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A Truly Unhinged S65 Terminator Mock Draft, Part 1 [DOUBLE MEDIA]
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hhh81SHL GM Brennan Lee Mulligan Stan A Truly Unhinged S65 Terminator Mock Draft, Part 1 [DOUBLE MEDIA]
Much has been said about the depth and quality of the S65 SHL Draft Class. The class has a whopping 97 members, 76 with at least one update and 63 who have broken the 200 TPE threshold. However, 8 SHL General Managers or Co-GMs are part of this class (down from an original 9 with boom’s resignation in Edmonton). The eventual destinations for those players, many of whom are among the class leaders in TPE and banks, are preordained. But what if they weren’t? What if we replaced all the SHL GMs with computer programs, meaning players like Matsmith Soderberg-Tremblay, C Jobin, and Lord Farquaads were fair game to draft? How different might the first round of this year’s SHL Draft look? @Capt_Blitzkrieg and @hhh81 break it down in the first part of a two-part series. 1. Manhattan  Trips: LD Lord Farquaads  @AceManhattan has had some ill luck with development among their blueliners. Here they get a player with elite site pedigree, earning, and bank account in Ace’s latest recreate. He can help the RoboBull build a locker room culture with one of the best defenders in the class. Blitz: LD Patches the III @”Big Newff”Since launching their rebuild, the Rage have managed to assemble parts that feel like they should be stronger. There’s displays of promise and room for optimism, but it’s marred by a lack of overall consistency. They’re still very much in a building stage, but at what cost? I think the question here, robot or real, is “Do you pick out a solid defenseman to continue the work there, or do you swing for the fences?” With their pipeline in mind, I think they should go for defense. My eye is drawn to Lord Farquaads and Patches The III. Anaheim had a really solid season of defensive rookies, but those two are toward the top of the class for TPE. It’s tight, but I’m going with Newff because I think ultimately the Rage seem to favor newer blood, helping Fluw usher in a new era in Anaheim is a hard accomplishment to ignore, and there’s a bonus Maine Timber connection from Newff’s first player that CoA may be more inclined to share when the bots are done with their work. I think this is also a good pick for the live mock as well. 2. Calgary  Trips: LW Reed Kobo @ToivoCalgary has a lot of older players retiring all over the roster, though forward has become increasingly thin. I think they go for the best possible player they can and grab Reed Kobo. Quieter than many other users in this class, Toivo is again one of the highest earners in this class, following up very good careers for Elijah Jones and Toivo Kosonen. He’s been in a bunch of different locker rooms, so my gut says he may be open to a new challenge in Calgary. Blitz: RW M’Baku Olubori  @hhh81There are quite a few names in this draft that come up in my mind if I try to think of who I would want to pick if I was in Kez’s chair. Given team needs, they can really pick anybody. Out of everybody, M’Baku Olubori probably seems off-the-cuff. I bet I surprised the Hell out of Trips when he got a look at this. Why him over all of the other people, minus Newff, in this draft? It's a fair question, this is a weird play. There seems to be some old bad blood with some of the inactives that they’re still carrying. Hear me out. As somebody who’s been around for a hot minute, I know what I saw of Trips from a distance as a member of the community, what I’ve been told about him, and what I’ve seen in getting to chat with him some this season. The first I really knew of him was a fond, lengthy farewell as I was beginning my tenure as a J GM—a series of high compliments that made me wonder how much I was missing out on. Then, I watched the expansion draft where Seattle took Darrow and how it was hailed. Funny how those praises seemed to become realities. Now he’s taken the reins in Baltimore to great fanfare and high expectations. Calgary taking Trips here is a complete 180 from the Old Boys Club image that they established in the S30s and 40s, and that’s the point. It’s a good idea because of the past tension, because it seems counterintuitive based on social circles and experiences. This would be an opening to start tearing down the established image of the team and the negativity that warped it while getting an amazing player and person out of it. If the Dragons committed to making Trips a part of the team, which is something that has to go both ways, he’s also somebody who can lend more credibility to the direction that the franchise is trying to develop in, which is going to help further shape the team that the Dragons will be moving forward. 