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Mika_Kandinsky · 07-16-2020, 06:20 PM

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2x draft media, ready to grade, 2148 words, research

Hello SHL fans everywhere and welcome to another article from Siberia Sports. Yesterday the draft came and went and now all the teams across the league are thinking and hoping they have their next crop of stars to take them into the future. Today we want to take a look at the haul Toronto was able to get during the S55 entry draft. Toronto is a team that is still rebuilding. They are a young improving team and need a constant flux of great prospects to make sure that they can become a contending team and stay that way for a long time. The best way to do that in the SHL is through great drafting, so let's take a look at what Toronto was able to get.

Ryu Jones - @SFresh3 - LW

With their first pick in the draft at 3 overall, @ml002 decided to take a play making left winger, Ryu Jones. In our scouting report we noted that Jones was a play maker and we had him going at 15th overall. Initially we thought this pick might be a bit of a reach. After further analysis, it seems like ML knew something that we didn't know about Jones. Something very noticeable off the bat is that Jones is earning tpe at a higher rate than any other forward in his draft class and is also earning the third highest rate among the whole class. It seems that ML was taken by the kids drive to become better and his dedication. Fresh is also an updater, so he's going to be able to keep his bank account full to pay for training and coaching as well. It seems that these were huge factors in the decision to take Jones at pick #3. Toronto has gone defense heavy in the past couple of drafts, so it makes sense that they'd be looking for forward talent early on in this draft. Jones scored 28 points in his rookie season which is a great start to his young career. He was one of the higher scoring rookies in the first round of the draft. Toronto is absolutely looking to up its offensive firepower for the future. All these factored together paints a clear picture of why they went with Jones with their first rounder. On top of all of that, he's a great guy and we are hearing that he's fitting right in in the locker room and gelling with his new teammates well. He's already been sent back down to the Outlaws, but that was to be expected. I think the team and the fans alike are going to be enjoying this pick for a long time to come. We are excited to see where Jones' career takes him and to what heights he might reach with Toronto. By the time Jones is ready to come up, Toronto should be a powerhouse team if the rebuild keeps going according to plan for Toronto's front office. Jones should be able to have a depth role on the team by the time he reaches approximately 600-700 tpe. Congratulations to Ryu Jones on being selected in the first round at 3rd overall.

Liam Slate - @Tylar - RW

This is a pick that Siberia Sports is ecstatic about. We cannot believe Slate was around in the second round. We pumped his tires quite a bit in our scouting article saying "This is a player that GMs are going to have a hard time passing over. He’s the kind of player that puts butts in the seats and sells a lot of jerseys." We're not sure how it happened, we just know we are beyond excited that Toronto was able to pickup Slate at pick #18. This is probably the best value pick of the whole draft and elevates Toronto's draft by a ton. It's as if they had two first round picks back to back. Not only were they able to get their guy in Jones, but the other guy they really wanted just fell into their lap. Slate is earning tpe at a 1.85 per day pace, but his large bank account is also a huge asset as he's going to be able to afford all the coaching and training he needs to get better. ML made a next level move to pick Jones first and let Slate fall to him later. It was a risky gamble, and it paid off big time for Toronto. They were able to pick up a play making left winger and an absolute sniper on the right wing. This duo will be exciting to watch in the future when they both join the team. If they were to play on the same line together, it could be fireworks! ML had his sights set on gathering up some offense and he sure got it. Slate is going to be a real weapon for Toronto's offense in a few seasons. All he has to do is continue to improve his game and develop in the juniors and he'll be ready to assist a possible contending Toronto team soon enough. This is an A+ pickup for Toronto and it's a cherry on top of their #3 pick, Jones. The rebuild in Toronto is going strong!

Juni Panda - @juniped - RW

In the 3rd round, Toronto did not let up in looking for offensive talent. With their third round pick, Toronto went with Juni Panda, a right winger from the Colorado Raptors. We did not discuss Juni Panda in our scouting article for this draft so let's look a little at Juni Panda as a player. He's a big 6'1" 210 pound left winger from Skanör med Falsterbo, Sweden. Panda only played 19 games for the Colorado Raptors in his rookie season, scoring a goal and an assist in that time. He had a smaller role on the team only averaging about 7:11 minutes per game. Panda is a player that has what it takes to make an impact at the SHL level if he wants to work for it. He already has a solid overall game. He just needs to work to improve the tools that he already possesses, which are a great shot and puck handling skills for his age. He is a little weaker on the defensive side of the puck, but a lot of forwards are at this stage in their development and we don't see that as something to be concerned about. Panda is earning tpe at a pace of 1.58 per day and has a little over $3 million in his bank account. Toronto would love to see him get that number up so he can be ready to get the SHL training that will be so critical to him finding success at the next level. Panda is a great character guy and the locker room is going to be really happy to have him around. He's already feeling at home and having a good time among his new teammates. This is a great depth pick for Toronto and there is a lot of upside if Panda continues to work hard at improving his game. A solid pick here in the 3rd round.

