Claimed:Season 40 Draft: Best Ever? [Final: 6/6]

[Ninetyfourgoalie 168]

Season 40 Draft: Best Ever?

 

Three all-stars.  A Sterling Labatte Trophy Candidate. These are some of the milestones already reached by the season 40 draftees.  With a major influx of players from this draft to the VHL for season 41, it's about that time to begin drawing conclusions and deciding if this truly is one of the greatest drafts in the long history of the VHL.  Judging from everything already accomplished by this class, it would be difficult to argue that they can't be the best this league has ever seen.

 

 

Current TPE totals of Season 40 draftees graphed as a function of overall selection.

 

Amazingly, there are already 20 players from this draft who no longer meet VHLM eligibility requirements and 17 with more than 200 TPE.  One of the most noteworthy aspects of this draft is that, despite the insane quality, there are virtually no major surprises in terms of players significantly exceeding or failing to meet expectations.  In fact, the top five draftees in both current TPE and TPE gained since the draft are the top five selections.  In addition, of the 21 players who have earned at least 100 TPE since the draft, only four were not taken in the first 17 picks while the top five in this category were the first five selections.

 

Of course, the big takeaway from this draft are the big five, two of which went to the Express while the other three are on the Legion.  Cologne's Thomas O'Malley and Mason Richardson both are closing in on a ridiculous 600 TPE while Toronto's Tyler Cote, Jerrick Poole, and Sachimo Zoidberg have between 423 and 452.  Without question, these players are the building blocks for their respective franchises' futures and with four of them already having a season of VHL experience under their belts, it would not be a stretch to say that they all are potentially future Hall of Famers.  As a whole, the Express and Legion were the clear winners of this draft although what the Express snagged in terms of extremely high quality, Toronto was able to find in quantity as they also picked up Shadhu Rathod Jr. and Jaime Hill with their second and third round picks.

 

Mason Richardson was not only one of the best rookies in the league last season - he was one of the best players.

 

While there were no major disappointments, there were a few gems found late in the draft.  By the end of the second round, picks were very hit-or-miss with a number of selections of players who have shown little to no improvement since draft day.  Following the selections of Bobby Ricky and Griffin Simons by New York and Davos, Vasteras, now the Stockholm Vikings, grabbed defenseman Wesley Matthews with the 20th overall pick.  Although he was moved to Quebec in a package deal that netted a number of future draft picks, he has come into his own and with 280 TPE, is unquestionably a player who will be making some noise in the VHL.

 

With the 23rd overall selection, though, the Titans may have found the steal of the draft.  With available players becoming less and less of a sure thing, they grabbed King Czar III, a defenseman that many general mangers had questioned leading up to the draft.  Helsinki would not end up regretting this pick as he would go on to earn more points since the draft than any non-first rounder aside from Wesley Matthews since the draft.  Currently in his rookie season in the VHL, Czar III has scored seven points in ten games for the second place Titans.

 

Despite being a third round selection, King Czar III has been impressive thus far.

 

While it will be a long time before any significant conclusions can be drawn from this draft, one thing is for certain.  This draft class has the potential to go down in VHL history as the greatest ever.  With the superstars at the top and a horde of strong players, the season 40 draftees will be making their presence known over the coming seasons.  These players are the future of the VHL and all eyes will be on them to usher in a new era of the league.

[boubabi 4,725]

S42>

 

but yeah, solid draft class

[Kendrick 4,741]

Czar was looked at as a risk because he had previously retired players very early in their careers. So you could call it a steal or simply history coming back to haunt a players draft position. Good player, I don't consider it a steal per say.

[gorlab 4,321]

S40 IN THIS BITCHHHHHHH

[Victor 10,937]

Niklas Kurri very impressive too, from the depths of round 3.

Absolutely amazing though. I definitely think we'll be talking about a S40 era, much like S18, at the end of this decade.

[Beketov 9,021]

Still can't believe Green and Kendrick are over a full season ahead of me and started a season later

[Ninetyfourgoalie 168]

grade pleaseeeee???

[Harumpf 313]

Needs more Harumpf.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Marcus Hurley is outperforming his selection as well

[eaglesfan036 4,598]

I love this graph

[Da Trifecta 1,896]

Season 41*** had to correct that for you sir

[gorlab 4,321]

O'Malley and Richardson are little qu33rbois. Yeah I said it!!!

[Jala 922]

Best draft class ever!

[lere2001 90]

Boris Belov was part of this draft

[pxzero 65]

Content: 3/3

Definitely a great draft year! Great writing too. I love the graph. 

 

Grammar: 2/2

I didn't see anything that stood out.  Even if there was, this took so long to grade I'd give you a total pass. 

 

Appearance: 1/1

It looks great, and I love the graph

[Riggsy 72]

I'm in my sophomore season, but other than that, good read!

 

Exactly what Kendrick said though.

[Kendrick 4,741]

Still can't believe Green and Kendrick are over a full season ahead of me and started a season later

 

Keep in mind history shows that you shouldn't ever compare your TPE production to me. I'm a TPE whore platinum member.

[James 77]

Claimed