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S53 post draft analysis
#1

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Last Sunday the new seasons SHL entry draft was concluded. The draft was held in Montreal for some reason even though we don’t have any teams there anymore. Bit of a missed opportunity now that this was the first draft for the new FHM era. It might be better for the future to pick a city that actually has a SHL or affiliate team.

The Texas Renegades had won the draft lottery, but that pick was owned by the Winnipeg Jets to make the first overall selection in this seasons draft. The Winnipeg Jets, Tampa Bay Barracuda and Buffalo Stampede all had 2 picks in the first round, while the Minnesota Chiefs, Hamilton Steelhawks and New England Wolfpack had none. Before the draft some trades were made and also during the draft. There was some potential upsets rumored to happen and everyone was curious if the teams involved were going to take some risks.

The first 16 picks of the first round were for the following teams:

1. Jets Winnipeg Jets (Renegades -> Jets) - Magnus Liljeström
2. Barracuda Tampa Bay Barracuda - Ambacas Cuddles
3. Stampede Buffalo Stampede (Platoon -> Stampede) - Steve Harrington
4. Renegades Texas Renegades (Chiefs -> Jets -> Renegades) - Edward Williams
5. Panthers Los Angeles Panthers (Jets -> Stampede -> Panthers) - Jimmy Wagner
6. Platoon West Kendall Platoon (Wolfpack -> Platoon) - Ethan Duncan
7. Stampede Buffalo Stampede (Panthers -> Stampede) - Jaska Seppälä
8. Stars Toronto North Stars - Jack Kanoff
9. Dragons Calgary Dragons - Bradley Barkov
10. Rage Manhattan Rage (Blizzard -> Rage) - Jukka Timonen
11. syndicate Chicago Syndicate - Ryuuji Minamino
12. Barracuda Tampa Bay Barracuda (Steelhawks -> Barracuda) - Valentín Kalashnikov
13. Specters New Orleans Specters - Erben Kasius
14. Jets Winnipeg Jets (Stampede -> Jets) - Reid Sutherland
15. pride San Francisco Pride - Sven Svenson
16. Blizzard Edmonton Blizzard (Rage -> Blizzard) - William Hartmann

Let’s take a closer look to the first round draftees of this seasons entry draft!

1. Jets Winnipeg Jets (Renegades -> Jets) - Magnus Liljeström
With the first overall pick the Winnipeg Jets selected Swedish defenseman Magnus Liljeström. Magnus Liljeström, a player for the Detroit Falcons was rumored to be the first overall pick for a long time and I doubt many people had this wrong in their mock drafts. Magnus Liljeström currently sits at 337 TPE, which isn’t the highest in the class, but he has made a very good impression on the Winnipeg management. Magnus Liljeström has played 50 games for the Falcons in the juniors and scored 4 goals and added another 13 assists for a total of 17 points. He was a solid plus 9, which is quite good for a rookie in the SMJHL. He averaged 18 minutes per game, had a team leading 86 hits and blocked 47 shots. Those are some very good numbers and I can see why he went with the first overall pick. I’m pretty sure he will be a future star for the Winnipeg organisation and in the SHL. Look at his FHM build we can see he is opting to be a somewhat playmaking defenseman with a high passing and puck handling and good offensive read.

2. Barracuda Tampa Bay Barracuda - Ambacas Cuddles
With the second overall pick the Tampa Bay Barracuda picked Carolina Kraken Defenseman Ambacas Cuddle. Ambacas Cuddle a Land of Gumba native is currently already sitting at 396 TPE and is going capped into his second season in the SMJHL. A pretty solid pick for the Barracuda and already 2 for 2 in defenseman picks in this draft. Ambacas Cuddle had 21 points last season. 20 assists and 1 goal and a really good plus 14. That’s pretty amazing for a rookie. He also averaged 18 minutes per game and made 51 hits and blocked 55 shots. His FHM build is focussing heavily on defensive stats as he is a defensive defenseman. With high checking, shot blocking, stick checking and defensive read. The Tampa Bay Barracuda are securing their blue line with this addition for the future. A solid pick on a more than solid earner.

