The 2011 ATD-B Beer League Draft

[Hedberg]

Wow, the rotation option just opens up the floodgates.

Alex Henry serving as captain is mind boggling. He only played 177 games in his career.

For full time captains, Helge Bostrom seems like a strange pick, especially considering they dealt him halfway through the season to St. Paul in the AHA. When researching this in Google Archive, it brings up some PPV stories about defenceman Ted Graham being named replacement as captain, but he doesn't show up on any lists of Blackhawk Captains.

- Andrew Ladd. Yes, he's at that point now. Ironman streak, captain, two cups, consistent 38+ point scorer, about to score 60 this year.

I considered him for my fourth line, but thought it would make more sense once the year he's having is complete.

Stamkos (I could have sworn he was already taken)

He didn't meet the 300 games requirement.

It's really tough choosing between these guys because so many of them had issues with competition level (i.e. they played so far back or played in recent years but in the B and C pools)

Yes, most seem to be in for contributions to their own country's hockey development. It's too bad the IIHF doesn't have bios like the HHOF as some of the inductees are pretty obscure.

Carl Erhardt sounds interesting to me:
Wikipedia:

Unlike most British hockey players of the era, Erhardt did not grow up in Canada. Rather, he learned the game of hockey while attending school in Germany and Switzerland as a boy. Erhardt was a passionate defenseman, sometimes playing in excess of 40 minutes each game. An excellent athlete, Erhardt also excelled at tennis, skiing and water-skiing (He founded the British Water Ski Federation.) Erhardt was a member of the European and World Championship teams in 1931, the World Championship team in 1934 and 1935, and the captain of the team which won the European and World Championships, along with Olympic gold, in 1936. Of the twelve members of the 1936 team, Erhardt was the only one who was not a Canadian citizen of British birth or descent. Thirty-nine years old at the time, Erhardt is the oldest man ever to win an Olympic gold in ice hockey. The British defeated the prohibitive favourites, the Canadians, in capturing Great Britain's first and only gold medal in ice hockey.

At the very least a great story from the early days of International Hockey.

hmm, no two-timers. how uninteresting...

Actually, I made a mistake. Kevin Morrison was also a 2nd team all-star in 75-76

 

[BillyShoe1721]

I wanted to take Stamkos in this draft, which is why I lobbied for no 300 game requirement.

 

[EagleBelfour]

Stephane Quintal - Steady defensive defenceman with over 1000 games in the NHL. Biggest mistake of his career was taking the money over staying in Montreal.

Jim Craig - If Frank McCool can be taken, so his Jim Craig. He's a very important historical player.

Tony Hand - One of the greatest European offensive player to stay his entire career in Europe. Obviously, competition level is a huge factor. It's difficult to think he couldn't of been at least a decent player in the NHL.

John Gallagher - Important part of the Detroit Red Wings in their 1937 playoff run. I'm not sure if he's worthy of a selection.

Arto Javanainen - 2nd highest scoring player in Finnish hockey league history

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That's what's left of my list.

 

[seventieslord]

- I personally wanted Quintal to get taken. He was in my list of guys that just got barely beaten out by Konroyd for the 100th A draft pick. When it came time to pick guys in the B draft, I wanted to make sure all of those 10 got taken (VI cleaned a lot of them out following the A draft) but at the same time, the focus of the draft changed and became more about possible upside. In the end I couldn't find room but I was surprised no one else did too. He was the most prolific PK defenseman left after I took Laidlaw and Stewart at #7 and 8.

- The thing about Tony Hand is, he lasted forever and scored a ton of points. However, in a league as low as the British league, we should demand even higher of him before we consider him worthy. Let me explain:

here are Hand's scoring finishes and % of 2nd place in the British league, courtesy of SIHR:

7th, 54%
2nd, 100%
4th, 72%
3rd, 91%
2nd, 100%
2nd, 100%
5th, 82%
7th, 75%
7th, 79%
1st, 102%
1st, 103%
1st, 125%
2nd, 100%
17th, 38% (not injured)
12th, 38% (injured , on pace to 4th and 56%)
14th, 48%
13th, 65%
2nd, 100%

after that, Hand spent three seasons in Britain's second division. Then he came back up to division 1.