3. New England  Trips: LW Matsmith Soderberg-Tremblay  @SDCoreThis is far lower than Corey should probably go as a user. He’s a known commodity as former SHL Commissioner, current SMJHL HO member, and longtime GM in Newfoundland and Chicago. He also has one of the stronger bank accounts in this class and is consistently a max earner (currently leading the class in TPE). That being said, I can’t imagine Corey being okay playing for either team above, so here he falls. This also might be an anathema—he, like many prominent recreates—loves his team in Chicago and would want to go back with his pals. For this exercise, I couldn’t justify letting Corey slide any more. New England gets one of the best players in the class and a sure-fire piece in my opinion. Note: I wouldn’t put it past luke to draft himself here. Alas, that’s not necessary, as in this media, he’s not a GM! Blitz: F Luke Laraque  @”blix900”It’s not all bad for the Wolfpack. They seem to have done an impressive job of picking quality over quantity recently. The one gap I see in their depth is at center. The retirement of Jakub Bruchevski makes it an imminent concern. The coming seasons may present another challenge: Is it just me or does the Wolfpack’s identity seem to have fallen off a cliff somewhere along the way? The New England culture used to be billed as a laidback approach to the league backed by a tight-knit bond. This current team, to put it kindly, seems a far cry from that from my vantage. Talking picks, my eye was initially drawn to veterans like Aleksi Kettu and Sophie Bordeleau here, and with good reason, but I don’t think that either would be inspired to stay. I think the better aim for New England here is to pick up some newer blood, and while Blix is a recreate, he’s returning from quite the absence and might as well be new. 4. Minnesota  Trips: LW Dan Baltisberger  @SegiBlitz: Dan Baltisberger Trips: I’m conflicted here because I can see it going one of two ways. On one hand, Dan Baltisberger is a top 20 earner in this class whose user was previously a Minnesota-lifer with Mathias Seger. That move makes a ton of sense. He’s right outside the top 10 for bank accounts at a cool $78 million, and his 288 TPE lands him 16th in the class. That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially knowing it’s a cultural fit. Still, I feel like there could be better picks. Blitz: I’ve never really been sure what to make of Minny. Are they tanking? Retooling? Giving it an honest go? I don’t know, never have. It feels like they’ve had the pieces to be better than this, but they’re consistently… not. As far as needs, it’s hard to tell. Their core is aging, definitely, but their age groups are spread out fairly evenly across the active roster and the pipeline. Ultimately, I think the greatest need in Minnesota’s eyes is reflected in the pick. While I’m semi-confident that Newff is a good candidate for 1st overall in the live mock, this pick is one that you should absolutely be locking in. This is by design. Segi is a critical part of the Minnesota Monarchs and has been for most of his time around the site. Mathias Seger is a franchise legend, and Dan Baltisberger is the next generation. 5. Toronto  Trips: RW M’Baku Olubori @hhh81Most teams seem to lack a ton of defensive prospects, but Toronto isn’t most teams. They have quite a few S64 players on the blue line, so they can focus on forwards in this draft. The best remaining forward is Olubori, a hard-hitting forward from Regina. The Nigerian-born winger has hung around the top 3-5 for the class all season and seems unlikely to slow his pace. I’m a great person to have in a locker room as well and you don’t have to worry about my money situation with almost $180 million in the bank. Certainly, there are other forwards worthy of the pick too, but I have me going here. Blitz: F Faust Faker  @PattyThe North Stars are coming into the 3rd season of their rebuild. Aside from a couple of hiccups, it looks like it’s going pretty well. Wally’s done a really good job with