ATD #9 Draft Summary.

[God Bless Canada]

This was started by Eagle Belfour and Rick Middleton for the last draft. A lot of fun, and it let to some good discussion. Be sure not to give any "best" selections to your own team.

Biggest Steal of the draft
Biggest Reach of the draft
Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft
Biggest blunder selection of the draft
A Player finally getting respect in the draft
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft
A player you've discovered in this draft
Most underrated player taken
Most overrated player taken
Favourite line of the draft
Best assembled line of the draft
Worst assembled line of the draft
Best defensive pairing
A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft

Click to read more...

 

[God Bless Canada]

Biggest Steal of the draft:
Max Bentley, No. 84, Detroit Eagles
Frank Boucher, No. 116, Nanaimo Clippers
Dave “Sweeney†Schriner, No. 201, St. Catherine’s
Alex Connell, No. 449, Quebec Nordiques

Biggest Reach of the draft:
Dozens of defencemen were reaches. I would say either chaos/Nate’s plan to have MacKay or Goring as a No. 1 centre, or Calgary’s plan to have Brent Sutter as a No. 2 centre, would be the best candidates. Eric DesJardins and Randy Carlyle aren’t good enough to be No. 1 d-men, either.
Bucky gave us a few, most notably Langevin as his No. 2 defenceman, and Ales Hemsky for, well, anything.
Mike Richter isn’t as good as a lot of the back-up goalies taken.

Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft:
Waiting to get a goalie is always prudent. Guys like Giacomin, Vachon, Lumley, Holmes and Rayner won’t cost you a championship. They won’t steal you a championship, but you’ll have an advantage over everyone else because you waited.
Guys who get a coach in rounds 12 to 14 (as long as they make the right pick) are getting excellent value. Wait too long, you get a guy who will get outcoached, and you’ll likely lose.

Biggest blunder selection of the draft:
I think it’s a blunder to take a goalie in the top 25. Too many good options at other positions. And if you pick a goalie in the top 15, in a 32-team draft, your team will be lacking in other areas.
Bucky again gave us a few. Especially with Langevin. Ruotsolainen, Hemsky, and the dynamic duo of Probert and Samenko.
Pete Mahovlich in the seventh round, when m_b could have had Sweeney Schriner or Bert Olmstead, was a definite head-scratcher.

A Player finally getting respect in the draft:
Bun Cook. He was my first pick in my first MLD. An excellent skater with great creativity. Solid defensively. Plays a physical game. Perfect guy for a second line role. He should be in the second tier of picks.
Seeing guys like Dave Balon, Art Chapman, Charlie Burns and Metro Prystai finally getting selected in the ATD was very nice.
Marty Barry's a guy who finally got picked where he belongs. Outstanding second line centre for this format.

A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft:
Hard to say. I think we’ve seen most of the necessary corrections. A few modern guys who still go a little too soon.

A player you've discovered in this draft:
Dave Langevin. All kidding aside, some of VanI’s late-round Soviets, and ADC’s late round fill-in picks, were pretty interesting.

Most underrated player taken: Outside of the all-time greats like Seibert and Bathgate who never get the credit they deserve? A couple western league greats – Duke Keats and Frank Frederickson.

Most overrated player taken:
Pavel Bure. When the puck’s on his stick, he’s magic. If it’s not, he’s a liability. Not a good teammate either.

Favourite line of the draft:
Besides our Big…Bad…Bruins Line? Probably reck’s Firsov-Apps-Howe line, or nik’s Tonelli-Gretzky-Cook line.

Best assembled line of the draft:
Again, outside of the Big…Bad…Bruins? I like Eagle’s Denneny-Lach-Richard line. I like pappy’s Jackson-Mikita-Nedomansky line. For checking lines, Winnipeg’s Parise-Jarvis-Pronovost line, and TC’s Gainey-Riserbrough-Tremblay line.

Worst assembled line of the draft:
Not a fan of the reunited CASH line. I would say save it for the MLD, but Heatley and Alfredsson are too good for the MLD. Does LL plan on sticking with Barnes-Oliver-Bondra? I don’t think Robitaille-Dionne-Pronovost will work. Robitaille and Dionne need a guy to do the dirty work, but they need someone better than Pronovost.

