mattyIceman 1,037 Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 SEASON 75 PRELIMINARY MOCK DRAFT The season is over and the playoffs have already begun. The quest for the Continental Cup has begun. For some teams and members, a different game is being played… The planning and scheming for the upcoming entry draft has started... And this draft is like no other... It’s a big one, 'that’s what she said'. This draft has many solid players in the first round. The second round and third round talent alone may shape the future of any VHL team looking for some franchise depth and skill contributions. What pleases me personally is the amount of new users in the community. Somewhere down the road, we will be looking back at this draft, seeing third and fourth round picks helping teams win more Continental Cups. That’s the magic of this draft. First, let’s see where teams would be selecting in the draft. This is hypothetical, based on the final standings only, so this ranking won’t be the one on draft day. I will not be taking into account possible trades, nor will I speculate what moves will be made. The first round could look something like this: 1. London 9. HC Davos 2. Los Angeles 10. Helsinki 3. Calgary (from Warsaw) 11. Toronto 4. New York 12. Riga 5. Chicago 13. Warsaw (from Seattle) 6. Calgary 14. Vancouver (from Malmo) 7. D.C. 15. Vancouver 8. Prague 16. Moscow Both Calgary and Vancouver have two picks each while Seattle and Malmo have none at the moment. Draft day can be very unpredictable that’s for certain. The top 10 alone is insane. There are four VHL GM players in the top ten ranking for TPE. Taro Tsujimoto @GustavMattias has been the consensus #1 ranked since the s73 season. This does not mean he will be picked first. He will go to HC Davos with 175% certainty, around the 9th pick overall. Goaltender Rara Rasputin @Victorwill be going to Moscow at the bottom of the first round, the highest ranked defender Muffbeav @.sniffuMwill go around 13th to the Warsaw Predators while Sirkants Klamasteris @hedgehog337 should go to the Riga Reign. With the reserved picks pretty much locked in, now it’s time for some meat and potatoes. Yum actually. Most eyes are on Pistil Stamen @DMaximus going first overall. His ceiling is incredibly high, but with London slotted first and needing defense desperately after having the worst goal differential, I’m not sure he goes to London. Second tpe-ranked defender L @gorlab would be a logical pick for London here. However.. L has been linked to fellow countryman R @Kylrad and has expressed the desire to be drafted to the same team together. Unless a team can work some magic in the draft and obtain the two spots to draft the players, they may be separated. London has some choices here now. I can see GM Roger McWolf III @McWolfselecting either L or 3rd-ranked dman, Jolly Greene Giant @DoktorFunk, with the first overall pick. He is considering every option at the moment, but he could be convinced to trade down if the offer is very good. Next up is Los Angeles. They have Jeffery Pines down the middle currently, and they could certainly use another centerman to secure and define their future. They could also add another defenseman to their already young blue line with L or Greene Giant. It would be foolish to pass on Stamen though, so with the second pick, I can see GM Josh Da Silva @Josh taking Pistil Stamen here Calgary has two picks here. The Wranglers would be praying for Stamen to be available here, as he would be the heir apparent to current star centerman RJ Jubis @Jubis. He could also use the two first round picks to select L and R as well, so that’s another angle if GM Ryan Jubis chooses to do a full rebuild. Either Stamen, L or Greene Giant gets selected here with the third overall pick. New York is entering a rebuilding phase with three players retiring, but they need help in all areas. With some prospects set to graduate into the VHL, I see them taking the best player available. GM Esso Drunlkmann @Esso2264 has his pick of wingers Joe Kelly @emidas and RJ Thatcher @jhatty8 here in the fourth overall spot, but literally anyone that’s available that he has his eyes on can get selected. The Chicago Phoenix can go ahead and select the best player available if they wish to do so, but they should address their blue line. Next highest defenseman available is 12th ranked Ove Dyrdahl @GRZ, so GM Geoffrey Dee @JeffD should select him here with the fifth pick. Zooming back around to Calgary with the 6th selection in the draft, If they take L at 3rd, they could select R here and keep the pair united, or they could go with the next best forward which would be either the aforementioned Kelly, Thatcher, or go with centerman Its Gucci @frescoelmo , ranking 16th in tpe. DC is next up. If Calgary went with selecting the L and R pair, DC has their pick of either Thatcher, Kelly or Gucci. They could go with a defenseman also, however the rumor mill has it that GM Eno Rama @Enorama might even trade the pick. To who and for what, who knows? As for Prague in the 8th position, well, they’d love to select centerman Its Gucci if he’s still available. GM Jason Glasser @diamond_ace could select any of the top goalies in Artem Tretiak @Molholt or Kunibuni UnGuri @Berocka and shore up their backup position, they may also be shopping the pick