S90 Draft (+Offseason) Grades

[Spartan 4,408]

I'm switching up the style of how I've done these recap/grading pieces in the past. I used to just grade the first round, but I'm going to grade on a team by team basis this season so that I can look at a team's moves and picks as a whole and shout out more folks who were selected this draft. I will also try and keep it brief (edit, I failed), with less emphasis on formatting and making it look pretty.

 

Also as a disclaimer, I'm usually pretty pessimistic vs being optimistic. So if you want to feel better about your grades, bump it up a sign I guess. Like B+ to A-, or C- to C. Take it with a grain of salt though I'm just writing some shit for fun. I'm not an expert, clearly. Nothing here is personal.

 

North American Conference

Calgary Wranglers - @Ricer13 

 

The Wranglers entered the offseason seemingly looking to unload a couple roster players to both shed cap and open up space for some of their imminent call-ups, but ended up jettisoning their entire roster entirely. What was initially meant to be a slight reshuffling turned into a fairly all-encompassing overhaul. Despite the NA looking weak, CGY decided to simply go with their youth across the board. In the draft, CGY traded up from 8th to 6th, giving up a second rounder to select Raimo Tuominen @SlapshotWrangler, a winger from the Houston Bulls. Tuominen will be expected to slot into a top line role, and the offensively minded Finnish player should slide into the role well pending some development. Outside of Tuominen, Calgary's next picks weren't until the 3rd and 4th round where Pierre Ennis @DeciBell4, Destroyer @slangdestroyer and Josh goat @Josh is cool will be longshots to make the roster. Deciding to rebuild but only having 1 pick in the first 2 rounds of a draft class of this caliber is a little concerning though, and might indicate a longer term path to contending unless Calgary decides to buy players in a season in the near future.

 

Grade: B-

 

 

Chicago Phoenix - @badcolethetitan 

 

Chicago's predicament entering this offseason may be one of the worst ever involving GM transitions. New GM @badcolethetitan was left with minimal roster pieces outside recently drafted defenseman Liv Slater @Subject056 who was soon shipped off to Vancouver prior to the draft for two 1st round picks. Assets otherwise were quite limited, with just their own first round pick in S90 with no other picks until the third round. With their first though, Chicago took Ryan Artyomov @Enorama, kicking off a brutal rebuild with a must-have franchise cornerstone in net. The Phoenix will hope to build around Artyomov in future drafts, but the process will certainly be slow and arduous. With their remaining depth picks, the Phoenix selected Amir Redzic @Slav_Sloth  and Henri Dahl @Henri Dahl who will both take a few seasons to get to the VHL, and Owen Williams @Iknoweverythingaboutsports who might have a longer and more difficult path to reach the VHL without more consistency. There's really not much Chicago could have done differently, outside leveraging 3rd overall to acquire a larger package of picks in the S90/S91 drafts. 

 

Grade: B+

 

 

D.C. Dragons - @FrostBeard 

 

The Dragons appear to be speeding up their rebuild and putting their foot on the proverbial pedal this season. The team seems comfortable with Bubbles Utonium @fishy in net and a stout defense corps that has been built over the course of a couple seasons now. Metric-befuddling Ryuji Sakamoto @der meister was brought in to provide additional defensive capabilities along with a veteran voice in the group, while forwards Vince Laroche-Gagnier @vincentlg2007 and Jason @Jason kranz were brought in via trade to provide an instant spark to an otherwise middling forward group. D.C. traded away 4th overall after seemingly missing out on their top target in Ryan Artyomov, opting to have faith in their team. For the future, Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish and Eno Velvson @Nykonax were brought int, with both expecting to be VHL-ready within 1-2 seasons. Later in the draft, projects Trey Daniels @Tdan04, Jean-Marc Lemieux @Gorth, Vladimir Kozlov @vladbatton and Donny dickems @Bakerk19 were added, all of whom appear to be longshots to make the VHL roster. Oscar Thurn @neksli was selected in the late 4th, but appears to have foregone hopes of a VHL career. While D.C. made solid grabs in the 2nd round, it's questionable if they really should have rushed into contending in the NA conference despite few other teams seeming to make that push. But with Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto looming large over the conference, D.C. may have been served better by simply taking the best player available at 4oa and letting the rebuilding process play out patiently - with the hopes of acquiring a true franchise goalie in S91 or via trade. Their season will largely be graded as to how they perform with a late career goalie in net with no replacement on the horizon.

