S84 Mock Draft (Top 5)

[AJW 2,156]

I am seeing a lot of mock drafts being posted around the forum, so it has me hyped for the draft on Thursday and makes me want to do one myself. I only want to cover the top 5 since trades are being made every hour it seems like recently, and the top 5 picks seem to be locked in.

 

 

1. Los Angeles Stars

D - Pierre Emile Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito

 

After reading IR's vhl.com article, he stated he is clearly not picking a forward with the first overall pick. Taking a look at LA's roster, they clearly do not need one at the moment as they have a decent depth chart up front and already two centers (foreshadowing Dynamite on the board at 2nd in the draft class). Five current players ranging from S79-S82 with 350+ TPE. Their prospect pool also includes one forward in the 350+ TPE range, ready to move up either this season or next. Bouchard is my pick for LA at first overall since Gaikoku is a recreate member with his last player earning a solid 1339 TPE throughout his career. Robert Bouchard was loyal to his Prague Phantoms, spending 7/7 seasons with them from S76 to S82. I feel like IR is looking for a loyalty member with the Stars as his roster includes players who have been on a different team before LA, or are just brand new to the team as rookies with no insurance on being with the team for a whole career. Pierre Emile Bouchard has a great defensive build already and put up a PPG this past season with Stockholm in the VHLE. Bouchard can easily become LA's number one defenseman after this season with Barron Kruulenstien only having one season left. Murray is also first on the board as the number one TPE earner and defenseman, but some part of me believes his home is not in LA.

 

2. HC Davos Dynamo

C - Napoleon Dynamite @thadthrasher

 

Taking a look at Davos' roster, they have a 7-5-2 roster which is considered to be full for a VHL roster. I have a strong feeling Alex will not be getting rid of this pick though as the team lacks in depth while they have numbers. Davos did just recently make a massive trade with Seattle to acquire two 1000+ TPA players, Vinny Detroit and Zeedayno Chara. These two will easily be on their first line with a filler forward on the wing. For defence they are set. Davos veteran David Tavau has two seasons left before retirement, and Davos has three other young guns who earn pretty good TPE. If Davos picks a defenseman here I would be a bit shocked. For goaltenders, Boris Tsezar and Red Gaming are young goalies with a lot of potential. I could see one being traded for something I don't even know, but at the moment they could easily split minutes between the pipes. So this leads back to the forward group, where I believe Napolean Dynamite can be a 1st line center once Chara retires in one season. Dynamite is thad's recreate player after a 1336 TPE Thadius Sales career. Sales spent multiple seasons in New York before heading to Vancouver to win two Con Cups. Thad is a great member to the community and definitely someone you want in your LR. I think Dynamite at number 2 would be a great pick for Davos and would quickly be their answer in the centerman position for a long time.

 

3. Los Angeles Stars

G - Art Vanderlay @Gustav

 

After picking up Bouchard at first overall, Los Angeles only has three solid defenseman in the system with one on the roster, Bouchard this draft, and one other at 367 TPE ready to be called up. Callum Murray is still on the board as the highest TPE earner, but Los Angeles is in desperate need of a starting goaltender. No goalies in their prospect pool or Free Agency leads me to believe that Vanderlay could be picked up at 3rd overall. Heading back to IR's vhl.com article, he said "There are some absolutely top tier players on the board, and actually the top 3 uniquely enough is one of 3 different positions, a defender, a center & a goalie." The mentions of a goalie have me confident in this pick. It makes me really confident that it is Gustav's player. Former VHL GM and well known member around the league, Gustav is someone you can count on to have a good player in the system. Taro Tsujimoto was his last player who earned a massive 1552 TPE putting him at 25th all time in earning. That speaks volume on Gustav's earning ability and dedication to the league, so it seems fitting that IR would want him on his squad. I don't know the relations between these two, but LA needs a good goaltender and Vanderlay looks like the one for the job. The only way I could not see this pick happening: IR has a goaltender on New York who is heading into his rookie season in S84. Augutus Kennedy will be a UFA in S86 and if LA wants to wait that long for a solid goaltender, they could pick Kennedy up then and by that time have great depth in forwards and defence. They do only have one defenseman in Barron Kruulenstien who is S77 and will retire after next season, so another defenseman with this D-Man heavy draft class could be possible. But for now I like Vanderlay here.

 

4. Helsinki Titans

D - Callum Murray @Berocka

 

This pick does not need a bunch of explaining. Helsinki has 8 forwards on their current roster with 6/8 being 500+ TPE and the other two around the 400 marks. There is no need to pick up another forward as it would really be a waste. For goaltending they have that covered too. Xavier Booberry just came off an MVP season, saving Helsinki's rear end in most games. Booberry is also stuck with the team for two more seasons if I understand how contracts work, so Helsinki should not even be thinking about picking up a goaltender. This leads to the defense. Helsinki just recently traded Erlantz Jokinen away to Calgary for future draft picks and lack the depth on the blue line (at the moment). Nano being the veteran defenseman as an S80 player, and three other young defenseman who have great potential fill out the roster at four total defenseman. I believe if Helsinki keeps this pick they will snag Murray off the board who has been waiting the last three picks. Murray is a recreate after Berocka's 1296 TPE Seattle Bears player. Four cups with the Bears is an insane accomplishment, and with the way Helsinki is building their roster, I feel like Murray can fit in to play top pairing minutes alongside Nano to bring the Titans deep into the playoffs.

