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Cobbenstein · 09-15-2020, 11:47 PM

The SMJHL draft is a time of excitement and stress for both the prospects and the teams. The prospects are busy getting acquainted with the site, and introducing themselves to their fellow classmates in various class discord and the different organizations through IP threads. The organizations, fresh from playoff runs, are busy trying to plan their futures, review data, and interview potential picks. It's a very important event as both parties attempt to see and guide what their futures will entail. The S56 draft was held on Sunday and both sides got a chance to see the fruits of their labor. The prospects found out where they will be spending their next 3-5 seasons and the teams get to see if their scouting was accurate enough to rebuild a roster. Inevitably in a draft such as this there will be those who got everything they wanted and needed and those who just couldn't make the moves necessary, whether that be due to pick order or incomplete scouting. Today I will be looking how the Maine Timber fared in the S56 draft.

The Timber ended the season with a late playoff push that saw them lose in the Four Star Cup finals to the Newfoundland Berserkers in 6 games. While the Timber were the 6th seed in the playoffs they showed a lot of heart and upset their way to the finals behind a wall of a goaltender in Leo Bloomfield and an offensive explosion from Kyle Sutton. This finals appearance has led to an earlier than expected cup window for a young Timber roster going forward. This offseason the Timber had to say goodbye to defenseman and captain Valentin Kalashnikov, center and recent acquisition Rikard Hammarberg, young defensive stud Mikkel Asmus Sondergard, and defenseman Will Windsor. Losing 3 defensemen made for some serious holes on the back end that needed to be addressed through the draft. Luckily this was a class with ample defenders.

The Timber entered the offseason with picks 11 and 31 after trading their 2nd round and 4th round picks to Anaheim for Rikard Hammarberg. Shortly before the draft the Timber dealt the 11th overall to the Anchorage Armada for the 18th overall and the 26th overall. This left the Timber with the 18th, 26th, and 31st picks. Those picks equated to 1 pick in the second round and 2 in the third. With multiple roster spots needing to be filled the additional pick was a big return allowing the Timber to acquire multiple high talent players. The draft began and the Timber had to sit out the first round

The first pick they made was at 18th overall. The 18th overall spot has been a good pick for the Timber as of late bringing in talent such as Al Kayhall and Patrick Shepherd in the last few years. This season the 18th pick was used to get offensive defenseman Sean Gatez from Denver, Colorado. Gatez is a smooth skating defender that has a knack for finding open ice and making crisp accurate passes to his teammates. He reads the offensive zone well and good with the puck. He can also rip it from the blue line if no one else is available having a strong and accurate shot. He will be able to contribute immediately on the power play and in the offensive zone. His defensive game will need a little work with the coaches at the start, but it should round out to make him a top tier prospect going forward.

With the 26th pick the Timber selected defenseman Franz Zipfel. Zipfel is a gritty defender from Innsbruck, Austria that boasts elite puck handling and a willingness to sacrifice his body to block shots. He is very strong for his age and is willing to put that strength to use when separating players from the puck. He is generally in the correct position in the defensive zone to make a play, but will need to work on his vision to make the right play more often. Working with the coaching staff and the more experienced defensemen in the organization should be enough to get this kickstarted in the right direction. He shows little interest in the offensive side of the game outside of his ability to protect the puck in traffic. Overall he is a solid stay at home defender and will only get better with experience and coaching.

At the 31st pick in the draft the Timber selected right winger Jannik Hansen from Rodovre, Denmark, but he was not a Timber for long as he was immediately dealt to the Newfoundland Berserkers in exchange for the 36th pick in the draft and an S58 4th round selection. Moving back a couple spots for a future pick is a solid decision this late in the draft and it came with an additional pick in the future.

Finally we come to the aforementioned 36th pick that the Timber used to draft defenseman Hanke's Pride. Pride is a playmaking defenseman from Wales, Great Britain, with great offensive vision and puck handling. He's a decently fast skater but will need to work on staying on his feet, but that will come with strength training and conditioning at this level. He sees the defensive zone well and has the skills to take his defensive game to the next level through good coaching. He will need to be paired with a more defensive oriented defender to really get a chance to fully flesh out his game. Overall he's a solid late round find that has the potential to be a solid player.

Coming into this draft the Maine Timber were looking to replace 3 defenders and they did just that. They picked up 3 young and talented defenders that they can look to contribute this season and into the future. With a dangerous offense, solid goaltending, and newly replenished defense the Timber look to show that the playoff run to end last season was not a fluke, but a sign of things to come for the rest of the SMJHL. The future of the Timber looks bright.

Total word count: 1095

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