I've been the General Manager of the Detroit Falcons for 5, going on 6 seasons now. I thought it'd be interesting to go through every draft pick and trade I've made in the past IRL year. I'm leaving out anything about free agents because this media piece is already going to be long enough as is and I really don't feel like bringing back any discussion about the whole Deplorables thing. So, let's take a look.
THE CO-MANAGERS
The Mazais: S29 Dankoa: S30-31 Ztevans: S32-33 Avakael: S34-?
DRAFT SELECTIONS
S29
6th OA - Center - Nucky Toohoots (Gaia) -----> 1st rnd, 12th OA to
This was my very first draft as a GM of Detroit and I had only just been hired a day or two prior to the draft. My head GM wasn't able to attend so I was somewhat baptized in the fire. I had no idea who to pick really but I knew we needed a strong center and there was an available recreate on the board. So, not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, I went with Gaia here. Turns out that she was quite the player for us on both ends of the ice and ended up being the first player during my tenure selected in the first round of the SHL draft.
22nd OA - Goalie - Jari Ohvo (knavishsprite) ------> undrafted
Well, we had Sivy McSieve but he wasn't very active nor was he very good in the sim. So I took Ohvo here, hoping that I could develop them into a serviceable goaltender. Turns out that Ohvo had quite the build and outplayed McSieve on most nights, but knavish went inactive and never broke the 200 TPE mark.
27th OA - Defenseman - William Pendii -----> undrafted
It was all inactive players at this point in the draft but we needed a plug on defense. Picked up Pendii who turned out to be a solid bottom pairing D for a season or two despite having only applied 154 of his 155 TPE.
S30
3rd OA - Defenseman - Jari Sinikka (MayTee) -----> 5th rnd, 57th OA to
My first draft as head GM of the Falcons and the first draft that I actually had time to prepare for. This draft also happened to be the largest the league had seen in 10+ seasons. Originally Detroit had won the 2nd overall pick via the draft lottery, but we decided to trade down with this pick to 3rd Overall. Vancouver gave us 3rd OA, a 6th rounder in this draft, and a 4th in the following draft so we felt like we made the right move here as we weren't enamored with any 1 or 2 players at the top of the draft. In the days leading up to the draft I had a lot of discussion with Dankoa over whether we would pick the recreate Jari Sinikka or the true rookie Willy Mack. For those of you who remember this draft, Willy Mack seemed like one of those first generation players who would be a homerun pick a la Winter is Coming or Jakub. I was convinced by Dankoa to take Sinikka as he and MayTee had been friends for a while and admittedly, we needed someone on defense. Sinikka turned out to be a pretty good player for us for a few seasons but went inactive around the ~250 TPE mark. Still, he was a solid player all around and without the benefit of hindsight he was an appropriate pick here.
15th OA - Defenseman - Alexis Metzler (Avakael) ------>1st rnd, 13th OA to :admirals:
Still we needed to build on our blueline and I was adamant about drafting first generation players. So I picked up a relatively unknown Australian user who had an affinity for spreadsheets and analyzing data throughout the league. Now he's my co-GM and Head of Amateur Scouting.
23rd OA - Center - Cikgnar Konstantinov (cikgnar) -------> 4th rnd, 45th OA to
Turned our focus towards offense for a bit here and picked up Cikgnar to play the pivot in our middle 6. Cikgnar was a good member of the LR and someone who was quite enthusiastic about the Falcons, but he was rushed into the SHL with a rather low amount of TPE and his activity in the league faded from that point onward.
25th OA - Winger - Zach Evans (ztevans) ------> 1st rnd, 5th OA to
Originally Detroit had the 18th overall pick but we traded it to Colorado for this pick and a S31 2nd rounder. Still to this day have no idea how he fell this far in that draft. One of the best rookie goal scorers the league has ever seen and a phenomenal locker room presence as well as co-GM. Couldn't be happier with this pick.
34th OA - Winger - Kaspars Berzins (zbelanger) -----> undrafted
Good guy in the LR, built a solid player but went inactive around the ~225 TPE mark. Still on the Falcons roster causing mayhem in the opposition's defensive end.
42nd OA - Defenseman - Marc Leclerc (suir) -------> 3rd rnd, 38th OA to
Fantastic defensive defenseman for us but requested a trade out of Detroit after one season. Traded for inactive defenseman Brock Bailey and 15th overall in the following draft.
47th OA - Center - Viktor Nerokov (Nero) -------> undrafted
Nerokov was a recreate and quite active in the draft thread so I figured I'd take a chance. He was easily the worst person I've ever shared a locker room with and I'm glad that he's since disappeared from the league.
