This project started with a future analysis with each team in the SMJHL, but as I dove deeper I realized it was the state of each team coming into the draft.  I have broken up each team into tiers based on how secure their rosters are going into the off-season and given an analysis of what they should do at the draft.  For a lot of teams this year it could be a very big draft with big holes to fill and goaltenders and defenders will be a premium. 

S:
Vancouver Whalers
Maine Timber

A:
Regina Elks
Newfoundland Berserkers

B:
Carolina Kraken
Kelowna Knights
Colorado Raptors
Great Falls Grizzlies
Nevada Battleborn

C:
Yukon Malamutes
St. Louis Scarecrows
Anchorage Armada
Quebec City Citadelle

D:
Detroit Falcons

Vanvouver Whalers:  

Draft Picks:
VAN 1st, VAN 2nd, VAN 3rd, CAR 3rd

Leaving:
No one

Inactive Veteran:
Sam Conroy – Goalie
Lebron James – Center
Sergey Bombay – Right Wing


Vancouver seems to be in a great place for the next few years.  All inactive players are depth fillers, and their goalie is the back-up.  I imagine they will go defense first as they only have 3 on the roster.  Then start to fill gaps as needed, potentially picking up a future goalie in later rounds of the draft.  Vancouver could have another solid draft owning four picks in the early rounds.  If they select right they will be setup as the future team to beat in the next couple of seasons.

Maine Timber: 

Draft Picks:
MAN 1st, MAN 2nd, MAN 4th, STL 4th

Leaving:
Barefoot Sugars – Left Wing
Brent Turnerson – Goalie
J- Roc – Defense

Inactive Veterans:
N/A

Talk about being in a good place right now.  The only pressing need is a goalie.  Could Maine pull the trigger and draft one in the first round?  Will they move a pick to get one?  Right now Maine has no back-up and no starter for next season.  Beyond that, they are stocked with talent for next year.  The year after may be another story as their legendary S69 draft class will be moving on.  With two early picks and a two mid round picks I could see Main flipping them for multiple picks next season as they already have the talent in their locker room and besides a goalie no other pressing need.

Regina Elk: 

Draft Picks:
REG 1st, DET 2nd, REG 2nd, STL 2nd

Leaving:
Peter Mollinek – Right Wing
Jake Jackal – Defense
André Santiago – Goalie

Inactive Veterans:
Walter Ulrich – Right Wing
Kool-Aid McKinstry – Left Wing
Don Juanary – Defense

The Elk have a lot of ways they could go in the draft, but there is no pressing need.  Anyone leaving or inactive has been a depth position on their roster.  It looks like they will approach the draft with Best Player Available to fill in roster spots.  Maybe pick up a new goalie later if one is available but there will be no pressing need to do so with Ally starting in net.  A healthy Four picks in the first 2 rounds (three coming in the 2nd round) the Elk could really position their roster for success.

Newfoundland Berserkers: 

Draft Picks:
COL 2nd, NL 2nd, NL 3rd, NL 4th

Leaving:
Matiss Ozolinsh – Right Wing
Guinness O'Bigbers – Left Wing
Hingle McCringleberry – Right Wing
Lester Oiduser – Defense
Philip Fry – Defense
Tummy Hurts – Goalie

Inactive Veterans:
Jacob Fournier – Left Wing
Ryan McKennedy – Center

When I initially looked at the players leaving I thought the Berserkers were in for a rough off-season.  The more I dove into their roster I realized how deep and talented they are.  They will be drafting defense this year, perhaps with their top two picks but there isn’t a pressing need to find replacements.  They might not be as dominate as seasons pasts, but they will still be a competitive team despite losing their top line this off-season.  They are setup well with the draft despite missing a 1st round pick, with two picks in the 2nd and two picks in the mid rounds they can easily keep their roster full of talented active players.

