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S67 Minnesota Monarchs Draft Review (2x Media)
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S67 Minnesota Monarchs Draft Review (2x Media)

Hey everyone, been awhile since I have done media here but wanted to talk about the recent draft that Minnesota had for S67 and talk about what the draft means overall for the team that won 11 games last season and finished 2nd to last with just 25 points total. Now, I, being the not so active user in the SHL decided to take the draft review in my hands (while others will probably do a better job) and try to see what the player's future is with the team and talk about the different position groups and what not. I will try and look at user, player, and fit overall with the franchise moving forward looking at the current players on the roster! Minnesota had one of the better drafts among all SHL teams so it should be a fun class to review and have with us as we look to turn the rebuild around into a winner here in Minnesota. I also apologize for any unknown knowledge on users, players, or more!

1st Round - 1st Overall - RD - Nevek Kove - Evok

When Minnesota won the lottery, taking the top spot from Edmonton, it had to be assumed that the first pick in the draft would have a very good chance at being Kove. Kove, out of Quebec City, having played their SMJHL hockey in Quebec City as well, is a talented defensive skater who has a ton of potential. I believe many analysts would figure Kove to be first overall and that is where he went here.

In general, Evok is one of the top SHL users that are out there to my knowledge. Looking at her profile, she has multiple challenge cups, an MVP, a hall of fame player, and multiple players who have reached 2,000 TPE over the course of their careers. If there is ever a sure thing in the league it is a player made by Evok. I know her last player was a goaltender who played most or all of their career in Buffalo and now she goes to the defensive side of things as a right defender to try and make another amazing player on and off the ice.

As far as defensive talent is concerned, Minnesota can certainly use Kove for their future hockey aspirations as well. As a whole, the Monarchs do not have a lot of young defensemen on their roster or in the pipeline so it is definitely an area the team wanted to address. The team has stalwart defender in Connor Tanner as a left defenseman but other than inactives or extremely old players, the team's current roster does not have anyone else that figures into their future. As for prospects, the team does carry 2 defensive prospects in Kayden King and Julian Flörsch the latter who is considered one of Minnesota's top prospects and the former who, while talented, might not be a future first line talent especially bringing in Kove. With Tanner and Flörsch both being Left Defenders, bringing in a Right Defenseman in Kove could help form one of the best pairs in the game. We could be looking at a pairing of Flörsch and Kove for a long long time in the Twin Cities with Tanner being the current star defenseman on the roster for the present and future.

The user and fit could not be better and from a goaltender's perspective I am super happy to have a semblance of a future strong defense in front of me especially with the beat down Enes has taken so far in the SHL!

1st Round - 11th Overall - LD - Brendan Laroux - Shmurph

From one legend to another, maybe in a slightly different way at least when it comes to the Minnesota faithful. Minnesota picks up their former GM here by picking up his new player Laroux. Shmurph's last player Kynwyl Pearce was a lone bright spot during the rebuilding times for the Minnesota franchise and looks to not only be another bright spot of a rebuild but complete the rebuild with the team and bring winning hockey to Minnesota. The new defenseman from Saint-Verge, France looks to be a force on the new defense the Monarchs are trying to build.

As far as the user fit is concerned, it has to be a no brainer here as it brings back a team legend and someone who has been faithful to the franchise in general and has built a couple solid players since Season 36. It appears that Laroux will be the first defenseman to come from the Shmurph camp so it should be very interesting to see. One of the locker room mainstays and active members of the team, it was a solid pick and while it would be weird to see him without the current player role for now and instead a prospect player, it will still be nice to have them back in the fold.

As far as fit, it is a lot of the same as we talked about with the first pick in Kove. Minnesota appears to really be attacking that defensive need bringing in another talented defenseman here with the Left Defenseman Laroux. We talked about the lack of overall talent that the Monarchs had overall with defensemen but we are now seeing that be stocked up with the additions of Kove and Laroux. I believe defensemen in general are interchangeable so you essentially complete the pairings of your top 2 lines with this move in the draft. So where we were talking about Florsch and Kove being the future star pairing, maybe we shift a bit. Maybe the team elects to go with the older pairing of Tanner and Florsch and the draftee tandem of Kove and Laroux or maybe they split them up but either way, it is a good problem to have to consider. This of course would move Kayden King potentially to the 3rd line where he could excel in that 3rd pairing and give Minnesota a deep defense.

Again, from a goaltender's perspective...BRING ON THAT DEFENSE BABY!! Another great pick!

1st Round - 17th Overall - LW - Brennan Kennedy III - bk1689

Another 1st round pick!? Another absolute great pick!? You betcha!

