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Segi · 08-14-2019, 03:44 PM

The Lethbridge Lions and the Anaheim Outlaws both joined the SMJHL in Season 45 after a long absence from the SHL. The two expansion teams had very different stories in their first four seasons of existance. While the Anaheim Outlaws managed to win their first Four Star Cup in Season 48, their third season in the league, the Lethbridge Lions never really managed to raise out from the bottom of the standings. They did finish in third in Season 48, but were then promptly swiped by their expansion rivals. With @JNH and @SDCore, the Lions have a new management team, who sold most of their assets last season to get as many picks in the Season 49 reddit draft as possible, to start on that rebuild. The Outlaws have a new management team as well with @SpartanGibbles and @BDonini, that strives to continue the success story of their first four seasons. So let's have a look at how both teams did in this reddit draft and how their rookies developed so far. I will give every pick a grade, which are completely arbitrary and always have to be interpreted in relation to how late the pick was. A grade C in the 1st round might be a grade A in the 5th round.

Round 1

3: Lions

- Akira Ren @Velevra - D - 209 tpe
For people who know the history behind JNH and Velevra, this pick was no big surprise. Indeed, Velevra as the head GM of the recent SHL expansion team, the Chicago Syndicate, is certain to make another great player after the successful career of Luke Atmey. However, there have been rumors that Akira Ren might only see one season of SMJHL play, which would mean that the 3rd overall pick will never play as a capped player for the Lethbridge Lions. But by the time of the playoffs, he could still be a good 2nd pairing Defenseman on most other SMJHL teams and will definitely play an important role in this season's Lions squad.
grade B

5: Lions

(via

) - Disisde Dayudie @"スウェグキング" - D - 222 tpe
This is a rather surprising first round pick, since the user formerly known as Sweg, who I will only refer to as ctrl+v from now on has not had the best track record with his most recent players. The goaltender Alexander Andersson-Grande was a member of the Season 47 draft class, who reached 353 tpe in his 3 seasons before retirement. However Mister ctrl+v is very capable to manage successful players. Dick Skillsted retired on 1348 tpe and was an important member of the Minnesota Chiefs, before they started their rebuild. For now, he is active and one of the best tpe earners of his draft class. This risky pick might just pay off for the Lions.
grade B

6: Lions

(via

) - Luca Veccelli @Symmetrik - C - 213 tpe
With their third first round pick, the Lethbridge Lions drafted their third recreate and their first forward of this draft. Symmetrik is another older member, who will certainly reach the 350 tpe cap before his second season. However, depending on where he'll end up in the SHL draft, the risk that Veccelli will only see one or two SMJHL seasons is definitely there as well. Symmetrik's former player, Chris York had a long career and peaked at over 1800 tpe.
grade B

9: Outlaws

- Ivan Maximus @thiefofcheese - C - 211 tpe
The Anaheim Outlaws coming from a finals defeat got to pick for the first time after the first three picks of the Lions. Ivan Maximus is a very promising first generation player. Thiefofcheese has already been awarded the position of SMJHL budget director and is with that the first non-recreate of this draft class to get a job on the site. He has so far been one of the most prominent members of the Season 50 draft class, and I would not be surprised, if he gets picked even earlier in his SHL draft next off season.
grade A

Round 2

For different reasons, neither of the expansion teams had a pick in round 2, so we promply move onward to:

Round 3

23: Lions

(via

) - Jakub Hamr @TomHanks - D - 178 tpe
In the third round the Lions get their first first generation player and third defenseman. At first, after the draft our dear TomHanks looked to have turned inactive, but he has since returned to the site and updated his player again. He is a bit behind on tpe for his draft position, but if he stays active, this was a solid pick for the third round.
grade B

29: Outlaws

- Ursin Zimmermann @UrsinZ - D - 185 tpe
With their second pick of the draft, the Outlaws have found another active player and regular updater. Tpe wise, there were still a couple of better players available at that point, but defenders started to get scarse.
grade B+

