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Wallflower · 05-19-2020, 05:02 PM

After having scouted a few players for the SHL Draft, we here at KGL3 decided that it is only right for us to now review the draft and what transpired the other night. Our source for the SHL, OJ Simpson, will help us look at picks and how he thinks they will translate to the SHL. Here is a review of the first round (and maybe I will do the second round lol) from our point of view.

Pick 1: Texas Renegades Select Mikkel Asmus Sondergard

This seemed like a clear cut first round pick to me. If I am not mistaken, he has already had a player that was very successful in the league. On top of that, you can see how dedicated he is to the league based on his coverage of people in this draft and his ability to gather a lot of data and produce quality content on it. I have no idea if he liked doing this, but he did it a lot and it shows his dedication to the league. He also had a pretty good season in the SMJHL. If you factor this in and the fact that he plays a position like defense, you can see why this is such a good pick. He has very good physical attributes as well as very good defensive attributes. Factor in that he is very good at passing and moving the puck up the ice and you could see a superstar defenseman forming. This is a perfect pick by the Renegades and he appears to be a clear cut number one pick.

Pick 2: Toronto North Stars Select Ryosuke Sato

The Toronto North Stars were robbed by the lottery of the first pick and they basically need everything they can add to their team at this point. Sato is a guy that has never had a player before but has managed to be very active and earn a lot of capital for training. He is another defenseman that was taken very high and is very much in the same mold as MAS above. The North Stars secure a blue liner that looks like he could play for a long time at a very high level. He is another guy that is physically able to hang, take care of his job on defense, and able to move the puck up the ice when necessary. With his high earning and activity, he appears to be a guy that will stick around. This looks like a good pick by the North Stars and could be a potential franchise changing picks to add to a guy like Ursin Zimmerman and the prospects they have coming in.

Pick 3: New England Wolfpack Select Matthew Sawful

A very good team gets a top three pick to be able to select a quality prospect. Great work by their management to prepare to have a pick in this position and continue to build. Oddly enough, it is another defenseman that is taken up here and he has a ton of TPE. I believe he is also a guy that is new to the league but has shown a very impressive work ethic. He is incredibly balanced. A threat to play defense, put the puck in the net, and move the puck well. For a team that has a lot of questions already answered, they make a great pick here by getting a guy that is productive and works hard for his team. I think Sawful will end up being a steal at number three, which is crazy to say considering he was drafted so highly. He just has a lot of talent and drive, so this pick looks like a very good one despite being a first generation.

Pick 4: Tampa Bay Barracuda Select Dwight Knight

Another very much rebuilding team that could use an influx of talent at just about any position. Luckily for them, they managed to grab a defenseman high last season in Ambacas Cuddles and another one a little bit later in Valentin Kalashnikov. With the first three picks in this draft being defenseman, it worked out perfectly to where the Barracuda could add to their collection on the wings. Dwight Knight looks to be a two-way forward that can produce on both ends for his team. He has very similar training production to the first few picks, so it is very plausible that he ends up reaching the same levels that they do. He is also a new guy, so who knows how dedicated he will end up being, but so far he has been very devoted to his craft. This is a very good at to a team that could use a winger that is young. I think the Barracuda got arguably the best winger available, which is just a perfect fit for them.

Pick 5: Buffalo Stampede Select Emilia Bergman

Bergman is a player that we scouted very heavily prior to the draft and that our friend Bale got to play with in the minors the past two seasons. Bergman has a very large bank account and is very dedicated to the league. This is another team that got this pick via trade and doesn’t have a lot of holes to fill so they could just snag the best player available, which I think this pick accomplishes. We had Bergman slotted going as top 4, so this is a good value for a team that really just needed value out of this pick regardless of the position. Bergman is a pretty defensive defenseman that will need some refinement on her offensive game, but is set up well to succeed at the next level. This is another player that I think will end up being a steal a few seasons down the road. Hopefully she is able to keep producing in Anaheim and bring a trophy or two back to the city before she is called up to the big leagues. She will have a lot of time ahead of her to develop into the star defenseman she has the potential to be.

