Grading the First Round of the S88 Draft

[Spartan 4,530]

I'd like to think that this series has been fairly popular and stirs up the general VHL community for a couple days before the regular seasons begin. As such, I have made the executive decision to grade the S88 draft's first round yet again! Unlike other draft grade/recap articles, I can say that my series is the only one to piss off someone so much, they still max earn in the VHL today in order to spite me and prove me wrong (@JCarson ). And really, that is all I hope for the series - that people will either appreciate my praise or tell me to fuck off and make me look like a fool for not drafting them. If you don't like my opinion, I don't care!

 

Anyways, let's get on with it.

 

 DC Dragons - 1st Overall  

D - Mark Calaway - @Beketov

 

Another draft, another Beketov player going first overall. There actually was some rumbling before the draft that someone else could be the one to go at this slot. STZ is well known by the DC organization with his old player Benny Graves. Scoop was massively underrated on his last player's draft as well, and felt confident that he would be another elite draft pick. At the end of the day, DC is turning the page with a new GM and decided to go with the player with the highest floor in this draft, but won't be the highest TPA.

 

Draft Grade: A-

 

 Vancouver Wolves - 2nd Overall

RW - $nubbed Analfist - @STZ

 

I will admit, I went after @Frank pretty hard last season for some of his draft trades - specifically that he traded out of a top 4 prospect slot and then pre-emptively for 8th overall well before the draft. I was less concerned about this move up since it would have been very, very difficult to screw up. Unless of course the GM wasn't around for the draft thinking it was actually an hour later in the day....but everything works out. STZ and Hard Markinson went to the HoF, and now he's back after a season-long break to lead Vancouver's next generation. Looking at the trade, Vancouver moved up 7 spots and gave up a future 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Honestly, it's excellent value to give up to take one of the best players in this class from a user with a history of making generational players.

 

Draft (and Trade) Grade: A+

 

 Toronto Legion - 3rd Overall

D - Bobby Bob - @Baby Boomer

 

Baby Boomer to me is the epitome of the underdog. His last player went 9th overall and enjoyed tremendous success for a first gen, but I don't think he's ever really gotten the hype and excitement that typically surrounds a top prospect. A lot of the buzz around this draft class centered around Calaway, Analfist and Stone - and to a degree Davis simply due to being a commissioner's player. Bobby Bob seemed to be a consolation prize to a lottery team. Toronto is changing that narrative, selecting a consistent earning and great league member 3rd overall to be the backbone of their rebuild. Toronto has had issues with developing defense in the past - see essentially their entire defenseman history in the past 5-6 seasons - but Bobby Bob will look to buck that trend.

 

Draft Grade: A-

 

 New York Americans - 4th Overall

C - Jasper Davis - @Josh

 

New York's pick here is a bit of a tough one to grade. At a glance, another forward is the last thing New York seems to need, with 6 forwards essentially all over 600 TPA on the roster - but only 3 defensemen on the roster. Goalie is certainly out of the question. Of their defensemen, only one won't retire within the next 3 seasons, and Eightnine will retire after this season. While a commissioner player is certainly enviable, I would have gone with Jacob Stone and ended his freefall at this slot. There's nothing blatantly wrong with Davis here as he'll slot in nicely at 2C for NYA's future until Dynamite retires. But I don't believe in taking depth players with a lottery pick when there are other holes to be filled.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 Prague Phantoms - 5th Overall

D - Jacob Stone - @scoop

 

This pick could have been the plot of a new sports movie - the hockey equivalent to Draft Day. Prague and Malmo, the original owner of this pick, made a trade earlier this offseason that saw some of the most combined assets change teams in recent memory. Prague essentially ditched some cap and pending free agents while moving up from 6th to 5th, and back a few spots in the 2nd round. Rumors from Prague before the draft had them taking a defenseman, but that defenseman was not Jacob Stone - but rather Moritz Stauffer. However on draft night, Prague found themselves in a position no one predicted. With the best player in the class available at 5, it seemed like the obvious decision right? Turns out that 1 measly TPE led Prague to not be able to afford Stone without having to make further trades to free up just 250k, and Prague decided to swap Stone for Stauffer who went 6th overall to Malmo. A real headache right?

 

Draft Grade: C (for the headache this gave everyone)

 

 Malmo Nighthawks - 6th Overall

D - Moritz Stauffer - @GoodLeftUndone

 

Even though I just dogged on Prague for what happened with their pick, the biggest winner here has to be Malmo. In a competitive EU conference, there are only a couple of teams that look to rebuild each season. Malmo took full advantage of their window and stripped their team to pieces, acquiring plenty of draft picks and future assets. They also come out of this draft with the best player by TPE in Jacob Stone, despite trading back from 5th to 6th overall. If someone told me that Malmo got scoop again without trading up, I'd have laughed at them.

