The sleeper hit from Italy [1/2]

[hedgehog337 3,483]

 

*this is Bolzano, Italy. Why am I putting this as the main pic of my article? I have no ide....wait, I actually know why.*

 

 

We can already tell that the last two and an upcoming drafts will be known as the revival of this league. These drafts produced (or will produce) a lot of future stars or even HoF'ers. It also worth mentioning that each of these drafts includes different type of members:

 

S61 - mainly recreates ;

S62 - a mix between recreates an first-gens;

S63 - mainly a first-gen draft.

 

So I mentioned about the players that are about to do big things, but obviously it's not only about them. There is a group of people that are being slept on even after they are being drafted. This was happening in less stacked drafts and this definitely will happen in the S63 draft. The group of players I'm talking about is usualy being called steals. I'm very familliar with this, as my first player went 14th OV and became a decent player. Can't forget about a 11th OV that is close to be inducted into the HoF. As a GM, I could find some of these too. Slava Aleksei at 15 (S54), Mikka Pajari at 22 (S61), even Niko Bogdanovic at 6 (S55) could be considered as the mini-steal. But all of them are recreate players. But how about a first-gen steal? These players are harder to find, there is no science about that. At least you know the potential steal could end up as a decent player if this a recreate. Especially if a member had a decent/successful player in past. With the first-gen, it's a crapshot. He may end up as a good player or he won't. That's it.

 

So I will talk about one of them. This player is one of the most promising steals since S57 (with Pajari and Bronstein) and he actually has a shot at being called up next season as the fourth def. He is pretty quiet on boards, but still doing things which is nice for me. This is the player I'm talking about:

 

 

 

D - PAOLO NANO

 

I like a fact that the Riga Reign team is filled with members from different continents and nationalities. That also applies to Paolo since he comes from Bolzano, Italy. He joined the VHL league right after the S61 mid-season. After some time, he decided to join the Saskatoon Wild team. The team was a bottom feeder at that time, but nobody else could afford to sign him. This also gave him a chance to take a big role from the start as there weren't much active players there. Fast forward, he posted a so-so 7 points in 28 games in addition of 54 hits and 31 blocks. Anyways, nobody said this is going to be an easy road and getting an important role from the start can't be bad, isn't it? Usually, not having the best start is one of reasons why young prospects are crumbling under pressure and become irrelevant. Luckily, Paolo knew what he was signing for and just continued to make a bit slow but steady improvements. It didn't help him from being overshadowed by more hyped prospects. But his work didn't go unnoticed as he was picked in the early third round by Riga.

 

The draft had a couple promising steals, like Novacek from a famous player agency or Shawn Mendes from also a known place. However, it looks like Paolo is on the verge of becoming the best steal from the S62 draft. He also went into the VHLM draft as he joined in last mid-season. He was picked by the Oslo Storm team and stayed there after Riga GM decided it's better for Paolo to gain more experience in minors. The Reign team isn't competing at this point so this send down makes sense.

 

So far in 62 games, Paolo posted 32 points (12+20) among with 47 hits and 77 shot blocks. What probably Nano doesn't likes is the fact is that once again he is playing for a non-contender. But this also could make him to not throw a white towel and fight for the D spot in Riga. Knowing that the Latvian team is in midst of rebuild and may end this period soon, it is the wonderful chance for the Italian sleeper to finally join a contender team.

 

So what can I say about Paolo? His skillset are suggesting that he is equally decent at passing as with scoring. The only thing that differs him from your normal defenceman is lack of physical play. Looks like he would rather become a sort of a ''defensive forward'' - he will try to score, but he also will be the first who is going back to defense when the opponent gets the puck. And at this point it doesn't really matter which type of a player he wants to become. As long as he is steadily improving, his debut at pro level will definitely happen. Sooner or later.

 

 

I like to brag about being the last more or less active player being drafted in S42 draft. I started with a welfare, but ended up as a more active member. And now here I am, managing a team and trying to make Riga a powerhouse. And then here comes a first gen member with a player named Paolo Nano. His player was also being slept on and I bet some of them are thinking he is inactive by now. Right now, he is mainly doing a welfare. Could he end up as the more active member than now?

 

Stay tuned...

 

@leafsman

 

16 TPE goes to Kallis.

[Victor 10,947]

Gotta love an unsung player.

[JG10 28]

Have you at 938 Words! Definitely went above and beyond for this article