S68 – A Class of Potential Hall of Fame Defenders

[JeffD 648]

S68 – A Class of Potential Hall of Fame Defenders

 

The season 68 VHL entry draft is chock-full of high end defensive talent that is finally coming into its prime and having a real impact on the league. Players like Condor Adrienne, Lance Flowers and Luciano Valentino & Jeff Downey head up a very strong class of defenders that not only hope to help their teams raise the Continental Cup in the future but also hope to get elected to the prestigious VHL Hall of Fame once their careers are over. Let us take a look at this strong crop of defenders to see where they stack up against each other thus far in their careers and find out if any of these guys stand a chance at cracking the Hall.

 

 

Name: Condor Adrienne @OrbitingDeath

Team: Malmo Nighthawks

Goals: 38 (1^st)

Assists: 115 (2^nd)

Points: 153 (1^st)

Plus/Minus: +39 (1^st)

Hits: 634 (2^nd)

Shots Blocked: 350 (3^rd)

 

Condor Adrienne was the first player drafted in this class and is also aptly the first player on our list. Adrienne was brought in to be the future franchise defenseman of the Malmo Nighthawks when he was chosen, and while he hasn’t taken over that number one defenseman spot as of yet, it shouldn’t be much longer before he does. Adrienne has put up some great numbers already in his career, and has been trusted with a lot of minutes in Malmo right from the start. After a down sophomore season with forty points, Green set a new career mark this season with 57 points and an impressive 17 goals. Adrienne will more than likely finally get his shot at being the true number one defender with Malmo next season as Jerry Garcia continues to get older and that extra ice-time could really help Green catapult himself to another level. As long as Green can continue to build upon his strong third season and improve his offensive number there is a good argument that can be made that would see Green entering the Hall of Fame.

 

 

Name: Luciano Valentino @Kekzkrieg

Team: D.C. Dragons

Goals: 33 (2^nd)

Assists: 114 (3^rd)

Points: 147 (2^nd)

Plus/Minus: -84 (4^th)

Hits: 248 (3^rd)

Shots Blocked: 410 (1^st)

 

Luciano Valentino was the first draft pick in D.C. Dragons history and was brought in to be their franchise defenseman right from the start of the team. A quiet player off of the ice, Valentino allows his play on the ice to do all of the talking for him. Valentino had a very strong rookie season in the first year of the Dragons where he managed to put up a very impressive 48 points and some spectacular defensive statistics that had him near the top of league leaderboards in multiple categories. Since that rookie year he has kept consistent with his offensive output, putting up 46 points in his second season and 53 in his third year. While his defensive stats have taken a bit of a drop off since that first season that can mostly be attributed to the increasing talent level in D.C. and less of a need for him to be putting his body on the line as much as he had to at the start. Valentino has had a very strong three seasons to start this career and should be given all of the opportunity going forward to continue to try for a Hall of Fame career.

 

 

Name: Lance Flowers @CowboyinAmerica

Team: New York Americans

Goals: 21 (4^th)

Assists: 118 (1^st)

Points: 139 (3^rd)

Plus/Minus: -10 (3^rd)

Hits: 806 (1^st)

Shots Blocked: 365 (2^nd)

 

Lance Flowers has had an interesting career thus far in the Victory Hockey League. While his offensive numbers, cumulatively, stack up with the other defenders on this list, he has had his struggles after a very impressive 59 point rookie season. After putting up 59 points in his rookie season, as well as amazing defensive numbers, he grabbed the Christian Stolzschweiger as well as the Jake Wylde trophies for top defensive defenseman and top rookie. His sophomore season saw his offensive numbers drop almost in half, to 34 points, and his defensive stats take a hit as well. Flowers looks to be back on track after his third season and has continued to put up enormous hit numbers as well as a good number of shot blocks. If Flowers can managed to return to his rookie season form he could easily catapult himself into the Hall of Fame conversation. If he can have a resurgence from his fourth season onward he could erase that tough second season fairly easily and see his name raised to the rafters.

 

 

Name: Jeff Downey

Team: Vancouver Wolves

Goals: 26 (3^rd)

Assists: 104 (4^th)

Points: 130 (4^th)

Plus/Minus: +33 (2^nd)

Hits: 334 (3^rd)

Shots Blocked: 282 (4^th)

 

While Jeff Downey has not accumulated the counting stats of some of the other players the one thing he has going for him is the continued upward trajectory of his career. Coming into the league Downey had limited ice time on the defending champion Vancouver Wolves which led to him only accumulating 24 points in his rookie season. As he has had his role continue to increase over the years his production, at least offensively, has improved dramatically each season he has been in the league. Over his three seasons his point totals have gone from 24 in his rookie season, to 41 his second year and all the way to 65 in his third season. His numbers currently don’t look like he will be on a Hall of Fame pace, however if he can somehow continue his huge growth from one season to the next you could see the stats begin to add up over time. However that could all change, as could any of these players’ outlooks, as their teams continue to adjust and evolve over the seasons.

 

As can be seen from this article there can be a good argument made for any of these top four defenders to make the Hall of Fame when their careers end. It is hard to compare these guys with their predecessors as offensive numbers across the league have taken a fall in recent years so they will need to be compared to other players in the current era rather than in the past to see how they really stack up.

 

- 1055 Words - Claiming Weeks of 3/1 & 3/8 - 

Edited March 1, 2020 by JeffD

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

This was a nice read, love to see how we all compare to eachother and wouldn't mind seeing follow ups of these  

[JeffD 648]

Making second claim for week of 3/8