Pick 6: Calgary Dragons Select Mats Marner

Mats Marner is a pick that was no doubt made on his legacy. If I’m not mistaken, a predecessor in his agency was a very good player and made the Hall of Fame. We scouted him a little and didn’t have him going this high, but can see the allure of who he is. He is a very talented player that figures to only get better. He joined the scene a little late which is why he is a tad bit behind in development. He Is a center that is very well balanced top to bottom. The Ukranian will no doubt put forth his best effort is he sticks around. This is definitely a pick on potential and not necessarily where the player is at right now. For this reason this may not be an ideal pick, but Marner also has one of the highest ceilings in the draft. This pick is high risk high reward to me, but I genuinely think that Marner is back for good in this league. Now he will just need to meet the hype that surrounds his agency, can’t be too hard to make another hall of famer, right? Tongue

Pick 7: Chicago Syndicate Select Vitek Vitecek

I am legally not allowed to say anything bad about this pick because my former GM Donini and former line mate Velevra are both on this team. Not to mention kyl and O4L, but I will have to be unbiased. This guy appears to be relatively new and hails from the Czech Republic. As a winger, he has a very good shot. His accuracy is unparalled in this draft class and he looks like he will be a sniper. He also has trained very well and had some decent production in the juniors last year. I think that this is a good pick for Chicago, as they are aging and could really use talent at every position. Velera took arguably the best player available, so I can’t really knock this. I have also seen him a little bit around the forums and he appears to be a nice guy. A nice guy headed to a team of nice guys, what a fit.

Pick 8: Chicago Syndicate Select Rotticus Scott

Scott is another guy that our agency had scouted very heavily prior to the draft. We graded him as a player that would be drafted in the middle of the first round to the end of the first round, so this falls right in our range. With back to back picks, the Synidcate load up on wingers for the future to avoid the regression of their star forwards hurting them too much. Rotticus is very balanced offensively as he is good at moving the puck and putting it in the net. He is also a pretty fast skater. I think this is a good pick based on potential and production matching up pretty well. In an ideal world, Scott would end up starting to specialize in something a bit more and become elite at one thing, but we have already covered how the sky is the limit for him. This is a very good pick of player in back to back picks by the Syndicate, getting two very high potential players.

Pick 9: Edmonton Blizzard Select Daniel Laforest

This is a very good pick by Edmonton. In some rooms that I am in, I had heard chatter of Laforest as a top three pick and it was very surprising to see him fall this far down in the draft. Edmonton is another very good team that just needs to add some more talent at any position, so they did just that. Laforest is a guy that is dedicated to the league and to improving, which is huge for any prospect looking to make the jump to the SHL. Laforest is another guy that was very dedicated to coverage of the minors, showing how much he loves the game. He also has a vast knowledge of the game is appears and he has a pretty high TPE mark. His development is incredible and I think this could be a steal. The Center has very good physical traits and is going to be a beast at setting up his teammates. For a team that doesn’t have a ton of holes to fill, this is an incredible value pick and is another one that could be labeled as a huge steal going forward. Extreme talent here and I think he will turn out to be one of the more productive players in the draft class. Also I love Dylan and he is a superstar.

Pick 10: New Orleans Specters Select Bork Lazer

Incredible pick here of a friend of mine. Frick Nasty is a guy that just quietly grinds in every league that he is in. I know him from the NSFL where he has a very good player and has been a main stay across important positions in the league. I honestly didn’t know he was so active here, but he is a guy that is great at staying active and taking care of his business. He is a low maintenance player that won’t need any help on how sim leagues work or anything. He is a defenseman that could help a New Orleans team solidify their defense in the future. When you look at Lazer, you can see that you are going to get a traditional defenseman that is dedicated to keeping the puck out of the net. He isn’t a guy that will get caught out of position to frequently or anything of that nature, but he is undoubtedly a guy that will help his goalies a lot and put his teammates in a good position to succeed. Another great pick in a draft that has a lot of good looking talents. He will never be as good as me obviously, but we kissin.

Pick 11: Baltimore Platoon Select Pojo Biscuit

Another set of back to back picks in the first round, the Baltimore Platoon are able to get a couple of players here that they choose. Biscuit is a guy that is behind others in term of development at this point because he joined a little later, but he has been around the league a long time and has been an important staple in the league. He seems like a sure thing over time, but he will be behind the 8 ball just a bit in his draft class due to when he joined. He is also in the mold of a traditional defenseman at this point, but has shown promise on the offensive end of the ice. To me, Biscuit is a player that is low-risk, high reward. I think that regardless of what happens, he will be around for at least a little while to get better. Who knows what this will develop into, but at the worst I think he gets called up to the big leagues as a decent player and the opportunity to be another hall of famer super star time player. Good pick by the Platoon here to secure a very, very high potential prospect. Hopefully Biscuit can catch up in TPE.

