The Team of to Win

[MetalToday 266]

 

Introduction

 

There are many players that can play in an all-star situation, but what would be the best, or most ideal team look like? Seemingly the old-time hockey has some of the best players to have ever played the game, but we will need to see if any current players would be on my list. The idea that Brendan Marner could be on an all-star is an overstatement, it is not possible that he could be anywhere near the top players, whether its with the current players, or the past hall of famers. But it is important to note the importance of this player, as he is shocking the VHL with his skill in his rookie season. So, for such a league, what would be the all-time best team, and how many players would you include? Well, I would probably go with players many people wouldn’t think to go for…

For this list I will go in no order for 2 full lines and 2 goalies. I will respect each player’s position assigned to them as well.

 

 

First Line

 

The first player that would be on the team is obviously Scotty Campbell. Campbell was a crazy producer, holding the absolute record for most goals, most assists, hence, more points throughout all his 576-game career. He has had so many goals, he averaged over a goal a game, with an amazing 599 goals and over 2 points a game, 639 assists to get 1239 points. He is more than special, he didn’t just break records, he destroyed them being the only player to hit over 1000 points in total, and over 450 goals in total, and he destroyed these stats. Not putting this beast on your roster would be insane.

 

Now that we have our first line center chosen, who would be next? How about none other than defenceman David Henman, one of the top playmakers to ever play in the VHL. He had 591 assists in his 576-game tenured. He would be an obvious pick for the top defensive position and would very much provide many crisp passes to the forward group.

 

With a great right-wing option in Matt Bailey, it is the best choice with the current team that we have. As Campbell will need help getting the puck to him, Bailey will provide that as he is, as well, one of the players at the top of all time assist list. Being only 2^nd on that list with 602 assists, that will be an amazing option to give to a player like Campbell. But the question is now, with all the players to give points, how will you protect these top players? Well, that will not be an issue, because Bailey isn’t a playmaker, he is a 2-way player, can offensively produce, and dish out huge bone breaking hits, with 1846 hits, this is one of many good defensive players that will be refenced. Although he played defense as well, he will most definitely be my first line right winger.

 

For my next 1^st line defense, it would most definitely be Alexander Valiq, he was a crazy 2-way defenseman who could handle the puck by scoring goals/assists but would be the first one to block a shot and give a big hit. Although we could reference his 329 goals and 793 points in 648 games as a defenseman, I want to highlight the other beautiful stats that make this man the best 2-way defenseman in the league. He has a total of 1407 shots blocked, and 1167 hits overall in this league. This would ease the job for the goaltender and would give a break to the more offensive minded David Henman when caught too deep in the offensive zone.

 

Well, it is time to wrap up the first line with a player many people have heard of, and that is left-winger Matt Thompson. Thompson was one of the best players of the modern era, changing the game significantly. He evenly contributed to goals and assists to come out with 825 points, being one of the best producers of recent times, and 1827 hit in total, giving extra grit to an already gritty, and producing top line. He would be the essential second scorer on that line, and make great plays going in the zones, and coming back to the defensive spot.

 

 

Second Line

 

Starting with the second line is Conner Low in his defensive role to keep the team a scary and gritty team, but also provide great scoring ability, whether he is scoring himself, or passing the puck to some teammates for a nifty goal. Low has 555 assists in his career, and 1971 hits. He can provide whatever a team might need from a defenceman.

 

We need to include Christian Stolzcgweiger on the second line on the right-wing side, as he has the 2^nd most goals in the VHL ever. Although it is not nearly as much as Campbell, it is an amazing addition for a second line player. With 449 goals and 537 assists in his 574-game period, he was one of the best players to have played in the start of the VHL. He is not someone to overlook as he played better than some people my understand. Although hits and shots blocked were not the best stats on his side, just about every other stat kills the majority of opponents, making him one of the few great ones.

 

The center on this line will be Unassisted since he, as well, is a great scorer, but he is, as well, a great player to give the puck away for a nice assist. Unassisted wasn’t a heavy hitter, but would throw some here and there, but had trouble successfully blocking some shots. This might deter people from picking him up, but I had a different idea. He has 402 goals, 483 assists in 576 games. He is clearly a high-end producer, but he will get many games winning goals, meaning he isn’t deterred when the game is tight, he instead excels. This will help the team, having the best 2 game winning goal contributors, to win!

 

Having a player like Brennan McQueen on the left wing second line might not be ideal with the high scorers on the line, but it is exactly what is needed. He has 330 goals, 340 assists in 576 games, but his physical game is the reason he is so high on this list. He is the overall leader in hits with 2889 hits making him the scariest player to play against in this league’s history. He is a forward, so he isn’t a big shot blocker, but having 446 blocked shots is not too bad at all. One of the downsides of having him play on this team is the high number of penalty minutes he gets, but if he can keep calm, the addition would help scare the opponent when they see him on the ice.