Best defence pairing: Niedermayer-Vasko for Spit is excellent. Love arrbez’s Coulter-Watson shutdown duo. Then there’s pappy’s Brewer-Pilote duo, and Calgary’s McCrimmon/MacInnis tandem.

A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft:
Don’t expect Jiri Holecek to be available late in the draft.

 

[Spitfire11]

Biggest Steal of the draft: Joe Sakic, Si Griffis, Bob Goldham, Phil Goyette, Frank McGee, Rick MacLeish, Jim Thomson

Biggest Reach of the draft: There's a bunch and none really stand out over the others

Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft: I don't really know, Selanne? I think the RWs have a steep drop after him. Big drop in D after Griffis too and he's better than a bunch of D that went before him.

Biggest blunder selection of the draft: I dunno, maybe JC Tremblay

A Player finally getting respect in the draft: By draft position I'd say Charlie Gardiner, Jack Stewart

A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft: Brett Hull, lots of the defensive forwards

A player you've discovered in this draft: I finally looked at a lot of the pre-NHL players

Most underrated player taken: Paul Thompson, Cy Wentworth, Steve Yzerman, Fred Stanfield, Jacques Lemaire

Most overrated player taken: Quite a few.

Probably missed a whole bunch in every category.

 

[pitseleh]

Sorry, this got a bit long.

Biggest Steals of the draft

Valeri Kharlamov at 53. The run on defense and goalies dropped him down rather significantly. I don't think he'd be a bad pick 15-20 spots earlier, which is a huge gap at that point in the draft.

A bunch of the first line offensive talent taken from around 70-110. Players like Bentley, Kennedy, Stastny, Dionne, Hull, Jackson, and Stewart would all be taken much sooner on talent alone.

Bert Olmstead at 208. With the emphasis that was put on two-way play, physicality, and character this draft, it shocks me that Olmstead fell from the last draft.

Phil Watson at 386. Ever since Nalyd brought him up a couple drafts ago I've realised how good a player he was in his time. A player with his offensive talent, defensive ability, and strong playoff track record could justifiably go 100 picks earlier.

Vladimir Shadrin at 435. Good value for a good defensive center at that point in the draft.

Johnny Gottselig at 448. See Phil Watson.

Frank Frederickson at 612. I had my top four choices at center as Starshinov, Hlinka, Frederickson, and McGee when I left a long list with HO, and Frederickson went much later than the other three. He's relatively big, strong, physical and a good scorer. There isn't much to not like about him.

Biggest Reaches of the draft

Pete Mahovlich at 199. I understand he brings things like size and Stanley Cup winning experience, but I wouldn't take him over several of the LWs taken after him personally.

Some of the defensive forwards taken early (top-200 or so). With more teams I think it becomes more important to get offensive/two-way talent and good defensemen early, personally. I think the difference between the best defensive forwards and the guys who are in the 10-15 range is much smaller than the difference between the offensive talent in the top-200 of the draft and the 350-500 range.

Dave Langevin at 219. I'm sure Langevin was a good defenseman, but there were some stellar defensemen taken shortly after. You could have nabbed one of them and still have gotten Langevin later in the draft.

Chris Phillips at 361. I know what Cup 2008 was intending on doing but that was far too early for Phillips.

Taffy Abel at 370. Sorry to keep picking on you for this, vcl, but I don't see why Abel should go so early in these drafts.

Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft

I'm going to go with the best strategic picks, with Evil Sather putting Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov-Vasiliev-Lutchenko back together. I don't think anyone has put the five man unit together before.

Minnesota selecting Holmes at 366. While I do think there is a fairly substantial difference between the first and last goalies taken, I think taking Holmes (as the last starter, no less) was a good move. I think he's a better goalie than some taken before him, and I think the drop off in talent when you get into the bottom half of starters is nowhere near the dropoff from the top to the bottom. Waiting out several rounds from where some of the other middling starters were taken was a good move.

GBC taking Neely and Bucyk to make his BBB line was a good strategy. That line is going to be incredibly tough to contain.

