Pick Again...

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Everyone pretty much knows at this point there are two things that go together well: the Prague Phantoms and late round draft picks (early round draft picks, not so much). However, let's say our current picks were not available to us in the last 2 drafts. With the benefit of hindsight, who should we have taken, if we were prevented from taking the people we did?

 

S77 draft, 43rd pick: Kirby Pandora

 

This was a particularly hard one - Nicholas Mariani @Mistxh J is already 26th in TPE for this draft class, despite being picked 43rd and being a good bit lower than 43rd at the time of the draft. There's no one particularly close to Mariani in terms of steals in this entire draft, especially around this vicinity of picks. Mariani is already approximately on the level of a mid 2nd rounder, despite being in the 4th round on draft night. However, if we're going to repick, with Mariani ineligible as well as anyone picked before 43rd, it basically comes down to two guys: Kirby Pandora, drafted 45th and sitting 37th currently, or Donne Talliferro, drafted 47th and sitting 38th currently. It's a tough choice, because Talliferro has technically outperformed his spot by one more than Pandora has, and is an established user in Wally. However, that's actually what works against him here. Wally was taking a step back in other leagues last I've heard, and I'm not entirely sure of the status of that or how it will affect him here, but the uncertainty is enough to nudge Pandora ahead for me. Still, if I'm honest, Mariani is the clear choice if it's not an article format that eliminates him from contention.

 

S76 draft, 2nd pick: Tom Eagles

 

Another pick here where there was never going to be anything else but the guy we took - I've wanted @Acydburn on this team for ages, and when the second pick fell into our laps, Battre Sandstrom was only ever going to be the pick. For argument's sake, and for the sake of a theme week article, we can't take him though. Member-wise, I'd have liked to go with Boom or Phil (and in the lead up to the draft, probably would have gone Boom if we'd done poorly enough in the lottery to not have Acyd available). However, based only on things as they are now: Boom has changed to a forward, Phil always was a forward, and we desperately needed to take defense here. I don't have much of a relationship with Greg_Di, seems like a great guy just never ended up on any teams with him, but he'd have to be the pick here. Next best defense after Acyd. Eagles would be essentially a like for like swap with Sandstrom at this stage.

 

S76 draft, 15th pick: Jivere Zolnek

 

Here is where we reach the first of two true regret picks, back to back. Abe Roque actually really impressed me before the draft. I knew at the time it was a bit of a reach to take Roque at 15, but honestly expected it to pay off in the long run. Obviously we know how that has gone since - I'd also like to express that at least from me in particular, I have no hard feelings toward Roque, even if some of the members of the team do not share that sentiment. I think largely what happened with both Roque and Myers, who we will get to shortly, was just a disconnect between the way the league operates and the way they intended to interact with it, which is unfortunate, but it does happen. In any case, I would obviously not select Roque at 15 given the opportunity to select again, even were she eligible, which based on the theme she is not. I do, however, wish Kevin Hard the best of luck going forward. This pick could actually have gone several ways - I was at least somewhat interested in selecting Kaladin Kvothe, as I'd been a single pick away from taking DangerGolding's last guy, Raleigh Ritchie. I'd also gone into the draft fully intending to take Javad Kamkar at one of these round-wrapping picks I'd accumulated. However, the best and most logical pick (especially with the benefit of hindsight and knowing this is a Sixers player that has stuck around, which is generally a good pick when it happens) would be to simply BPA it and take Jivere Zolnek. Sixers always goes one of two ways with his players: either he goes inactive with them, or they end up being really solid contributions to the league. I wasn't entirely sold at the time (as proven by having taken Roque) but Zolnek has been on the good side of that line for some time now.

