Top VHL Draft Prospects | Defensemen

[lidz 102]

     Top VHL Draft Prospects | Defensemen

 

   With the off-season finally coming to a close, and a new chapter of the VHL ready to be written, it's important not to overlook the future of our league. The top prospects for the draft should be paid attention to just as much as the VHL's superstars. I've compiled a list from my research on each player; weeding out the good from the great, and I've ended up with what I believe will be the cream of the crop for this season's draft.

 

   Overall, defensemen aren't the most abundant position in the draft. This could of course change, with many prospects currently holding out on the "M" for their various other ventures; presumably other hockey league's playoffs. But, for now, this position holds quality over quantity. With many teams in need of rock-solid defensemen for the future, we could be seeing some of these names called high up on the draft board in a few months.

 

AK92 Wit da Hoodie 

@hedgehog337

 

   In their 26 games last season (15 regular season, 11 playoffs), Hoodie showed incredible promise, racking up 44 blocked shots, 36 hits, and 24 points. This offseason, Hoodie has simply been putting his head down and working. The work paid off as in this pre-season Hoodie looks much more sound on their skates, seemingly gliding across the ice at times. One thing that's impressed me about their play is their ability to quickly work the counter-attack, leaving many teams flat-footed trying to defend. Hoodie can get the puck moving quickly but doesn't have the touch to consistently score yet. On defense, Hoodie has matured. They seem calmer, but can be guilty of relying on their skating ability to put them into positions they already should have. I think Hoodie has the most potential out of all of the defenseman prospects, but they don't have the "hockey skills" to make them legit yet. I could easily see Hoodie going in the first round, and pushing onto a VHLE roster in S84.

 

Malum Maellard 

@frescoelmo

 

  The 8th overall pick in the VHLM draft this year, Malum Maellard, spent the late parts of last season with Houston, where he played 16 regular-season games and 19 post-season games. In that time, he was quiet, mostly thanks to the limited ice-time he got while on the Bulls. He showed potential, though, as a defensive-defenseman, something becoming rarer and rarer in this current era of simulated hockey. That on its own should give Maellard some extra looks when the GMs are scouting, but nothing can beat Maellard's silky smooth puck skills paired with his impressive skating ability. When he has had the puck on his stick this pre-season, Maellard has looked like a veteran. His consistent training regiment proved to be great to help out those two things, but his positioning and poise on defense haven't seemed to improve much. Time will only tell how Maellard's off-season has paid off, and we have only seen a short sample of what he can do. Maellard should be another first-rounder, alongside AK92 Wit da Hoodie, and it will be interesting to see how this dying breed of defensemen can hold in the modern VHL.

 

 

Jimmy MacElroy 

@Xflexz

   

   MacElroy was a pretty late pick in the "M" draft, going 24th, and while it may seem like a stranger pick than the other two, let me explain. MacElroy has seemingly relit the flame for hockey since being drafted to the sin city, putting in many late nights at the Aces facilities, where he has been working on his defensive game. His incredibly short stint at Miami last season showed us how he can impact a team, and I'm convinced he can. He displayed his defensive prowess, stopping 14 shots, and leveling 9 victims in his 6 playoff games for the Marauders. All of this leads to my eyes being attached to his jersey in the pre-season. He's a player that knows his role on the team and executes it to the fullest of his abilities. He's always in the right spot to make the smart play but can't be the X-Factor on the team just yet. When he tries to lead the counter-attack, it's functional yet uninspiring. He needs to work on his puck skills a bit more if he wants to steal a spot in the first round, and he has plenty of time to do that.

 

 

Faith Hope Love 

@MMFLEX

 

   I'm back to the earlier parts of the draft for the final prospect, Faith Hope Love. Love played in 14 games for the Lynx last season, including 4 playoff games where they put together a dreadful stat line. Headlined by 16 hits and 5 points, they needed to train in the offseason. That's exactly what Love did. Over the offseason they exploded (not literally...) into a top defenseman prospect. They quickly knew the work they had been putting in was worthwhile when San Diego came calling with the 7th pick of the draft. I was able to catch a pre-season game of Love's, where I noticed a few great things about them. Their defensive ability, paired with their solid skating, created a monster. They were always in the right spot, and even when there was a mental error, Love was able to quickly react to that and get to where they needed to go with their skating. Their ability to man the counter-attack was all right, the puck skills are not terrible, but they aren't the bright spot of Love. Love is going to be a great 2-way defenseman in the future for any team that picks them, and I hope that they continue their growth throughout the season.

 

 

 

  In all, every player listed here has the talent to make it to the show, it's just a matter of the work they put in. I doubt that all 4 of these prospects end up becoming stars in the VHL, but these are the faces of this draft class for this position. One day MacElroy, Love, Maellard, and Hoodie will all be playing at a VHL level, while the next versions of them grind it out in the VHLM. 

[lidz 102]

1,027 words claiming 4/24

[frescoelmo 1,218]

Thanks!  Love the write up

[lidz 102]

claim 5/1

[Scurvy 1,115]

I love it when Dmen get some praise.   Especially the Defensive gritty Dmen.  Great article. 

[Frank 4,780]

@Shindigs send us Jimmy so San Diego has all the infinity stones.

[Hoopydog 195]

Great job on this article! I really like the way you have broken up the piece with the players names as paragraph heading and having them in their team colours is also a really nice touch. You go into a nice amount of depth amount on each player and you do a nice job of describing how the players strengths or how they play on the ice. Overall, very well done! 9.5/10

[Shindigs 1,771]

10 hours ago, Frank said:

@Shindigs send us Jimmy so San Diego has all the infinity stones.

I'd rather not.