I liked MB trading up to get Hull too. With two great playmakers in Richard and Forsberg, getting a top notch goalscorer like Hull really makes that lineup tick.

Biggest blunder selection of the draft

I brought this up before, so I don't want chaos to think I'm harping on him, but taking Black Jack Stewart before Bill Gadsby wasn't the best move. I'm of the opinion that he's taken a bit early as is, but Gadsby is such an all around force that passing on him wasn't a good move.

A Player finally getting respect in the draft

Frank Nighbor keeps (deservingly) creeping up in these drafts.

Marty Barry. He's a superb offensive talent, and he's gone hundreds of picks too late in the past.

It also makes me happy to see some of the best pre-WWII defensive forwards starting to get more respect. Players like Metz, Klukay, Finnigan, and Lepine were great during their era and it doesn't make sense to me that they go so much later than their modern counterparts.

Moose Johnson has moved up deservingly as well.

A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft

Maybe I'll come up with someone later.

A player you've discovered in this draft

Doru Tureanu is probably the only name I hadn't heard before.

Most underrated player taken

I still think Nighbor is underrated. He doesn't have the huge offensive numbers, but all of the reading I've done from people who saw him play often have him above players like Lalonde from the same era. He had more votes in the best hockey player before 1950 vote not named Morenz or Richard. It's not really statistically significant, but he's just held in such high regard that I have to think that there was something about his play that transcends the numbers.

Hooley Smith at 203. A player who brings high level defense, physical play, and offensive ability like Smith should still go earlier than he does. I'd much rather have a Hooley Smith on my team than some of the defensive forwards taken before him.

Most overrated player taken

Maybe it's just my bias kicking in, but I think some of the pre-NHA/PCHA players may have become slightly overrated (not necessarily in draft position, but in value).

Favourite lines of the draft

Bucyk-Schmidt-Neely. How can you not love a line built like that?

Smith-Fedorov-Lafleur. Just a great combination of everything.

Denneny-Lach-Richard. Another fun combination.

Tonelli-Gretzky-Cook. The best playmaker ever with a top-20 goal scorer all time is just ridiculous.

Parise-Jarvis-Provost. Have fun scoring against them.

Barber-Ullman-Bathgate. I can picture how that line would work.

Firsov-Apps-Howe. Maybe my favourite of the bunch.

Jackson-Mikita-Nedomansky. Watch out.

Best assembled line of the draft

Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov and Malone-Lalonde-Pitre, duh.

A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft

Rick trying to draft 'Jiri Holocek' was hilarious.

I probably missed a bunch of stuff but I'm tired of writing.

EDIT: To add to this, best picks by round:

1 - Maurice Richard
2 - Valeri Kharlamov
3 - Max Bentley
4 - Marcel Dionne
5 - Frank Nighbor
6 - Eddie Gerard
7 - Hooley Smith
8 - Syd Howe
9 - Cecil Dillon
10 - Nick Metz
11 - Neil Colville
12 - Hap Holmes (HM to Dean Prentice/Bobby Rousseau/Ron Ellis/Don Marshall, very similar players taken around the same spot)
13 - Phil Watson
14 - Vladimir Shadrin
15 - Alex Connell
16 - Bill Hajt
17 - Bob Davidson/Louis Berlinquette
18 - Yuri Liapkin
19 - Scotty Davidson
20 - Frank Frederickson
21 - Peter McNab
22 - Art Chapman
23 - Jozef Golonka
24 - Jack Adams

 

[chaosrevolver]

Sorry, this got a bit long.

Biggest Steals of the draft

Valeri Kharlamov at 53. The run on defense and goalies dropped him down rather significantly. I don't think he'd be a bad pick 15-20 spots earlier, which is a huge gap at that point in the draft.

A bunch of the first line offensive talent taken from around 70-110. Players like Bentley, Kennedy, Stastny, Dionne, Hull, Jackson, and Stewart would all be taken much sooner on talent alone.

Bert Olmstead at 208. With the emphasis that was put on two-way play, physicality, and character this draft, it shocks me that Olmstead fell from the last draft.

Phil Watson at 386. Ever since Nalyd brought him up a couple drafts ago I've realised how good a player he was in his time. A player with his offensive talent, defensive ability, and strong playoff track record could justifiably go 100 picks earlier.