 

S76 draft, 20th pick: Javad Kamkar

 

I don't want to get into a lot of salt with Willy Myers either, as he's taken a step away from the league at this time. I was unaware at the time of the draft, but it seemed like a fortuitous coincidence after the fact, that Myers and Roque know each other in real life. It seemed like a masterstroke, if a fluky one, that they'd be able to motivate each other to keep active and become great selections for Prague to a greater extent than I would be able to as a comparatively random user. Instead, Myers wanted to play musical leagues, bouncing from the VHLM to the VHL to the VHLM to the VHL. I honestly don't blame him for this - player movement is more of a thing in real hockey leagues than it is here, especially with guys who are borderline to the larger league, and coming into this league it might have been a reasonable assumption that this would be done with a greater frequency than it is. However, it's simply not a thing here. Teams run too close to the cap to be able to really deal with potentially paying for a player who would only spend part of the season on the roster. This league has been notoriously cap-tight for most of its existence, which limits the ability to move leagues midseason. In any case, like Roque, I would not select Myers again, but wish him the best going forward, whether he returns here or not. Instead, I'd go with Kamkar, who I'd actually entered the draft intending to take. At the time, I was on Parriyah's SBDL team in the SBA, which I joined partially because he needed a guy but also partially to build a relationship with him as a user and potentially draft him. Myers had mentioned in Saskatoon's LR about wanting to come to Prague, so I made it happen for him, but would definitely take Kamkar in a redistribution of picks scenario here.

 

S76 draft, 25th pick: Henry Tucker

 

Eeli Rantanen @Jolline is not someone I regret taking - in fact, quite the opposite, he's someone I regret trading. Malmo wanted Abe Roque in the Gyrfalcon trade, but because Roque and Myers knew each other in real life, I wanted to keep them together. That made Rantanen the one that appeared to be expendable out of the three, and instead he's become the one that's actually still around and progressing his career in generally the way you'd expect. I did not doubt he would do so, as all signs pointed toward a consistent effort from him, the trade was more a matter of being the odd one out when compared to the other two. I do not regret the Gyrfalcon trade on the whole, as @Sharkstrong has been nothing short of a world beater for us, but I do regret talking Frosty out of Roque and onto Rantanen. However, given the purpose of this article, I'd take Tucker if Rantanen is off the table. It could honestly have gone either way between Tucker and Mikey Harris, but I'd nudge Tucker's way slightly here.

 

S76 draft, 36th pick: Joseph Sharkton

 

Kid Frost, like Rantanen before him, is someone I'm perfectly happy with having taken at 36, even though he's no longer on the roster. He was ultimately going to run into a log jam with us when he would have come up to the bigs, and for that reason I can't say as though I regret the trade, but Town's a great guy from what I know of him from SBA. Roster fullness aside however, for the purposes of this article I'd go with Joseph Sharkton here. Riga has gotten a lot out of Sharkton so far and I'm sure there's more to come - I'd probably put Sharkton among the top few steals of the S77 draft entirely (not going to do the work to see if there are others in the same vicinity, so saying "among" just to be safe). Tater Tot probably as well, but goalies are a whole separate thing really.

 

S76 draft, 57th pick: Craig Martin

 

Chicken Nugget has been off and on repeatedly over recent months - as of right now, he is active, and honestly that's all you can really ask of a guy at that stage of the draft. However, there were a few guys who went after Martin who have actually been more active and passed him in TPE, and the pick of the lot has to be Craig Martin. I'll be the first to admit some level of surprise that this pick came from New York, but Martin is now the 46th best player in the draft in terms of TPE, and probably in the top 40 in terms of futures given that there are a few retired or inactive guys he's yet to reach. Martin is not likely to ever really be a top tier player as he's only a welfare and practice facility claimer, but he is consistent in doing both, and for where he was taken in the draft that's more than most people.

 

Originally, I'd planned on this being the last 3 drafts rather than 2, but I'm already over 1600 words and can't be bothered.

 

1679 words

[Mistxh J 186]

Great article and a great read! Also appreciate the kind words and high confidence in me.. really makes me feel at home in Prague

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2nd week post: week ending the 25th

[diamond_ace 3,112]

3rd week post: week ending the 2nd