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jcfbey01 · 10-30-2018, 12:41 AM

(1325 words)

Of all the recent drafts that have taken place, the S41 SHL Draft has been one overlooked and not cared for as much as others have, for good reason, frankly. It’s fairly common to see a S43, S44, or even an S42 draft post. However, S41 has not been covered at all, which is what I am going to change here. In this media, I will look back at who was taken, the steals of the draft, the bust, and my overall opinion of this draft. First, we will look at the current TPE totals for all these players, sorted from most to least along with what picks they were taken with in the SHL draft.

TPE based off updates before the 28th

Piotr Czerkawski: 869 (3)
Flacko Lagerfield: 839 (1)
Kata Vilde: 831 (14)
Daniel Karlsson: 813 (GM)
Reginald MacIntyre: 778 (5)
Mattias Enqvist: 650 (10)
Xavier Paquette: 619 (12)
Dayymo Ralchanikov: 615 (9)
Cash Savage: 609 (16)
Alex Andani: 607 (2)
Kristaps Ball: 606 (7)
Lightning Jones: 576 (6)
Muhammad McLovin: 555 (13)
Matej Elias: 552 (GM) (RETIRED)
Benjamin Blue: 491 (11)
Edgars Skalde: 214 (40)
Steven Moore: 165 (25)
Forfeit: 0 (4)

NOTE: There were more picked, but those are not on roster pages and, being lazy, I didn’t want to nor do I feel the need to go look for them.

One thing is clear from this data, it was a really small class. However, it only has a handful of guys you could really call bust, and the middle of it has some nice depth. It, however, will be known for its top end talent it produced. These players will be in the history books at the end of their careers and the rate they gain TPE is because of it. 4 guys are over 800 TPE, with one already over 850. That is some crazy TPE earning, so well done to those guys! We also have one guy that is really close to 800 in MacIntyre. Let’s look at some steals of the draft now.

The first guy I would call a real steal would be Kata Vilde. While they are a goalie and that position is not always a top pick sort of position, Vilde was drafted with the last pick in the first round at number 14. Since then, they have reached 831 TPE, third in the class, and look to be the next great goalie of the league. They will have many Goalie of the Year awards in their future.

The next steal would be Mattias Enqvist, picked 10th. He’s 6th in the class in TPE with 650, having more than 4 people picked ahead of him (Andani, Ball, Jones, Ralchanikov). He looks to be one of the best to come out of this draft, and while he won’t get to 2000 like some of his other draftees look to be, he will be a solid player for years to come.

The final steal would be Xavier Paquette. Similar to Enqvist in many ways, he was picked with the 12th pick and has amassed a total of 619 TPE so far, more than players picked ahead of him like Andani and Ralchanikov. While he doesn’t have as much TPE as Enqvist, he has a great amount for someone picked at 12 in this small of a class.

Now onto the bust, there are 2 pretty obvious ones: the Latvian Duo. Alex Andani and Kristaps Ball, picked 2 and 7 respectively, had lots of hype going into the draft. People expected great things out of the two of them and looked forward to what they would do together on the Wolfpack. However, Andani has fallen in activity since the draft, and while he is not inactive by any means, he is just not what he used to being. Ball had a little of a slow build at the beginning and also has been slow to earn money, which is why he hasn’t been able to buy things like equipment. With Andani being 10th and Ball being 11th in TPE, it is without question that the two of them could’ve been picked later on.

Another bust is Lightning Jones. Picked 6th in the draft, Jones is similar to Ball and Andani and looked to be a great player, but has slowed down massively. Having only 576 TPE, much less than Ball who was picked the pick after, he can be called more of a bust than Ball. While the Panthers got a steal with Enqvist at 10, they did a poor job with their earlier pick they had.

The final bust is easily the other goalie drafted besides Vilde, Benjamin Blue. Blue was picked with the 11th pick, while 3 picks later the 3rd highest TPE player of the class and fellow goalie Kata Vilde was picked. There is no way to put it other than this was a horrible pick by the Seattle Riot. Blue, with only 491 TPE, has a little more than 300 TPE less than Vilde, and can be declared inactive pretty much. Even if they were not looking for a goalie, there were better people to pick at 11 than Blue, making this the worst pick of the draft, in my eyes.

Now, onto how each team did.

Buffalo:
Flacko Lagerfield: 839
Cash Savage: 609
Kevin Maddox: LOST

Buffalo did pretty good, getting someone who is on their way to 2000 TPE and also got a good mid level player who will be great in the team’s future.

New England:
Piotr Czerkawski: 869
Alex Andani: 607
Kristaps Ball: 606

Czerkawski leads the class in TPE with 869, and while Ball and Andani haven’t been as good as they hoped, they are still strong players. Pretty good draft for the Pack.

San Francisco:
Forfeit: 0

Outstanding draft, 10/10 got so many steals.

Manhattan:
Reginald MacIntyre: 778
Cody Johansen: LOST
Dabcity Savage: LOST

While they got a really good player in MacIntyre, they did not hit on any of the payers. But MacIntyre makes up for it, in my eyes.

Los Angeles:
Lightning Jones: 576
Mattias Enqvist: 650

While hitting on Enqvist is great for LA, they missed badly on Jones, which leaves them with a “meh” draft.

Seattle:
Daniel Danill: LOST
Benjamin Blue: 491
Jussi Hammanen: LOST
Gordie Maple: LOST

I honestly completely forgot about Danill, and being lazy won’t change the TPE list because he is lost, but he was picked 7th overall. This is a horrendous draft for the Riot, with the one guy they still have not even being active pretty much.

West Kendall:
Dayymo Ralchanikov: 615

There were better available, but still not too bad of a pick.

Edmonton:
Xavier Paquette: 619

With the one pick they had, they got a great steal. Good pick by the Blizzard.

Minnesota:
Muhhamad McLovin: 555

With their one pick, they missed. Not too bad as he was still better than others and is 13th in the class in TPE while being the 13th pick.

Calgary:
Kata Vilde: 831

With their one pick, they hit big time. The 14th pick is now their franchise goaltender, and you can’t ask for much more than that this late in this small of a class.

Toronto:
Steven Moore: 165

Ok then.

My overall view on this draft is that it wasn’t good. Yes, the talent at the top is insane and some could say generational, but the depth is just not there. Too many players that were lost (AKA I was too lazy to look for and they weren’t on roster pages) along with the small size of players left make this draft classes one of the weakest in the past couple of seasons. This draft will be known as the draft that introduced to future superstars, but it also will be known for it being not good.

If I was given the first pick knowing all this, who would I draft?

Mr. Shit, of course.