OPPF 2019 Draft Thread

[VanIslander]

Toews on line 4 is luxury-casting

He will be on the 2nd pk with Tikkanen, and get more ice time when leading late in games.

I think Hašek-Holeček is the league's top duo.

They can chat in Czech.

This draft has Worters and Parent as starters, so Holecek might see regular season action against those teams as well as against all other back-ups, as few goalies ever play every game.

 

[BenchBrawl]

He will be on the 2nd pk with Tikkanen, and get more ice time when leading late in games.

They can chat in Czech.

This draft has Worters and Parent as starters, so Holecek might see regular season action against those teams as well as against all other back-ups, as few goalies ever play every game.

The Parent team you're talking about also has Gretzky. Be my guess using your backup goalie.

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

Eh- I'm reasonably sure that the decision to use a back-up will be coach-based, and driven primarily by organic factors such as back-to-backs on the schedule.

Also, y'all are in different divisions- so if Parry Sound was facing a division rival such as the @Hawkey Town 18 under-analyzed but still formidable Chicago Cougars squad, followed on the next day by The Wanderers, I could see using Hašek for the former and Holeček for the latter.

My mind's eye envisions something like a 66 game Regular Season- with each team playing the other eleven 6 times- 3 at home and 3 away. 77 games would more closely resemble the length of a modern NHL Regular Season, but it would unbalance the home/away thing...

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

How about you play the 5 teams in your division 8 times and the 6 teams outside your division 6 times for 76 games total?

(Not that this really matters, just a fun mental exercise)


10 and 4 could also work, for 74 games total

 

[BenchBrawl]

My votes are in.

Deadline is 17h EST today.

 

[VanIslander]

The Parent team you're talking about also has Gretzky. Be my guest using your backup goalie.

1. Both Gilmour and Tikkanen have fared well shadowing Gretzky (only a handful of centers can say that). And Nighbor will gladly play an extra shift with a checking line to help limit such an offensive line.

2. While backup Holecek is arguably as good as starter Parent, Hasek has a pretty good history on one-on-one plays, famously stoning Lemieux, Bure and others, so he may start as a clear competitive advantage when these two teams meet (in different divisions, so not so often in the regular season, and perhaps again in the draft playoff final.


Hasek stops all 5 Team Canada shooters in the semi final then shuts out the Russians in the 1-0 final to win the 1998 Olympic gold.

"He's the best player in the game," Gretzky said after that game, a week after Hasek’s golden moment in Nagano. "He's just sensational. Very few times in sports do you see guys get to the level other people aren't at. For the game itself, it's good to have guys who dominate and he's dominating right now."

 

[VanIslander]

Hasek. I mean you're walking into any game, other than facing Roy, where you'll be favored in net. His only weakness is that he never really got it done in the playoffs, other than once late on a STACKED Wings team. He wasn't bad by any means in the postseason. But he was mortal.

• Hasek tied Canada 3-3 early in the 1987 Canada Cup (Gretzky got two assists, Mario and Bourque one assist);
• Hasek then backstopped the semifinal team in the 1987 Canada Cup that was leading against Canada halfway through the 2nd period (Canada STACKED, the Czechs with much less other than its goalie), Hasek facing 40 shots, losing 3-5, it taking Gretzky having two assists and Mario two goals and an assist to be the difference.
• In the 1994 NHL playoffs, Hasek led the league with a stellar 0.950 save % and 1.61 goals against, getting a shut out in the first game, losing the next game on a 3rd period game winning powerplay goal by Scott Stevens, making an incredible 70 saves in a 4OT 1-0 win later in the series (after losing the game before on a Claude Lemieux goal in the third), and in Game 7 making 44 of 46 saves in a 2-1 loss on another Claude Lemieux game winner, neither team able to score in the third period of the 2-1 game.
• In the 1998 NHL playoffs, Hasek led the Sabres to Game 6 of the conference finals with top scorers Matthew Barnaby and Donald Audette; in the 1st round he stoned the mighty Flyers facing games of 38 and 37 shots, losing only one game (2-3) on a 3rd period powerplay goal by John Leclair from Eric Lindros after another 38 shot night; the next round Hasek faced nights of 48, 46 and 38 shots but swept the Canadiens; in the conference finals it took the Caps 3 OT games to beat Hasek, who faced 30, 38 and 39 shot games plus 34 saves in the 5th game which extended the series, winning 2-1 depite the opposing goalie Kolzig facing only 16 shots from the anemic but counterattacking lucky star-less (other than Peca) forwards.
• The 1999 NHL playoffs are well retold often. His Game 6 OT Stanley Cup Finals run (with no great scoring forwards and dmen Wooley and Zhitnik as Sabres "top" scorers), facing three 40+ save contests in the first round alone, and in the finals he faced 46 MORE shots over the 6 games than Belfour did.
• In the 2001 playoffs, Hasek as a Sabre beat the Flyers in round 1 after a couple of tight OT wins and some 30+ save contests for him; in the 2nd round he (with nothing better than "top" Sabre goal scoring Gratton) pushed Jagr's Penguins to Game 7, all of the last three games requiring overtime.
• ALL OF THE ABOVE IS A BLOODY LOT OF GREAT PLAYOFF HOCKEY BY HASEK. Notice how it's all before the 37 year old won his first Stanley Cup in Detroit. Don't try to play the: He didn't get it done in the playoffs line. He played with near nothing and still won a lot of intense playoff games.
• In the 2002 NHL playoffs, Hasek had a league-high six shutouts, but, more to the point: he made 35 and 33 saves in close 3-2, 4-3 wins over St. Louis in the second round; and in the Finals, the series was tied 1-1 heading to Raleigh, where Hasek had to make 41 saves to win 3-2 in OT.
• At age 42, Hasek won two playoff series with the Wings, losing in the conference finals to the Stanley Cup champion Ducks: in Game 1 Hasek made 31 saves in a 2-1 Detroit victory and in the next game it took OT and 33 shots for Anaheim to win, with another close game later in the series decided on a Selanne OT goal. Hasek ended up with a decent 0.923 save % as an old man, a bit better than the cup-winning Giguere.
• Please don't cite the 2008 NHL playoffs, his few games played as a 43 year old in his second cup. It is insignificant in every way. Any good a player does after age 40 is impressive, any bad is just mother nature. The world juniors all-star teenager who started for his country in the 1984 Canada Cup, was medalist and tourney all star at 3 world championships against the Soviets in the 1980's was certainly done by 2008.

