Grading the First Round of the S87 Draft

[Spartan 4,050]

The last time Moscow had two 1st round picks in a VHL Draft, I wrote an article basically recapping the first round and assigning some grades to each of the teams and players involved. It was quite meme'd at the time with the Obama giving himself a medal image, but I stick by my grading. Both AK92 and Wallace have re-signed with Moscow and look to continue being a core part of Moscow's chase for that elusive Continental Cup win. However, it's a new season and I'm in the mood to fire up the second installment in this series, so lets get into it!

 

Obligatory warning to not get mad if I didn't like the pick, just go prove me wrong or something. Or block me on Discord, either works. Enjoy!

 

 Toronto Legion - 1st Overall

C - Mac Atlas - @v.2

 

Personally, I thought that this pick would be a toss up between Atlas and McFleury. I know Alex and Moon (TOR's GM) are friendly with each other, but then a surprising twist in the off-season was when V.2 became one of Toronto's advisors/unofficial AGMs. At that point it leaned fairly clearly towards Atlas being the pick, and there were no surprises at draft time. Toronto severely lacks talent across their entire roster, only sporting one other player younger than S83 - S86 rookie Joel Castle in net. V.2's last player exceeded expectations, becoming a household name as a defenseman and winning a Continental Cup with the D.C. Dragons. Toronto will surely hope that the veteran user duo can cement Toronto's core for the future.

 

Draft Grade: A

 

 Riga Reign - 2nd Overall  

D - Skor McFleury - @Alex

 

Alex and Riga have some history, specifically with Alex's last player, Alex Johnston. Although it was a brief stint of just 2.5 seasons, Johnston saw his best stretch of career performance in Riga, totaling 254 points in 166 games. Now it seems that Riga brings back Alex, this time as a defenseman, to lead a potential resurgence of their defensive unit, also with no players younger than S83. However, they sport S85 goalie Henry Tucker Jr in net, and former first round picks The Frenchman, Sadie St-Louis and Daniel Weaver anchoring their forward corps. Riga is certainly trending in the right direction, especially after adding FA defenseman Tavish DeGroot as well. The only risk is if Alex follows a similar route as his last player during times of discontent, as he played for 4 different teams during his 7 season career.

 

Draft Grade: A-

 

 Toronto Legion - 3rd Overall

C - Jimi Jaks - @kelvi

 

Through some fortune in the lottery, Toronto managed to secure both 1oa and 3oa, where they had the chance to select yet another top recreate in this season's draft class. While the obvious answer here at 3 was Randy Bobandy, Toronto seemingly passed over him in favor of Jimi Jaks, another center made by veteran user Kelvi/McKelvie. From experience with Kelvi and his last player Anze Miklavz on Vancouver, Toronto will be getting a solid locker room guy along with a determined earner. Kelvi also spent his entire career spare his final season with the team that drafted him, so speculation could be that Bobandy declined to offer similar levels of commitment as Jaks. I'm not a huge fan of doubling up at the same position in the draft unless you're truly drafting the best players available, but I know Kelvi has shown forward flexibility in the past, so I imagine it could be a non-issue.

 

Draft Grade: B+

 

 Seattle Bears - 4th Overall  

C - Randy Bobandy - @AJW

 

Through a lot of working the phone lines and some convenient luck, Seattle found themselves drafting at 4th overall and with Randy Bobandy just waiting to be selected. AJ and Bana (SEA GM) have history, as AJ's last player, AJ Williams, played for Seattle for 3 seasons before shockingly retiring early. However, Williams had a career season on Seattle and rumors circulated that user AJW was infatuated by the culture in Seattle and was determined to make his way back to Seattle on his next player. After some shrewd moves by Seattle, Bobandy finds himself on Seattle, presumably on a line with S86 draftees Left Alone and Yaroslav Bogatyrev. While Seattle disappointed relative to expectations in S86, they're certainly poised for a bounce-back with the youth they've brought in over the past two drafts. The only question is when all these pieces will truly gel together and become a competitive team.