the franchise, and I really wonder what could have been if we’d gotten him a season sooner. Focusing on the here and now, the Star Gang is still facing down a long road to recovery. The S64 class is fairing very well thus far, but there’s still some gaps. They could use a few wingers and patching their inactive defense would be a worthy pursuit. Given that Wally recreated as a wing, though, I think the priority is offense. That leads to the pick. When Carpy and I were talking ahead of the last draft, one of the things that got brought up was the S64 Quebec City class. Sure enough, Toronto took as many Citadelles as they could. It’s been a fantastic shot in the arm for the locker room, having an influx of people who already sort of know each other. With that in mind, I think it makes sense to shop the QCC catalog once more for this class. That brings forward two main players: Sophie Bordeleau and Faust Faker. It’s gotta be close, too. Boom spent Hartmann’s twilight season in Toronto. Patty comes in as the league Co-Commish and as one of Wally’s teammates in Newfoundland with Patric Twist and Cale Amundsen respectively. So much of the early picks in the SHL draft are based around who knows who, and I think this is another pick that could be seen in the live draft as well. 6. Montreal  Trips: LD Patches the III @BigNewffAs they continue their franchise building, Montreal has a good number of prospects from the last few drafts they hope will be successful in the SHL. They are at a point where they need to start being choosey about the players they bring in. Looking at the roster, they have some defensemen close to retiring and a bevy of forwards only a season or two away from needing to break into the big roster. They have a few defensive prospects, so Patches the III makes sense here. Big Newff is back with his second player after the first attempt didn’t go as planned, and he’s built a decent bank to support his top 10 earning rate. I think this is a solid value pick—even if all these prospects don’t turn out, getting the best players you can gives you opportunities to turn excess options into roster improvements or future draft capital. Blitz: D - Lord Farquaads - - @”Ace”I wasn’t sure what to make of the Patriotes a few seasons ago. Now, I’m rooting for them. Campin’s done a good job of turning the team into a low-level competitor with a sleeping giant behind it. The first wave of their call-ups is coming in this next season, and their prospect pool is still a bit ridiculous. Honestly, I kind of look for them to trade this pick out in the live draft. I’m going nitpick defense here. The best defensive prospects in the pack are Lord Farquaads, Pass Forfeit, and Tom Taylor if you go by TPE. While Taylor is a new create and makes for an interesting option, I think it’s really a race between Farquaads and Forfeit, and I think Forfeit loses. It’s nothing particularly against esilverm, but in favor of Ace. The Patriotes have a lot of newer people and getting somebody in that’s a known quantity would serve to balance out some perspectives. 7. HAM via Winnipeg  Trips: LD Wide Peepo Happy 3 Koivu @HallsyYeah, yeah yeah. But hear me out. We know Hallsy is going to max earn, has the ties to this team’s locker room, and is playing a position a bunch of teams need prospects in (defense). He also said he plans to play only 2-3 seasons in the J, which led him to slide in the last draft. Don’t get it twisted; Hallsy is currently worth a top 10 pick in this draft. Especially for Hamilton, where he likely would want to go back to even if he wasn’t an autodraft GM. Could he go higher? Yes, of course. Would he? Hard to say. Blitz: RW Ricky Koivu  @”Gwdjohnson”The cabinet is rather bare for the team that’s had the league in a chokehold for the last 10+ seasons. It’s reasonable that they would stock up for a retool, and they’re doing it in this draft, where they have three 1st rounders. With LPLL now retired and Giannopoulos retiring after next season, it looks like the name of Hamilton’s game is going to be defense primarily, but they still need forwards. To be safe, I think they’d go for Gabe unless he wants to go somewhere else. As much as they proclaim that he smells, Gabe was a major part of their team through the S50s and still seems to have ties. Rumor has it, and I can totally see it, that Gabe wouldn’t fall to Hamilton’s pick at 17 if they decided to put him off, so it’s not really