I know a lot of people have done them before, but I'm trying to make "All-Time Teams" for every franchise, and then put them in a simulator to see how they do. I'm picking the teams based only on what they did for the franchise, ignoring the rest of their career (factoring in mainly how good they were, but also considering how important they were in terms of perhaps helping change the fortunes of the franchise, how much they contributed to a winner, any intangibles they brought, tenure, chemistry with consistent line-mates, etc.) I'm a bit stuck on the Rangers.
Here's my forward line-up so far:
Bun Cook - Frank Boucher - Bill Cook
Vic Hadfield - Jean Ratelle - Rod Gilbert
_________ - Mark Messier - Andy Bathgate
_________ - Neil Colville- Bryan Hextall
I think it's a pretty solid group, and the only questionable selections are probably Hadfield and Colville. Hadfield is probably pretty close to the group in the thread title, but I wanted to keep the GAG line intact. Colville could probably be replaced by a few guys, such as Tkaczuk, Watson, Esposito, Laprade, or even Patrick or Henry, who played both centre and wing. I like Tkaczuk's tenure with the team and defensive game. But he was also just a very good second line centre, while Colville was a HoFer, a first line centre and tied for the leading scorer on a cup win.
So, I need to fill out the other two LW spots, and I think it basically comes down to Lynn Patrick, Camille Henry, Adam Graves, Steve Vickers or Dean Prentice.
Patrick is in the HoF and seems like the most likely choice for one spot. But he wasn't a main scorer outside of his three big years during the war. His first two, however, came before many of his teammates left. Was he a late bloomer, or a product of the watered down league?
Henry was a slick player and very good goal-scorer who was actually top-7 in goals 6 times. Yet his overall game seems lacking and his teams were never very good.
Graves and Vickers are similar hard working fan favourite types each with one big season that led to a 2nd team all-star nod, but were not in the same league as the other guys as scorers.
Prentice had some big seasons, but he was on the same teams as Henry, with the same lack of success, and I'm not sure if he was actually better.
So what do you guys think? I think Patrick probably gets a spot (on the 4th line, playing with teammates Hextall and Colville), but not sure about the other. The other thing I've though of is adding Cecil Dillon, and moving him to LW
Also, any other comments on the team would be appreciated.
Here's the rest of the team:
Brian Leetch - Brad Park
Bill Gadsby - Harry Howell
Ching Johnson - Ott Heller
Ed Giacomin
Mike Richter
Chuck Rayner
Heller is somewhat questionable, but he played 15 year, won two cups, was a 2nd team all-star and teamed with Johnson.
Kerr and Worsley were probably better goaltenders than Richter, and perhaps he gets too much credit with the cup win (which Kerr also has), but he feels more like an all-time Ranger.
Here's my forward line-up so far:
Bun Cook - Frank Boucher - Bill Cook
Vic Hadfield - Jean Ratelle - Rod Gilbert
_________ - Mark Messier - Andy Bathgate
_________ - Neil Colville- Bryan Hextall
I think it's a pretty solid group, and the only questionable selections are probably Hadfield and Colville. Hadfield is probably pretty close to the group in the thread title, but I wanted to keep the GAG line intact. Colville could probably be replaced by a few guys, such as Tkaczuk, Watson, Esposito, Laprade, or even Patrick or Henry, who played both centre and wing. I like Tkaczuk's tenure with the team and defensive game. But he was also just a very good second line centre, while Colville was a HoFer, a first line centre and tied for the leading scorer on a cup win.
So, I need to fill out the other two LW spots, and I think it basically comes down to Lynn Patrick, Camille Henry, Adam Graves, Steve Vickers or Dean Prentice.
Patrick is in the HoF and seems like the most likely choice for one spot. But he wasn't a main scorer outside of his three big years during the war. His first two, however, came before many of his teammates left. Was he a late bloomer, or a product of the watered down league?
Henry was a slick player and very good goal-scorer who was actually top-7 in goals 6 times. Yet his overall game seems lacking and his teams were never very good.
Graves and Vickers are similar hard working fan favourite types each with one big season that led to a 2nd team all-star nod, but were not in the same league as the other guys as scorers.
Prentice had some big seasons, but he was on the same teams as Henry, with the same lack of success, and I'm not sure if he was actually better.
So what do you guys think? I think Patrick probably gets a spot (on the 4th line, playing with teammates Hextall and Colville), but not sure about the other. The other thing I've though of is adding Cecil Dillon, and moving him to LW
Also, any other comments on the team would be appreciated.
Here's the rest of the team:
Brian Leetch - Brad Park
Bill Gadsby - Harry Howell
Ching Johnson - Ott Heller
Ed Giacomin
Mike Richter
Chuck Rayner
Heller is somewhat questionable, but he played 15 year, won two cups, was a 2nd team all-star and teamed with Johnson.
Kerr and Worsley were probably better goaltenders than Richter, and perhaps he gets too much credit with the cup win (which Kerr also has), but he feels more like an all-time Ranger.
(no, I didn't have him confused with Goodfellow)