 

Draft Grade: A

 

 Vancouver Wolves - 5th Overall

RW - Oreo McFleury - @JB123

 

Many supposed draft pundits considered that the talent level of the draft fell off pretty hard after 4th overall, but Vancouver seemingly had no issue trading back from 4th overall to 5th overall when Seattle rang with an additional 2nd round pick as compensation. Vancouver is fresh off a Continental Cup win, and also owned pick 8 in the S87 draft. The offseason was turbulent for the franchise, sending away stars Biggie Cheese and Alexandre Leduc for draft picks and cap relief. This draft was crucial to add some young players to replace those stars, and I'm just not sold on the trade down from 4oa to 5oa. JB's last player, Nathan Powers, finished with 1240 TPE while Miklavz finished with 1346. Williams with just 6 seasons finished with 1240 TPE as well. While JB is a mod and a GM, which makes up 8 guaranteed pay each week, he's shown some inconsistencies with earning and failing to cap out. I'm just not sold on the move from 4 to 5 and its impact.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 Malmo Nighthawks - 6th Overall

RW - Yaroslav Trunov - @qripll

 

With the 300+ TPE players rapidly disappearing, Malmo takes a smart approach and just grabs the best player remaining on the board in Yaroslav Trunov. Qrip's last player, Bogdan Trunov, was an extremely pleasant surprise as a first gen, totaling 567 career points after being selected 22nd in the S78 draft. All but his final season, coincidentally played on Malmo, were spent on Warsaw, also showing some loyalty and long-term commitment that Malmo surely noticed. Qrip knows how to build a solid goal-scoring player, and Malmo will take any talent they can as the sport possibly one of the oldest rosters in the VHL, with only 2 players younger than S82, and neither are younger than S84. With their core getting up there in age, they needed a high impact player who could step in and perform within 1-2 seasons. Trunov certainly seems like a good bet to do so.

 

Draft Grade: A+

 

 Helsinki Titans - 7th Overall

D - Kronchy Kardashian - @Garsh

 

At this point, not only are the max earning players mostly gone, but defensemen are slowly edging in the spotlight due to the positional shortage in the draft. Interestingly enough, Helsinki might have been the one team to not actually need a defenseman in this draft class, as they have 3 deefensemen already on the roster who are S84 or younger. However their forwards only have two players younger than S83 in brothers Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes. Helsinki at some point also had pick 5 before the trade with Seattle for 7 and 8 before another trade with Vancouver for pick 8, so acquiring another solid forward was certainly on the board. Instead, they go for not even the best defenseman left, passing over David Jokinen for Kronchy Kardashian. However, Garsh and his pension ways have had tremendous success in the past, so this pick could still pan out well for Helsinki. I just think that Helsinki had other needs and could have addressed them at 5oa, but picking up future draft capital is never a bad thing. Just makes it difficult to judge in the moment.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 Vancouver Wolves - 8th Overall

D - Reese McFleury - @Spaz

 

I love Spaz and had an eye on him in case he fell down to 11, but I'm also unsure why Vancouver felt the need to pre-emptively trade up in the draft for 8oa, especially since they gave up future firsts in order to make the move happen. Vancouver also has a fairly young defense with 2 S84's and an S86, though I can respect trying to make an effort to fill the hole left by Biggie Cheese. However, Vancouver also has two S81 forwards that need to be replaced soon, and one is a center. Keno Akara was still on the board, so I might have leaned that way. My general confusion over the trade up is why I am not thrilled with this pick.

 

Draft Grade: C+

 

 Los Angeles Stars - 9th Overall

D - Jack Jeckler - @Uncommon

 

I actually had a really nice pre-draft interview with Uncommon and think he could be a really good pick if he can develop some consistency with his activity and earning. He had a very promising player in the S86 class who retired early due to technological issues, but he's returned with Jeckler in the hopes to start fresh. While the earning isn't quite there yet, he has completed media spots in the past, and may just need some inspiration to get back on the max earning train. It'll also be pretty interesting to see how the pure defensive defenseman build shapes up, or if he decides to be a bit more offensively capable.

 

Draft Grade: A-

 

 HC Davos Dynamo - 10th Overall

D - David Jokinen - @Ahma

 

Somehow, this might not have been the most controversial player in the draft despite the weird slide Randy Bobandy had to 4oa, mainly because of Seattle's willingness to trade up into the top 5 and then top 4 to get their guy. Davos on the other hand gets perennial Davos lover Ahma at 10oa, and only because rumors around the league hinted that teams between 10 and 15 were willing to hostage Jokinen to force Davos to pay fair price for Ahma who only wanted to play for Davos. Seeing that teams before 10oa picked worse defensemen (by TPE) than Jokinen, it's a bit of a head scratcher that no one else tried to force Davos into a stickier position. Either way, Ahma will be a fine 2nd or 3rd defenseman for Davos for the rest of his career, but will likely force some other player out due to cap restrictions.

