Ranking each teams' draft: S68

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

So the S68 VHL Entry Draft has come and gone and now we take a look at how each team did on the big day. Worth noting I won't list every pick a team made, just notable ones or if a team didn't pick a lot, then all of them.

 

Malmo Nighthawks 

1 - Condor Adrienne

41 - Nate Wright

52 - Mike van Stronk

Drafting first overall is almost always guaranteed to net you a good player. The attraction of this draft was on defensemen, and Adrienne was far and away the top prize. The first overall pick told VSN that they'd stage a holdout if not selected by an expansion team, and he definitely avoided a tough situation there. With Malmo being such a new team still, they could've taken anyone and been fine with it. However, their defense core is already solid enough, and with goaltending getting better, I'd like to see Malmo draft a top forward. Again, that's based on needs, Malmo would be silly to pass on Adrienne, but that's not where their need lies. With next draft being so forward-heavy, you have to wonder if Malmo will look to tank again and grab that piece they need to start competing.

Grade: B

 

 New York Americans 

2 - Lance Flowers

6 - Frans Eller

8 - A Red Guy

9 - Fredrik Elmebeck

13 - Owen Nolan

And a shit ton more

Seriously NYA, we get it, you have draft picks. Seriously though, my god they had a lot of picks and they sure did not waste them. New York had needs quite literally everywhere, so no pick was a bad pick. They built a solid defense core in Flowers and Elmebeck, and grabbed nice forwards in Eller and Nolan to start a nice forward core. Then, they set off a chain reaction which saw the top 3 goalies in the draft all get taken simultaneously. Taking A Red Guy was a smart move here, and should set them up for nice goaltending. This draft from NYA reminds me a lot of Seattle's S67 draft, when they had a multitude of picks and built a nice young core. There's plenty more picks these guys had, but we'd be here all day. The work isn't over yet for the Americans, but they sure have a nice start

Grade: A

 

 Seattle Bears 

3 - Thorny Underyew

23 - Finnegan Macburn

43 - Justin Rushmore

48 - Joakim Sakic

After a nice draft last season and a high pick this season, Seattle didn't have to worry at all. They built a nice core and even though they were near bottom of the table again, they have a bright future and no need to worry. With Adrienne and Flowers basically set at 1 and 2, Seattle was able to choose from the rest of the lot, and chose to take Thorny Underyew at 3rd overall. I like this pick, not only because (and you're gonna hear me say this alot) does it address a need for Seattle, but it's also a safe pick, and not too off the board. Seattle has solid goaltending and they have a nice defense core already, so it made sense to go with a forward. That being said, I don't like their 23rd overall pick in Finnegan Macburn.They already have 5 young defenseman on that team and now they add another. I assume they'll go with a 6D configuration, but that doesn't work too well. Someone needs to go, and i just can't see Macburn getting much ice time.

Grade: B

 

 Vancouver Wolves 

4 - Jeff Downey

36 - Tony Bolonee

Winning the cup and then picking 4th overall is pretty swank. With the recent departures of Louth and Glade, the Wolves were in the market for a center and a defenseman, and were guaranteed at least one. With Seattle taking Underyew, Jeff Downey fell right to the Wolves. This is a nice pick because it fills their need on defense. With a young core of defensemen, they're getting even younger which is a pretty cool thing. Since they hardly had any picks, there's not much else to say here other than it's a good pick and while they didn't draft a lot, they got what they needed and left, which is a-okay in my book.

Grade: B

 

DC Dragons

5 - Luciano Valentino

14 - Kaspars Claude

18 - Ricky Johnson

25 - Balentine Kidd

31 - Mac Hooper

Being an expansion team means you quite literally can't go wrong with any pick. DC had a nice first draft for themselves, taking Valentino 5th overall after trading up is a nice take, and Kaspars Claude at 14 is also, a decent pick. There's not much to say since......expansion team, but it's nice to see them making an effort to move up and build a good roster in year 1. Next draft will be huge for DC

Grade: B

 

 Calgary Wranglers 

7 - Teemu Lehtinen Jr

20 - Sigard Gunnar

26 - Fang Flashback

Calgary again I'm left scratching my head a bit. After trading away some nice pieces this offseason, the return was......meh, and they didn't really fix what they replaced. TLJr is a decent pick, but I think they should've looked at a guy such as Elmebeck, to fill what they lost on defense in a trade with Davos. It's not a terrible draft from Calgary, but it didn't really help them much persay. TLJr again, gonna be a good player, but I'm surprised they didn't cash in picks to move up, as they should be competing right about now. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens?

Grade: D

 

 HC Davos Dynamo 

10 - Samuel Ross

24 - Jerry Wang

Davos is tough to call, because they went way off the board with both picks they had, yet they didn't have many needs to fill anyways. Trading away 3 goalies just a week earlier was odd, but they drafted another one in Samuel Ross, who is assumed to be the backup this season, as Davos still has Finn Davison as a starter. It's a good pick nonetheless, and was the 2nd goalie taken in the goalie bananza in the first round. Davos also picks up a VHLM prospect in Jerry Wang, who could find his way to the big club next season. Interesting they didn't have a lot of picks, seeing as Davos is usually the anti-Devise and hoards them all, but crazier things have happened I guess.

Grade: B

 

 Moscow Menace 

11 - Raymond Bernard

28 - Andrej Petrovic

32 - Nate Telker

Another team that didn't have glaring needs, but Moscow did pick up the third goalie in the caos this round, in Bernard. I'm actually sort of shocked they took him too. They have a reliable starter in Owen May, who's quickly found himself among the league's best, and he's still on his rookie contract. I'm confused as to why they didn't go for WSJr who was still on the board. They didn't need a forward, but it would have benefitted them taking a defender, so I'm left shaking my head. Petrovic and Telker are nice pickups, but it's hard to tell on VHLM prospects.