 

Grade: B-

 

 

Los Angeles Stars - @InstantRockstar 

 

Simply put, the Stars are stuck in the mud. The Stars made one selection in the third round of the S90 draft, selecting Kodie Curran @Battlepopcorn who projects to take at least 3-4 seasons before being VHL ready. However, they went out and paid a massive price for young defenseman Elias Lampi @Pifferfish who the Seattle Bears appeared to be ready to move on from for cap purposes. Just one week out from the season, the Stars seem to be stuck between making a serious push to compete with the top teams, and kicking off a rebuild with the remaining stars that can fetch decent value on the team. With the timing of other selling teams such as Calgary and Moscow, most contenders are essentially ready for the regular season. LA's season will largely hinge on being able to maintain a playoff spot through the season and hoping that midseason trades for players on underperforming teams will result in a potential playoff run.

 

Grade: C-

 

 

New York Americans - @thadthrasher 

 

New York might be a bit more of a headscratcher than the LA Stars. While the Stars boast some competent stars to compete this season to some degree, New York....simply let their key FAs walk away elsewhere. Both Babay Shrimp @Blazzer and Geoff Bezos @Quik surprisingly tested FA, and Shrimp even signed elsewhere promptly. Now with no goalie left on their roster, New York simply has no direction. Veterans Napoleon Dynamite @thadthrasher and Svatopluk Pul @Otaznik may be able to carry an otherwise young offense, but rookie Tord Yvel @Trazan is all alone on defense. With 13th overall courtesy of a surprisingly pleasant playoff run in S89, New York was gifted Xiver Zilla @jhatty8 whom most expected to be a top 6 or 7 selection in the draft. Zilla will likely be able to form a solid 1C/2C duo with Jasper Davis @Josh in the long run, but will likely play on a wing until Dynamite leaves the organization. New York also selected goalie WW...etc. @rory, which will be interesting to see play out as the agency has been generally disgruntled by the organization in the past, especially after how the Americans hostaged Travish DeGroot from LA back in the early 80's. If WW is happy with New York and extends beyond their ELC, it'll be a solid selection. Otherwise the Americans may only have lucked into Zilla and will have to hope that late round selections Stinky @taylorherd and Alexei Shirokov @Alexei can find their way onto the main roster. With no future for their defense and goaltending uncertainty, it's been a nightmare of an offseason for the S89 postseason darlings.

Grade: F

 

 

Seattle Bears - @Banackock 

 

The Bears have continued to operate in their typical offseason manner of fielding offers on all players to see what the market has interest in, then trading away mid-career players for assets while spending a portion of those assets on later stage career players to replace them. This off-season saw Elias Lampi @Pifferfish and Daniel Weaver @ThePerfectNut heading out of town to be replaced by Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg  and AirRig GoodBrandSun @Rhynex Entertainment. Star goalie Clueless Wallob @DMaximus  was also acquired from the rebuilding Moscow Menace after a panic trade for pending UFA G Karl Pedersen @JeffD. In the draft, Seattle sat pat and selected center Severus Targaryen @Banackock who has close ties to team management and Simons Worst Nightmare in the second round, who projects to be a pure defensive defenseman with a 2 season window to make the VHL roster. In the third, Seattle selected Jaja Dingdong Jr @Jaja Dingdong who may shape up into a depth defenseman over a few seasons, along with Factor Lee who also shows potential if he can remain consistent over the next few seasons. Jakub Izacky was selected in the 4th and the agency has a history of fluttering out in the VHL, but maybe Seattle's management can develop the player well enough to get him to the pro roster. As of now, Seattle still hasn't completed their roster with $3 million in cap space, so another move or two will be expected.

