The Falcon's Wing
Issue Seven - Draft Preview
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Eggy216
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion and Wonderbolt THE FALCON'S WING Hello ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us for today’s special edition of The Falcon’s Wing. “Why is it special?†you might be saying to yourselves. Well, interested reader, it’s special because we’re going to be looking at the four rookies we think are the top four Falcons’ rookies heading into the S25 SHL draft. These four rookies have been spectacular all year in their respective positions, whether that be putting up points for their team, or keeping points for opposing teams down to a minimum. There’s really not much more to say before we get into our analysis. I mean, seriously. We’re doing four rookie profiles. If that’s not enough introduction, I don’t know what is. So now, in no particular order (that’s a lie, they’re alphabetized by last name), here are the top four Falcons you should be looking to pick up in the S25 draft this season! #77 Michael Burch Forward First up on our list is the young right-winger out of Niagara Falls, Ontario – Michael Burch! The young winger made his way into the SMJHL this season as a member of the Detroit Falcons after being taken in the third round, seventeenth overall. And it’s pretty obvious that in retrospect, the other five teams are kicking themselves for not taking this standout rookie when they had a chance. Burch started this season on the third line of the Detroit Falcons – a depth player, like many other rookies are going to be in their first season on a team. But Burch didn’t let his low position on the depth chart get him down. In fact, if anything, he used it as fuel to make himself better. He saw what was in front of him, and he knew he wanted it. He worked hard all season towards achieving his goals, and eventually was rewarded with a spot on the second line, and by the end of the season that second line spot had turned into a first line spot. Let’s take a look at his build for a moment. He’s currently a 276 TPE player, with a build that breaks down like this: Code: CK = Checking: 50 That’s a lot of words and numbers. Let’s make it a little more friendly to deal with. The aspects of his game which he considers to be his strongest are his skating, his passing, and his puck handling. That is quite apparent when you look at the way he plays on the ice. He has worked very hard on his play with the puck, as evidenced by high values in his skating and puck handling. Another bright spot of his play is that, while he loves to play with the puck, he knows the importance of making it possible for his teammates to play with it as well, and that’s why he chooses to pass the puck to his teammates rather than shooting it himself. When you’ve got a fast break into the opponent’s end, you’re going to want to give the puck to Burch. He’ll skate it in, make some moves to get around the defenders, and then set up one of the guys heading in with him who’s a little more suited to firing pucks behind the goaltender. One of the best things about Burch is that he’s willing to play on either side of center. While he finds himself at home on the right wing, he has no problem shifting to the left wing. He’s a very versatile player, who will perform well no matter where you ask him to play on the ice at any given time. His primary weakness in his game is the fact that he doesn’t like to take the body. But when your puck possession game is so strong, it might not matter. So long as Burch can get the puck, he’s not going to lose it. The second he gets his stick on the puck it’s his to lose. Because of this, he’s become rather good at stripping his opponents of the puck – rather than trying to take their bodies out of the play, he opts to just steal the puck away instead. Along with this, the fact that he doesn’t like to hit means you likely won’t see him taking too many penalties. You’ll have him on the ice more often than you’ll have him in the box. That’s what you’ll be getting from Michael Burch as far as his on-ice performance. But how about his off-ice performance? Burch is a proven leader in the locker room. He’s one of the more active members of the S25 SHL Draft Class, and backs that up with one of the higher TPE counts that we see from anyone who’s eligible for the draft. He’s someone who will likely be around for a long time, and someone who will be a great addition to any active locker room. Wherever he ends up in the draft, his new teammates are going to grow very attached to him very quickly. Plus, he’s the original brony. He’s the whole reason the Falcons have a thing for the My Little Pony multiverse now, and why the S24 Falcons will forever be immortalized as Team Brony. Where might he fall in the draft? It’s hard to predict exactly where anyone is going to fall in this draft class just because of how many active members we have going into this draft – especially amongst the forwards. But it’s safe to say that if you miss out on Jesster/Flacko/Wind, you’re going to get a very similar quality player in Burch. The only think keeping him from being up in the top three amongst forwards is just that he didn’t have the same amount of time to prepare as Jesster and Wind. Any other year Burch would be a pretty safe top-two pick, but because of all of the options available this year, I think you’ll see Michael Burch going to a team somewhere in the middle six picks of round one (picks 4-9). He’s definitely one of the safer picks in round one, and any team that’s on the block while he’s still on the board should be considering them as one of their