A look back at where my players have been drafted

[ROOKIE745 572]

With my third set of drafts beings done for the M and L I thought it'd be fun to look back and see where my players have been drafted and talk about it. From memory all three of players have gone in the first round in the VHL but M is a little different, mainly with my first player. The draft seasons I've been in were S70 for the M and L, S78 for the M, S79 for the L, S90 for the M and S91 for E and L. It's a fair amount of drafts but nowhere compared to those who have been around for 50 plus seasons not to mention during the time certain people could have two players (believe it was GM's right?) So my history is small fry compared to those but there are some fun memories in there and really that's what matters most, the draft has become what I look forward to the most with a new player.

 

Jaxx Hextall

S70 VHLM Draft:

This draft is still the most memorable for me personally, I had no idea what to expect and whether it was because I was a new player, or GM's had no idea if I was going up or not I dropped down to the third round, almost to the fourth. I remember being in the live stream for that trying to team any GM's there that I wasn't going up because the team that I had been traded to in the VHL was going through a rebuild and I would been stuck as the backup not to mention would have been just shelled every game. At the time of that draft I was at 191 TPE, the cap for the M was 250 at the time. It still surprises me to this day that no one took me or reached out to me before hand. The Minnesota Storm would end up taking me 32nd overall, thanks to Rayzor for doing that. Crazy thing is to I would reach the 250 TPE cap before the M season started, so in short the Storm got a max TPE goalie at 32nd overall. We'd going on be first overall in the regular season, setting many Storm records and win the cup that season with no loses in regulation in the playoffs, something that still stands out to me all this time later.

 

S70 VHL Draft:

I know the VHL draft is before the M but I prefer doing it this way, the VHL draft would end up being a bit of a sour point for me as this was my first ever draft and my player would be BPA'd 9th overall(meaning you were auto picked because you were the best player available). Davos would be the team that would get me but I was rather upset since the GM never even reached out to me. It's just not satisfying to know you weren't drafted by a GM who did their research on you or in my case took a chance on a new player, like I was. I was picked because I was deemed the next best player. (I would say highest TPE but there were players taken after me with more TPE) Regardless It wouldn't be long till Peace, the GM of the Toronto Legion at the time traded for me and rest is history. The M draft definitely made up for it though as in some sense I got revenge on all the GM's who passed on me in that haha.

 

 

Jonathan Ori

S78 VHLM Draft:

The S78 M draft is the only time so far I've been taken in first round in the M, kinda surprises me since there were at least six others with more TPE taken after. So who took me? Why the Minnesota Storm of course!! Rayzor and Hatter were still there and if I remember Rayzor was assembling a team of familiar faces. Regardless he took me 9th overall and we'd go on to have a pretty good regular season and make it all the way to the finals. Unlike with Hextall there wasn't any drama or confusion, Hextall had a good career and I got over 1500 TPE with him, I proved myself as user and there wasn't really any doubt about my ability anymore. So it's understandable that with my second player the drafts would be more straight forward.

 

S79 VHL Draft:

Not to much to say here, I would be taken 8th overall by the Helsinki Titans, the GM of that team at the time was..... Rayzor! Who had just taken over the team after moving up from being the GM of the Storm in the M. It's the most notable thing to me, that three of my first four drafts I was choose by the same GM, especially weird since the same GM chose me in M and L in back to back seasons. Other than that the only thing to point out is that 8th is the highest I've been taken in any draft, yeap.

 

 

Toby Kadachi

S90 VHLM Draft:

After taking two and half seasons off from the league I returned part way through S89, joining the Houston Bulls who be the team to draft me 19th overall. It was surprising only because Houston had gone all in in S89, that 19th pick was their first and there were several players below me, some by about 60 or so TPE. I'm not complaining for the record, I'm simply just curious, I would like to talk to the GM's and just know why, was it my build? Or were they simply already dead set on a certain player? Regardless I wouldn't stay in Houston for to long as I would be traded to Mississauga a quarter of the way through the season. We would go to win the Cup against the Hounds nemesis, the Marauders. The reason I've talked about the playoffs for each M drafts is because I've gone to the finals each time after the drafts and won two of them. That has to be pretty rare right? In my one full season for each player (so ignoring the half season Hextall and Kadachi played) in the M they made it at least to the finals, that feels pretty special but I don't know if anyone has kept an eye on a stat like that.

 

S91 VHLE Draft:

Alright I have basically nothing to say for this one, this was my first draft for the E but I simply don't have any drive for the E, I think I've made it clear I'm not the biggest fan of it and with them removing the team that had my favorite logo (The Red Wolves) I just didn't care about it. I was taken 14th overall by the Stockholm Vikings but I had already made my request to move up before then not to mention signing my contract. (Sorry Doomsday)

 

S91 VHL Draft:

Alright this last one gets me a little, I was at 301 TPE at the time of the draft, just two TPE behind a former teammate of mine in Houston and one of seven players to be over the 300 mark, six of those seven would taken in the top seven, the odd one out? Me of course, I dropped to 14th overall which yes is still first round but again just makes me so curious, what changed in the two and a half seasons I was gone? Now in this case it's not like those taken before me were to much lower, the lowest being by 22 TPE. The team that selected me was Seattle by Bana, a team and a GM I'm familiar with as Ori spent two seasons there. I was reached out to by quite a few GM's and it was nice to hear how many considering me but sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles.

 

I hope to those that read this enjoyed my trip down memory lane, that's seven drafts I've been apart of now. Ori's were the most straight forward, or least exciting if you will, no confusion or drama or anything else. Everyone knew what I was capable of and I guess having such a familiar GM pick me for both of Ori's drafts helped, Hextall's were probably the most dramatic, with being BPA'd to dropping so low in the M draft. And Kadachi's are the most confusing to me, I was gone for a little bit only to return and think that I would be a locked for top 10 both times only to drop out of it. Just interesting to see how things have changed, but it has been a lot of fun. To fill this out a bit more to reach 1500 words for three weeks worth of claims (shameless I know) I will also add once again that I've reached the finals in the M with each player but my luck in the L has been a lot tougher. Hextall only made the playoffs 3 times if I recall correctly and Ori the same amount, as the building in Helsinki wasn't panning out. Hopefully Kadachi is more lucky with his playoff endeavours.

 

(word count 1535, whew)

[ROOKIE745 572]

Claiming for doubles

[ROOKIE745 572]

Claiming for second time Nov 5th.

[ROOKIE745 572]

Claiming for final time Nov 11th