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TheOPSquid · 11-25-2023, 10:17 PM

Being drafted high in the SMJHL Draft is something that players take pride in, focusing all the effort and training they've pushed through their entire lives into a singular dream; making the SHL. But just because you didn't go high in the SMJHL draft doesn't mean you won't have a successful SMJHL career. A player may only be active in the SMJHL for a maximum of 4 seasons but don't let that fool you, just because you're only on the team for 4 seasons doesn't mean that your SMJHL team won't have lasting impacts on you and your career. The Junior league prioritizes development over winning, as well as helping player retention and trying to grow the player as not only a player but also as a person. Connections with your Junior teammates and management helps lay the groundwork for your career and makes everything more fun overall. The SMJHL draft has a lot more active first generations (active or inactive), as well as recreated and recently retired players which can lead to a lot of steals or busts. The SMJHL draft could be a spot where a franchise builds through late round steals, early picks, or even just trading their picks for established players. As the entry draft to the SMJHL, most players haven't had a lot to do on the site yet and aren't fully acquainted with the league, making it harder to gauge their commitment level, activity, and their playing ability. Teams can make or break in the SMJHL draft, and for all intents and purposes, there are no guaranteed slam dunk picks. Teams that utilize their picks effectively can use their late round picks for either low activity players where the franchise can attempt to engage them and cause them to be more active, or try to draft steals that interviewed well and may have not interviewed with lots of teams. For a lack of better wording, the SMJHL draft can be a shit show.

Today we are going to be going back to look at the Season 70 SMJHL Draft class and looking over their SMJHL careers, looking specifically at players that were drafted later in the draft and pushed themselves to be labeled as a steal. I will not be ranking players or picks, but rather going back through to see players' performances, how they have affected their franchise, and their activity. With this draft class aging out of the junior league, now is the perfect time to look back as they sharpen their skates, tape their sticks, and train for their SHL debuts in the upcoming season.

Bob Wehadababyitsaboy Whalers

1st Overall S70 SMJHL - 33rd Overall S71 SHL
Left Defense - 6'2
Career Stats - 264 GP - 34 G - 111 A - 145P +87 - 77 GA - 236 TA - 525 BLK - 61 HIT - 1-0 in Fights

The first pick in the Season 70 SMJHL draft was Bob Wehadababyitsaboy, a Defensive Defender that was drafted to the Vancouver Whalers. Hitting the 425 Cap and sitting just over it with 427, Bob has contributed greatly to the success of the Whalers over the past 4 seasons since entering the league. Finishing 7th in their Rookie season, Bob played the majority of Season 70 on the first pair defense and was able to help Vancouver start to establish their defensive style which has led to much regular season success since. Wanting to switch it up for the second season, Wehadababyitsaboy moved up to the Right Wing and was played as one of the best two way forwards at the time. After putting up great penalty killing numbers as well as defensive stats, the Whalers finished 5th in the league with Bob on the third line Right Wing. Switching back to defense the next season, Bob had a career year in points, amassing 42 points to go along with 103 hits, 121 blocks, and 45 takeaways. The Whalers moved up to second in the league for that season, and proceeded to move up even higher and finished 1st this past season. Unfortunately not winning a Four Star Cup in their SMJHL career, Bob Wehadababyitsaboy had a great junior career with the Whalers and was able to help Vancouver establish themselves as a top team.

