#AsktheBouch: VHLM & VHL Drafts

[Gaikoku-hito 2,081]

 

With the off-season in full swing and both drafts being completed; We have an interesting Interview with Robert Bouchard as we continue the series #AsktheBouch about his current experience in being drafted into the VHLM first and then VHL the following day.

 

So the drafts have been completed and are you happy with the teams that selected you?

At the end of the day you cannot control much about the draft process but I am very happy being drafted by both teams, Prague Phantoms and the Philadelphia Reapers. Both teams have a good roster and I have communicated well with both teams at this stage with my full season in the VHLM expected this season so that I can continue to develop towards the VHL most likely the next season with Prague. This will allow me to focus on being the best player on a very good Reapers team that should do well this season. Where we finish will be determined by our work ethic on and off the ice.

 

 

Can you tell us about the draft process a bit?

Yeah of course. The process start back in the season that you become eligible for either of the drafts. I think I was a bit unlucky to be eligible for both drafts meaning I was always going to be a higher selection in the VHLM and lower in the VHL since I didn’t have a full season of growth and development under my belt but the process would be the same. Continue develop your game do the right things on and off the ice will get you noticed. Towards the end of the season list start to come out placing you in an rough area of where you might be drafted but these are very loose. At the end of the season just before the draft some of the teams around your drafting prediction area will reach out and ask for interviews. You answer the questions as best as you can base on the knowledge that you have and simple hope not to make a fool of yourself. Draft day roles around and you can expect anything to happen as the draft is a fluid moving as the teams look to select the players that they feel can improve their teams.

 

Where you drafted where you expected to be drafted and by the teams that have selected you?  

I was drafted around the area that I was expected to be drafted but I really didn’t focus on the teams that much as the draft is fluid any the teams could change quickly. I can tell you that I was interview by a lot of different teams but at the end of the draft day you can be happy that a team that thinks you can improve their roster has selected you but now the true hard work starts as you now need to continue to develop and build on the trust that the teams that selected had in you when selecting you. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who selected you but that you were selected and now you need to work hard to prove that the selection was worthy.  Just look at other players drafted much later and look at how their career turned out and other drafted early had the opposite careers. It comes down to the player continuing to work and develop to show the teams that they can play a role on the roster in the future or the now.

 

Next week VHL.com/XM Radio/590 we will continue the interview with Robert Bouchard in a segment called #AsktheBouch, as we follow the Canadian progress towards his Rookie season in the VHLM and this future in the VHL.

(623 Words)

Edited January 4, 2021 by Gaikoku-hito
Adding Graphic that I had to create after posting this.