MLD review

[Diving Pokecheck*]

Here is a thread to review the draft, inspired by the thread in the main draft. Just give your opinions, people.

Who is the best value pick in the draft?

Who is the best strategic pick in the draft?

What is the best-assembled line in the draft?

Who is the most intriguing "sleeper" picked in the draft?

Who is a player discovered in the draft?

Who is the most over/underrated player picked?

Click to read more...

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

1. Harry Hyland. He was a player that I was really looking to get.

2. Doug Barkley- a player that I had not heard of, and wish that I did.

3. I like the two old-time players on McGill's 1rst line.

4. Evgeny Nabakov fell alot farther than I think he should have. I was interested in picking him up as a backup goalie.

5. Udo Kiessling is a very good discovery.

6. I think that Pavol Demitra was picked too early. I would never pick him over Hobery Baker, Harry Mummery, etc.
Laurie Boschman I think is a good pick, and would be an excellent 3rd line forward in the draft.

 

[pitseleh]

Who is the best value pick in the draft?

Johnny Mowers in the 6th round. The difference between him and the guys taken in the first round isn't indicative of the difference in value.

Getting Frank Boucher as late as he was taken is a steal too. Arguably the best coach in the draft, IMO.

Even though he was taken early, I'm surprised that Barney Stanley wasn't taken in the main draft.

Who is the best strategic pick in the draft?

Metro Prystai - he's the Dave Keon of the MLD, IMO. Great player to build a checking line around.

What is the best-assembled line in the draft?

Wensick-Boschman-Granato and Murdoch-Dahlstrom-Ezinicki are both going to be killer to have to play against.

As for scoring lines, I like the Alexandrov-Bowie-Russel and Stasiuk-Ronty-Denneny lines.

Who is the most intriguing "sleeper" picked in the draft?

Hy Buller - One of the, if not the, highest peak of any defenseman in the draft but has a remarkably short NHL career. He went out on top though.

Who is a player discovered in the draft?

VanIslander, Spitfire11 and MXD & Jungosi seemed to have several players I wasn't familiar with.

Who is the most over/underrated player picked?

Milan Hejduk is underrated as a goal scorer (maybe I'm just remembering years of him lighting up the Canucks though ).

Considering he took so many of my favourites, I feel as though half of Evil Speaker's team is underrated (Corbeau, Denneny, Ronty, Irvin, March).

 

[papershoes]

Who is the best value pick in the draft?
Harry Hyland (32nd overall) was a great pick - a great goalscorer in the early years of hockey

Dave Balon (43rd overall) - probably one of the best, if not the best, left winger in the draft.

Johnny Mowers (84th overall) - phenomenal goalie pick for this late in the draft

Who is the best strategic pick in the draft?
Don Cherry – coach (155th overall) - a perfect pick for the Moose Jaw Millers team being assembled (i was ready to pick him that same round...blast!)

I also like how the Edina Hornets assembled an entire team of US born players - nice thematic structure.

What is the best-assembled line in the draft?
There are so many nice lines...
Moose Jaw Millers: Balon – Horvath – Balfour...this line can do it all.

Moose Jaw Miller: John Wensink-Laurie Boschman-Tony Granato...this will be one heck of a line to play against, Boschman is a fantastic pick

Phoenix Roadrunners: Shamrock Line...three hall-of-famers, and a great forward line turn of century

Who is the most intriguing "sleeper" picked in the draft?
Eddie Oatman (260th overall) - an awesome offensive player from the early era of hockey.

Who is a player discovered in the draft?
Tony Hand - prior to this draft i had never heard of him. The quotes from Sather and the ridiculous offensive statistics (tough competition or not) are quite intriguing.

Who is the most over/underrated player picked?
Overrated – Demitra (17th overall)...Demitra is a good player, and deserving of a spot in the MLD, but there was still a lot of talent on the board following the selection

Underrated – Don Lever (112 overall)...I had Lever pegged as a top defensive LW in this draft.
Laurie Boschman (183 overall)...size, toughness, and great scoring ability

 

[VanIslander]

Evgeny Nabokov fell alot farther than I think he should have. I was interested in picking him up as a backup goalie.

