S69 VHLM Draft Steals and Busts

[zepheter 586]

Steals

#1

3rd round, 32nd overall (OTT)

[LW] Iangenere Risteneen (171 TPE)

39 G | 52 A | 91 P | +30

Risteneen has all but quietly become one of the top players in the S70 draft class, moving up the draft rankings on an almost weekly basis. He currently sits at 7th in TPE, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he goes higher than 7th. Despite coming into the VHL scene fairly late, he found himself with the third most points on his team. As well as team-highs with a +30 rating and 6 game-winning goals, while only taking 38 penalty minutes.

 

#2

2nd round, 12th overall (OTT)

[D] Shawn Glade Jr. (236 TPE)

38 G | 91 A | 129 P | +22

There was clearly some speculation that Shawn wasn't going to be consistent with earning, which is why he fell so low in the draft. You might look at the still high draft pick and say "how could he possibly be a steal?" Well, the numbers speak for themselves: 5th most points, 4th most assists, 2nd most points by a defenseman, most shots blocked, and 4th most power play goals. He was unarguably the best defenseman in the league and could be the MVP when all is said and done. To give you an idea of how hard he carried his team, he led all defenseman in points with 129, which was 82 higher than the player with the second most. He was no joke in the minors, but the question is if he will be able to earn on a regular basis for whichever teams decides to select him in the upcoming VHL draft.

 

#3

3rd round, 25th overall (PHI)

[D] Kyle Andersen (138 TPE)

21 G | 44 A | 65 P | +33

Who? Oh, Kyle Andersen the guy that literally came out of nowhere. He started out with no more than 13 TPE in each of his first four weeks, then bam. 15, 17, 37, and much more to come. These guys in Philly aren't getting the credit they deserve. Andersen, despite being the youngest defenseman on his team, led in goals and points at his position. He had a slow start, but caught fire and might've been burnt alive by now. Going into the playoffs, he could be the key contributor they need to upset the Wild in the second round if they make it that far.

 

#4 & 5

2nd round, 21st overall (LVA-->HFX)

[C] Leon Gutzwiler (128 TPE)

34 G | 47 A | 81 P | +31

2nd round 17th overall (HFX)

[LW] Gabriel Gutzwiler (119 TPE)

35 G | 38 A | 73 P | +54

Leon and Gabriel were a very subtle duo that didn't always wow you with points, but were very steady contributors in every aspect of the game. Unlike many other teams who had a clear top line and second line, they were much like a 1B in the way that they could shutdown many opposing teams' offenses. Which is quite evident, considering they own a combined +85 rating. Despite not earning the most each week, their numbers were too great to leave them off this list.

 

Busts

#1

1st round, 8th overall (MIS)

[C] Jimothy Frost (126 TPE)

20 G | 36 A | 56 P | +32

Frost had all the hype in the world going into the S69 draft. He was posting content out the wazoo, then he practically disappeared. Only adding about 16 TPE in a three week span. Although he came back with another 20 in one week, he dropped back down to 7 last week. For some reason he hasn't even claimed practice facility in the past three weeks despite making other claims. For a middle first round pick, Frost has been extremely disappointing considering some of the players that followed. Even though he helped his team to a second place finish in the regular season, he will go down as the biggest bust of this draft.

 

#2

1st round, 11th overall (MIS)

[D] Aleksandra Olsen (90 TPE)

5 G | 35 A | 40 P | +47

Surely you can't mess up two first round picks, right? Wrong. Mississauga somehow found themselves with another botched pick in the first round. Perhaps Frost had some potential, but looking back at Olsen's updating history, I don't really see why she went this high. Even though she put up solid numbers during the regular season, it's easy to assume that it was in part due to the fact that she's playing for the second best team in the league. This was certainly a head-scratcher that didn't develop into anything.

 

#3

1st round, 9th overall (HOU-->HFX)

[G] Boris Boris (154 TPE)

21 W | 17 L | 2 OTL | 0.891 SV% | 2.87 GAA

Boris Boris looked like a guaranteed 200 TPE goaltender at some point in this season, but hasn't quite lived up to expectations. Boris put up decent numbers in the regular season, but I'm sure Houston and Halifax were expecting more growth than one week of 29 or more TPE in his entire career. Especially considering some of the players that went later in the draft, Boris is unfortunately the third worst draft bust.

