Who to Pick? A Look at the VHL Draft's Top 3 Defensemen

[Gustav 6,097]

Some time ago, @Renomitsu released a long article detailing just about everything about the upcoming VHL draft's defensemen--not only the top-rated prospects but just about every single one (read that here). While much has changed with the league since, with some players having their draft stock rise quite a bit (going to casually mention Beau Buefordsson here) and others seeing a significant decline (noted semi-active, radically offensive built, mid-to-late-round prospects Srraxxarrakex II and DWin Championship haven't been on in a few weeks), the top three mentioned in this article are still, well, the top three (and the only ones above 200 TPE at the moment). And some distance has been put between them and the others, too: there's a 16-TPE difference between our lowest-TPE defensemen here and Codrick Past, the next-highest on the board. Anyway, though, since I don't think anyone likes to sit around here and listen to me talk, here we go with a closer look at our top three...

*Note: this board will use TPE numbers as of the end of last week, as not all of the below have done all they can this week although I certainly believe that they plan on it.

 

#1: Aron Nielsen, Minnesota Storm (@solas)--222 TPE (+56 since previous article)

Nielsen went through most of this league's run of mock drafts being picked to go later in the draft, with many putting him somewhere in the second round, somewhere below both of our next two. Though solas is a former great, having reached the Hall of Fame a couple times in the VHL, Nielsen was under a bit of speculation as a potential unsafe draft choice as, while he was taking advantage of welfare and getting by on about 10 TPE every week, he really hadn't been creating content to his full potential--welfare (though 6-point welfare) was the choice about half the time, while the other two players here have done everything possible to earn every last point available. With that being said, however, Nielsen's activity has gone up quite a bit lately--creating a biography during theme week earned our number-one player here an absurd 32 TPE for that week, and Nielsen finds himself comfortably on top of the TPE standings. 

 

Current build and stats:

While Nielsen is an offensive-type player, we can see that he's fairly balanced--a scoring rating of 76 is complemented by defense, skating, and puck handling all significantly upgraded, making Nielsen dangerous on both ends of the rink. 

 

While it's possible that solas' welfare-claiming may bother some GMs, this may be canceled by reputation alone--both of our other choices are rookies. Look for Nielsen to be a serious consideration for the first team to pick a defenseman. 

 

 

2. Jerry Garcia, Houston Bulls--206 TPE (+56 since previous article)

Garcia is my player, so I won't go on too long about what I've done. Last week, a lucky win of a doubles week in the monthly lottery enabled Garcia to overtake our #3, Charlie Paddywagon, in TPE, though only by a little bit. Lately, Garcia has been projected in a few mock drafts--Tagger's included--to be the first defenseman off the board, being picked by defense-hungry Davos around #7 (depending on where the Malmo pick falls). The same can be said about both Garcia and Paddywagon--they're both solid prospects who earn every possible point available, and there's nothing negative to be said against either in terms of activity. 

 

Current build and stats:

Garcia has a passing rating of 70, but beyond that he's purely defensive--he put up arguably the most impressive defensive numbers this year at 238 hits and 110 shots blocked, albeit running up 154 penalty minutes.

 

3. Charlie Paddywagon, Las Vegas Aces (@DMaximus) --204 TPE (+50 since previous article)

One could say that Garcia is the defensive version of Nielsen--definitely on the defensive side of things but with a nice offensive stat or two to even things out. Paddywagon, though, is more like the defensive version of nobody, unless you know someone who put everything they had in the VHL into scoring. Not that that's a bad thing--defense is one of the most important stats out there and it's easily the single most important stat there is for a defenseman. Paddywagon has a defense rating of 90 already, more than enough to do well in the VHL. Last season's first defenseman off the board, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, has topped 400 TPE and is below Paddywagon in this regard with a defense rating of 85. Paddywagon spent much of this past season leading the league in blocked shots, only losing the crown by one on the last game of the season. While a fairly unbalanced and concentrated build has put Paddywagon under Garcia in most mock drafts, most have him being picked a little bit farther back, with another Davos selection around #9. He's still a safe bet, though--not only has he been a consistent TPE machine, but he knows what he's doing stat-wise. DMaximus wrote a quite impressive script to analyze the stats of Team USA in the World Juniors, and was almost my AGM in Mississauga--though the decision made was eventually different than he would have hoped, it was certainly a tough one, and I recommended (and still recommend) him to any GM interested in taking him on. 

 

Current build and stats:

Defense, defense, defense--that's all Paddywagon is about. If you want someone purely for their ability to defend, Paddywagon is your guy in the draft.

 

Many have complained about the lack of a "franchise defenseman" in this upcoming draft, but these three (and more!) have done quite a bit to legitimize themselves as solid prospects. A case could be made for any of them as the draft's best, and this shouldn't be a topic to overlook when the draft rolls around. 

[Renomitsu 930]

I'm sorry, did:

1) @GustavMattias just post an article where

2) I'm cited, and

3) He talks about defense?

 

Uh, marry me?

[gorlab 4,321]

Where's Codrick Past?