River and the Top 6 of S96

[kirbithan 1,699]

After the Prague Phantoms had selected Pan Daffleck, which was a no-brainer pick considering the pedigree of this red panda, there were questions as to how the Moscow Menace would proceed with the 2nd overall pick, having traded up after some blockbuster deals went down prior to the draft. The decision seemed to fall between friends River Harrington and Brandon Petan Jr. 

 

Moscow was aging, and needed a refresh on both offense and defense, but with a deal sending Catia Goncalves to the Menace, it seemed extremely likely they’d go after the next best defenseman available with Daffleck off the board. 

 

“With the 2nd overall pick in the S96 VHL Draft, the Moscow Menace select. . . from the Ottawa Lynx, River Harrington!”

 

With an 80 point performance in 72 games with Ottawa this past season, River Harrington will now be making his way to Moscow in S97, after having decided that he will, in fact, spend another season in the VHLM. 

 

The top few picks in this draft were interesting, as reports had once again reached GMs that both Harrington and Petan Jr. have a history together and would’ve preferred to be scooped up by the same franchise. However, the two prospects did note that since the chances were so slim, they weren’t expecting anything despite murmurings amongst management from various teams. Thus, with the following 3rd overall selection, the DC Dragons proceeded to draft Petan Jr., as they needed a little bit of everything to get their franchise up and running again. As the top forward in this class, Petan Jr. will be just what they need to build around. 

 

Next, the London United selected Alagsantere Grønvold 4th overall, as the third defenseman to come off the board, who is another strong pick since they are also in the same boat as DC. His selection was followed by Moscow scooping up goaltender Deadpanda, who the Menace plan to grow, develop, and potentially follow up Olober Syko. With the 6th overall pick, the Warsaw Predators drafted Slava Kovalenko, a breakout star for the Mississauga Hounds and a name that Harrington was also immensely looking forward to hearing come off the board, as it seems there has been something blossoming between the two. 

 

Kovalenko rounds out the top six in an extremely interesting class, and only time will tell how these prospects’ careers pan out in the long run.