Claimed: if you ain't fourth, you're last

[Tyler 885]

A quick look at the last three 4th overall picks

 

In the VHL the key to everything is the draft. It always has been and almost always will be. Unless you either get incredibly lucky as a GM or manage to make some amazing trades chances are good you will need to rely on the draft to build your team. The last three drafts (Season 53, 54 and 55) were three interesting drafts with varying levels of skill at every pick. It is obviously a lot easier to look at the S53 draft then the other since it is now a few seasons deep, but for the purposes of this we will look at the 4th draft pick in each of those drafts.

 

First we have Season 53. With the fourth pick, the Legion drafted Roman Sokolov (@Beketov) a big Russian defenseman who remains a key part of the Legion's future. He has 297 TPE which puts him behind many of the players around him, but despite this he has been a solid as a player as the Legion could have ever hoped for. He had 64 points in his first VHL season and was probably the Legion's most important player that year. He is a two way defender with a booming shot and who is a physical presence along the boards. There is no telling if he will develop much beyond this point, but as it stands he certainly looks like a mainstay on the Legion blue line for years to come.

 

In Season 54 we saw Aleksei Federov( @Banackock) another Russian defenseman go fourth overall. He seems to already be better than Sokolov in terms of his raw skills and is likely to compete with him in the North American Conference for years to come. He had 43 points in his rookie season and impressed with his defensive IQ for the Bears. He also has a booming shot from the blueline and should be a franchise player for the Bears. He already has 358 TPE and is in line to be one of the best players from this draft.

 

The most recent draft is obviously way too early to really look at in any meaningful way, but for the purposes of this article, we will take a look at Rudy Ying( @punkhippie) who went fourth to Riga in S55. He is already up to 186 TPE which means he will be playing for Riga next year and not in the minors again. The Bejing born centre should do well alongside his Reign teammates and is likely to be the cornerstone of the young team up front. He is very much a playmaking and defensively responsible centreman right now, but it looking to work on his other attributes as well in the near future. 

 

The last three drafts have all produced some exceptional talent. The three players highlighted here are just the beginning of the kinds of players they have produced. Though all three promise to be solid players, there are already some wondering if the Legion reached a bit for Solokov, banking on potential over raw talent, but he has still been a solid addition to the blue line in Toronto. Roman Sokolov promises to be a franchise defening player for Seattle while Ying should be a top forward in Latvia for years to come.