The Late Pick Parade

[diamond_ace 3,106]

The Prague Phantoms, throughout much of the history of their franchise, have been able to pull late round gems from the draft. It's become such a routine thing that this season, only having picks 8 and 32, it was a bit of a surprise that there were no late picks around to use in this manner. Let's go through some of the picks that have given this franchise the reputation it's earned throughout the seasons.

 

Season 68, Pick 50 (Round 4 Pick 12): Ben McGirr @cartoes

This particular pick, the one that started it all, was actually a bit unexpected. I remember during the draft going through and finding McGirr, not really knowing much about him at the time, but as the pick approached, going through the player page and seeing a guy who regularly updated and at that stage of the draft, that was more than enough. Since then, McGirr has climbed the draft charts and is currently the 20th highest TPE player from the Season 68 draft, having passed more than half of the guys above him. His career has largely been pretty quiet and under the radar, which I'm sure is helped by the fact that he's been an exclusively forum guy in a league that's moved so much of its discussions to discord, but he's certainly had some solid years in there - especially the last two, after he reorganized his TPE. To think that early in his career, I almost traded him so I could fit the team under the cap. I'm especially glad to have managed to find a way not to do that. He may not have the flash of a guy like Thomas Landry II who has climbed the TPE charts so quickly that going by TPA, he's the best player on the team already, but guys like McGirr are great to fill a roster with; when opposing defenses are busy shutting down Landry, McGirr and company will be there to make them pay for that.

 

(Season 68 honorable mention: Jacob Perry, Pick 38, Round 3 Pick 12 - inactive now, but outlasted many of those near him.)

 

Seasons 69 and 70 Prague had no picks later than 14th overall.

 

Season 71, Pick 35 (Round 3 Pick 11): Woody McPine @HearnNation67

Unlike McGirr, McPine was a bit more planned out. Having drafted the aforementioned Landry at 5, I had plenty of time to scour the boards and see if there was anyone in particular I wanted. McPine stood out about half a round or so earlier than the pick with which I ultimately selected him, but the problem was I'd just been kind of lingering in the draft room, with two 4ths and nothing sooner. People were moving their later picks in this draft, so I got hold of @GustavMattias and offered one of the 4ths plus a 3rd the following draft to get in at 35. He accepted it, and the goalie of the future was brought into the team. The traded 4th became Linea Alba, who has added 0 TPE since the draft, and the 3rd the following draft was moved to Moscow and became Keith Krestanovich, who has been active since then but was taken by London in the expansion draft. Assuming Davos got something equivalent to Krestanovich in exchange for that 3rd, it's still a decent trade on their end, but I'm pleased with that price for Prague's first true franchise goalie (Wahl was amazing, but only here 2 seasons, and Crawford and Grimaldi didn't work out as planned). Since then, McPine has climbed to 16th in TPE for S71 draftees, only 13 TPE behind Joakim Bruden, another goalie who was selected 20 spots ahead of him (this is not a knock on Bruden, he was taken 15th and has earned the 15th most, he's right where he should be - plus both goalies will pass Joe Proto shortly). Absolutely worth the trade up and McPine will be the guy behind the new era of Phantoms hockey.

 

Season 72, Pick 32 (Round 3 Pick 8): Riley Knight Gee @KnightRiley

Having traded away the 1st and 2nd in other deals, and the 3rd in the deal for McPine the prior season, Prague entered the S72 draft with nothing but two 4ths. This was another draft much like the prior one where I was just kind of lingering in the draft room, waiting to see what happened. As it turned out, teams were moving later picks again, and an opportunity came up with Seattle to get pick 32 in exchange for my S74 3rd. Gee had also been falling down the board, for what seemed like no real reason at all. Teams had identified him as a guy in the mix for selection but just for whatever reason, they weren't taking him. Naturally, this meant I had to trade into the round and pick him up. The 3rd I sent to Seattle was further sent to Calgary, with which they selected William Shakespeare II, and since this draft happened yesterday the jury is still largely out on him. Gee, on the other hand, is looking every bit the part of a player who can lead the new era of Prague defense; he has big shoes to fill, as the era of Seabass Perrin, Wolf Stansson Jr, and Cinnamon Block comes to an end, but it seems likely so far that Gee will have no problems doing so.

 

Season 72, Pick 46 (Round 4 Pick 10): Ernie King @Greg Ernest

I mentioned in the last bit about Gee that I had two 4ths. One of these was sent to New York (with which they took Bacon, who has been a great selection for them, all credit to Esso). The other, the third to last pick of the draft, was Ernie King. This pick represents both a miss (in that Pietro Angellini was taken with the very next pick and is now the 21st highest TPE in the class) and a hit (King himself hasn't passed many people yet, but he's at least still around and sometimes updating, which is more than some of the people at his stage of the draft). At 46th overall, King will be considered a successful pick if he makes the VHL, which I'm confident he will do at some stage. It may take him a bit longer, but with some consistency, King could become a McGirr type player in the long run.

 

Season 73, Pick 46 (Round 3 Pick 10): Theodore James St.Louis @Nick Kirkpatrick

Season 73, Pick 51 (Round 3 Pick 15): Zachariah Kisslinger @Kisslinger

Season 73, Pick 56 (Round 4 Pick 4): Secel Keller @xsjack

 

The trio of late rounders from the S73 draft who are still active represent a 60% hit rate in that draft, as I also had two picks in Bobbie Cheechoo and Jack Ogilvey who've gone inactive. However, these three are all still around, have started to pass up a few people (currently 40/41/43 in TPE for the draft class) and could be good building blocks for the team going forward. Kisslinger in particular has been active in the discord and seems particularly motivated to crack the roster next season. Keller has been around before (as Jack Lynch) and knows the league well for a guy at this end of the draft.

[diamond_ace 3,106]

1221 words. so i have this week and some other unspecified week - have a vsn thing for next week

[xsjack 94]

DA made this article just to brag about finding late round gems nice

[diamond_ace 3,106]

9 minutes ago, xsjack said:

DA made this article just to brag about finding late round gems nice

that and because i missed a week of vsn and needed something to link to tomorrow for efl/sba

 

but definitely a fan of bragging about things i do well at

[Garsh 1,083]

I always enjoy reading your post draft thoughts.  Good stuff.

[diamond_ace 3,106]

Also coincidentally: just after naming him in this article as an inactive who outlasted people @Liberty_Cabbage has returned

 

[diamond_ace 3,106]

second week on this. vsn thing will be coming after the week change so ill use the second week of this now