Thomas Liebold Whalers

40th Overall S70 SMJHL - 12th Overall S71 SHL
Right Wing - 6'3
Career Stats - 264 GP - 109 G - 189 A - 298 P +71 - 226 GA - 166 TA - 169 BLK - 570 HIT - 0-1 in Fights

Thomas Liebold was a dynamic winger as soon as he entered the league after being drafted extremely late by the Vancouver Whalers. Liebold is a great player that proved that where you were selected in the SMJHL draft does not reflect the type of player you are as some players would be discouraged after being picked up late, Thomas thrived and used the motivation to become the great player he is today. After spending all 4 seasons down in the SMJHL, Thomas would easily be a top 10 pick in a re-draft in my opinion, hitting the 425 cap early and sitting at 921 TPE before the SHL season kicks off. Thomas was an integral part of the Whalers, like their first pick Bob Wehadababyitsaboy. Liebold kicked off their first season in the SMJHL establishing themself on the first line for both 5 on 5 and 5 on 4. The 6'3 Winger finished 5th on the team in scoring at just under a point per game with 63 in 66 games as the Whalers finished 7th. Thomas was doing whatever the coaches asked him to do, playing on the power play and spending a few minutes on the short handed unit, as well as hitting anything that moved. Amassing 230 out of his 570 career hits in just his first season, Thomas would develop other areas of his game to prove himself as a more effective player. In the offseason Thomas worked on their shot and willingness to shoot, scoring 7 more goals in their sophomore season and finishing with 70 points, moving away from hitting everything and dialing back their hits to 160 instead of 230 like their previous season. After finishing fifth in the league and exiting the playoffs after 5 games and a first round bye, Liebold decided to put in some work and switch to playing Center for their third season. After developing well in the offseason, working on faceoffs, defense, and rounding out all areas of their game, Liebold proved that hard work pays off and had a career year. Tallying 39 goals and 64 assists breaking the 100 point mark with 103 for the first time, Liebold utilized his lethal shot very well, shooting 287 times en route to his highest scoring season. Vancouver finished at their highest spot in the standings so far, finishing 2nd but unfortunately had the same result in the playoffs as the prior season. After bringing in some different personnel after a couple of graduating Whalers, rolling 3 quality lines all season, Vancouver finished first in the league 12 points higher than second place. Rolling all 3 lines didn't allow Liebold to reach the heights of the previous season, but he still had a stellar 62 point season with 27 goals while posting his highest average Defensive Game Rating so far. Unfortunately the Whalers were dispatched in the third round in their longest playoff run since Liebold joined the team, but Thomas is poised to make a strong impact for his SHL team when he makes his SHL debut this season. A strong SMJHL career for a player that was picked up at 40th Overall in the Junior draft, Liebold looks forward to a long and prosperous career in the SHL.

Thomas Sawschuk Battleborn

6th Overall S70 SMJHL - 16th Overall S71 SHL Draft
Center - 6'2
Career Stats - 264 GP - 138 G - 173 A - 311P +66 - 265 GA - 199 TA - 154 BLK - 494 HIT - 1-0 in Fights

