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RedCapeDiver · 12-21-2019, 01:10 AM

*Disclaimer that this is written by someone who has almost no idea what all goes into deciding when a player gets called up to the SHL*

So let's take a look forward at the next few years and see who may be getting the call up to the SHL soon and how that will affect the roster.
This year there are currently 5 players on the knight roster who I could see possibly being called up to their respective SHL team, and this is based off the players TPE and/or the TPE of the players on their SHL team.

The first player that could be called up is the Knights current leading points man, Andrey Barbashev II, currently sitting at 532 TPE and a rookie for the West Kendall Platoon. Barbashev is the highest TPE forward for West Kendall’s prospects as well as having more TPE than both wingers currently on the Platoon’s 3rd line. Both of the Platoon’s top lines are filled with 800+ TPE players, so it will have to be a discussion between Andrey and the Platoon’s management as whether or not he will be called up to strengthen their depth.

Next is the Knights 1st line center and Captain Ryan Shepard. Shepard is a 598 TPE prospect for the Chicago Syndicate. With all of Chicago’s starting forwards being 800 TPE+ and Chicago also running only three unique lines I think that someone would need to either be traded or retire inorder for their to be room for Shepard to fit the lineup.

Up next i am going to look at the pair of both Kalevolaripaavo Käspertommevisnapuu and Gylfi Eriksson, both are winger prospects for the Los Angeles Panthers with Käspertommevisnapuu sitting at 548 and Eriksson at 470. It looks like the Panthers are running three even lines as opposed to the previous teams who seemed to have a definitive top line in terms of skill and ice time. And on their second line the Panthers are currently going with S48 rookie Stavros Halkias at 443 TPE, so the question will be if the Panthers want to continue with the rookie they have already integrated into the team, or call up one of their prospects on the knights, which I assume would be Käspertommevisnapuu.

The last player who I could see being called up, and it would be a huge blow to the Kelowna knights, would be their Goalie Luca Del Vecchio, also a West Kendall Platoon prospect. Luca is currently 3rd in TPE from his draft year with 406, 1st among goalies. And the reason i possibly seeing him going up is because currently the goalie situation in West Kendall is that their starting Goalie is at 861 and deep into regression and their backup is a 155 TPE goalie who is retiring. So we will see if West Kendall wants to bring their prospect goalie of the future up to the big leagues next year.

Now that we have talked about the veterans on Kelowna, let's now look at their rookies. First off, while not exactly being rookies are the two defenseman the Knights drafted in the S51 draft of Luciano Vessot and Danila Zhernov. Sitting at 394 and 342 TPE respectively, each of these players man one of the top two defensive pairs along side a rookie. Dues to his ties to the management at Kelowna, Vessot doesn't look likely to leave the Knights anytime soon. Zhernov is a prospect for the Edmonton Blizzard, whos top 4 is full of 1000+ TPE players and their 3rd pair having 717 and 530, I could possibly see Zhernov joining them the within the next two seasons giving the knights at least one or two more season with him.

Now let's look at the rookies the Knight picked up in the S52 draft. The Knight had 5 picks in the first 3 rounds selecting: Center Morgan Forestier taken at 3rd Overall, Defenseman Noah Nytrom at 6th Overall, Defenseman Adam Scianna at 12th, Right wing Oscar Cordero at 16th and Left Wing Theo Golury at 22nd.
All 5 of these players are currently within the top 25 in terms of TPE for their draft class, the most among all the SMJHL teams, next being St Louis with 4 in the top 25. All of these promising prospects will definitely bolster the Knights for the next few season’s, but we will have to see where they get drafted in the next SHL draft and how their SHL teams look to determine how long they will remain playing for the knights.

So where I see the Knights being strong for the future is in their Defense. Their top 4 of Vessot, Zhernov, Scianna, and Nystrom are a solid core group that still have a few years playing together on the knights.

Next is the forwards. This will entirely depend on how many of the knights forwards get called up next season. Having no growing/active forwards from the S51 draft the knights will need to see some of their S50 forwards return for another season or else the S52 rookies will have some big shoes to fill.

And lastly for goalies, if Luca Del Vecchio gets called up next season that would be a huge hurt for the knights. Currently the knights only other goalie is the rookie Cillian Kavanagh who they signed mid season this year, and while Kavanagh looks promising, it will be hard for him to match the output of Del Vecchio.

So for me personally I want none of our veterans to get called up so that we can have as stacked a team as possible next season, but realistically if any do get the call I wish them the best of luck in the SHL. Go Knights!! Knights

***golden_apricot*** · 12-21-2019, 02:47 PM

This is a really good read. Thanks dude

*Zoone16* · 12-24-2019, 06:30 AM

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