3. Stampede Buffalo Stampede (Platoon -> Stampede) - Steve Harrington
With the third overall pick the Buffalo Stampede selected Steve Harrington. A German winger who is currently playing for Newfoundland Berserkers. Many people had Steve Harrington in their mocks to be picked early. He was an early pick in his SMJHL draft and now again in the SHL. Currently sitting at 369 TPE he is one of the top TPE earners in his class and top amongst first generation players. Steve Harrington had a pretty productive rookie season in the SMJHL with 17 points. He scored 7 goals and had 10 assists. He played almost 14 minutes per game and had a shooting percentage of almost 9,5%. Besides being a prime TPE earner he has a more than solid bank account and is earning plenty of SHL Dollars. For FHM he is looking to be a playmaking forward. With passing skill of 15 and good offensive read. Certainly a good addition for the Buffalo Stampede with their third overall pick.

4. Renegades Texas Renegades (Chiefs -> Jets -> Renegades) - Edward Williams
The Winnipeg Jets owned the Renegades first overall pick, but the Texas Renegades selected Edward Williams with their fourth overall pick. Still an early pick in this draft. Edward Williams is a center from Great Britain currently playing as well for the Detroit Falcons. So that’s the second Falcons player being drafted in the first four picks! Edward Williams was on of the top rookies last season with 32 points. He scored 14 goals and had 18 assists. With almost 19 minutes of ice time and a shooting percentage of close to 20%! Definitely a prime target in this draft. His FHM build is somewhat of an all round build. With a little bit better physical stats than other rookies I’ve talked about so far. Looking forward what he will develop into when he is earning some more TPE. Currently he has 359 TPE and is capped for his second season in the SMJHL. Nothing wrong with this pick again, draft has been pretty predictable so far.

5. Panthers Los Angeles Panthers (Jets -> Stampede -> Panthers) - Jimmy Wagner
Just as the previous pick, this pick has switched teams a bit. Eventually the Los Angeles Panthers hold the pick and they selected Austrian right winger Jimmy Wagner currently playing for the Carolina Kraken. Just like the Detroit Falcons have 2 drafted players so far, the Kraken do too at this moment. Jimmy Wagner was also seen as a high valuable draft pick before the draft and I am betting that a lot of teams had their eyes on him. Jimmy Wagner had a less productive season than Ambacas Cuddles, but he did this in a lot less ice time. Which is still pretty damn good. He scored 6 goals and had 8 assists for a total of 14 points. He did this averaging just over 11 minutes a game. When we look at Jimmy Wagner’s FHM build we can see that he’s going for that speedy winger build. His highest attributes are speed, agility and acceleration. No doubt a great addition for an already strong Panthers roster.

6. Platoon West Kendall Platoon (Wolfpack -> Platoon) - Ethan Duncan
Now I player I had my eyes on. As General Manager of the Kelowna Knights I knew this was going to be a steal in this draft. Ethan Duncan is a US native center and was a 5th round pick in his SMJHL entry draft. Too bad for most teams is that West Kendall also has Zoone, which who was part of the Kelowna front office for the past 9 seasons. It’s no secret they like to draft from the Kelowna Knights pool and this time they did it again. Too bad for my own SHL team, cause we also really liked Ethan Duncan. Ethan Duncan didn’t really have a too great of a season. He spend a lot of time on the 4th and 3rd line and played only about 8 minutes per game. He scored 3 goals and had 5 assists. He was a minus 7. He was almost 54% in the faceoff circle which shows he’s got a natural talent for taking faceoffs. Ethan Duncan is going for a two-way forward build, with a higher defensive read and checking attributes. Calgary Dragons GM Esa compared Ethan Duncan to myself (Barry Batsbak) when he drafted me back in S46. So the future might be bright here for West Kendall and Ethan Duncan.

7. Stampede Buffalo Stampede (Panthers -> Stampede) - Jaska Seppälä
With the 7th overall pick the Buffalo Stampede selected Jaska Seppälä. There were some rumors before the draft that Buffalo was willing to slide Jaska Seppälä to the 2nd round hoping all the other teams would pass on him as he has explicitedly said that he wanted to go back to Buffalo. Though there was a rumor that there was another team that wanted to snipe him out of spite. Buffalo took no chances and picked Jaska Seppälä 7th overall. Jaska Seppälä is a Finnish sniper playing on left wing for the Kelowna Knights. Another high TPE earner in the first season of the SMJHL. Jaska Seppälä had 4 goals and 4 assists in the regular season and I believe another 7 points in the playoffs (only 13 games). He had about 12 minutes per game and got some power play minutes. His FHM build is focussed on that sniper and goal scoring build. High offensive and physical ratings, while his defensive ratings are somewhat lower. I can’t wait how he will explode next season for the Kelowna Knights.