Carolina Kraken: 

Draft Picks:
CAR 1st, CAR 2nd, REG 3rd, STL 3rd, QUE 4th

Leaving:
Liam Logger – Left Wing
Derek Martin – Left Wing
Marton Diehm – Left Wing
Andy Ceylon – Defense

Inactive Veterans:
Kelly O'Neil – Defense
Elias Adelberg – Goalie
Edmund Rothaus – Defense

The Kraken could go a couple of ways.  Even though they are losing some talented forwards, their real need is on defense and in goal.  Both goalies are inactive and neither one is well developed.  Their defense could use some help with a top tier or two earner.  But what is interesting, half their roster is season 71 rookies.  If I was in their shoes, I would be tempted to grab the top skill position talent with those 5 picks and role with the inactive goalies, creating a top talent team with a young nucleus based under Season 71 & 72 players.  Pick up the goalie next season.

Kelowna Knights: 

Draft Picks:
KEL 1st, KEL 2nd, KEL 3rd, KEL 4th

Leaving:
James Lutz – Left Wing
Cal Kono – Defense
Pete Aleman – Defense
Sea Jebus – Goalie
Ekaterina Valieva – Right Wing

Inactive Veterans:
Wilhelm von Hindenburg II – Center
Isak Sogard – Defense

The Knights have kept all their picks for this year’s draft and have not added any making two early picks and two mid round picks.  They will have a few holes to fill in the draft, primarily on defense and they will need to address a backup goalie for the future which could be picked up later.  The question will be how and when they will make each of these picks.  Overall, the Knights are well setup to continue as a playoff team with a solid depth of active players.

Great Falls Grizzlies: 

Draft Picks:
GFG 1st, GFG 2nd, GFG 3rd, QUE 3rd, GFG 4th

Leaving:
Bandit Heeler – Goalie
Loosh O'Sullivan – Center
Chris Valentine – Defense
Joshua Weber – Defense

Inactive Veteran :
Matt Ox – Defense
Marquise Hill – Right Wing
C.J. Sparks – Goalie

CJ showed to be a capable goalie despite being inactive.  Meaning they would not be pressed into taking a goalie early in the draft; but I do believe they will be watching the goalie market.  If there is an early run they will be forced to jump on board to try and get a goalie of the future. There are quite a few teams in need of replacements and depth netminders this season.  If not properly address it could be a position of weakness on their roster.  I see the Grizzlies focusing in on a defender or two earlier in the draft, looking to fill the holes as they go.  They are well situated for the draft this year with all their own picks and an additional mid round pick with Quebec’s 3rd rounder.

Nevada Battleborn: 

Draft Picks:
NEV 1st, NEV 3rd

Leaving:
John Brown – Defense
Johnny Chase – Defense
Dr. Hugh Orson – Goalie

Inactive Veteran:
Seth Fischer – Left Wing
Derek Fitz – Left Wing
Darius Garland – Right Wing
Kai Scott – Defense

Armed with only one pick in the 1st round and one pick in the third round, Nevada is in a pretty good place.  Their major needs will be defense, finding a replacement for John Brown arguably their best defender and finding a back-up goalie for Luka Nogoaluv.  All their inactives are bottom of the depth chart scrubs that can be replaced easily.  If they find a gem hiding later in the draft they are going to be ahead of the game this off-season.

Yukon Malamutes: 

Draft Picks:
YUM 2nd, CAR 4th, NEV 4th, YUM 4th 

Leaving:
Edvin Kalberg - Defense
Andrei Nikitin – Left Wing

Inactive Veteran:
Happy Gilmore - Center
Ryan Burton - Goalie
Don Aven – Center
Austin Doumakis – Center
Asher Gibbons – Goalie

Malamutes are in an interesting place.  They only have two players leaving this season but have several inactive veterans including both their goalies, neither goalie has progressed beyond an active first year rookie.  Finding a new starting goalie and a top tier defender to replace Kalberg will be priority one for the Malamute.  Nikitin was a depth forward as are the inactives.  With only one pick in the first 3 rounds and three picks in round 4 they will have to do their homework on all players in hopes to pick up some late round gems.

