VSN Presents: S88 VHLM Draft Grades...

[Pifferfish 596]

Howdy VHL, its Pifferfish back with another installment of me ripping apart the boneheaded draft moves of my fellow M GMs (just kidding, I love y'all). This time around I'm going to be going in reverse order of the current standings at time of writing. Let get to it!

Quick little description of what some indicators I use on player names mean:
Italics -  No Longer on Roster.
Bold - Still on Roster.
* - Has gone IA and no longer should be on Roster.
** - Graduated to the VHLE before the season began.
*** - Any player no longer on the roster but not IA (traded or moved to another team via other circumstances).


 Ottawa Lynx  - (19. D Celise Pereira, 39. *G Michael Perk Lund, 40. F Davis McLirath, 43. F Harry Callahan, 48. *F Danill Henriksson, 49. F Lucky Mitts, 69. *F Alex Carlson.)

Ottawa was admittedly hurt by a lack of picks early in this draft with their first selection 19th. This is, however, not much of an excuse considering they had a 1st round pick but traded it for 2nd and a defenseman who went IA immediately. That 2nd rounder they then flipped for 3 late picks. Overall the trade shook out like so: Ottawa got McLirath, Callahan, an IA Dman, and an extra 5th for the 9th overall pick. I think at the time I would have said these trade were completely an L for Ottawa but they could end up with 3 total contributors for their team next season. The Lynx still did manage to nab up a solid Defenseman at 19th. Celise has shown a willingness to earn more than Welfare and will be a likely member of the Lynx next season. He is at nearly a point per game pace with a solid defensive build going. The -12 is also pretty promising considering this is a team in dead last. The next set of picks for the Lynx came at 39 and 40. Lund has been off to a rough start despite being a pretty high TPE goalie this season, none of that will matter though because tonight he is officially going IA which only means more trouble for Ottawa down the stretch. McLirath was on Ottawa as a waiver player and seems to be a consistent clicker. Currently is one of those very unfocused builds which can slightly reduce a player's value but overall not a bad player here. Callahan is a pretty exciting prospect so far. The build isn't perfect but we shouldn't expect that in the M from our first gens. The part of Harry that is nice to see is the Welfare Plus earning style. At 48, Henriksson was selected and this was quite surprising considering the couple still available earner on the board. Maybe @Grape had some interview that gave him hope Danill would earn but alas, this player went IA. At 49, we got the steal of the draft maybe with Mitts. This is a player one the welfare plus train as of late and with a decent build. Alex Carlson sadly (or not, depending who we ask) succumbed to that Achilles injury (:/) and would not return to action after his selection at 69 (nice one Grape). Overall, I'm unsure if Ottawa intended to follow up their Founder's Cup win with this kind of season but they are at least in a decent position for next season should they keep their S88 draftees active and earning.

Trades: S88 OTT 1st (9) for S88 MEX 4th (40), S88 LVA 5th (43), S89 LVA 5th, and *D Xiaoping Benguin Dinghao Aland.
Projection: 3 IA, 4 Returning
Team Performance: 10th; 16-29-3
GRADE: C-
-

 Saskatoon Wild  - (1. **F Rip Wheeler, 5. D Tord Yvel, 11. F Montgomery Burns, 14. D Ben Laas, 21. F Otis Boudreaux Jr, 25. G Joseph Reed, 34. F Scuff McGruff, 41. *F Volt Sparks, 45. *F Thijs Mooij, 51. *F Michael Bell, 61. *D Perry Winkle.)

The Wild entered this draft with a war chest of picks and at the time I thought we could be looking at the next S86 Marlins type season. Sadly for the fans things have quite shaken out as planned. First overall pick, Rip Wheeler, ended up jumping the M to the VHLE leaving Saskatoon empty handed from their top draft selection. The next 4 picks for the Wild were splendid though. All of them are for the most part max earner week to week. The main concern is this is a team low in the standings and a lot of these guys are at risk of moving up as early as next season. Be on the lookout for some of these guys to move at the deadline. Yvel, Burns, and Boudreaux have all also managed an impressive combined -2 despite this roster's woes.  Reed in goal hasn't been a total disaster but should he continue to earn we Saskatoon is set in net next year. McGruff was a waiver play for SSK last season so a face the fans loved to see return despite the results thus far. The final four picks for the Wild all currently are or are a day away from being IA. Right now SSK doesn't look like they are pushing to move out players set to graduate to the VHLE next season so this class could turn out to be a total dud. If their players keep earning at their current rate, they'' only see 2-3 returning in S89. This class is probably at least worth a D- grade in reality but this is Pifferworld and I say having your 1st overall pick graduate to the VHLE is an instant letter grade reduction.

Trades: None
Projection: 1 VHLE, 4 IA, 3 Returning, 3 Graduating
Performance: 9th; 17-24-7

GRADE: F
-

 Las Vegas Aces  - (3. ***F Dank Turtle, 10. *D  Leo Lewkowicz, 12. F Jeremia Barbaslov, 18. F Ronald Johnson MacWallace III, 53. *F Donald McDonald, 63. *F Jacky Jackson.)
 

