Every Draft Pick Devise Has Ever Made

[Victor 11,043]

A Discord conversation recently inspired me to go back through Mr Ryan Power's (aka @Devise) entire draft pick history given that his 19 seasons of VHL GMing have become infamous for an aversion to draft picks. Is that a trend that has become absurd recently or was his Toronto reign in line with previous stints? I thought I'd dive in and have a look with a bit of context as well on his teams in general.

 

It all kicked off in S30, when Devise was still a first-gen, and not necessarily one of the best known ones of his time. He had a relatively new podcast going, a solo act known as the Pajodcast, named after his player, Rauno Pajari, a serviceable center with a career high of 89 points who played with names like Pavel Koradek, Ansgar Snijider, and Jarvis Baldwin on Riga, New York, and Seattle, but never quite got the timing right to win a cup. The Pajodcast would later evolve into a 3-man show featuring two of the VHL's most influential executives in Chris Miller and Power himself but the biggest name of the trio at the time was Kyle Snow, agent of Hall of Famer Daniel Braxton, who left less of a mark on the league in the long term. No one knew that at the time, but Power stepping into the role of Americans GM in S30 was the start of the rise of Devise.

 

New York Americans; S30-S32

Draft picks:

S30: Jeff Phinney (#5), Lars Lessio (#13), Cicero Mortem (#21)

S31: Chris Bourque (#12), Haggard Slobban (#19), Ron Dayne III (#37)

S32: N/A

 

Achievements: S31 Continental Cup runners-up, S32 Continental Cup champions

 

You could draw lots of parallels between New York now and New York in S30 – this was a franchise which couldn't seem to buy a slice of luck. The Americans' standout achievement in 30 seasons remained their lone championship in S14 and retiring GM Sam Helberg fought valiantly against the stigma but instead got rewarded with four straight finals losses, still the only time in VHL history that a franchise has lost more than 2 finals in a row.

 

Power's remit upon taking over was actually pretty simple – sell, start over, and try again. But something in the pre-expansion trade market was off and he couldn't find teams willing to pay fair value for what was still a talented New York squad. So came the first tipping point as the Americans stumbled into the playoffs in S30 and seeing that he still had future Hall of Famers Benjamin Glover and Tukka Reikkinen on the team, Power decided that it was still worth competing and started selling the picks he had acquired. S31 ended in more heartbreak for the Glover/Braxton era as they achieved a new VHL first in giving up a 3-1 lead in the finals (having done the same with a 2-0 lead in S27 and perhaps most embarrassingly losing to Vasteras in S26), but Power doubled down. In came perhaps the league's best forward in Alexander Chershenko and despite a rookie goalie in net, New York finally won a cup, upsetting Riga in the finals.

 

This was only rookie Devise and the Americans were a very healthy organisation which he didn't run dry as they kept making playoff runs until S34 and then transitioned into a smooth rebuild under Chris Miller. However, you can tell this short stint gave credibility to his theory that draft picks are pot luck and it's more worthwhile paying top dollar for top talent in the hope it clicks in the playoffs. Power added little to New York in his 3 drafts as GM, with the best player being Lars Lessio, who would become an inactive depth player on the NY and later Davos cup-winning teams. Shoutout though for drafting Ron Dayne III, who would one day become the Americans GM but did nothing of note as a player. @Tagger

 

Cologne Express; S42-S45

Draft picks:

S42: Scott Kibbie (#36)

S43: N/A

S44: N/A

S45: Sandro Clegane (#4), Evgeny Nezhmetdinov (#6)

 

Achievements: S42 Continental Cup champions, S43 and S44 Continental Cup runners-up

 

After a brief hiatus from GMing, Power came back into the game with a team who did need a decision maker like himself. Alexander Schneider had built up a strong core around the legendary Thomas O'Malley, but Cologne was still missing something to get to their first franchise championship. Power provided that, making the call to sell the farm for the likes of Martin Brookside and Robin Gow – this was enough to secure, a surprising but deserved Continental Cup in S42. Power then kept wheeling and dealing and in truth the Express were even better in S43 and S44, but lost to two underdogs in the finals in Seattle and Calgary, respectively.

 

This was and would remain by far the golden era of VHL hockey in Cologne, but it came at a cost. By the end of S44, a rebuild was in order but here came turning point #2 of the Devise GM timeline. Having not required a rebuild in his short time in New York and picked up an almost oven-ready team in Cologne, this would need to be the first rebuild of his GM career, and he chose a middle way instead. After a half-hearted attempt to rejuvenate the team through the S45 draft, Power then went back to throwing draft picks at anyone and everyone willing to sell, except this time going for middling-to-good talent like Gifford Shock, Joshua Rubin, and Jackson Miller, rather than the ready-made stars he had acquired in the past. It was ill-advised and the Express missed the playoffs in a highly competitive European Conference before Power stepped down – you could argue this was the beginning of the end for the franchise as they only ever made one more finals appearance before contraction in S57.

 

From a draft pick perspective, this was more like the time in Toronto, which won't be cause for optimism for the Legion given their current predicament. Of course, Sandro Clegane would go on to a Hall of Fame career, but this was for his exploits outside of Cologne, as he left when the reset button was hit for real by new management.

