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**RomanesEuntDomus** · 10-20-2020, 01:54 PM

A Look Back at the S43 Entry Draft and the Trades that Followed
Or: Which players were the best value for their team?

Words: 10000 (x2 Trades Double Media)

Hello everyone and thank you for reading this! There have been a bunch of trade-related articles this week thanks to double media week and a lot of them have been a great read, so first of all thank you and great job to everyone who participated and contributed something. I wanted to try something different with my article and not just take a look at one specific trade or a series of trades, but instead look at an entire draft class.

The premise, or should I say the main question of my article, is this: Which teams got the most value out of their picks in the S43 Entry Draft? This question basically includes two aspects, how a player performed for the team that drafted them, and when/how they left. Did a team lose their player for nothing due to free agency or retirement or were they able to generate some trade value from him? And if a player left the team, was that super early, before he had even developed into a solid SHL-caliber player, or after he had already given the team back plenty through seasons of performing at a high level?

These questions are basically reflected through two numbers: The performance score and the trade score. Both numbers can be between 0 and 100 and are determined separately. If a player doesn’t even play a game for the franchise that drafted him, his score will be zero. If a draftee turns into one of the very best players in the league while on the team that drafted him and he does perform for a long time, he gets a high performance score. In fact as you will see later one player actually reached a perfect score in that category.

If a draftee has left his team at some point however, then the trade score comes in. If he left via free agency, retired or wasn’t re-signed then that value is a flat 0 (the same goes for a player who is still on the team). If the team was able to generate some trade value however when losing this player, they can earn up to 100 points in trade score. Was that number reached as well for this class? You’re gonna have to read the article to find out!

Both those scores are added up so in theory, a player can reach a total score of 200. However, there is one more step in which is a multiplier that is applied to that score, depending on draft position. Simply put, the later in the draft you pick a good player, the more value will you have gotten out of your pick. Getting a player who scores 800 points for your franchise with your 1st Overall pick is great. Getting that same player in the 3rd Round however? That’s even better! So the deeper into the draft we go, the higher the multiplier applied to each player will be. It jumps by x0.25 every five picks, so for the top-5 the multiplier will be 1 (so no multiplier), for picks 6-10 it will be 1.25 and so on, for picks 11-15 it will be 1.5 and so on. This undeniably gives an advantage to the player selected later but hey, you can only be a steal and therefore a super-value pick if you got passed on a few times...

Overall I acknowledge that these metrics sure aren’t perfect, after all this is just meant to be a fun little exercise and not a super in-depth statistical analysis. While writing this article I noticed a few flaws in my numbers where some types of picks/players have a bit of an advantage over others so don’t take the final rankings too seriously. But overall I think my numbers still hold up and they should provide you with some interesting results and a way to compare which picks ended up being good value for the teams that made them and which weren’t.

Lastly, keep in mind that this article is not meant as a knock against any members and, most importantly, it is NOT a “Who was the best player of this class?” article. You will find the names of some superstar players pretty low in the ranking not because they aren’t great, but because the team who originally drafted them failed to get appropriate value out of that player even though they made a good pick.

Alright, let’s get to it! I will take about every player one-by-one, show you their scores and explain how I came up with them, and then have the final ranking at the end of the article. Enjoy!

1st Overall - pride

Leshaun King @King

Oh boy what is there still to say about this pick? King has the honor of being one of the most hyped prospects in SHL history as well as one of the most spectacular busts. He never even came close to reaching his potential and retired five seasons into his SHL career, after an already prolonged period of inactivity. King put up an impressive 35 points in S44, his rookie campaign, but his numbers would never climb above that. He managed to repeat this mark, his career high, once more in S46 before his scoring dropped off and he retired following the conclusion of Season 48.

At least the Pride got a few seasons as a decent depth player out of him which is better than some of the other major busts that the SHL has seen over the years. But given the expectations that were put on King and the fact that he neither became a great player nor created any trade value means that we start off this article with one of the lower scores...

How long did he play there: His entire (short) career
How did he do: 250 GP - 72 G - 70 A - 142 P - 135 H - 63 SB
How did he leave: Retired
Performance Score: 20
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1
Total Score: 20

2nd Overall - Rage

Oliver Kovacs @KillTheArchitect

We started this article with a bust for the ages and now at second overall we have… a pick that was just as bad, if not worse! In fact, the discussion whether Kovacs or King were worse value as a pick could be an interesting one. Expectations for Kovacs, who also saw his brother drafted in the second round of this draft, weren’t as high as they were for King. There wasn’t nearly as much hype around him pre-draft as there was for King and some considered the Rage picking him at 2nd Overall as a bit of a reach. Also I guess striking out with your 2nd Overall is slightly less bad than doing so with the 1st Overall but then again… Kovacs amounted to even less than King.

The promising Forward ended up never making it to the SHL, not even in a depth capacity, and instead ended up playing out his career in the SMJHL. He split his time there between Halifax and Anchorage before auto-retiring after Season 46, when he aged out and wasn’t signed to an SHL-deal. Kovacs also participated in two IIHF tournaments for Team Czechia, going scoreless in both and racking up a -8 rating in 20 games. So since he ended up never playing a single game for Manhattan and also not creating any trade value, we have to give the absolute lowest score here and thereby rate Oliver Kovacs even lower as a pick than famous bust Leshaun King.

How long did he play there: Didn’t play
How did he do: Didn’t play
How did he leave: Not re-signed
Performance Score: 0
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1
Total Score: 0

3rd Overall - pride

Luke Thomason @"luketd"

The first pick of this draft was a Pride bust, followed up by a Rage bust, followed up by a… Pride pick who actually became a very good player, but for the Rage. Luke Thomason was the first pick in this draft who actually went on to have a good career, but most of that career would be with a team other than the one who drafted him. Thomason left San Francisco after Season 45 after three years in the SFP system and only actually suiting up for the big club in the last one of those years. So with only one season played there, how much value did he actually create for San Francisco, in other words… how good was the pick really?

