Jerry Garcia Draft Destination Rankings

[Gustav 6,436]

Behold! This is (I think) the first article of mine that isn't some dumb story about what stupid things have happened in Halifax over the course of the past week. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I've been seeing quite a few "destination rankings" threads done by (probably more experienced) members of this league, in which destinations are ranked based on not a whole lot. Reading these, I thought one of these would be perfect for a person such as myself. I can demonstrate my far-reaching expertise on the inner workings of this league by talking about the very-little-to-nothing-at-all I know about each team here, while also potentially being horribly wrong about everything I'm going to say. Just like any professional sportswriter. 

 

*Disclaimer: Though I've ranked every team on this list, I have no particularly strong feelings about any team here, positive or negative. These rankings are simply based on gut feelings and slight edges I think some teams have over others for my personal development. In no way is this thread supposed to mean "I have to play for my #1" or "I won't play for my #10." I'd be thrilled to be a part of any team here, and if you're a GM of a team ranked low on this list, feel free to change my mind.

 

Anyway...

 

1. Helsinki Titans (GM: @Quik). Big shout-out to @Sonnet right away here for being the best GM I could hope to play for in my first season. He's the reason why this team is at #1 (plus I hear Quik is cool). I'd love to have an established teammate (and, mind you, best goaltender in the league) that I can count on from the start. Fun fact about this one: until yesterday I always read the spelling of the city as "Helsinski," and I've even read it correctly a few times and thought "wait, that isn't right." But yeah, let's go Titans for the time being. Besides, Tagger did a podcast a while ago saying that Helsinki could make good use out of a defenseman, and I trust Tagger.

 

2. Seattle Bears (GM: @Banackock). Yeah, yeah, first in the league. But check this out--3 defensemen on the roster, one of which is a S63 player with 260 TPE. If Garcia is drafted here, he's guaranteed ice time from the start. Banackock seems nice and this seems like a particularly good fit for a developing player in terms of exposure.

 

3. Malmo Nighthawks (GM: @Advantage). An expansion team this high on the list? Sure! I play for an expansion team and I love it. I'm going to be the millionth person to say it, but the sick logo doesn't hurt. Though I'm sure the expansion draft (and possibly the draft itself) will bring a few higher-TPE defensemen to Malmo, right now the roster is entirely empty, and if Advantage has me lined up as a potential draft choice, this team has a lot more freedom (and probably a lot more inclination, given their expansion status) to make Garcia a present and future priority.

 

4. Moscow Menace (GM: @Victor). Same thing here with the expansion teams--Garcia will be #1 on the depth chart in Moscow before he knows it if they don't make any big trades. The only defenseman above 300 TPE is at 318 and is from S64. The only problems here? I have no sort of connection with anyone remotely related to Moscow (though I'm sure they're nice people, and, again, I'd be thrilled to play anywhere) and, to be frank, they don't look great on paper. May be headed to the #1 pick so there's a chance I'll end up playing with Helmsley but other than that I don't see this team succeeding immediately.

 

5. Vancouver Wolves (GM: @Beaviss). Admittedly, this team went up a few spots in the rankings because Beaviss was one of the first people, if not the first person, to help me at all in this league, even managing to do so before Sonnet (I think McWolf was the other one to beat him to it, making that the best thing Halifax has done all season). 3 defensemen on this roster, too, but Garcia is practically guaranteed to be a second-line player for quite some time here--the top line of Harding and Philliefan figures to continue to be that way until one of them retires.

 

6. HC Davos Dynamo (GM: @ShawnGlade). Garcia can definitely make it up to the first line here, but first he has to catch up to Cayden Saint (S62, 429 TPE) and Alvaro Jokinen (S61, 501 TPE). Besides, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen is the defenseman of the future for this team, at 433 TPE already despite being from S65. Even if Garcia makes it up to the top line, he'll only ever be second-in-command.

 

7. Calgary Wranglers (GM: @Bushito). Here's our final team with 3 defensemen. The difference here? Two of them are from S65 and at 297 TPE, showing that they're at least active enough that Garcia will be behind them for a good while. Being #4 on the chart for a while would make him not only a second-line player, but also fairly expendable, as many teams only use three defensemen and the most he'd bring to this team would be valuable trade material as a prospect.

 

8. Riga Reign (GM: @hedgehog337). Hedgehog seems pretty nice and I wouldn't mind being a part of this team. In fact, a 5-round mock draft today by @gregreg (go check that out here) placed both Garcia and fellow defensive defenseman Charlie Paddywagon in Riga as two second-round picks. Ryan Kastelic and Shawn Glade figure to be the top line in Riga for a good amount of time to come, though, and with all the picks Riga has in store for this draft, it's hard to envision Garcia playing a whole lot in Riga from the start.

 

9. Toronto Legion (GM: @Devise). Same situation as Riga: solid top line (Robert Malenko and Tzuyu). While Garcia could certainly get playing time here as well, first-line status is a long way away. Below Riga as Riga has the edge in both current and future success.

 

10. New York Americans (GM: @Spade18). This team's roster is absolutely saturated with defensemen, and while players like Dragon McDragon (S58, 115 TPE) don't figure to be much of a threat, their top line is still great (Joseph McWolf and Ryan Sullivan Jr.). Besides, the Americans seem to have gone all in on winning NOW, as they only have one pick in the upcoming draft. Very difficult to see Garcia being drafted by New York in the first place, but if he does, this team doesn't seem to be set for success in the future.

[Gustav 6,436]

9 minutes ago, Sonnet said:

 

shhh, nobody tell him

You mean you’re not? 

*Helsinki immediately drops to #10*