St. Louis Scarecrows: 

Draft Picks:
STL 1st, COL 1st, NL 1st, NEV 2nd, MAN 3rd, COL 4th

Leaving:
Heath Nicol – Defense
Fred Harwood – Defense
Sam Squanch – Defense
Jason JR – Defense

Inactive Veteran:
Antoine Gauthier - Defense
Peter Sandstrom – Right Wing
Alex Orpheus – Defense
Jimmy McNulty – Left Wing
Kay Lee – Goalie

HELP IS ON THE WAY!  Armed with 5 picks (three in the 1st round) they are going to have a chance to fill in some roster spots.  The Scarecrow are a team in a growing phase, the amount of defense that are inactive is a sure sign of where they need to focus their growth (Antoine is borderline inactive).  That said, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  They have some amazing building blocks with their rookies, and Kay is good enough as an inactive goalie to start until Baretto is ready to take over.


Quebec City Citadelle: 

Draft Picks:
QUE 1st, QUE 2nd

Leaving:
Tam Kove – Right Wing
Walter Sobchak – Goalie
Jarrod Lakemore – Center
Alexander Minaj –Defense
Viktor Hargreeves – Center
Redd Savage – Defense

Inactive Veterans:
Edouard Tremblay-Lafleur – Defense
Connor Bedard – Center
William Boucher – Goalie
Lance Googoo – Right Wing
Stumptavian Roboclick – Defense
Kieran Kovalev – Left Wing

The old guard are on their way out for Quebec leaving a massive need to fill the void.  This is not to say Quebec is in dire straits, but they could be a little thin in depth.  They have talented players on their roster, just not many of them.  The unfortunate part of Quebec they only have two picks in the early round and nothing in the mid rounds (3 and 4).  They will need to get lucky in round 5 and beyond if they are going to fill their roster with talented players.

Anchorage Armada: 

Draft Picks
ANC 1st, ANC 2nd, ANC 3rd, ANC 4th

Leaving :

Davos Otasrob – Defense
Lazos Otasrob – Defense
Sebastien Regazzoni – Center
Ignacio Garza – Right Wing
Jayden Martens – Defense

Inactive Veteran:
Little Monky – Defense

You go Defense!  There is no question in this between the season they experienced and all the players leaving.  Pick up every defender you can and fill up that roster.  They will miss Sebastien and Ignacio, but they have enough depth to make up for them moving on.  Goaltending is solid with Walsh back in net.  At least the first three picks in Round 1,2,3 should be defenders to help Walsh next season.  If you get lucky with round 1 and 2 they will be just as good then the players you are losing by the end of the season.  Next year they can look at other concerns, this year it is defense.

Detroit Falcons: 

Draft Picks:
DET 1st, YUM 1st, DET 3rd, YUM 3rd, DET 4th

Leaving:
Deemed Inappropriate – Center
Swig McJigger – Right Wing
Bastien Primeau – Right Wing
Swiss Cheese – Goalie
Nathan Meagher – Defense
Nash Topalo – Defense
Derrick Prince – Wing
Jeff Newman – Goalie
Dan Geer – Defense

Inactive Veteran:
Tobias Wrexks – Center
Aurora Azjha – Right Wing
Olaf Hofmann – Defense

Detroit could be in for a very rough off-season.  There will be a lot of work to do to get them back to being competitive with heavy holes to be filled from the net out.  Nearly half the team is graduating out of the SMJHL including both their goalies and almost all their defense.  Part of me feels it would be Best Player Available at the draft with so many holes to fill, but they must use their prime picks wisely.  Could this be a case of trading down and getting a couple of extra picks with one of their two first rounders?  They will need to focus on building from the net out in this year’s draft.


Breakdown of players aging out by position:
Defense: 25
Center: 5
Winger: 16
Goalies: 9

Good Luck the the SMJHL General Managers as when we approach draft season!