top options. #94 Ross Burke Forward Next up is another Falcons rookie forward, Ross Burke! Before making the decision to join the SMJHL, Burke spent his time playing pond hockey with his friends in good old Lancaster, New York. Growing up, Burke idolized such players as Maxim Afinogenov and Miroslav Satan, players he had the chance to watch while growing up just outside of Buffalo. Ross Burke has spent this season playing on the third line of a Detroit Falcons team that was absolutely stacked with offensive talent. Burke wasn’t discouraged after having to wait quite a long time to hear his name called in the draft – taken in the eighth round of the S24 SMJHL entry draft, forty-three players had been taken before he heard his name called by general manager Tommy Creller. But Ross Burke shouldn’t have to wait half that long when it comes time for the SHL draft in a few weeks. Burke has shown consistent improvement since being drafted by the Detroit Falcons in the draft. While he wasn’t very active before the draft, and really only showed up a few times in the first couple of weeks after he was drafted to the Falcons’ squad, his activity really picked up all of a sudden with two or so weeks left in the regular season, and that activity hasn’t stopped since. Now that we’ve gotten our little introduction out of the way, let’s stop for a moment to admire his current build. Code: CK = Checking: 50 At 224, TPE, this is what young Ross Burke’s build is looking like right now. Pretty good for an offense-first forward. He’s strongest when it comes to passing, shooting, and puck handling, but struggles when it comes time to take the body. While he’s being used in a depth role right now, playing solid minutes as a third-line forward, Burke probably won’t be there for much longer. His style of play isn’t really suited to the grinding, going hard to the net play style of most of the third lines that you’ll see in the sport of hockey. Burke plays a game that is much more intended to be played as a member of one of the top six lines of a hockey team. He’s not going to be grinding to try to push the puck towards the front of the net – instead, he prefers to be out there on the fast breaks, being set up for those big goals by his teammates. Next season he’ll probably be getting some good minutes up on the first line alongside Michael Burch, who will synergize perfectly with Burke. You’ll be seeing a lot of goals reading “Ross Burke, primary assist to Michael Burch.†Those two are going to be crazy for the Falcons in S25. All that’s fine and dandy, but what good is a player who is a strong offensive performer on the ice if he doesn’t have the off-ice personality to back that up? Well with Burke, you’re going to get a personality that matches his on-ice performance. While he wasn’t around for a while, since his return he’s been pretty active. He’s not the most vocal guy, but he definitely enjoys being a part of the SHL, and wants nothing more than having the chance to better himself at every opportunity. Just like Burch, any team that drafts Burke can find comfort in knowing that he will switch to other wing if necessary – all you have to do is ask him. While for the Falcons he will most likely be playing in his natural left wing position (seeing as Burch is a natural right wing), it wouldn’t be much of an issue for him to make the switch once he jumps to an SHL roster. So I take by now you’re interested in Ross Burke. You’re probably telling yourself, “Man. This sounds like a really great guy. Where can I get a guy like this?†Well I’ll tell you. Burke is turning out to have been a steal in the eighth round of the draft – an active in a sea of inactives. But because he was gone for so long, he won’t climb as far as he would have if he had started this streak of activity just a little bit sooner. That being said, I think teams looking to take Ross Burke should be able to snag him towards the end of the second round, or the beginning of the third round. Again, Burke is the victim of a deep draft class at the forward position. There are so many great forwards in this draft class that he’s going to fall further than he should have. But if he’s able to continue the activity we’ve seen from him in recent weeks, I can assure you that any team that manages to snag him in the late second round or third round of the draft is going to be getting a great player who we could be looking back on in a few seasons and saying, “Damn. That was one hell of a steal they got with Burkie.†#11 Jasper Clayton Defense And now we get to the only defenseman on our list of the top four Falcons rookies heading into the S25 SHL draft. The defenseman from across the pond has made waves in the SMJHL this season, and is considered one of the top two defenders going in to the S25 SHL draft along with the Kelowna Knights’ Russian superstar Maria Maximova. Clayton comes to the SHL from a far away land known as England. Should you forget, you’ll remember quite quickly when he walks into the locker room with a cup of tea in hand before the start of every practice or game. The young defenseman was taken by the Detroit Falcons in the second round of the SMJHL draft, going eighth overall. He’s spent this season playing decent minutes for the Falcons, playing on the second pairing (most recently with Andre Martushev, though his defense partner changed repeatedly as the season went on) throughout the entirety of this season. He’s also been seeing ice-time in some key situations, both on the powerplay and the penalty kill, as well as in the dying minutes of the game when the team is trying to either hold on or battle back for the win. He’s been trusted in key