Vladimir Shadrin at 435. Good value for a good defensive center at that point in the draft.

Johnny Gottselig at 448. See Phil Watson.

Frank Frederickson at 612. I had my top four choices at center as Starshinov, Hlinka, Frederickson, and McGee when I left a long list with HO, and Frederickson went much later than the other three. He's relatively big, strong, physical and a good scorer. There isn't much to not like about him.

Biggest Reaches of the draft

Pete Mahovlich at 199. I understand he brings things like size and Stanley Cup winning experience, but I wouldn't take him over several of the LWs taken after him personally.

Some of the defensive forwards taken early (top-200 or so). With more teams I think it becomes more important to get offensive/two-way talent and good defensemen early, personally. I think the difference between the best defensive forwards and the guys who are in the 10-15 range is much smaller than the difference between the offensive talent in the top-200 of the draft and the 350-500 range.

Dave Langevin at 219. I'm sure Langevin was a good defenseman, but there were some stellar defensemen taken shortly after. You could have nabbed one of them and still have gotten Langevin later in the draft.

Chris Phillips at 361. I know what Cup 2008 was intending on doing but that was far too early for Phillips.

Taffy Abel at 370. Sorry to keep picking on you for this, vcl, but I don't see why Abel should go so early in these drafts.

Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft

I'm going to go with the best strategic picks, with Evil Sather putting Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov-Vasiliev-Lutchenko back together. I don't think anyone has put the five man unit together before.

Minnesota selecting Holmes at 366. While I do think there is a fairly substantial difference between the first and last goalies taken, I think taking Holmes (as the last starter, no less) was a good move. I think he's a better goalie than some taken before him, and I think the drop off in talent when you get into the bottom half of starters is nowhere near the dropoff from the top to the bottom. Waiting out several rounds from where some of the other middling starters were taken was a good move.

GBC taking Neely and Bucyk to make his BBB line was a good strategy. That line is going to be incredibly tough to contain.

I liked MB trading up to get Hull too. With two great playmakers in Richard and Forsberg, getting a top notch goalscorer like Hull really makes that lineup tick.

Biggest blunder selection of the draft

I brought this up before, so I don't want chaos to think I'm harping on him, but taking Black Jack Stewart before Bill Gadsby wasn't the best move. I'm of the opinion that he's taken a bit early as is, but Gadsby is such an all around force that passing on him wasn't a good move.

A Player finally getting respect in the draft

Frank Nighbor keeps (deservingly) creeping up in these drafts.

Marty Barry. He's a superb offensive talent, and he's gone hundreds of picks too late in the past.

It also makes me happy to see some of the best pre-WWII defensive forwards starting to get more respect. Players like Metz, Klukay, Finnigan, and Lepine were great during their era and it doesn't make sense to me that they go so much later than their modern counterparts.

Moose Johnson has moved up deservingly as well.

A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft

Maybe I'll come up with someone later.

A player you've discovered in this draft

Doru Tureanu is probably the only name I hadn't heard before.

Most underrated player taken

I still think Nighbor is underrated. He doesn't have the huge offensive numbers, but all of the reading I've done from people who saw him play often have him above players like Lalonde from the same era. He had more votes in the best hockey player before 1950 vote not named Morenz or Richard. It's not really statistically significant, but he's just held in such high regard that I have to think that there was something about his play that transcends the numbers.

Hooley Smith at 203. A player who brings high level defense, physical play, and offensive ability like Smith should still go earlier than he does. I'd much rather have a Hooley Smith on my team than some of the defensive forwards taken before him.

Most overrated player taken

Maybe it's just my bias kicking in, but I think some of the pre-NHA/PCHA players may have become slightly overrated (not necessarily in draft position, but in value).

Favourite lines of the draft

Bucyk-Schmidt-Neely. How can you not love a line built like that?

Smith-Fedorov-Lafleur. Just a great combination of everything.

Denneny-Lach-Richard. Another fun combination.

Tonelli-Gretzky-Cook. The best playmaker ever with a top-20 goal scorer all time is just ridiculous.

Parise-Jarvis-Provost. Have fun scoring against them.

