I like both Macoun and Svehla but in no way can you convince me that Macouns better defense outweights Svehlas better 2-way play.
Edit: Im not saying Svehla is better than Macoun
In many cases, bottom unit players are more important for their best skill than for their total package. Macoun's best single skill, penalty killing, is better than any one thing Svehla did, so he may be more valuable to an ATD team although Svehla was probably the better all-around player. The performance of bottom-pairing guys at even-strength is less important than their potential contributions to special teams (if they are good in that area), in my opinion, because they will see little ES icetime in the playoffs.
Not from what i've read, Greschner seems to have the edge defensively and with puck moving:
Patrick:
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That is how Patrick picked up most of his points, because he was not an elite passer. He was never great at the perfect breakout pass from his own zone. His instinct was always to skate with the puck. Once he reached the neutral zone he would either dump the puck into the offensive zone, or just drive all the way to the net, whether the defenseman should be or not. He was unlikely to utilize the players ahead of him when rushing the puck.
Though his skating and hockey smarts always placed him in strong defensive positioning, he was often criticized for his defensive play. Despite his good size, he was never a physical presence by any stretch of the imagination. It was not in his demeanor, or in his upper body strength. Still, his skating and balance should have allowed him to be a smart take-out defenseman, but too often players would drive through his checks.
Greschner:
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He quickly established himself as a NHL star blessed with size and skating. He would run the Rangers power play in the era between Brad Park and Brian Leetch.
..A hockey natural is a great way to describe him. He was a super stickhandler with a good shot. He was big and aggressive, though not necessarily strong or punishing. He was a smart skater, gifted in his balance and lateral mobility, although he lacked speed. His ice savvy was his biggest asset, able to read plays developing from either end of the ice and to be in the right spot at the right time.
Berlinguette's lack of offense is what turned me off from him. He put up okay assist numbers for a couple of years skating with Lalonde and was an offensive nobody otherwise
By the look of it, Sturms description looks a lot more accurate.
Yeah...there's one part of that Pelletier thing I disagree with:
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A hockey natural is a great way to describe him. He was a super stickhandler with a good shot. He was big and aggressive, though not necessarily strong or punishing.
I would describe Greschner, in perfectly direct terms, as a bit of a ***** for a man of his size. I could not agree that he was an "aggressive" player. Greschner was a player who actively avoided contact at times, and was booed viciously for it at times.
As long as we're on the topic of 80's defensemen, their all-star records and where they belong historically, it has always bothered me that Brad McCrimmon was basically never a #1 defenseman. He was always behind somebody better - Howe or MacInnis in his prime, and even Lidstrom later on.
I think he's pretty overrated, to be honest. I have no idea how this kind of a player gets taken ahead of a guy like Frank Fredrickson, for example. I would take Fredrickson to center a 3rd line before I'd think about McCrimmon, regardless of team situation, such is the difference in talent.
Inglewood selects tenacious two-way winger Ross Lonsberry
Lonsberry was an unspectacular but consistent offensive player (averaged ~20 goals and ~50 points throughout his career). But he was better known as a hardworking defensive player and digger, regularly used to check star players like Lafleur, Cournoyer, and Gilbert. And Fred Shero absolutely loved him, naming Lonsberry the Flyer's most valuable player in their 1974 championship season.
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"I knew Lonsberry would be good because I've seen him play for ten years," said Shero. "But he's been unbelievable this year. He has more stamina than Bobby Clarke, and he's been the key man in a lot of games. He's done everything for us." - Fred Shero link
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"It's hard to realize what Lonsberry does in a game until you have looked back over some of the films", says Shero. "I watched a film of a game in Atlanta we won 2-1, and he was the whole team" - Fred Shero (Leader Post, Mar 24 1973)
Yeah...there's one part of that Pelletier thing I disagree with:
I would describe Greschner, in perfectly direct terms, as a bit of a ***** for a man of his size. I could not agree that he was an "aggressive" player. Greschner was a player who actively avoided contact at times, and was booed viciously for it at times.
Ray Whitney, huh? Well...if anyone feels like picking at his intangibles, I won't complain about modern bias.
Before doing any research I can think of at least 3 guys who played that style from the same era I would pick over Whitney. I won't bash LL's picks though.