The second Thomas we will talk about in this article is Thomas Sawschuk, the 6'2 Centerman from the Nevada Battleborn. Thomas Sawschuk was picked up at 6th Overall by Nevada and played a depth role in his first season, resulting in 45 points with an impressive 27 goals. The Nevada Battleborn cruised to a 41-19-6 record in his rookie season, finishing with 23 more points than the prior season with huge career years for some players. Pushing to the 3rd round of the playoffs after securing a first round bye, Sawschuk's potential was on full display as he was second in playoff goals on the squad with 8 and finished with 13 points in 12 games. In his second season on a deep team, Sawschuk was moved to the Right Wing briefly while spending time splitting the Center and Wing spots. Thomas ended up improving throughout the season, improving to 28 goals and 30 assists while averaging just under a minute on the power play and penalty kill. Thomas started to develop the physical side of his game, breaking 100 hits and putting up a crazy 167. With the physical, defensive, and offensive parts of his game improving all signs pointed to a breakout season for his third season. Nevada didn't have a first round bye this season after finishing with a 48-12-6 record with 102 points. After winning the first and second round 4-1 in each series, Nevada fell in 7 games in the Semi-finals to the Newfoundland Berserkers. Thomas Sawschuk didn't like coming so close to the Finals and losing, taking the time to train over the offseason extremely seriously, with some teammates stating he only had protein shakes as meal replacements over the entire offseason. He arrived into Season 72 with a newly found confidence and made a huge mark on the league, finishing second in league scoring with 106 points as well as first in assists with 68! Becoming a dominant force during all situations, Sawschuk led the team to a 39-24-3 record to earn a first round bye. After a tight 7 game series against the Carolina Kraken, Nevada would fizzle out in 7 games against the eventual cup champion St. Louis Scarecrows. Sawschuk saw huge performances throughout the regular season, but the Scarecrows were able to slow him down enough to hold him down to 13 points in 14 games. Unfortunately his 5.4% shooting percentage in the playoffs was a career low in all competitions. After being outed in the third round for the third time in three seasons, Thomas went back to work in the offseason in hopes to finally break that barrier. Sawschuk came back with a vengeance in Season 73, putting up a career best 45 goals and a 102 point season. He stepped into a very prominent position on the penalty kill, with his previous season averaging 1:19 on the penalty kill per game jumping up by over double to 3:09 per game. Nevada finished with 79 points with a record of 38-25-3 on the season, finishing 3rd in a stacked division but 4th overall in the standings. A tight first round series for Nevada saw them knock out the Kraken in 7 games, but an unfortunate end to the second round saw them get beat out by the Malamutes in 7 games. Sawschuk had his best playoff performance so far, tallying 10 goals and 23 points in just 10 games finishing in 5th for playoff scoring despite being eliminated in the second round. Sitting in the top 20 for TPE in their draft class with 885, Sawschuk will look to make his debut this season for the New England Wolfpack this season, after being traded from Hamilton with a S74 1st to New England for 2 2nds and Paul Koivu. New England is probably very happy to see how Thomas has been this far into his career as he looks to make the jump to the SHL level.

Furious Chicken Malamutes

13th Overall S70 SMJHL - 3rd Overall S71 SHL
Left Defense - 6'11
Career Stats - 269 GP - 22 G - 100 A - 122 P +48 - 91 GA - 264 TA - 357 BLK - 494 HIT

As we were all expecting, a giant angry humanoid chicken is good at hockey. This 6'11 Defender has stood his ground and not chickened out against physical play or when things were heating up. Coming into the Junior league at 13th overall to the Yukon Malamutes, Chicken was renowned for his defensive ability as well as his massive 6'11 frame. Joining the Colorado Raptors for 5 games during Season 69 the Dutch defender tallied 2 assists with 4 blocks and 7 hits. The original angry bird ended up slotting in at 13th in the SMJHL draft as Yukon were fortunate enough to snag him. Slotting in immediately on the third line as well as the penalty kill, Furious Chicken was mentored by Franchise Defender Sydney Shaw. With 19 points in his first full season, Chicken's focus was on defense and not chipping in offensively with 63 takeaways with 68 blocks and 116 hits. Averaging a minute on the penalty kill each game, Chicken was trusted to play in tough situations as a rookie and made sure to seize the opportunities given. An alright season for the Malamutes landed them just over .500, finishing with 69 points and a first round playoff matchup against the Kelowna Knights. After securing a long 7 game series win over Kelowna, Yukon was pushed by the Colorado Raptors sweeping them in 4 games. Then what you're about to see become a common occurrence; the Maine Timber eliminated the Yukon Malamutes in 6 games in the semi finals. A great playoff run by the Malamutes in Chicken's first season saw him put up 9 assists and 1 goal, finishing +10 with 13 blocks and takeaways, and that solo goal being a game winning goal. After going through some experimental bird seed over the offseason, Furious Chicken came back in Season 71 and thundered out to a season total of 33 points, 124 hits, 61 blocks and 63 takeaways. Furious Chicken stepped into the second defensive pair to crunch more minutes for the Malamutes. Chicken was the unsung defensive defenseman that most teams need to be successful being more defensive than his partner Might-go IA, Chicken did not get many power play minutes but was a staple on the second penalty kill unit. After making the playoffs for the second season in Chicken's career, Yukon finished with a first round bye and beat Regina 4-1 in round 2. Unfortunately for the second season in a row Yukon would be eliminated in 6 games in the semis by the Maine Timber. Chicken came out in the third season for the Yukon and posted his best season in the junior league points wise, with 37 points and 31 assists. Also hitting his career best in takeaways (75), blocks (130) and hits (127). Yukon finished in a similar spot as the previous season, this time not securing a bye round but beating Anchorage in Round 1 and Vancouver in Round 2, before meeting with the Maine Timber in the semi finals again for the third season in a row. Yukon was eliminated in 7 games this time, as Chicken put up his best playoff numbers with 18 takeaways, 29 blocks, and 26 hits. In season 73 Chicken entered the season at the 425 TPE cap and was also leading his draft class in TPE. Chicken would go on and run the first defensive pair as well as the penalty kill as this tower of a player would go on to put up some solid numbers despite Yukon entering re-tool mode after being eliminated by Maine for the 3rd consecutive season. Unfortunately Chicken would not exact revenge on the Timber in his final SMJHL season as the Malamutes would go on to get eliminated by Newfoundland before Maine would lift the cup. After being selected outside the top 10 of the SMJHL draft, Chicken put his beak to the grindstone and max earned throughout his junior career. Ultimately moving up to being drafted by the Edmonton Blizzard at 3rd overall, as well as being the first in their draft class to pass 900 TPE and sitting at 971 before the SHL season kicks off.

