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*Katth* · 03-14-2020, 04:12 AM

1061 words, 2x draft media

[Image: SMJHL-Knights2.png]

The Season 53 draft is upon us and we’re seeing a lot of prospect reports being released comparing all of them together, to find the best prospects available. My report is not a ranking, but I’ve had the pleasure of working with these prospects for the past year as General Manager of the Kelowna Knights and would like to introduce these prospects to the SHL.

Before we started drafting last season we noticed that there was a lot of first generation potential. We also knew that other teams with higher draft priority were very keen on these players. We were going to be in a year in which a lot of players would have a final chance of winning the Four Star Cup, before moving to their respective SHL teams. We needed to draft franchise players, players that could carry the team for the next few seasons. So we decided to not gamble on first generations, but go for experience.

Rocco Berni @Blues
Our first round pick in the S52 draft, Rocco Berni. We desperately needed a good center and he was one of the top TPE earners in his draft class and already had the experience on the site. In the past his activity might not always have been great, but ever since he recreated he’s been on the ball. Currently sitting at 306 TPE and with plenty of off season TPE to be earned, he’s going to capped before the start of the next season.

Rocco Berni played center for our 4th and 3rd line last season and was one of the top rookies last season in scoring. He scored 6 goals and had 16 assists for a total of 22 points. 6 of those assists were on the power play. He played an average of almost 14 minutes per game and he was a minus 3. In the face off dot he was not that great, but wasn’t that bad either. He won 45,6% of his face offs and that’s not bad at all in your rookie year. During 13 games in the playoffs Rocco Berni scored 1 goal and had 5 assists. He won 49% of his faceoffs and he was a minus 7.

With Rocco Berni a SHL team will get experience and dedication to have a top earner in their ranks. If he can keep his activity at the same level as he does now for the next 10 seasons he could potentially be a franchise player. My Projection is that Rocco Berni will be first round draft pick and potentially top 10. He deserves it based on his performance so far.

Jaska Seppälä @Zombiewolf
We didn’t have a second round draft pick last season, so when we got to the third round surprisingly Jaska Seppälä was still available. An experienced player on the site and already earned a good chunk of TPE before the draft. It was a no-brainer to select him with our third round pick. Now we had two experienced players that could help us in the upcoming seasons to perform on a level and continue to do well in the playoffs. Jaska Seppälä now has 291 TPE and should get close to cap before the start of the season.

Jaska Seppälä was unfortunately a bit quiet last season spending most of the time on the 4th line and eventually gaining 3rd line minutes. At some point Jaska Seppälä was also part of the second power play unit for a short while. He scored 4 goals and also had 4 assists for a total of 8 points. Jaska Seppälä was a minus 7 in the regular season. He had 1 assist during his time on the power play. His production could have been a little better, his shooting percentage was quite low with just over 7%. During the playoffs we saw another Jaska Seppälä. He almost scored as many points in 13 playoffs games as he did in the entire regular season. He scored 3 goals and had 4 assists.

Fact that Kelowna Knights had quite the few capped wingers made a huge difference as well in his production, but it didn’t stop him from working hard and earning a lot of TPE to be at the top of his class. As his previous experience on the site is with the Buffalo Stampede and they have two picks in top 5 I have no doubt they will pick him back up with either of these picks.

Ethan Duncan @mastersheep
When we got to the sixth round of the draft we needed to add another center to our roster and our eyes went towards Ethan Duncan. I had had good contact with him prior to the draft and he made a good impression as a first generation player. Since we drafted him he’s been awesome and has earned a total of 279 TPE. That is the most TPE for any first generation player of his draft class. Not bad for a 56th overall pick right?

Ethan Duncan also had quite a quiet season. He scored 3 goals and had another 5 assists for a total of 8 points. He was a minus 7 just like Jaska Seppälä. Ethan Duncan spend most of his time on the 4th line and was eventually put on the 3rd line later on in the season. His shooting percentage was 8.6% while playing an average of only 8 minutes per game. In the playoffs Ethan Duncan had 4 points. He scored 3 goals on 8 shots and had 1 assist in 13 games. He was a plus 3.

Ethan Duncan is arguably one of the better first generation players available in this draft. His TPE earnings and his bank account are solid. Any team that needs a future franchise center should look no further as the can find their franchise player in Ethan Duncan. I have no doubt that he will be drafted quite early and possibly top 10. That’s all because of his hard work in his first season in the SMJHL with the Kelowna Knights.

I want to wish all my prospects a good draft and wish them good luck in the future.