50th OA - Defenseman - Alec Derin (PorousAlec) --------> undrafted
Inactive from basically day 1.
63rd OA - Center - Alex Kepka (FiveForHowling) ---------> undrafted
Inactive from basically day 1.
66th OA - Goalie - Jeremy Anderson (bsfvcv) ------> undrafted
Jeremy Anderson the GOAT SMJHL backup goalie. He's done the unthinkable for us as a late round selection. Reverse swept Montreal in the S31 playoffs, swept Montreal in the S32 playoffs in the following season, and reverse swept Halifax in the S32 Eastern Conference Finals. Still on our roster and one of the best depth additions to the Falcons, ever.
79th OA - Winger - Jaime Bennitez (Jer17) --------> undrafted
Made their player and disappeared after the draft. Whoops.
82nd OA - Defenseman - Chadathy Brodangleschlong (Chadathy) --------> undrafted
Draft him for the sweet name and because he was friends with fellow draftee Alec Derin. Had a goal in the playoffs which was pretty cool.
95th OA - Goalie - Johan Walstad (Vasz) ---------> undrafted
Never even made the roster.
S31
6th OA - Winger - Kyle Kylrad (Kylrad) ------> 1st rnd, 2nd OA to
We needed some strong wingers to play alongside Wiljian Zjang so we picked up Kylrad in the first round. One of the best in-sim players I've ever had the pleasure of having on my roster. He was with us for a season and a half before we traded him to Halifax in exchange for 5th Overall in the Season 33 draft. The highest draft Falcon in many, many seasons.
12th OA - Winger - Luke Atmey (Velevra) -----> 1st rnd, 3rd OA to
No clue how he fell this far, but we picked up Atmey here to play with Kylrad alongside Zjang. Turns out that Velevra and Kylrad are brothers in real life. Who knew? Again, one of the best players I've ever had on my roster and a key componenet in the Falcons run to the Cup Finals in S32.
15th OA - Defenseman - John Markie (johnmarkie) ----> 2nd rnd, 26th OA to
The pick we got in the LeClerc trade. Grapehead convinced me to draft his friend here. Lesson learned: don't listen to Grapehead.
22nd OA - Winger - Braxton Hackenberg (Trill) -----> undrafted
Trill, one of the owners of the SHL. Thought it was worth a shot. Don't know if he ever actually played for us.
27th OA - Winger - Kobe Bulgogi (angryangusburger) -------> undrafted
Don't think he ever actually played for the Falcons.
S32
4th OA - Defenseman - Otto Lahti (Blues) ------> 2nd rnd, 27th OA to
Won the 4th pick in the draft lottery and were deadset on picking either Kit or Blues here. Kit went 3rd to St. Louis so we were left with Blues and have been happy ever since with the pick. He's been inactive as of late due to school and we're hoping he returns soon! Still, a stabilizing presence on our backend and a big part of our run to the Cup finals.
20th OA - Goalie - Patrick Diehl (House932) ------> 4th rnd, 46th OA to
We needed a goalie pretty badly and Thompson surprised by going in the 1st round. Thankfully Diehl was a bit of a steal in the 3rd round and has been a solid goalie for us thus far. Happy to bring my fellow Blue Jackets fan back for a 3rd season.
29th OA - Center - Harper Wright (JHS) -----> 1st rnd, 13th OA to
JHS came back to the league with a bit of a reputation which caused him to drop like a rock in the draft. We're so thankful for the other teams that viewed him in a bad light because he's been nothing short of phenomenal for the Detroit organization and great value for a 4th round pick. All love for our Captain.
36th OA - Defenseman - Aaron Crawford (JaysFan26) -----> 3rd rnd, 35th OA to
Slowly but surely building his player for us. He's been a surprisingly good two-way defenseman for us and will play a big role on Detroit's blueline with Lahti, Trocheck, and Hawkins. Minnesota got a good one when they picked him up.
45th OA - Winger - Jack Bubbles (mcgriddleluvr) ------> undrafted
We were getting into the part of the draft where it's inactive plugs and Bubbles was the pick. He's been okay for us in the bottom 6. Nothing spectacular.
52nd OA - Goalie - Blowjob Jesus Jr. (Trifecta) ----> 4th rnd, 51st OA to
Drafted him for the name tbh. Not half bad in the sim for a 155 TPE player.