There is no doubt that if you give Hasek more significant skaters to play with than he had for most of his career that he would win more playoff games. He won six Vezinas and two Harts in Buffalo with line-ups no one expected to be close to winning the cup (yet he almost did once, and - as detailed above - had other impressive playoff performances in Buffalo). Imagine, in all-time context, he had nine top-100 skaters to help him out.

 

[The Macho King]

Hasek won a medal as the tourney all-star goalie of the 1987 world championships.
Hasek won a medal as the tourney all-star goalie of the 1989 world championships.
Hasek won a medal as the tourney all-star goalie of the 1990 world championships.

more to come...

Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1987 world championships.
Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1989 world championships.
Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1990 world championships.

No one's questioning Hasek's ability. It's his commitment. He screwed Ottawa in the playoffs before. He screwed Buffalo in the playoffs before. It's not even that his stats take a dip, it's that he wouldn't tough it out if he was at 90% - he insisted on playing fully healthy.

 

[VanIslander]

I edited my post to not individually list the 1980's world championships. (hate to get an hour's effort pissed on cuz of such a throw-away objection).

Please read all the other big moments he had against quality NHL competition, against teams MUCH more stacked than his own!!!!!

He is a proven performer several times against quality NHL competition in a playoff format BEFORE he went to Detroit (and even in the Motor City the aging veteran had to be great to win playoff games at times).

 

[VanIslander]

It's time to vote...

ONLY a few hours remaining!

I left it until now, as my weekend has begun!

 

[ImporterExporter]

The Parent team you're talking about also has Gretzky. Be my guess using your backup goalie.

I had Gretzky AND Roy 2 years ago in the ATD. I lost in the Finals.

Just saying.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I had Gretzky AND Roy 2 years ago in the ATD. I lost in the Finals.

Just saying.

I had Gretzky AND Lidstrom in a 40 teams draft in 2011 and lost in the 1st round.

Rest of the lineup matters (not saying this against your 2018 team, I don't really remember).

 

[Theokritos]

Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1987 world championships.
Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1989 world championships.
Hasek did not play against NHL players in the 1990 world championships.

You should check out the rosters from those tournaments.

 

[The Macho King]

You should check out the rosters from those tournaments.

My mistake - although when your best forward is Dino Ciccarelli its probably barely nhl team quality.

But the point isn't that Hasek isn't great - for one game no one is better. The question is whether hes going to suit up at all.

 

[VanIslander]

You should check out the rosters from those tournaments.

Hasek was the all-star goalie in 1989 against:

Yzerman, Hawerchuk, Muller, MVP... Bellows (all ATD picks) plus the Soviets!

In 1990 he was the all-star goalie against:

Yzerman, Fleury, Loob, Nilsson, Irbe, Casey, (all NHLers) plus the Soviets.

Note: i found the lists of tourney top scorers not individual line-ups. Canada, USA and Sweden would certainly have had more NHLers than i've listed above.

Hasek led his team to a medal all three times, each of those years the Golden Stick winner as the best Czech in the world.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

voted. that was hard—a group of three very evenly matched teams in both conferences, 2-4 in even, 3-5 in odd.

 

[Theokritos]

8 ballots so far.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I sent a last reminder PM to everyone.

 

[ImporterExporter]

I'm voting now.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Chris Matthews saying this made me laugh....but my votes are in!

 

[Theokritos]

9 ballots received. The results:

1) San Jose
2) Montreal
3) Pittsburgh
4) Hershey
5) California
6) Orlando

1) Parry Sound
2) Chicago
3) Richmond
4) Quebec
5) Brampton
6) Unified Team

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

Well.. the teams that I thought deserved the byes are the teams that got them. So--- on to The Playoffs we go!

 

[BenchBrawl]

9 ballots received. The results:

1) San Jose
2) Montreal
3) Pittsburgh
4) Hershey
5) California
6) Orlando

1) Parry Sound
2) Chicago
3) Richmond
4) Quebec
5) Brampton
6) Unified Team

Thank you for doing this @Theokritos

 

[VanIslander]

Wednesday will be Voting Day!

That gives a couple of more days to discuss match-ups in Round 1.

 

[The Macho King]

Does @Theokritos get the votes again?