Claimed: The Lynx' Den

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The Lynx' Den

 

 

Sometimes, the draft changes everything. The S59 Ottawa Lynx threw everything at their lines hoping to make it stick, including a set of triplets, three deadline day additions, and every scrap of a player they could find. The problem was that there just wasn't enough there for them. They ended in 4th place (after spending most of the season in 5th, and passing Saskatoon mostly because of who Saskatoon lost rather than who Ottawa gained, although Ottawa did perform better down the stretch as well). After a wild card round sweep of Saskatoon, Ottawa then was swept themselves by eventual winners Yukon. After the season, things took a fortuitous turn, however. Ottawa had a few extra picks in the draft from deadline deals in rounds that are typically just depth, and then the draft class turned into a draft tidal wave. Suddenly, those depth picks became strong early picks, providing unexpected value where there wasn't supposed to be much. The extra 3rd rounder especially, turning an inactive Zach Weise into active defenseman Alvaro Jokinen was pure alchemy.

 

Heading into the draft, Ottawa's main holdover from the prior season was goaltender Arbin Asipi Jr who'd performed admirably the prior season, despite being only at the beginning of his development and having no real defenders in front of him for most of the season. There were also a few forwards carrying over, the notable ones being Ambrose Charizard and Corey Guimond. First priority was to build a defense in front of Asipi so he'd face fewer shots in the upcoming season, allowing him to develop a bit more easily without being asked to stand on his head night after night.

 

Ottawa's monumental draft night, as with any draft night, started with a single pick. Second overall, to be exact. The late run to 4th at the end of last season was needed for team confidence, but it did drop the team down one spot in the draft order. There was one player on the radar for this pick several weeks before the draft, Samuel Gate, and the only thing that stood in the way of Gate being the selection was if he'd gone first to Saskatoon. Once Saskatoon released their draft predictions, essentially revealing their first overall pick, all that was left was to wait until the selection came up and to make it official. Gate had spent the last few weeks of the prior season in Ottawa, so he was familiar with team facilities and even already had a locker.

 

The second round suddenly became another first, with the way this draft developed. Early picks, especially. In any other draft, Matt Thompson would have been easily a first. There were perhaps a few picks before him that maybe could have been later, but generally it seemed certain before the draft that someone good would fall to 7th overall, and Thompson was it. Gate started off the defensive group for Ottawa, and Thompson would begin to anchor the forwards. In the third, that's where Ottawa began having extra picks. Their own third, 12th overall, they took a flier on a promising new draftee, Daniel Kenny. So far, Kenny has not disappointed, and seems to be a good linemate going forward for Thompson. Yukon's third, acquired for Zach Weise at the deadline, finished off the top defensive pair and left Asipi with a much stronger set in front of him, as Alvaro Jokinen would join the team, a good counterpart to Gate.

 

The fourth and fifth rounds, typically full of inactives if anyone at all, would fill out the roster for Ottawa in a draft where they suddenly mattered. Brendan Wilson, another defenseman and another promising new guy like Kenny before him, would hear his name called in the 4th and would begin to fill out a second defensive pairing. Tomos Walker would start a second forward line, and at this stage it looked like he'd be playing alongside one of last season's carryover players in Charizard or Guimond - it's a testament to the depth of this draft that those two are actually now on the third line, behind Walker. Mikhail Vega, another guy who spent the end of last season with Ottawa, was tapped to come back at the beginning of the 5th and was the first center drafted (Guimond is also a center, so the team wasn't devoid of them, but Vega would slide in ahead of Guimond, as would a later draftee). Vega, despite being drafted later than Walker, would immediately jump to the top line with Thompson and Kenny as he's a center and that line was yet to have one. Wilson's defensive partner would join with the second of Ottawa's 5th rounders. In an odd turn of events, Chat, the player associated with the agency that just took over GMing in Oslo, would not find himself in Oslo and instead would come to Ottawa. A player from a storied agency would be the perfect developmental partner for the new guy Wilson.

 

Even the rounds that are objectively supposed to be depth (or typically don't exist) are looking to pay off for Ottawa so far. Declan Burns in the 6th and Euan Hamill in the 7th will look to develop with Walker, they'll form a second line that can develop together as a cohesive unit, and Hamill, the 7th rounder, has been active even after the draft. Burns is a center, and while Hamill and Walker are both right wingers, one can play left wing to make the line work as they develop chemistry alongside each other. Perfect fit or no, getting actives as far into the draft as the 7th is objectively a coup for Ottawa. Plus there's another active (Wolf Edmunds) who signed in free agency post draft, and if he develops and Burns doesn't show up, could easily slide into that remaining second line spot.

 

In the remaining rounds, Ottawa took depth like everyone else. Hinga Dinga Durgen in the 8th was picked up as a backup for Asipi. He's developed a little but has since slid into inactivity, but that's perfect because he won't pose any threat to Asipi's starting role but will be better than a bot in the instance he needs to play. Marvin Cookie in the 9th is inactive as well, but is just a third pair defenseman at the moment, so if he shows back up he could start to climb the pairs.

 

1072 words, 4/9-4/15, 4/16-4/22

[diamond_ace 3,107]

@Beaviss I know you like articles about VHLM

[Beaviss 4,955]

23 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

@Beaviss I know you like articles about VHLM

 

You know me too well