ATD2019 Draft Thread II

[Hawkey Town 18]

Wow! I'm very honored after multiple losses in the Finals, to have finally taken home an ATD Championship.

I wish I could have participated more this year, thanks to all of those who added to the discussion, and another big thanks to those who voted.

@TheDevilMadeMe, you built a great team (as usual), it looks like the margin of victory was razor thin on this one, which does not surprise me at all, I knew this was going to be close no matter which way it went.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Guy Lafleur, who for years was seen as a difficult player to build around because of his atypical ''high peak nothing else'' resume and him being a unidimensional winger, got voted 1st star of every single series in the playoffs, making him the overwhelming Conn Smythe winner.

Would be fun to go back and see who the Conn Smythe winner was for every draft.Usually it will be the 1st round player of the champion, but here we have Lafleur who was drafted in the 2nd round, after Red Kelly.Obviously the smaller the draft, the more likely the 2nd round player is to win the Smythe because 2nd rounders will be superstars too whereas in a 32 teams draft this is not as likely.

Personally I often throw second tier players in my stars, but yeah even if everybody did this the second tier players will be different whereas the stars will accumulate more votes anyway.

 

[VanIslander]

Guy Lafleur, who for years was seen as a difficult player to build around because of his atypical ''high peak nothing else'' resume and him being a unidimensional winger, got voted 1st star of every single series in the playoffs, making him the overwhelming Conn Smythe winner.

Last year I drafted Lafleur and gave him a defensively-skilled two-way speed demon in Elmer Lach as pivot (with Doug Gilmour as the other option if chemistry dictates), yet he was not voted the top star of either team when my Railers got bounced out of the playoffs.

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

Last year I drafted Lafleur and gave him a defensively-skilled two-way speed demon in Elmer Lach as pivot (with Doug Gilmour as the other option if chemistry dictates), yet he was not voted the top star of either team when my Railers got bounced out of the playoffs.

I've openly expressed my admiration for the way you'd built your team this year- and I think you had a nice one last year... but really, if the text above is what's brought to the table in support of the contention that Guy Lafleur deserved more credit last year- well-- I'd have to say you're training your eyes on a really narrow portion of the skies.

Worcester Rail vs Montreal Canadiens 4-3 (game 7 decided in OT)
Stars: Guy Lafleur ***, Bryan Trottier **, Terry Sawchuk *

Edmonton Oilers vs Worcester Railers 3-4
Stars: Terry Sawchuk***, Doug Harvey **, Guy Lafleur*

Worcester Railers vs New York Americans 3-4
Stars: Brad Park***, Terry Sawchuk **, Guy Lafleur*

Looks to me like Lafleur got ample credit- even extending to the tightly-contested but lost series.

[It should be pointed out that you fell to the eventual champion...]

 

[BenchBrawl]

Last year I drafted Lafleur and gave him a defensively-skilled two-way speed demon in Elmer Lach as pivot (with Doug Gilmour as the other option if chemistry dictates), yet he was not voted the top star of either team when my Railers got bounced out of the playoffs.

You've build back-to-back strong teams VanI, you could have gone all the way with either of them with a few bounces in your favor.

 

[VanIslander]

*** , **, * .

I actually misread that as top star ( 3 stars!), 2nd place (2 stars), and last star (1 star).

Lol!

 

[BenchBrawl]

I think *** means 1st star, based on the players who got it.

 

[Theokritos]

I think *** means 1st star, based on the players who got it.

Yes. VanIslander's initial reading was correct.

Sorry for putting it in a way that could be misunderstood.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I went back and checked which GMs made the Final Four (conference finals) in every ATD of the playoff era.Possibly some GM changed his username and was taken by me as two different persons.Anyway, here are the results, done in good faith:

ATD#6

Hockey Outsider vs. God Bless Canada
BM67 vs. The Lone Elvi

Hockey Outsider vs. BM67

Winner: Hockey Outsider

ATD#7

kruezer vs. reckoning
Hockey Outsider vs. pitseleh

kruezer vs. pitseleh

Winner: pitseleh

ATD#8

Hockey Outsider vs. BM67
Nalyd Psycho/Sturminator vs. pitseleh

Hockey Outsider vs. pitseleh

Winner: Hockey Outsider

ATD#9

pappyline vs. shawnmullin
EagleBelfour vs. Rick Middleton/Sturminator

pappyline vs. EagleBelfour

Winner: pappyline

ATD#10

Hockey Outsider vs. EagleBelfour
Sturminator/Transplanted Caper vs. vancityluongo/Evil Speaker

