Diamonds In The Rough: S73 Underdogs

[Patrik Tallinder 1,087]

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new series on VSN! In Diamonds In The Rough, we take a look at some of the upcoming draft’s underdogs. This season has had no shortage in underdogs, to say the least. We have an abundance of unique storylines to cover with these players, and we’re excited to see where they fall on their draft day. With the expansion teams coming in for this draft and being underdogs themselves, maybe they take a chance on a player like this. Now, let’s see who it is that we’re talking about.
 

- Ajay Krishna -

G | Ranked #20 in midseason rankings

Ajay Krishna has been one of my personal favourites of this draft class for a little while now. Impressively earning every possible capped TPE available to him so far, the goaltender’s progression to this point is something that can be maintained for as long as he chooses. While he hasn’t capitalized on a crazy amount of uncapped TPE opportunities, he did show a flash of promise just a couple of weeks ago when he posted a week of 30 TPE, 18 being uncapped. His TPE earning habits remind me somewhat of a young Jacques Lafontaine in his draft season, and Lafontaine has unquestionably turned out great for the Wranglers. What makes Krishna an underdog is his total TPE. His 146 TPE places him at 23rd in the draft class, so he has a bit of a hill to climb. You may be asking how his TPE would be so low with his impressive productivity, and the answer lies partially in the newly added late joiner TPE. Krishna joined in a time when the adjustment was not automatic, and he needed to claim it manually. He did not do so, and missed out on 12 TPE. Combining this with his lack of uncapped TPE participation so far, it seems that he is a bit behind right now. The good news is that his outstandingly consistent capped TPE earning makes him a very high potential, low-risk pick in the draft. The uncapped TPE will hopefully come as well, and if that is the case, we could be looking at an extremely valuable goalie prospect.
 

 

- Kevin King -

C | Ranked #25 in midseason rankings

A prospect with almost scary potential, Kevin King has unfortunately fallen victim to poor timing. Joining in the very last week of S73 eligibility, he has found himself in a position where he has a ton of catching up to do. That said, he has not wasted as much as a second so far. Kicking off his career with a week of 46 TPE, King made a statement to the VHL right out of the gate. Pairing that with the second week of 14 TPE where he capped out once again, it becomes apparent that he’s a player who could skyrocket in value over the next few weeks. On the ice, the offence hasn’t come yet for the American forward, but he does have a decent build. His only glaring weakness is puck handling, but that can be ironed out pretty quickly with time. I expect the goal totals to increase a lot really soon, and hopefully, that puts him closer on the radar of VHL GMs. With his late entry into the VHLM, it sparks the question of where he would be if he had joined earlier. Would he be pushing for a spot in the top ten, or even the top five? That said, there is a spectacular amount of talent here, and hopefully, he is able to reach his highest potential.

 

- Alec Volchenkov -

C | Ranked #27 in midseason rankings

SirRupertBarnes is a user who is looking for redemption. His last player, Dimitri Volosenkov, was one of the most exciting prospects of the S66 Draft. Following his top-five selection in the draft, Volchenkov would go on to have a fantastic rookie season with 70 points in 72 games. However, that success would be short-lived, as he would post 21 points the next season and go entirely inactive. This time around, his latest player Alec Volchenkov hopes to prove his reliableness. So far, his TPE production shows that he’s off to a great start, with 74 TPE over 4 and a half weeks, including 50 in the last 2.5 weeks. The Russian is a fantastic two-way player who shows much promise as a playmaker as well. He always finds a way to get the puck to teammates in open ice, which is an incredibly useful skill at both ends of the ice. Especially at a time where the majority of forwards prioritize scoring, his ability to thread the needle will likely be coveted by VHL teams to balance their lineups out a bit more. There’s quite a bit of promise in this player, and I don’t think Volchenkov will burn out as Volosenkov did.

 

- John Merrick -

C | Ranked #11 in midseason rankings

It’s hard to call a first round prospect an underdog, but I think it’s very fitting for John Merrick, given the circumstances. Like King, Merrick entered the VHLM in the last week of S73 eligibility and has not had much time to catch up. I think it is fair to consider him an underdog since had he recreated at last season’s deadline, he may have very well been a contender for a top-three selection, possibly even first overall. The reason I say this is because Steve’s last player, Guy LeGrande, was an S67 player who had already amassed 1177 TPE, which still stands as seventh in his draft class, even with over two weeks since he retired. Merrick is a goal-scoring centre with all the right tools to be successful offensively. His faceoffs could use some work, but he’s still extremely early in his development, so it will likely be improved soon. He has had a quality start to his career with the Mexico City Kings, with 16 points in 26 games. With his rapid improvement presumably continuing for the playoffs, expect him to be a real breakout candidate there. This is undoubtedly an elite prospect, and only time will tell how far he can climb up the rankings before draft day.

 

There are definitely other prospects who have fallen under the radar for one reason or another, but these ones are the most notable ones to me. It’s always fun cheering for the underdog, so make sure to keep an eye on these players around draft time. If you’d like to give some recognition to an underdog of the S73 Draft class, feel free to leave a comment on this article. With that said, we’re all done for this season, but make sure to come back next season for the underdogs of the S74 draft class!

 

One way to follow these prospects is to keep up with VSN’s VHLM content! We’ve got weekly updates for it as well as the big league. Keep an eye out for that, as well as an upcoming mock draft! But really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg with VSN content. We’ve got plenty of diverse content that any member would like. Here’s our latest work:

| VHLM Weekly | VHL Weekly | Behind The Trophy |

 

Players mentioned: @Hooperorama @IamMOOSE @SirRupertBarnes @Steve

 

[diacope 2 764]

Nice article Patrik. Some of these players have been pretty overlooked. 

[Hooperorama 126]

  AWESOME.   






 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Hooperorama