Quick Reflections On First VHLE Draft as GM

[MubbleFubbles 1,288]

So last evening I took part in my first VHLE Draft as Stockholm Vikings GM (I took over Stockholm a few days after the draft last season) and I was entering the draft uncertain as to what to expect as it was difficult to gauge how the draft would pan out. There were players like The Frenchman and Yaroslav Bogatyrev who were by a distance the highest TPE players in the draft but, with the VHL Draft taking place following the VHLE Draft, there was no way to gauge whether the players would wind up staying down for Season 86. Then there were players like defenseman Elias Lampi, a very talented first gen who is staying in the VHLM, but with their earning rate likely seeing them surpass the VHLE soft cap of 300 combined with the number of active defensemen in the 300-400 TPE range that we've seen called up from the E to the VHL this season, there's every chance that Lampi may never set foot in the VHLE.

 

But there was also a lot to be excited about as well as quite a few first-time players had stood out as very strong earners in the lead up to the draft. Two players not on the Vikings that stood out to me in particular were Leonard Triller and Wann Kerr, both players who had shown tremendous potential in the lead up to the draft and players who I think will inevitably be both very good players in the VHL and very good contributors to the VHL as members. 

 

My biggest concern heading in was, with the ambiguity surrounding whether the highest TPE players would play in the VHL or VHLE, whether I could get my number one choice for the fifth overall pick Sadie St-Louis given that, if you excluded The Frenchman and Bogatyrev, they were the third highest TPE skater in the class. But luckily Vasteras decided to go with Bogatyrev and that freed us up to draft Sadie, which I was very happy with as they've proven to be an excellent earner and have been great in the discord since joining! 

 

From there, the next logical step was to figure out if I needed to trade up to bring in John Richards, the second member I was set to acquire of the trio, and I think ultimately looking at the draft in retrospect, I think I would've had to as I struggle to see Richards falling to 13 given how much pre-draft TPE they had. I had no qualms about trading my first next season for what was a high second as I can see a lot of players potentially looking to skip the E from the next draft class, so I don't believe there will be a player that both has as much TPE and has the TPE earning capabilities that Richards has where my first pick will be next season and, ultimately, I wanted to make the trio united on the same team so it was a small price to pay to make that possible. 

 

Acquiring the final member of the trio in Lachlan Summers (who, like Sadie, has been great in the discord thus far) was actually the area I felt most confident in being able to get done heading into the draft as, while it would have been difficult to draft all three to the Vikings, I knew that I had a trade option saved up that I believed a GM would be happy to accept (which would have been more difficult to put together for the other two as I didn't really have a like-for-like trade like I did with the Summers-Bezos trade), and Daniel (who drafted Summers ninth overall) was happy to accept the deal and thus by bringing all of the trio in, I achieved my main aim heading into the draft, so I was more than happy with the results of my first two picks!

 

I'm also exceptionally happy with who I was able to grab with my picks following acquiring the trio, especially since all five of my next picks have all seen positive results either through joining the team discord or responding through forum PMs. 

 

Bobo was a member who has particularly stood out to me ever since I joined the Chicago Phoenix with my player in Season 82 as an active contributor to discord and their current earning with their player Darius Marimoto II has been very strong and they definitely have a lot of upside with the amount of 6 TPE PTs they've submitted to date and I'm looking forward to them joining the Vikings in Season 87!

 

We then added two more very strong prospects in the third round with a couple of Season 85 Marlins players in Thor Odinson and Adam Rage. I was impressed with the consistency that GoalPlays had been applying TPE to Odinson over their first VHLM season and, having seen them join the discord of the Aces after the VHLM Draft, I felt happy about selecting someone who I knew would help add to the active discord and would also, like Bobo, bolster the team in Season 87. Getting Rage at the end of the third round after having traded my Season 88 3rd for it was something I consider a big steal as I had Adam Rage pegged down as one of the top candidates for my 13th overall pick. Like Bobo and GoalPlays, Rage has been active in our discord since joining and I'd had Rage down as having one of the best builds in the draft class and their earning potential is great for an end of third round selection and they are already very near the 200 TPE needed to graduate so another player I'll be happy to have on the roster in Season 87. 

 

With our fifth and sixth rounds picks, I feel like we secured a couple of real steals in Tristen Gorlim and Jacob Bryla. One of the main stats I look into heading into the draft is how much capped TPE has a player added in the last three weeks in the lead-up to the draft, and, despite being taken 37th and 45th in the draft class, both of these players ranked in the top 30 in average capped TPE in the last three weeks leading up to the draft (Gorlim was 28th, Bryla was 18th) so both have demonstrated strong consistent earning and I really liked that Gorlim had submitted 6 TPE graphics in the lead up to the draft, which show great potential and, as mentioned before, Bryla's earning rate was matching some second round selections, so I'm really happy with those picks and look forward to their continued development! 

 

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So yeah overall, despite coming in with a lot of uncertainty, I was incredibly happy with how this draft worked out and I look forward to working with all the new members that have been drafted to the Vikings over their stay in the VHLE! 

[jacobcarson877 2,520]

Masterclass of a draft in my opinion!

[kirbithan 1,685]

4 minutes ago, jacobcarson877 said:

Masterclass of a draft in my opinion!

I second this! Amazing draft for the Vikings!!