situations all season long, and looks to be in those situations moreso for the Falcons next season after they lose top defenseman Brandon Girard. Code: CK = Checking: 55 Sitting at 269 TPE, we get a good idea of what Jasper Clayton is looking to prioritize going into his second season of his SMJHL career. Most notably, we currently see four stats sitting evenly at eighty – skating, puck handling, passing, and defense. The first two stats, skating and puck handling, seem to indicate a player who is looking to maintain control of the puck for his team, essentially preventing the opponents from scoring by not allowing them to have the puck. The third stat, passing, shows that while his shot has beaten many a goaltender, he prefers to set up his teammates for those big plays. Finally, the defensive prowess shows that, just because Clayton prides himself on offense, he isn’t going to neglect his own end. Clayton’s build is one that many might mistake for that of a two-way defenseman – that is, until they see him play on the ice. Clayton is almost never going to hit someone. Rather than taking the body, he usually opts to play the puck in an attempt to strip them of the puck and skate away with himself, rather than missing a check and potentially leaving himself out of position. If he can’t play the puck, he’s more than willing to hang back and try to block shots before they ever reach his goaltender, more than making up for his lack of physicality on the ice. Next season, Clayton can be expected to perform well for the Detroit Falcons, as he’ll be trusted to play big minutes on the powerplay and the penalty kill, as well as in even-strength play. This increased ice-time will serve the British defender quite well in preparing for a long future career in the SHL. Off the ice, Clayton never shuts up. Ever. He’ll be one of the loudest people in the locker room, and if you think you can escape him by leaving, well he’ll probably be there too. He has the second largest bank account of all juniors players (behind Robb Wind), mostly due to his activity in media. Whether it’s an article comparing the Detroit Falcons players to My Little Pony characters or breaking down the Falcons’ play the week before, Clayton’s written it all. Where can you expect to find him come the draft? It’s a pretty safe bet you’ll be seeing Clayton go somewhere in the top six of the draft, along with the other defender we mentioned, Maria Maixmova. The question just becomes where in that top six, and until draft day it’s going to be impossible to tell. Whereas we talked about forwards being hurt by such a deep draft class, the defenders don’t have that same issue as after Maximova and Clayton the defensive prospects pool thins out much more quickly than the forwards. Wherever he ends up playing, Clayton’s not going anywhere soon and should turn out to be a franchise defenseman for whichever team decides they want him the most come the draft. #35 Austin Lemieux Goaltender Rounding out our top four Falcons’ rookies to take in the S24 SHL draft is standout goaltending star Austin Lemieux. He gained attention early on in this season, when he was the only rookie who earned the chance to actually start games between the pipes for his team, and ended up splitting starts equally with Lee Bowden throughout the regular season (as well as getting the chance to start three playoff games). Lemieux is a native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and grew up playing pond hockey in the winters with his longtime friend Michael Burch. While the two get the chance to work together now, Burch says he won’t ever forget the first time he scored on Lemieux. “It was a backhand shot right over his left shoulder,†Burch said, laughing. “It was great. I’d been working on my backhand in my spare time, perfecting the art so that I could shock him with it, and he never saw it coming.†Lemieux prefers to remember the saves he made on Burch. “He was on a two man breakaway, my defenders were nowhere to be found. Someone crossed it to him, and I got over there and with the blade of my skate I was able to keep it out of the net. He couldn’t believe it. He just stood there in awe, staring at me.†That kind of play has continued this season in the SHL. He’s been great all season for the Detroit Falcons, and was named the team’s rookie of the year. There’s no question that Lemieux was a big part of the reason why the Falcons did so well this season, and once he makes the jump to an SHL team he’s going to be a great goaltender, and will eventually be a goalie you can build your team around. Let’s take a look at his build. Code: SK = Skating: 54 So that’s his build. Fun fact – while I’ve studied the simulator a lot to learn about how each attribute affects skaters, I know jack shit about goaltenders’ stats. That being said, I got some advice on how to analyze a goaltending build from the legend himself – Mook. Based on what he told me about how goaltenders work in the sim, this is what I have to say about Austin Lemieux’s current build. Lemieux currently sits at 256 TPE, a pretty good amount of TPE for a rookie, and very high amongst rookie goaltenders. His three best areas are reaction time, rebound control, and hand speed, with style control following up right behind. Those four areas are the areas you want to really be focusing on as a goaltender, as they’re the ones that will help you out in the most situations. As long as a goaltender has put an emphasis on those fields, results will likely follow. Lemieux also has his agility and his size up right around the rest of his stats, which will serve him quite well in the future. Being someone who can make