Pittsburgh Penguins All-Time Draft - (Round 25)

[mikey287]

Like you said, maybe not the best player available...but if he made it to my fourth line, I'd be very happy. Your third line got a nice injection of speed, Trottier was never a speed skater, even in his prime, and certainly not with us. Kennedy can be in the forecheck running around like a headless chicken, Trottier can read what happens next and Fedotenko can do the most average thing possible behind that. I haven't seen them all yet, but that third line looks pretty solid. Let's see what the others turn out like...

[mikey287]

Billy Smith, Ron Hextall, Grant Fuhr?

Top of my head and probably wrong.

Good. Close enough. I don't even know who #3 is really...it's just so muddled...

I'd say:
1. Fuhr
2. Smith
3. Believe it or not, Roy had a strong enough '86 playoffs, '89 playoffs and '88 regular season to get serious consideration...otherwise, let's just stat-pick, #3 is either Philly's starter in the 80's - didn't matter who - or the Isles backup, didn't matter who. And a nod to a Pete Peeters and Mike Liut in some small facets...also, even though he only played the end of his career in the 80's, Vladislav Tretiak has a good case as well...but that would border on trick question territory...

[Rylan]

If we are talking overall, meaning including Tretiak, wouldn't you have to throw in Hasek's name?

[mikey287]

Yeah, why not. Good point. When Tretiak finally rides into the sunset, Hasek is establishing himself as the youngest pro in hockey history I do believe. Dominated the Czech League in the latter half of the 80's (Czech 'tender of the year 86-89), not only junior tournaments but also big boy stuff like the World Championships...

Just peaked at the numbers from 89-90 (year before he came over). He led the Czech League with a .921 save pct. and only one other goalie had above .892...2.13 GAA for Hasek, only one other goalie below 3.20...holy jumpin'...

[Rylan]

Now I don't know anything about the level of competition, but he was certainly head and shoulders above his peers in the Czech League.

Why didn't the Hawks seem to recognize what a gem they had behind Eddie the Eagle?

[Gaucho]

Keith McCreary, LW



Keith McCreary was claimed from Montreal in the 1967 Expansion Draft and quickly established himself as one of the team leaders on the fledgling Penguins. McCreary was primariliy known for his hard work, hard checks, and sound defense, but was also able to chip in the odd goal here and there. 292 GP, 82 G, 59 A.

[mikey287]

Now I don't know anything about the level of competition, but he was certainly head and shoulders above his peers in the Czech League.

Why didn't the Hawks seem to recognize what a gem they had behind Eddie the Eagle?

Hasek always was a rhythm goalie. With Mike Keenan in command, it was tough to get much rhythm going there. Plus, look at what Belfour did when he first got there. No one was quite sure what Hasek was doing out there and if it would work...it seemed that from the start one of those goalies had to be moved and it was always speculated that it would be Hasek (Belfour, Waite and a couple of others like Jacques Cloutier and Greg Millen were in the mix as well). Even when traded to Buffalo, he was still just a backup to Grant Fuhr. And worse, John Muckler was at the helm in Buffalo - the guy that won several Cups with Grant Fuhr - so it didn't seem immediately likely that Hasek would get any time there either. He still was an unknown commodity (though, people were aware of the fanfare he received in Europe and he was a highly rated prospect - even at his advanced age). It wasn't until Fuhr went down with an injury that Hasek burst onto the scene...sort of a changing of the guard that spring...a lot of 80's goalies were supplanted with younger players: Fuhr -> Hasek; Terreri -> Brodeur; Essensa -> Osgood; Moog -> Wakaluk.

[mikey287]

I didn't expect to do this now, but I don't want to miss out on him because of his very good defensive play and his ability to kill penalties. A good energy player that played a strong two-way game where ever he went. 22+24=46; 15+18=33; 17+33=50 in three seasons as a Penguin. Led all forwards in ATOI in his last season, 1981.



LW Ross Lonsberry

[meow]

Every time I think of Ross Lonsberry, I think of this

[mikey287]

Photoshop has come a long way hasn't it...?

[Gaucho]

Oh my, never seen that before...

[Rylan]

With the 88th pick in the LGP Draft, the Degloving Kings are proud to select from Bow Island, Alberta"

LW Troy Loney



A good grinder and hardworking player that will look great on the 3rd line with Staal and Army. I am quite glad he is still sitting here.

[mikey287]

On my phone...give me duane rupp, D

[Gaucho]

Another very solid dman that the fans didn't like because he wasn't physical enough.

[dman66]

Another very solid dman that the fans didn't like because he wasn't physical enough.

Common trait for this franchise. Dmen who don't hit get beat around by fans the most it seems like.

[MRandall25]

Oh, I'm up... give me a few minutes. The trades threw me off.

[mikey287]

Another very solid dman that the fans didn't like because he wasn't physical enough.

Yeah, I believe so...I'll have to check again, but I think there were multiple occasions where he led the team in ice time. I have to double check, but I think out of all six of my d-men, five of them have been #1 d-men for this franchise at one point or another (Bryan Watson I think is the lone exception, and he's my #6 and I'm considering whether or not I move him to right wing).

[MRandall25]

To play on my 3rd D pairing, I'm going to take Hal Gill.

Big guy. Unbeatable poke-check. IMO, he's better than Mark Eaton, who was taken before him in this draft.

[MRandall25]

And my next pick, who I'm surprised has dropped this far, I'm going to take Jan Hrdina. A solid two-way center man who could also play on the wing.

[Gaucho]

Gill is ineligible. 124 GP in all.

[MRandall25]

Balls. Shows what I get for panicking and not spending time on it.

Give me a few minutes (again).

[Gaucho]

Hans Jonsson is eligible.

[MRandall25]

OK, instead of Hal Gill on my 3rd pairing, I'm going to take Colin Campbell.

A physical defenseman who also had a knack for scoring clutch goals (scored the series clinching goal in the 1975 series with the Blues).

He also has the power to suspend all your teams

[mikey287]

Very much a depth defensemen in his hey day. Not much of a special teams player either - didn't have the skills for power play of course and his actions usually resulted in the forthcoming penalty kill, so he didn't make it on to that much either it seems...seems like he could hold his own defensively though and was quite an ornery fellow. Scored the series clincher for the Penguins against St. Louis in the '75 playoffs...not the only rare-but-crucial goal he'd score in his time...

I'm not quite sure how to rate him exactly to be honest. Just because he didn't log major minutes doesn't mean he was bad. Some players are just meant to be depth players. But he clearly wasn't being held down based on his time here and the guys in front of him (plus his time with other teams, where he also saw limited minutes). So I'll do what most people do when they don't quite know the degree of something in hockey and call it "solid" ...solid pick.

[MRandall25]

I'm down to my 3rd pairing. I picked what I felt was a 3rd pairing d-man *shrug*.