I simply had assumed he went late in the main draft. Being drafted so much later than Kiprusoff seems wrong to me, though I understand the Kipper has been to the NHL finals and World Cup 2004 finals. Still,.. as a Sharks fan I can't yet think of Nabbie as a lesser goalie: he did win the Calder and is a two-time all-star gamer. He could have started in the 2002 Olympics except for the fact that he played for Kazakhstan a while back so for years he couldn't represent Russia (which is all good as my Khabibulin started the '02 Olympics instead and was selected tourney-best goalie ).

5. Udo Kiessling is a very good discovery.

Absolutely. As soon as he was picked I had a memory flashback, vaguely remembering him! he was the star of the German team that beat the Americans. He has some all-star selections in international competition and if there is a German league player to select, their best ever defenseman is the one to pick: as the Germans have known how to play good defense, I'll give them that! Imagine the New Jersey Devils of the 90's minus any scorers or goaltending and you have the German national team. Still was good enough to be competitive.

 

[chaosrevolver]

We will admit that we were not the most familiar team as we both were on vacation before hand and we never got to research which is probably why there were alot of questionable picks at the beginning. But we felt weve learned alot. I know I have, I saw Hobey Baker but I swore he was already picked and then the next guy picked him and I was like ohhh ****!

Oh well I had fun and I guess thats what matters.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

It was fun. I really have no idea how my team will be ranked.

 

[VanIslander]

It was fun. I really have no idea how my team will be ranked.

you'll find out wednesday morning

5 g.m.s have voted already, most of the rest are expected to PM their votes in Monday

 

[papershoes]

Oh well I had fun and I guess thats what matters.

I agree.
My main goal was to delve a little deeper in hockey history...which is exactly what happened. It was great to discover players who, without the atd, i may not have (i.e. bowie, corbeau, mummery to name a few).

 

[chaosrevolver]

I know mine will rank bad. But mine and Nates strategy was just to learn and try to have lines that complimented eachother. Our 3rd and 4th lines are dangerous. And that 3rd line is one of the best defensively in the league and will be counted on to shutting down other teams best lines.

 

[chaosrevolver]

I agree.
My main goal was to delve a little deeper in hockey history...which is exactly what happened. It was great to discover players who, without the atd, i may not have (i.e. bowie, corbeau, mummery to name a few).

Yeah I wanted to develop more too. Im really familiar with the Main Draft guys but not much with these which is why you saw picks like Demitra, Bertuzzi, etc. But hey, I just want an oppurtunity at the main. I could do some damage!

 

[God Bless Canada]

Geez, a lot of you guys really like Laurie Boschman. I thought he was a good pick (obviously), but I thought we had better ones. (Owen, Balon, even Ray Getliffe). We actually took him earlier than he went in the last draft.

To answer the questions (note: all answers would be Miller players, but I won't count them)...

1. Who is the best value pick in the draft? "Wild Bill" Ezinicki. No-brainer for me. He was my top-rated checking line RW, and after Prystai, was probably the best checking line player available. Three-time Cup champ who loved to hurt people.

Runner-up: Charlie Burns. Prystai's the best defensive centre in the draft. He might be the most valuable forward in the draft, and with Chapman out, and since I can't vote for Horvath, I'll probably give Prystai my all-star centre vote. But Burns isn't far behind Metro for defensive ability. Burns shouldn't be 135 spots behind Prystai.

2. Who is the best strategic pick in the draft? I've never understood what this means, but I do like the Prystai pick. It seemed to be the one that ticked the most people off. Bengt-Ake Gustafson is a nice pick for the Giants as an assistant coach. I think he'll do well as the good cop. Love the Kilrea-Gustafson duo behind the bench.

I'll also echo the sentiment of ck and Nalyd's All-American Boys team. (Where's my Fabulous Rougeau Brothers audio clip?) There is room for sentimentality in this draft.

chaosrevolver and natethegreat got a great pick with Irbe. I think he's better than the guy they selected for their No. 1 role (Potvin).

3. What is the best-assembled line in the draft? I really like the Montreal Shamrocks' line that ADC re-united. Nelson's second line (Morrow-Gagner-Dahlen) will be one of the toughest to play in the draft. I think Boston has the best team in the draft, and their second line with Adams-Irvin-Stoughton will be very dangerous.

4. Who is the most intriguing "sleeper" picked in the draft? Too many to mention.

5. Who is a player discovered in the draft? See No. 4.

6. Who is the most over/underrated player picked? Demitra's been mentioned several times. I wouldn't say he's overrated. I think he's just a guy who went too soon by a rookie GM.

