Walker's First Draft

[OblivionWalker 289]

 

So the Season 97 VHL draft has concluded and this time I actually got to be present for it (most of it since dad took forever making dinner). The last draft happened when I was at a joint birthday party for me and a couple of my coworkers and my player was taken by Warsaw (Go Predators!), which was cool.

 

This time around, I came to the draft as the assistant general manager of the Helsinki Titans and...we've have our struggles and we know that. Last season we traded our second overall pick and had a little bit of trader's remorse so in conversations with my gm @McLovin, I definitely held the opinion/line that we needed to keep that third overall pick so we could really start to get our prospect pool growing and heading in a good direction.

 

We want to be competitive especially because we want our players to feel good about being on our team and about the way we're going. We know that realistically, it's probably going to take a little more time before we're really in there, but I think this draft could be a turning point for us and I feel like we can make the most of it.

 

We were super surprised that Hugh Neutron kinda fell into our lap. We had discussed several other possibilities and while I'm aware I have a soft spot/bias for them, I had lobbied pretty hard for @animal74 since my player Slava had played with them for a bit on the Season 95 Hounds as well as in the Junior Showcase Tournament last season. However, there was no way we were going to pass up on a player of Hugh's caliber and we're fortunate to have drafted him. I've heard nothing but good things about @Corco and we're looking forward to having him in the locker room.

 

We took Jager Bomb Jr. @Jaggerbomb88 next and we're excited for a chance to work with them and have them be a part of our team in the future.

 

Next came the most nerve-wracking part of the draft: drafting my first player. Since I wasn't able to be there at the previous draft (and the gm wasn't either, so we had someone stand in for us), I had never had the opportunity to draft someone. While the stream was going, I was frantically clicking through buttons, looking at update logs and overall tpe, hoping like hell that I wasn't going to screw all of this up and make my gm mad at me.

 

I decided on Louis Burley @EndoNate. They're a fairly consistent earner, which I liked, and they had a good amount of tpe as well so with my heart in my mouth, I made the pick. Thankfully, my gm agreed that it was a decent pick as did the hosts of the stream and with all the other fairly active people taken, I elected to skip our last pick (with the blessing of my gm).

 

Having a pick of my own has really made me appreciate the work that general managers put in to make their draft picks and build their teams. I don't know if I'll ever gm, either at the VHL level or the VHLM level, but it makes me want to make sure that I'm supporting my gm and helping him to the best of my abilities, even if I feel like a potato sometimes (which I guess since I was born in Idaho and now live here makes sense).

 

With the draft now over, we can all focus on the season ahead and see how things come out in the wash. Good luck, everyone!

 

(word count: 606)

Edited December 14 by OblivionWalker

[McLovin 470]

You were an absolute All-Star today! Proud to call you my AGM!

[JCarson 744]

This is a great article reviewing how the process of AGM and GM working together to improve a team.  The combined experiences with individuals within the league make it a better collective decision making process. The process of drafting, trading and free agency provide an odd balance when it come to improving a team.  A positive step in one area may be a negative step in one of the other areas.  Hopefully things work out for you and Helsinki can become a competitor again. 

 

I give this article a 7 out of 10