 

Draft Grade: A+

 

 Chicago Phoenix - 7th Overall

D - Liv Slater - @Subject056

 

One of my biggest questions before the draft was "where would Liv Slater go?" The first gen was overshadowed in a class of high profile recreates, but I'm sure every team outside the top 5 had to be thinking about whether Slater would be available at their pick. Chicago needs....everything. Their star goalie forced his way out of the organization, and Chicago doesn't seem to be picking a direction to go in - either competing or rebuilding. At the time of writing this, they have just 4 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie. Only 4 players on their team are active. But there seems to be no sign of life from the team. On top of that, Chicago passed on the opportunity to take an elite goaltender prospect, rather settling to take the best of the rest from free agency. Slater is one of the most promising first-gens in this class, but will he be able to live up to his potential in a city where there's no flames, just ash?

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 New York Americans - 8th Overall

LW - Francesco Mancini - @GioSivo

 

I'll be a bit honest in that I don't really know much about GioSivo or his player, Francesco Mancini. He's a face that I've seen around the league a bit but never really interacted with. At a glance his earning is good but inconsistent, fluctuating between completing PT's and then dropping down to welfare and not capping out. His build is very offensive oriented at the expense of DF, which I'm personally not a huge fan of when building at lower TPE. I think he was a fine pick but based on who was on the board, I'd probably have jumped at the chance to take Owen Lazaro.

 

Draft Grade: B-

 

 Helsinki Titans - 9th Overall

LW - Owen Lazaro - @traphag

 

I will admit, I had hoped Lazaro would fall to 10. One thing I like to use for perspective is that Lazaro is an SBA commissioner which essentially puts their earning on pace with Beketov and Josh's - two players that went 1st and 4th overall. Sometimes I think that TPE at draft time sways a lot of draft positioning or ranking which is overly influenced by when said player creates. That being said, Lazaro will be one of the highest floor players in this class pending continuation with the SBA auto-12. Traphag is easy to communicate with which is really all you can pray for with an affiliate user. Helsinki gets a really solid forward to add to their young core, but traded down and missed out on defense prospects which they sorely need. For that reason, their draft grade takes a big hit since they had the potential to take a top defenseman and traded down for future assets that likely won't be worth the value HSK gave up.

 

Draft Grade: C+

 

 Calgary Wranglers - 10th Overall  

G - Merome Dilson - @MexicanCow123

 

More rumors from draft night tell me that when Moscow was on the clock here at 10th overall, their GM was standing outside in the rain waiting for an Uber to take him to dinner at a Korean bistro. As he felt the rain on his skin, a call came in from Calgary offering a future S90 1st rounder along with 13th overall for 10th overall. Based on who was left on the board, Moscow was comfortable taking that package and waiting for warmer weather to make their selection. Calgary then took goalie prospect Merome Dilson, who they will sorely need after Oskar Lindbergh retires at the end of this season. However MORE rumors tell me that Calgary had the ability to get this pick for a much cheaper price than they paid to both trade into pick 13 from Seattle and then up to 10 with Moscow. For poor asset management, their grade takes a hit. But it is saved a little bit by allowing the Moscow GM to get out of the rain.

 

Draft Grade: B+

 

 Los Angeles Stars - 11th Overall

LW - Gregger McKeggegger - @TheNeonShaman

 

With the 11th pick of the draft, LA selected the player with the longest, most annoying name to pronounce and spell in this draft. Probably right up there after Bob Vlad-you-know-who. TheNeonShaman enjoyed a productive season with Donny Carter, totaling 343 points in 432 games as a pass-oriented forward. This go around, it seems like he's electing to go for a goal-scoring oriented approach, which LA surely will not mind as their top scorers approach retirement in a few seasons. Greg McKegg(et al.) has a steady floor and should be a consistent career 2nd liner. It's not a poor selection by any means, but one might have hoped that LA would have taken a chance on one of the remaining promising first-gens like Rip Wheeler or Dank Turtle.

 

Draft Grade: B-

 

 Helsinki Titans - 12th Overall

RW - Legacy Gaming - @Gaming Ringleader

 

The rationale for this pick largely mimics the rationale for LA's pick just before - a known commodity returning with a new player. The caveat? Gaming Ringleader has never had a player cross 500 TPE. While everyone is surely hopeful that this is the player that remains active for the duration of their career, it's just hard to overlook the history of truncated careers from this user when other players with higher potential were available.

