Where do we go now?

[Smarch 3,072]

Sweet Child of Mine

As I sit down to write this article, I cannot help but think of the Guns and Roses song, Sweet Child of Mine. After finishing Season Seventy-Four with twenty-seven wins and sixty-one assists, the Los Angeles Stars took a step back this past season, with only twenty-one wins and fifty-one points. Where do we go, where do we go now? Those are the words I echoed in my head as I reviewed my second season with the Stars.

 

After finishing the season with one more win than the New York Americans, the Stars entered the Season Seventy-Five Draft Lottery Tournament with the second best pre-tournament draft lottery odds. While it should come as no surprise with the way 2020 and Season Seventy-Five went for the Stars, the results of the lottery showed the Stars are still losing in the off-season, as the Lost Angeles based VHL franchise dropped to third in the final Draft Lottery results. With eight players returning from Season Seventy-Five and a few prospects likely to make the jump, the Stars don’t have tons of holes on the roster, but seem to be still lacking that final piece to the puzzle. Today we’ll take a quick look at some of the names that might be available when Stars General Manager Josh Da Silva steps up to the virtual podium.

 

Red Lite (Right Winger- San Diego Marlins)

 

The top prospect in the upcoming Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Draft, Lite likely will be headed to the Big Apple to help with the impressive young forward core they already have in the stables. Lite is coming off an impressive season in the VHLM with the San Diego Marlins, playing in all seventy-two games for the franchise, putting up a balanced forty-eight goals alongside forty-nine assists. Lite entered the VHLM as your prototypical sniping forward, but after nineteen games with the Reapers in Season Seventy-Four, Lite knew he had lots to prove in his draft eligible season, to help his draft stock improve. Lite is a consistent face at practices so far leading up to his draft day, so combine his great work ethic along with his style of play makes him the best possible candidate to go First Overall and therefore, not suiting up in the black and silver next season.  

 

Battre Sandstorm (Defenseman – Saskatoon Wild)

 

Sandstorm currently sits as the second best prospects currently eligible for the Season Seventy-Six VHL Entry Draft. Sandstorm was another member of the draft class that joined the VHLM in Season Seventy-Four at the trade deadline, allowing Sandstorm to get his feet wet in the league with seventeen games played with the Marlins in Season Seventy-Four.  After putting up twenty-two points in those seventeen games, the Saskatoon Wild took notice and picked Sandstorm Eighth Overall in the Season Seventy-Five VHLM Dispersal Draft. Sandstorm had a decent final season in the VHLM with the Wild, putting up thirty-two goals and forty-three assists, which placed him in sixth in overall defenseman scoring in the VHLM. Much like Red Lite, Sandstorm is an extremely hard working individual and a great locker-room presence. With Sandstorm being the first of top defensive prospects on the board, one will wonder if the Phantoms lack of impact secondary forwards will drive them to skip the defensive prospects that are on the board. We can see Sandstorm slipping out of the number two spot based on the needs of the roster in Prague.

 

Hulk Hogan Jr. (Defenseman – Mexico City Kings)

 

Another quality defenseman at the top end of the draft board, Hogan Jr. is a name that will jump off the paper to many that follow the VHL, due to the top notch VHL career his father just had. While Hogan Jr. is being represented in the league by a different player agent that his father, it appears already from his short tenure in the VHLM, that Hogan Jr. might be more like his father than first meets the eye. Hogan Jr. joined the Miami Marauders at the trade deadline and had the privilege to play in twenty regular season games, along with the Marauders eighteen playoff games, hitching a ride with the eventual Founders Cup Champions. Hogan didn’t have the greatest season offensively for an offensive defenseman, putting up twenty-one points and twenty-eights assists, those numbers won’t be the reason that Hogan Jr. doesn’t get picked up in the first three draft choices.  With Hogan Jr. player agents ties to the Vancouver Wolves franchise it is not likely he’ll be selected by the Stars, but a defenseman with the pedigree Hogan Jr. has doesn’t come around every draft at the number three spot, so it might be worth a shot for Da Silva.

 

 

Tom Eagles (Defenseman – Philadelphia Reapers)

 

Eagles is the third defenseman in a row currently on the VHL top prospects list. Eagles was drafted Sixteenth Overall by the Philadelphia Reapers in the Season Seventy-Five VHLM Dispersal Draft and got right to work for the Reapers. Eagles played in all seventy-two games for the Reapers in this past regular season, putting up seventeen goals and forty-seven assists in those seventy-two games, placing him fifth on the Reapers roster in scoring. Eagles and the Reapers also found themselves up against the Mexico City Kings recently in the Season Seventy-Five Founders Cup, and earlier today the Championship run came to an end for Eagles and the Reapers with a win in game six. Eagles performed very well in the fifteen VHLM playoff games, posting six goals and nine assists in those fourteen games, showing the hockey world and the VHL the next steps he has taken to take his game to the next level. Eagles is represented by a player agent that has been around the league for many years, so Eagles likely has tons of help preparing himself for the VHL Entry Draft. With only thirty practice house separating Eagles from the number one prospect in the draft, it’s likely Eagles won’t go higher than fourth, but stranger things have happened over the course of a VHL Entry Drafts.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Smarch

[Smarch 3,072]

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