Grade: A-

 

 

Toronto Legion - @Moon 

 

I made a joke the other day that if I had a penny for every time Toronto traded a large pick package for veteran Moscow superstars, I'd have two pennies. It's not a lot, but it is amusing that it's occurred twice. GM @Moon seems prepared to flip the switch on this Legion squad, and aggressively pursued superstars Ronan Lavelle @Arce and Tomas Sogaard @Brandon from Moscow and paid a high price of a 1st + two 2nds. The duo will join stars Mac Atlas @v.2  and FA signing Siyan Yasilievich @badcolethetitan with the hopes that this will be the season for a deep playoff run in Toronto. With 2nd overall, Toronto chose to stay in that slot instead of trading down, and selected defenseman Walter Fitzroy Jr, a player whose agency is very close with the GM. A bit of a puzzling move since most draft pundits expected that Fitzroy would be available a bit later in the first, and rumors swirled that other teams were offering hefty packages to trade up for the top three pick. Later in the draft, Toronto selected Harjen Van Araken @VaderTheTater who is still very raw, but may still be able to make the VHL given some guidance and development. This season will largely be graded off of their results - with Lavelle and Yasilievich both planning to retire this season, the window is open for just this one season pending future moves. Will the assets given up be too much for a one season prayer?

 

Grade: B

 

 

Vancouver Wolves - @Frank 

 

GM Frank Chadwick @Frank has never been afraid to be aggressive, and it's probably one of my favorite traits of his. He was aggressive early in the offseason, acquiring Girts Galvins' @Girts rights from Warsaw for a late future 2nd, and then fixed their cap woes by sending Henry Eagles @Greg_Di to the Malmo Nighthawks for a hefty package involving S92 MAL 1st. After a few days of fiddling around with cheap defensemen, Vancouver did the near impossible and convinced Chicago to trade away their sole promising roster player in Liv Slater @Subject056 for two firsts (including the one received in the Eagles trade). While initially the price seemed steep, Vancouver essentially traded a fraction of the Eagles return along with their own 91 1st (likely bottom 4) for a very young defenseman with a lot of potential who fits within their cap situation. In an ideal world, Slater will replace Pierre Emile Bouchard as he faces retirement in the near future. VAN made no selections in the S90 draft, and have limited capital in the future. Goaltender Brandt Fuhr is getting long in the tooth and the team only has S89 goalie Clark as a prospect. Will he be able to replace Fuhr within 2 seasons?

 

Grade: A-

 

 

European Conference

 

HC Davos Dynamo - @Alex 

 

The Dynamo are fresh off a Continental Cup win, which means they realistically could go back to being a dumpster fire with no criticism. The price to compete is your future assets, and Davos simply had no picks in the S90 draft. However, Davos went out in search of some cheap depth to fill out their forward core with Halvar Torbjorn @Rayzor_7, DB III @wcats and Vasile Lamb @dlamb. The defense is still their strongest point with Jake Thunder @Thunder and Skor McFleury @Alex and star netminder Lachlan Summers @kirbithan, but it remains to be seen if their forward group is strong enough to win games with just depth and no high-end individuals.

Grade: B+

 

 

Helsinki Titans - @samx 

 

The Titans are under new management for the first time in eons, with former AGM @samx now selected to lead the team into the future. The team had a stroke of luck to begin the new GM's tenure, as HSK won the 1st overall selection via the S90 draft lottery. YaBoi Oven @Doomsday was the consensus top selection, and he'll soon make his debut to join Kronchy Kardashian as stalwarts on the blue line. With Fuukka Rask @Jubis in his prime, Helsinki went out and bought Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877 from the rebuilding Wranglers, presumably to try and make a push this season while they still have some players on ELCs. The future is still bright however, as Helsinki managed to add talented forwards Bruise Banner @ctots and Alexandre Crosby @hockeyis66 at the end of the 1st round and beginning of the 2nd, along with defenseman Tommy Sleeves @dasboot. They rounded off their draft with Barry McOckiner @LanerDUST and Gremlis Lielais @Anomalijs who will take at least 3+ seasons to make the VHL. Overall though, HSK has some hope for both the present in the future through a deep pick pool in the next two drafts and solid prospects on the way. Whether HSK was truly ready to compete this season remains to be seen.

