pre-1917: Phat Wilson
1917-1942: Carson Cooper, Herb Cain, Slim Halderson
1943-1965: Viktor Shuvalov, Jozef Golonka
1966-1979: Pete Peeters, Vincent Lukac, Anders Kallur, Lee Fogolin Jr, Guy Chouinard,
1980-1994: Slava Kozlov, Dave Manson, Jason Smith, Brian Skrudland, Dallas Drake, Ilkka Sinisalo, Peter Zezel, Sylvain Lefebvre, Felix Potvin, Radek Bonk
1995-2004: Sergei Brylin, Derek Morris
active 2012: Loui Eriksson, Derek Morris
- Crisp is an OK coach for this level, nothing special. He and Golonka combine to make this a very emotionally-led team. Golonka is an excellent choice for captain. He’s also a decent 2nd line center.
- Not a big Shuvalov fan this high up in the pecking order. We know he wasn’t as skilled as Bobrov but was perhaps as effective a player overall (there is decent info suggesting he is defensively sound). So his placement really depends on where Bobrov belongs. Bobrov gets picked in the 300s but I don’t think he should. I actually think Golonka’s a conclusively better player. More substantiated non-offense abilities (leadership, toughness, agitation) and similar domestic and international offensive dominance, except 10 years later against better competition.
- Herb Cain and Carson Cooper are two of the better MLD wingers. I think they’ll both make my top-20 when all is said and done. Cain is underrated lately as people tend to write him off as a wartime player. As it is, your 1st line may lack some sandpaper.
- Kozlov is a real tweener from an ATD standpoint, definitely not good enough for a scoring line, and not defensive enough for a bottom six role. I think after I review everything he may be among the top 20 wingers here too. I mean yeah, he had some good linemates, but bro had 853 points.
- Lukac is a guy I was watching very closely and I was ready to take him. Seems not everyone is as high on him as I was and I wish there was a comprehensive comparison done between him and a few of the Soviet guys, plus Lala.
- I’m not that high on Eriksson, though it appears more people are. Seems like a bit of a “Johnny come lately” on the ATD/MLD scene. I mean, I have three of those myself, granted, but I also think they’ve been much better players. It seems strange to see Eriksson so high, at least at this point.
- Skrudland is pretty much a prototypical MLD 3rd line center. I’ve gotten to the finals with him.
- Kallur is very hard to judge, I’ll just say that.
- My thoughts on Sinisalo are pretty well-documented. He should be a spare. Zezel and Drake are personal favourites and prototypical 4th liners. This line has some real agitating qualities. Drake is a poor man’s Scott Mellanby and a great leader.
- Overpass did well on the four spares. Can’t go wrong when you just pick four players seventies and/or TDMM have taken in the last two years
- I honestly think your first pairing might be your 3rd-best. It’s literally impossible to figure out how good Phat Wilson is. I wish we knew more. It’s so much easier with forwards who played in other leagues (see Moose Wason) and even with them, it’s not easy at all. Lee Fogolin is one of the least-utilized defensemen in this entire draft (see post I made in the chat thread today in a Marty McSorley comparison). He played on good teams, but they weren’t defensive powerhouses either, and it’s not like there aren’t a ton of players in this draft who were on the ice a lot more, for teams that were good/great, and were defensive powerhouses.
- Halderson is a known quantity though. Definitely the 3rd-best of the 3-man rotation those powerful Victoria squads had (along with Fraser and Loughlin, in that order) but a worthy player here, backed up with all-star selections. Pronger-like size. All-around good. Perhaps a bit of a risk taker.
- Lefebvre is one of the more ideal partners for a potential risk taker, though. I think I like him better than Fogolin, TBH. Was used about the same, but his teams ended up with better defensive records.
- Manson impressed me when I was analyzing some tough modern defensemen to compare to Barry Gibbs. He was a #1 defenseman four times – no, his teams were never that great when he was a #1, but that’s 4 more times than many other MLD defensemen. His offense (mostly on the PP) is fairly strong thanks to his bomb of a shot. He’s pretty much a heavyweight fighter. Defense is probably the least impressive part of his game but it’s also not horrible. He is better than a 3rd pairing player. Jason Smith is one of my all-time favourite players and a niche 3rd liner “defenseman’s defenseman”. He won’t hurt you here. Reminds me a lot of Ken Daneyko, although he is a much better MLD 3rd pairing player than Daneyko is a 3rd pairing ATD player. This is an extremely tough pairing. They might have mobility issues though.
- Morris certainly can help with a mobility issue in the defensive corps, but the problem is, I don’t think he’s an overall more effective player than anyone he would replace.
- Peeters and Potvin are both adequate in their roles.
- Biggest concern is that the scoring lines may get pushed around. Golonka alone is shouldering the intensity load for both lines, IMO.
You want someone dependable anchoring the bottom pair, and that's exactly what Bruce Driver is. His PP ability is a nice bonus too. Coutu brings a nasty element, but he is an obvious candidate for suspension issues. 