Round 4

40: Lions

(via

&

- Face of the Franchise @Frankcarp21 - LW - 177 tpe
Contrary to his name, Face of the Franchise was not an early pick. And in the first round after the draft, he did not update his player and looked like a bust. He has however returned to the site yesterday and posted another update. There were still players available at that point who now have more tpe, but Face of the Franchise might turn out a to be a good 4th rounder and maybe even be the face of a franchise.
grade B

Round 5

42: Lions

(via

&

) - Adam Foley @Adam_TacoCat - RW - 155 tpe
Here, we have the first bust of either of the two expansion teams in this draft. Foley looked promising at the time of the draft, but the update he did got rejected and he hasn't come back online again since. He is still on the Lions' roster, so there is slight hope that he will return and at least apply his tpe correctly, but as of now, this was not a good draft pick.
grade F

44: Lions

- Niklas Fuhrberg @Confusion - LW - 192 tpe
Now this is a great pick. Confusion is a returning member who still spent one season with his old player upon returning and then decided to recreate. It is a bit of a surprise that he fell so far in the draft. If you only look at the tpe rankings, he did not fall too far though and a certain inactivity risk is certainly there, but it can be expected that his player will reach the cap in a reasonable amount of time.
grade A-

48: Lions

(via

) - Johnny Patey @Patey - C - 173 tpe
This is a weird case, since Patey looks to be active and is at least claiming activity checks, but he has not applied a single tpe to his build and is therefore still technically a 155 tpe player. The amount of tpe he has still also puts him below his draft position in the draft class ranking. If he decides to apply some tpe soon, this picks grade will get higher, but for now it has to be on the lower side.
grade B-

49: Outlaws

- Kevin Robinson @leftwing42 - C - 201 tpe
The Outlaws have found a diamond at this point in the draft. leftwing not only does his training and activity checks, he is also doing the player tasks and has even bought some equipment. Robinson is currently 27th in the tpe ranking of this draft class. A significant improvement on his draft position.
grade A

Round 6

54: Lions

- Alec Sullivan @bvgf - LW - 171 tpe
This pick would have looked very good last week. bvgf had applied 16 tpe, claimed a bunch more and even signed up for fantasy, but he has since vanished from the site and has not logged back in for almost a week now. If he comes back in the next couple of days, this could turn out to be a great pick, but for now it does not look too good.
grade B

Round 7

64: Lions

- Jake Miller @jakenbake - D - 158 tpe
A player who has been inactive for a couple of days at the time of the draft already. They have not returned and the Lions have even scrapped them from their roster.
grade F

69: Outlaws

- Jose Miguel Pereira Ferreira @bartolo - C - 178 tpe
This is a nice pick for the Outlaws. Not just because of the pick number, but also because they actually got an active player out of it. bartolo has been updating and even done the first PT. At this point in the draft that is more than most other players did who were still available.
grade A-

Round 8

At this point, a lot of the other teams are passing. Not so the Lions or the Outlaws. They will still continue to pick for a while.

74: Lions

- Pekka Grande @cjxbutler - G - 155 tpe
A complete bust. cjxbutler has not logged back in since the draft and has not gotten any tpe at all. Grande has never made the Lions' roster and will most likely rot in the free agent section until he'll be automatically retired.
grade F

79: Outlaws

- Rath McLeod @rathmourn - D - 178 tpe
At first, this looked to be another active player for the Outlaws, but rathmourn has not logged back in for a week. For that late of a pick, he was a decent tpe earner in the beginning, but it looks like this might be the first bust picks for Anaheim. However, a 178 tpe inactive is a player you can play in your bottom 4 without them being too much of a burden, and who knows, rathmourn might still make a return.
grade B

Round 9

84: Lions

- Jiddy Jimbo @ScorpXCracker - RW - 155 tpe
While the Outlaws at this point still look able to find players that at least have a chance to be active, the Lions seem to only go for busts now. Jimbo is their second pick in a row to not earn a single tpe and the third to not make their roster.
grade F

89: Outlaws

- Tommy Parker @Tbone77137 - RW - 159 tpe
Here we have the first pick from the Outlaws who is not on their roster anymore. At least Tbone managed to claim four tpe before vanishing from the face of the earth again.
grade F

Round 10

At this point, all the other teams have passed. Only the two Season 45 expansion teams remain drafting players.