 

Grade: A-

 

 

London United - @jacobcarson877 

 

Rumblings around the league were that the recently dethroned VHL Champions, the London United, would enter a rebuild of sorts after star defenseman Siyan Yasilievich was heading into FA. However, London proceeded to do the opposite, instead acquiring Deron Nesbitt @AW13 from Moscow along with FA defenseman Jack Jeckler @Uncommon. The United made just one draft pick in S90, selecting Shinoa Hiiragi @shinoa in the 4th round who likely will never join the VHL. It's an interesting offseason for the United who simply didn't have assets to work with as a contending team, but they seem to be content with their roster featuring stars Molly the Cat @JCarson and The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles. Although the team was completely anemic offensively last season, maybe a new season and some development will allow the United offense to break out and surge beyond the wild card round. However, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Acquiring Nesbitt to replace Siyan simply may not be enough to make a meaningful difference.

 

Grade: C+

 

 

Malmo Nighthawks - @KaleebtheMighty 

 

Malmo had an interesting draft night. At 6oa, the team delayed for quite a while, taking up nearly their entire time allotment before a trade was made with Calgary to trade down from 6 to 8, netting a 2nd rounder along the way. Once at 8, the team traded down again with Moscow, picking up a 3rd rounder to drop from 8 to 9. At 9, they finally selected Jebediah Big Ol Doinks in Amish @hylands whose agency the organization is very familiar with. After the agency struggled to develop players in the past, the hope is that Jebediah will snap out of that funk and be able to step in to a large role on the Nighthawks' defense. However, their defense might be the strongest part of their team, with youngsters Jacob Stone @scoop and Reese McFleury @Spaz already showing promise alongside the veterans in the group who are also just in the middle of their careers. Prospect Big B @Bigb33 also appears on the cusp of making their pro roster, making the selection of yet another defenseman in the S90 1st round a bit confusing. Fortunately for Malmo, they were aggressive in acquiring Daniel Weaver @ThePerfectNut and Henry Eagles @Greg_Di to jumpstart their contending phase, but the organization now has no picks left for the next 2 seasons. There'll be a lot of pressure on the skaters in Malmo to make the moves worth it, as Ash Sparks still has a lot to prove despite a strong first season as full-time starter. It's a large gamble for Malmo, but fortunately they have the prospect pool to maintain their competitive window for a while - it'll all depend on if they can manage their cap and roster slots as well.

 

Grade: B-

 

 

Moscow Menace - @Spartan  

 

The Menace made the questionable decision this off-season to completely gut their team into pieces, shipping away nearly every single quality veteran on their team despite being able to retain all of their core pieces. From a Victory Cup and a playoff appearance to a full rebuild seems questionable, but GM Euron Leonidas @Spartan  seems confident in the youth on the team and happy with the return they received for all of their pieces. After a flurry of trades, some even during the draft, Moscow ended up with picks 4, 8, 12 and 21 where Axle Gunner @Steve and Jarmo Ruutu @jRuutu were selected to be the future center duo of the Menace. Defensemen Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape and Didier Verhault @FTK  were also selected with the hopes of stepping up to replace the retiring Hammar Voss @BOOM and the depleted defense corps. While the Menace seem set at forwards for the future and have some defensemen in place, the big question mark remains their plans in net for the future, with only veteran goalie Sam Tombstone in the organization.