Thomason’s rookie season was a good one, earning him a nomination for the top-rookie award but still, one season as a rookie won’t earn you much in terms of performance score. So how does the value look that San Francisco received for him? I would say it was… okay. The Pride received a 1st Round Pick for him and a Conditional 2nd that ended up turning into another 1st after Thomason decided to re-sign with Manhattan. Thomason has been with Manhattan ever since and has turned into an integral franchise piece whereas the Pride drafted Timmo Kyllonen with the S48 Draft they received, another player that never made it to the SHL. The S49 1st was traded along to the Texas Renegades who ended up selecting Noah Brusky with it who carved out a decent yet not flashy career for himself, which could be considered a disappointment given that he was a 2nd Overall Pick.

It’s pretty hard to determine a trade score here for a variety of reasons - the Condition that was involved, the fact that Thomason was dealt for picks and not players and that the Pride only ended up using one of those picks themselves while trading on the other one. Also, should the quality of the players selected with those picks be factored in or is the only thing that counts the spots those picks ended up in (7th Overall and 2nd Overall)? Ultimately I’ve decided to give a trade score of 65. Getting two 1sts who both end up in the first half of the first round is good value for any player, but ultimately Manhattan still got the better end of the deal as they received a franchise piece that has been loyal to them ever since, whereas San Francisco couldn’t get as much value as they would have hoped for out of the picks they received.

How long did he play there: One season
How did he do: 50 GP - 18 G - 19 P - 37 P - 7 H - 17 SB
How did he leave: Traded to Manhattan for a 1st and a Conditional 2nd that turned into another 1st after Thomason re-signed in Mahattan
Performance Score: 10
Trade Score: 65
Multiplier: x1
Total Score: 75

4th Overall - Steelhawks

Tig Murphy @notorioustig

The first Defenseman selected in this draft was Tig Murphy, who went to the Steelhawks at 4th Overall. He would go on to play for that team up until last off-season, when he took over the Seattle Argonauts as an Expansion GM, leaving the Steelhawks without compensation as his contract was expiring. For the longest time it looked like Murphy could be a career Steelhawk, but even though that dream recently died the Steelhawks still got great value out of their pick, winning two Challenge Cups with Murphy as an integral part of their roster.

Murphy managed to pick up a Stevens and a Richan Award along the way along with additional nominations for those awards as well as the Biscuit Trophy. Murphy’s prime seems to have been in the dying seasons of the STHS era, an era that is marked with a bit of an asterisk due to the questionable and ultimately outlawed tactics that Hamilton used at the time. Murphy might have benefitted a bit from those as well given that he never quite managed to perform on the same level before or after that era, but he was still a productive player way before those tactics were introduce and managed to remain one after the league had gotten rid of them and switched engines.

How long did he play there: Eleven Seasons
How did he do: 550 GP - 107 G - 290 A - 397 P - 1003 H - 719 SB
How did he leave: Became Expansion GM
Performance Score: 85
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1
Total Score: 85

5th Overall - pride

Goku Muerto @Muerto

The Pride where THE team everyone talked about prior to this draft. They had gone through some significant hardships in the years prior, but were now poised to end that era of turmoil and kickstart a dynasty with three picks in the Top-5 of one of the better Drafts in recent memory. But after completely missing out on their first pick and only getting okay value out of their second one even though they hit on the pick, how did they do with their third shot? After two first-generation players the Pride opted to go with a Recreate for this one, selecting Goku Muerto fifth overall.

Muerto had a decent start to his career after going up to the big leagues pretty early in S44 and he kept progressing slowly but consistently, breaking 30 points in his third season and 40 points in his fifth. Sadly for the team that drafted him however, when Muerto actually hit his prime and started putting up consistent 40 and 50 point seasons, he was no longer in a Pride uniform.

San Francisco had decided to trade him to the Winnipeg Jets at the Season 49 deadline and following the conclusion of that season, Muerto moved on to Manhattan where he spent two seasons before coming back to the Jets where he still plays today. The return the Pride received consisted of Xavier Paquette and also moving up from the second to the first round in the S50 Draft. Both Muerto and Paquette were in the last season of their contract at the time and both did not stay with the team that received them past that season, so value-wise it was a wash between the two. So how much value did the Pride receive from the pick swap (S50 NOLA 2nd for S50 NOLA 1st)?

Sadly, the answer is almost none. The two players picked in the respective spots were goalie Ian Venables at 13th Overall and Forward Gylfi Eriksson at 29th Overall - both of which ended up never playing a single SHL game. S50 was a rather shallow draft so moving up from the late 2nd to the late 1st could have been huge, but the Pride ended up missing on their pick so I can’t give them a very high trade score either. So even though Goku Muerto ended up having a good SHL career, San Francisco’s third pick of the draft was also the third time they didn’t end up getting the value out of it that they would’ve liked.

How long did he play there: A little less than six seasons
How did he do: 289 G - 61 G - 115 A - 176 G - 346 H - 53 SB
How did he leave: Traded to Winnipeg along with a 2nd for Xavier Paquette and a 1st.
Performance Score: 45
Trade Score: 10
Multiplier: x1
Total Score: 55

6th Overall - Jets

Lil’Manius @Bonk

An often underappreciated player with his last guy, Bonk would not go underrated this time as the Winnipeg Jets picked him up early in the Draft at 6th Overall, bringing him back to the place where Big Manius had spent his entire career as well. Manius' career started pretty slow with him putting up less than 20 points in his first two seasons, but he quickly developed into one of the premier young Power Forwards in the game, reaching 45 points in Season 47 and 54 points in Season 48 while also throwing lots of Hits and putting up good defensive numbers.

