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*Redderder15* · 08-25-2021, 02:29 PM

What happens to championship teams after they win their trophy? This is a question that all championship teams ask themselves after they meet their goal. What do we do now?
This question I briefly answered about how the Berserkers are shaping up into a contender soon, but the Vancouver Whalers Whalers

have decided to go all in, and traded every single draft pick this year. This deep dive will go over how Vancouver's future should play out, and how long they have to win it all.

Their Depth Chart (credit goes to ham again):
[Image: unknown.png]

As you can see, all capped players and only 1 hole in the lineup which should be easily filled. How long does this team have? If we look at after this year, this is what their current team looks like, sticking to the same colors as last post (remember, they have 0 sophomores at 350 to fill any depth gaps):
[Image: unknown.png]

As you can see, their team remains ok in the upper parts of their roster, and it actually heavily reminds me of the Zerks roster next year, except Vancouver has all 425s and the Zerks have lots of 350s next year. Both teams will have a 3rd line player that is at the cap, although the NLB's 3rd line cap player is another 350. Both teams have 3/4 of a solid top-4 with 2 RD and 1 LD that are top-4 material, and have goalies for at least another year, although Vancouver will have a goalie crisis if they don't get a rookie to 350 next year as NLB have another year of Johansson in net.

You don't need me to tell you that this core group of the team won't be here after 2 years, so no point in making another table for it. This team has a 2 year contention window, but the 2nd year will be like a dark horse kind of year, where the true rebuilding teams of last year and this year should have teams full of capped players, while this team should have a good top half of the lineup, but not the depth to really shine as a top tier contender.

DRAFTING:
The Whalers made 0 picks this year, but their next year drafting will be essential to making next year at least a hopeful. They should be able to trade or sign a top-4 D in FA, so all they need is a crap load of depth. They need a backup goalie, 2 defencemen, and 6 forwards. 9 spots in the lineup is going to be incredibly hard to fill when you only have I'd say 5 picks at most per year without trading, and they did trade, just they traded away a 3rd round pick. They NEED to draft a goalie to keep the backend any bit secure, so lets say they use their 2nd to draft a goalie. Now, they would need to draft a high level LD, so that should be the first round pick. Then they have a 4th and a 5th and just maybe a 6th to draft forwards, which means after the 2nd year of this window they have 2 D with 1 year left, 2 forwards with 1 year left (all 425s), and then a bunch of rookies. That's what happens when you skip a draft year.

CONCLUSION:
This Vancouver team needs to win now, this season. After this year they will face a few issues of missing a draft year, but should still be able to power forward. That 2nd year from now is where the missing draft class shines through, killing your winning chances and forcing a rebuild. Here's the window I would make for them:

Year 1 (this year): Best team in the league
Year 2: Starting to fall off, 6/14 team
Year 3: Full rebuild, like 12/14 team
Year 4: Middle half of teams, 8/14 team
Year 5: Starting to become a contender, 6/14 team
Year 6: True contender again, finally one of the best in the league

715 words, plus the photo words

*CptSquall* · 08-25-2021, 11:56 PM

Approved, +5 TPE for @Redderder15

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