If someone can do up a list of assassinations received and given... I will assassinate their team first. Then I will use it as a guide for who to review going forward, and I hope others will as well.
quick self-review:
This is as typical of a seventies team as it gets. I took a while to fill out my forwards (top-6 and bottom-6) but when I finally did, I made good choices based on what was left. I made defense a high priority, mainly because I had noticed newly posted information on some players before anyone else but TDMM did, and I also made a point of getting a coach and goalie early - I never like to be below average in that regard. In this case I took Cook first among coaches, so it should not surprise you that he's my favourite MLD coach. I took Nicholson 2nd among goalies, and he and Paton are a toss-up to me for best MLD goalie.
First line is led by Golonka, the Czech Doug Gilmour, the spirit of the team. He's mainly a goalscorer in my estimation, so he has two gritty wings (gritty is actually a really mild word for Gingras) who have playmaking credentials. This line will be very tough to play against and its offensive potential should at least be average by the standards in this draft.
Second line is the complete opposite. Stumpel is a very pure playmaker and also needs stronger wingers to help him along. I do not know what Richardson will provide in that regard, but Warwick was a tough little tank that will take some pressure off Stumpel and win some battles. Stumpel should hopefully get some room to work his magic as a playmaker, with these two firing pucks and shoveling in rebounds.
Third line is, like a usual seventies team, a defensive line. Erixon is the top defensive forward in the draft. Harris is a good one, plus he has strong offensive credentials. Harris has the strongest offensive credentials of the three, but he's also the least accomplished defensively. loh calls him a "two-way" player and his status as utility forward meant he was constantly being shifted from line to line - he only ever had one regular line and it lasted two seasons - so that did include some defensive work too, for a team that had great defensive results. he did not appear to do the heavy lifting, though. I think I've managed to put together a line that will be both above average offensively and defensively (remember, Erixon only has hands of stone when asked to shoot, he's actually a good passer and stickhandler)
Fourth line is, like usual, an energy line. Based on draft standards I think I may have created my best forechecking line ever. This line will make life hell on opposing defensemen and leave a few of them embedded in the boards. I did my best to put together a line with some offensive ability too, though. Keeping in mind that this is an ES line and not a PP unit, I think I've done well. The three averaged 36, 31, and 30 adjusted ESP per 80 games. Tucker will also pitch in on the PP on the right side, where he's had some success. Both he and Boutette play all three forward positions, so they can fill in on the 3rd in case of an injury (to Erixon, perhaps?)
I took Gordie Roberts first, but when all is said and done, I wonder if he's even my best, or second-best defenseman. He was by no means a "perfect" defensive player, he had some issues in that regard early in his career before becoming the consumate wily veteran. He had one good season where he was 8th in Norris voting, one of six times he was top-2 in TOI on his squad. Compare that to Gibbs, whose all-star record is arguably more impressive and whose TOI certainly is (9X #1). Or to Armstrong, who was 7th, 8th, 9th in Norris voting (5th in AS voting). Or Portland (5th, 7th, 8th). Or Kampman (5th, 7th, 9th). Sargent suffers from a short career but he was a beast in his prime - top-7 in TOI in the league three times, backed up by one year of token norris/AS consideration. (Roberts peaked at 15th in TOI). They all have a case for being better players, and three of them have particularly strong cases.
With Kampman and Sargent having such short careers, it's safe to say they will both miss their share of games. Eric Weinrich is there for that reason. In extreme situations, Tobin and Mayasich have the capability to step in on the 3rd pairing but that shouldn't need to be a regular occurrence.
This was a very well-played draft by a lot of GMs and I had to be really wily to keep up this time. It seemed that as soon as there was a guy who floated to the top of my list, someone took him. This was particularly true of centers, and I waited awfully long to take mine. As a result, there are some guys who turned out to be great and others who didn't impress me:
Jozef Golonka: I am really, really glad he fell to me. I got a good bargain on this guy. His domestic and international resumes are more than good enough and he was a very singificant player, worldwide, in his time. He's the Czechoslovakian Doug Gilmour.
