VHL Season 58 Retrospective Re-Draft

[McWolf 3,116]

VHL Season 58 Retrospective Re-Draft

 

McWolf here, with some new interesting thing for you guys. I was searching for stuff to write about, because I was in a good writing mood this morning. I spoke with @Beaviss and he suggested I do this; a re-draft of a past draft, with profiles on some players that progressed well through the years. He also suggested that, if I was to do it, I should go with the S58 Entry Draft.

 

So this is exactly what I am going to do right now. Going back to the S58 Draft makes sense, because it’s the first draft to occur after the contraction that dropped Cologne and Stockholm from the VHL. This seems like a good cutout point in the league, as going farther than that feels like ancient history. Also, re-drafting the S58 class means re-drafting players that are 4 years into their pro careers, which should be right in the middle of it if these guys all go the full 8 years. This seems like a good point to assess what they have done so far and what they got left in the tank.

 

My intention with this article and re-drafts as a whole is to maybe make this a series. Every off-season, around the time the VHL Entry Draft happens, I’d go back and check on the Entry Draft that happened 4 years earlier. That means by S67, I’ll be talking about how Joseph McWolf shoulda woulda coulda been #1 overall pick, but that’ll have to wait until then. So, with that out of the way, here’s the article.

 

 

Context

 

The Season 58 VHL Entry Draft took place on December 12th, 2017. The Riga Reign had just beat the Quebec City Meute in the cup finals’ 6th game to seize what would be the first of two straight Continental Cups. The Reign dominated the whole season, led by a tandem of 60-goal, 130-point scorers composed of Fredinamijs Krigars and John Locke and by elite goaltender Marcus King. They had to dispose of Helsinki to reach the finals, while Quebec beat Toronto in the other semi-finals.

At the bottom of the standings, the soon-to-be-extinct Stockholm Vikings, the HC Davos Dynamo and the also-soon-to-be-extinct Cologne Express were the 3 teams that ended the season with the least points. The New York Americans and the Seattle Bears were the other 2 teams to miss the playoffs. As indicated earlier, this was the offseason in which the Stockholm Vikings and the Cologne Express ceased operating. The Cologne Express had all of its picks and players thrown away in the dispersal draft, while the Stockholm Vikings actually fused with the Calgary Wranglers, since Calgary seemed to be led by inactive people at that time. Calgary ended up winning the lottery (with Stockholm’s pick), followed by New York twice.

 

 

Season 58 VHL Entry Draft

 

Round 1

 

1.  Calgary Wranglers (from STO) select Ivan Morozov
2.  New York Americans select Kriztof Mueller
3.  New York Americans (from DAV) select Aksel McKnight
4.  HC Davos Dynamo (from SEA) select Dragon McDragon
5.  Quebec City Meute (from COL) select Lavar Ball
6.  HC Davos Dynamo (from CAL) select Elias Sobeck
7.  Toronto Legion select Adam Warlock

8.  Helsinki Titans (from COL) select Ryszard Macht

9.  Calgary Wranglers (from QUE) select Yandall Beast
10.  New York Americans (from RIG) select Elias Karlsson

 

Round 2

11.  Calgary Wranglers (from STO) select Otto Axelsson

12.  New York Americans (from DAV) select Vladislav Koradek

13.  HC Davos Dynamo (from NYA) select Emil Woods

14.  Seattle Bears select Questionable Fart

15.  HC Davos Dynamo (from COL) select Joseph Lenin

16.  Helsinki Titans (from CAL) select Chris Jones

17.  Toronto Legion select Paul DiMirio Jr.

18.  Helsinki Titans select Brad Samford

19.  Quebec City Meute forfeited this pick due to lack of players available

20.  Calgary Wranglers forfeited this pick due to lack of players available

 

Season 62 Retrospective Re-Draft

 

1. Aksel McKnight (LW)

Original pick: 3rd by the New York Americans

Draft TPE: 171
Current TPA: 495

 