This time, Minnesota decided they were happy with defense and went to the forward side of things to bring some offense to the future team. The pick here was Brennan Kennedy III out of Vienna, Austria, a talented winger who is a big time goal scoring threat out on the left wing. In a first round as deep as it was in this draft, you can still argue that Minnesota could have picked up the top 3 best players in the draft without offense to anyone else drafted but hey, Monarch season right?

As far as the user goes, another legend in their own right with a player who had hit 2,000 TPE of their own and who is now on their 3rd iteration of Brennan Kennedy after spending Jr's whole career with Calgary and now makes his way to the Midwestern US. A fellow long time member of Austria in IIHF, I personally have a good amount of experience at least being teammates with them and am excited to take that over to the SHL as well which means Enes and BK3 will be teammates year round pretty much. The team got another no brainer first round player and user with this pick.

As far as the fit goes, we can't just copy and paste our defensemen one year picking up a left winger and at a good time too. With the retirement of Kynwyl Pearce and having a good number of inactives on the SHL roster in terms of wingers, it would be important to replenish that reserve. The only winger on the SHL roster currently that matters really for the future is RW Buck Keithley who was a Season 63 draftee and a capable player that could be a solid 2nd line winger easily and possible first liner when the rebuild is to it's completion given his age. However, the prospects of the Monarchs hold a different story and the team could obviously see the winger depletion far before this draft with some talented players in the ranks. The team has a lot of left wingers among their prospects with 4 wingers capable of making a mark at the SHL level. Billy Blazes, Dan Baltisberger, Dominik Froste, and Teodos Skalbergs all have varying levels of talent and could help the Monarchs through the rebuild. The highlights here and potential first wingers are Dan Baltisberger and Dominik Froste who are top tier prospects and adding a guy like Kennedy III should be huge to the team as another future potential first liner. As far as the others go, Blazes and Skalbergs while maybe not being as advanced still can profile as a 3rd liner or potential 2nd liner in a jiff. All those players along with Keithley should be huge for the team moving forward.

As far as goaltender perspective, wingers can help the win column and having a fellow Austrian on the team can only help the overall chemistry between Gundogan and Kennedy III.

1st Round - 19th Overall -RW - Alexi Piastri - vbottas17

Another pick where I have no problem saying that the team got another legend here with Piastri and vbottas. Piastri, the right winger out of Melbourne, Australia is another player capable of scoring a lot of points in the SHL and another talented winger to join the pipeline for the Monarchs. Minnesota decided to double down for the 2nd time this round and take a 2nd winger after taking 2 defensemen with their first two first round picks as well.

While I can say I don't believe I have spent a lot of time around this user, I can see from their history that they have been around the SHL for a long time. Their first player starting in Season 20 and then having many careers in addition to being a GM or co-GM in a few spots as well. They bring a ton of SHL knowledge and player building experience to the team so yes, we can go back to the legend talk because when you have been around for 40+ seasons in a sim league I feel like it is deserved. They have come in and have been an active part of the locker room and it has been breeding activity in general and all the activity has even gotten me back to talking in there so it is a fun time to be a Monarch having all these SHL vets teaming up to bring Minnesota to the promise land.

As far as fit goes we can sort of play off the last one as well and Piastri becomes just the 2nd natural right winger for the team and while they are certainly interchangeable it at least helps to know what you have. Could we see Baltisberger and Froste as a future first line with Piastri and Kennedy III as the 2nd line? It is possible! And with other talented players like Keithley, Blazes and Skalbergs in fold, it is again, another good problem to have.

Again from a goaltender perspective, let's score some goals and if I don't feel like stopping pucks one night if FHM says so then we still have an opportunity for the 2 points!


2nd Round - 37th Overall - C - Meta Knight - Spooked

Well...the rich only get richer here as the Monarchs are able to wait to pick 37 to pick up a GM player with Meta Knight. Knight, the center out of Dream Land is one of the top centers in the draft and the team is able to scoop them up late in the second round thanks to the rules! Yay rules! Expect this two-way center to be a force for Minnesota for a while!

As far as the user goes, I have to say only good things because they help sign my paychecks and keep me around so when I said legend about the other users we drafted, we are now talking about a super extra mega legend right here. What a user, Minnesota is very lucky to have them!

As far as fit goes, obviously with a GM player you can kind of see what is needed and play that position and I think Minnesota definitely saw a need at center having really no one outside of first liner McDangle right now. The fit will be perfect and Knight could come in and slot in as a 2nd line center relatively quickly and eventually take over as the first line center when McDangle ages a bit at the height of the rebuild.

As far as goalie perspective, centers are an interesting bunch because in general they are relied upon a lot on both ends of the ice so playmaking ability and shot stopping will be very nice for both sides and help keep Gundogan safe and able to grab some future wins.