worth the risk. 8. Edmonton  Trips: C Sophie Bordeleau @boomAnother former GM back to their old team? Shocking! But yeah, while this isn’t the pick I would make, I think Edmonton is one of the teams most likely to draft boom. I cannot imagine any team higher up taking a shot on her in the top 10. This is probably Bordeleau’s best opportunity to thrive at the next level. Outside of Valters Denisova (who just got traded), the Blizzard prospect pool lacks a true superstar scorer to lead the offense into an era beyond Julio Tokolosh and the late Tony Pepperoni. Bordeleau could be that. Blitz: Sophie Bordeleau Edmonton is in a retool. They don’t have as much to worry about as some of the other teams, but I think they’d still benefit from picking up a scoring forward to replace the coming gap from Julio Tokolosh’s aging. Given her history with the team and Bordeleau’s outstanding rookie season in Quebec demonstrating that goals are the name of the game, I don’t see why they wouldn’t take boom here. I think this pick, much like Segi going to MIN, is one to lock in. 9. HAM via Seattle Trips: RW Ricky Koivu @GwdjohnsonThere are so many different ways Hamilton could go here. With past history, it seems likely they will grab as many of the people they can who have ties to their locker room. Fortunately, many of those same guys also are pretty good earners in this class. For me, this pick came down between Gabe and Waters. I figured that, while nour is a great dude, they wouldn’t spend a top 10 pick on a goalie. I decided to go with Koivu over Waters Jr., but it was nearly 50-50. Gabe Johnson started a cursed career in Hamilton, and I think Koivu will follow aspects of that path. While they could go with a first gen here, I still see Hamilton grabbing a recreate. Blitz: D Miroslav Ketil  @”ArmTheSharks”And Hamilton is back. I think they take a defensive player here, mostly due to opportunity. From the very beginning in the S65 chat, Sharks fell into lock-step with the Hammy guys in the room. Even before the SMJHL draft it was like watching Sid the Sloth’s Fire King dance. He’s not the best defenseman that they could pick here, nor is he the best overall player, but I don’t know how far he’d fall. It feels like he wouldn’t make it to 17, which makes it reasonable to take him here. 10. BUF via New Orleans  Trips: LD Pass Forfeit  @esilvermHere is the first spot where I started to question between a few different options. With the rumors about Aleksandr Aleksandrov being named Co-GM for the Stampede, Aleksandr Iskandrov would make sense here. Buffalo of late has had some ties to Colorado and Quebec City, so one of the higher earners from one of those teams—Faust Faker, Portgas D. Ace, or Hynek Heidinger—could also slide in here. In the end, I think they bring home one of the top earners in the class in Pass Forfeit. Esilverm’s last player started a journeyman’s career within the Stampede system. It seems poetic to let Forfeit do the same. Blitz: F Matsmith Söderberg-Tremblay @”SDCore”They may have slid a couple of steps from the stuff of nightmares in the late S50s (Fuck the Great Lakes), but Buffalo still doesn’t have a lot of room for complaint. They’re still a strong team, even if the pipeline is down to two players. They’re also looking to retool in this draft, with two 1sts. My gut tells me that they made trade them for a higher pick, but that remains to be seen. They can basically pick whoever here, which leads me to think that this is where our TPE leader finally comes off the board. It feels like it should be more of a stretch to imagine such a long-time Chicago mainstay anywhere else, but Corey’s a great dude and I think he’d fit well with the Stampede. Buffalo is rather similar to Newfoundland in my mind. Given that Corey was one of the people that built the Berserkers as they are, it seems like it should be a glove-like fit. Stay posted for part 2! Quote:3163 words. Ready for grading, please split between @Capt_Blitzkrieg and I!     ![[Image: AH23zKq.png]](https://i.imgur.com/AH23zKq.png) Thank you karey, OrbitingDeath Ragnar, and sköldpaddor for sigs! ![[Image: BAL_Player_Page.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/298599854899200001/1129921039950958682/BAL_Player_Page.png) ![[Image: BAL_Update.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/298599854899200001/1129921040164855819/BAL_Update.png)
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