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***Gwdjohnson*** · 04-30-2022, 08:38 PM

Hey guys it's me Gabriel Johnson I mean Ricky Koivu I love cards and want to buy them for as long as possible so I'm actually doing a media for the double pay lol. Anyway let me talk about my plans ahead of the upcoming SHL draft for money.

Top rated prospect Ricky Koivu had surprising words to say regarding his draft, stating there are only five teams he wants to play for out of the 20 SHL teams, and would likely ask for a trade out of the rest eventually if drafted to another team. The five teams are as follows, in alphabetical order:

1. Atlanta Inferno Inferno

Koivu shares an agent with Gabriel Johnson, who played the twilight years of his career in Atlanta and claimed to have enjoyed his time there very much, so Koivu would be very interested in picking up where Johnson left off in Atlanta. They are on a big upwards trend recently and are quickly growing into one of the best SHL franchises. His brother Binko Koivu is also a prospect in the system there. They pick 19th in the draft so they are not likely to land Koivu, however. Atlanta just made a very impressive and surprising run to the challenge cup finals these playoffs, where they unfortunately lost 4-1 to the Chicago Syndicate.

2. Buffalo Stampede

The Stampede are one of the SHLs staple franchises in terms of continued success and sustainability, and that interests Ricky Koivu a lot as he hopes to have a Hall of Fame career and hit the ground running in his SHL career when he gets called up. He is quoted saying that it would be "pretty cool" to go to the Stampede. Buffalo in these playoffs beat Philadelphia in the first round but then fell to an upset at the hands of Hamilton in the second round.

3. Hamilton Steelhawks

Talking about sustainability and continued success, Hamilton are another prime example of such over the past while. On top of that, Gabriel Johnson started his career and played of it with the Steelhawks, and spoke well of his time there, which interested Koivu greatly. With Hamilton recently making several trades to begin a rebuild phase for the team, Koivu could be the first pick of this transition phase for the Steelhawks. Hamilton despite being in a rebuilding phase just made a very solid playoff run, beating Montreal and Buffalo before falling to Atlanta in the conference finals.

4. Philadelphia Forge Forge

Philadelphia are the newest franchise of the four, but they have wasted no time establishing themselves as a budding contender who are building up similarly to Atlanta, and are a strong threat in the East. Philadelphia's GM, Acsolap, is Gabriel Johnson's former GM in Anchorage and he knows how to build a strong team and locker room as well as the best around. In the playoffs, Philly had to face the imposing Buffalo Stampede in round one, and despite a strong effort lost 4-2.

5. San Francisco Pride pride

San Francisco are another team currently showing up at a high level of performance, with a very active team approaching it's competitive peak. There are plenty of players on the team who would be great teammates for Koivu, and also Yngve Simonsson. It is unlikely Koivu ends up with the Pride as their earliest pick is 18th, however. San Francisco recently had a very deep run to the conference finals where they impressively beat Seattle in 7 games, and also upset the powerhouse Los Angeles.

When asked about limiting his options so drastically, Koivu insisted it was not about a disrespect towards other teams, but a lack of willingness to join a project he is unsure on and/or would be a lengthy one. He also emphasized wanting to be in an environment with people he is already familiar with. It will be interesting to see how the draft plays out for Koivu after this media statement. As of now, 7th overall appears to be a possible floor for where he is picked as it is the earliest pick where one of the five above teams picks.

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