 

5. New York Americans

D - Scoish Velociraptor Maloish @youloser1337

 

With the last pick of this top 5, New York is the first to have me a bit puzzled. They have a 3-2-1 roster with only Cow's player on the blue line and Dlamb's player at center being top players. They do have 6 prospects with 300+ TPE, four being forwards and two defenseman. The Reinhart brothers are both on this roster but with Tyler being IA, I'm not sure if he'll be in New York forever. Kennedy between the pipes is a good thing for New York right now, but with LA needing a goalie and Kennedy being IR's player, down the road that situation could get messy for New York. So what do they do? Get a goalie in Dmax's player who they know will be a loyalty player in case Kennedy goes to LA? Do they grab right winger Noodles Macaroni who is a recreate of 1313 TPE Isau DaMoose? I think they take Maloish, youloser's player. youloser is a well known member in the community, handles fantasy zone and just recently stepped down as Mexico's GM. His previous player Justin Lose was a monster 1426 TPE earner who had a great career with Riga and Seattle. I have a feeling Justin won't care which team Maloish is drafted to, and will stay loyal to them for his player's career. Maloish is currently 5th in his draft class and with out a doubt will earn over lots of TPE throughout his career. As stated before I am uncertain about this pick, but youloser on any team is a positive and I think New York would be thrilled to draft him at number 5.

 

 

These mock drafts always make me over think everything, but I believe this is a good top 5 for what teams need and what is available.

 

Claiming June 19, June 26

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by ajwllmsn

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

2 hours ago, ajwllmsn said:

Murray is a recreate after Berocka's 1296 TPE Seattle Bears player.

Berocka's last player was this one, though. Still, TPE are roughly the same and he spent almost his whole career in Davos DAVID...

[AJW 2,156]

17 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

Berocka's last player was this one, though. Still, TPE are roughly the same and he spent almost his whole career in Davos DAVID...

Oh you’re right, good eye

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

1 minute ago, ajwllmsn said:

Oh you’re right, good eye

But very good read all the same taking into account positional needs, history in case of recreates and prospects in the pipeline, sorry should have started with that and then point out the Berocka thingy, mea culpa.

[Doomsday 4,126]

IR would not be able to sign with LA in free agency, as GMs are unable to sign their own players as free agents. He would need to make a trade to get himself onto LA.

 

Excellent analysis!!

[AJW 2,156]

9 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

IR would not be able to sign with LA in free agency, as GMs are unable to sign their own players as free agents. He would need to make a trade to get himself onto LA.

 

Excellent analysis!!

Didn’t even know that was a rule, thanks for the info!

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

14 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

IR would not be able to sign with LA in free agency, as GMs are unable to sign their own players as free agents. He would need to make a trade to get himself onto LA.

 

Excellent analysis!!

 

Not exactly correct by my reading. In both instances the acquisition of his own player requires the league's approval as per 14.1. of the VHL rule book.

 

 

Quote

 

14.1 – General Managers and their Players
As of Season 69, GM Players are no longer linked to their teams. Players created by GMs are treated the same as normal players, with a few exceptions:

• Manipulation of draft stock so that a GM's player falls to their pick outside the 1st round will result in penalties, to be determined by league commissioners.
• Per Section 4.5, GMs may not sign their own players in Free Agency, without league approval
• Per Section 6.7, any trade involving a GM trading for his/her own player is subject to league approval

 

[MubbleFubbles 1,289]

9 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

 

Not exactly correct by my reading. In both instances the acquisition of his own player requires the league's approval as per 14.1. of the VHL rule book.

 

 

If the situation is still the same as when the rule was written, signing your own player as GM is really only reserved for the most extreme of circumstances (e.g. There's literally nowhere else you could go but your own team). The approach to that could have changed since, but that was the thought process when it was written, so if that's still the case it would require an extreme circumstance for Kennedy to get to LA through FA that I don't think would happen with the VHL in the situation it's in atm. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by MubbleFubbles

[Spartan 4,383]

14 minutes ago, MubbleFubbles said:

If the situation is still the same as when the rule was written, signing your own player as GM is really only reserved for the most extreme of circumstances (e.g. There's literally nowhere else you could go but your own team). The approach to that could have changed since, but that was the thought process when it was written, so if that's still the case it would require an extreme circumstance for Kennedy to get to LA through FA that I don't think would happen with the VHL in the situation it's in atm. 

That's correct, it would require absolutely no one else to want your player and for you to not have tanked your reputation/stock/etc. intentionally. Basically no foul play and just a very fortunate situation for you to sign yourself in FA.

[v.2 1,403]

I love how you won an entire cup with another team yet still have a Stars sig @ajwllmsn

[AJW 2,156]

3 minutes ago, v.2 said:

I love how you won an entire cup with another team yet still have a Stars sig @ajwllmsn

LOL I’ve had sigs turned off for a while I didn’t notice

[AJW 2,156]

2/2