Pick 12: Baltimore Platoon Select Patrick Shepherd

With this pick the Platoon kind of went the opposite direction and got a relatively unknown player to join their team. Patrick Shepherd is a Center, so they also diversified their portfolio of prospects with this pick. I really like his avatar so that is a huge plus in my books. Shepherd looks like a guy who would immediately have an impact on a checking line if he was called up relatively soon. His build screams that he is a gritty player that gets his teammates involved and just wears down the other team, a build that isn’t too common amongst SHL’ers. Looking at his build, it actually intrigues me a lot with how oriented it is on faceoffs, physical attributed, and defensive positioning. I have not seen too many build like this one and it makes him a very interesting pick. He has a decent number of TPE and has been relatively active. The Platoon actually had to trade for this pick and it shows that he was the guy that they wanted pretty badly. A couple of solid picks for the Platoon in the latter half of the draft.

Pick 13: Minnesota Chiefs Select Jack Klompus

I will just go ahead and say that I did not expect this guy to fall this fact in all honesty. He has earned at a similar pace to the higher picks in the class and has a Hall of Fame pedigree to his agency. He has been active since coming back and has been a crucial piece to the league for a long time. As a defenseman, he is obviously more offensively focused as he like shooting and passing a bit more than he likes getting physical. It is a classic case of having a bit more of an offensive defenseman, which is a trend in the SMJHL and SHL. I think that this is a great pick. Toast has had spotty activity in the past, but he has also had a hall of fame player. It is an ultimate boom or bust player honestly. I think Toast is committed to seeing this new engine and trying to create another great player in it. I think that should be enough to keep him committed to the league and we will see him create a solid player here. Klompus is a good pick to get the Chiefs’ defense ready for the future. Nice pick of a guy with a very solid reputation around the league.

Pick 14: Texas Renegades Select Taisto Jutila

I honestly had no idea who this guy was before writing the article then I realized that he is a very nice guy on my NSFL team. This is the second pick of the first round for the Texas Renegades. After going defense with the number one overall pick, they go for a center here and get a beast of a man. At 6’5, he is a bit reminiscent of a guy like Jamie Oleksiak. He is not the fastest player or anything, but he is a very smart player on the offensive end and is great at moving the puck. He is also a solid defending center. He is the kind of guy that you want at the position, committed to being a two way player. From Finland, he is your classic Fin that can play for a long time and loves to be gritty. This looks like a great pick by the Renegades, adding to a very deep prospect pool. Having these two picks in the first round have set the Renegades up very well for the future.

Pick 15: Los Angeles Panthers Select Linus Grimstad

A trade by Wasty here to go and get his guy. The Panthers don’t have a very deep prospect pool as of right now and with most of the top defenseman off of the board, they moved up to grab a center. I have a very thin memory of Turd Ferguson, but I remember that he has a Hall of Fame pedigree and was a good graphics guy. Grimstad is similar to Marner, a player that is a bit behind right now but has all-time great potential. Wasty definitely knows the older part of Grimstad’s agency and saw this as a chance to reconnect with one of the greatest agencies ever. As a player, he is offensively oriented as of right now with very good agility on the ice. He is not a liability on faceoffs or on the defensive end, though. If Grimstad stays in the gym here, we can definitely see a very solid pick here. This is another pick that has very high potential and also quite a bit of risk. It is not uncommon to see oldheads come back and then end up fading out again. I am rooting for this to be a good pick for the Panthers though.

Pick 16: Hamilton Steelhawks Select Simon Takshak

The champions get to make a pick here at the end of the first round and get a very good player with it. This is Gecko who is a bit of a jokester and a very nice player from India. He is 5 feet tall and 300 pounds which is odd to me, but he has fought that adversity well to be a quality prospect. A winger that is focused on scoring the puck is what Takshak appears to be. He is also an established user, which is primarily what Hamilton is comprised of. I think this is a good pick and will be worthwhile for the Steelhawks. I don’t think there is a ton of risk in this pick, as Takshak is very active around the league and appears to enjoy just being around. He also has a very nice bank account, so his progression should be ensured for a few seasons at least.

Pick 17: Toronto North Stars Select Scoochie Stratton

The North Stars have another pick and they rightfully get the first pick in the second round pick after the lottery screwed them over in the first round. This pick confused me just a bit because they already have a very solid goalie in Harry Carpet who is a decent ways from regression if I am not mistaken. With that said though, they get arguably the best goalie in the draft. This guy has progressed really well and should be ready to take over in Toronto when it is no longer Carpet’s turn. I think Stratton is a very solid pick that will end up being very effective for the North Stars moving forward. Good pick that is confusing at first, but a very solid pick when you look under the first layer of judgement.