2nd Round - 39th Overall - LW - Carl Ray Jetson - Pauadrian

Another winger and a solid value late.

User is pauadrian.

3rd Round - 42nd Overall - LW - Diablo Rose - NONAME

Another winger! Calm down Minnesota! No just kidding, add all the good players we can. This time, another winger is brought is in the form of Diablo Rose who hails from Toronto, Canada and brings the Monarchs another player who has a knack for being able to score the puck.

As far as the user goes, I think we can say we picked up another great user and while maybe not a legend per say, a user that has been around for awhile at times and has experience as a J GM and having a long career with their former player Bo Kane. I thought it was interesting looking at their topic post history as they were active in 2016 and then not until 2019 and then active until later in 2020 and then gone until 2022. I don't know what that means for the future of Rose but with Kane having a solid career I can hold out hope for a solid showing from Rose.

We can get into the fits a bit since we covered wingers already but with the vast amount of wingers brought in from the team it made a lot of sense to bring in a maybe high risk and high reward sort of player. They don't HAVE to be a first line winger but they can fit in with the team and help a lot.

Goalie perspective stays the same as in, score goals and make me get wins for milestone time!

3rd Round - 53rd Overall - LD - Neal Newland - Hallsyy

We are getting much deeper in the draft with just a few players left on the board and while there were a couple passes already, the Monarchs decided to choose a player they felt could help the team. The team picked up talented defenseman Neal Newland out of Boston, MA, their first drafted American in the draft.

As far as the user goes I don't have a ton of experience with them but they have been very active in the locker room and are a Bruins fan so that is always a plus! They have not had a ton of topic posts and have had 3 players that were quick in their careers but maybe this time will be the one that sticks. It is no risk and potential high reward and at least the team gets a solid LR presence to start post draft.

We talked about defensemen depth earlier and there are a lot of opportunities for Newland to stick on as a 3rd pairing defenseman in the long run which could be solid value here late in the draft.

3rd Round - 53rd Overall - LD - Nichael Fitted - PremierBromanov

Won't speak too much on this pick. It appears Fitted will be just be playing in the SMJHL so won't be big to Minnesota's future. This is a great legendary user but this player will not be a player that lasts for a long time.

In Conclusion:

Minnesota had an amazing draft. The locker room is busier than ever and the future is very bright in Minnesota. I am happy to be the goaltender here! I just need to earn more money so please grade with so many bonuses!

[Image: bgwUtVZ.png]

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#2

How dare you

[Image: premierbromanov.gif]




Fuck the penaltys
ARGARGARHARG
[Image: EePsAwN.png][Image: sXDU6JX.png][Image: eaex9S1.png]
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#3

09-02-2022, 05:24 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: How dare you
he did call you legendary

[Image: spartangibbles.gif]
[Image: qGhUIfY.png]  Outlungus   Usa Monarchs  [Image: PlcJv9V.png]
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#4

09-02-2022, 05:33 PMSpartanGibbles Wrote:
09-02-2022, 05:24 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: How dare you
he did call you legendary

I want 2000 words minimum!

[Image: premierbromanov.gif]




Fuck the penaltys
ARGARGARHARG
[Image: EePsAwN.png][Image: sXDU6JX.png][Image: eaex9S1.png]
Reply
#5

Monarchs

[Image: Piastri2.png?ex=65ba64d4&is=65a7efd4&hm=...462889f09&]
[Image: or8VMxO.gif]
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#6

09-02-2022, 05:01 PMAW13 Wrote: 2nd Round - 39th Overall - LW - Carl Ray Jetson - Pauadrian

Another winger and a solid value late.

User is pauadrian.

ABSOLUTE STEAL WHO WILL RIVAL ANEEQ ON THE DRAGONS!

Raptors Proud S67 - S69 Colorado Raptors Captain  Raptors
Uk S57 Forward of the Season Award winner  Uk

Blizzard Now Isaac Forty-One Switzerland

[Image: 41-2.png?ex=65d9e0d0&is=65c76bd0&hm=ada7...1aae5535a&]
Reply
#7

09-02-2022, 05:24 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: How dare you

Honestly a little was due to being tired of writing it too haha

[Image: bgwUtVZ.png]

Reply
#8

09-06-2022, 09:14 AMAW13 Wrote:
09-02-2022, 05:24 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: How dare you

Honestly a little was due to being tired of writing it too haha

i feel that lol

[Image: premierbromanov.gif]




Fuck the penaltys
ARGARGARHARG
[Image: EePsAwN.png][Image: sXDU6JX.png][Image: eaex9S1.png]
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