An Update on Draft Content and The Future

[Patrik Tallinder 1,087]

As some of you may know, I recently decided to cancel my draft profiles series. I wanted to give a bit of an update on why I did so, and what you can plan to see in the future from me. Let’s start with the former.

 

There’s a few factors in my decision to stop making the draft profiles series. Firstly, and I mentioned this in the series’ final article, I’ve been doing the same articles for over half a year. I felt moving on from it would give me more time to release some more creative, original content.

 

Another reason is that for three seasons, I kept improving the draft profiles series to make the best articles I could possibly make, and ended up with a product I’m very proud of. However, with adding more and more new information to the series, it meant spending way more time on them each week than I originally did. It got to the point where it took quite a few hours throughout every week to prepare for them. That can get repetitive. While I never got to the point where I disliked making them, I did start to enjoy it less by the end of this season. And given everything this series has done for me, I never wanted to see it become a chore for me, since that would result in a worse product overall.

 

So, what did the draft profiles series do for me?

 

Before I started the draft profiles series, I was a pretty new member, and I made graphics and articles specifically on my player. This was fun, but it got boring after awhile. I had recently made an article talking about other players for the first time, where I talked about Mississauga’s S69 draft class. From there, I took an interest in the VHL draft, and decided to start my first ever series, the S70 Draft Profiles. It immediately got more attention than anything I had made prior, and it was really cool seeing the players I wrote about leaving comments on my article. After I posted that article, I felt like I had a purpose in the VHL, and it wasn’t just to improve my player.

 

I could go on about everything that happened in between, but I’ll save you the time. We’ll skip to the end of my second season doing it, when I was surprised to see a message from none other than the legendary @FrostBeard. He invited me to help with VSN’s S71 Mock Draft, and I happily accepted his offer. The VSN crew was low on available writers, but knew about my series, and thought I would be a good fit for the article. Fast forward a bit, and a job opening for VSN arises. I apply, and get the job. If I hadn’t had that prior experience with VSN, there’s a solid chance I wouldn’t have been hired. My time with VSN so far has been amazing, and it all came from that little idea I had back in November.

 

Once again, I’d like to thank everyone who showed any support to it over its lifespan. We truly had a great run, but now it’s time to look ahead. What can you expect from me in the near future?

 

• The Stars Of Tomorrow: This is a series I’ve already started, but is currently on pause, because I don’t have any players to cover. I look at future VHL players who have yet to be created, and some basic details about them. Most notably is Micah Adrienne, who is now one of the top prospects for S73. If you know the name, position and type of build your next player will have, feel free to PM me. I can cover them in one of my articles.

• Tallinder’s Draft Interviews: I did mention that I will have some upcoming draft content, just a different style. I plan to interview some of the draft’s top prospects, so hopefully that works out.

• Analysis of drafts I’ve previously covered: I’m thinking of doing this, and also something like a “Who is the best “X” overall pick of the S70’s so far?” sorta thing.

• Whatever else comes to mind: Other ideas will surely come to me over time, so watch out for those, I guess.

 

Well, that’s it. Thanks for reading this chunk of writing, and hopefully I can follow up the Draft Profiles series with some interesting content!