Quickly looking at the draft

[jRuutu 2,426]

 

Yesterday was the magical VHLM draft lottery! Four teams waited to see who picks first, or technically three since Houston had first-round pick of Las Vegas with their own. The two other teams were Minnesota and San Diego who had Yukon´s first-round pick. In the end, Houston was victorious, they pick twice in a row to start the whole thing, San Diego picks third and Minnesota fourth.

 

Since I´m one of the players who is going to get picked in the VHLM draft, I have started to wonder where I will be picked? Pretty nice looking list of players available to be drafted, five players with over 200 TPE , three with a bit over 180 and then comes long list of 100+ TPE players. I´m in the 180 TPE category right now, so odds are not looking too hot for getting picked in the top-4.

 

What makes this year's draftee group even more interesting is that there are solid players in each position, perhaps a bit oddly only two defenders with over 100 TPE, so that is a position that could very well be taken early just because there are not that many players for that position.  The same can be said for goalies, three in the 100+ TPE category. The forward group is looking strong, wingers especially so that only makes it even more difficult for me to predict where I will be picked, but if I get taken somewhere in the first two rounds - that would be a pretty nice day.

 

As always, everything comes down to what teams are looking for. Do they pick the top players who might only play for one season in the juniors, do they target for certain position or try to pick players who could play two or more years in the juniors? Especially in the long list of 100+ TPE players, you will fairly surely find players who could play at least two seasons in juniors, giving the first picks even more value.

 

To the end, I´m going to take a quick look on the rosters of each the teams who will pick at top-4 and provide a poor guess on who the first four picks will be!

 

Let's start with the first pick:

 

1st: Joakim Bruden
Houston needs a goalie, Bruden has 125 TPE right now and is an ideal candidate to hold the starting position for at least two seasons, higher TPE prospects Wolski and Hextall could move up after next season. Now is this a  realistic or even smart pick from Houston? Who knows, but 32 TPE player in net right now - goalie has to be fairly high in the Bulls target list.

 

2nd: Hugh Jass
Jass played in Houston to end this ongoing season, so Houston knows what kind of player they have in Jass, leading defender for the team and might also be right on the edge of potentially playing two or more seasons in juniors.

 

3rd: Rogue Davis

San Diego might have defender high on their list, no D´s with over 50 TPE in the team right now, so I have to think they will take Rogue Davis at third overall. Davis is a top-end talent and fairly surely moving to the big show after one-year in the juniors, but as mentioned - the defensive pool of prospects is not deep at all. Of course, a lot is on what Houston will do, if Jass is still there at three - I´m willing to bet that San Diego takes Jass!

 

4th: Stone Wolski
Seeing how Minnesota doesn´t have any goalies in the roster - have to guess that is the first player they look for. Stone Wolski at 4, a similar case to Davis, extremely talented player who might not be down in the juniors for more than one year, but playing without a goalie?

 

There you have it, uneducated guess on who the top-4 picks will be, good luck to all the draftees!

Edited January 7, 2020 by jRuutu