 

Grade: A

 

 

Prague Phantoms - @Acydburn 

 

To me, Prague's had a pretty quiet offseason. Not much news has circulated from their organization, and their only trade was for young defenseman Admir Bala @Tyler from Davos. In the draft, the Phantoms doubled down on defense, selecting Conference Prince-de-Galles @UnkemptCL4PTP, adding a pure defensive defenseman to the organization historically known for building teams around defense. With defensemen Faith Hope love @MMFLEX and Velociraptor Greg @samx beginning to regress, it makes sense to bring in some young defensemen. However, with multiple aged forwards, and a bit of an uninspiring prospect pool, Prague selected controversial center Aurora Skylight @Bedirhan in the 2nd round. While the young center is talented, questions arise around character and the ability to remain focused on hockey and developing skills. Later in the second, Prague also added Liam Oinas @ojje who will take a few seasons to reach the VHL, and longer term projects in Stefan Nikolaev @Is_thatok and Yves Lafleur @Habs fan. Prague is sporting an identical look to their roster last season, but the hopes will be that their playoff run will be much deeper.

 

Grade: B-

 

 

Riga Reign - @hedgehog337 

 

For a competitive team, Riga had a surprising number of picks in the first two rounds with 5 total, including 7th and 10th overall. In the first round, Riga selected forwards Catia Goncalves @cLoWn and Martin Kemp @leafsman who will likely take a season or two to join one of the best up and coming forward cores in the league. However, that forward group is already in their prime, with some veterans already on the cusp of regressing. Defensively, both Brian Kowalski and James Marino seem to be prepared to play 30+ minutes every game, but with their age, their effectiveness may wane. Despite the shallow defense depth in both their pro roster and prospect pool, Riga selected three more forwards in the second round in Afonya Romanov @DontCallMeCarson, Sebastian Thunder @Matt thunder and Oden Bell @WhiskyJack. Jussi Jokinenegg @HearnNation67 was selected in the third round, also a forward. The only defensemen drafted was Kenneth Heymann @Kenny in the 4th round, who looks to have already quit the sport of hockey entirely. While Riga might have the best forward group in the league right now, their defensive depth or lack thereof will certainly sink them barring a miracle. With 3 million in cap, there's room to find a defenseman now or wait until the trade deadline for retained salary. But it looks to be a struggle for the organization who neglected positions of need to go for the best players available during the draft.

 

Grade: C

 

 

Warsaw Predators - @N0HBDY 

 

God, I've written so much and I want to be done. Warsaw fucking stinks, just like Chicago. The sole bright spots might be Tim Riggins @Jayhawk and recently acquired defenseman Tater Tottingham @Trunkxolotl, who realistically should be traded to a contender for more assets than the 2nd Warsaw paid to save Toronto from cap trouble. In the S90 draft though, Warsaw selected great value in the first round, adding Maxim Anisimov @McLovin and King Kisslinger @Kisslinger to begin rebuilding the forward group. Jorji Costova @Hybrid1486, Joseph Jec @Joseph Jec, Jigglejawns @.sniffuM, Joseph Dubois @Dubois, Andrew Cobberson @BrandyAndy, Michael Ovechskin @penguinb19 and Joe Blow @ES29 will have to be heavily developed by the organization if they're to make a significant impact for the team in the future. Fortunately Warsaw owns their own 1st round picks for the future, and have a decent stockpile of 2nd round picks. It remains to be seen if those 2nds will provide any value in these shallow classes however.

 

Grade: B+

 

3,604 words

Edited August 14, 2023 by Spartan

[Ricer13 2,796]

7 minutes ago, Spartan said:

7th to 6th

8th to 6th *

[Lemorse7 1,016]

19 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Vancouver Wolves - @Frank 

 

GM Frank Chadwick @Frank has never been afraid to be aggressive, and it's probably one of my favorite traits of his. He was aggressive early in the offseason, acquiring Girts Galvins' rights from Warsaw for a late future 2nd, and then fixed their cap woes by sending Henry Eagles to the Malmo Nighthawks for a hefty package involving S92 MAL 1st. After a few days of fiddling around with cheap defensemen, Vancouver did the near impossible and convinced Chicago to trade away their sole promising roster player in Liv Slater for two firsts (including the one received in the Eagles trade). While initially the price seemed steep, Vancouver essentially traded a fraction of the Eagles return along with their own 91 1st (likely bottom 4) for a very young defenseman with a lot of potential who fits within their cap situation. In an ideal world, Slater will replace Pierre Emile Bouchard as he faces retirement in the near future. VAN made no selections in the S90 draft, and have limited capital in the future. Goaltender Brandt Fuhr is getting long in the tooth and the team only has S89 goalie Clark as a prospect. Will he be able to replace Fuhr within 2 seasons?

