HC Davos Dynamo and the S66 Draft

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

It's been a long time since I've delved into team construction and roster building in the VHL. Thinking back on it, I haven't really paid attention to it since I GM'd Riga somewhere in the late S30s to early S40s. Since it seems likely that I'll be in Davos for a long time, I thought I'd (attempt to, at least) take a look at the Dynamo's draft situation in the S66 VHL Entry Draft.

 

When some members of the league are hyping this draft up as possibly the best or second best draft in the history of the VHL, it's time to start paying attention. As of the most recent Draft Rankings, there are 27 players with at least 140 TPE, and there will surely be a lot more come draft time. On top of the depth of this draft, there are a couple of players at the top who appear to be destined for stardom, led by center Hunter Hearst Helmsley. This is a draft that we may be talking about for a long time.

 

Going into the draft, the Dynamo hold three 1st round draft picks in this draft and three 1st round draft picks in the S67 Draft. However, after these picks, the next pick in the S66 Draft will be a 4th rounder, and the next pick (as of now) in the S67 Draft will be a 3rd rounder. With this much draft ammunition, in my opinion, it is highly unlikely that all of these picks will be used by the Dynamo in the draft. I would expect some of them ( or all of them if @ShawnGlade goes the @Devise way of team building) to be traded either for high end players or trading up in either draft. However, for the purposes of this media spot, I'm going to assume that none of these picks are moved, and that Davos remains in the playoffs and does not fall into the lottery.

 

S66 DAV 1st - 4th overall

 

I'm going to assume that Davos makes the playoffs, but is then knocked out in the first round, retaining their spot 6th in the draft. At this spot, the top players will surely be gone, and it will start to come down to GM preference and team need on who is selected. The Dynamo could use a little bit of help everywhere, but have no current glaring holes in their line up. There are a good number of younger players starting to make their mark in the league and become bonafide top players. With that in mind, the largest hole on their team is probably at defense. However, this draft is extremely forward heavy, so picking a defenseman is not likely at this spot. I'm going to assume that HHH, Mars,  and Freeman are off the board at this point. With that in mind, my selection here would be Jet Jaguar. His player agency's history here speaks for itself, and he is a riser up the draft board. I think there is a very realistic chance that he goes 3rd overall, but hopefully he's available at the 4th pick. This would potentially give the Dynamo a great 1-2 down the middle with Peace and Jaguar and would allow McDavid to slide over to wing, and also provides protection if McDavid is selected in the Expansion Draft. 

 

S66 HSK 1st - 6th overall

 

I'm going to assume that HHH, Mars, Freeman, Kirbsson, Jaguar, and Aaltonen are gone at this point.  I'm sort of going to do a cop out here and say that the player selected will be BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE - I don't think you can really go wrong with a selection here. There's a good mix of new and returning members. I don't quite remember if TLO said that he would want to come back to Davos or not, but either way, you can't go wrong with Volosenkov, Jurri, Sigurdsson, or Jagr. Just so I have someone on record, I'm going to say we select Kari Jurri.

 

S66 SEA 1st - 8th overall

 

At this spot in the draft, I believe the Dynamo will select the best defenseman available. There may have been a defenseman selected 7th overall given the relative strength of forwards in this draft over defenseman, but I'm going to assume that only forwards have been taken. With that in mind, the three players most likely available here are Paddywagon, Garcia, and Nielsen. My choice here would be Garcia. Both Garcia and Paddywagon seem to be earning TPE at the same rate, but based on current build choices, my choice here would be Garcia. Nielsen is a dark horse here given his player agent's history in this league, but it's unknown if his current player will reach the level of some of his previous.

 

S66 DAV 4th

 

To be honest, I have no idea what will be selected here. I barely know enough about the players towards the top end of this draft class, let alone the players at the bottom. Although there will be a couple available around this spot, I doubt the Dynamo select a goaltender here, given that Davison is still early on in his career. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Davos selects a longer-term development defensive prospect. I'll say Cody Parkey is selected here, but I wouldn't be surprised if Samuel Sparrow is either.

 

Jet Jaguar - Center

Kari Jurri - Winger

Jerry Garcia - Defenseman

Cody Parkey - Defenseman

 

Selecting the above players in the draft would certainly go a long ways towards shoring up the Dynamo's roster and providing a large amount of depth for years to come. With an expansion draft coming this off-season and the possibility of expansion drafts in future years, it'll be important for teams to maintain depth so they can survive losing players off their rosters through expansion. This would also allow the Dynamo to be aggressive with possibly trading their draft picks in S67 to add more stars to the team. The future in Davos is bright.

 

 

*Will add editing for color and stuff later*

 

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Claim for 4/8-4/14.

[Gustav 6,480]

On 4/7/2019 at 12:36 PM, flyersfan1453 said:

My choice here would be Garcia.

What do you think about being Jerry's linemate in a season or two? I think our builds complement each other well.