Pick 18: Texas Renegades Select Joseph Fantobens

Another player that we did some very heavy scouting on and realistically I have no idea how this guy fell all the way here. The Renegades have their third pick of the draft and select another defenseman, and another quality one at that. He appears to be a very nice guy that has a very nice build. In the second round you have to be looking for players that are steals and really just the best player available. Based on training production, it seems like this guy is just that. A very nice pick by the Renegades to secure two top tier defenseman in this draft and add to their already very deep prospect pool. I think Fantobens will be a guy that we look back and wonder how he wasn’t a first rounder.

Pick 19: Tampa Bay Barracuda Select Matthew Forrester

Matt Forrester is another new member that has not been around that long and created a decent amount of time after his draft counterparts. With that in mind, though, he has done a very good job of earning TPE and training since then. He is a Center that made it here via NSFL and has done a good job of creating an incredibly balanced center. I think this is a good pick for the Barracuda to select a guy that they viewed as a high quality prospect and add to their prospect pool. I think there is some very good talent left in this second round and Forrester is one of those players. He should at least develop into a role player in the SHL with the chance to become much more highly regarded than that.

Pick 20: Minnesota Chiefs Select BPJ Souppan

A very original name here that threw me off a little and was very hard to type. BPJ is a guy that is apparently voiceless, but has created a defenseman that is very well put together physically and is a two way defenseman. He is not the perfect traditional defenseman, but he definitely fits into the ever evolving landscape of the SHL which seems to love defenseman that can play both ways well. BPJ has done a good job of earning TPE and is another example of there just being a lot of talent in this draft that allowed him to slide.

Pick 21: Tampa Bay Barracuda Select Elwulf Jericson

Another guy that I had no idea who he was before the draft. The Barracuda just picked and on this pick they got a guy out of St. Louis that also projects to be a solid defenseman. He is very good with his positioning and reading plays right now with a very good physical profile. Jericson isn’t the best offensively, but he can old his own as he has a decent slap shot that will keep teams off balance at least. Jericson is a relatively new guy with a meh bank account, but if he can keep that up then he will be able to continue the kind of production that he has continually had since joining the league. This looks like a very solid pick for the Barracuda.

Pick 22: Chicago Syndicate Select Cale Amundsen

A simply great pick here by the Chicago Syndicate. Amundsen is the reigning goalie of the year in the SMJHL and was an absolute unit in his first season down there. I think he is now traded to the Calgary Dragons as I found him in their prospect pages, but he is a very good goalie prospect regardless. At this pick, it was a great value and a player that is well established in the league and projects to be one of the top two goalies in this draft class. In the second round, this is a pick that could be a game changer in the future seeing how talented this guy is. If he builds on last year’s showing in the SMJHL, he will simply project to be a star in the SHL.

Pick 23: Chicago Syndicate Select Jean-Uthred Ragnarsson-Tremblay

Ok that is just a troll name that is hard for me to type. But other than that, back to back picks for the Synidcate. The Syndicate get another guy for upfront and they walk away with a prospect I have never heard of but has a lot of TPE. He isn’t super well established in the league to my knowledge, but looking at his earnings, it looks like he has been doing just fine earning TPE. This could turn out to be a guy that is very solid and just so happened to slip through the cracks of the draft.

Pick 24: New England Wolfpack Select James LeBlond

Another late comer in the SMJHL, he was another one of Bale’s teammates. LeBlond started to shoot up draft boards in the middle of the season and saw himself become a hot prospect. LeBlond isn’t at the cutting edge of TPE or anything right now, but he has done a good job to accumulate it over time. With Anaheim’s alternate captain Ethan Price being on the Wolfpack, you know that he put in a good work for LeBlond. LeBlond is a pretty traditional defenseman and could develop into a very good player for a team that doesn’t really have a lot of holes right now.

Pick 25: Toronto North Stars Select Alexei Petrikov

The North Stars keep racking up talent in this draft. Petrikov is another very talented defenseman that I am surprised is this far. I think there are a lot of players that could have gone higher and this is one of them. He is a two-way defenseman and will definitely flourish in a system that lets him push forward and run some of the offense from the back. With that said, he is well balanced and will be a good addition to the North Stars’ prospect system, which looks mighty good. Their rebuild is really starting to stack a lot of talent together.

Pick 26: New Orleans Specters Select Forfeit

This is not my former teammate John Forfeit, but this is a forfeit of the pick. Yup!

