Intro
With the draft just over now, I wanted to take a look at the last five drafts I spent in the Colorado War Room (not including the one that just happened where I replaced Jumbo in GM Chat since he was away). I'll give some hindsight on who we picked, who I suggested we picked (obviously drafting can be made to look easy in hindsight, but I remember vividly suggesting everyone of these picks). I want to stress how much I love the GMs that have been leading the team since I joined the War Room and that I'm not trying to undermine the job they do or make them look bad (except maybe in one pick in part 3 - S58, but that's only to tease them).

Part 1 - S56
Part 2 - S57
Part 3 - S58
Part 4 - S59
Part 5 - S60

S57 SMJHL Entry Draft
Round 1 - Pick 6

pick: Noel Blanchet @JT3
Status: Active
TPE: 878

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Noel Blanchet	C	COL	66	7	24	31	-5	22	105	6.70%	17:05	36	22	0	0	44	99
58	Noel Blanchet	C	COL	66	10	22	32	-2	10	131	7.60%	17:22	36	27	0	0	37	74
59	Noel Blanchet	C	COL	66	19	26	45	23	30	162	11.70%	17:22	19	32	0	0	19	93
60	Noel Blanchet	C	COL	66	12	54	66	18	30	207	5.80%	18:48	32	23	0	0	48	79

lespoils' choice: Basil Sivart
Status: Active :renegades
TPE: 883

I won't put Sivart's stats here right now for reason that will soon be obvious, if they aren't already. I was really high on Sivart and was the one who brought him to the attention of the War Room a few days before the draft. I had him as my favorite first-gen in that class, but in a draft with so many top-tier recreates management felt like we shouldn't take that risk at pick #6, especially given that we had #8. JT3 was a great pick, as his stats have shown. He's been an important member of the locker room since we drafted him which is always incredibly satisfying to see when someone that has been on the league for such a long time mingles with the newer creates. His stats in-game also prove that it was the right call to make, as Sivart was still there at pick #8 but Blanchet might not have been.



Round 1 - Pick 8

pick: Basil Sivart @Sivart
Status: Active
TPE: 883

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Basil Sivart	LD	COL	66	3	14	17	-7	14	81	3.70%	18:39	37	28	0	0	55	63
58	Basil Sivart	LD	COL	66	8	15	23	5	25	85	9.40%	19:16	53	26	1	0	98	96
59	Basil Sivart	LD	COL	66	6	20	26	7	36	110	5.50%	20:44	53	23	0	0	104	113
60	Basil Sivart	LD	COL	66	7	17	24	5	42	154	4.50%	21:10	75	35	0	0	118	102

lespoils' choice: Basil Sivart

Having those two really close picks worked great for us. Sivart has been a defensive juggernaut throughout his career in Colorado and combined with Blanchet they make for an incredible first round combo. It's a real shame that we couldn't get these guys a Cup before going up.



Round 2 - Pick 17

pick: Ruedi Huber
Status: Inactive
TPE: 270

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Ruedi Huber	LW	COL	66	12	10	22	-14	32	103	11.70%	15:06	34	11	0	0	32	94
58	Ruedi Huber	RD	COL	66	10	14	24	8	6	71	14.10%	14:06	28	9	0	0	36	69
59	Ruedi Huber	RD	COL	18	2	1	3	-2	0	20	10.00%	9:30	8	1	0	0	7	23
60	Ruedi Huber	RD	N/A	0

lespoils' choice: Mew Two
Status: Active
TPE: 961

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Mew Two	RW	QCC	66	7	11	18	7	17	61	11.50%	8:53	15	13	0	0	32	28
58	Mew Two	RW	QCC	66	34	35	69	22	14	208	16.30%	16:54	38	16	0	0	8	26
59	Mew Two	RW	QCC	66	28	26	54	-3	22	201	13.90%	17:19	44	20	0	0	31	26
60	Mew Two	RW	QCC	66	21	41	62	1	12	238	8.80%	17:54	42	15	0	0	58	69

lespoils' choice 2 : Electric Boogaloo Richard LaFleur
Status: Active
TPE: 923

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Richard LaFleur	LD	KEL	66	10	20	30	24	15	112	8.90%	17:16	28	26	0	1	64	57
58	Richard LaFleur	RD	KEL	66	5	17	22	29	26	124	4.00%	18:42	33	24	0	0	44	57
59	Richard LaFleur	LD	KEL	66	11	29	40	36	15	169	6.50%	21:25	26	37	0	1	36	82
60	Richard LaFleur	RD	CGY	66	6	25	31	25	14	134	4.50%	17:44	21	12	0	0	40	64

Alright, this one is going to hurt. When our pick in the second round came, I was very vocal about those two to the point where I feel they should both be in here. Zeagle (Mew Two) was my teammate on the Portland Pythons in the DSFL and a great friend with a terrific render and great ambition. LaFleur had a name made from two of the greatest Habs players of all time and I thought he we a frenchie like me. He wasn't, but we had a very good talk and I remember being his first follower on Twitter. Huber had an impressive site presence but I hadn't talked to him, the GMs did and were as high on him as I was on those two, thus we ended up taking Huber. Of course, things might have gone way differently; Mew Two might not have stuck around if he'd been drafted with us, Huber might've been great elsewhere and just not a good fit with us in the end. But this pick (or non-pick) makes me look very good in insight so I'll definitely take it.