 

Draft Grade: C-

 

 Moscow Menace - 13th Overall  

RW - Nils Andersson - @Viper

 

Usually for recreates, I'd dive a bit into their previous player or players to give a sort of background as to what their new player could amount to. With Viper, there's an endless selection to choose from. He's one of the few users that require you to scroll in the list that pops up when you search his name in the player listing. For once I will also not toot my own horn, as I fully recognize the risks associated with a user who has habitually retired prematurely. However I would just say that I feel a higher level of comfort this go around, both in terms of the resources I can offer him on Moscow and due to his own growth and maturation over the months and years. I genuinely think that this could be the player that Viper snaps the early retirement streak on, and to show his full potential. But the risk will impact the draft grade, especially after I've harped on about who was still available for the last two picks.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 Riga Reign - 14th Overall

RW - Rip Wheeler - @ScottyP

 

Rip Wheeler may be one of the more polarizing draft prospects in this class. It seems that users recruited from and associated with @Scurvy go on to do great things in the league. There are certainly large footsteps for Wheeler and ScottyP to follow in. Earning wise, Scotty has plenty of potential but has had inconsistent weeks before. It will require effort to steady out earning for the future, especially if Rip Wheeler is to reach the levels of Jake Thunder and Brendan Marner. But at 14th overall to a team with plenty of youth, I think it's a great draft position for Wheeler to have been selected.

 

Draft Grade: A-

 

 Riga Reign - 15th Overall

C - Dank Turtle - @DankTurtle

 

For the name alone, I'd give this selection an A+. However I need to not boost Hedge's ego with multiple A grades, so I'll have to approach this rationally and very critically. Dank Turtle had a later start than most, entering the draft class at the start of February compared to the TDL folks who began in December. While he started extremely strong out of the gates with a 20 TPE week, he fell down to 12 the following week and then has seemingly turned to a welfare-oriented user. Nothing wrong with that at all, he'll grow to be a solid 2C behind The Frenchman and will take over from Preobrazhensky after his retirement at the conclusion of S89. 

 

Draft Grade: B+

 

 Calgary Wranglers - 16th Overall

LW - Mason Rice - @Sawyer13

 

Ricer drafted his son who ignored my scouting messages. It still baffles my mind that parents and their children can share this league. For those reasons, this draft grade will be horrendous.

 

Draft Grade: F (had to give one horrible grade somewhere!)

[Garsh 1,195]

11 minutes ago, Spartan said:

 

 Moscow Menace - 13th Overall  

RW - Nils Andersson - @Viper

 

Usually for recreates, I'd dive a bit into their previous player or players to give a sort of background as to what their new player could amount to. With Viper, there's an endless selection to choose from. He's one of the few users that require you to scroll in the list that pops up when you search his name in the player listing. For once I will also not toot my own horn, as I fully recognize the risks associated with a user who has habitually retired prematurely. However I would just say that I feel a higher level of comfort this go around, both in terms of the resources I can offer him on Moscow and due to his own growth and maturation over the months and years. I genuinely think that this could be the player that Viper snaps the early retirement streak on, and to show his full potential. But the risk will impact the draft grade, especially after I've harped on about who was still available for the last two picks.

 

Draft Grade: B

 

 

 

<Obama medal meme but the medal is not as good>

[Spartan 4,530]

7 minutes ago, Garsh said:

 

<Obama medal meme but the medal is not as good>

I'll take a silver medal  

[JCarson 744]

For anyone who doesn't like their ranking, I know from experience that Spartan like to be proven wrong.

[Gaming Ringleader 248]

when i pass 500 tpe give B

[TheNeonShaman 214]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

Greg McKegg(et al.) has a steady floor and should be a consistent career 2nd liner. It's not a poor selection by any means, but one might have hoped that LA would have taken a chance on one of the remaining promising first-gens like Rip Wheeler or Dank Turtle.

 

Draft Grade: B-

Gregger McKeggegger now has a chip on his shoulder. Hopefully if this draft is regraded after my career, this pick will be looked at as an A-. Good luck to all in the draft however, looks like a stacked class!

[Lemorse7 1,021]

Trap is the best 

[GoodLeftUndone 180]

I read this as Stauffer hate...be prepared for me to just keep steadily earning and not give a fuck.

[Ricer13 2,823]

All very fair points lmao

[Spartan 4,530]

THIS MS IS NEVER TO BE CLAIMED FOR TPE

 

(Oh, the things I do for uncapped TPE)

[Grape 738]

On 4/3/2023 at 7:52 PM, Spartan said:

 

With the 11th pick of the draft, LA selected the player with the longest, most annoying name to pronounce and spell in this draft. Probably right up there after Bob Vlad-you-know-who.

[Spartan 4,530]

3 hours ago, Grape said:

No.

[Grape 738]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

No.

This counts as harassment and you will be hearing from my lawyers