably still have only scratched the surface.


Gusarov broke into the top Soviet league at age 17 (although Frei casts some doubt on his reported age in the quote above), and played for his hometown SKA Leningrad team from age 17-19. Right from the start he took pride in his defensive play and focused on shutting down the opposition above everything else. At age 20, he moved to CSKA Moscow. Gusarov also joined the national team for the 1984 Canada Cup, playing in 2 early games. He was a fixture in the national team’s lineup starting in the 1985 world championship, when he was still only 20 years old. Starting with the 1988 Olympic Games, coach Viktor Tikhonov broke up the famous Fetisov-Kasatonov pairing and paired Gusarov with Kasatonov to create a top defensive pairing.

While Gusarov was best known for his defensive play, he was also a respectable offensive contributor to the national team. In 79 games combined at World Championships, the Olympics, and Canada Cups from 1984 – 1991, Gusarov scored 10 goals and assisted on 19.

Gusarov played 2.5 seasons for SKA Leningrad and 6.5 seasons for CSKA Moscow in the top Soviet league before he left for North America and joined the Quebec Nordiques.

Montreal Gazette, Nov 22, 1990: Gusarov comes to Nords' rescue; Soviets' defensive specialist brings needed experience:

Pierre Page: "Gusarov has played in many world championships and won several Olympic gold medals. In addition to being a talented player, he is a winner. We got him for his mobility and his defensive play. We needed someone who doesn't get beat one-on-one and he's good at that."

He said Gusarov was more defence-oriented than Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov, his former teammates and fellow defencemen who joined the New Jersey Devils last season.

Gusarov was still only 26 years old when he joined the NHL. He joined the Nordiques when they were were struggling in the basement of the league, and was a key player for them as they went from cellar-dwellers to contenders to Stanley Cup winners over the next 5 years. He played on the first PK unit and shutdown pairing for the Nords/Avs for almost a decade, and was a key defender on their 1996 Stanley Cup-winning team.

1991-92 – 1997-98, biggest penalty killing role among NHL defencemen.

Player	GP	SH%	TmSH+
Ray Bourque	502	64%	0.91
Chris Chelios	522	59%	0.87
Brian Leetch	488	57%	0.94
Scott Stevens	521	56%	0.92
Teppo Numminen	483	56%	1.02
Jamie Macoun	510	55%	0.98
Calle Johansson	503	52%	0.82
Alexei Gusarov	432	52%	0.89
Eric Desjardins	525	51%	0.94
Mark Tinordi	409	50%	0.88

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Adam Foote was paired with Gusarov when he entered the NHL.

Adam Foote: "I don't think there's another Goose out there. I think he was really undervalued. You go back to the one championship this team has, and he was a big part of it. I think even then, he didn't get enough credit.

"That's another part of Goose's character, though. He kept things quiet. He stayed out of everything and just showed up to play. I don't think Colorado fans saw him in his true prime, and I owe a lot to him."

“He looked very skinny, but he was very strong on the puck,” recalled Foote, who was often paired with Gusarov. “He made the game look so easy. It almost looked like he had a carefree attitude. But he didn’t lose many battles for the puck.

“I played with him when I was young and, other than Ray Bourque, he was the best all-around D-man I played with.”

Gusarov had 9 assists and was a team-leading +13 for the Cup-winning Avs in the 1996 playoffs.

Gusarov won a silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Games with Team Russia, over thirteen years after he had first played for the national team, playing on a pairing with Dmitri Mironov. He was still leading the Avalanche in shorthanded ice time/game as late as the 1999-00 season, playing 4:59 SH minutes per game. Gusarov was traded out of Colorado in 2000 after a decade with the organization, and ended his nearly 20 year career playing as the #4 defenceman for the Cup contender St Louis Blues in the 2001 playoffs.

Scotty Bowman mentioned Gusarov as one of the top Russian defencemen in a quote for a Russian outlet. (Google Translate)

БЕСПОЩАДНЫЙ НА ЛЬДУ, СКРОМНЫЙ ПО ЖИЗНИ. АЛЕКСЕЮ ГУСАРОВУ – 55!
And just a month ago, the most winning coach in the NHL, Scotty Bowman, recalling in an interview with SE about Russian players in the overseas league, suddenly spoke about Gusarov:

- There was also a Russian defender in Colorado with excellent skating. Tough but homebody. If he still connected to the attacks, he could become a star of the first magnitude.

Он создал Русскую пятерку. Уникальное интервью Скотти Боумэна - лучшего тренера в истории НХЛ
Bowman: "Do not forget that the Russian system for the defenders is a little different than was customary in the NHL. More restraining, limiting. Bobby Orr was allowed to be wherever he wanted. Fetisov was a player of comparable talent (after all, it was impossible to beat him in his best years), but he was placed in a more strict framework.

And they may have soaked into the blood of Russian defenders. By this, I explain to myself that… over the past couple of decades Russia have not grown not a single extra-class defender. Well, maybe Zubov. I also liked Gusarov, but he was a pure "homebody." Could become a great defender of Konstantinov, but not fate ..."