Round 3 - Pick 29

pick: Rovolio Clocksberg Jr.
Status: Inactive
TPE: 186

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Rovolio Clocksberg Jr	RD	COL	66	3	12	15	9	12	44	6.80%	17:16	14	18	0	0	11	39
58	Rovolio Clocksberg Jr	RD	COL	47	2	8	10	-3	12	39	5.10%	19:06	14	13	0	0	12	33
59	Rovolio Clocksberg Jr	LD	NBB	66	3	9	12	-27	14	43	7.00%	18:20	31	14	0	0	38	51
60	Rovolio Clocksberg Jr	LD	COL	22	2	6	8	2	8	34	5.90%	17:01	21	5	0	0	27	9

lespoils' choice: Golden Face
Status: Active
TPE: The number of the Beast

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Golden Face	RW	CAR	66	6	13	19	-18	6	67	9.00%	12:44	31	18	0	0	51	81
58	Golden Face	LW	CAR	66	11	22	33	-22	19	135	8.10%	17:34	52	31	0	1	48	91
59	Golden Face	LW	CAR	66	21	28	49	-1	16	198	10.60%	18:09	51	17	0	0	29	74
60	Golden Face	LW	CAR	66	19	37	56	7	19	173	11.00%	19:42	34	35	0	1	51	87

Another one where the room was divided and that could have gone either way; I had had a great chat with Golden Face before the draft and was seeing much promise in him, notably that to eventually be good enough to challenge Michael Scarn. On the other hand, management had a very good chat with Clocksberg. Clocksberg came in the locker room for a few days where he was super active then straight up vanished. That was surprising and obviously very disappointing for all of us; whereas Huber told us of his IRL problems, Clocksberg just ghosted. He is still on the roster for the Raptors as an IA this season after a quick stint in Nevada. Golden Face isn't the best of his class but he's still active and slowly doing his thing, starting in the SHL for the Panthers this season.



Round 4 - Pick 41

pick: Leon Schweingruber
Status: Inactive
TPE: 369

Season	Player	Pos	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	"+/-"	PIM	S	S%	ATOI	GA	TA	W	L	BLK	HIT
57	Leon Schweingruber	C	COL	66	7	9	16	-12	54	75	9.30%	14:40	29	11	0	0	31	66
58	Leon Schweingruber	C	COL	66	4	22	26	2	14	102	3.90%	16:17	53	25	0	0	85	94
59	Leon Schweingruber	C	COL	66	5	19	24	3	16	126	4.00%	17:21	33	22	0	0	47	87
60	Leon Schweingruber	RD	COL	66	11	14	25	10	28	111	9.90%	18:24	29	28	0	0	60	78

lespoils' choice: Leon Schweingruber


Slim pickings at this point in the draft. Some teams managed to get the diamond in the rough around that pick, people that turned out into active users of the league like Shion Okamoto at 50. I would be lying, however, if I said I had any clue who we should pick at that point onwards. We took a chance on Schweingruber who was a good user for a time but then had to leave because of real life (whatever that is, I have never heard of it). His player has been a serviceable player for us, who we've been using to patch holes for the last few seasons and who's going to play his last season with us in S61.



Round 4 - Pick 45

pick: Connor Broussard
Status: Inactive
TPE: 157

lespoils' choice: Connor Broussard


Not much to say about a guy who only ever claimed 2 TPE and never touched the ice in the SMJHL. Shit happens, at least it was a late pick.



Round 5 - Pick 53

pick: Rusell Rattie
Status: Inactive
TPE: 155


lespoils' choice: Rusell Rattie


Rattie looked like a decent pick for a medium earning goalie that would be backup to Yanno Rosejac for a while then maybe be the starter for one or two seasons but he ended up riding the press box as emergency back-up goaltender for a while, never seeing icetime much like Broussard.

Code:

3569 words, 760 words without the stat tables. 2x draft bonus[php][/php]

I was a huge fan of Clocksberg Jr too, shame he didn't stick around

Ryuuji Minamino | RW | Syndicate | S53 | 1265 TPE
Birthplace: Sapporo, Japan
Height: 6'3" | Weight: 210lb
SMJHL S52 Draft 56th Overall (NLB)
SHL S53 Draft 11th Overall (CHI)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMJHL Regular Season
S52 | 50GP | 3G   | 5A   | 8P   | -5  | 16 PIM | 32 Hits |
S53 | 50GP | 16G | 19A | 36P | +5 | 30 PIM | 46 Hits |
S54 | 50GP | 25G | 28A | 53P | +23 | 22 PIM | 20 Hits |
S55 | 50GP | 21G | 35A | 56P | +17 | 12 PIM | 33 Hits |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMJHL Playoff Season
S52 | 10GP | 1G | 0A | 1P | -4 | 2 PIM | 6 Hits |
S53 | 7GP   | 2G | 3A | 5P | -1 | 2 PIM | 12 Hits |
S54 | 14GP   | 9G | 8A | 17P | +11 | 4 PIM | 7 Hits |
S55 | 17GP   | 5G | 8A | 13P | +6 | 9 PIM | 13 Hits |

I didn't expect my name to pop up in here

Great read. Picks can be a coin flip sometimes.

[S78] #14 C | Jon Garfield
[SMJHL] Regina Elk / Thunder Bay Walleye
[SHL] Buffalo Stampede | Prospect

[S58] #72 LD | Shion Okamoto
[SMJHL] Newfoundland Berserkers | Former Captain | S60, S62 Four Star Cup
[SHL] Chicago Syndicate | S64 Challenge Cup
[IIHF] Team Japan | S60 Gold