Quote:
Originally Posted by HAANA/BLNA
This may be interesting to look at. Im from a small town and would like to see if any of these players made a career.
Samuel Russell (Rusty) Crawford (played between 1917-1920s) and my uncle lol
Leo Boivin
Ben Hutton
Todd Gill
Eric Selleck
Ryan Van Stralen (did he make the nhl? Only played for 67s in real life)
Alyn McCauley
These guys are from Brockville, Prescott, Spenserville, Edwardsburg/Carfinal area
Thanks
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I love that idea. It is a great way to look at a cross-section of players from different eras. I may just pick a few other small towns or areas and see how careers panned out. Let's see how your guys did.
RUSTY CRAWFORD
I pride myself on my knowledge of NHL history but Crawford was a player I had not heard of before. In real life he played 38 NHL games with Ottawa and Toronto before going out west to the WCHL/WHL for a few years.
He had a good rookie season with Ottawa in my sim, scoring 10 goals and 21 points in 24 games as a 32 year old in 1917-18 but was dealt to Toronto over the summer of 1918. The Arenas, as they were called then, used Crawford in just 10 NHL games (3-3-6) in 1918-19. He would spend much of his time in the minors with the Amherst Ramblers the next few seasons with his only NHL call up being a 2 game stint in 1920-21. He did score twice in those two games and finished his NHL career with 15 goals and 29 points in 36 games. At the tail end of his career he went out west and played one season for Vancouver and two in Victoria, scoring 7 goals and 20 points in 51 games. Crawford's only 2 playoff games came with Vancouver in 23-24, when he was scoreless as the Maroons lost a 2-game total goal series 10-3 to the Metropolitans, who would go on to win the Stanley Cup that year.
LEO BOIVIN
His career came very close to real life in the sim. Boivin's real-life career saw him play 1150 NHL games and record 322 points. He spent the bulk of his career with Boston but also played defense for Toronto, Detroit and with expansion got a few extra seasons in with Pittsburgh and Minnesota.
In the sim Boivin played 1136 career games and had 406 points. Instead of Toronto, Boivin made his sim NHL debut with Boston in 1952-53 and made the all-rookie team after scoring 20 points in 70 games that year. He would remain with the Bruins as an NHL regular until being exposed in the 1967 expansion draft. The Penguins selected him 41st overall and Boivin would play his final NHL season in 67-68, scoring 6 goals and 27 points for the Pens. He would retire after that season having left Boston just before their Cup success of the early 70s. Boivin was on some bad Boston teams and played just 14 playoff games (1-3-4) in his 17 year career.
TODD GILL
Gill got a Cup in the sim as he won one as rookie with the Leafs in 1984-85. He didn't score but did have 5 assists in 20 playoff games that season and would finish with 138 career playoff games (6-26-32) as the Leafs had a couple of decent runs during his 16 year career.
Gill debut with 14 regular season games for the 84-85 Leafs and would go on to play 1146 career NHL games, scoring 92 goals and 391 points. He played all but 84 of those games in a Toronto uniform as he finished his career with just over a year in Dallas. Never a star, he was generally good for 20-30 points a season with the Leafs.
In real life Gill had 354 points in 1007 NHL games with seven teams.
ERIC SELLECK
In real life Selleck is still active as a 30 year old with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He played 3 NHL games: 2 with Florida in 2012-13 and one more for the 15-16 Arizona Coyotes.
In the sim he only spent one season in the NHL but did get to play 82 games for the 2012-13 San Jose Sharks, scoring 6 goals and 13 points while collecting 235 pims. Originally Montreal property, he was traded to the Sharks prior to the 12-13 season in exchange for Jim Slater. After his one season in San Jose the Sharks let him become a free agent and signed with the Bruins organization. He would bounce around the minors for the next 7 seasons, playing 405 games while scoring 70 goals and 184 points with Providence, Charlotte and Grand Rapids before retiring in 2020. He never made it back to the NHL after his year with the Sharks.
RYAN VAN STRALEN
Because Van Starlen has not yet played any professional hockey he does not appear in the database for a historical game. He is with Carleton University right now so perhaps he is in the game when you play a modern game.
ALYN McCAULEY
The real life McCauley played 488 games for Toronto, San Jose and Los Angles and scored 69 goals and 166 points in his career, which was shortened by concussions.
Our sim version of McCauley had a little longer career, getting 604 games in with New Jersey, Calgary and Nashville. He scored 78 goals and 198 points in his career. McCauley never won a Cup but did reach the conference finals twice - once with Calgary in 2000 and five years later with Nashville. In all, McCauley had 1 goal and 6 points in 35 career playoff games.
In this universe he was never traded from the Devils to Toronto in the deal that brought Doug Gilmour and Dave Ellett to the Devils so his NHL career began in the Meadowlands after two seasons in Albany. He played 34 games, scoring 7 goals and 14 points for the 98-99 Devils as a 21 year old but he would be selected by Atlanta in the 1999 expansion draft. He never played for the Thrashers as he was flipped to Calgary and would play 67 games for the Flames in 99-00, scoring 13 goals and 30 points as he helped Calgary reach the conference finals that year.
It was a short stay in Alberta as he was selected in the expansion draft again, this time by Minnesota. Again he never played a game for the team that selected him in an expansion draft as he was dealt to Nashville a month after the draft for defenseman Mike Wilson. He found a home in Music City, playing 7 seasons for the Predators and enjoyed one more good playoff run when the Preds reached the conference finals in 2005. His career ended in 2009 after finishing with 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Admirals.