Barber-Ullman-Bathgate. I can picture how that line would work.

Firsov-Apps-Howe. Maybe my favourite of the bunch.

Jackson-Mikita-Nedomansky. Watch out.

Best assembled line of the draft

Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov and Malone-Lalonde-Pitre, duh.

A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft

Rick trying to draft 'Jiri Holocek' was hilarious.

I probably missed a bunch of stuff but I'm tired of writing.

Yes I get it is a miscue. However, Stewart was still pretty darn good in his own right. There are other blunders, imo, that were more deserving.

But your opinion is your opinion.

 

[pitseleh]

Yes I get it is a miscue. However, Stewart was still pretty darn good in his own right. There are other blunders, imo, that were more deserving.

But your opinion is your opinion.

Yeah, I may have missed some, but I think I mentioned them in the reaches section. Black Jack over Gadsby was the first that came to mind that was a blunder but not a reach (if that makes any sense).

 

[pappyline]

Biggest Steal of the draft One doesn't stand out-Bobby Hull, Morenz, M.bentley, Olmstead, mosienko
Biggest Reach of the draft Goring as a 1st line C
Biggest blunder selection of the draft Picking goalies & defensive forwatrds early. Roy at # 7, gainey @ # 103
A Player finally getting respect in the draft Chuck gardiner, Prestai, burns
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft Phil esposito, gary roberts
A player you've discovered in this draft Many europeans that I have to research
Most underrated player taken paul thompson
Most overrated player taken; Roy @ # 7
Favourite line of the draft; Bucyk. Schmidt, Neeley
Best assembled line of the draft Bentley Bentley Hextall

 

[chaosrevolver]

Biggest Steal of the draft One doesn't stand out-Bobby Hull, Morenz, M.bentley, Olmstead, mosienko
Biggest Reach of the draft Goring as a 1st line C
Biggest blunder selection of the draft Picking goalies & defensive forwatrds early. Roy at # 7, gainey @ # 103
A Player finally getting respect in the draft Chuck gardiner, Prestai, burns
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft Phil esposito, gary roberts
A player you've discovered in this draft Many europeans that I have to research
Most underrated player taken paul thompson
Most overrated player taken; Roy @ # 7
Favourite line of the draft; Bucyk. Schmidt, Neeley
Best assembled line of the draft Bentley Bentley Hextall

I know he was drafted to be one..but Goring is no longer our first line C.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

Biggest Steal of the draft
Marcel Dionne at #102. I do not think that there is any doubt that he is a top 100 player of all-time.
Also, there is no way that Lidstrom should fall to #24. I would take him over Bobby Clarke and Martin Broduer for sure. Lidas is arguably better than Ray Bourque.
Biggest Reach of the draft
Bobby Clarke over Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Bryan Trottier? I don't think so.
I think that Shanahan was picked a bit too early.
Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft
Reuniting the Bentley's.
Biggest blunder selection of the draft
Spezza and Heatley?
Stu Barnes is in no way, shape, or form an All-Time top 6-er. He was a defensive forward in the last MLD for god's sake.
A Player finally getting respect in the draft
Defensive centers: Burns, Prystai. Johnny Sorrell, Harry Hyland, Hy Buller, Dave Christian.
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft
Defensive forwards Gainey and Carbonneau.
A player you've discovered in this draft
Dan Bain- great early forward.
Coach Claude Ruel.
Bill Goldsworthy, RIP.
Most underrated player taken
Butch Goring (as a great 2nd or third liner, not as a 1rst center.)
Ken Daneyko.
Most overrated player taken
Eric Lindros. Definitely not over Cowley, Francis, Ullman, etc.
Favourite line of the draft
Best assembled line of the draft
Reunited the Soviet monster.
Worst assembled line of the draft
CASH.
Best defensive pairing
Leetch-Siebert. Very balanced.
A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft
Doru Turuneau's offer of #3 grand from the habs.

 

[MXD]

Funny/Dramatic Story : Didier Pitre drinking a pint (geez, do the had the same pints than us?) in between periods.