 

Draft Grade: C+

 

 Moscow Menace - 11th Overall

C - Keno Akara - @Keno

 

Full disclosure, I was really hoping that a defenseman would still be available here at 11 overall, but only due to long-term need. Despite having Hammar Voss and Ak92 Wit da Hoodie locked up for the foreseeable future, Flynn Remy is poised to retire after S88, and Moscow has no defense prospects in their pipeline. However, Nico Pearce is also poised to retire at the end of S89, so a center was a position of secondary need after defense, and somehow a max-earning Keno Akara just fell into Moscow's lap here after the run on defensemen. Akara is an affiliate user coming out of Mexico City, where GM Cole had nothing but good things to say about the young center. The only concern will be if Moscow can continue to engage an affiliate user to stick around and find interest in the VHL, especially since most other affiliate users usually just hang around for the affiliate checks. If Akara is motivated in his development, Moscow could soon find themselves with a lethal one-two punch down the middle with Akara and Wallace. So far, Akara has been extremely active in the locker room and has shown a lot of interest in earning more TPE. Hope he doesn't burn out.

 

Draft Grade: A- Akara is Him. A+

 

 Warsaw Predators - 12th overall

RW - Hannibal Barca - @DreMin15

 

Warsaw and offensively-minded forwards, name a better combination. DreMin is a fairly well-known user at this point of his VHL tenure, and he's a consistent user who bounces between welfare and Graphic PTs. His time in Warsaw will largely be shaped by his own commitment and consistency, but there's no question that Warsaw will be a great fit for him as a player, as stars Brendan Marner and Zach Kisslinger II are both poised to retire at the conclusion of S88. The only question will be if Barca has a clear path to Warsaw, as their prospect pool is almost entirely filled with forwards.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 Warsaw Predators - 13th Overall

LW - Tim Riggins - @Jayhawk

 

Well look what we have here, another forward! Unlike DreMin, Jayhawk is a bit more of an unknown commodity, although he is familiar with sim leagues after a stint in the SHL. He claims to have left the SHL for the VHL in hopes to find a fresh experience, hopefully one where the same team (cough Hamilton) isn't making the finals every season. No one tell him. But having a sim league veteran who is willing to complete graphics could be a really nice pick here, so I think Riggins might arguably have a higher ceiling than Barca. It was a nice balance by Warsaw to draft a high floor forward, and then a high ceiling forward. The question still remains if Warsaw can even clear a path for these young prospects to the big leagues.

 

Draft Grade: B+

 

Malmo Nighthawks - 14th Overall

LW - Logan Foley - @WildfireMicro

 

By TPE and activity alone, Logan Foley arguably could have been a top 10 pick, but slid in the draft for unclear reasons. The abrupt retirement of WM's last player, Armani Calamari might have had some GM's worried, but from personal discussions with the user, the circumstances behind the last retirement don't appear to repeat on this player. If that's the case, Malmo might have just added a second very talented forward along with Trunov in this draft class. When motivated, WildfireMicro pumps out detailed roleplay content around their player, and I've seen them be very active in the locker rooms of other teams in other leagues. If Malmo can keep Foley engaged and interested in the VHL, every team that picked before 14 might be regretting their decision. There's just a lot of unknown risk.

 

Draft Grade: B+

 

Moscow Menace - 15th Overall

RW - Ellis Woolfenden - @D3X

 

With 15th overall, Moscow was looking to select the best player available, and that meant they went off the board a little bit to select Infamous Sim League member D3X and his winger Ellis Woolfenden. In recent weeks, Woolfenden has taken steps in his development, showing the capacity to become a VHL player. This uptick in interest, as well as his reputation for being a menace in gen chat just made too much sense for Moscow, looking to replace winger Kyosti Karjalainen after S88 as well. Woolfenden will have an uphill battle here, especially being so fresh to discovering additional TPE earning options, and he still has to find some consistency in his updating. But he's already been a fantastic addition to the locker room, and we're excited to see him grow over the next few seasons.