McKnight proved to his GM that he was right to pick him this early in the draft. Coming off a 54-goal, 66-assist, 120-point season with Oslo, he made the jump to the VHL in his first eligible year, co-winning the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy as the league’s best rookie in season 58 after he posted an 18-32-50 statline. After another similar season, he exploded for 102 points, including 41 goals in season 60, winning the Dustin Funk Trophy as the league’s most improved player. He was one of the rare players from this class to have only played for one team so far in his career, but the Americans just sold him to the Legion to kick off their rebuilding effort. It will be interesting to see how he does with them, as they might be surprisingly good this season.

 

 

2. Adam Warlock (D) @Green
Original pick: 7th by the Toronto Legion
Draft TPE: 119
Current TPA: 410

 

Warlock was an interesting pick at 7th. He was just off a 77-point campaign with Ottawa, and was a bit on the low side in TPE, so he decided to spend one more year with them. Boy, was that a good decision! He absolutely broke the whole league, finishing with 113 goals, 142 assists for 255 points, a +117 differential, 160 hits and 145 shots blocked, collecting basically every trophy possible along the way (Ryan Sullivan, Vladimir Boomchenko, Alexander Chershenko, Ethan Osborne, Mitch Higgins and a Founder’s Cup). He has yet to produce at that same ridiculous level in the VHL, but he passed the 30-point mark and the 100-hit mark in all of his 3 seasons, along with somewhere between 90 and 208 shots blocked. He was also on the HC Davos Dynamo team that broke the league’s longest active Continental Cup drought last season. Plus, he is one of the few players from that draft class still growing and gathering TPE, so look out for him to eventually exceed these numbers.

 

 

3. Otto Axelsson (C) @Dangles13
Original pick: 11th by the Calgary Wranglers
Draft TPE: 31
Current TPA: 390

 

Calgary kicked off the second round with a nice sleeper pick that actually panned out alright, it’s just a shame to trade him away so soon after the draft and he never got to play for them. Axelsson was only at 31 TPE at the draft, but he started earning some right away and he still growing as a player. I had a hard time picking who should have been drafted 3rd or 4th between Axelsson and McDragon, but ended up going for Axelsson above, basically because he is still growing and I feel like he might ultimately turn out to be a better player than McDragon. His best season at this point of his career, was 19-35-54 statline last year, when he helped Davos claim the Continental Cup.

 

 

4. Dragon McDragon (D)
Original pick: 4th by the HC Davos Dynamo
Draft TPE: 168
Current TPA: 201

 

The first defenseman off the board was, and still is, despite his fairly low TPA, a strong asset to have on your roster. He was drafted 4th overall by the Dynamo, after winning the Ryan Sullivan Trophy, awarded to the best defenseman in the VHLM. He didn’t make the jump to the VHL until season 60, but since then, he’s played a solid two-way game. He managed to finish last season 12th around the league in hits with 200 and 3rd in shots blocked with 171. He also scored 9 goals and 38 assists, for 47 points, showing how effective he can be in both zones.

 

 

5. Lavar Ball (RW)
Original pick: 5th by the Quebec City Meute
Draft TPE: 137
Current TPA: 334

 

Ball seemed to have been picked at about the right spot in the intial draft. He produced well in his 2 and a half seasons in Ottawa, including a 44-38-82 statline, with 97 hits, in his draft year. It took him a more year with Ottawa and two slow years in Quebec to finally unleash his full potential, but now that he got there, it looks great. He ended last season with the Americans, scoring 33 goals, 39 assists and gathering 97 hits.