 

[pappyline]

Biggest Steal of the draft
Marcel Dionne at #102. I do not think that there is any doubt that he is a top 100 player of all-time.
Also, there is no way that Lidstrom should fall to #24. I would take him over Bobby Clarke and Martin Broduer for sure.
Biggest Reach of the draft
Bobby Clarke over Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Bryan Trottier?
I think that Shanahan was picked a bit too early.
Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft
Biggest blunder selection of the draft
A Player finally getting respect in the draft
A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft
A player you've discovered in this draft
Most underrated player taken
Most overrated player taken
Favourite line of the draft
Best assembled line of the draft
Worst assembled line of the draft
Best defensive pairing
A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft

Most certainly Dionne is a top 100 (Top 50?) but there are so many damn good centres that they get pushed down because other positions become more valuable in picking ATD teams. For best of AT, the top 100 list going on now is more indicative of the AT ranking.

 

[pitseleh]

Bobby Clarke over Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Bryan Trottier? I don't think so.

I think it's fair to suggest that Clarke went a bit early (but by no more than a couple of spots) but I'd be interested to hear why you think he belongs after those players. Only Sakic is clearly better offensively and none of those players bring the package of grit, leadership, defensive ability and faceoff prowess that Clarke brings as attested by his three Harts that he brings to the table.

People often bring up the fact that Yzerman was stuck behind Lemieux and Sakic, but just as much some of Clarke's best offensive seasons are also masked by the fact that the offensive juggernaut Bruin teams absolutely racked up the points during the regular season. Take Bobby Orr out of the fray and Clarke may have an Art Ross or two on his resume.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Biggest Reach of the draft
Bobby Clarke over Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Bryan Trottier? I don't think so.

Add up the Hart trophies won by Sakic, Yzerman and Trottier and they don't equal Clarke's 3. Don't bother bringing up Gretzky .. because all of Clarke's were won with Orr, Espo and Lafleur in the league.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Best defence pairing: Niedermayer-Vasko for Spit is excellent. Love arrbez’s Coulter-Watson shutdown duo. Then there’s pappy’s Brewer-Pilote duo, and Calgary’s McCrimmon/MacInnis tandem.

I relaize this thread isn't meant to pimp our own team, but I have to argue for the Shore - Gerard pairing.

 

[pitseleh]

I relaize this thread isn't meant to pimp our own team, but I have to argue for the Shore - Gerard pairing.

I'd say it's right up there for best assembled pair. IMO, a good defensive pairing has a balance between sameness and dissimilarity - two players who do the same thing or two players who are complete opposites don't generally make the best pairings. Shore and Gerard are both very offensively talented and defensively reliable, but in how they accomplish those two things they complement each other very well.

 

[shawnmullin]

I don't generally like doing this... but I'm comfortable that none of my picks have particularely be considered reaches or steals. I think I made solid selections from 1 through 24, but nothing particularely outstanding.

I'm also not sure it's great to have the "best" line or "best" defensive pairing, because I think that usually means one of the other lines is going to be limited.

(or that's all just sour grapes )

 

[John Flyers Fan]

My best and worst picks by round:

Round #1
Best - Beliveau (9th)
Worst - Frank Mahovolich (31st)

Round #2
Best - Henri Richard (58th)
Worst - Tretiak (34th)

Round #3
Best - Hull (85th)
West - Langway (83rd)

Round #4
Best - Makarov (109th)
Worst - Gainey (103rd)

Round #5
Best - Nighbor (136th)
Worst - Konstantinov(141st)

Round #6
Best - Gerard (187th)
Worst - C. Lemieux (190th)

Round #7
Best - Olmsted (208th)
Worst - Pete Mahovlich (199th)

Round #8
Best - Bun Cook (246th)
Worst - Reijo Routsalainen (230th)

Round #9
Best - Daniel Alfredsson (279th)
Worst - Reggie Leach (265th)

Round #10
Best - Frank Foyston (305th)
Worst - Terry O'Reilly (312th)

 

[John Flyers Fan]

I'd say it's right up there for best assembled pair. IMO, a good defensive pairing has a balance between sameness and dissimilarity - two players who do the same thing or two players who are complete opposites don't generally make the best pairings. Shore and Gerard are both very offensively talented and defensively reliable, but in how they accomplish those two things they complement each other very well.

