15 drafts I've been in here at the ATDs and I'll profile them all below:
I joined the ATDs in early 2005 for ATD3 when Hockey Outsider and JohnFlyersFan joined Leaf Lander (to mention the only three current ATDers of the old bunch) for the third installment. It was a 15-team draft prior to any playoff format. My squad was the best the drafts have ever seen at center ice imo and I loved my wingers more than the other GMs did, one calling the forward core like a 'helicopter' with the weight in the middle and thin blades revolving around it:
Victoria Aristocrats
coach Pat Quinn
Brian Propp - Steve Yzerman (C) - Dino Ciccarelli
Esa Tikkanen - Mark Messier (A) - Claude Lemieux
Bob Gainey - Bobby Clarke (A) - Jere Lehtinen
Jiri Holik - Guy Carbonneau - Terry O'Reilly
"Tiger" Williams
Jan Suchy - Mike Ramsey
Randy Carlyle - Adam Foote
Frantisek Tikal - Craig Ludwig
Josef Malecek
Bernie Parent
Vladimir Dzurilla
Rogie Vachon
ATD4 was a 16-team draft in which Hedberg joined. My squad was starting to appreciate the Soviets, I continued my love of Gainey, Ramsey and Ludwig and I played Jarvis out of position due to overdrafting centers:
Cambridge Tabs
coach Jacques Demers
Bobby Hull - Adam Oates - Brett Hull
Michel Goulet - Alex Maltsev - Jari Kurri
Bob Gainey - Jean Ratelle - Doug Jarvis
Brian Sutter - Joe Nieuwendyk - Brian Bellows
Dale Hunter
Vitali Davydov - Viktor Kuzkin
Mike Ramsey - Carol Vadnais
Craig Ludwig - Sergei Gonchar
Gary Bergman
Jacques Plante
Grant Fuhr
Gerry Cheevers
ATD5 I was too busy for and in the 20-team ATD6 I developed the blueline more. My squad was balanced enough that it was the #1 seed in the first ever regular season ranking, administered by BM67 (I lost in the second round Game 7 OT to a Sawchuk-backed Murphy-GM'd Oilers team argued heavily for by FI#2, a GM who assassinated my squad endlessly, having no respect for non-NHL Euros). I again had a center playing out of position and had too much ice time for Turgeon but otherwise loved this squad:
Burnaby Mountaineers
coach Scotty Bowman
Valeri Kamensky - Wayne Gretzky (C) - Jari Kurri
Brendan Shanahan - Jeremy Roenick - Steve Larmer
Brian Propp - Pierre Turgeon - Jere Lehtinen
Adam Graves - Guy Carbonneau (A) - Joel Otto
Tiger Williams
Al MacInnis (A) - Nikolai Sologubov
Vitali Davydov - Viktor Kuzkin
Jan Suchy - Mike Ramsey
George Hainsworth
Mike Vernon
John Vanbiesbrouck
After a 28-team ATD7 we had an 11-team MLD7 I co-GM'd with Hockey Outsider and we won the championship with a solid squad:
Penticton Vees
coach Billy Reay
Camille Henry - Thomas Gradin - Alex Kovalev
Don Lever (A) - Pit Martin (C) - Ulf Dahlen
Pierre Mondou - Tim Young - Stu Barnes
Mike Krushelnyski - Gregg Sheppard - Petr Klima
Scott Gomez
Rod Seiling (A) - Doug Bodger
Dmitri Yushkevich - Brian Rafalski
Lyle Odelein - Scott Hannan
Jyrki Lumme
Kelly Hrudey
Reggie Lemelin
Michel Larocque
Then came the 28-team ATD8 and my fav squad I can't believe was seeded 4th and bounced in round 2 in 6 games. I researched and planned the hell out of that squad, I thought with terrific results building a Shero-style team:
coach: Fred Shero
Offense: "
Get the puck in deep and keep it there. Go to the net. Own the crease."
