Some may find it a difficult task to pick a top unit from the S24 SMJHL Draft class to pit against the SHL send downs. Of course, it's already an uphill battle as the SHL send downs have an extra season, at least for the vast majority of players, of experience. It's for that reason that I have absolutely no other option to go with the absolute best players available - primarily scorers - to hopefully get lucky and power our way to a high scoring victory over the SHL send downs. Without further ado... the SMJHL rookie first team.

C Evandrus Jesster :impact: 311 TPE

Jesster is the obvious first choice as he leads the way among all rookies in TPE and has certainly been having a solid season to boot. His 18 points lead all rookies as not much more can be asked for out of your first line center. He is also a natural leader who is more familiar with the league than most of his peers, yet another reason why Jesster should the first player to come to anyone's mind in picking the top players of this draft class.

RW Robb Wind 308 TPE

Robb Wind is to Jesster as Eichel is to McDavid. While Wind is the consensus number two guy in this Season 25 SHL Draft Class, there is little reason to believe he won't be a franchise player. He has also improved at an excellent rate thus far, only a hair behind Jesster, and his performance this season has been solid among the league's rookies. Wind's leadership has also been huge for St. Louis is an extremely tough Eastern Conference as his team owns the league's best record at 14-4-2.

LW Lord Pretty Flacko :impact: 230 TPE

Call me biased, call me arrogant, call me whatever you want. But I want the three best forwards on the ice against the SHL send downs and Pretty Flacko is currently at the top of the class' second tier of players with 230 TPE, which is only behind Jesster and Wind. While Pretty Flacko's performance this season has not shown up as much on the scoreboard as would be expected, he has been a solid contributor in a deep Montreal top six on the second line, bringing a very high hockey IQ to the table that has helped his team win games.

D Maria Maximova 225 TPE

Many saw this as a questionable selection by the Knights but Maximova has been great thus far. She is fourth in the draft class in TPE, first among defensemen, while also leading rookie defensemen in points with 14 through 20 games. Her two way game will be important for this team as we have a strong focus on offensive output in an attempt to come out and gain momentum quickly against the heavily favored SHL send downs.

D Bastien Salabanzi 222 TPE

Well this is working out perfectly. A little shoutout to the two forwards who rank ahead of Salabanzi in TPE, Kristjan Vilhjalmsson of the Kelowna Knights with 224 and Luke Fleming of the Prince George Firebirds with 223, Salabanzi is the defenseman ranked number two in TPE among rookies. Although he has plus offensive talent and a great two-way game, it hasn't quite translated on the scoreboard this season as he currently has scored just 8 points in 20 games. Nonetheless, there's no other defenseman I'd take in front of him as he has all the offensive talent in the world and is truly living up to his draft position.

G Austin Lemieux 216 TPE

Aside from Wind and Jesster, this was the easiest decision as Lemieux projects to be the best goalie out of this draft class and easily has the best chance to be a starting goalie at the SHL level. He has had a rough start this season despite having a very solid team in front of him in his time split with veteran Lee Bowden, putting up a scary .863 save percentage yet has a respectable 6-3-1 record. But he does have the talent to come up big and shut a better team down and we'll be hoping to see him do so in this one!