Grade: C

 

Prague Phantoms

12 - Wolf Stansson Jr

15 - Bruce Grimaldi

17 - Seabass Perrin

19 - Willie Dredge

27 - Gert B Frobe

As with DC, Prague couldn't really mess up anywhere, as they're an expansion team. I can't believe WSJr fell to them either. It seemed like destiny that Prague ended up with one of the top 3 goalies, but it fell apart quickly in front of them. Still though, they got a nice tendy in Grimaldi. Also, a nice 1/2 punch on defense in WSJr and Perrin, as Prague definitely went to bolster their defense this draft, which is smart seeing as next draft is heavy forward. You can't fault Prague for what happened to them because of other teams' picks, they did the best they could and they made the right moves.

Grade: B

 

Teams without significant picks

 Helsinki Titans 

 Toronto Legion 

 Riga Reign 

Other than a late second rounder than Riga, these teams didn't pick much and in turn didn't get many valuable pieces. It's fine though, all three teams have nice rosters already. I'd have like to have seen Helsinki with a high pick, but it doesn't matter too much.

 

[Banackock 8,044]

Good read!

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Wallace and Perry are both active and McGirr is welfare, beyond where you stopped with picks here. Those three will be down, but they're still going to be productive pieces long term. Still though, good coverage of most of the earlier parts of the draft

[DizzyWithLogic 43]

MacBurn is indeed staying down, so Seattle's blue line isn't too crowded.

[Bushito 1,945]

I got a guy ranked top 8 at like 20th and I need to fix what on defense with one guy at 800 and one at 750ish and 3 at 3-400. Also what I got in my trades isn’t accounted for yet because I have future firsts and also trade up? Nobody was trading a top 2 picks

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

1 hour ago, diamond_ace said:

Wallace and Perry are both active and McGirr is welfare, beyond where you stopped with picks here. Those three will be down, but they're still going to be productive pieces long term. Still though, good coverage of most of the earlier parts of the draft

definitely woulda included them, but with 12 teams it took long enough haha

 

[gorlab 4,321]

was dead asleep @ this draft 

[DangerGolding 222]

9 hours ago, ShawnGlade said:

DC Dragons

5 - Luciano Valentino

14 - Kaspars Claude

18 - Ricky Johnson

25 - Balentine Kidd

31 - Mac Hooper

 

61 Me ;(

 

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

5 hours ago, DangerGolding said:

 

61 Me ;(

 

sorry, at some point i got lazy

[Victor 10,937]

On 9/10/2019 at 1:17 AM, ShawnGlade said:

 Moscow Menace 

11 - Raymond Bernard

28 - Andrej Petrovic

32 - Nate Telker

Another team that didn't have glaring needs, but Moscow did pick up the third goalie in the caos this round, in Bernard. I'm actually sort of shocked they took him too. They have a reliable starter in Owen May, who's quickly found himself among the league's best, and he's still on his rookie contract. I'm confused as to why they didn't go for WSJr who was still on the board. They didn't need a forward, but it would have benefitted them taking a defender, so I'm left shaking my head. Petrovic and Telker are nice pickups, but it's hard to tell on VHLM prospects.

Grade: C

I think about this take sometimes @Mr_Hatter @Telkster @Aye my name jeff

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

30 minutes ago, Victor said:

I think about this take sometimes @Mr_Hatter @Telkster @Aye my name jeff

You already know

moscow moscow moscow

[Telkster 550]

31 minutes ago, Victor said:

I think about this take sometimes @Mr_Hatter @Telkster @Aye my name jeff

think that draft grade needs a tweak

[Big Mac 310]

On 9/9/2019 at 10:23 PM, Bushito said:

I got a guy ranked top 8 at like 20th and I need to fix what on defense with one guy at 800 and one at 750ish and 3 at 3-400. Also what I got in my trades isn’t accounted for yet because I have future firsts and also trade up? Nobody was trading a top 2 picks

This do be aging well tho

[Victor 10,937]

On 9/10/2019 at 3:23 AM, Bushito said:

I got a guy ranked top 8 at like 20th and I need to fix what on defense with one guy at 800 and one at 750ish and 3 at 3-400. Also what I got in my trades isn’t accounted for yet because I have future firsts and also trade up? Nobody was trading a top 2 picks

This is a very valid point actually, this was probably one of the busiest drafts for actual trades on the day and Bash and I were doing bits.

 

 

 

So in terms of current VHL players I traded Valentino for Bernard, Clarke, Telker, Foilen, Petrovic, and Lagesson. Not a bad haul if you ask me. 

[Big Mac 310]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

This is a very valid point actually, this was probably one of the busiest drafts for actual trades on the day and Bash and I were doing bits.

 

 

 

So in terms of current VHL players I traded Valentino for Bernard, Clarke, Telker, Foilen, Petrovic, and Lagesson. Not a bad haul if you ask me. 

Not bad they weren’t that important to the cup win

[Victor 10,937]

49 minutes ago, Big Mac said:

Not bad they weren’t that important to the cup win

Definitely not Bernard  

[Big Mac 310]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

Definitely not Bernard  

Yeah easily the most inflated goalie of all-time

[Kekzkrieg 160]

6 hours ago, Victor said:

This is a very valid point actually, this was probably one of the busiest drafts for actual trades on the day and Bash and I were doing bits.

 

 

 

So in terms of current VHL players I traded Valentino for Bernard, Clarke, Telker, Foilen, Petrovic, and Lagesson. Not a bad haul if you ask me. 

 

That's the biggest compliment I've ever gotten.