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Chrisda19 · 03-17-2020, 10:12 PM

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Season 53 Draft - Player Recap - LW Chris de Siren
Round: 2
Pick: 25th Overall Calgary Dragons

Season Stats
G| 12 A| 5
P| 17 +/-| -29

The Season 53 SHL Draft has concluded and many players are going home happy and excited to join their new teams, embarking on a journey many of them had started in their early years. For Chris de Siren, it’s a positive change that he’s been clamoring for since he was a young child in Grand Rapids, MI born from two Norwegian immigrant parents.

“Yeah growing up I had always dreamed of being in the SHL. Watching the old greats that my dad recorded on VHS late at night, always loving when Detroit scored and the crowd going wild. I wanted to be the person that the crowd was cheering on. It was a huge dream of mine.”

For Chris, he got his dream today when the Calgary Dragons chose him 25th Overall in this year’s draft, and Expectus Prospectus caught up with him to gather his thoughts on being chosen, and what he’s looking to bring Calgary when called up.

Expectus Prospectus: “How does it feel to start really fulfilling that dream to be in the SHL?”

de Siren: “It’s hard to describe. Everyone is here today, we were all hoping for this, you know, we just kind of held on through the first round which none of us even thought I would come close to even being in the second round so it really shocked us into disbelief when Mr. Anrikkanen walked up to the podium and said my name.”

When he was called an image of shear disbelief was showing on the big screen near the stage. You could almost feel the emotional astonishment as he walked up the stairs fully expecting to not be picked this high up.

“Thank you so so much everyone, let’s go Dragons!” he said to a crowd applauding someone who clearly did not feel they belonged, and to a cheering family screaming at the top of their lungs in excitement.

Walking down from the podium and back to your family is a long walk for most rookies, but Chris took it in stride and wore that Dragon quite well. “You always have loved Dragons haven’t you, honey?”, Chris’ mom asked. “Yes mom..” Chris said begrudgingly embarrassed. This was a family proud of their boy making it to the big leagues, and for this moment they can all embrace the awesome change playing in the SHL brings.

“It’s all surreal to me still. I can’t wait to play.”

Contract Details:

Chris de Siren signed later that day to a three year nine million dollar contract (3 Mil/year).

Analysis on Chris

The pick seems to be a good fit for Calgary and it is definitely a steal as they transition forward from a second round exit in the playoffs this year. Many draft boards had Chris going higher though you could argue with him on whether that is true or not. That being said Chris is a capable forward, with a nice shot that can fool some of the best goalies out there. With solid puck skills that can help open up the play in the offensive zone, Chris displays a flair for the experimental too. He’s a smaller forward, but plays big with everyone else, easily being able to be physical when necessary but not terribly aggressive which leads credence to his “hit but not hit too hard'' mantra, and by virtue, his low penalty minutes. Accurate from the point to the slot, Chris has a knack for getting open and reading the offensive zone quite well. He also is a nice physically sound player with speed and agility that helps him fend off would be defenders before taking the perimeter. Although his first year in the SMJHL may seem medicore on paper, de Siren was able to shake off the jitters most rookies would get from the stat sheet their first year showing a maturity that isn’t often found in rookies in any junior league for that matter. Defensively de Siren could use a little work but where he lacks in hitting prowess (on a 46 hit season mind you), he does make up for in his defensive positioning. Look to his coaches to make sure he keeps his head up out there on the ice when called up as there were a few close calls through his first junior year. Overall Chris de Siren is a disciplined and a good locker room presence, look out for de Siren’s name to pop up on the score sheet in due time as Calgary won’t be able to hold back this nascent Dragon for long.

Overall Draft Rating: A-

We also did our due diligence to reach out to the leadership inside the Dragons locker room and spoke briefly about what the process was for Calgary’s draft and where Chris fit within those plans. Below you will find out what went on in the minds of the movers and shakers of Calgary and what their plans for de Siren were then and now.

Mike Izzy: “Typically trying to scout 100 prospects Is an unenviable job and I can tell you that it took a while to get our feet from under and create a platform of information that ultimately led us to our picks... but there was 1 name that Esa and I knew from the get go as we had a pipeline into the Anchorage LR and had been receiving great feedback about this active and engaged player named Chris de Siren. A person that our pipeline was friendly with. As we moved closer to the draft, Chris checked off all of the boxes we were looking at... high tpe, active, engaged, friendly and seemed to be enjoying himself in this whole SIM thing.. the only thing we worried about was he did not have an avatar and sig... for whatever reason that always worries me lol. That said these attributes placed Chris in the pool of players we were looking at for either the 9th or 25th pick. Around the eve of the draft Esa and I settled on taking a defenseman first and ultimately agreed on an order for the 9th pick... this moved de Siren out of our 1st pick projections and sadly out of our draft strategy as we completely expected him to be taken between pick 10 and 17.