To many peoples' surprise however, S48 would remain the only season where Manius ever hit 50 points. He would come close again a few times over the next few years but never quite make it. And interestingly enough, the Winnipeg Jets managed to cash in big on Manius just as he hit his peak! Because in the season following his 54-point campaign, Winnipeg traded Manius to New Orleans in a blockbuster deal where they received a multitude of pieces for him. We also meet again with two pieces here that we already mentioned when talking about the previous player, Goku Muerto. This is the trade where the Jets received the S50 NOLA 1st (essentially trading up from their own 2nd) and Xavier Paquette who they would later trade to the Pride for Muerto.

On top of those two pieces however, the Jets also received the S52 NOLA 1st and Osbert Whacker in the deal. Whacker was essentially an inactive and the Jets would not end up selecting a player themselves with the S52 NOLA 1st but traded that pick away later. All in all however they received a decent haul for Manius: A 1st, a trade up from 2nd to 1st and two decent depth players. I would say that value is roughly comparable to what the Pride received for Thomason, so I decided to give both players the same trade score.

This is a good time though to point out once more that for the purposes of this article, it is not actually important what happened to a player after leaving the team that drafted him. This piece is all about what a player did for the team that drafted him and the absolute value said team received if/when the player left. So even if Manius had retired a season after being traded away by the Jets, that wouldn’t have changed his trade score.

How long did he play there: Five and a half seasons
How did he do: 278 G - 93 G - 91 A - 184 P - 744 H - 65 SB
How did he leave: Traded to New Orleans along with a 2nd for two 1sts, Osbert Whacker and Xavier Paquette.
Performance Score: 50
Trade Score: 65
Multiplier: x1.25
Total Score: 144

7th Overall - Panthers

Philipp Winter @RomanesEuntDomus

Just like the Jets with Manius, the Panthers also decided to bring back someone whose previous player was already on the team at the time of his retirement. They decided to go with proven Recreate Philipp Winter who has been with the Panthers his entire career since they picked him up at 7th Overall, the first player we are talking about in this article to have done so.

It took Winter a little while to get going and his first few seasons weren’t particularly impressive but Winter eventually started hitting his prime in S49 and he has been a prime performer in the league ever since. He led the league in scoring in S52 and also won the Ron Mexico Award this season, his only major trophy to date. Winter managed to score north of 50 points five times in his career and finished in the Scoring Top-10 a total of four of those times, playing on an upper midfield team for most of his career.

He has shown no signs of slowing down early on in regression and, after putting up a career year in the final STHS season, seems to have transitioned well to the new engine, putting up multiple career highs since the switch to FHM. However, the current season has been Winter’s weakest in quite a while, so it should be interesting to see if it is just a down year or a sign of regression catching up to him...

How long did he play there: Entire career to date (still playing)
How did he do: 550 GP - 222 G - 258 A - 480 P - 844 H - 286 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 90
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.25
Total Score: 113

8th Overall - Stampede

Hippo Passamus @Mayuu

After a flurry of recreates being selected in the spots right before them, the Stampede decided to go with a first-generation player and boy did it turn out well for them. They ended up with one of the best Power Forwards in the game in Hippo Passamus who is loyal to the franchise to this day, has won multiple cups with Buffalo and picked up a couple of Dar nominations as well as a Razov nomination along the way.

It doesn’t get much better than that in terms of value and Passamus could potentially have received the first perfect performance score of this article, but ultimately I decided against it because his offensive output, while good, was never quite Elite, as he usually hovered around 40 points in STHS times and hasn’t broken 60 yet either in the more inflated FHM-era. This is no knock on Passamus however as he has often been part of stacked teams, making it a bit harder to stand out individually. The Stampede sure have been excited about that pick and there are few players in this class with more hardware than him!

How long did he play there: Entire Career to date (still playing)

How did he do: 500 GP - 179 G - 238 A - 417 P - 1144 Hits - 175 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 90
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.25
Total Score: 113

9th Overall - Renegades

Kiko Rytmeyr @ThatIrishFellow

The last few picks had it all - franchise players who spent their entire careers with the team that drafted them, players who were dealt away before their careers had even started and others who were part of big blockbusters while in their prime. So what didn’t we have in quite some time? A good gold-fashioned bust!

There really isn’t that much to say about Kiko Rytmeyr, whose activity already started to drop off in his post-draft season. As a result he didn’t even become a very good junior player during his five-year stint in the SMJHL, always staying just below 30 points while playing for the St. Louis Scarecrows. There wasn’t a big drama moment or controversial trade involved either, he simply stopped developing and faded into obscurity. The Renegades decided to give him a shot in a depth capacity anyway following his graduation from juniors, but ended up cutting him after only 14 games.

How long did he play there: One Season
How did he do: 14 GP - 1 G - 1 A - 2 P - 5 H - 15 SB
How did he leave: Not Re-Signed
Performance Score: 1
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.25
Total Score: 1

10th Overall - Platoon

Rex Kirkby @Acsolap

The Platoon, still in West Kendall at that time, will be very happy with the pick they made at 10th Overall, as Rex Kirkby has developed into one of best and most consistent Defensemen in the SHL who especially excels in the defensive side of the game while still putting up solid defensive numbers.

Kirkby has won three Bojo Biscuit Awards for Best Defensive Defenseman between S49 and 51, the most in SHL history as no other player has even managed to win more than one since the inception of the Award in Season 46. He also won a Challenge Cup with the Platoon and was nominated for the Razov Trophy that year while making multiple All-Star-Teams as well. Kirkby spent a total of nine seasons with the Platoon, regularly scoring over 30 or even 40 points, before he was traded to the New England Wolfpack following the conclusion of Season 52.