 

 

6. Elias Sobeck (C)
Original pick: 6th by the HC Davos Dynamo
Draft TPE: 74
Current TPA: 273

 

Sobeck has never panned out into the player he could have been. During his draft season, he only scored 45 points, and only reached 74 TPE, which kind of raises the question: why was he the 6th pick? He exploded in his second VHLM season, scoring 63 goals and 120 assists, but never was able to reach that level of production during his 3 first VHL seasons. He will look to build from what was his best season last year, when he amassed 15 goals and 41 points while playing for Quebec. Sadly, he wasn't part of the Continental Cup winning Davos squad, as he was traded one season prior to bring Adam Warlock from Quebec.

 

 

7. Ivan Morozov (LW)
Original pick: 1st by the Calgary Wranglers
Draft TPE: 169
Current TPA: 318

 

The first pick in the actual S58 Entry Draft falls by a couple of picks in this re-draft. He did show promise, as he did reach 169 TPE before the draft and he finished his first season playing for Oslo in the VHLM at exactly 100 points (40 goals and 60 assists). He stayed in the VHLM one more year, scoring an impressive total of 98 goals and 97 assists for 195 points. However, he never reached this level of production and stopped gaining TPE once he set foot in the VHL. His best season was his rookie season with Calgary, when he scored 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 assists.

 

 

8. Kriztof Mueller (C)
Original pick: 2nd by the New York Americans
Draft TPE: 184
Current TPA: 232

 

Mueller was taken second overall by the New York Americans in the original draft after scoring 73 goals and 86 assists for 159 points in his only season with the Saskatoon Wild, winning the Alexander Chershenko Trophy along the way. He did get some honest production in the VHL, scoring 22 points in his first season with the Americans, then 42 and 51 with the Dynamo the next years, but he called it a day and retired after these 3 pro seasons, limiting his total value.

 

 

9. Paul DiMirio Jr. (RW) @124715
Original pick: 17th by the Toronto Legion
Draft TPE: 30
Current TPA: 143

 

DiMirio Jr. never actually reached the VHL, but his agent is still somewhat active. He looks like he nothing more than a depth player in the minor level so far, but that still makes him the guy playing in the minors from that class that has the better shot at one day getting promoted, if not the only one.

 

 

10. Vladislav Koradek (G)
Original pick: 12th by the New York Americans
Draft TPE: 66
Current TPA: 101

 

The first goaltender drafted that year, he never actually made it to the big leagues. I’m giving him added value over the ones below, simply because he ended up with more TPA than them and he was a goaltender.

 

 

11. Ryszard Macht (D)
Original pick: 8th by the Helsinki Titans
Draft TPE: 59
Current TPA: 50

 

There is not much to be said about this guy. He was only at 59 TPE at the draft, never got more than that. He played 3 years in the minors after getting drafted and he got released after that He did score 127 points for Oslo in season 58, but that gives absolutely no value to Helsinki for this pick.

 

Starting 2 picks earlier and until the rest of this re-draft, we’re at that point where these guys haven’t even made the jump to the VHL. I’m not actually going to write about any of them.

 

 

12. Yandall Beast (RW)
Original pick: 9th by the Calgary Wranglers
Draft TPE: 48
Current TPA: 58

 

13. Elias Karlsson (RW)
Original pick: 10th by the New York Americans
Draft TPE: 39
Current TPA: 58

 

14. Emil Woods (G)
Original pick: 13th by the HC Davos Dynamo
Draft TPE: 37
Current TPA: 37

 

15. Questionable Fart (LW)
Original pick: 14th by the Seattle Bears
Draft TPE: 32
Current TPA: 32

 

16. Joseph Lenin (C)
Original pick: 15th by the HC Davos Dynamo
Draft TPE: 30
Current TPA: 30

 

17. Brad Samford (RW)
Original pick: 18th by the Helsinki Titans
Draft TPE: 30
Current TPA: 30

 

18. Chris Jones (?)
Original pick: 16th by the Helsinki Titans
Draft TPE: 30
Current TPA: ?

 

I couldn’t even find this guy in the Portal. What position is he even playing?