Overrated? Zetterberg. Shouldn't go that soon. Datsyuk. Shouldn't go that soon. Stephan Richer. Way too inconsistent to warrant an early selection. Excellent skill level. But some definite red flags.

Underrated? Lorne Carr. Maybe I'm being a bit of a homer, because I live about 30 minutes from his hometown of Stoughton, Sask., but I think the guy was pretty good. Good enough to be a scoring line winger in this draft, and an early pick.

Charlie Burns. This guy deserves to go in the ATD. Mike Ricci? Charlie Burns? Give me Charlie Burns.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

I think that it was interesting how my team developed. My initial plan was to build a squad around who I thought was the best coach left- Babcock. The Zetterberg pick was a product of that strategy.
However, losing Datsyuk and Rafalski forced me to come up with a new idea. I really wanted to get RW Harry Hyland, but his pick forced me to draft someone else.
I looked at the members of the Hall of Fame who were not yet picked, and my eyes fell on the Shamrock Line. My new plan was to build the team around that line.
I had targeted Prystai, Galley (who we were scouting as a possible T-Birds pick), Berry, Deadmarsh, Lewis, and Buller since the beginning of the draft.
With Buller, as well as with the Shamrock wingers, I was kind of playing with fire, delaying their picks to the last possible moment that I thought that they would be still available. As they were not very well known, I decided to pick up more depth on the lower lines and pairings and trust that they would fall.

 

[Elvis P]

I liked LW Slava Kozlov, C Metro Prystai, LW Johnny Wilson, and RW Joe Carveth.

 

[Spitfire11]

Who is the best value pick in the draft? Lots of good ones, Apps in round 11 maybe

Who is a player discovered in the draft? Vic Stasiuk sticks out the most for me

Who is the most over/underrated player picked?

Everyone has a different way of rating having to consider eras/peaks/etc.

overrated - I'm not big on the amateur players
underrated - probably Dick Irvin, and most of the players on that Windsor roster
Actually I'll give this to Datsyuk, just an amazing player and I really don't believe any of these other players taken were ever as good as he is right now. IMO he's the best player in this draft.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

overrated - I'm not big on the amateur players

I initially had this same thought.
However, I do not think you can use that against a truly great player, ie many said that Hobey Baker was the greatest athlete that they have ever seen.
Of course, no one here has ever watched him play, so we have to go by those at the time. I also think that a truly great amateur defenseman, say, is better then a pro who was a solid 2nd/3rd pairing.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

Actually I'll give this to Datsyuk, just an amazing player and I really don't believe any of these other players taken were ever as good as he is right now. IMO he's the best player in this draft.

I was really looking to unite Zetterberg and Datsyuk. That would be 2/3 of a great 1rst line at this level, if you combined them with a gritty playoff performer.

 

[Diving Pokecheck*]

it is interesting that draft order and ability often do not coincide. For example, if we were looking at an EA NHL-style "overall", Pavel Datsyuk would be rated as much higher than Jay Pandolfo. However, Datsyuk is in the MLD, whereas Pandolfo is in the ATD, because Pandolfo is more credible as an all-time 4th liner than Datsyuk is as an all-time 2nd liner.

 

[Spitfire11]

I initially had this same thought.
However, I do not think you can use that against a truly great player

Yeah, I tend to still give them the benefit of the doubt when rating (have your team 2nd/3rd in the division...although I like that 2nd line more than the 1st)

ie many said that Hobey Baker was the greatest athlete that they have ever seen. Of course, no one here has ever watched him play, so we have to go by those at the time.

But then you have to consider who they were playing against and who else the people saying these things saw play. The Legends blurbs on lots of these players make them sound like Bobby Orrs. It's also near impossible to find any info on deficiencies these players had (and almost all players have them). For all you know maybe he cherry-picked more than Pavel Bure (not Baker obviously, just an example).

I also think that a truly great amateur defenseman, say, is better then a pro who was a solid 2nd/3rd pairing.

I'd probably agree with this in most cases.

 

[pitseleh]

I'm just working on my rankings right now and I have to say I'm impressed by the efforts all the new guys put in. I wouldn't think they were first-timers by just looking at their teams.

 

[seventieslord]

I liked LW Slava Kozlov, C Metro Prystai, LW Johnny Wilson, and RW Joe Carveth.

Can we let Johnny O vote?