In what is becoming a theme in this article, Kirkby was essentially traded for two 1st Rounders just like Thomason and Manius. They also received depth player Delver Fudgeson who has since developed into a good SHL piece, but for the Toronto North Stars. The picks the Platoon received were in S53 and S54 so it is a bit too early to tell how those players have turned out, but they were the 6th and 14th Overall nonetheless. So I would put Kirkby’s trade score slightly higher than that of Thomason and Muerto due to the 6th Overall being quite early and because of the addition of Fudgeson.

How long did he play there: Nine Seasons
How did he do: 450 GP - 71 G - 208 A - 279 P - 825 H - 624 SB
How did he leave: Traded to New England for two 1st Rounders and Delver Fudgeson.
Performance Score: 80
Trade Score: 75
Multiplier: x1.25
Total Score: 194

11th Overall - Rage

Alex Winters @39alaska39

The Rage hit two major busts this draft, one we already talked about and one we will get to in a bit. But they nailed this pick right here, selecting Alex Winters 11th Overall and getting a player who stayed loyal to the franchise his entire career, a career that will end this off-season as he just announced his retirement.

Winters burst onto the scene with a fantastic performance in his rookie season of S45, winning the Jesster trophy for best rookie with a 42 point performance. He wouldn’t be quite as consistently great over the course of his career but still managed to hit 40 and even 50 points regularly before slowing down in the FHM era and deciding to call it quits maybe because of that.

Winters also was an integral part of the Rage’s cup winning squad in Season 52 and was rewarded with a Razov Trophy nomination. Season 52 was his best season in general not just in the playoffs but also in the regular season, as he finished with 54 points which was good for 3rd in league scoring and brought him a spot on the 1st All-Star-Team. He got to share this team with Philipp Winter by the way, who we already talked about and who Winters formed two thirds of Colorado’s infamous “Cold Pizza Line” with… And we will also get to the last third of that line later!

How long did he play there: Entire Career
How did he do: 550 GP - 181 G - 249 - 429 P - 499 H - 219 SB
How did he leave: Retired
Performance Score: 80
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.5
Total Score: 120

12th Overall - Steelhawks

Pierre Laroche-Durocher @lespoils

After two very good picks we have to venture back into bust territory again. The Hamilton Steelhawks selected Pierre Laroche-Durocher 12th Overall but he would never play a game for them. After a rather unimpressive SMJHL career that was shared between Halifax, Detroit and Kelowna the Steelhawks opted not to sign Laroche-Durocher when he aged out. He was picked up by the Texas Renegades as a Free Agent who used him in a depth capacity for two seasons but when they let him go, his SHL career ended. Meanwhile the Steelhawks neither got any games nor any trade value out of him, leading to a “perfect” zero as the score for this pick.

How long did he play there: Didn’t Play
How did he do: Didn’t Play
How did he leave: Not Re-Signed
Performance Score: 0
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.5
Total Score: 0

13th Overall - Wolfpack

Maximilian Egger @Moosecop

Maximilian Egger was one of the quieter picks of this draft. He wasn’t a bust, he wasn’t a superstar, he was just a solid contributor to the New England Wolfpack for eleven seasons. The Defenseman came into the league in S45 and managed to rack up a total of three 30+ point campaigns, his best one also being his last with the team, when he put up a career high 33 Points and 9 Goals in S55. His 24 Assists and 69 Hits also tied his career highs, so he was able to finish his career with the Wolfpack on a high note. Egger is the second player in this article to leave his draft team through the recent expansion, where he was picked up by the Atlanta Inferno with their eleventh selection.

How long did he play there: Eleven Seasons
How did he do: 550 GP - 50 G - 172 A - 222 P - 425 H - 587 SB
How did he leave: Expansion Draft
Performance Score: 40
Trade Score: 5
Multiplier: x1.5
Total Score: 60

14th Overall - Dragons

Nicky Pedersen Jr. @mstuk41

Loyalty, thy name is Pedersen. In Season 25, the Calgary Dragons acquired Nicholas Pedersen in a trade from the Los Angeles Panthers and since that fateful day over 30 seasons ago, there has always been a Pedersen on the team. Nicholas the Elder, who entered the league all the way back in S19, had an over twenty season career that lasted until S42 and when he retired, the Dragons didn’t hesitate to pick up his son Nicky Pedersen Jr. when he was available at 14th Overall Pick in the S43 Entry Draft. Truly, there must always be a Pedersen in Calgary, it feels like.

The older Pedersen was already a rather quiet and sometimes underappreciated player and that trend has continued with his son, who one could argue has flown under the radar even more. Nicky has not quite developed into the superstar that his father was for a while, but has still been rock-solid for the Dragons, won a Cup with them and put up 40+ points four times. He has shown no signs of slowing down so far and is as reliable as ever right now, but his career could start to wind down soon as he doesn’t have quite the same training hours as some of his peers that he has managed to keep up with so far.

How long did he play there: Entire career to date (still playing)
How did he do: 550 GP - 154 G - 248 A - 402 P - 873 H - 196 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 80
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.5
Total Score: 120

15th Overall - Rage

Kristof Kovacs @I Am a Coupon

We already talked about the Rage a bunch and how they had two major busts this draft. Well… this is the second one. Kristof Kovacs was the third pick the Rage had in this Draft and the first pick in the second round and he was also the brother of 2nd Overall pick Oliver Kovacs.

The Rage bet on the pair of brothers to be the cornerstone pieces for them while building their team for the future and that turned out to be one of the biggest miscalculations in recent memory as both picks became major failures very quickly. Unlike his brother, Kristof Kovacs at least made it to the SHL briefly but only played one season in S45 before the Rage let him walk and no other team picked him up ever again.

