Draft Report Cards: VHLM Edition [1/2]

[Arayvenn 14]

As the start of the VHLM regular season fast approaches, I thought it might be fun to take a look at how everyone drafted and see if there were any clear winners.

Saksatoon Wild
1st OA: LW - Ryuu Crimson (175 TPE)
6th OA: G - Lefty (93 TPE)
7th OA: D - Burnt Toast (76 TPE)
13th OA: D - Dylan Nguyen (171 TPE)
19th OA: LW - Athanasios Andrianopoulos (48 TPE)
25th OA: LW - Anderson Lavey (58 TPE)
37th OA: D - Ryan Dodds (30 TPE)
40th OA: LW - Frenchie French (30 TPE)

43rd OA: C - Derrick Lacroix (30 TPE)
49th OA: G - Kyle Desjardins (30 TPE)
55th OA: D - Magnus Backlund (30 TPE)
61st OA: C - Ethan Sawatzky (30 TPE)

Verdict
The only team in the draft to make a selection in the 11th round, the Wild were determined to find talent, and they certainly did. Selecting the best forward, goalie and a top 3 defenceman in the draft class is a nice kick off to any draft. The main shortcomings of their selections are the lack of quality centres (which this draft was weak on to begin with), and the fact that many of their 30 TPE selections aren't very active on the forum. Overall, the decisions made in the trickier parts of the draft leave some to be desired, but the top end talent they've managed to load their team with will certainly leave the front office excited. Crimson, Lefty, Toast and Nguyen should all be immediate impact players in the M this year. If Lavey and Andrianopoulos stay active, I think this is one of the strongest set of selections in this draft. Unsurprising coming from the team that selected 1st overall.

Final Grade: A-

 

Las Vegas Aces
2nd OA: LW - Karl von Moltke (162 TPE)
8th OA: LW - Julian Borwinn (92 TPE)
10th OA: D - Cayden Saint (143 TPE)
20th OA: D - Juri Rykonen (48 TPE)
27th OA: LW - Jose Gonzalez (58 TPE)
34th OA: G - Alex Pepper (59 TPE)
38th OA: RW - Jack Stucky (38 TPE)
44th OA: RW - Ho-Train (30 TPE)

50th OA: RW - Ian Drake (30 TPE)

Verdict
With only 9 picks up against the Wild's 12, it's impressive that Vegas was able to find similar high end talent and arguably more middle talent. The lack of centre depth in this draft is very evident here as Vegas didn't select a single C. While their two last selections are inactive and unlikely to get much done in the strip, all of their other selections seem to be mostly active on the forum, first gens and vets alike. Big picture, I think Vegas made their most important picks count. Comparing their selections up to 38th with Saskatoon's, we see a talent pool almost as intriguing, if not a little less star studded. I must admit, though, I am not a fan of their early round position spread, somehow coming in less diverse than the Wild's. Still, Moltke, Borwinn, and Saint are high end talent. With consistent activity from Gonzalez, Rykonen, Pepper and the rest of their class, this team could be lethal.

Final Grade: B

 

Halifax 21st
3rd OA: D - Tzuyu (168 TPE)
9th OA: RW - Nikita Flipachyev (66 TPE)
12th OA: D - Shawn Glade (159 TPE)
15th OA: D - B.B. Nat (81 TPE)
21st OA: G - Cole Mertz (66 TPE)
23rd OA: C - Mike Lavallee (47 TPE)
32nd OA: LW - Aaron Butcher (30 TPE)
33rd OA: C - Hunter Kidd (38 TPE)
39th OA: C - Nathan MacKinnon (30 TPE)

47th OA: G - Tyler Smith (42 TPE)
51st OA: D - Jeremy Myalls (30 TPE)
57th OA: G - Potato (30 TPE)

Verdict
There's a lot to like about these selections. So far this is the best positional spread we've seen in the draft, and while there is perhaps less elite talent (which is to be expected as we make our way down the list), almost every player Halifax selected is active on the forum. Finding active players in the 50s is a mark of a successful draft in my books. If Flipachyev, B.B. Nat and Cole Mertz can come into their own, Halifax can turn heads this year. Tzuyu and Shawn Glade are one hell of a D pairing in the M.