Defense: "
Punish the puck carrier, force the play, control the middle, clear rebounds."
captain: Scott Stevens
alternate: Doug Gilmour
alternate: Rod Brind'amour
J. P. "Jeep" Parise - Eric Lindros - Dino Ciccarelli
The Razor Line: aggressive forechecking corner man; dominant hitting centre; crease crashing trigger man
Dave Andreychuk - Doug Gilmour (A) - Vladimir Martinec
The Two-Way Line: size at the net; speedy gritty skill up the middle; lightning quick puckhandler
John Ogrodnick - Rod Brind'Amour (A) - John "Pie" McKenzie
The Hard Line: consistent hard shooter; traffic-savvy face-off warrior; clutch-scoring shadowing pest
Steve "Sarge" Vickers - Don Luce - Mike Foligno
The Heart Attack Line: grindin' shootin' rebounder; elite face-off PK SHG scorer; strong nasty hustlin' heavy shot
extra forwards: Ivan Hlinka - Ziggy Palffy
Alternative 3rd/4th line formations for occasional use:
Shutdown Line: Rod Brind'amour - Don Luce - John McKenzie
Offensive Line: John Ogrodnick - Ivan Hlinka - Ziggy Palffy
Guy Lapointe - Scott Stevens (C)
Bill Gadsby - Charlie Huddy
Alexander Gusev - Joe Watson
Marty McSorley
Dominik Hasek
Pete Peeters
When Shero started to coach the Flyers' he immediately implemented a system. "Other teams have each line playing a different system depending on if they are a scoring or checking line. On the Flyers every line and player plays the same system, whether the player is a superstar or on the fourth line"
http://www.flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/hofprof.cgi?007
forecheckers on each line: Parise, Gilmour, McKenzie, Luce
crease crashers on each line: Ciccarelli, Andreychuk, Brind'amour, Vickers
shooters on each line: Lindros, Martinec, Ogrodnick, Foligno
"There are 4 corners to a rink and a pit in front of the net. You have to hold your ground. There isn't a man on the team who is afraid to go into a corner and hit someone"
http://www.flyershistory.com/cgi-bin/hofprof.cgi?007
backcheckers among forwards: Parise, Gilmour, Foligno, Andreychuk, Brind'amour, McKenzie, Luce, Vickers
coach Shero nasty forwards: Lindros (big hits, bull in traffic), Parise (swinging stick at ref), Dino (superpest), Foligno (2000+ PIM), McKenzie (cheapshot needler)
guys Shero will yell at: Ciccarelli ("
Backcheck Dino!"), Ogrodnick ("
Don't just hit the openings, go into traffic Johnny O"). Martinec ("
You better score again tonight, or I'll put in Palffy and at least get some bumpin' goin'")
open-ice hitters: Lindros, Stevens, Gadsby, Gusev, Huddy, McSorley
Then in a 14-team MLD8 I had what I believe to be the best MLD first line ever, the squad seeded 3rd made it to the second round only:
McGill Redmen
coaches Viktor Tikhonov, Ron Wilson
Ven Alexandrov - Dubbie Bowie - Blair Russel
Steve Payne - Billy Reay - Real Cloutier
Johnny Wilson - Kelly Kisio (A) - Paul MacLean
Reggie Fleming - Red Sullivan (A) - Yevgeny Babich
Andrei Khomutov
Moose Goheen - Doug Young (C)
Vasili Pervukhin - Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
Brendan Witt - Fredrik Olausson
Alex Smith
Nikolai Khabibulin
Don Beaupre
In a 10-team AAA8 in which only half-teams were drafted, my squad ended up ranked third and included both of the draft's voted all-star blueliners:
Greenville Growl
Forwards (6): Gordon Pettinger, Vladimir Vikulov, Ron Murphy, Bob Kelly, Joe Juneau, Carl Voss
Defensemen (3): Curt Giles, Lee Fogolin, Sr., Tom Bladon
Goaltender (1): Tommy Salo
Extras (2): ass. coach Tom Watt, Billy Harris
In a 32-team ATD9 I teamed up with ol' nemesis FI#2 to co-GM a #3 second round squad ah sported a third line and third pairing I was jacked about:
Kingston RMC Paladins
coaches Viktor Tikhonov, Arkady Chernyshev
Sid Smith - Mario Lemieux (C) - Bobby Bauer