5th, 67%
3rd, 85%
3rd, 90% (sparse league stats, likely incorrect)
N/A (sparse league stats say he was 1st, but 10 players are listed)

My point is, for a guy in the British league, we shouldn't expect to just see some good finishes and a few scoring titles, in a league this low-level, he needs to tear it a new ***hole for me to say he's good enough for an all-time job.

Points of comparison:

Garry Unger. Unger was an NHL star and ATD-level player. At age 38 he came out of retirement to play in Britain. In his last three NHL seasons he clearly couldn't cut it anymore, with 42 points in 133 games. He had taken two seasons off since then. His first season was underwhelming, being outscored 164-134 by the 18-year old Hand. At age 39 he was 2nd in scoring, ahead of 3rd place Hand, and at age 40 he had an underwhelming 81 points, to Hand's 192. Hand was 20. During this period, Unger scored 4.67 PPG; Hand had 5.55.

Vincent Lukac. Lukac is a good MLD scoring winger. He played two seasons in the British league at age 34 and 35. He scored 4.57 PPG; Hand had 5.31 in this time at age 21 and 22.

Mike Blaisdell. Blaisdell was a decent NHL player for a short time in his 20s. He had 55 points one year and 41 the next, both for bad Wings teams. His career petered out pretty fast after 343 games and at age 30 he was in Britain. He played parts of 8 seasons, the first five being worth a statistical comparison. He had 2.65 PPG in this time; Hand had 4.54.

Gary Yaremchuk. Yzremchuk enjoyed a quick cup of NHL coffee, scoring 5 points in 34 games. at age 32 in Britain, he finished 10th in scoring. Tony Hand, at 26, led the league.

Derek Laxdal. Laxdal was another fringe NHLer who scored 19 points in 67 games. at age 29-34 he was in the British league and scored 1.38 PPG. Hand, who was 28-32, scored 1.60.

Ken Priestlay. Priestlay was a little more than a fringe NHLer, but not much more. He got into 168 games and scored 61 points. at the ages of 27-31 (same age as Hand), he scored 1.74 PPG. Hand scored 1.60.

Ed Courtenay. Courtenay did ok when he got a chance with the brutal expansion sharks, scoring 20 points in 44 games. Just a year younger than Hand, he came to Britain snd scored 1.19 PPG over 5 seasons. Hand had 1.17.

These comparisons are all over the map. Lukac is the most favourable to him; Preistlay probably the least-favourable. Make of them what you will.

Hand's international stats:

D pool: 8 GP, 30 Pts (3.75 PPG)
C pool: 13 GP, 39 Pts (3.00 PPG)
B pool: 29 GP, 49 Pts (1.69 PPG)
A pool: 6 GP, 0 Pts

 

[VMBM]

Arto Javanainen - 2nd highest scoring player in Finnish hockey league history

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God bless him.

Due to his untimely death, he has been in the news/headlines in Finland a lot lately, and sometimes in a quite negative sense; as if his life was total misery after the hockey career. He did have an alcohol problem, but he had a pretty good working career and family also. It was only in the last couple of years that he really went downhill, I believe.

 

[EagleBelfour]

Very good analysm (?) on Tony Hand 70's. However, I was extremely surprise not to see Hand taken (pun intended) when the B draft was a draft focus on taking the ''maybe's and perhap's''.

 

[EagleBelfour]

Does a guy like Sergei Mozyakin deserve recognition?

Another guy: Fran Huck

 

[Hedberg]

Does a guy like Sergei Mozyakin deserve recognition?

I don't think so. Maybe if he had a better résumé on the National Team.