A Look at Gustav's Draft Board [1/2]

[Gustav 6,407]

...OK, so maybe not my entire draft board. I wouldn't want to give away any real strategies (not that I had any when I was first hired). What I'm doing here is instead reaching into my draft board and evaluating the success, failure, and collective progress of every player I had marked as a potential steal, and putting whether or not my planning was solid up for debate. I can't find any information on these players' TPE at the time of the draft (other than going back and looking at their update logs and figuring it out from there, which I'm too lazy to do), so I instead use the TPE numbers I have listed on the board, which should provide a close enough if not right-on accurate picture of things. So! I use the phrase "without further ado" in my media spots way too often, so, in a manner which does not involve any additional needless delay...

 

Forwards (in order of my ranking):

 

Dan Gles (@No_Dangles)

Drafted by: Mississauga, 36th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 60

Current TPE: 149

Gles was actually my 15th-ranked forward heading into the draft, so it's no surprise that when he was available at #36, @Radcow (who actually made every pick for me, other than Hulk Hogan, who I was actually around to draft) jumped at the chance to pick him up. While one would have to go down to #42 to find a forward with lower TPE than Gles at the current moment, I'm still happy with this pick--Gles, as a highly defensive-minded forward, has done great things for our team, especially with our lack of defensive depth. While the GM of a different team might argue, rightly so, that Ben Hafkey (Philadelphia, #37) or Dylan Doyle (Yukon, #38) was a better pick, Gles was meant to be for Mississauga. 

 

Chett Bandy (@mmarcoux98)

Drafted by: Mississauga, 55th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 48

Current TPE: 97

I had Bandy marked as a steal, and was very happy to see him picked up when I finally got back to my computer late the night of the draft, because I'd given him the common "feel free to contact me if you have any questions," and contact me he most certainly did--with probably more questions than anyone else from the rookie class. We've seen Bandy's activity drop off a bit since the season started, but it's certainly not too late for him to get back in the swing of things, and I'm still happy that I made this choice.

 

Doug Forsyth (@DougF)

 

Moving right along past this one...

 

 

Lexington Lewis (@Lexlooter)

Drafted by: San Diego, 65th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 36

Current TPE: 54

I'd talked to Lex before the draft and thought he'd be a great bet, as he'd taken the opportunity to ask me some questions, not once but twice, after I contacted him. In fact, had San Diego not picked Lewis, he would have been our pick at #66, based on the rankings I'd given Radcow. Though Lex seems to have fallen off, I'm very happy with the player we selected at #66--Scott Greene (@DoktorFunk), who's evolved into our top-line center. In fact, I have no idea why I didn't mark Greene as a steal--he had 36 TPE, according to my board, and I'd made a couple very positive comments about his personality and potential. So, count Greene in as a member of this list, though I'm a bit dumb and must be honest about that.

 

Flash Lightning (@harvey)

Drafted by: Minnesota, 52nd Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 32

Current TPE: 78

I'm not too sure what motivated me to mark Harvey as a steal on my board. My comment on him reads, and I quote, "Was around last year. Could stay." And that's really about it. I guess that's why I decided to make that guess here, as his account was created on April 25th, and since he returned back to the league, he at the very least remembered it and wanted to return. So far, he hasn't been the world's greatest pick, but he's certainly not inactive--he's visited the site in the last 24 hours, and we could see Lightning making a steady climb up the draft rankings as the season progresses.

 

Steven McBuckets (@Stamkosfan69)

Drafted by: Las Vegas, 70th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 30

Current TPE: 51

McBuckets is actually the only player on my board missing any sort of comment, making it near impossible for me to tell what I thought about him. I do happen to remember that he was a recruit of @StamkosFan, who's been around for a while, so it's possible that I figured that his personal connection with a league member might keep him in the league for a while. McBuckets' last update, however, came during the week of May 12th, indicating that he may, sadly, be out for good.

 

Rick McGundy (@PeterZahBa)

Drafted by: Minnesota, 63rd Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 30

Current TPE: 30

McGundy's situation was just the same as that of Flash Lightning: he'd been around the league at some point in the past (having created an account just over a year ago), and I considered this enough to move him up the board, and in this case mark him as a potential steal. The Storm didn't find much luck in their later picks this season, and McGundy was no exception--though, by the late sixth round, not many active players were left on the board (ahem, Scott Greene), McGundy was a miss, not only for Minnesota, but for my own guessing abilities as well. You know the deal, though--good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions...

 

 

Now to the defensemen! There were really only two...

 

Kefka Palazzo (@diamond_ace)

Drafted by: Las Vegas, 24th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 30

Current TPE: 72

Had I been officially granted the title of "VHLM GM" on the forum when Palazzo was created, I wouldn't have marked him down as a steal. This was back before I knew that every GM gets tagged in every player creation thread, so just about any GM would be an idiot to not notice a "diamond_ace mentioned you" notification in a player creation thread. That being said, though, I was surprised upon further review to see that Palazzo hasn't been earning like a madman since his creation. I know d_a leads a busy life, though, so there's no way I'd call this pick a bust as he's guaranteed to get back in it eventually.

