Lesieur Shocked by Early Round Selection! [1/2]

[KC15 340]

Lesieur Shocked by Early Round Selection!

 

The Shock

 

Guy sat in a friend’s apartment in Montréal, Québec surrounded by approximately 20 other friends drinking Labatts and watching the live broadcast and was shocked when the announcer called his name, “And in the third round of the S68 VHLM Dispersal Draft, the Mexico City Kings select Guy Lesieur, Right Winger from Quimper, France.”

 

The GM Nykonax Effect

 

The third round?! Guy couldn’t believe he had gone that high in the draft. He wasn’t even sure if more than one or two GMs had ever heard his name before. But GM Nykonax is known for relying on his hockey instincts and taking chances on promising young rookies based only half on proven hockey skill and the other half on character.

 

Friend Goes First Overall

 

His new team located south of the border (U.S.), compounded his joy with some of their other selections. In the first round, Mexico City had selected Goalie Solomon Crawford at number one overall, stunning the entire hockey world. Certainly, Crawford was a promising young goalie with skills beyond his years, but number one overall? There were others with more experience and more highly touted – Crawford is ranked eighth among S69 prospects. But more importantly, Solomon and Guy had met just 6 months earlier when they were both playing in an international tournament in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and they had hit it off immediately. After the tournament they spent some time in the local watering holes talking of the careers they both hoped to have in the VHL one day.

 

Second Friend Selected Six Picks Ahead of Guy

 

Also selected in the first round was Alyksander Hunter, a defenseman, who went at number eight overall. Then in the second round, Ryan Busser, another right winger like himself was selected. But more important to Guy was that in the third round, just 6 picks ahead of himself, Mexico City drafted Shush Nyko, an Icelandic left winger whom Guy had met just by chance when he was on holiday from France visiting the capital city Reykjavík and the gorgeous volcanic countryside of Iceland. Shush had turned into a great friend in just the space of his one month holiday and to think that he was going to get to play on the same VHLM team was such a thrill. After the reality of being selected in the third round and that he was a member of a real VHLM team had sunk in, Guy also realized that not only were Shush and he on the same team, but they might even be paired on the same line together!

 

Evaluating GM Nykonax

 

Now that Guy has had a chance to make his way to Mexico City, check in at the Locker Room, and meet some of his teammates he has had a chance to evaluate his new GM’s drafting skills. Turns out GM Nykonax’s reliance on hockey instinct may pay out big dividends. In just the few days since the draft, Nykonax’s selections have been rising up the Prospect Rankings. Here’s a break down of where each S69 prospect was taken in the draft and where they rank on the Prospect Rankings (note that Hunter, Busser, and Armstrong are not S69 prospects and are not listed):

 

Draft Player Rank

1 Crawford 8

23 Nyko 21

29 Lesieur 23

56 Myles 24

59 Ridog 35

 

Look to the Future

 

Reflecting on the fact that his GM had nearly always selected players higher in the rankings than where he took them in the draft and on the great guys he had already met in the Locker Room, Guy was very much looking forward to the start of the new season.

 

 

585 words, PT for week ending 9/15

[Renomitsu 930]

Review

 

Whoa, whoa, saying good things about @Nykonax? That's illegal! (kidding, kidding)

 

Love the addition of chance meetings between VHLM players and following where acquaintances/friends went in the draft. Entry & Dispersal Draft Night are quintessential experiences of all VHL players, and humanizing it a little bit helps us connect all that much better - and I say this as someone who relies on numbers and basic stats more than I ought to. Good work, and welcome to the league!