 

#4

2nd round, 15th overall (MEX)

[G] Nicolas Fomba (126 TPE)

39 W | 13 L | 5 OTL | 0.87 SV% | 2.77 GAA

Fomba is a classic case of a goaltender whose stats are boosted because of his team. While it's difficult to say that a goalie who has won 39 games is a bust, I bet Mexico was expecting much more from the young goaltender. Fomba has earned consistently, only missing one week since creation, but the total earnings have been a problem. Having only earned 10 points in a single week isn't a promising sign for his future. Unless he decides to step it up, he will remain the fourth worst bust this season.

 

#5

2nd round, 18th overall (YUK)

[RW] Teddy Smith (76 TPE)

10 G | 45 A | 55 P | -66

Smith got off to a hot start by earning 36 in the two weeks following creation, but disappeared for nearly a month before claiming again. This was an upsetting pick considering forwards such as Leon Gutzwiler and Iangenere Risteneen were still available. Smith played fairly well on a poor team, but you can attribute that to the vast 24:74 TOI/GP he received. Sadly, for Yukon, Smith couldn't consistently earn, and that lands him as the 5th worst draft bust of S69.

 

Players mentioned: @Maasa @ShawnGlade @Cusemode @Gwdjohnson @DaftRaincloud @Frostbite @GlowyGoat @Walter Fizz @efiug @Siddhus

 

1,069 words

Edited December 24, 2019 by zepheter
Adding players mentioned and word count

[Gustav 6,393]

5 hours ago, zepheter said:

This was certainly a head-scratcher that didn't develop into anything.

 

5 hours ago, zepheter said:

Even though she put up solid numbers

[zepheter 586]

52 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

6 hours ago, zepheter said:

Even though she put up solid numbers

6 hours ago, zepheter said:

it's easy to assume that it was in part due to the fact that she's playing for the second best team in the league.

[Gustav 6,393]

3 minutes ago, zepheter said:

 

I mean, point still stands. TPE doesn't mean anything if the player does well. This season Olsen put up a +47, the highest this team has ever seen from anyone ever.

 

I can understand why you'd call the pick a bust from a TPE standpoint, but saying that stats mean nothing because the team is good is a tiny bit ignorant.

[zepheter 586]

1 hour ago, GustavMattias said:

 

I'm saying that neither the stats or TPE are good enough for a first round pick. Just to clarify, I agree that the +47 is great, but the players surrounding Olsen 100% helped her. Let's not pretend that a player with 70 defense is automatically a stud defenseman that is the sole reason why he/she is +47. I don't want to say it, but that is also a bit ignorant. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by zepheter

[DaftRaincloud 62]

Thanks for the inclusion in the article! Great write-up!

[Frostbite 38]

[Gwdjohnson 40]

Slow and steady wins the race 

[Gustav 6,393]

6 hours ago, zepheter said:

Let's not pretend that a player with 70 defense is automatically a stud defenseman that is the sole reason why he/she is +47. I don't want to say it, but that is also a bit ignorant. 

OK? And I never said this. I, again, can understand why Olsen would appear on this list, and I have no issue with it. I'm simply trying to pick my way through the reasoning as it seems to contradict itself a bit.

 

I never said Olsen was a stud defenseman (defensewoman? whatever). Nowhere have I ever said that 70 defense automatically makes you a great player, so let's also not pretend that I did. BUT--your reasoning seems to give literally all of the credit to the team, which, yes, I agree, helped quite a bit. You'll notice, though, that no other player on the roster was that high up--Kris Rice is the only other one that comes close, and we've got many high-TPE players, defensemen included, who didn't even touch it. So it's really not 100% the team in my opinion--Olsen has a good starter build that happens to be working well, in addition to having a solid team. All I'm saying is that brushing off stats entirely to fit the narrative of the article is something I disagree with. [since my computer won't let me hit enter for whatever reason, consider this a new paragraph] Let's both drop the subject for now. Solid article overall, and don't let this discourage you from putting your opinion out there.

[efiug 320]

confirmed draft bust

[Cusemode 21]

I appreciate the shout out  

[GlowyGoat 80]

Keeping up the draft bust trend, at least I'm a good LR presence (which is why Olsen was drafted FYI)

[zepheter 586]

On 12/24/2019 at 9:11 PM, GlowyGoat said:

at least I'm a good LR presence (which is why Olsen was drafted FYI)

Yeah the problem with being on the outside looking in is that I only see it for what it is. In most cases I don't know all the specifics.

 

Sorry if I made a bad impression on you, I guess that's the risk of making opinionated content.

[zepheter 586]

2nd claim.