Thanks to both
@ChiTownPhilly and
@Namba 17 for the reviews!
Our first two-lines are very much a 1a and 1b setup, although that 1st line will be the preferred choice if we are down and need a goal late. But Tikhonov has been known to roll his lines and I think he will have trust in both of these top lines to provide offense.
Oates is a premiere playmaker, one whom we can assume Boom Boom will LOVE as a linemate. Marleau is a big body who provides solid two-way play and is a speedy presence with a natural touch around the net. He can battle for rebounds and is known to have top notch hand-eye coordination.
Sundin and Iginla were a pair that Van and I were very happy to put together on that 2nd line. Both are skilled in puck possession with the ability to cycle down low and we view them as having the potential to be pretty difficult to contain. Add John Tonelli who is a tenacious battler for the puck and was described as being incredible in the corners: more often than not he won his battles. As a trio we view them as difficult to contain and having as much offensive ability to compete with any other 2nd line in this draft.
Since the Golden Eagles are a “high flying” offensive style club for the most part, we wanted our 3rd line to be able to provide some nice secondary offence to compliment our top 6. Jack Adams we feel is a very solid glue guy and physical presence with some nice offensive ability as well. Rick MacLeish is a two-way center who is very responsible defensively while also having solid offensive instincts. He consistently produced in the playoffs and scores some clutch goals in championship runs. He was known to do whatever was asked by his coach. I don’t foresee a problem with Tikhonov whatsoever. He was an underrated playmaker as well, which brings us to his other linemate..Ken Hodge. Ken had an excellent shot and we see his offensive abilities on a 3rd line as being up there with the better options on a 3rd line in the draft. When drafting Hodge, we wanted to make sure to provide him with solid offensive linemates and we feel we did so with MacLeish and Adams. And Geoffrion, Iginla and Hodge are a pretty nice 1-2-3 punch down the right side, in our view.
The 4th line will obviously provide some solid defensive play, and Dennis Hull has a cannon for a shot which is a nice weapon to have on a 4th line.
Red Kelly and Moose Johnson. Van and I are in love with that pairing and we hope many can see how potentially great that unit can be. I’ve added another *estimated* minute at even strength for them to now play approximately 24 minutes per game. To us, they may be the best pairing in the draft (or top 3 at least) and will both be relied on heavily to provide stability and both solid offense and defense.
Reise Jr and Pietrangelo are both very solid and that’s what we were looking for on our 2nd pairing. Together, the trio bring 3 2nd-team all-star selections to the table. Leo was tough as nails and defensively a very tough match up for forwards. Pietrangelo brings solid defensive play and nice offensive ability. We like that pair a lot.
The McNamara brothers, Van and I reunited them because we just thought it would be damn cool haha. The duo has to be among the most physical pairing in the draft and they can provide some solid defense at that. They’ll obviously play less of a role than the other 4, but they still bring something to the table and will play their roles fine. We don’t expect much in terms of offense from them we’ll put it that way.
In regards to special teams, our 1st PP we feel can compete with any in this draft and will obviously be our primary weapon on the man-advantage. The 2nd unit can fill in and do some work and hopefully pot a few, but it’s not a secret that the 1st unit is the main weapon. I’m not sure anyone else’s point can rival Kelly and Geoffrion.
The PK took some heat initially and understandably so, but we feel that we certainly improved it by adding Oates to the 2nd unit and drafting a specialist in Craig MacTavish. So he, Langenbrunner, Oates and MacLeish (with Tonelli filling in if need be) are solid in our minds. And Alex Pietrangelo is possibly the best penalty killer of his generation. I guess as a whole, our PK is not up there with the best in the draft, but they can do their jobs when needed. And we don’t view Salt Lake as having a style of play that will lead to many penalties anyways. So we don’t foresee them having to kill a lot of penalties.
Gump and Rollins are probably “average” in a 40 team ATD but we think they can do the job. Looking at our division we don’t see Gump as a big noticeable step down to Bower and Broda. Not so much as to lose us games based on goaltending anyways.
I grabbed my geeky old RPG-polyhedra and randomly generated a team to review- and the dice landed on...
Scoring lines:
Looks like a 1/1a setup. Experienced readers know I'm a big fan of Iginla, and think he's waywayway under-rated. He's luxury casting on the second-line of a 40-team league. One thing I DID notice, though- both Cs and RWs are R-handed shots. Kind of interesting...
Bottom six:
Now, just as I consider the top-6 to be 1/1a, the bottom six kind of feel like 2b/c & 4a. And Rick MacLeish on a Tikhonov-coached team... maybe it's overstating to say "match-made-in-Hell," but it feels like a thing to me. More on this later. Last line should give you what Tikhonov wants.
First pairing:
Previously praised as the ne plus ultra of pairings- I'm not quite as quick to make that conclusion. [As the co-GM of this team knows, I'm a pretty big enthusiast of "Orr+don't-botch-laterality"] Still, Kelly's widely admired, frequently figures on highly successful ATD-teams, and he (and Johnson) should be able to play mondo-minutes... more than are indicated on the chart, I'd assert.
Second pairing:
And this is out-of-the-box, too. A two LHD first-pairing (not uncommon) and a 2 RHD second-pairing. As players, suitable for the roles assigned to them. Would like to hear more about the thinking behind the fit, though...
3rd pairing:
These guys don't really need to play a lot of minutes, do they?
Goaltending:
No way to sugar-coat this- they're average, at best. I'd even say below average in a 40-team league. Question is, how much does that matter? In these few paragraphs, I make the point that it doesn't matter as much as others might think. If this is the toll-booth we pass through to get a second scoring line that's worth the same as a lot of teams' first scoring lines, I'd say it's worth the fee. I don't think it'll make-or-break your regular-season.
Leadership:
Tikhonov- a fine schemes coach, a strong whiteboard coach... but a manager of disparate personalities? And no Assistant Coach to buffer?! Captain Sundin will be key to arranging for the buy-in. I'll listen to the case that he's up to it- but I don't think that's a sale that can be closed sight-unseen. I'll freely grant that it would be hard for him to ask for better Assistants than Kelly & Oates.
Special Teams
I need sunglasses to shade myself from the star-power of PP1... but there's that thing again-- four RH-shots on a five-man unit. Other Units seem no worse than capable- and balanced.
Wrap-up impressions- hard for me not to love the top two lines. You'll have a belovèd top-pairing. Team will be in game-shape and come ready-to-play all-the-time as long as Tikhonov hangs onto the room. I'll stay tuned to see how it all works out.
Good on you for putting your roster out there. [There are still experienced GMs who haven't. I mean, WTF already?!] Good luck to you.