One nice guy .. and one sonova*****.

 

[Roger's Pancreas*]

Biggest Steal of the draft
Joe Sakic at no. 50 - You just don't get one of the all-time best playoff performers that late. Nevermind his two-way play, faceoff ability, and intangibles.

Biggest Reach of the draft
Chris Phillips - No way I say him going that early, especially with Matty Norstrom still on the board.

Smartest/best strategic pick in the draft
Doug Harvey - Although unintentional, picking up Doug Harvey at that stage proved to be one gutsy, and ultimately one saavy pick.

Biggest blunder selection of the draft
Chris Phillips - I know the GM was recovering from an illness, but being ill-prepared forced his hand earlier than he probably would have liked.

A Player finally getting respect in the draft
Haven't been around long enough to comment.

A player always taken too high, finally getting picked where he should in the draft
Crosby - I have been around long enough to comment, but I'm not going to.

A player you've discovered in this draft
Jack Darragh, Phil Russell, and a crap load of Europeans that I already forgot about.

Most underrated player taken
Bill White - His name's just so ordinary that it's easy to forget, especially if you never had a chance to see him play.

Most overrated player taken
Scott Niedermayer - I don't think he's this defensive stud people make him out to be, and his leadership skills are putrid.

Favourite line of the draft
Anatoli Firsov - Syl Apps - Gordie Howe

Best assembled line of the draft
Johnny Bucyk - Milt Schmidt - Cam Neely

Worst assembled line of the draft
Adam Graves - Syd Howe - Pavel Bure

Best defensive pairing
Bobby Orr - Craig Ludwig

A funny/dramatic story (related to the ATD) you've learned about since the start of the draft
Andre DuPont on not going to jail,

 

[ck26]

Best and worst picks by round:
1: Bryan Trottier and Frank Mahovlich
2: Joe Sakic and Paul Coffey
3: Sergei Fedorov and Chris Pronger
4: Marcel Dionne and Eric Lindros
5: ___ and Vlad Konstantinov
6: Luc Robitaille and Claude Lemieux
7: Tony Esposito and Dave Langevin
8: Bobby Baun and John Leclair
9: Ace Bailey and Gary Roberts
10: Jeremy Roenick and Si Griffis
11: Gordie Drillon and Keith Primeau
12: Neal Broten and Valeri Kamensky ...

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Obviously I'm in the minority, but I just don't buy into all the hype around the Bucyk - Schmidt - Neely line.

I love Schmidt, and believe he's generally underrated, on the other hand I feel that Bucyk and Neely are both overrated.

 

[Roger's Pancreas*]

Obviously I'm in the minority, but I just don't buy into all the hype around the Bucyk - Schmidt - Neely line.

I love Schmidt, and believe he's generally underrated, on the other hand I feel that Bucyk and Neely are both overrated.

I think Neely's massively overrated, but you have to admire how each player compliments the next on that line.

 

[pappyline]

myquick assessment of best & worst of first 12 rounds

1.Hull/roy
2.Schmidt/kurri
3.Bentley/fuhr
4.jackson/wilson
5 ratelle/Johnson
6.Provost/armstrong
7.Lumley/Tocchet
8.Mohns/Andreychuk
9.Mosienko/stevens
10. blake/holik
11.Macleish/hunter
12. Prentice/Graham

 

[chaosrevolver]

myquick assessment of best & worst of first 12 rounds

1.Hull/roy
2.Schmidt/kurri
3.Bentley/fuhr
4.jackson/wilson
5 ratelle/Johnson
6.Provost/armstrong
7.Lumley/Tocchet
8.Mohns/Andreychuk
9.Mosienko/stevens
10. blake/holik
11.Macleish/hunter
12. Prentice/Graham

Kurri....worst? Can you explain?

 

[God Bless Canada]

I don't think Bobby Clarke went too soon at all. If he was available at 28, we would have picked him. Great playmaking centre, defensive player and leader. Outstanding in the face-off circle. Tough to play against, didn't let size (or disability) get in the way, not afraid to be physical. I think he's worthy of a top 20 selection, due to all he brings to a team.

If I'm in a Game 7 situation, he's near the top of the list for guys I want.