 

Vilnis Balcers (@bukss_a)

Drafted by: Ottawa, 64th Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 32

Current TPE: 56

Balcers was another one of those "created a while ago" players who I guess I really liked back when I was making my draft board, as he's the third one so far in this article. First joining the league in 2016, bukss_a made a comeback this season, and he's been somewhat active since the draft--he didn't earn any TPE last week, but he's been on the site recently and could figure to be a decent above-average-to-high TPE VHLM player next season with Ottawa, especially important with defense being a definite position of need for some teams. As far as this season goes, Balcers wasn't much of a steal, but might end up making some nice contributions next season.

 

 

Now to goalies--I only marked one as a potential steal, so here goes...

 

Thorvald Gunnarson (@Saelven88)

Drafted by: Halifax, 51st Overall

TPE on Draft Board: 40

Current TPE: 130

I think it's safe to say that I was right about this one. For some reason, I really gave a lot of credit to members who were around before last season or before, and Saelven88, who joined the league on April 23, is no exception. Halifax got great value with this pick, though--Gunnarson is their #1 goalie, and has earned more points than any member on this list other than Dan Gles. Though I'd say every goaltender in this draft class was scouted heavily by every GM who needed someone in net, Gunnarson still managed to offer the greatest value out of any of them, by far.

 

 

Word count >1300, will claim for next week as well if I feel like it.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

4 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

That being said, though, I was surprised upon further review to see that Palazzo hasn't been earning like a madman since his creation.

I haven't earned like a madman since about S45, to be fair. I was surprised I was such a hot commodity heading into the draft (for the people who knew I was going into it, which I didn't keep secret at all but somehow people still didn't know?) because frankly throughout all of Lawson's career I was never an Eno or anything like that. So many people got mad about how they missed out on a guy who's not even that big a TPE guy...

[Gustav 6,407]

19 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

I haven't earned like a madman since about S45, to be fair. I was surprised I was such a hot commodity heading into the draft (for the people who knew I was going into it, which I didn't keep secret at all but somehow people still didn't know?) because frankly throughout all of Lawson's career I was never an Eno or anything like that. So many people got mad about how they missed out on a guy who's not even that big a TPE guy...

For me, at least, it was the fact that I knew you'd be around and would never go inactive. Being as new as I was, I had no idea what your history was at all, I had no idea what you'd done in the league so far, but I just assumed it was great as...well, you know, you're commissioner. I was surprised to see you go at 24, but you certainly wouldn't have been out of the question for our third-round pick had you been available then. 

Overall, for me personally, I'd chalk up any overrated-ness on the part of your player (no offense) to inexperience on my own part, but I can't speak for the other GMs who likely thought of Palazzo in much the same way I did.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

12 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

For me, at least, it was the fact that I knew you'd be around and would never go inactive. Being as new as I was, I had no idea what your history was at all, I had no idea what you'd done in the league so far, but I just assumed it was great as...well, you know, you're commissioner. I was surprised to see you go at 24, but you certainly wouldn't have been out of the question for our third-round pick had you been available then. 

Overall, for me personally, I'd chalk up any overrated-ness on the part of your player (no offense) to inexperience on my own part, but I can't speak for the other GMs who likely thought of Palazzo in much the same way I did.

You don't need to worry about offense, I've been saying I've been overrated for a while now. For at least some weeks, it felt like I was the only one who realized it (and that maybe I was actually better than I thought, if everyone else kept saying how good I was). That is definitely a factor though, the safe pick. Sometimes it's better to go for a guy who's expectation is about 700-750, when my absolute floor is probably still about 550-600, than a new guy who could crack 1000 but could just as easily disappear at 100.

I did just put in a lot of updates though so I'll be up over 100 once the update queue is cleared

[Saelven88 58]

11 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

I think it's safe to say that I was right about this one. For some reason, I really gave a lot of credit to members who were around before last season or before, and Saelven88, who joined the league on April 23, is no exception. Halifax got great value with this pick, though--Gunnarson is their #1 goalie, and has earned more points than any member on this list other than Dan Gles. Though I'd say every goaltender in this draft class was scouted heavily by every GM who needed someone in net, Gunnarson still managed to offer the greatest value out of any of them, by far.

 

Pretty cool to see how at least one other GM looked at me pre-draft.  Thanks for sharing some insight.

[Phil 5,119]

Review:

Nice look and some of the players you had marked as steals, why they were marked so, and where they are currently. Nicely laid out and well presented. I would have liked a picture or two but no love lost. 30 seasons ago this article would have been a lot shorter. It is crazy to think about how many newer members there are nowadays. Nicely done @GustavMattias 

[Gustav 6,407]

Claiming for the week ending 6/16. I have a monster media spot coming but don't see myself being able to finish it tonight or tomorrow.