Quick Review of the VHL Draft

[Matt_O 896]

Now that the VHL draft is officially done with, lets take a quick look at some notable picks and which teams did well.

 

New York Americans

To nobody's surprise, Sullivan went first overall to the New York Americans. Despite Elias Dahlberg's incredible talent, Ryan Sullivan Jr. was the best player in this draft, and the Americans picked up a big time defenseman for the squad. With their third pick, they also took Joel Ylonen, who I projected to go fifth. They reached a little bit, but they decided they didn't need a goalie, and didn't bother with drafting Brick Wahl, who had the second highest TPE total. With their tenth pick, they got Ryan Zabby, which was another great addition to their center depth.

 

How did Goalies do?

Despite having the second highest TPE total, Brick Wahl dropped to the 12th overall selection in this draft. He was taken by the Calgary Wranglers, who were definitely in need of a goalie. In my draft preview, I mentioned that Calgary may trade up for the third pick with New York to try to take Wahl, and while they didn't trade up, they did end up taking him in the second round. Still, Wahl dropped from where he was projected to land. Finn Davidson dropped even more, although this was understandable. The lack of a need for goalies hurt his draft stock, and caused him to drop to pick #17, despite having the fourth highest TPE total. Davidson has a bright future and HC Davos Dynamo has themselves a really good goalie prospect.

 

HC Davos Dynamo

This season was definitely a sad one for the HC Davos Dynamo. Despite finishing in last place, they didn't get the first pick. However, they picked themselves up an elite Elias Dahlberg, fresh off of a finals run while carrying his mediocre team on his back. They also got Piotr Jerwa with the ninth pick, which was a great pickup. He has a total of over 250 TPE and has tremendous upside as well. They got Finn Davidson in net with their third round pick. They also picked up John Madden with their sixth pick, who is a solid winger. All in all, HC Davos Dynamo had a strong draft.

 

Why this draft teaches us a lesson

This draft taught us many things if you paid attention to it. For one, it shows that goalies aren't in demand almost at all, and that perhaps expansion to reach 10 teams may be a potential idea. That would let more people reach the VHL and allow more goalies to become starters rather than just backups or even third string goalies. One thing it definitely taught us is that consistently getting nice TPE hauls every week will get you places. I have 99 TPE myself, and was drafted before guys such as Dan Baillie, who has 155 TPE. If you want to succeed in the VHL, you have to at least stay somewhat active and do your point tasks.

 

What player in this draft will surprise us?

I'm taking somewhat of a shot in the dark by saying Evgeni Komarov will become really good, if he stays active. He currently sits at 156 TPE and is only 16 years old. He could be really good. I obviously am tempted to say myself, but I think Komarov will emerge as the steal of the draft.

 

[Nykonax 1,550]

14 minutes ago, Matt_O said:

I'm taking somewhat of a shot in the dark by saying Evgeni Komarov will become really good, if he stays active. He currently sits at 156 TPE and is only 16 years old. He could be really good. I obviously am tempted to say myself, but I think Komarov will emerge as the steal of the draft.

I think that Axelsson guy drafted in the third or fourth round will be pretty good if he comes out of retirement

[Eudaldkp 160]

Bushito with the epic master plan baiting us all into thinking he wouldn't pick Brick and letting him fall into the 2nd round 

[McWolf 3,111]

18 hours ago, Eudaldkp said:

Bushito with the epic master plan baiting us all into thinking he wouldn't pick Brick and letting him fall into the 2nd round 

To be fair, no one else really needed a gialie besides Davos and Davison in the 3rd is a steal as well. Both teams won, but no one else would have picked them anyway