Fast forward to pick 19.. there’s a handful of us in the Calgary draft war room talking and the belief was Chris would be picked any moment.. but 19 and 20 and then 21 gets selected and our player of choice is still out there... Esa rushes to speak with the GMs of pick 22 and 23, offering them trades to move up 2 spots for 3rd in this draft and/or an additional 2nd next draft! But neither team had interest! .. so the waiting game was on... Tbh we had good options at 25 but there wasn’t a player that potentially fit Calgary the way we thought de Siren could... the built in comradery with one of our key players and what we knew about him throughout the season made this player feel like a 1st round pick typically for us and an absolute steal of a pickup at 25... When the pick was made and we landed the Anchorage all star... I think everyone knew that this was a game changing draft for our franchise.. we knew Barkov had star potential as a player builder and a community member... and now we landed a 2nd player which can potentially be built around. I wrote this a day after the draft and I couldn’t be more pleased with what I’ve seen from Chris and Barkov... both walked into the LR and fit in instantly as we figured... all that hard preparation paid off with what we think are 2 prospects that have impact capability on the leagues most acclaimed franchise.”

Weretarantula: “When I first encountered Chris in the Anchorage locker room, it went pretty much like most other introductions to the new rookies go. He seemed nice, and we both offered the standard pleasantries. But then I noticed just how much he was getting involved in our discussions. I could tell right away that he was enthusiastic, friendly and a great addition to the community that we have. That's one hundred percent why I wanted him to bring him to the Dragons. We are a family first and foremost, and I could tell from the outset that he would be a great addition to that family. We try and help each other as much as possible whenever it's required, and hopefully Chris has felt that from the moment we brought him in. We share a lot of the same beliefs and interests which is just an absolute bonus to the situation too. So many people slept on him this draft, but he has been almost as active as the very top earners in the rest of his class and I can't wait for him to prove them all wrong. I have absolutely no doubts that his player is going to be an absolute rockstar, and a future Dragon legend. I rallied hard for him amongst our group, and I couldn't be happier that we managed to snag him.”

Esa Anrikkanen: “With such a big draft class it’s hard to get a good read on every single prospect, but we did our best and there were certainly many great prospects available on draft day. Chris de Siren was definitely someone who stood out to us in our scouting. We felt he had the right attitude, drive and personality to not only fit our team but excel as a player. We also had some inside information on his locker room activity from one of our scouts from Anchorage. He spoke very highly of him and when we dug deeper we also liked what we saw. Chris de Siren also did our Interested Prospect thread and we always get some good information from that as well. Besides his solid work ethic and attitude we liked that he was a little bit of an older member and would fit in well with our group in Calgary. We usually pay more attention to the player’s attitude and activity than we do his rookie stats, but he showed he had some goal scoring prowess with 12 goals for the Armada this season, which was a nice bonus. For these reasons he ranked high on our list for the draft….. What led us to choosing him on draft day? We knew coming in he was someone we wanted to target after our 9th overall pick. We felt he could go anywhere from 10-20 and with some luck maybe he’d be there in the early 20’s but we worried he may not make it all the way to 25. There were other good options of course for 25 that would have made fine Dragons but we actually tried to trade up into the early 20’s with the idea of getting a shot at Chris de Siren. Ultimately we were not able to move up so we waited it out until 25 and were thrilled when he was still available so we quickly snatched him up. We were very happy with how it all worked out..

As for what we hope for in the future from him, we hope he will not only become a great part of our locker room but also develop into an elite scoring forward for the Dragons. As I said we think he has the drive and determination to reach a high tpe level and we will do whatever we can to help get him there. Our hope is he enjoys the league and his experience as a Dragon while also making a great player and helping us win more championships. We think he can definitely achieve all of that and we’re excited about his future.”

Steelhead77 · 03-17-2020, 10:36 PM

Steal at 25! You're going to be a star!

Nice recap and it was great you got to experience the draft with your family!

Dragonite

---> ParmBorg Highlights <---

#1 All-Time SHL Goal & Point Scorer
- First 2,000 TPE Player in SHL History -
- First 400 Goal Scorer in SHL History -
- Only 500 Goal Scorer in SHL History -
- First GM to Win 5 & 6 Challenge Cups -
Esa Anrikkanen Award - SMJHL ROY - Est. S34
Vidrik Onoprienko Award Winner - S45

Dragonite

DeletedAtUserRequest · 03-17-2020, 10:42 PM

Remember the name Chris de Siren .... a big part of the Calgary Dragons future!

Dragons

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Weretarantula · 03-17-2020, 10:43 PM

MarlinManiac4 · 03-17-2020, 11:23 PM

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