Max Carnage Battleborn

20th Overall S70 SMJHL - 8th Overall S71 SHL
Center - 6'4
Career Stats - 198 GP - 90 G - 100 A - 190 P +40 - 174 GA - 121 TA - 137 BLK - 315 HIT - 0 Fights

The last player we are going to talk about in this article is Max Carnage who was called up after their third season in the SMJHL, after being drafted in the second round in the SMJHL draft. The 6'4 Center saw second line minutes on a strong Nevada Battleborn team that had two 100 point scorers as Max led his line in scoring with 42 points. Averaging just under a minute on the penalty kill and power play units, Max Carnage had a very strong performance on the faceoff dot winning 56% of their 429 draws. The Battleborn would go on to play 12 playoff games and get eliminated in the semis by eventual cup champions Newfoundland. Carnage played a strong role in the run notching 14 points tying for second on the team in scoring and leading in faceoff percentage with 57.4%. Entering the second season, Carnage would split a bit of time between C and RW ultimately staying at C for the majority of the season. With a big breakout year scoring 70 points and 31 goals, Nevada finished second in the league with 102 points and pushed through to the semis but lost in 7 games. Carnage had another postseason run with over a point per game with 20 points in the 17 games, surpassing their previous season's totals but unfortunately ending the same way; a game 7 semi-final exit to Newfoundland. Fueled by back to back semi final losses to Newfoundland, Carnage put in work over the offseason and came back ready to put in the work; centering the first line after others graduated to the SHL, they popped off and put up career highs in goals, assists and points. Rounding out their game by working on their defensive abilities, they hit the 425 cap and started on the first unit for even strength, power play, and penalty kill. Nevada finished in 4th in the league and won their division with 81 points, earning a first round bye. After a 7 game series against Carolina, Nevada would go on to face St. Louis in the semi finals. With another 7 game series semi finals Nevada would exit the playoffs again to the Cup Champions, this time it was to St. Louis who would beat Maine in 7 games. Max Carnage would finish out their junior career with three semi finals appearances in three seasons, going on to get called up to the Tampa Bay Barracuda early and currently sitting at 958 TPE.

In conclusion, don't be discouraged by where you were drafted just focus on earning and use your draft spot as motivation to have a good career and make the teams that passed on you regret it. Good luck in your SMJHL careers!

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