 

The last player to add on the defence for the second line is James Lefevre. Lefevre was a great defensive defenseman, some may criticize the -60 +/-, but I am not here to do that as the team that he stayed with throughout his career was quite bad up until his 4^th season or so, that’s when he would get in the positive. Without great point totals in the 576 games that he played, being 332 assists and only 71 goals, he has a crazy hits and shots blocked record. With 2061 hits and 1217 blocked shots, it proves this guy has a great defensive potential, and can scare the other team, especially when both him and McQueen are on the ice together. Like McQueen, a huge problem with Lefevre is the penalty in minutes issue, as Lefevre has 1618 penalties in minutes. McQueen and Lefevre would need to step the penalties down a little bit to keep the team in the games, and if they can do that that would be a great, scary second line.

 

 

Goaltenders

 

The easy starter pick for goaltending is Benoit Devereux. He had a 0.932 save percentage in his era, with 0.29 goals against average. These are some of the best goaltending numbers you cannot find anywhere else, and the 27 shutouts to top everything off counts as a pro as well. With 459 games under his belt, he would have good experience to join the team and succeed. One issue that can become apparent while playing him is the issue that he has only 1984 shots against. That is really low for the number of games played, averaging about 4 shot a game, but none the less, the stats are where they need to be for a starting goalie.

 

We will need an amazing backup in case things would go south with Devereux, so that’s why I picked Greg Clegane as the backup. Clegane was an amazing goalie to get himself a 0.926 save percentage, and 1.8 goals against average. He also has some of the best stats, without much criticism. He has 93 shutouts in his 513 games he played, making him the goalie with the most shutouts in the league to have ever played. The back end is always important and making it nice and strong will give the team the push they need to succeed.

 

 

Extras

 

The best rookie this year, Brendan Marner, wouldn’t make the team, but only just miss it, with his 28 goals and 32 assists, in the 50 games played, and his defensive game with 229 hits and 61 shots blocked, it is no surprise that the rookie would be considered to play on the team, but with the lack of spots, he would just miss. This left-wing rookie would be left waiting as a scratch to play.

 

The right wing, Devon Marlow-Marta would be another special mention with his 0 hits, 0 blocked shots, but most importantly, 265 goals without ever recording a single shot, is why he was added. He would get in the other team’s head.

 

A special mention to defenceman Edwin Encarnacion as well, he has some of the best defensive stats in the league, with 2662 hits and 1467 shots blocked, but he has the biggest issue with penalties. He is the guy with the most penalties in minutes with 2028, and a very bad -133 +/-. This wasn’t ideal and combine that with a lack of offensive production with 92 goals and 271 assists, in his 612 games played, it was a high-risk chance that I just wasn’t willing to sake. He could help the defensive play a lot, but with Lefevre being a similar player, but with less penalty minutes and more production I feel that I have made the right decision to put Lefevre on the 2^nd line defensive spot, instead.  

 

For an extra goalie, it would need to be Tuomas Tukio, as he has an 0.925 save percentage and 1.99 goals against average in his 512 games played. Tukio is an amazing goalie with a lot more to show for than many people give him credit for, and with 62 shutouts in his career, he could deliver often. When it comes to goaltending, it is hard to chose just a couple of players from such a large pool, but if either of the top goalies didn’t work out this would most definitely be the next goalie in line.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Although no current players made my list, (other than me) I don’t think it says much, as I regarded older players more often in my research, well need to see if I change the list later! In the end this would be an amazing team, some might even say it is a dream team, with some of the best players from each era coming to play all on one team. It would be very interesting to see what would come of it, if the team could keep an amazing record, or get picked apart by the opponent. Would the mix of offensive players, and defensive players fit together with this league, or would the troublemakers continue to take penalties and strike a penalty kill? I would love to see if this happen, it would be one hell of a team to watch!

 

[MetalToday 266]

Weeks to claim:

02/27

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Edited February 26, 2022 by MetalToday

[Kisslinger 342]

Review 10/10

wow, great job. This was a super detailed dream team and i liked how you went into detail and explained a little about them. You doing two lines and some extras is really cool as a lot of people only do the first line. Spelling and Grammar are done well, you have titles and the format looks nice. I love that you included a picture of the lines! I do not think that you could really do anything to improve as I think this is perfect. Great Job! 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Kisslinger

[MetalToday 266]

Weeks to claim:

03/06

03/13

03/20

[MetalToday 266]

Weeks to claim:

03/13

03/20

[MetalToday 266]

Weeks to claim:

03/20