The New Orleans Specters began play in Season 46 of the SHL. In that season, they proceeded to make it to Challenge Cup Finals, losing to Buffalo in Game 7. They wouldn’t get to the Cup finals again until Season 54, where they finally captured the Challenge Cup. With everyone from the initial S46 Draft Class about to hit regression, let’s take a look back and see how well New Orleans did in it’s inaugural draft.

1st Round, 6th Overall – Jimmy Slothface  – Slothface was arguably the best pick in the 1st round. Sloth has been a career Specter, and he’s been one of the best locker room guys ever. This season, he scored 64 points to lead the team. On top of that, he just recently eclipsed the 2000 TPE milestone. Absolute bonafide stud here.

2nd Round, 20th Overall – Michael Fox – Another bonafide stud. Fox has been an integral part of the New Orleans organization since we drafted him. He had 44 points this season, and while that’s not mind blowing, what Fox does off the ice is even more impressive. He’s become the Carolina Kraken GM, winning multiple Four Star Cups, and did the SHL a service by moving away from Montreal. He’s gotten to about 1700 TPE, which is beyond fantastic for a second round pick.

3rd Round, 47th Overall – Mike Hunt – An absolute disaster of a pick here. Hunt was a goaltending prospect that was brought in to help solidify the locker room, but instead he went inactive in his first season and just bailed on the team. Terrible pick.

3rd Round, 48th Overall – Osbert Whacker – Whacker wasn’t anything special in his time as a Specter. He was a solid third pairing D-man. He got all the way up to 715 TPE before sadly going inactive. The best part about Whacker’s contributions to New Orleans was that he was part of the big trade that sent him, along with some others and picks, to Winnipeg for future New Orleans superstar Lil’ Manius.

4th Round, 52nd Overall – Basil Magnicotta – Magnicotta was considered a great pick for the value at the time. But he never turned out to be anything special. Sadly, after capping out in the SMJHL, Basil went inactive as well. He was a star for the St. Louis Scarecrows, but that never translated to any real SHL successs.

Honorable Mention – Olivier Cloutier – 1st Round, 3rd Overall – Okay, New Orleans didn’t draft Cloutier, but thanks to the Tampa Bay tire fire, New Orleans smartly traded two first rounders to pick up the plucky winger. Cloutier has gotten over 1800 TPE and has been near the top of the league’s leading scorers since coming aboard the Specters. Cloutier was a part of the S54 Challenge Cup winning team, which confirmed that it was a fantastic trade for New Orleans.

The Specters’ original Draft class really had some mixed results. If you include eventually getting Cloutier, they knocked it out of the park with Slothface, Fox, and Cloutier. There’s some real big missed as well though. Hunt, Whacker, and Magnicotta really were disappointments, but Whacker does gain some points for being a piece that brought in Manius, who also went over 2000 TPE in his career. Despite the misses, I think any GM would love to know that they got 2 1700+ TPE in any draft. Most would take knowing they’d get one. This draft wasn’t perfect, but with Slothface and Fox leading the way, it was very clearly successful in giving New Orleans two “tentpole” studs to work with for their entire existence. And it got them a cup, which is all that really matters. (607)

Approved! +5 TPE @JKortesi81