S68 Draft Defensively Stacked – GMs Excited

[JeffD 648]

S68 Draft Defensively Stacked – GMs Excited

 

Toronto, ON - There is a lot of great talent in next year’s S68 VHL entry draft and that may be no more apparent than on the defensive end of the game. The top of the draft class is full of great defensive prospects and many teams could pick up a future franchise cornerstone. Of the top 10 prospects in practice hours accrued half of them are defensemen and the top two, whom are far and away the best, play the position. This article will be going over the top defensive prospects and giving an overview of some of the top talent the VHLM has to offer.

 

 

Name: Condor Adrienne (@Green)

Height: 6’8”

Weight: 250 lbs.

Team: Philadelphia Reapers

TPE: 261

ISS Draft Ranking: 1

Key Attributes: 75 Skating | 75 Puck Handling | 75 Scoring | 75 Defense

 

Condor is an extremely well rounded defenseman who is tearing up the VHLM for the Philadelphia Reapers. The hulking brute is currently scoring at over a point per game pace and is clear and away the leader in practice hours in the draft class. It would be absolutely shocking if Adrienne wasn’t taken first overall in the draft. Coming in at an enormous 6’8” and 250 pounds any team that is looking to have a future franchise cornerstone on the defensive side would be crazy to not take him. His well-rounded game will allow him to develop into whatever type of player he wants to going into the VHL which adds to his value. There is no other player in this class that will hit the practice room as hard as Adrienne.

 

 

Name: Lance Flowers (@CowboyinAmerica)

Height: 6’7”

Weight: 244 lbs.

Team: Yukon Rush

TPE: 229

ISS Draft Ranking: 2

Key Attributes: 70 Skating | 70 Puck Handling | 75 Passing | 80 Defense

 

Lance is another enormous defensive prospect but he plays a different style than Condor Adrienne. Whereas Adrienne favours a more even style of game Lance Flowers is far more focused on the playmaking side and the defensive side of his game. Flowers is the best defensive defender in the draft class and also is a very astute playmaker. Some teams may be concerned with his complete lack of goal scoring ability as he has yet to score a goal this season in the VHLM. Despite that fact he is running at a point per game pace by putting up 20 assists in 20 games played. Teams looking for a franchise defender may want a guy with a more balanced offensive game but there is no doubt that he is one of the most dedicated practice players around.

 

 

Name: Luciano Valentino (@Kekzkrieg)

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 217 lbs.

Team: Halifax 21st

TPE: 167

ISS Draft Ranking: 7

Key Attributes: 64 Skating | 64 Puck Handling | 64 Passing | 64 Scoring | 75 Defense

 

The first of our more traditionally sized defenders is the Italian Luciano Valentino. Valentino was a late declaration for the VHLM season but has rocketed up the draft rankings with his insane work ethic and skill level. Although a one-way offensive game was listed as a downside of Lance Flowers game above it could actually be said that Luciano Valentino’s indecisiveness when it comes to shooting or passing the puck could be viewed as a downside as well. Although that may be an issue it is definitely something that can be remedied through training and should not be viewed as a problem. As of right now he may not be the highest ranked prospect but his work ethic is starting to get noticed around the league and he could begin moving up very quickly.  

 

 

Name: Jeff Downey (@JeffD)

Height: 6’4”

Weight: 220 lbs.

Team: Mississauga Hounds

TPE: 160

ISS Draft Ranking: 8

Key Attributes: 70 Skating | 70 Strength | 70 Puck Handling | 70 Passing| 70 Defense

 

Speaking of well-rounded prospect we have Jeff Downey. Downey came onto the scene shortly before the S67 VHLM draft and was picked up by the Mississauga Hounds in the VHLM. Although Downey’s lack of a convincing stat line may look concerning from the outside it should be noted that he is playing on a squad that is fairly bereft of talent and is still managing to have a respectable year. Talent wise Downey doesn’t really have any standout attributes and could be referred to as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. On the offensive side of the puck he definitely favours the playmaking side of the game although he has managed to score three goals this year. One part of his game that differentiates him from the other prospects is his actual physical strength where he is by far the strongest of the bunch.

 

 

Name: Wolf Stansson Jr. (@Cornholio)

Height: 6’8”

Weight: 250 lbs.

Team: Yukon Rush

TPE: 154

ISS Draft Ranking: 9

Key Attributes: 75 Skating | 60 Passing | 75 Defense

 

Another hulking giant, Wolf Stansson Jr. hails from Iceland. Despite his enormous size Stansson is the smoothest skating of the draft class and also plays one of the more defensively sound games of the bunch. He has put up a very good 16 points with the Yukon Rush is 20 games with five of those being goals. Stansson has taken a different approach to training and is actually competent in many areas that the other prospects haven’t even begun to train. This may lead to Stansson lacking the top end attributes of some of the other players in the class but gives any team that drafts him a good base to work with to mold him into a great defender that any team would love to have on their roster.

 

Conclusion

 

As can be seen from the reports above there is a wide range of talent that is going to be available on the backend of the S68 draft. This article only covered the five defensemen that are within the top 10 of the International Scouting Services rankings. There is another group that includes Keven Foreskin, Andrej Petrovic, Ricky Johnson and Aamon Grim that fall within the top 20 and could all potentially end up being just as good as the guys listed above. It is very unlikely that all of the discussed players will end up as franchise altering defensemen but it certainly will not hurt to have options in what was viewed as a position of weakness across the league coming into this season.

 

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Word Count: 1080 | Claiming weeks ending 7/28 & 8/4

Edited July 23, 2019 by JeffD
Added word count

[CowboyinAmerica 2,708]

The mass of defensive talent is fun, should make for some fun battles as we all enter the VHL

[JeffD 648]

18 minutes ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

The mass of defensive talent is fun, should make for some fun battles as we all enter the VHL

Yeah it will be exciting for sure. Should be cool to see how many of the D actually end up going in the first round.

[Big Mac 310]

1 hour ago, JeffD said:

Yeah it will be exciting for sure. Should be cool to see how many of the D actually end up going in the first round.

Will or have you made one about forwards?

[JeffD 648]

1 hour ago, Big Mac said:

Will or have you made one about forwards?

I could possibly do that for my next task. Just gotta do some research.

[Jbeezy76 396]

@JeffDAwesome article! Keep an eye on the new kid Tony Bolonee @Tbeez99for Yukon also. He’s a big 6ft 6” 220 lbs defensemen.  Known for his transition game and strong puck control. He’s getting ready to start his first games this week.