Final Grade: A

 

Ottawa Lynx
4th OA: G - Kallis Kriketers (135 TPE)
5th OA: D - Lando Baxter (173 TPE)
11th OA: RW - Vaydar Odinsson (64 TPE)
16th OA: D - Joseph McWolf (71 TPE)
17th OA: C - Braylon James (50 TPE)
22nd OA: C - Chance Matthews (64 TPE)
28th OA: D - Gregor Rasputinov (41 TPE)
29th OA: D - Robert Renner (43 TPE)

46th OA: RW - Rzerk (32 TPE)
52nd OA: D - James Lombardi (34 TPE)
58th OA: C - Jerome Mitchell (42 TPE)

Verdict
Wewlad, that is a lot of selections in the top 30. I only have good things to say about this draft class. Ottawa found viable players in every round. Almost their entire roster is active, they walk out of the draft with one of the best goalies and defenseman available and having not made a single 30 TPE selection. They even found talent at C. If this class stays as active as they have been they may very well become the best set of selections we saw this past Wednesday. Kriketers enters as one of the most exciting goalies in the league, and Baxter enters in contention for best rookie D. All of their middle talent seems to be active and is already accumulating and spending TPE. This team can be very, very good.

Final Grade: A+

 

Yukon Rush
14th OA: D - Ryan Kastelic (84 TPE)
26th OA: C - Theodore Gauthier (61 TPE)
35th OA: G - Victor (30 TPE)
41st OA: D - Jesse Sublime (35 TPE)
45th OA: ?? - Radovan Svejkovsky (30 TPE)
53rd OA: RW - Nick Ward (30 TPE)
59th OA: G - Rhett Stoffiday (30 TPE)

Verdict
Objectively the weakest draft class thus far, which isn't surprising when you've traded away as many picks as Yukon did, worth a chance to play in the final for the founder's cup, I'd say. I'm not a big fan of these selections. The picks that pan out will pan out well, Yukon has certainly injected some talent into a talented group, but they left talent on the board to make some of their middle and later picks, a few of whom seem to be inactive. This class could turn out better than expected if their last 3 selections turn out to be active, as they haven't been away from the forum for very long at all.

Final Grade: C-


Oslo Storm
18th OA: D - Paolo Nano (88 TPE)
24th OA: RW - Anssi Koivuhaka (53 TPE)
30th OA: D - Mountain Thunderfist (47 TPE)
36th OA: LW - Bobby Larkin (30 TPE)
42nd OA: D - Finn Schaefer (30 TPE)
48th OA: G - Andreas Bergkvist (30 TPE)
54th OA: ?? - The Great Cox (30 TPE)

Verdict
The founder's cup winners manage to get a hold of more quality draft picks than the runner up Yukon Rush, but the talent in both draft classes is very similar. Both select a star D with their first picks and land active forwards and middle D to follow up. All of Oslo's selections seem to be active on the forum save for The Great Cox. Overall, not bad for the league champions.

Final Grade: C

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by Arayvenn

[ShawnGlade 1,002]

I was very pleased with my draft board, seeing how most of my picks are active. Trust me, Halifax is turnin some heads

[DaftRaincloud 62]

Great write-up!

[jacobaa19 191]

[BarzalGoat 728]

On 8/13/2018 at 1:03 PM, Arayvenn said:

Yukon Rush
14th OA: D - Ryan Kastelic (84 TPE)
26th OA: C - Theodore Gauthier (61 TPE)
35th OA: G - Victor (30 TPE)
41st OA: D - Jesse Sublime (35 TPE)
45th OA: ?? - Radovan Svejkovsky (30 TPE)
53rd OA: RW - Nick Ward (30 TPE)
59th OA: G - Rhett Stoffiday (30 TPE)

Verdict
Objectively the weakest draft class thus far, which isn't surprising when you've traded away as many picks as Yukon did, worth a chance to play in the final for the founder's cup, I'd say. I'm not a big fan of these selections. The picks that pan out will pan out well, Yukon has certainly injected some talent into a talented group, but they left talent on the board to make some of their middle and later picks, a few of whom seem to be inactive. This class could turn out better than expected if their last 3 selections turn out to be active, as they haven't been away from the forum for very long at all.

Final Grade: C-

This is bad, please quit your day job. 

 

Nah but in all seriousness I strongly disagree with this rating, and we'll see....

[ChrisF 105]

Saskatoon with the solid draft, and the addition of me as a Free Agent really does wonders..

[Cornflakers 73]

Review - 

This is a super beefy article. I liked the formatting a lot. Very cool to see insight into up and coming teams, especially at the VHLM level.

I'd like to pin this post and then come back and review it at the end of the season to see if the 30TPEers ended up turning up during the year.

Only time will tell

Only thing I can say about this is perhaps a logo / pic of the VHLM draft floor?