S33
5th OA - Defenseman - Jakub Trocheck (Jakub) --------> 1st rnd projected
So in Season 32 there was a point during the middle of the season where we thought we weren't gonna have much of a chance to win the Cup and I felt like I owed it to Kylrad to get him a shot at a championship. We moved him to Halifax for this pick and, well, we beat Halifax in the playoffs lol. We used this pick on Jakub who was easily our #1 prospect going into the draft. It's safe to say that we had to change our pants when the 4th pick was announced and it didn't read "Jakub Trocheck". Jakub's been nothing short of amazing in our locker room and he's done a great job for the league as the SMJHL Intern and now one of the SMJHL Commissioners.
Buster is a longtime Falcon, twice a General Manager, so it was imperative to us to bring him back into the fold after the retirement of Joey Ryan. Even though we owned two 1st round selections it seemed that we were going to have to choose between Buster, or Jakub who was #1 on our big board (assuming he fell). Both were available at 5 and getting only one of these players on our roster just didn't seem right. Colorado passing on Hawkins seemed far more likely than passing on Trocheck, so we picked up Trocheck first. Well what do ya know, Colorado passed on Hawkins at 6 and we got to add Buster to the Falcons again. Trocheck and Hawkins will be one of the best defensive pairings in the league this season. Bet.
The draft was rather shallow with only 26 prospects, so we didn't think much of our 3rd and 4th selections. Wozy, a guy we had rated in the top half of our 2nd round, ended up falling.. and falling.. and falling. You know that feeling as a kid when you opened up a present on Christmas day and it's the best thing you could have ever imagined? That's the feeling Zach and I had when we got Jakub, Buster, and Wozy all in one of the shallowest drafts in recent memory. Love ya Wozy, you've been a big part of our organization. Hope we can win you a Cup.
24th OA - Defenseman - Cap Whaleback (foggyhorse) -----> undrafted projected
Never really played for us. Could you imagine if we had picked up Stefan Digrio here? Falcons would've had the GOAT draft of all time in relation to size of the draft class tbh.
TRADES
Trade #1
:
3rd Overall Pick ----> Jari Sinikka
S30 6th Round Pick -----> Marc Leclerc
S31 4th Round Pick ----> n/a
:
2nd Overall pick ----> Brynjar Tusk
Like I mentioned earlier in this media spot, we weren't totally in love with just 1 or 2 people at the top of the draft so we felt comfortable moving down at least one spot to pick up some additional assets. We ended up getting the guy we would've picked at 2nd OA anyways plus a solid defenseman in LeClerc. The 4th rounder wasn't used because the following draft was too shallow. Still, a great trade for us and I think Vancouver benefitted from this as well considering they got their guy in Brynjar Tusk.
Like I mentioned earlier, after this trade we picked up Zach Evans at 25th overall. Zach was a great player for the Falcons for a couple seasons and served as co-GM for a few more seasons as well. The 2nd rounder in the next draft elevated this trade to God Tier because we picked up Luke Atmey with that pick. Colorado used the 18th pick on Colton Hagan aka CampinKiller who had a lot of promised but hasn't updated his player since mid-November. He's still on Colorado's roster as a high end inactive player though, so the Mammoths are still benefitting from this trade whereas the Falcons haven't had Evans or Atmey on their roster since Season 32.
The pick wasn't used because there weren't enough prospects. This trade was ultimately made simply to get Nero out of the Falcons locker room. We did however get a nice player in return whom we ultimately flipped in another trade for Joey Ryan.
Trade #4
receives:
G - Jeff Kirkstone
receives:
S31 DET 2nd -----> Andrej Melnyk
G - Jari Ohvo
Conditional S31 4th* ----> n/a
Montreal was shopping their goaltenders after picking up both Kirkstone and Harris in the Season 30 draft. Both players had remained active and developed their players so it was only fair that one of them be moved in order to get more playing time. Detroit was certainly in the market for a goalie, and with three 2nd round picks in the S31 draft we had plenty of ammo to make a move. We moved 11th overall and our backup goalie to Montreal in exchange for Kirkstone, who was admittedly a strong goaltender and someone who appeared to be excited about their opportunity in Detroit. However, the Falcons would eventually sign the free agents known as "The Deplorables" and Kirkstone demanded a call-up to his SHL team despite not being quite ready for the big leagues. In hindsight a poor trade for Detroit but at the time it was the right move to make.
