Toronto's S72 VHL Entry Draft

[Peace 1,562]

So the S72 VHL Entry Draft just concluded, and Toronto saw plenty of action as I clawed my way into the second round... and I made one huge mistake, too. Yes - I fully admit it - I made a mistake that I will probably regret for a while, and I bet someone else is laughing his ass off about it. I also think Toronto improved this off-season, and while we may have missed out on all the free agents we were trying to secure, I'm satisfied with how things have turned up. 

To understand why I trade picks for picks, you have to have an inside knowledge of my philosophy behind building my team. You see -- when I hired an AGM -- I was looking for someone of similar mind to me, but also compellingly different, but that essentially boils down to (in layman terms) similar team building priorities: activity over immediate talent, so trading picks away for kick-ass S66 players just wasn't going to cut it for me. 

I call my method the reverse Devise (I still trade all my picks away). 

Where Devise was trading his picks for top tier talent, I'm trading my picks for players who are young and still growing. 

This allows Toronto to still have plenty of cap space, while growing a young core for a window of competition. 

Now it can be said I'm talking from my ass, and I might just be, but at least some shit is true.  

Time for a break down: 


VAN/TOR TRADE:

TOR: S74 TOR 1st and S74 TOR 3rd
VAN: S72 RIG 2nd (Michael Mac), S72 VAN 2nd (Joseph Gainer), S73 DCD 2nd and Anthony Matthews

 

Honestly... this trade didn't take long for Beaviss and I to come to an agreement on, but the effort it took to secure the type of assets I acquired is an entirely different story, in fact it goes back well before the playoffs ended. For a while I tried to move into the second round as early as the beginning of the off-season (meaning making a trade as soon as the portal rolled over by agreeing to one while the playoffs were underway). I knew I wanted to be in this draft: it was deep, a lot of impressive players, and Toronto couldn't afford missing out on some home runs. 

 

Clearly I wasn't able to find the second round picks I wanted prior to the draft, although some were available at prices I couldn't justify at the time. 

 

At one very particular point during the off season my priorities shifted, and I narrowed down my search leading up to the draft. I changed my views from trying to get any pick in the second round to trying to get a mid-to-late second round pick just to draft Joseph Gainer to the Toronto Legion. JoeG sent me a message some time prior to the VHL Entry Draft and expressed his desire to join the Legion, stating that the Toronto Maple Leafs were his favorite team, so I made him a promise I would try to get him onto the roster.

During the draft -- much to my surprise -- two of the players I had higher on my list (which was originally written on the 5th VIA Google Docs) were slipping further and further down the draft than I had anticipated. Both Michael Mac and Joseph Gainer were still available, but 21 and 22 were still a few picks away at that point. Beaviss and I had been talking about some trades for a little while before the draft started, so when the picks were coming up, I agreed to a trade on the condition that Helsinki didn't take the player(s) I wanted.  

They were never selected, so I pulled the trigger with Beaviss.

Yes, I gave up a (most likely) lottery first round pick for three second round picks and Anthony Matthews. 

I am more than excited to have both of these guys on Toronto, and I cannot tell you why they slid. 

HSK/TOR TRADE:

TOR: S73 DCD 2nd
HSK: S72 TOR 3rd (Adam Frence) and Vladimir Shaposhnikov

 

Alright... so the trade itself isn't the disastrous mistake I made. Jubo had been shipping Shaposhnikov around already for a price that would have been cheaper to get if I didn't go for the third (ironically my own)... which brings me to the huge mistake I actually did make, and this sits entirely on my shoulders. 

Adam Frence. 

Do you recall me saying the list was originally written on May 5th? Yeah, I updated it on the 6th and never looked back. To be clear I reference this as my 'written list', but it is a digital file. 

Back when I originally did my scouting I had one draft pick... one. It was an early fourth round selection that may still yield a quality player for Toronto, which I'm extremely happy with. Ziara Anigbogu might never develop into a VHL Star, but over time he will become a reliable player if he continues earning 6-8 TPE a week, and that's worth a fourth round pick if that player is coming straight from the draft. 

But drafting Mr. Frence was a mistake.

After drafting him I discovered that he nuked himself off the internet... but how did I miss that?

Since the portal was acting up for me -- which I said it was being slow -- I couldn't actually check the players again. For this pick I was ill-prepared, but I made the trade because I wanted to bolster the Legions' prospect pool, and it bit me hard. Over zealous, sure, but it is certainly a learning experience. With the portal lagging, and the pick had already taken forever to process (both the trade and the pick itself), I knew to avoid irritating people I just had to make a pick as quickly as I could. I went to my list.. that hadn't been updated since the 6th. 

I picked Frence over Bobby Wyman and it was a mistake that'll haunt me for a few seasons or eight just because Frence was higher. 

Yeah. 

That'll hurt for quite some time. 




Toronto's draft day wasn't done there, though. 

Chad Magnum extended his contract with Toronto, including a no-trade clause, so I'm thrilled he's given Toronto an opportunity to develop into a better team. This one is pretty straight forward, and comes on the heels of Jaxx Hextall signing a similar contract with adjusted salary built into it. As some have noted, Hextall's contract could seriously weaken Toronto if ROOKIE goes completely inactive... but I have a great feeling about ROOKIE, and he's been amazing to have on Toronto. 

Corco provides silent stability for us, and it is immensely appreciated, I hope he'll be our #1 center when our window opens for competition. He's not too active on the Discord, but we share in his successes, such as his recent promotion to Updater and being named for a VHLM conference earlier this month. 

When I took over for Toronto... we had nothing, really.

That's not a stain on Devise, it's just the reality of what happened. 

The Legion are entirely my team now. 

And I love it. 

I can't wait to see what happens when we do start those playoff runs.

 

 

WE - ARE - LEGION
 

 

 

That's everything. 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading. 
 



1,100 words. 

Claiming for weeks ending on May 23 and 30th.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Peace

[Victor 11,043]

I think I like the 1st move on the balance. Or specifically in your situation. I don't think Toronto can keep waiting for your 1 pick per draft because you'll never built a competitive roster that way. And who knows what the NA conference looks like in S73, maybe you overtake some teams.

 

Kachur.... yeah, yikes. These things happen, it's just with the Legion having so few pieces to work with you basically have to get every pick right. But who knows what happens, you tend to overthink the details in the moment and then you look back and so many bad trades made a negligible impact or actually worked out quite nicely. Ultimately you only need about 5 good players in the right positions at the right time to succeed and you're probably not that far off.

 

That said, Toronto always has its success in spurts so I'm not holding out hope for you this decade.  

[joeg 69]

Love it all! So excited to be a part of THIS team!!! Cannot wait to get started, whenever that is.

 

WE-ARE-LEGION

 

And I am all in!!

[Peace 1,562]

48 minutes ago, joeg said:

Love it all! So excited to be a part of THIS team!!! Cannot wait to get started, whenever that is.

 

WE-ARE-LEGION

 

And I am all in!!

I'm glad to hear that!

Welcome aboard. 

[diamond_ace 3,114]

Great picks with those 2nds @Peace (not so much the 3rd, but definitely the 2nds). I'd also briefly tried to deal up for 21, and was going Mac if I'd gotten it, but your deal was definitely the better one for Van to take given that 1st.

[Doomsday 4,145]

At least you didn't waste a pick on a player you had no intentions of keeping, then immediately trade them for a net loss. 

[Peace 1,562]

Second Claim