John Leclair - Steve Yzerman (A) - Ace Bailey
George Hay - Dick Irvin, Sr. (A) - Tony Leswick
Ven Alexandrov - Alex Almetov - Konstantin Loktev
Jozef Golonka
Ken Reardon - Doug Wilson
Larry Murphy - Jim Neilson
Vas Pervukhin - Zin Bilyaletdinov
Harry Westwick
Grant Fuhr
Mike Vernon
In a 28-team ATD10 I built another concept team around the Silver Seven core and it was ranked 5th in its division and bounced first round. I think it would perform much better than that:
New Haven
Nighthawks
coach: Art Ross
captain: Jean Beliveau
alternate captains: Ray Bourque, Alf Smith
Aurel Joliat -
Jean Beliveau (C) -
Harry Hyland The All-Montreal Line
Alf Smith (A) -
Frank McGee -
Billy Gilmour The Silver Seven Line
Gaye Stewart -
Vyacheslav Starshinov -
Boris Mayorov The Aggression Line
Tommy Smith -
Marty Walsh -
P. J. Axelsson The Mosquito Line
extras:
Marc Tardif,
Andre Lacroix The WHA Duo
Raymond Bourque (A)-
Harvey Pulford The Two Bears
Babe Siebert -
Ching Johnson The Rangers MVPs
Gennady Tsygankov -
Viktor Kuzkin The Red Army trio
extra:
Alexander Gusev
Johnny Bower The Clutch Crease
Riley Hern The Consistent Champ
In MLD10 I teamed up with Nalyd Psycho to co-GM the championship-winning team:
Oxford Dark Blues
coach Viktor Tikhonov
Stephane Richer - Josef Malecek - Adam Deadmarsh
Jimmy Gardner - Moose Watson - Tom Hooper
Gaetan Duchesne - Jason Arnott - Rejean Houle
Martin Gelinas - Saku Koivu (A) - Petr Sykora
Viktor Zhluktov, Konstantin Loktev
Dickie Boon (C) - Oldrich Machac
Billy Coutu - Rick Ley (A)
Zin Bilyaletdinov - Dave Lewis
Jyrki Lumme
John Ross Roach
Don Edwards
In AAA10 my team was seeded second and went to the finals:
Spokane Canaries
coach: Dr. Jan Starsi
Bob MacMillan - Thomas Gradin (C) - Andrei Khomutov
Patrick Marleau - Jason Allison - Eddie Wiseman
Don Grosso - Billy Harris - Ray Sheppard
Lorne Henning - Stephane Yelle - Billy Bell
Russ Courtnall
Lee Fogolin Sr. - Lee Fogolin Jr. (A)
Reg Hamilton - Karel Gut
Lou Nanne (A) - Lyle Odelein
Alexei Zhitnik
Joe Daley
Viktor Zinger
Don Beaupre
In ATD11 I again co-GM'd with Hockey Outsider but we were too busy to PM much and the result was to neither of our satisfaction, a surprising 2nd seed that lost to a deserving Nayld Psycho Fighting Saints squad in Game 7 of the second round. Our team was fast:
Thunder Bay Twins
Coach Billy Reay
Roy Conacher - Bill Cowley - Alexander Maltsev
Paul Kariya - Mike Modano - Daniel Alfredsson
Adam Graves - Phil Goyette - Bobby Rousseau
Louis Berlinquette - John Madden - Martin St. Louis
Milan Novy, Tumba Johansson
Chris Pronger - Nicklas Lidstrom
Sergei Zubov - Gary Suter
Ulf Samuelsson - Bill Hajt
Steve Duchesne
Ken Dryden
Andy Moog
In MLD11 I co-GM'd with Eagle Belfour to draft a third seeded team with several great picks and the squad went to the finals:
Helsinki Jokerit
coach Frank Patrick
Steve Vickers - Dan Bain (C) - Carson Cooper
Gerard Gallant - Ray Ferraro - Cliff Koroll
Lorne Henning- Clarence McKerrow (A) - Leo Labine
Butch Keeling - Saku Koivu - Bruce Ridpath
Frank Rankin, Skene Ronan
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov - Vasili Pervukhin
Clem Loughlin (A) - Jack Campbell
Sergei Babinov - Howard McNamara
Allan Shields
Tom Paton
Pete Peeters
In AAA11 there were seven teams and an eighth added afterwards and my squad made it to game 7 of the semifinals:
Halifax Eurekas!
coach Bryan Murray
Sergei Shepelev - Alexei Guryshev - Alex Skvortsov
Joe Juneau - Jason Arnott (C) - Petr Sykora
Bob Kelly - Billy Harris - Chico Maki
Fredrik Modin - Vladimir Golikov - Martin Lapointe (A)
Henrik Sedin, George Richardson
Bob Murray (A) - Bob Murdoch
Bob Armstrong - Tom Bladon
Jack Evans - Rick Smith
Gord Lane
Viktor Zinger
Jon Casey