himself big in the net and get over when someone’s trying to move the puck quickly on him will work out well when he’s trying to make those clutch saves at key points in the game. Austin Lemieux has his build on a great path thus far, and it’s only going to get better. So we’ve talked a bit about how deep the draft class is. Very deep at forward, a little thinner at defense. How about goalies? Well at one point, we had five goaltenders available for the taking. Then the St. Louis Scarecrows’ Nikita Nevzorov lost draft eligibility after he was granted a spot as GM of an expansion team, and we dropped down to four. Of those four, you have a giant chasm separating numbers one and two. Austin Lemieux is far and away the best goaltender available in this draft (he was before Nevzorov was lost as well, but the gap was much smaller when he was in play). Because of that, Lemieux is most definitely going to be the first goaltender taken. The question just becomes, how badly do teams need a goaltender? I wish I had an answer for you right now. The New England Wolfpack as a team in a rebuild would be a great destination for Lemieux, but with Ciarelli set as their goaltender of the future it’s doubtful that they’d take him. So honestly, I don’t have a clue what team takes him or where he falls in the draft. But what it comes down to is this – if you need a goaltender in this draft, you’d better pick up Austin Lemieux, and you’d better do it fast. Because if you don’t, you’re not getting a goaltender this year. Thanks for stopping by and checking out our breakdown of the top Detroit Falcons’ rookies going into the S25 SHL Entry Draft. As always, we hope you enjoy the rest of the playoffs, and we wish the best of luck to all of the teams that will are currently competing for their respective ultimate prizes. We hope to see you all once again after we move on to S25, where we’ll take a look at what the Falcons did in the S25 SMJHL Entry Draft and look towards the team’s upcoming season. We'll also be talking about where the various members of the Detroit Falcons' rookie class this season ended up in the SHL Entry Draft, and how they're liking their new teams. From all of us here at The Falcon’s Wing, we hope you have a wonderful off-season! WHOOSH LW - Rainbow Dash - Updates
[img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/eM6YKiW.gif[/img] Rainbow Dash Fan S24-Present SHL Commissioner S34-S52 New England Wolfpack GM S30-S40 Montreal Milita Co-GM S26-S29
Eggy216
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion and Wonderbolt
TML99
Registered RyanPerlman Quote:Originally posted by TML99+--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1' id='QUOTE-WRAP'><tr><td>QUOTE (TML99)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Will you Mary me? [/b] <!--QuoteBegin-Eggy216 Yes! Yes I will! :ahh!: [/quote] I was serious. ; you can afford the wedding now
Eggy216
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion and Wonderbolt Quote:Originally posted by TML99+Jul 28 2015, 03:06 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1' id='QUOTE-WRAP'><tr><td>QUOTE (TML99 @ Jul 28 2015, 03:06 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Quote:[i]Originally posted by TML99@ <!--QuoteBegin-Eggy216[/i] Yes! Yes I will! :ahh!: I was serious. ; you can afford the wedding now[/b][/quote] I could've afforded the Wedding for a while, didn't you see the collaborative story? Lol. I'll be over $70M once all my articles go through. This stuff is just so much fun. I should just start spending it all on graphics. LW - Rainbow Dash - Updates
[img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/eM6YKiW.gif[/img] Rainbow Dash Fan S24-Present SHL Commissioner S34-S52 New England Wolfpack GM S30-S40 Montreal Milita Co-GM S26-S29
carousel182
Registered S27 Challenge Cup Champion
Copenhagen
Registered S26, S29, S32 Challenge Cup Champion and Baby Daddy
Kevin Juice Bieksa
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion & Still on Couch Eggy216,Jul 28 2015, 12:14 PM Wrote:Eggy216 Wrote:Yes! Yes I will! :ahh!: I could've afforded the Wedding for a while, didn't you see the collaborative story? Lol. I'll be over $70M once all my articles go through. This stuff is just so much fun. I should just start spending it all on graphics.[/QUOTE] :ph34r: Jesus Christ, I need some money lol, thats good for almost 9 seasons of equipment
Eggy216
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion and Wonderbolt Quote:Originally posted by Kevin "Juice" Bieksa@Jul 28 2015, 06:52 PM I have too much fun writing articles, then I ended up with tons of money. LW - Rainbow Dash - Updates
[img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/eM6YKiW.gif[/img] Rainbow Dash Fan S24-Present SHL Commissioner S34-S52 New England Wolfpack GM S30-S40 Montreal Milita Co-GM S26-S29
Nereus
Registered S37 Challenge Cup Champion and Jake Long the American Dragon Quote:Originally posted by Eggy216@Jul 28 2015, 03:56 PMYou could pay for a threesome with Hoov and I, and we wouldn't even ask for much. sigs by ToeDragon84
Eggy216
Registered S30, S31 and S33 Challenge Cup Champion and Wonderbolt Quote:Originally posted by Nereus@Jul 28 2015, 07:01 PM I'd have to pay? :(( LW - Rainbow Dash - Updates
[img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/eM6YKiW.gif[/img] Rainbow Dash Fan S24-Present SHL Commissioner S34-S52 New England Wolfpack GM S30-S40 Montreal Milita Co-GM S26-S29
Nereus
Registered S37 Challenge Cup Champion and Jake Long the American Dragon Quote:Originally posted by Eggy216@Jul 28 2015, 04:50 PMI have baby mamas to feed. sigs by ToeDragon84 |
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