Login

Halkohol · 10-30-2020, 11:26 AM

Kelowna. A team that had a pretty rough season with only the Falcons being worse still managed to get past Anaheim in the playoffs. Sadly, for the Knights, this is where I think their playoffs will end. Therefore, instead of discussing their playoff run I will discuss the coming draft and what Kelowna should be on the lookout for. To start this off, we need to see their current roster.

S53 LW Braden Lowrie 298 IFA
S54 | LD | Sammy Koa | 265 | IFA
S55 | RD | Fleetway Super Sonic | 494 | Send down
S55 | RD | Chris Goodname | 576| Send down
S55 | G | Peter Ramsay | 498 | Send down
S55 | LW | James Hagan | 405 | Send down
S55 | LD | Teddy Park | 617 | Send down
S55 | LW | Juan Hunna-Pussent | 249 | Send down
S56 | RW | Kynwyl Pearce | 395 | Send down
S56 | D | Mikhael Petrov | 357 | Send down
S56 | LW | Logan Wong | 338 | Send down
S56 | LW | Patrik Money | 391 | Send down
S56 | G | Damien Vertigo | 359 | Send down
S57 | C | Kian Hamilton Jr. | 201 | Rookie
S57 | RW | Brennan Huff | 250 | Rookie
S57 | C | Cian McFelter | 243 | Rookie
S57 | LW | Anna Pontecorvo | 212 | Rookie
S57 | LW | Vlatislav Malik | 264 Rookie
S57 | LD | Robert Feltersnatch | 247 Rookie
S58 | RD | Naofumi Iwatani | 155 | DFA

G: 2
LD: 3
RD: 3
LW: 7
C: 2
RW: 2

+1 defenseman which side is lacking lands the current roster size at 20 players, as expected. Roster is based on players active in the sim where Kelowna won against Anaheim in playoffs.

After seeing this we can clearly see that the Knights have a filled roster. The only players that would be getting called up are IFA. One of the problems the have is that they have one D-man too much. Which means one of the defenders is currently playing as a forward. Another is the extreme bias to left wingers which also creates a lack of centers. The choice to bring in yet another defender as a DFA is a serious question as Kelowna already has two IFAs that are forwards and could be used instead. Perhaps the management means to release their IFA Sammy Koa and instead draft the RD Naofumi Iwatani, but the recruitment and/or dressed roster still lacks a reasonable explanation as the team has forward IFAs.

On to what Kelowna will want in the coming draft. If they manage to draft their DFA Iwatani and get rid of their two current IFAs, the last place in the active roster should go to a natural center. Still this is problematic for Kelowna. Having three natural centers means that at one of their many wingers must jump in as a center and I have doubts regarding how pleased the wingers are having to play center and focus on faceoffs as well.

Seeing as how Kelowna is only on the lookout for, as of now, two players to fill their roster, they should probably try to get rid of some picks this year for picks next year. This combined with some more active young players should be a priority over keeping the stacked pile of S55 players to reduce the need for a good S58 draft.

This leads me into the next part. Why does Kelowna have so many picks the coming seasons? They are a team in a rebuild mode, as seen of their performance the current season. But by getting past the first round in playoffs with the current team it seems to me that their main rebuilding is complete.

So, what are Kelowna's main points going into the next draft going to be? They should focus on getting rid of their two IFAs. One step in that way is to pick up their rostered DFA Iwatani and then try to pick up a center to fill the 4th line. They also have far too many picks for this coming draft then needed and should try to get rid of some LW and trade for a top tier center to establish balance in their roster. Another thing to keep in mind is that they should absolutely not forget about the S58 draft and try to trade some of their current S57 picks for S58 picks to have some good choices for the season where they are expected to lose a lot of their current best players.

Whatever way the Kelowna Knights chooses to take, it will be interesting to see their actions the coming three seasons.

Approved +5 TPE @Halkohol

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us