Jozef Stumpel: Call him a bargain basement 2nd liner and color me unimpressed. Two very good seasons for this level, and on pace for two more very good ones. Other than that, a small handful of "decent" seasons. Meh. Not great in the playoffs, and softish, even though he's big. Smooth playmaker though. His overall offensive production is in the same league as others I looked at like Bullard, Zhamnov, Reichel, etc. Comparing him to Zhamnov, for example, is easy - take off Zhamnov's big 1995 season, 2 years of captaincy, and PKing ability and you have Stumpel. He's a lower-tier guy and I'd rather have the other guys who went earlier in most cases, but he shouldn't hurt me either, as he's not a large dropoff from them. There is no doubt that he underwhelmed me once I researched.
Billy "Hinky" Harris: I don't know what to make of the guy. he was sold to me in the past as a defensive guy, and that's not really his game. He has awesome ES stats for this level, which is a plus. If you believe the press about him at the time, his numbers as a benchwarmer are really interesting because he was playing very few "full" games and random shifts throughout the rest of the season. On the other hand, Punch Imlach felt he was only able to maintain his high level of play for short bursts. This may or may not be true, but it does cast some doubt. Expect Charlie Tobin and John Mayasich to spend a lot of time filling in for Harris this year. If you read Harris' bio, you will agree that the best way for me to get the most out of him on a per-game basis is to rest him from time to time. Harris puzzled me. Better than his stats, because they're loaded with GP that he barely played? Or because he never had regular linemates? Or worse than his stats because Punch Imlach just saw him as a benchwarmer/pinch hitter? You tell me.
Tony Gingras: I thought I was just "settling" for Gingras because other guys I thought I wanted got taken. I soon found that I was much better off with Gingras. He was tough and fiery, he was a clutch scorer and he was a good playmaker. It was suggested that he was as valuable as Bain, though I don't know how much truth there is to that.
Bob Gracie: I took Gracie because he was standing out at the top of the chart for pre-expansion centers and no one was standing out among about 8 post-expansion centers. I eventually moved him to the wing and hoped he'd be a good defensive/gritty conscience to whichever one-dimensional center I ended up getting. While he had some grit and two-way ability, it definitely wasn't as apparent as I had hoped. His epic speed was a big bonus, but yeah, I had a little buyer's remorse here.
Jan Erixon: Still can't get over the exemplary superlatives used to describe his defensive ability in the scouting reports. I thought I was getting the best defensive forward in the draft based on selke voting; now I know I did, based on eyewitness accounts.
I like the team a lot though; it has as good a chance to win this thing as anyone. It's not perfect, and I see no perfect teams in this draft. Look forward to some one on one comparisons. If I can get far, it will be mostly thanks to my defense corps. It's easily got the best collective all-star record in the draft, and I think only TDMM/vecens would be close in that regard. If my forwards can just perform at an average level or slightly above, I could be ok.
Here's my updated roster if anyone is going to review:
PP1: Warwick-Golonka-Gingras-Sargent-Roberts
PP2: Gracie-Stumpel-Tucker-Sargent-Gibbs
PK1: Erixon-Grier-Armstrong-Gibbs
PK2: Boutette-Harris (70s)-Portland-Roberts
PK3: Harris (60s)-Tucker-Armstrong-Kampman
1916 or earlier: Richardson, Gingras, Nicholson, Tobin
1917-1942: Warwick, Gracie, Portland, Kampman, Cook, Robertson
1943-1965: Golonka, Harris, Armstrong, Mayasich
1966-1979: Roberts, Gibbs, Sargent, Harris, Boutette
1980-1994: Stumpel, Erixon, Weinrich, Todd
1995-2004: Tucker, Grier
in 2011: Grier
