Stockholm Stocks Up On New Franchise Faces

[iRockstar 307]

The VHL draft has come and gone, and not even half a week later, we see which team came out on top. But it's not just the draft that we have to look at, because Stockholm has seemingly been the busiest team out of all the others in terms of making moves and building up their team and assets for the present and especially the future. 

 

Not only did the team draft two top pairing defenders in the draft at picks two and four, they also managed to snag who could be a top pairing defender himself. Overall, they have four guys on the back end that should eventually turn into franchise defenders. We'll break it down. 

 

Lord Karnage is the player of the GM and will be in Stockholm likely his whole career until his agent decides to step down as GM. He's got a solid build in terms of what position he plays, and it's so good that he could even push the possibility of playing as forward if the time comes to do so. Karnage is going to be an active part of what makes this defensive core so good, and because of that Stockholm has a likely leader for the present and the future. 

 

Jack Kowalski is no joke and the teams second overall pick in the S41 entry draft. With his strong defensive presence, Kowalski was the obvious pick for the positional needs for the team. While they automatically had Karnage, it's never a saying to have 'too many' defenders, and so this pick just made sense. Kowalski was a huge beast in the VHLM while he made his rounds and will likely transition smoothly to the majors this upcoming season. 

 

Teuvo Ruutu is also a pretty solid threat on defense who was taken with the fourth overall pick in the S41 draft. Again a smart move to pickup another defender with top end talent early in the draft, giving Stockholm more opportunities to draft forwards and goalies later in the draft. Ruutu had some minor setbacks that he's been working on overcoming and if he can stay consistent, he'll easily be a great asset to helping the franchise rebuild. 

 

Lloyd Light was not a draft pick but rather a recent acquisition. While the team had a stud forward in Rift Pajodcast, the agent of Pajodcast had spent too much time in Vasteras (now Stockholm) and wanted a change of scenery, for that reason Light is now a Viking, but the team does not mind one bit. Light is well... light outs. It was an obvious chance to take, bolstering this team even more on the defensive side of things. Could be a great pairing partner for Ruutu or someone like Kowalski/Karnage depending how the team plans to work their lines.

 

As you can see, their defense is set, and with 5 out of a possible 10 draft picks in S42, the team is able to draft a ton of forwards to fill out the remainder of their youthful roster. This team has turned around and all the praise should be going to their new GM. Such a quick turnaround.  

[boubabi 4,725]

Hail Stockholm