94: Lions

- Khal Valhalla @King - C - 160 tpe
The corpse of the mighty King, who gloriously decided to return to the SHL for two weeks before the draft, just to vanish again. At the time of the draft, everyone knew that Valhalla will never develop further than he already had, but the Lions still decided to give his corpse the honor he deserved. However, Valhalla did not make the roster.
grade F+

99: Outlaws

- Angle Vladimir @Notagiant - G - 155 tpe
True to his username, notagiant will never be a giant. The back up goalie position in Anaheim would have been available, but Vladimir had no intentions to take it and did not make the Outlaws' roster.
grade F

Round 11

104: Lions

- Manboobs Harden @Manboobs_Harden - D - 155 tpe
At this point, I think it's fair to assume that Lethbridge is just picking players with names that have some meme potential. Manboobs Harden will never appear on a roster sheet, but he certainly had one of the more memorable names of the draft class.
grade F

109: Outlaws

- John Hawke @flamingduck - RW - 195 tpe
While Johne Hawke is not a name without a little bit of a coolness factor, the Outlaws might still be searching for some diamond in the rough at this point. However, in Johne Hawke, they did not find it. Another player to be forgotten in the free agent section.
grade F

Round 12

114: Lions

- Mathias Strange @bakedmango - C - 155 tpe
The man has a strange family name and weird ways to prepare mangos, but otherwise there is not much remarkable about this pick. I do not think I have to tell you that he did not make the roster, but I need the money, so I still do.
grade F

119: Outlaws

- Jacob Riley @2000 Pontiac Grand Prix - D - 159 tpe
The Outlaws might have found their diamond here. At first, their prized car looked to be inactive, but just last week, Riley logged back on and posted another update worth 21 tpe. That puts him in the same range as McLeod or Pereira Ferreira. If he keeps that up, Riley might be the biggest draft steal in SMJHL history.
grade A

Round 13

124: Lions

- Jack Wilson @jtwilson1214 - D - 180 tpe
Look at that, the Lions have actually found an active late round pick! Wilson managed to come back from the dead after the draft and has done training and activity checks since and even done the first pt. This ended up being a very strong pick for the Lions and Wilson might even be in contention on steal of the draft with Riley!
grade A+

129: Outlaws

- Mister Clean @Cleanerhubby - C - 155 tpe
It's not like all of the Outlaws' picks turn out great. This one is just as much of a bust as Wilson.
grade F

Round 14

134: Lions

- Dick Trickle @tyty0201 - D - 155 tpe
An enforcer defenseman without any tpe and with problems with incontinence. It comes to no ones surprise that he did not make the Lions' roster.
grade F

139: Outlaws

- Spanky Lugnuts @twitch726 - C - 155 tpe
Maybe the Outlaws have given up as well at this point and just go for meme names as well. It did start to get very late and everyone got tired during this draft. I'm not sure why they did not just call it a night at this time. Though I do have to say, Lugnuts actually made the Outlaws' roster and is playing as their 4C at the moment.
grade F

Round 15

144: Lions

- Grey Butkus @bobwarth - D - 155 tpe
Another Lions pick, another bust. They name is also just meh.
grade F-

149: Outlaws

- James Hendricks @Clayroo - LW - 175 tpe
Holy shit, the last pick of this whole draft turned out to not be a 155 tpe inactive player. Clayroo is still active and has done stuff like season predictions, training camp and even PT #1. Riley and Wilson might get some serious additional competition about number 1 draft steal in SMJHL history.
grade A++

I think it's fair to say that the Anaheim Outlaws have delivered the stronger performance in this draft. However, the Lions had a lot more early picks and will likely have the stronger group of players from the S50 draft class. Depending on how their next two drafts go, the Lions might pull the same stunt as the Outlaws did and claim the Four Star Cup in 2 seasons, while the Outlaws still play among the better teams in the league and look like they can continue to do so, by making the best out of their bad draft positions.