(2x Draft Media, 1662 words)

Hello SHL fans, Siberia Sports is back to look at the upcoming S59 draft.  This is a particularly interesting and exciting draft for the Toronto North Stars because, incredibly, they own the first and second overall picks in the draft!  If you are a Toronto fan, I'm not sure it can get more exciting than this.  Especially in a year where the team just made a deep playoff run to the Semifinals.  It's one thing to have the first and second overall in a year where you expect your team to be rebuilding, but another to already be one of the best teams in the league currently and then getting to stock the cupboards with two A+ prospects to keep the pipeline coming with top talent.  Toronto is going to be able to be a huge force in this league for a long time and the outcome of this draft is going to be incredibly important to that.  I think we'll be hearing "don't trade your picks to Toronto!" being chimed around the league. 

For this article we are going to dig into some of the top prospects in this draft that Toronto might want to pick with their first and second overall picks.  There are a handful of players that could be taken.  We'll examine who is available this year and also take a look at the Toronto organization to see what they might need in the near future.  Let's dig in.

Ryuuji Kawashima is a left handed center from Japan and is also the top prospect in this year's draft.  Kawashima is a big center who can read the play well and make slick passes in all three zones.  Kawashima stands at 6'4" and 213lbs which would add some real nice size down the middle for Toronto.  This would be the center to replace Mika Kandinsky down the line and become the team's leader down the middle.  Kawashima is a young work in progress, but showed well in his rookie season with the Anaheim Outlaws scoring 27 points in 66 games.  A fine showing for a rookie in the J.  Kawashima has a large bank account over $40 million and is a solid earner at 1.69 tpe per day.  The bank account is assurance that Kawashima will hit his ceiling.  And like I talked about, Kawashima's ceiling is another play like Kandinsky who can be the 1C on this Toronto team in the future.  This would be a home run pick at first or second overall.  Toronto has to be feeling great about getting to pick whoever they want without any worry.  We can definitely see Kawashima going first overall in this draft.

Jay Sink a defenseman from sunny London, England is also a good choice for Toronto at the top of the draft.  Sink is 6'0 and 190lbs and he shoots right.  Sink is a solid skater and knows how to score points as well.  Known for his strong defensive stick work, Sink is a boon to both the offensive and defensive sides of the rink.  In Sink's rookie season with the Anchorage Armada he scored 18 points with 7 goals and 11 assists.  He was also a very impressive +21.  With a game rating above 60 for defense in his rookie year, Jay Sink is already showing he is ready for big defensive responsibilities in his rookie year.  He average 19:34 ice time over the course of his rookie campaign.  He's a young defenseman that shows a lot of promise and defenseman are at a premium in the SHL.  Especially when they can defend and score like Sink.  The fact that he's doing it at such an early age bodes well for his future in the SHL.  Sink has a bank account of just over $12 million and is earning at a rate of 1.65 tpe per day.  He is also tied with Kawashima in overall tpe with 327.  Getting a #1 center and a #1 defenseman in the same draft is a huge deal for any team, let alone a team that's already competing for cups.  Toronto will be very happy with this kind of haul on draft day.

Dane Von Gucci is another option to go in the first two overall to Toronto.  Gucci is a defenseman from Austria.  He is 6'2" and 210 lbs and shoots righty.  Gucci is an offensive minded young defenseman.  In his rookie season for The St. Louis Scarecrows, Gucci put up 5 goals and 13 assists for 18 points.  He played on average 20:36 every night for the Scarecrows.  Big responsibility for a young guy in the J.  Gucci is a guy who is going to run your power play and add that extra 4th attacker to the ice.  He is a strong skater, but not too strong of a guy.  He'll burn you with skating and game sense, dishing passes and finishing plays as well.  He is earning tpe at a rate of 1.63 per day and has a bank account of just north of $16 million.  Toronto is going to like that he's coming up in the St. Louis system.  As we remember, Kandinsky hailed from there as well as did Danny Marston.  St. Louis has been known to breed stars and this could add to Gucci's stock for this draft.  Does he have what it takes to get picked above Sink or Kawashima?  It's going to be close and it just might come down to what type of defenseman Toronto might be looking for.

Alexis Saint-Michel is another forward that could potentially get eyed up by Toronto and picked up in the first two picks of the draft.  Saint-Michel is a right winger from Quebec, Canada.  He's a good sized 6'2" 200lbs right shooter.  Alexis Saint-Michel is a powerhouse on offense.  This is a player that's going to produce big time at the next level, and if Toronto is happy with their center depth going into the future (especially if they take Kawashima) and they also want to add some scoring, this would be their pick.  In his rookie season in the J Alexis Saint-Michel scored 38 points with 18 goals and 20 assists! He had a phenomenal rookie season with the Vancouver Whalers. The draw back to Saint-Michel's game is that right now he isn't much in his own zone and can be a bit of a liability. We think he'll improve in that department and ultimately because of how many points he's going to contribute, it can most likely be overlooked. Put him on Mika Kandinsky's wing and you won't have to worry about it too much, he'll just be out there popping bottles. He's earning at a solid 1.65 tpe per day and has a bank account over $47 million dollars. The odds of him hitting his ceiling are pretty high and he's going to be a really exciting player to watch as he grows and improves his game more. Having a duo of Saint-Michel and Kawashima coming up together would be really exciting for Toronto and might be something they just can't pass up. This would mean they have to pass up grabbing a defenseman of the future, but with the offense they would be picking up here, they might want to forget about defense for a bit.

All of this being said, let's take a look at the Toronto organization and see what their needs might be in the future. Currently Toronto is a team that is still getting better and they are now bonafide cup contenders in the SHL. The fact that they have the first and second pick in this draft is an absolute dream for them. It doesn't get much better than this Toronto fans. So, given this embarrassment of riches, what should Toronto do with these picks. If they were to draft for need, what is it that they would need and what would benefit them the most in the long run?

Right now, all of Toronto's prospects are on the team playing except for left winger, Jesse Trudeau. I think that Kawashima is a lock for first overall given that Kandinsky is now into his prime and they are going to need someone to come up to fill up the depth as he starts to regress out. Alexis Saint-Michel would be a fantastic pick for second overall, but they have a lot of wingers who are solid in TPE already and aren't too young. So we could see Toronto picking Jay Sink with the second overall pick to bolster their defense. It would make sense to keep the pipeline of talent coming up evened out between offense and defense. This is especially true because a handful of Toronto's defense will be in regression starting in 1-2 seasons. Having another top earner come in behind both Kandinsky, and also the defense core of Zimmerman, Fudgeson and Barron would be huge for Toronto and their ability to compete for cups well into the future.

No matter what Toronto decides to do with their picks at the top of the S59 draft, they are going to walk away with two future stars that are going to keep the North Stars very competitive for a long time. It can't be understated how well ML built this organization up from the bottom of the league to what they are now. The future is very bright for the North Stars team and it's looking like the fans will have great hockey to watch and cheer for, for a long time.

Thanks again for reading another Siberia Sports article!