 

Ending Words

 

Apart from guys picked 1 and 2 falling to 7 and 8 and the 2 S61 Continental Cup winners Warlock and Axelsson rising to 2 and 3, there weren’t much surprises. From what I saw, these last 2 guys seem to have been the steals of the draft. The draft wasn’t too deep though, only one 2nd round selection actually played a game in the VHL. Hopefully the S62 Entry Draft will boast more top tier players than this one.

All in all, this was really fun to write. I was not familiar at all with any of those guys, but it was fun to check out how they did in their careers and actually judge their agents on their forum activity in the past couple months. I’m definitely going to try and do that every season. Here’s hoping S59 draft was actually a bit better in term of depth than this one, because I kinda wanted to see a couple of 500+ TPE players. Highest earner was McKnight at 495 and it dropped quickly after that.

Until next season. Thanks again, Beavs. McWolf out.

 

---

 

Word count; above 2,3k, don't know the actual number
Weeks; Aug 13-19, Aug 20-26, Aug 27-Sep 3, Sep 4-10

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by McWolf

[McWolf 3,116]

aaaaaand the formatting sucks

brb

 

edit: for some reason, 2 paragraphs at the top are in a different font and i can't change it, so here you go, i broke the system, i write in multiple fonts even if we have no option to change it directly on the site. Rest seems fine, though.

Edited August 14, 2018 by McWolf

[Dangles13 373]

Thanks for the shoutout! I feel bad that I went inactive on @Bushito but @Banackock really deserves credit for reviving my VHL career.

[Spade18 1,308]

First off, this is a wonderful Idea and I'd love to see more of these.

 

Secondly

 

6 minutes ago, McWolf said:

 

 

1. Aksel McKnight (LW)

 

Original pick: 3rd by the New York Americans

 

Draft TPE: 171

 

Current TPA: 495

 

 

McKnight proved to his GM that he was right to pick him this early in the draft. Coming off a 54-goal, 66-assist, 120-point season with Oslo, he made the jump to the VHL in his first eligible year, winning the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy as the league’s best rookie in season 58 after he posted an 18-32-50 statline. After another similar season, he exploded for 102 points, including 41 goals in season 60, winning the Dustin Funk Trophy as the league’s most improved player. He was one of the rare players from this class to have only played for one team so far in his career, but the Americans just sold him to the Legion to kick off their rebuilding effort. It will be interesting to see how he does with them, as they might be surprisingly good this season.

 

 

 

 

He split the trophy with someone thank you very much =P

[McWolf 3,116]

1 minute ago, Spade18 said:

Secondly

He split the trophy with someone thank you very much =P

 

I'll change it, I actually had no idea. It doesn't say so in his page on the portal. Just says he won the award.
Also, was that someone you? Are you hurt?

[hedgehog337 3,483]

7 minutes ago, McWolf said:

Also, was that someone you? Are you hurt?

 

It's @Kesler, inactive af now

[Spade18 1,308]

16 minutes ago, McWolf said:

 

I'll change it, I actually had no idea. It doesn't say so in his page on the portal. Just says he won the award.
Also, was that someone you? Are you hurt?

 

It was, I am, and we're going to have to throw fists about it.

[McWolf 3,116]

1 minute ago, Spade18 said:

 

It was, I am, and we're going to have to throw fists about it.

 

Come! Napoleon yourself is ready to take you down!

[Spade18 1,308]

8 minutes ago, McWolf said:

 

Come! Napoleon yourself is ready to take you down!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Loved reading about Warlock. Thanks! Nice to be a steal

[McWolf 3,116]

1 minute ago, Green said:

Loved reading about Warlock. Thanks! Nice to be a steal

 

Don't thank me, it's the numbers talking. What do I even know? I've been here one week

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Without you there wouldnt be an article

[McWolf 3,116]

Good point, man. Good point.

[Dangles13 373]

47 minutes ago, Green said:

Loved reading about Warlock. Thanks! Nice to be a steal

More like stealing my heart, amirite?