 

Grade: A+

 

just correcting the grades 

[JeffD 648]

19 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Chicago's predicament entering this offseason may be one of the worst ever involving GM transitions.

 

Hoooooooly hyperbole 

[Esso2264 774]

damm crazy how the Moscow GM got the best score

[McWolf 3,115]

You forgot to deduct a full point from New York for hiring me as an AGM

[der meister 3,197]

I befuddle all metrics, tyvm

[Thunder 1,168]

Rigged

[Garsh 1,192]

[Boaty 139]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

Prague selected controversial center Aurora Skylight @Bedirhan in the 2nd round. While the young center is talented, questions arise around character and the ability to remain focused on hockey and developing skills. 

So why am i controversial i wil go all in with tpe to get to the VHL i wanna see my GM happy as them can be 

[Grape 680]

[badcolethetitan 921]

A B+ in my first off-season, can't really complain with that!

[Zetterberg 863]

2 hours ago, Spartan said:

Grade: A

Biased smh 

[dlamb 1,326]

DEPTH?!??! I'll show you, motherfucker!

[MexicanCow123 914]

Weird how Moscow always gets an A

[Spartan 4,408]

Just now, MexicanCow123 said:

Weird how Moscow always gets an A

I have never once claimed to be impartial, idk why people think I need to be harsh on myself too. That being said, we had needs and pretty much drafted all of them. We vibing.

[scoop 3,432]

4 hours ago, Spartan said:

However, their defense might be the strongest part of their team, with youngsters Jacob Stone @scoop and Reese McFleury @Spaz already showing promise alongside the veterans in the group who are also just in the middle of their careers. Prospect Big B @Bigb33 also appears on the cusp of making their pro roster, making the selection of yet another defenseman in the S90 1st round a bit confusing.

 

 

Spartan if Malmo drafts a forward:

 

"However, their forwards might just be the strongest part of their team, with youngsters Viktor Jensen, Yasoslav Trunov, and Justin Williams already showing promise alongside the veterans in the group who are also just in the middle of their careers. Prospects Ronald Johnson MacWallace III and Savaisk Tzesar also appear on the cusp of making their pro roster, making the selection of yet another forward in the S90 1st round a bit confusing."

Edited August 14, 2023 by scoop

[Subject056 1,205]

I missed the draft this season so it was nice to have it recapped here and I enjoyed reading your ratings  

[Advantage 2,891]

1 hour ago, scoop said:

 

 

Spartan if Malmo drafts a forward:

 

"However, their forwards might just be the strongest part of their team, with youngsters Viktor Jensen, Yasoslav Trunov, and Justin Williams already showing promise alongside the veterans in the group who are also just in the middle of their careers. Prospects Ronald Johnson MacWallace III and Savaisk Tzesar also appear on the cusp of making their pro roster, making the selection of yet another forward in the S90 1st round a bit confusing."

Yea I feel like outside of Stone there isn’t necessarily another potential elite guy on D while the two he mentioned are solid potential 2nd pair guys on a top team.

 

Meanwhile we are graduating or are close to graduating two forwards to join Jensen, Trunov and Williams.

 

I certainly don’t think up front was any more of a need than another big piece on the backend. 
 

I also think it’s interesting to bring up Hylands history @Spartan . From what I can find I know his last player he retired earlier but his previous guy was 1300+ tpe (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, just going by portal search of his username).  My history is pretty horrible if we ignore Sullivan and Wahl but I always seem to get passes for going high so I find it strange after a single player would mess up his perceived reputation that much. It’s also important to note the recent forwards we acquired are part of the reason we could comfortably go defense. 

[Advantage 2,891]

I should add, a really good article @Spartan   these are never easy to do and you’ll never please everyone but yet we all love to read them (hence all the activity on it).

[v.2 1,406]

Let the haters hate.