Vegas dealt quite a lot of picks in a deal on draft day with Ottawa and this lead to a lighter class than some years past. They also made a 1/4 for 2/3 swap with Mexico City. This trade wasn't bad by any means but certainly the player the Kings got with the 2nd was significantly better than Leo. For me I think it was still a loss. Moving up 3 spots in exchange for the 23rd pick is a rough deal to make 9 times out of 10. 3rd overall pick Dank Turtle was quite good leading up to his very recent trade to the Philadelphia Reapers. It is still a tough pill to swallow to see a 1st round player go inactive like Leo has. RJWM3 and Barbaslov will both likely return to to Vegas next season so it wasn't a completely awful draft. This is especially true if you consider the value Turtle got the Aces on the trade market. One could argue the players Vegas got with the picks in that trade were potentially worth more than the one they got in RJMW3 but there is no guarantee Vegas would have taken those same players. All in all this team has been plagued by poor goaltending and they didn't change that in this draft. Overall, this team ended up with a 1st rounder going IA, only 2 players from the class actually going to stay and make and impact next season, and a now a selling attitude at the deadline.

Trades: S88 LVA 2nd (13) and S88 LVA 3rd (23) for S88 MEX 1st (10) and S88 MEX 4th (40) | S88 MEX 4th (40), S88 LVA 5th (43), and S89 LVA 5th for S88 MIA 2nd (18).

Projection: 3 IA, 2 Returning, 1 Graduating
Performance: 8th; 18-22-8

GRADE: D-
-

 Miami Marauders  - (8. **F McDonalds BigMac, 9. *F Sergei Romanov, 28. ***G Jeffery Blake, 58. *F Mikal Adrenov, 59. *F Scott Fentanyl,  68. F Lim Jahey, 70. *F Julien Tessier.)
This is quite possibly the most disastrous draft by any team in VHLM history. Admittedly its not all on Miami's GM - @nurx. The team managed to turn two 1st round picks into zero talent still on the roster. BigMac intended to stay in the M but due to over training he was called up to the VHLE. Then after a great trade to move a Defenseman going IA and a 2nd for the 9th overall pick, Miami's selection, Romanov, has now gone inactive. Miami's next pick came at 28th and they managed to nab the best goaltender in the draft and he would be a multiple year Marauder had they not made the unfortunate mistake of dropping him and allowing him to return to his original team via free agency. The only player in this class to stay actively earning was 7th rounder Lim Jahey. That goes to show how solid of a GM Nurx is. Getting solid talent in round seven is incredible, if half the picks before this point weren't total duds we'd have a very solid class.

Trades: *D Xiaoping Benguin Dinghao Aland and S88 MIA 2nd (18) for S88 OTT 1st (9).
Projection: 1 VHLE, 4 IA, 2 Returning (1 No Longer a Marauder).

Performance: 7th; 21-21-6

GRADE: F-
-

 Philadelphia Reapers  - (7. D Eric Queefson, 22. F Anthony Simmons, 37. G Karl Herzlich, 52. *F Mark Heinfeild, 62. **F Nils Andersson.)
I know, I know. "PiFfErFiSh LiKeS hIs OwN dRaFt, WhAt A sHoCk." I get it. This is the exact reason I made a decently objective system for determining these grades with a custom formula and frankly we got the best grade before I added in the lowest rated factor which was categorized as "personal opinion." Let's start at before the draft when I had the number 2 overall pick and was staring down so potential league sanctions if I didn't gain some draft capital and become compliant with the new league pick rules. Luckily Houston put a player on the trade block and I saw an opportunity to make some magic. I traded the 2nd overall pick, a S89 5th, and a S90 4th to grab that player (Defenseman Trey Jones at 125 TPE), 7th overall, and a S88 4th. With the two picks acquired in this year's draft we managed to snag a now capped defenseman and All-Star in Queefson and a goaltender for at least 2 seasons in Herzlich. Not to mention the acquisition of two-way forward Anthony Simmons at the top of the 3rd. This team turned its two picks in the top four rounds into four total players. Three of those players will be likely to return to Philadelphia in S89 and now with its recent moves and trades since the start of the year, the Reapers look poised to challenge even the strongest teams in the M right now. We could be looking at a two year cup window crafted by this draft class. If there is a single sore sport out of this, I really thought I could get a steal with Heinfeild. Sadly, I've thus far been able to get them back and active. On my grading scale, Philly would have gotten an S grade if they were any of the top 3 seeds overall. A lethargic start to the year while their goalie found his legs and the team's overall defense was purely reliant on the D-core leaves this team sitting firmly in 6th so far. Also of note, Nils as a 7th was me just punting the pick, I felt like some of the VHLE guys deserved to have their name announced on draft night even if the whole world knew they wouldn't be in the M. 

Trades: S88 PHI 1st (2), S89 PHI 5th, and S90 PHI 4th for D Trey Jones, S88 HOU 1st (7), and S88 HOU 4th (37).
Projections: 1 VHLE, 1 IA, 2 Returning, 1 Graduating
Performance: 6th; 24-22-2

 

GRADE: A+
-

I must now say goodbye sadly. My new fur baby made me have less time to write but rest assured that next week you will be seeing VSN release the grades for the top five teams in the standings. I promise.

Written and Edited by Pifferfish.

[Pifferfish 596]

Note: SSK and OTT's section were already written and claimed but I wanted to combine this into a VSN release. approx. 1,125 words added to that previous article.