Pick 27: Buffalo Stampede Select Thor Odison

Another goalie prospect that falls pretty far likely because of their position. Odison is a big goalie, standing at 6 foot 5 inches, but he is pretty talented. He is currently on Detroit sitting behind Jobin, but is a very good prospect. I think that he is a good pick at this position and can help the Stampede secure their goalie spot of the future while Odison continues to develop in a very stacked Detroit pipeline. Good, forward thinking draft pick by the Buffalo Stampede management on this one.

Pick 28: San Francisco Pride Select Thorbjorn Gunnarson

First pick of the draft for the Pride and they get a very good winger that is actually under the same agency as their GM so he was required to go here. As a GM he should be at least close to a sure thing, or San Francisco is in much more trouble than just having a draft pick that didn’t pan out, but an entire GM system. This is a good pick but ultimately it had to be made because it is their GM, so good job not messing it up I guess.

Pick 29: Edmonton Blizzard Select Guy LeGrande

Another player that I couldn’t find their player page in their sections from the draft thread (Los Angeles Panthers), so I think he was actually picked by the Edmonton Blizzard. LeGrande is a guy that has been pretty consistent. He hasn’t been an incredible earner, but has been a pretty decent developmental prospect. He isn’t a guy you would usually see available at pick 29, but he is a solid player regardless. I think that he will go down as a guy that is a top of the second ground player in a typical draft, but saw himself a lot lower just because of the depth in this draft. A good pick of a player that has potential.

Pick 30: Minnesota Chiefs Select Grapefruit Lizard

Frostbite is a guy I have had contact with from being drafted in NSFL and he has been a very good member over there. So considering that, I like this pick based on how productive he has managed to be over there. I think he is a talented player that has the ability to develop into a great pick. Frost should be easy to reach and convince him to come update if he slacks. Currently, though, he has managed to stay active on his own and has done a good job accumulating TPE. This is another guy that is an example of somebody that you wouldn’t typically expect to be here this late in the draft but the Chiefs are the beneficiary of a deep draft in this case.

Pick 31: Minnesota Chiefs Select Slimy Snail

Another round of back to back picks, Slimy Snail is a very good prospect this late in the draft. With the Chiefs just deepening their prospect pool, Snail could be a guy that surprises a lot of people and performs really well or a guy that plateaus as a very good SMJHL player. At this point though, it’s a high potential play to get Snail and hop e that he keeps grinding away.

Pick 32: Hamilton Steelhawks Select Adam Friedland

For some reason, the name Bongo is very familiar to me and he has created a mammoth defenseman at six feet and eleven inches weighing 300 pounds. The guy looks to be a brusier who will absolutely wear down the opposition. Based on current TPE level, this is about the best you can expect from the 32nd slot, but he has a chance to be a good player regardless. Good defensive pick by the defending champions.

Draft Winners

Texas Renegades

Look, the Renegades got a lot of top end talent in MAS, Jutila, and Fantobens. Those are three guys that I could have seen going in the top half of the first round. When you are a rebuilding team and you get lucky enough to win the lottery, you have to kill it. That’s exactly what they did. They added a lot of talent to an already very deep prospect pool, incredible draft by Dankoa.

Tampa Bay Barracuda

Another team that is rebuilding, they needed exactly what they needed to do by acquiring talent in this draft. Knight, Forrester, and Jericson are exactly the type of players you need to accumulate if you are going to rebuild a team. The Barracuda management did a great job getting talent all over the ice to help them eventually turn into a contender. Awesome job scouting and drafting by them.

Toronto North Stars

Great draft by a team that suffered last year in the SHL. They manage to get Sato, Stratton, and Petrikov. That’s three prospects that are all spread out on the ice as well that could develop into very solid players. I think they absolutely killed this draft. Not getting the first pick was definitely a bummer for them, but they did a great job adjusting to it and managing to get extremely talented players with their capital.

Losers

Winnipeg Jets

Even though the Jets didn’t do anything wrong in the draft they unfortunately traded their first round pick that ended up winning the lottery and didn’t make the playoffs. They had to be sitting there on draft day wishing that they could have drafted MAS to the team, but they will continue nonetheless. The Jets didn’t necessarily do anything wrong here, but I’m sure they are just a little bummed their pick decided to win the lottery the season they didn’t have it.

New Orleans Specters

Losing the pick in the second round when there is still some good talent is tough. Just having the forfeit next to the name is a tough look for a team. They had an awesome pick in the first round and Lazer should help NOLA continue their great performance, but the team has to be a little upset they missed having a second rounder in such a deep draft with talented players. With the picks they had though, they absolutely killed it. It was honestly a pretty good draft all around but I kind of just wanted to put a couple of losers on here whatever.

5424 words, Ready for Grading