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Rotti · 07-15-2020, 03:11 AM

Well, a season has come and gone, and it’s been a full league rollover since my last draft preview. Last season I decided to take a look at the first round teams and their needs going into the S54 draft, seeing what positions need replacing and where the future needs to come in and change a team. Before I start with my team needs for this season, lets take a look at my mock draft from last season, and how wrong I was about how the draft would shake out!

Mocked Round One (Actual Pick)

1. Texas Renegades - Mikkel Asmus Sondergard (1)

2. Toronto North Stars - Daniel Laforest (Ryosuke Sato)

3. New England Wolfpack - Matthew Sawful (3)

4. Tampa Bay Barracuda - Joseph Fantobens (Dwight Knight)

5. Buffalo Stampede - Emilia Bergman (5)

6. Baltimore Platoon - Ryosuke Sato (Mats Marner)

7. Chicago Syndicate - Dwight Knight (Vitec Vitecek)

8. Chicago Syndicate - Justin Keahi (Rotticus Scott)

9. Edmonton Blizzard - Jack Klompus (Daniel Laforest)

10. New Orleans Specters - Bork Lazer (10)

11. Calgary Dragons - Cale Amundsen (Pojo Biscuit)

12. Buffalo Stampede - PBJ Souppan (Patrick Shepherd)

13. Minnesota Chiefs - Patrick Shepherd (Jack Klompus)

14. Texas Renegades - Alexei Petrikov (Taitso Julia)

15. Edmonton Blizzard - Simon Tashank (Linus Grimstad)

16. Hamilton Steelhawks - Rotticus Scott (Simon Tashak)

So, after writing around four thousand words on team needs and prospective picks, I hit .250 on the first round. I think I ended up getting one in the 2nd round correct, which somehow was not the GM pick from that round, go figure. Without further ado and rambling, lets look at S55’s draft! This is going to be a bit shorter than the last writeup, as the last 7 picks of the first draft are made by 3 teams.

San Francisco Pride pride

6th in Western Conference (50 Points)

Picks: 1, 22, 27

The Pride missed out on my article last season, as I was too lazy to cover every single team in the draft, and they didn’t have a 1st rounder. This season they were lucky enough to nab 1 OA while competing for a playoff spot, a decent consolation prize while still saying competitive.

There isn’t much question here as to who they’ll be taking, as the Pride don’t have a single defensive prospect in their pipeline. You could make a case for Terry Smith, or Rikard Bjerg, but they’re going to go Colin Lambert, and you can pen that one in.

PROJECTED PICK:

1. Colin Lambert, D, St. Louis Scarecrowws

Tampa Bay Barracuda

8th in Eastern Conference (0 Points)

Picks: 2, 12, 14, 16

Well, I don’t really know what to say about Tampa Bay. Although they didn’t win a game, and nearly got outscored by a single player this season in Flacko Lagerfield, Tampa did a great job in gaining draft capital. 4 first round picks, including their own 2nd overall pick should net them a great haul in terms of earners. They actually do have a decent first line in Fitted/Ronlain/Fiddler, so thats good.

I think they go highest TPE available here for all their picks, because they seriously need everything. I’m not one to pile on Tampa like some might, just they really will get a lot out of drafting highest TPE available.As they have four picks, I have a feeling they’ll go Defense/Defense/Forward/Forward, That could net them 4 max earning players, as they’ll be guaranteed 4 298+ TPE players with their first round picks.

Projected Picks:

2. Theo Kondos, F, Anchorage Armada

12: Teddy Park, D, Kelowna Knights

14: Walton Stromberg, F, Maine Timber

16: Rikard Bjerg, D, Maine Timber

Toronto North Stars Stars

7th in Eastern Conference (24 Points)

Picks: 3

Toronto has absolutely killed these past few drafts, that can be sure. Obviously they aren’t seeing good results on the ice, but in a few seasons here that most likely won’t be the case. With a ton of max earning prospects in the Juniors, Toronto is turning around a franchise that needed some love.

After taking Ryosuke Sato 2nd overall last season, I think Toronto goes defense again. Good earning defenseman are hard to come by, especially at the top of a class like this, and Toronto can bolster an already great young defensive squad with a big pick here.

Projected Picks:

3. Terrence “Big Terry” Smith, D, Colorado Raptors

New Orleans Specters

2nd in Western Conference (64 Points)

Picks: 4

Well, a challenge cup and a top 5 pick is quite the haul for the S54 Specters! Taking down hammy was enough of a prize for these guys, but now they get to take an absolute stud in a great draft. Nola does have some aging players on their team, but they also have a young core of pre-regression max earners holding things down. With the recent retirement of their gm, Joe Kurczewski, and a bolstered prospect pool of defenseman, theres a good chance they’ll be using this draft to take a future forward.

Obviously they’ll have a ton of options at this point, and I think they’ll go forward as I said above. The likely candidates are Liam Slate, and Percy Flitterwind. I think they go Slate, and pick up a player who will likely be a part of a semi-rebuilding New Orleans team when he gets the call to the SHL.

Projected Picks:

4. Liam Slate, F, Newfoundland Berserkers

Minnesota Chiefs Chiefs

8th in Western Conference (29 Points)

Picks: 5

Well, Minnesota caught some bad luck. Finishing as the 3rd worst team in the league, they ended up with the 5th pick. Tough, but still a pick that can get them a great prospect. Minny is an aging team, but does have some players still in their prime, max earning and outside of the regression window. They also have a ton of prospects, owning some big defensemen’s rights from the S54 draft.