There isn’t that much more to say about Kovac’s short career so let me take this opportunity to talk a little bit about this Draft in general. Because in my opinion it is quite interesting to look at San Francisco and Manhattan and do a brief comparison of how they did in the years following the Draft. Going into the S43 Draft both teams were considered “winners” before a single pick was even made. They held 1st and 2nd Overall in one of the best classes the SHL had seen in a while, with both premier recreates and super promising first-gens available to them. Both teams held three picks in the Top-15 as well which allowed them to not just add tremendous quality but quantity as well.

To the surprise of almost everyone, things didn’t work out like that at all. Both teams didn’t get great value out of their picks as that article has shown. Both the 1st and 2nd Overall ended up being Busts and of their remaining picks, the Rage only hit one one while the Pride selected two good players but traded both of them away rather early without maximizing their value. Given the expectations before the Draft, it has to be considered a failure for both teams.

Interestingly enough however, the two Franchises trajectories would develop very differently over the next few seasons. While the Pride remained near the bottom of the Standings and it feels like they have been in a perpetual rebuild ever since, the Rage actually managed to build up their team over the following years despite their poor S43 Draft, becoming regular playoff participants and winning a Cup in S52. It shows that one Draft won’t make or break your Franchise but that it can still slow you down significantly and that banking on one big year instead of spreading out your picks can be riskier than some people might realize.

How long did he play there: One Season
How did he do: 50 GP - 9 G - 8 A - 17 P - 5 H - 3 SB
How did he leave: Not Re-Signed
Performance Score: 5
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.5
Total Score: 8

16th Overall - Wolfpack

Johannes Leitner @"AndrewWarren13"

With their second pick in this Draft the New England Wolfpack selected the first goaltender of this class and they got a good one in Johannes Leitner. Leitner, who just retired a season ago, spent nine years with the team before being traded to Tampa Bay where he played for one more season before calling it quits. He was one of the best regular season performers during his time in the league, hitting 30 Wins and over a 92% Save-Percentage twice and winning the McBride Trophy for Best Goaltender in both of those seasons, also winning a Richan and a Khan Trophy along the way.

Sadly Leitner was never quite able to replicate those kinds of performances in the playoffs as a sometimes stacked Wolfpack squad failed to go very deep and win a cup during his tenure. This led to the Wolfpack management eventually turning on him, deservedly or not, after an insane S53 regular season that was followed by another disappointing playoff campaign for the team, they traded Leitner for another goaltender in Benjamin Blue, adding a 2nd Rounder as well. Blue ended up only spending a season in New England as a stopgap for Frans Eller before he was traded back to Tampa Bay for a 3rd where he retired a year after.

This is one of the tougher picks to rate for sure. The trade that sent Leitner out of New England at the time already caused some controversy because people were split on whether he was really to blame for New England's lack of playoff success or not. Ironically in the year that he was traded, Leitner actually had strong stats in the Playoffs even though his team fell short of winning the cup. But his performances in the S45 and S49 campaigns were indeed quite bad and one of the main reasons New England was eliminated in those seasons and that was probably still in the back of people's minds. Still, Leitner was one of the best regular season performers during his time in the league and if the team only does well when he performs to his highest then that shouldn’t just count as a negative for him, but speak to his value as well.

In any case, the Wolfpack didn’t get good value for Leitner when they traded him. They essentially had to add a 2nd Rounder to get a goalie that was even older than the aging Leitner and they only had that goalie for a season and only received a 3rd for him when they moved him back to the team they got him from. So they essentially traded a 2nd for a 3rd and a 4th while swapping goalies for a season. Not the greatest value, even though Leitner retired soon after.

How long did he play there: Nine Seasons
How did he do: 389 GP - 200-154-35 - 22 SO - 90,66% (including TBB-season)
How did he leave: Traded to Tampa Bay along with a 2nd for Benjamin Blue and a 4th.
Performance Score: 60
Trade Score: 10
Multiplier: x1.75
Total Score: 123

17th Overall - Steelhawks

Andrew Martin @Good_Ole_Kimmy

The Steelhawks were the first team after the aforementioned Pride and Rage to get to their third pick in the Draft and they ended up selecting fan favorite Andrew Martin. Sadly Martin’s value would remain largely emotional because the Steelhawks didn’t get too much out of him on the ice. He actually had a decent start to his career when he hit the big leagues in S45 and continued to develop slowly and was a steady presence for them on the ice. But after four seasons Martin decided to go for an early retirement, never hitting his prime and becoming a top-player in the league.

Martin managed to score at least 25 points in each of his four SHL seasons and he broke 30 points for the first time in his last year in the league. He also had a strong playoff campaign in S46, putting up 8 points in 12 games, but ultimately the Steelhawks would’ve like to get more out of him than just those four seasons before losing him for nothing.

How long did he play there: Four Seasons
How did he do: 200 GP - 52 G - 58 A - 110 P - 111 H - 45 SB
How did he leave: Retired
Performance Score: 30
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.75
Total Score: 53

18th Overall - Riot

Pavel Pivonka @Schultzy

The Seattle Riot, who have since moved to Tampa Bay, decided to go for a recreate with some connections to the franchise with their first pick in the Draft. They selected Pavel Pivonka but that pick didn’t work out for them at all. We have already seen a couple of first-gen busts in this article but Pivonka was the first true recreate bust of his class who came with a lot of name recognition but amounted to nothing.

Pivonka spent most of his SHL career in Montreal where he had some decent offensive seasons, but he ultimately failed to develop at the pace that was necessary to make it to the big leagues so when he reached the age limit neither the Riot nor any other team decided to pick him up and he faded into obscurity.

How long did he play there: Didn’t Play
How did he do: Didn’t Play
How did he leave: Not Re-Signed
Performance Score: 0
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.75
Total Score: 0

19th Overall - Chiefs

Eero Niemi @spooked

As seen over the last few picks, we have now reached a section of the draft where busts have become increasingly common and where it has become harder and harder to find players with long and fruitful SHL careers. So teams will probably be happy with a bit less from their draftees at this point and I think this is something that is the case for Eero Niemi as well.