Trade #5
:
Marc LeClerc
:
Brock Bailey
Van 2nd (pick #15) ---> John Markie
LeClerc requested a trade for reasons unknown and we did our best to get her to a team that she enjoyed. After some long talks with Bottas we came to this agreement. Bailey was an okay bottom pairing defenseman but was far from the level of player that Leclerc was at. The 2nd round pick would've hopefully offset the difference but our draft selection, John Markie, ended up busting pretty hard. LeClerc was originally selected with the 6th rounder acquired from Vancouver in Trade #1.
Trade #6
:
Joey Ryan
:
Henrik Vikstrom
S32 2nd round pick ----> (Max Russakoff)
Detroit was in the market for a true #1 center to play alongside Kylrad and Atmey, so we pursued Joey Ryan with some assets previously acquired in the Nerokov trade. This gave the Falcons a rather formidable center lineup on paper consisting of Joey Ryan, Wiljian Zjang, Josh Merica, and Sami Free. Joey Ryan was a solid player for us and gave the Falcons a formidable 1st line for the S31 and S32 playoffs.
Trade #7
receives:
HFX S33 1st round pick ----> Jakub Trocheck
HFX S33 3rd round pick ----> Cap Whaleback
receives:
Kyle Kylrad
DET S33 2nd round pick -----> Hans Sorensen
After a poor first half for Detroit, I started thinking about moving some of my players to the stronger teams in order to give them a real shot at the Cup since it seemed like we were pretenders more than contenders. After speaking with Kylrad we decided that Halifax would be a nice home for him and we negotiated with Bottas rather quickly. Eventually the Falcons swept the Miltiia in the first round and completed the unlikely reverse sweep against the Raiders, pushing the traded pick into the draft lottery and guaranteeing the Falcons a top 6 selection.
Trade #8
receive:
(S33) C - Sami Sirius
receive:
(S31) D - Brock Bailey
DET S34 3rd round pick ----> DRAFT THURSDAY
After drafting Trocheck and Hawkins, there wasn't much of a need for Brock Bailey on the Falcs. So we asked around to see if anyone had any interest in our inactive defenseman. Kelowna had a player that needed a change of scenery and could use a defenseman like Bailey, so we quickly agreed to terms to bring in JPL as our 3rd center behind Harper Wright and Sami Free. Sirius was a strong two-way player for us in the bottom 6 and on the penalty kill. Unfortunately he retired his player and has recreated so he will not be returning to Detroit for Season 34. The Knights made a run to the Four Star Cup finals without Bailey on their team but ultimately lost to Montreal. Kelowna owns the rights to Detroit's 3rd round selection and will be looking to use it in the upcoming draft on Thursday evening.
Trade #9
receive:
Tommy Salami
Yuriy Starkonov
receive:
DET S34 1st
DET S35 2nd
Joe Gray
We were riding high this season but our division was stacked and getting even stronger with tradeline moves. I had no interest in selling off pieces so it was time for us to join the arms race with Montreal and Halifax. Originally only looking for a top 6 winger, we decided to add another strong defenseman to our stable that already included Lahti, Crawford, Trocheck, and Hawkins. This trade poised the Falcons for another Four Star Cup run through the gauntlet that was the East and gave them a roster that could compete with the monster that was Kelowna. Unfortunately, we lost in the first round in 7 games to Montreal, the eventual Cup champions. To make matters worse, the 1st round pick that was traded away became the 2nd overall selection during the draft lottery. In hindsight we definitely lost value, but it was a trade I would make again if presented the opportunity. I felt I owed it to my players to make an all-in push for the Cup. While we won't have Salami back for the upcoming season, we're hoping to have Starkonov return and give the Falcons another year of a dominant top 6 group of forwards.
Quote:Originally posted by Samee@Apr 2 2017, 09:00 AM no terrance nova mention
Sarmo definitely on the top tier of players I've had but he was part of the BIG BAD DEPLORABLES which were intentionally left out. Can't say enough good things about Sarmo though ;
Quote:Originally posted by WannabeFinn@Apr 2 2017, 09:55 AM
Sarmo definitely on the top tier of players I've had but he was part of the BIG BAD DEPLORABLES which were intentionally left out. Can't say enough good things about Sarmo though ;
Quote:Originally posted by OB5@Apr 2 2017, 09:53 AM This is awesome to say the least. Impressive that you know and care so much about your players. Well done
WannabeFinn![[Image: 126holland.jpg?w=240]](http://blogimages.thescore.com/nhl/files/2011/01/126holland.jpg?w=240)
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S76 SMJHL DRAFT 3RD OVERALL PICK 
S77 SHL DRAFT 4TH OVERALL PICK 
IIHF TEAM NORWAY 
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