Vincent Wolfe - @Durden - LW

Toronto is not shying away from offense in this draft. With their 4th pick of the draft, Toronto went with another left winger, Vincent Wolfe. We had Wolfe ranked the same as Juni Panda, so this is a great pickup for Toronto and they are lucky that Wolfe fell to them in the 4th round. Wolfe is a 6'2" 227 pound left winger from Quebec, Canada. He already has a body ready for the rigors of the SHL and it definitely doesn't hurt to have a little more size on the team. Wolfe is more of an offensive player than a two way guy, and we'd like to see him have more of a presence along the boards and in the dirty areas of the ice, but that will come with time. In his rookie season it was a similar story to Panda. He only played 26 games and came away with a goal and assist in a reduced role on the team. We expect these numbers to improve greatly in his second season of juniors with the Kraken. Wolfe is earning tpe at a very solid 1.82 tpe per day pace and is the owner of a fat $23 million bank account. So there is nothing holding him back from improving over the next few seasons and making the North Stars team in a few seasons out of camp. Picking Wolfe later in the draft adds a lot of depth on offense to the prospect pipeline. There's a lot of upside in this pick as well which is why we are pretty high on it here at Siberia Sports. If Wolfe can keep working on his game, he will be a big asset and presence on the ice for Toronto in the coming years.

Luffy Richard - @Moreorless89 - RW

Continuing with Toronto's theme for this draft class, ML took a chance on an interesting player here. Luffy Richard was a S54 guy who was looked over in his own draft. ML decided to take a chance on him with his last pick in this year's draft. Luffy Richard is 6'2" and 210 pounds from Anaheim, United States. In his rookie season with Vancouver, Richard scored 10 points with 9g and 1a. His second season with Vancouver saw his shooting percentage drop from 17 to 12 percent and he scored 5g and 5a for 10 points once again. Richard might be a bit of a project player for Toronto, but if he can grow his game, he's the type of guy that can put the puck in the back of the net. He has a decent overall game and does not shirk playing defense for his team. Being responsible in his own end is a really nice trait that he possesses. Finding a potential two way impact player this late in the draft could mean Toronto has walked away with a real sleeper pick if Richard ends up working out. He's going to have to put in some real work to make an impact at the SHL level, but it's definitely doable for him to become a solid depth addition to the team. He might want to keep focusing on his defensive game and he could become a real threat on the penalty kill as a counter attacking forward. If he can focus on solid defense and having a strong shot, he might be able to create some opportunities for himself to get open with a chance to score. It's rare for picks this late in the draft to come up and make a huge impact, but it's not unheard of either. It's all going to be up to how hard Richard wants to work for his spot on the roster. In the meantime, he's rejoined Vancouver and is going to keep on developing in the juniors. We'll keep an eye on him and see what kind of splash he can make on the team in a few seasons.

As you can see, ML has gone for nothing but wingers in this draft. Overall we give his draft an A-. The big plusses are his first two picks which couldn't have gone better for Toronto. The only reason we are docking the grade is that they might have wanted to grab at least one defenseman to keep that prospect pipeline going. We think it's important to have solid defense and you don't want your defensive prospects to dry out. It's not a big knock on ML, though, because we think he did make great use of all of his picks. Toronto had been going pretty defensive heavy lately, so they decided to turn and bolster the offense in this draft. I can't blame them for that as they have been struggling on offense and they are going to want that offensive depth later. Hopefully a few of their deeper picks will develop into 1k tpe players and the team will have enough depth up and down the lineup to really compete for the cup soon enough. We know the fans are getting antsy for Toronto to start making it back into the post season. They have some exciting players in the pipeline and there are bright times ahead for the club. Thanks for reading and congratulations to all of the new North Stars for being selected in the draft. We are looking forward to seeing you in action for the big club soon!