Hockey Outsider vs. Sturminator/Transplanted Caper

Winner: Sturminator/Transplanted Caper

ATD#11

Sturminator/Evil Speaker vs. spitfire11
arrbez vs. seventieslord

arrbez vs. Sturminator/Evil Speaker

Winner: Sturminator/Evil Speaker

ATD#12

EagleBelfour vs. Mr Bugg
Hedberg vs. TheDevilMadeMe

EagleBelfour vs. Hedberg

Winner: EagleBelfour

ATD2010

TheDevilMadeMe vs. arrbez
Stoneberg vs. hungryhungryhippy

TheDevilMadeMe vs. hungryhungryhippy

Winner: TheDevilMadeMe

ATD2011

Dreakmur vs. seventieslord
TheDevilMadeMe vs. overpass

seventieslord vs. overpass

Winner: seventieslord

ATD2012

Rob Scuderi vs. arrbez
Nalyd Psycho vs. nik jr

nik jr vs. arrbez

Winner: arrbez

ATD2013

Nalyd Psycho vs. BenchBrawl/Sturminator
TheDevilMadeMe vs. Rob Scuderi

BenchBrawl/Sturminator vs. Rob Scuderi

Winner: BenchBrawl/Sturminator

ATD2014

BraveCanadian vs. Hawkey Town 18
TheDevilMadeMe vs. markrander87

TheDevilMadeMe vs. Hawkey Town 18

Winner: TheDevilMadeMe

ATD2015

TheDevilMadeMe vs. markrander87
Rob Scuderi vs. Billyshoe1721

markrander87 vs. Rob Scuderi

Winner: Rob Scuderi

ATD2016

monster_bertuzzi vs. BraveCanadian
Rob Scuderi vs. Hawkey Town 18

monster_bertuzzi vs. Rob Scuderi

Winner: Rob Scuderi

ATD2017

BenchBrawl vs. ResilientBeast
Hawkey Town 18 vs. markrander87/Stoneberg

BenchBrawl vs. Hawkey Town 18

Winner: BenchBrawl

ATD2018

VanIslander vs. rmartin65
ImporterExporter vs. papershoes/Hawkey Town 18

rmartin65 vs. ImporterExporter

Winner: rmartin65

ATD2019

BenchBrawl vs. TheDevilMadeMe
Hawkey Town 18 vs. Dreakmur

TheDevilMadeMe vs. Hawkey Town 18

Winner: Hawkey Town 18

--------------------------------------------------------------

Number of times GMs made the Conference Final:

TheDevilMadeMe: 7

Sturminator: 5
Hawkey Town 18: 5

Rob Scuderi: 4
Hockey Outsider: 4

Nalyd Psycho: 3
BenchBrawl: 3
markrander87: 3
EagleBelfour: 3
arrbez: 3

BM67: 2
seventieslord: 2
Dreakmur: 2
pitseleh: 2
BraveCanadian: 2
Stoneberg: 2
Evil Speaker: 2

ResilientBeast: 1
VanIslander: 1
rmartin65: 1
ImporterExporter: 1
overpass: 1
papershoes: 1
Billyshoe1721: 1
nik jr: 1
monster_bertuzzi: 1
God Bless Canada: 1
The Lone Elvi: 1
kruezer: 1
reckoning: 1
pappyline: 1
Shawnmullin: 1
Rick Middleton: 1
Transplanted Caper: 1
vancityluongo: 1
spitfire11: 1
Mr Bugg: 1
Hedberg: 1
hungryhungryhippy: 1

Number of times GMs made the ATD Final:

Sturminator: 3
Hockey Outsider: 3
TheDevilMadeMe: 3
Rob Scuderi: 3
Hawkey Town 18: 3

pitseleh: 2
BenchBrawl: 2
EagleBelfour: 2
arrbez: 2

markrander87: 1
monster_bertuzzi: 1
BM67: 1
seventieslord: 1
rmartin65: 1
kruezer: 1
pappyline: 1
ImporterExporter: 1
Transplanted Caper: 1
Evil Speaker: 1
Hedberg: 1
hungryhungryhippy: 1
overpass: 1
nik jr: 1

Number of times GMs won the Milt Dunnell Cup (ATD Championship):

Sturminator: 3

Hockey Outsider: 2
TheDevilMadeMe: 2
BenchBrawl: 2
Rob Scuderi: 2

seventieslord: 1
Hawkey Town 18: 1
rmartin65: 1
pitseleh: 1
pappyline: 1
EagleBelfour: 1
arrbez: 1
Transplanted Caper: 1
Evil Speaker: 1

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

So when is Red Kelly going to finally be drafted up with Potvin and Shore like he should be? 2nd draft in recent years now that was won being built around Kelly.

For years, only 2 defensemen in the ATD have been regularly drafted where they were arguably the BPA - Orr and Kelly. (With the possible exception of the really early era guys, as one can argue them into a wider range).

 

[BenchBrawl]

So when is Red Kelly going to finally be drafted up with Potvin and Shore like he should be? 2nd draft in recent years now that was won being built around Kelly.

For years, only 2 defensemen in the ATD have been regularly drafted where they were arguably the BPA - Orr and Kelly. (With the possible exception of the really early era guys, as one can argue them into a wider range).

I'd argue Harvey is arguably the 5th best player of all-time

Kelly is always good value though, you're right.But it seems it was Lafleur who won HT18 the draft, not Kelly (to the extent that a single player must be given the credit).

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

So when is Red Kelly going to finally be drafted up with Potvin and Shore like he should be? 2nd draft in recent years now that was won being built around Kelly.

For years, only 2 defensemen in the ATD have been regularly drafted where they were arguably the BPA - Orr and Kelly. (With the possible exception of the really early era guys, as one can argue them into a wider range).

I think Kelly benefits from being an easier ATD-"sell" than players like Shore and Lidstrom. There's "counter-missionary" activity on Shore (penalties, hot-headedness, risk of getting caught up-ice). There's "counter-missionary" activity on Lidstrom (peak questioned, lack of physicality cited).

Not a lot of "negative press" to deal with re: Kelly. Still, should he have perma-immunity from any criticism?

I'd argue Harvey is arguably the 5th best player of all-time

Kelly is always good value though, you're right.But it seems it was Lafleur who won HT18 the draft, not Kelly (to the extent that a single player must be given the credit).

Not controversial to say that Harvey is the default-choice for ATD-#5, overall (if available), which...≠ 5th-best player all-time.