8. Stars Toronto North Stars - Jack Kanoff
With the 8th overall pick the Toronto North Stars selected Detroit Falcons Jack Kanoff. Jack Kanoff is a Canadian born defenseman. Jack Kanoff has currently 329 TPE. Jack Kanoff had 19 points in the previous season. He scored 7 goals and had 13 assists. He had almost 19 minutes of ice time. Quite a good rookie season for him with the Falcons. It’s also the 3rd player from the Falcons being drafted already. His FHM build shows he’s going for a point shooter build, with quite high offensive attributes for a defenseman.

9. Dragons Calgary Dragons - Bradley Barkov
Now the most anticipated moment for my own SHL team, the Calgary Dragons. After intensive scouting we came with a shortlist and on top of that shortlist was Colorado Raptors Bradley Barkov. Bradley Barkov is a Finnish offensive defenseman. He scored 2 goals and had 8 assists with the Raptors last season and averaged almost 21 minutes of ice time. His FHM build is highly focussed on offensive attributes with also strong positioning and defensive read. Straight after the draft when Bradley Barkov joined our discord locker room the room lit up. We were very happy to draft him for the Calgary Dragons and we are sure that he will become a stud in the future and carry our franchise to greatness.

10. Rage Manhattan Rage (Blizzard -> Rage) - Jukka Timonen
With the 10th overall pick the Manhattan Rage, who traded up for this pick, selected Jukka Timonen. Another defenseman, that makes it 5 defenseman picks in the draft so far out of 10 picks. Jukka Timonen, currently sitting at 366 TPE, is also a Finnish native, who have a very strong representation in this draft class. Jukka Timonen played 50 games for the Newfoundland Berserkers and scored 10 goals and had 11 assists for a total of 21 points. That’s quite a lot of goals for a defenseman. He was a minus 7 and averaged almost 22 minutes per game. When we look at his FHM build he is going for a two-way defenseman build with strong offensive and defensive attributes. Pretty strong pick for the defending champion Manhattan Rage.

11. syndicate Chicago Syndicate - Ryuuji Minamino
With the 11th overall pick the Chicago Syndicate selected Ryuuji Minamino. Ryuuji Minamino is a Japanese winger playing for the Newfoundland Berserkers. He currently has 321 TPE. Ryuuji Minamino had 8 points last season, he scored 3 goals and had 5 assists. He was a minus 5 and had only about 11 minutes of average ice time. His FHM build is highly focused on scoring and playmaking. Ryuuji Minamino has also been very active on the site during his first season in the SMJHL so the Syndicate have picked them up quite an active player for the future despite him being a bit behind in TPE earnings.

12. Barracuda Tampa Bay Barracuda (Steelhawks -> Barracuda) - Valentín Kalashnikov
The Tampa Bay Barracuda selected Valentín Kalashnikov with their 12th overall pick. Valentín Kalashnikov is a Russian defenseman playing for Maine Timber (previously Halifax Raiders). He currently has 291 TPE and is so far the lowest earning player to be picked. Valentín Kalashnikov had 4 goals and had another 11 assists for a total of 15 points last season. He averaged almost 22 minutes of ice time. He was a minus 7 and had 85 hits! On paper Valentín Kalashnikov is a shutdown defenseman. His FHM build supports that with high defensive read, checking and hitting attributes.

13. Specters New Orleans Specters - Erben Kasius
With the 13th overall pick the New Orleans Specters picked Erben Kasius from the St. Louis Scarecrows. Erben Kasius is a Dutch born offensive defenseman and currently has 318 TPE. Erben Kasius had quite a productive season for the Crows. He had 10 goals and 15 assists for a total of 25 points! One of the better performing rookies in that regard last season and quite a lot of goals for a defenseman too. He played almost 21 minutes on average per game, was a plus 4 and blocked 49 shots. His FHM builds also shows he’s going to continue on the offensive road for his player. He has higher offensive ratings compared to his defensive ratings.