Niemi never became a star power player but he was someone you could count on in a depth role and he spent his entire eight season career with the Chiefs. He usually scored in the 20-25 point range and made the playoffs twice with the Chiefs, putting in a pretty good effort in S46 when he had 5 points and 14 hits in 12 games. Minnesota probably still would’ve like a bit more out of him, but Niemi did well enough to not fall into the bust category.

How long did he play there: Eight Seasons
How did he do: 400 GP - 78 G - 96 A - 174 P - 292 H - 92 SB
How did he leave: Retired
Performance Score: 35
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.75
Total Score: 61

20th Overall - Jets

Ignatius Blunt @Gaia Mormont

The Jets decided to go with a lower profile recreate at 20th Overall in Ignatius Blunt which turned out to be a pretty decent pick for them. Just like Niemi at the pick before, Blunt never became a superstar, but he actually performed at a significantly higher level and is also still on the team.

At 600 games played he is one of the workhorses of this draft class as he went up to the big leagues pretty early in S44 and hasn’t looked back since, being a consistent 30 point scorer who has managed to hit 40 points once in S54. He also managed to win a Challenge Cup in his rookie season where he almost managed to match his regular season point total over the 18 playoff games. Blunt was one of the better Power Forwards in his prime as well, throwing quite a few Hits, but has settled into more of a two-way role since the switch to FHM.

How long did he play there: Entire Career to date (still playing)
How did he do: 600 GP - 125 G - 186 A - 311 P - 822 H - 172 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 70
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x1.75
Total Score: 123

21st Overall - Panthers

Marco Raanteli @Radsin

The Panthers second pick in this draft didn’t turn out as well for them as their first. Marco Raanteli was another player from the bust category who never played a game for the team that drafted him as the Panthers decided not to sign him after a mediocre junior career. He would pop up again briefly in Season 50 and play a few games as an inactive filler player for the Texas Renegades but that it in terms of NHL action for Raanteli.

How long did he play there: Didn’t Play
How did he do: Didn’t Play
How did he leave: Not re-signed
Performance Score: 0
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 0

22nd Overall - Jets

Nicholas Williams @Nictox

After all these Busts and decent depth players we finally get to someone who became a star player again - but sadly not for the team that drafted him. Nicholas Williams has become a consistent 40+ points player for the New Orleans Specters with 50 and even 60 point seasons under his belt and two challenge cups as well as a Mexico and Razov nomination to his name. For the Jets however, he only played a single season, his rookie year in S45.

I hope I’m reconstructing the deal that sent Williams out of Winnipeg after just one season correctly, but the way I see it the Jets decided to trade the negotiating rights to him after the last season of his ELC. They sent those rights to the Edmonton Blizzard but Williams wouldn’t sign there and instead join the New Orleans Specters via Free Agency where he has played ever since. In return they received the rights to superstar veteran forward Oisin Fletcher, but just like Edmonton with Williams they were unable to sign him as well. Ironically, Fletcher and Williams both ended up in New Orleans in the off-season following the trade.

Ultimately this pick has to be seen as a major disappointment for the Jets, they picked a great player but got almost nothing out of him. I’m not sure if they were forced to trade Williams as he was gonna test Free Agency anyway or if they decided to do so on their own volition for a chance to sign Oisin Fletcher, but either way it didn’t work out for them and they essentially lost Williams for almost nothing.

How long did he play there: One Season
How did he do: 50 GP - 8 G - 12 A - 20 P - 11 H - 8 SB
How did he leave: Rights traded to Edmonton for Rights to Oisin Fletcher.
Performance Score: 5
Trade Score: 5
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 20

23rd Overall - Renegades

Kevin Kazarian @Harry Hans

The Texas Renegades selected Kevin Kazarian with the 23rd Overall pick and he spent even less time with the team that drafted him than the guy we just talked about. Kazarian was moved to the Seattle Riot/Tampa Bay Barracuda towards the end of his rookie season, ending his stint with the Renegades after just 37 games of the S45 campaign. His record in those games was rather unimpressive and he ended up doing more in the 13 games after he was traded than in the 37 ones before.

Kazarian would go on two have two decent seasons in Tampa Bay, then landed in Toronto after a short stop in New Orleans. His career ended in S52 after some pretty strong seasons for the North Stars. So the Renegades got almost nothing out of Kazarian on the ice, but did the trade pay off for them at least? It’s kinda hard to judge since it was a multi player deal but I’ll try.

Ace Redding, a former super star at the tail end of his career, seemed to have been a rental for the Renegades, only playing the 13 remaining games of the regular season and 11 in the playoffs before moving on to Winnipeg. The 2nd Rounder they received didn’t amount to anything and the Conditional 2nd ended up with neither of those teams but with the Buffalo Stampede, who selected a good player in Lallo Selman who would go on to spend his career in Chicago however

In return Texas gave up Kazarian and another decent depth player in David Fantobens, making this a pretty meh deal for them. Sure, they didn’t give up any superstar caliber players either, but in the end all they really got back for their two pieces was a few games of an aging Ace Redding in a not very deep playoff run.

How long did he play there: Less than a season
How did he do: 37 GP - 4 G - 1 A - 5 P - 4 H - 3 SB
How did he leave: Traded to Seattle Riot along with David Fantobens for Ace Redding, a 2nd, a 5th and a Conditional 2nd.
Performance Score: 2
Trade Score: 5
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 14

24th Overall - Rage

Sulak O’Hritea @MyLittleHexx

Aaaaand we go back to the Rage, who selected their first recreate at 24th overall after going three straight first gens with their first three picks, missing on two of those as we already mentioned. So did they recreate route work better for them? No, not really. O’Hritea wasn’t a complete failure but ultimately he didn’t have a very impressive career and only half of it was spent with the Rage. He was very physical throughout his career but failed to put up more than 28 points in his three and a half seasons with the Rage. He was traded to Los Angeles midway through Season 47 then moved on to Hamilton where he played three more seasons at about the same pace as he did in Manhattan before retiring after Season 50.