around. HC Davos in the 9th position, GM Jerry Garcia proudly selects Taro Tsujimoto. Without question. The Dynamo will have a good problem to solve with two elite centermen in their lineup with SS Hornet and Tsujimoto. With the 10th pick, Helsinki isn’t going goalie. Their forward core is solid so they should go defense. Around here, Ove Dyrdahl, R and Chicken Wing @chikn could likely be their selection. GM Julian Borwinn @Jubo07 could throw a curveball and select a forward to bolster their prospect pool at forward though. GM Rylan Peace @Peace will hold onto his pick at 11th overall and select the best player available. Any defenseman or forward would be a welcome addition to his prospect pool, my best guess is he goes defense as there are quite a few inactive players at that position hitting regression and/or free agency. The Riga Reign should be selecting goalie Sirkants Klamasteris, as franchise goaltender Greg Eagles is retiring after their current playoff push. GM Benjamin Zeptenbergs hasn’t yet confirmed that he takes Klamasteris, it would simply depend on how Riga performs in the playoffs. With VHL stars Lincoln Tate, Phil Marleau and Eagles retiring, he has alot to consider at this draft. It could be mayhem in Riga, or not. Draft Day will tell us what he’s up to. Warsaw has the Seattle Bears’ pick in the 12th spot. GM Damien Walec proudly selects defenseman Muffbeav. Zero drama or speculation here, although he may take initiative and trade down for an asset, and that brings us to Vancouver next. The Wolves have the next two picks at 13 and 14 overall. The rumor mill has it that GM Keaton Louth @Beaviss is shopping these picks, but it’s difficult to determine what he’s looking for if he moves them or drafts in one or both spots. He may keep one and draft a goaltender to back up Jimmy Spyro, he could in fact go with UnGuri or Tretiak, which leaves us with the final selection of the first round going to.. Moscow. Finishing at the top of the standings, GM Victor Alfredsson @Victor will select franchise-caliber goalie Rara Rasputin. He’ll be backing up goaltending legend Raymond Bernard for next season, then offer Moscow many seasons of quality goaltending. Fun (or odd) fact about this draft, Malmo has NO picks. This doesn't mean he won't make a move. GM John Frostbeard @FrostBeard had this to say: "I believe that Malmo could be looking at some possibilities near the draft time. Nothing concrete yet but I can say that I will not have an easy night when the draft happens." How's that for an ominous cliffhanger. Draft Day could get pretty crazy and unpredictable. 1300+ words Red, gorlab, Patrik Tallinder and 7 others 7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhatty8 662 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 don't make the mistake of picking Kelly over Thatcher @emidas mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamond_ace 3,106 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Whether I keep the pick or trade it, there is a 0% chance I go goalie in the first round. mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoktorFunk 810 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Jolly Greene Giant needs to go first overall. Not even close mattyIceman and McWolf 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lil OG z 1,556 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Would be thrilled if we added gorlab, either way we're going to get stronger and rise from the bottom next season. Thought the future was bright before.. Watch out VHL, the United are leveling up! Edited October 25, 2020 by ZP16 McWolf and mattyIceman 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molholt 2,183 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Seems like a first round selection isn't happening for Tretiak. mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromtheinside 1,278 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 nice writeup @mattyice! That graphic at the top is super slick too. mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyIceman 1,037 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, fromtheinside said: nice writeup @mattyice! That graphic at the top is super slick too. Its a @Zetterberg creation!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyIceman 1,037 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 39 minutes ago, Molholt said: Seems like a first round selection isn't happening for Tretiak. Who knows anything at this point.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator frescoelmo 1,218 Posted October 25, 2020 Moderator Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Good read! Thanks for the mention Edited October 25, 2020 by frescoelmo mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigAL 2,176 Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 DC trading their first round pick? I'd love to get the rumour mill investigating that one. mattyIceman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emidas 76 Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 On 10/24/2020 at 8:26 PM, jhatty8 said: don't make the mistake of picking Kelly over Thatcher @emidas Who is this kid and who let him up after bedtime #FreeJoeKelly jhatty8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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