14. Jets Winnipeg Jets (Stampede -> Jets) - Reid Sutherland
With the 14th overall pick the Winnipeg Jets selected Reid Sutherland. Reid Sutherland is a United States native who plays center for the Detroit Falcons. Yes, another player drafted from the Falcons pool. Reid Sutherland currently has 301 TPE. He played 50 games last season for the Falcons and scored 6 goals and had 101 assists. He was a minus 6 with an average of 17 minutes per game. Reid Sutherland was quite effective in the face off circle winning over 54% of the draws. His FHM build is more focused on a playmaking role and to be effective in the face off circle.

15. pride San Francisco Pride - Sven Svenson
Sven Svenson was picked 15th overall by the San Francisco Pride. Sven Svenson is a Swedish winger playing for the Colorado Raptors. He currently has 347 TPE and is a better earner than some of the previous players being picked. Sven Svenson Scored 6 goals last season and also had 11 assists for a total of 17 points. He was a plus 6 and played over 16 minutes per game. His FHM build tells me that he’s developing to be a high scoring forward and doesn’t like to defend a lot. We’ll see how this works out for the Raptors and Pride in the following seasons.

16. Blizzard Edmonton Blizzard (Rage -> Blizzard) - William Hartmann
With the final pick of the season 53 SHL entry draft first round the Edmonton Blizzard selected William Hartmann. William Hartmann is Swiss born left wing currently playing for the Vancouver Whalers. William Hartmann has 277 TPE right now and that’s the lowest number of any player drafted in the first round. He scored 4 goals and had 3 assists last season, which is also not that productive compared to other players in this draft. He does have a very healthy bank account, which might have helped Edmonton to pick him. His FHM build it looks like he’s going for a more power forward build with high offensive ratings and checking.

Looking at the draft and each players position we can conclude the following:

Defense 7
Left Wing 4
Center 3
Right Wing 2
Goaltender 0

9 forwards (with the left wing being the favorite), 7 defenseman and no goaltenders were picked. The defenseman class this year was really strong and the picks showed that. A lot of teams have a defensive need in the near future.

If we look back on all the first round draftees players were drafted from the following teams:

Falcons Detroit Falcons 4
Berserkers Newfoundland Berserkers 3
Kraken Carolina Kraken 2
Raptors Colorado Raptors 2
Knights Kelowna Knights 2
Timber Maine Timber 1
Scarecrows St. Louis Scarecrows 1
Whalers Vancouver Whalers 1
Outlaws Anaheim Outlaws 0
Armada Anchorage Armada 0

The Detroit Falcons had 4 players picked from their prospect pool and the Newfoundland Berserkers had 3 players picked in the first round, but most interesting is to see that previous champions the Anaheim Outlaws saw nobody from their team drafted in the first round. Same goes for the Anchorage Armada.

The players in the first round of this draft are originally from the following countries:

Finland Finland 3
Sweden Sweden 2
Usa United States 2
World Other 2
Canada Canada 1
Russia Russia 1
Austria Austria 1
Switzerland Switzerland 1
Uk Great Britain 1
Germany Germany 1
Japan Japan 1

This draft surprisingly saw a lot of players from Finland being drafted with 3. Sweden and USA had 2 players each. Fun note that we had a player from the Netherlands and Land of Gumba being drafted.

So this concludes my analysis of the S53 draft class for the SHL entry draft. I wish all drafted players a great career in the SHL and enjoy the off season while it lasts!

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Barracuda Germany Scarecrows Knights


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#2

nice analysis of the first round! always glad to see articles that talk about my fellow falcons

 
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#3

Great read!

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#4

Nice write up!

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#1 All-Time SHL Goal & Point Scorer 
- First 2,000 TPE Player in SHL History - 
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- Only 500 Goal Scorer in SHL History -
- First GM to Win 5 & 6 Challenge Cups -
Esa Anrikkanen Award - SMJHL ROY - Est. S34
Vidrik Onoprienko Award Winner - S45

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#5

no latvians and no outlaws :sweat:

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