Claimed:S45 offers little hope for Seattle, but the future is now bright [Final 6/6]

[scotty 59]

S45 offers little hope for Seattle, but the future is now bright

 

SEATTLE, WASH. – After a surprisingly competitive season in S44 that saw a near-miss for the playoffs, Seattle fans knew that a bleak S45 was on the horizon. With the loss of almost the entire squad with little in reserve, general manager Mike Szatkowski had little to work with to field a competitive roster for the upcoming season.

 

Fast forward to after the draft and things still look bleak if you’re a Seattle fan. At least they do for now, but that’s not to say that the future didn’t get a whole lot brighter this off-season.

 

Szatkowski was one of the league’s most active GM’s leading up to draft day, which culminated in a significant deal with conference rivals Toronto that saw the Bears transfer a pair of S46 first round picks in exchange for the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th overall picks in S45. For the rebuilding Bears, the motive was clear; acquire as many assets as possible.

 

Szatkowski's activity at the draft was one of the major storylines of the off-season

 

While the picks fell out of the high-end range of the S45 draft crop, Szatkowski clearly had his eyes on a trio of players he wanted to bring into the fold. And as Szatkowski puts it, his plan worked perfectly.

 

“We went into the draft with the eighth overall pick and were confident we were going to get a good player there. I had my eye on a few other players that I really wanted to get my hands on as well and it just so happened that Toronto ended up being a good trading partner for us,” Szatkowski said.

 

After engineering the trade prior to draft day, the Bears hit their first stroke of good luck when Bubba Nuck fell to the eighth pick, something that the team was not envisioning in their pre-draft list.

 

“Getting Nuck at 8 was a bit of a surprise, but we were very fortunate to see him fall there. This kid has all the tools you want out of a top pairing defenseman in the league; size, skating ability, and two-way play – so we’re definitely excited about having him moving forward,” Szatkowski said.

 

From there, things continued to fall into play the way the Bears hoped. With a gaping hole at the goaltender position, the Bears used their acquired 10^th overall pick to select American Ryan Price, the first of a trio of consecutive picks. Price was the fourth goaltender to go in the top round and projects to be a quality starting goaltender when he reaches the league in time for S46.

 

Ryan Price is already being pegged as the team's franchise goaltender of the future.

 

The Bears then kicked off the second round with the selection of French centre Maxime Deschamps, a defensive forward lauded for his competitiveness and two-way play. Scouts soured on Deschamps’ ability to produce offense at the VHL-level, but Szatkowski says he’s not concerned about how that will factor into his development.

 

“We know what we’re getting with Maxime and we like what he brings to the table. Is he going to be a first-line guy for us? No. But we see him being an excellent second line centre for us down the road and once you get to the 11^th pick, the opportunity to get a guy like this is very appetizing,” Szatkowski said.

 

Before passing the baton off, the Bears used their last pick in the Toronto trade to select Jace Hines, a talented right winger who fell under the radar leading up to draft day.

 

“Honestly, Jace is a player that we see being a high-scorer for a number of years in this league. He’s an excellent skater and has poise that you don’t find very often. We were fairly confident we could get him in our range of picks but it was a nice way to cap off the picks that we got from Toronto to formally get him at 12,” Szatkowski said.

 

Seattle made one additional selection in round two, picking up the rangy left winger Super Cock, a player that the team is hopeful can develop into another quality second-line player down the road. Szatkowski also made a nice addition in round three with Teuvo Rinne who could serve as a capable backup goaltender down the road.

 

With four legitimate picks from the S45 draft, it’s clear to see that the Bears have a lot to be excited about moving forward. And that’s not even taking into account defenseman Arcturus Mengsk, who was not draft-eligible as a result of a general manager rights clause. Taking Mengsk into account, the Bears could walk away with the best crop of S45 players in the league despite not possessing a pick higher than number eight.

 

And in the world of VHL rebuilds, that’s pretty damn good.

Edited September 8, 2015 by scotty

[GreatOneHimself 52]

Great article man! 

[Mike 708]

That article is quite sexy.

[Phil 5,119]

Token non-bear post! 

[Tylar 219]

Content: 3/3 - I haven't really followed the North American Conference for awhile but hopefully the Bears get back to being competitive soon with these three players including yourself being a major reason why. 

Grammar: 2/2 - Didn't catch anything at all. 

Appearance: 1/1 - Yup

Overall: 6/6

[CowboyinAmerica 2,889]

Claimed