 

[Spitfire11]

it is interesting that draft order and ability often do not coincide. For example, if we were looking at an EA NHL-style "overall", Pavel Datsyuk would be rated as much higher than Jay Pandolfo. However, Datsyuk is in the MLD, whereas Pandolfo is in the ATD, because Pandolfo is more credible as an all-time 4th liner than Datsyuk is as an all-time 2nd liner.

Yep, it's the way of the draft. You'd think any GM at any point in history would rather have Datsyuk on their team over Pandolfo for whatever role. I've always thought that you make a team with the best players, not the best 1st line guys, 2nd line guys, 3rd line guys, etc. I mean, a line of 3 Datsyuks would completely destroy a line of 3 Pandolfos. Most of the all-time drafters see differently so I've changed how I draft as the drafts have gone by.

 

[seventieslord]

Yep, it's the way of the draft. You'd think any GM at any point in history would rather have Datsyuk on their team over Pandolfo for whatever role. I've always thought that you make a team with the best players, not the best 1st line guys, 2nd line guys, 3rd line guys, etc. I mean, a line of 3 Datsyuks would completely destroy a line of 3 Pandolfos. Most of the all-time drafters see differently so I've changed how I draft as the drafts have gone by.

No, ADC had it a lot more accurately stated. It's not that Datsyuk isn't a better player. He is, and all the GM's know it. He's also entirely one-dimensional and doesn't have the regular season and playoff scoring credentials that the 180 top-6 forwards in the ATD have. Since he's not a guy you'd want on a 3rd or 4th line, he doesn't get drafted.

Heck, I understood this in my first draft and I loaded up my bottom six with guys who had a reasonable amount of scoring ability, but were also responsible and gritty players. Kind of like a "Team Canada"-type 3rd and 4th line. I had guys like Ryan Smyth, Jamie Langenbrunner, Scott Mellanby, and Mike Ricci. But, lack of a true shutdown line killed me, and I learned I had better have some guys whose main strength was defense this time around.

 

[Spitfire11]

No, ADC had it a lot more accurately stated. It's not that Datsyuk isn't a better player. He is, and all the GM's know it. He's also entirely one-dimensional and doesn't have the regular season and playoff scoring credentials that the 180 top-6 forwards in the ATD have. Since he's not a guy you'd want on a 3rd or 4th line, he doesn't get drafted.

Heck, I understood this in my first draft and I loaded up my bottom six with guys who had a reasonable amount of scoring ability, but were also responsible and gritty players. Kind of like a "Team Canada"-type 3rd and 4th line. I had guys like Ryan Smyth, Jamie Langenbrunner, Scott Mellanby, and Mike Ricci. But, lack of a true shutdown line killed me, and I learned I had better have some guys whose main strength was defense this time around.

Catch a Wings game, he's one of the best 2-way forwards in the league. He doesn't lead the league in takeaways by cherry-picking and avoiding going into the corners. In the 2006 Olympics take a guess what forward was sent out to kill 5-on-3 penalties for Russia. He's been doing it since Babcock took over coaching Detroit, and to say he is one-dimensional is completely false.

The rest, I don't want to have to get into that debate again. I'd like to have more two-way players like Smyth or Langenbrunner on my 3rd/4th line over a pure defensive specialist like Erixon, but obviously I've given in.

 

[seventieslord]

Catch a Wings game, he's one of the best 2-way forwards in the league. He doesn't lead the league in takeaways by cherry-picking and avoiding going into the corners. In the 2006 Olympics take a guess what forward was sent out to kill 5-on-3 penalties for Russia. He's been doing it since Babcock took over coaching Detroit, and to say he is one-dimensional is completely false.

The rest, I don't want to have to get into that debate again. I'd like to have more two-way players like Smyth or Langenbrunner on my 3rd/4th line over a pure defensive specialist like Erixon, but obviously I've given in.

OK, so I'm not being entirely fair to Datsyuk. I haven't seen a lot of the Wings aside from the playoffs. I know he's been called soft, couldn’t get it done in the playoffs, etc - easy to assume that makes him a classic one-dimensional Russian, especially in contrast to the well-rounded-from-the-start Zetterberg. Over the past couple of seasons and this year, I have heard more about him being more responsible, but "one of the best 2-way forwards in the game" might be taking it a bit far. Still, I guess Zetterberg rubbed off on him. I know which of the two I'd rather have, though.