The Rage got some decent seasons out of O’Hritea who brought an element to the team that was rather rare around the league, but ultimately was still just a depth player. The trade that sent him to Los Angeles was okay value for them I would say. Auston was already on the older side when the Rage acquired him, but played four and a half more seasons on the team scoring at a decent pace, generally hitting higher numbers than O’Hritea over the rest of his career and playing a season longer.

The Rage also had to add a second to the deal however and it’s not quite clear from the Draft threads which one that was. I think it was the 30th Overall in S50 which didn’t end up with the Panthers but with the Toronto North Stars, who selected Ursin Zimmerman. Ursin was a great pick for them but he was an exception at this point in the Draft rather than the rule and 30th Overall was pretty late, so it’d be unfair to fault the Rage here just because Toronto managed to find one of the only players who wasn’t a bust in that pick-range.

How long did he play there: Three and a half seasons
How did he do: 172 GP - 32 G - 36 A - 68 P - 388 H - 45 SB
How did he leave: Traded to Los Angeles along with a 2nd Rounder for Matthew Auston.
Performance Score: 15
Trade Score: 20
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 70

25th Overall - Blizzard

Tony Pepperoni @"TommySalami"

Finally, we get to Tony Pepperoni! I’ve been looking forward to writing about him for quite some time now and not just because he was one of the best picks in this draft and is one of the top contenders for the highest score. Most importantly, he is the third member of the infamous “Cold Pizza Line” that we talked about before! And while he might have ended up being the last member of his line selected in the Draft, he also is the one with the best career of the three so far.

Simply put, Tony Pepperoni has become a bonafide super star in the league and arguably is the best player of his class. He has the most points out of every S43 Draftee, the highest legacy score, the most individual hardware, two Cups and he did it all for the same team, the one that drafted him. He also is the only player in his class who has been scoring at close to a point-per-game pace so far and, given the recent uptick in scoring due to the switch to FHM, has a good chance to be one of the very few players in SHL history to maybe even end his career above this mark.

All this makes the rating part really easy for this pick: A perfect performance score of 100 and obviously no trade score since he has been loyal to Edmonton and Edmonton has been loyal to him to this day!

How long did he play there: Entire Career to date (still playing)
How did he do: 550 GP - 227 G - 318 A - 545 P - 1012 H - 196 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 100
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 200

26th Overall - pride

Jeff Brogen @Flowseidon

It took the Pride all the way to the end of the second rund and their fourth selection in the draft to nail a pick, but they finally got themselves a really good player not just for this point in the draft, but in general, in picking up Winger Jeff Brogen. Brogen is still on the team today and while he hasn’t won any Awards, he is as close as the Pride have come to a star-caliber player in recent years.

He entered the league in S45 and from S47 on, consistently scored 35+ points, ending many seasons above 40 or even 50 points on a team that often struggled. He scored more than 25 goals and more than 50 points three times each in his career and managed to perform well in both the STHS and FHM era. He also was an integral part in the Pride’s only really successful playoff campaign of the last few years, when he put up 18 points in 19 games for them in their deep run in S52.

Brogen was never quite there with the absolute best of the best, maybe due to the fact that he didn’t have as much support throughout his career as many other players, but the Pride are undoubtedly still very happy with the selection they made there.

How long did he play there: Entire Career to date (still playing)
How did he do: 550 GP - 224 G - 229 A - 453 P - 488 H - 291 SB
How did he leave: -
Performance Score: 80
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 160

27th Overall - Riot

Mason Hudson @Blues

After two fantastic picks late in the 2nd it’s time for another bust again. This time the honor goes to Mason Hudson, another recreate picked by the Seattle Riot and another failure for them. Hudson had a decently successful junior career with Montreal but failed to progress at the rate the Riot had hoped for, so they decided to let him walk after he aged out of the SMJHL.

The Calgary Dragons decided to give him a chance nontheless and signed him as a depth option, but he didn’t pan out for them either. Hudson still managed to spend five seasons with the team as a filler player who barely saw any minutes and managed the impressive feat of racking exactly one assist, two hits and three shots over 250 SHL games.

For the Riot this draft turned out to be a complete disaster however, as their second pick never played for them and didn’t generate any trade value just as their first pick did, giving them the second zero score in as many picks.

How long did he play there: Didn’t Play
How did he do: Didn’t Play
How did he leave: Not Re-Signed
Performance Score: 0
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 0

28th Overall - Stampede

Cedric Robinson @grok

Cedric Robinson was only the second goalie selected in this draft after Johannes Leitner at 16th Overall, and the Buffalo Stampede probably are quite pleased with the selection they have made. Robinson turned into a very good SHL-caliber goaltender who didn’t have the longest run but usually performed well for the team that drafted him, where he spent his entire nine season career.

You could argue that Robinson somewhat was the starting point for the argument that has gained a lot of traction in recent years, especially since the switch to FHM, that you don’t need a great goalie to win cups, you just need a good one who doesn’t take up too much of your cap so you can spend that extra money on a stacked core of Skaters. Robinson is a nice example of such a goalie, he never made it to crazy TPE-levels but performed just as well, if not better, as goalies who were rated much higher.

He was certainly helped by the fact that he played for one of the strongest teams in the league but he wasn’t just a product of his environment either, as he put up multiple 91% and even 92% Save-Percentage seasons, was a standout performer in the playoffs multiple times including in the Stampede’s two cup wins during that era, and picked up three nominations for Best Goaltender, a Razov and a Jesster nomination and five all-star game appearances in just eight seasons as a starter.

