ecn ECN's Editorial Comment on Top 5 picks in S68 VHL Entry Draft

[FrostBeard 2,049]

Editorial comment from Chief Editor of ECN John Frostbeard

 

Draft for us at ECN was truly something we anticipated this season very much and hopes to see quite a few names taken off the board and it was true, though it is quite interesting to see Top 5 picks and really think how much they will help their team succeed.

 

Before I go into those details and talk about Top 5, I want to quickly stumble upon another worth while topic - New York Americans. I can't put enough emphasis on the work that has been done by GM Esso, his work to acquire picks and be dominant this draft was not only beautiful to look at, but brilliant in itself. Ability to grab in the first round Lance Flowers, Frans Eller and Fredrik Elmebeck together with one of the best young goaltenders in person of A Red Guy is truly commendable. All together, this draft NY Americans selected 12 players to join roster. This not only gives his NY Americans the ability to compete in the long term, but it also provides trade assets as it should be clear that contracts for teams like NY will become an issue with growth they will see. 

 

In my eyes, top 3 of this draft was set and there should not have been any questions there. Condor Adrienne is a true generational talent and probably will be a star in VHL one day. He might look a lot better in his first 2 seasons than both sons of Riga - Lincoln Tate and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. That is clearly the right 1st Overall this year from Malmo Nighthawks. Lance Flowers heading to NY was something that everyone could have predicted as he was clearly the second best defenceman in this draft just behind Adrienne. Thorny Underyew going 3rd was predicted by many considering that Seattle doesn't have a really deep Centre position prospect pool and adding someone with the amount of talent we see is in Mr.Underyew will be critical for getting a chance to hoist the Continental cup. It was interesting to see that Vancouver traded up to be able to pick Jeff Downey at 4th Overall. J.Downey is a great and young defenceman that will become a force in VHL, now it will only be interesting to see how will Downey prove that trading up for him was the right choice by current cup champions. Probably the most shocking pick in top 10 was the fact that DC Dragons selected Luciano Valentino at the 5th Overall. Luciano is a good and truly a quality player, but the question here is will in a season or two he be in the same position or his value compared to other players taken behind him will have slipped?

 

All in all, a great and deep draft with many young and promising players. All we can really do is wish them all the best in their VHL career and hope they will achieve their goals and help their teams win!

 

Chief editior of ECN

John Frostbeard

 

 

[Esso2264 774]

thanks for the kind words!