 

Moscow did have the best draft, you are blind if you don't see it.

[Spartan 4,408]

47 minutes ago, Advantage said:

Yea I feel like outside of Stone there isn’t necessarily another potential elite guy on D while the two he mentioned are solid potential 2nd pair guys on a top team.

 

Meanwhile we are graduating or are close to graduating two forwards to join Jensen, Trunov and Williams.

 

I certainly don’t think up front was any more of a need than another big piece on the backend. 
 

I also think it’s interesting to bring up Hylands history @Spartan . From what I can find I know his last player he retired earlier but his previous guy was 1300+ tpe (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, just going by portal search of his username).  My history is pretty horrible if we ignore Sullivan and Wahl but I always seem to get passes for going high so I find it strange after a single player would mess up his perceived reputation that much. It’s also important to note the recent forwards we acquired are part of the reason we could comfortably go defense. 

Realistically, my actual criticism would be to pile on Malmo for struggling to make picks and holding up the draft after we sniped Steve. But I wasn't writing the article based on that, I tried to make it sound a bit more like a formal writeup of sorts (which I gave up on by Warsaw). Do I actually think if some picks were really good or really bad? You'll never really know, I'm not going to genuinely flame players and write them off.

 

That being said, if Malmo really is going for 4 quality defensemen, I think you're asking to face cap issues. Running even 2 elite defensemen causes issues with your forwards, it's why most teams run only 3. But with the sheer amount of defensemen in your organization now who WILL make the VHL (6 with Hylands), I thought it was just a bit overkill, that's all.

 

Forward market is always a bit hotter as we can see, defensemen are a bit tougher to trade for some reason. Tzesar will make the team and replace Probert. Some questions will be had at center now without being able to draft Steve (and also chose not to draft any of the C's after him). So your gamble is to see if someone like MacWallace will step up and fill the role long term, which is fine. Hope he can! Personally though I'd have gone with Ruutu or Zilla though so you have a guaranteed franchise 2C behind Jensen.

 

50 minutes ago, Advantage said:

I should add, a really good article @Spartan   these are never easy to do and you’ll never please everyone but yet we all love to read them (hence all the activity on it).

Appreciate it, I don't take any of it personally haha. If people are mad, then they can just motivate themselves with it. Doesn't bother me, I provided my share of forum content  

[BOOM 8,758]

Hahaha, imagine giving yourself an A 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It should have been an A+

[Spartan 4,408]

33 minutes ago, BOOM said:

It should have been an A+

TRUE we're simply the best

[Advantage 2,891]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

Realistically, my actual criticism would be to pile on Malmo for struggling to make picks and holding up the draft after we sniped Steve. But I wasn't writing the article based on that, I tried to make it sound a bit more like a formal writeup of sorts (which I gave up on by Warsaw). Do I actually think if some picks were really good or really bad? You'll never really know, I'm not going to genuinely flame players and write them off.

 

That being said, if Malmo really is going for 4 quality defensemen, I think you're asking to face cap issues. Running even 2 elite defensemen causes issues with your forwards, it's why most teams run only 3. But with the sheer amount of defensemen in your organization now who WILL make the VHL (6 with Hylands), I thought it was just a bit overkill, that's all.

 

Forward market is always a bit hotter as we can see, defensemen are a bit tougher to trade for some reason. Tzesar will make the team and replace Probert. Some questions will be had at center now without being able to draft Steve (and also chose not to draft any of the C's after him). So your gamble is to see if someone like MacWallace will step up and fill the role long term, which is fine. Hope he can! Personally though I'd have gone with Ruutu or Zilla though so you have a guaranteed franchise 2C behind Jensen.

 

Appreciate it, I don't take any of it personally haha. If people are mad, then they can just motivate themselves with it. Doesn't bother me, I provided my share of forum content  

That’s fair, one of the big factors for @KaleebtheMighty was that @hylands really wanted to play in Malmo.  And while I know what you are saying, I see our defensive depth fairly different with some guys leaning more towards depth.  But tbh not a bad problem necessarily to trade from a strength like that if the cap forces it.