This is another player where coming up with a performance score is quite tricky in my opinion. On the one hand you have some very strong career stats, both on an individual level and in terms of team success, on the other hand you have a career that wasn’t very long and the aforementioned argument that his team might have contributed more to his success than the other way around.

This becomes especially interesting when comparing him with Leitner, as both had similar career lengths. Leitner is a player who has received quite a lot of recognition lately as he became eligible for a spot in the Hall of Fame, but after looking over both of their careers I would argue that Robinson actually had the slightly better career. He put up more wins in fewer games, had a better career save-percentage and performed when it mattered the most, in the playoffs, to help his team to two Challenge Cups.

How long did he play there: Nine Seasons
How did he do: 374 GP - 207-124-30 - 22 SO - 91,17%
How did he leave: Retired
Performance Score: 70
Trade Score: 0
Multiplier: x2
Total Score: 140

Aaaaaaaaand this wraps up my article for now. I am very sorry to everyone who was drafted late and didn’t get included, I know there are a bunch of you who had great careers and who would rank really high in this list given that you were steals late in the Draft (poor Aleister Cain getting shafted again). But I’m running out of time and energy and this piece is already quite long so I had to make a cut somewhere and the end of the second round felt like a good point to do that. I might add some more players until the Wednesday deadline if I find the time but don’t count on it. I hope you still enjoyed reading this even if your name wasn’t in it.

And without further ado, here is the final ranking… Note that I used draft-position as a tie-breaker, so if two players had the same score, the one who was drafted later got ranked better.

1. Tony Pepperoni - 200
2. Rex Kirkby - 194
3. Jeff Brogen - 160
4. Lil’ Manius - 144
5. Cedric Robinson - 140
6. Ignatius Blunt - 123
7. Johannes Leitner - 123
8. Nicky Pedersen Jr. - 120
9. Alex Winters - 120
10. Hippo Passamus - 113
11. Philipp Winter - 113
12. Tig Murphy - 85
13. Luke Thomason - 75
14. Sulak O’Hritea - 70
15. Eero Niemi - 61
16. Maximilian Egger - 60
17. Goku Muerto - 55
18. Andrew Martin - 53
19. Nicholas Williams - 20
20. LeShaun King - 20
21. Kevin Kazarian - 14
22. Kristof Kovacs - 8
23. Kiko Rytmeyr - 1
24. Mason Hudson - 0
25. Marco Raanteli - 0
26. Pavel Pivonka - 0
27. Pierre Laroche-Durocher - 0
28. Oliver Kovacs - 0

Congratulations to Tony Pepperoni for being the best value pick of the S43 Draft, and to everyone else who made it near the top of the rankings as well of course! Now as I mentioned above this list is a bit tilted towards later picks, it’s steals from the late 1st or 2nd round that make up the top-tier of players here. Earlier 1st Rounders who performed really well for their teams like Hippo passamus only managed to earn an Upper Midfield position due to their modifier being too low. But as I said, that was kinda by design and intended, so I don’t really see it as a problem.

I was a bit worried that my scoring system would favor those players a bit too much who had a good career with the team that drafted them and were then traded for high value midway through it. Luckily that wasn’t really the case however, mainly because there weren’t as many of those players as I had expected. Most of the draftees were either traded very early in their careers, very late or not at all.

The actual mid-career blockbuster was pretty rare, the only players that really applied to were Kirkby and Manius and I think their position in the ranking reflects their value pretty well. Especially Kirkby was one of the best defensemen in the league for his team for almost a decade, only to be traded for two 1sts and a decent player while already in regression. That’s maximizing value right there.

If you want to separate the list into tiers then I would probably do it like this:

Perfect value: Pepperoni, Kirkby
Very good value: Brogen, Manius, Robinson, Blunt, Leitner, Pedersen Jr., Winters, Passamus, Winter
Good value: Murphy, Thomason, O’Hritea
Below Average Value: Niemi, Egger, Muerto, Martin
Bad Value: Williams, King, Kazarian, K. Kovacs, Rytmeyr, Hudson, Raanteli, Pivonka, Laroche Durocher, O. Kovacs

And here are the average scores per team. That number isn’t super meaningful, it favours some teams a bit more than others depending on numbers of picks and positions, but I thought it was interesting to look at nonetheless:

1. Edmonton Blizzard: 200
2. West Kendall Platoon: 194
3. Buffalo Stampede: 127
4. Calgary Dragons: 120
5. Winnipeg Jets: 96
6. New England Wolfpack: 92
7. San Francisco Pride: 77.5
8. Minnesota Chiefs: 61
9. Los Angeles Panthers: 56
10. Manhattan Rage: 50
11. Hamilton Steelhawks: 46
12. Texas Renegades: 8
13. Seattle Riot: 0
14. Toronto North Stars: No picks

Thank you everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed this article and I’m looking forward to what you have say in the comments!

***39alaska39*** · 10-20-2020, 01:58 PM

Definitely killed of Winters 1 because of the switch to FHM, completely killed what was on track to be an all time great career for the Rage franchise. Great article though, very cool to see how we all played out!

Alex Winters (retired)
Matej Winters (retired)
Dominik Winters
S45 Jesster Trophy Winner
Challenge Cup Winning Goal Club: S52

dankoa · 10-20-2020, 02:10 PM

every time I look at the picks and trades i made in this draft i wanna kms

***Muerto*** · 10-20-2020, 02:22 PM

very nice look at things

ViN · 10-20-2020, 02:25 PM

Damn, didn't include the steal of the draft at 31st OA.

Sean · 10-20-2020, 02:26 PM

Thanks for the kind words! It's a pleasure to be a part of this draft class! I could definitely see some others taking over best in class as my career comes to an end. It'll be exciting to see how it all ends up!