 

Draft grade: A

 

Toronto Legion - 16th Overall

D- Reinhard von Kongming - @Kylrad

 

I initially wasn't going to grade this pick since RvK was traded to D.C. a little bit later in the draft, but I think I can discuss the trade. S87 DCD 2nd, S88 DCD 3rd, S89 DCD 2nd. Quite the return for a welfare and PF only defenseman, even if DC really wanted the player due to the user behind him. After getting the draft picks sorted out in a second trade, Toronto selected Keita Kourou, who recently participated in VHL Town of Salem. He doesn't seem super interested in the VHL yet, but has the potential to be claiming affiliate tasks and grew up as a Sens fan, so there's hope for him yet. I think Toronto fleeced DC here with the chance to take anything better than a clicker in either S88 or S89. But Toronto fleeced a brand new AGM whose GM wasn't around, and they even fucked up the trade when it happened. 

 

Draft Grade: F

 

---

 

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Once again, don't take anything personally, most of the time my qualm is with the team that made a decision that I don't agree with. I think every player in this round could have a good career .

 

2,690+ words, 4 weeks claim

Edited January 16, 2023 by Spartan

[Enorama 1,981]

17 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Toronto took Kai Bandz with their S87 2nd from this trade

 

No they didn't

[Spartan 4,050]

2 minutes ago, Enorama said:

 

No they didn't

K Keita Kourou who played in VHL Town of Salem with us, I like him more over Kyl who gives me unplayable league games if I queue with him.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Spartan

[Vkobe-v 169]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

 

 Moscow Menace - 11th Overall

C - Keno Akara - @Keno

 

Full disclosure, I was really hoping that a defenseman would still be available here at 11 overall, but only due to long-term need. Despite having Hammar Voss and Ak92 Wit da Hoodie locked up for the foreseeable future, Flynn Remy is poised to retire after S88, and Moscow has no defense prospects in their pipeline. However, Nico Pearce is also poised to retire at the end of S89, so a center was a position of secondary need after defense, and somehow a max-earning Keno Akara just fell into Moscow's lap here after the run on defensemen. Akara is an affiliate user coming out of Mexico City, where GM Cole had nothing but good things to say about the young center. The only concern will be if Moscow can continue to engage an affiliate user to stick around and find interest in the VHL, especially since most other affiliate users usually just hang around for the affiliate checks. If Akara is motivated in his development, Moscow could soon find themselves with a lethal one-two punch down the middle with Akara and Wallace. So far, Akara has been extremely active in the locker room and has shown a lot of interest in earning more TPE. Hope he doesn't burn out.

 

Draft Grade: A- Akara is Him. A+

Most real thing you’ve ever said 

[UnknownMinion 726]

[Banackock 7,736]

Always love these kind of articles!

[Doomsday 4,053]

[JCarson 604]

Article Review:

I think Spartan has done a reasonable job of this article, it is well written, very well structured and informative.  However like his season 84 review I think the gradings are arbitrary based on feelings, many of these players may end up playing much higher or lower than the scoring they were provided.  Just as a side note Spartan I told you after your season 84 draft review that I would prove you wrong and I think I have. To those who don't like your scoring, take up Spartan's challenge, prove them wrong.

I give this article a 9/10, it is a good opinion piece article.

[Nykonax 1,550]

3 hours ago, Spartan said:

I like him more over Kyl who gives me unplayable league games if I queue with him.

True but also gives free wins unless he's on fiora

Edited January 17, 2023 by Nykonax

[Enorama 1,981]

41 minutes ago, Nykonax said:

True but also gives free wins unless he's on fiora

 

Explain THIS

[v.2 1,275]

LMAO I love how ruthless this got at the end. Well done Spart

[STZ 5,294]

3 hours ago, UnknownMinion said:

Minion just peaked all over this thread

[Frank 4,819]

5 hours ago, Spartan said:

 

 

 Vancouver Wolves - 8th Overall

D - Reese McFleury - @Spaz

 

I love Spaz and had an eye on him in case he fell down to 11, but I'm also unsure why Vancouver felt the need to pre-emptively trade up in the draft for 8oa, especially since they gave up future firsts in order to make the move happen. Vancouver also has a fairly young defense with 2 S84's and an S86, though I can respect trying to make an effort to fill the hole left by Biggie Cheese. However, Vancouver also has two S81 forwards that need to be replaced soon, and one is a center. Keno Akara was still on the board, so I might have leaned that way. My general confusion over the trade up is why I am not thrilled with this pick.

 

 

Cap space. 

[Spaz 297]

Awee even tho you gave me a c+ I love ya too!!

 

[Alex 2,894]

Who would have guessed that Ahma will take up cap space...

[Ahma 1,293]

19 minutes ago, Alex said:

Who would have guessed that Ahma will take up cap space...

A player on a team taking up cap space? Mindblowing stuff right there