 

New York Americans; S51-S55

Draft picks:

S51: Hailey Cattrall (#8), Mike Ross (#9)

S52: Phil Shankly (#1), Grigory Kopralkov (#8), Crash McClannahan (#24), Ryan Nicholson (#27), Angus Mustang (#32)

S53: N/A

S54: N/A

S55: N/A

 

Achievements: S52, S53 Continental Cup champions

 

After the sour departure from Cologne it was back to Power's roots in New York in a few seasons' time. The Americans went from strength to strength after that breakthrough in S32, winning 3 more Continental Cups and being arguably the best-run organisation in the VHL. Power came back to take over from Ron Dayne III (remember him?) who started a rebuild not long after a championship in S47 so much of the groundwork was laid out already.

 

Power started off his tenure with a classic Devise move but also possibly his best ever, acquiring young forwards Diana Maxwell and Essian Ravenwing for a large chunk of New York's existing S52 and S53 picks. It was a gamble by both Power in NY and Chris Miller in Stockholm, but Power won in the long run, backing the existing talent over the uncertainty of future draft picks. Maxwell, Ravenwing, along with two more Hall of Famers in Unassisted and Tom Lincoln, would go on to fire the Americans to back-to-back championships, despite barely having a defence and chopping and changing between starting goalies.

 

Much like the previous time in New York, Power stepped down just before the rebuild but gave his successor Vince Wong lots of pieces with sell-on value and hadn't mortgaged the future chasing more cups in S54 and S55. Again, there wasn't much draft activity outside of selecting two useful players in with his top S52 picks but this wasn't necessarily classic Devise, but just a solid stint all around with some strong playoff results.

 

Toronto Legion; S63-S69

Draft picks:

S63: Tzuyu (#5), Chace Trepanier (#19), Rhett Stoffiday (#22), Athanasios Adrianopoulos (#27)

S64: N/A

S65: N/A

S66: N/A

S67: N/A

S68: Alex (#58)

S69: N/A

 

Achievements: S64, S65 Continental Cup champions

 

Did Devise become the meme or did the meme become Devise? The Toronto tenure, the longest of all of Ryan Power's in the league, does seem like a natural end result of all his GM experience gained previously. He sold the farm to get immediate results before and twice he stepped down before needing to rebuild. The one time he needed to rebuild in Cologne, he chose not to, and then stepped down anyway.

 

It is important to note one thing about mid-60s Toronto: this was by far the worst shape that Devise had found a team in. Outgoing GM Travis Boychuk managed to give up two future first overall picks (S61 and S64) and had already sold the farm in an ultimately unsuccessful chase for the cup in S59. There was not much to work with so adding to the core in S63 and then going in for the cup was really the only reasonable option, therefore getting back-to-back Continental Cups was very much the dream scenario. The only problem was then continuing down the same route for another 4 seasons, especially after S67 (the last time Toronto genuinely was a cup contender), and handing over even fewer assets to Rylan Peace than Power had picked up himself. Will it all sort itself out over time and the Legion come back stronger? I guess we'll see.

 

 

And so. 19 seasons as VHL GM – 21 draft picks made. About 10 of them made any impact in the VHL, only 3 (Clegane, Shankly, Tzuyu) were guaranteed VHL starters, and 4 won a cup on a Devise-led team.

 

The all-time average for homegrown players on Continental Cup winning team (i.e. players who make it from draft to lifting the cup) is 4.7. S32 New York had 1, as did S53 New York. S52 New York had 2, while S42 Cologne, largely built before Power's appointment, had 3. The back-to-back Toronto champions had 4 each, but the S63 Riga team before them had 8, and every team since has had at least 6 (and up to 10).

 

This does nothing other than prove that Devise in Toronto was very much par for the course, although perhaps taken to the extreme because it was also his longest stint. The VHL is a cyclical league, or it certainly was until drafts got deeper, and this is clearly an effective approach, although Devise is unique in how committed he is to it. I suppose this was a fun little trip down memory lane and also amusing to see his strategy laid out like that. If there's a fifth GM reign, I will fully expect no draft picks to be traded in it.

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

LOL at the Toronto draft picks

[Victor 11,043]

3 minutes ago, ContinentalCup036 said:

LOL at the Toronto draft picks

lest we forget that Alex was also already retired by the time Toronto drafted him.

[Enorama 2,039]

Just now, Victor said:

lest we forget that Alex was also already retired by the time Toronto drafted him.

 

I'm astonished you left that out of the article tbh

[Devise 4,475]

This article is hilariously appropriate. Also pretty much shows unless it was top 4 or a lock of a member I paid no mind to draft picks. 

[Baozi 1,664]

There is so much true information in here and really does showcase how Devise side of his GM strategies. Obviously I can relate to some of this as well during the Toronto stints. 

Really informative as usual. Nicely formatted with usage of banners to add some color. Always fun reading your spiels. 

 

10/10

[Victor 11,043]

Week 2 of 3.

[Victor 11,043]

Week 3 of 3. Fuck your theme week.