I expect the Chiefs to go center/winger here, as there looks to be a bit of a run on forwards here early in the draft. They also bolstered their defensive talent pool in last season’s draft as I stated above, so it seems like common sense they’ll go offense. I think the obvious pick is Percy Flitterwind from Colorado, a big time earner with a good looking bank account.

Projected Pick:

5. Asclepius Perseus Flitterwind, F, Colorado Raptors.

Baltimore Platoon Platoon

6th in Eastern Conference (55 Points)

Picks: 6

Coming off of their first season in Baltimore, the Platoon fell victim to the bloodbath that was the Eastern conference this season. The Platoon, or as their fans and players refer to themselves, “BAP!” Aren’t necessarily in a bad position like some other teams, but they aren’t in a great one either. They aren’t especially old, as they only have two players currently in regression. They also aren’t exceptionally talented, although they do have 7 players currently over 1000 TPE. From what I can tell, a team like Baltimore could’ve easily competed this season, but FHM is an unforgiving engine, and the higher TPE teams tend to be more consistent in their winning against lower tier teams. Let’s take a look at their team makeup, and where they might go in the draft.

So to start out, BAP’s prospect pool is just like their team, good, but not able to contend with some of the better prospect pools. The likes of Texas, Chicago, Toronto, and Buffalo are all packed with max earning prospects, while BAP really only has one. This isn’t to say they’ve done a bad job drafting by any stretch of the mind, as 3 out of their 4 current prospects should make the SHL roster at some point and play for the Platoon. Baltimore has a strong defensive core already up, and some defenseman waiting in the wings, so I believe they go forward here in the first round.

PROJECTED PICK:

6. Alexander Oscarsson, F, Maine Timber.

Texas Renegades

5th in Western Conference (57 Points)

Picks: 7

What a turn around for the Renegades this season! After finishing dead last in the West last season, and with the 2nd lowest point total in the SHL, Texas missed the playoffs by a tie-breaker with Calgary this season. Texas had a great draft last season, and if they can swing another great pick at 7 they could really be looking at championship contention going forward.

Texas appears to be in a position where best player available is a legitimate strategy, just trying to bolster their prospect pool going forward. I’m leaning towards them going defense, as the run on forwards has left a great prospect in Canadian Axel Foley on the board. If they go forward, they’d be looking at Mack Daddy and Devin Basher, but I think they’ll go defenseman.

Projected Pick:

7. Axel Foley, D, Carolina Kraken

New England Wolfpack

5th in Eastern Conference (57 Points)

Picks: 8, 11, 15

The Wolfpack are in an interesting situation, to say the least. They’ve shipped out star player Ola Wagstrom, on top of a ton of other integral parts to their team, and appear to be ready to rebuild. There is something to be said about getting a big return for stars in their prime, especially in the current Eastern conference grinder. They have 3 first round picks this season, and a ton of picks coming in the next few years.

With the departure of a trio of offensive stars, I can see the Wolfpack taking a bunch of different roads to the rebuild here. They went heavy on defense last season taking Matthew Sawful 3rd overall, but also got a big group of top earning prospects from Hamilton in their blockbuster trade. I think they’ll end up taking a mix of positions, and most likely will go best player available.

Projected Pick:

8. Devin Basher, F, Vancouver Whalers.
11: Pavel Kharlamov, F, Saint Louis Scarecrows

15: Alex Marshall, F, Maine Timber

Calgary Dragons Dragons

4th in Western Conference (57 Points)

Picks: 9

Calgary is a team I haven’t looked at yet in my series, as they didn’t have a pick in the first round last season. They have quite the team, with nearly every player on their team over 1,000 TPE. They’ve honestly flown under the radar for me, but I have a feeling next season they may be able to make some noise in the West with some of their younger players progressing.

Calgary does have quite a few aging players, with 7 players either in regression or entering regression in the net season. The vast majority of those players are forwards, so I believe they’ll go offense here in the first to try and find their winger of the future. They have a bunch of solid picks, but I think Mack Daddy from the Colorado Raptors is who they’ll target and take if he’s still on the board.

Projected Pick:

9. Mack Daddy, F, Colorado Raptors.

Edmonton Blizzard

3rd in Western Conference (61 Points)

Picks: 10, 13,

Edmonton had some tough luck this season, catching the eventual challenge cup winning New Orleans Specters in the 1st round of the playoffs. The Specters really caught fire and knocked them out early, but the Blizzard have to be encouraged by their results this season, finishing 3rd in a tight Western Conference playoff race.

After getting an absolute steal last season in Daniel LaForest 9th overall, they’re looking to recreate that magic and get another pick with these two late first rounders. They do have some aging players on their roster, with 7 starters currently in regression, and two more joining them in S56. With this I think they’re going to target a defender here, and Conner Hutton fills that mold. A Canadian to join Jean Paul Boivin some day on the squad.

Projected Picks:

10: Connor Hutton, D, Carolina Kraken

13: Ryu Jones, F, Anaheim Outlaws

Final Mock Draft

1. San Francisco Pride - Colin Lambert

2. Tampa Bay Barracuda -Theo Kondos

3. Toronto North Stars - Terrence “Big Terry” Smith

4. New Orleans Specters - Liam Slate

5. Minnesota Chiefs - Asclepius Perseus Flitterwind

6. Baltimore Platoon - Alexander Oscarsson

7. Texas Renegades - Axel Foley

8. New England Wolfpack - Devin Basher