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Wow, OEL and Morgan Rielly just 20 picks apart? Someone either got awful or excellent value.

I do think OEL was great value when he was taken. Without looking, I wouldn't be surprised if he's better than some starters.

Also, I punish a short career less when that player is a spare, which helped justify my selection of Rielly.

 

[VanIslander]

If a team needs a dman, PM me.

This guy oughta go.

(Though round 1 of MLD could be sweet!)

 

[rmartin65]

Mickey Redmond, RW

@TheDevilMadeMe is on the clock

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

North Bay will take with its final selection, from the shadow of Hluboka Castle, D Miroslav Dvorak

Really good pick. To be honest, I kind of forgot about him when I was picking my spare defensemen.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

For my spare forward, I'll pick a utility player who legit played all 3 forward positions. He can also fill in on either special team if there is an injury - Steve Sullivan, F

Sullivan was fast and tiny, but he wasn't afraid to use his speed to dart through traffic

Old bio: MLD 2011 Bios

 

[MadArcand]

Sent my list to IE.

 

[Johnny Engine]

The Cee Bees don't really have any players who are made completely of glass, but most of the guys on the team who missed a dozen games here and there most regularly are scrappy goal-scoring wingers. Bill Goldsworthy will play that role if needed.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

The Cee Bees don't really have any players who are made completely of glass, but most of the guys on the team who missed a dozen games here and there most regularly are scrappy goal-scoring wingers. Bill Goldsworthy will play that role if needed.

Good pick. If I could have gotten away with a spare who was strictly a RW, I would have picked him earlier.

By chance, having a LW-eligible spare ended up being a priority for both my teams.

 

[Habsfan18]

Good pick. If I could have gotten away with a spare who was strictly a RW, I would have picked him earlier.

By chance, having a LW-eligible spare ended up being a priority for both my teams.

The Goldy Shuffle!

I almost took him in the MLD last year and I’m glad to see he was drafted here. I’m sure we all have a few players we “hope” get drafted late even if we don’t select them ourselves. I think Goldy definitely has a place as a spare here.

 

[tony d]

My namesake and a pretty decent goal scoring left winger Tony Mckegney

 

[ImporterExporter]

Well, MadA did leave a list but it was Brian Englbom who was a make up pick for overpass. And this time it wasn't a spelling error!

Technically we should skip but if people want to wait, I'm fine.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Who can take a list?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Finally got around to finishing my bio on Flash Hollett - one of two mega-bios I really wanted to do this time around. Hoping I'll be able to do the other one (on George Hainsworth) before it's too late.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Who can take a list?

You can send it to me. I'll pass it on if I go to bed.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

D Albert Langlois

 

[ImporterExporter]

@MadArcand is skipped

@Claude The Fraud is up.

PM sent.

 

[MadArcand]

Whalers select Harry Mummery, D

 

[Claude The Fraud]

The Halifax Mooseheads are pleased to select, from Sydney, Nova Scotia, the typical mid-‘80s Habs wingers, proud mustache bearer, Mike McPhee.

 

[Habsfan18]

It has been over 4 hours since Claude’s pick so I think Van and I are up?

Salt Lake selects C, Craig MacTavish

- 4x Stanley Cup champion
- Killed 48% of his teams penalties
- 3 Top 10 short handed goal finishes (3, 8, 8)
- 3 Top 12 in Selke votes (4, 9, 11)

Center Craig MacTavish will be out of action for about 2 1/2 weeks because of arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, Flyers coach Terry Murray said yesterday. MacTavish, a 15-year veteran who specializes in killing penalties, injured his ankle in July when he stepped awkwardly off a curb.

"Mac T" proved to be an irreplaceable asset for the Oilers as he pivoted the checking line for close to 9 seasons and 3 Stanley Cup championships. He was also named as the Oilers captain from 1992 until 1994. Although his job was to do check the opposition so guys like Gretzky and Messier could light up the scoreboard, MacTavish posted some pretty decent numbers too. A strong skater, he scored 20 goals in 4 different seasons. MacTavish was a strong body checker, shot blocker and a great face-off specialist.

Center Craig MacTavish played nearly 1,100 NHL games between 1979 and 1997. He was a tenacious checker and team leader who could also be dangerous in the offensive zone. The hard-nosed competitor was the last player in the NHL to ply his trade without a helmet. He entered the 2001-02 in his second year at the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Born in London, Ontario, MacTavish spent two years at The University of Lowell, a Division II school in Massachusetts where he was an all-American in 1979. He was taken 153rd overall by the Boston Bruins in 1978 and recorded 28 points in 46 games as a rookie in 1979-80 after starting the year in the AHL. Over the next two seasons, the young pivot spent more time in the minors working on his overall game. He returned in 1982-83 as a solid checker and penalty killer and helped the club reach the semifinals.

The veteran pivot's ability to win face-offs and keep his cool in big games helped the Blueshirts win their first Stanley Cup since 1940. MacTavish split his last two seasons between the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues before retiring in 1997.

The Red Wings shut down Gretzky, but that left them vulnerable to the powerful Messier. Craig MacTavish may be the best third line centre in the NHL. He's having an excellent playoff.