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***luke*** · 12-21-2018, 04:08 PM

(1607 words, 2x media piece on the rookies)
So yesterday was the biggest draft in SMJHL history, and possible the SHL history if the level of activity remains the same/goes down a little bit. So on Monday I saw that the reddit thread drop and I upvoted and got my 2 tpe, then the site crashed by the reddit hug of death. Then when we came back online we saw people creating every 45 seconds or so there was a new guy popping up left and right. Quickly we saw the number past 100 players, then up to 150, HO was discussing Expansion right when we saw the massive influx of players. I wont go into too much, but they discussed long and hard about what to do, and the decision was to expand. The final tally of people available was sitting around 180-195 in the end.

Now for the Whalers scouting. It was Me, Glyc, and Infidel alone scouting all of these players, constantly messaging and pming people through the week and then constantly updating for our own formula on how to draft people, which is to be remained secret because why not. But it was a lot of hard work getting things updated and such. In total in our own Spreadsheet we had 184 people into our spreadsheet, each layering in our own terms of active, safe bets, who we like, etc. As a team we pmed around 80-90 people from the draft, and have gotten 44-50 responses back from people. Around 16 people we messaged did not get drafted into the SMJHL, which is pretty cool.

With a lot of our players going up or getting retired, the Whalers are in some deep need of solid draft picks. For us, we needed 6 forwards, 3 defenseman and 2 goalies. Thats 11 players in total we needed. So it will go into the later rounds to try to see who we can find. Our plan was to get the best Player Available at 7th OA, a Goalie at the 3rd or 4th round picks, and then see who is left.

Now I should go into who we drafted and what happened to get to that.

1st Round:
7.

Vancouver Whalers (Via Colorado Raptors)- Borromini Cannellini @ArGarBarGar

So what happened was that a couple hours before the draft, Alaska approached us with a trade for Colorado to trade up and get 5th OA(who ended up being Pris). The trade was

To

1st Round(7th OA) (Borromini Cannelini)
4th Round (37th OA) (Petr Mikulak)
9th Round (84th OA) (Rudy Mentz)

To

1st Round (5th OA) (Anastasia O'Koivu)
8th Round (76th OA) (Loki Odinsson)

To Glyc and I, this was a very fair deal because we were looking into drafting more in the earlier rounds because we lost our 2nd, 6th and 7th round picks to Colorado back in S43 SMJHL(S44 SHL) in order to secure a trade for a 4 star cup, which I think is a good trade off. But anyway, we ended up going 7th OA, which is still at a good draft pick. Glycs and I plan is to see out of the Top 7 list we had who fell to us, and we didnt think Argar would have fell down to 7th OA, and when we saw he did we snagged him quick. If you didnt know, Argar created one of the best Defenseman ever. And now he recreated to create one of the best centers the SHL has seen, or will try to.

Okay and now those picks from the S44 Trade

Those picks were
16.

Colorado Raptors (Via Vancouver Whalers)- Eric Vangerberg
66.

Colorado Raptors (Via Vancouver Whalers)- Parker Smeb
56.

Colorado Raptors (Via Vancouver Whalers)- Nick Novak

We also got a 4th round which ended up being
34.

Vancouver Whalers (Via Colorado Raptors)- Casimir Stevens @Off
We also Got Andrew Martin who ended up helping us win the 4 Star Cup big time.

Im fine with letting go of 3 picks for a 4 star cup. But what also helps is that we got one of the best goalies in the draft In my Opinion, but Ill get into that later.

2nd Round:
Traded Away

3rd Round:

26.

Vancouver Whalers - Bernik Vzrala

So going into this round since we missed out on the 2nd round we were looking for a locker room guy that is also creating a good player. A bonus is that guy was a defenseman, as we lost one in the expansion draft. We looked at our draft board, saw who is left, and I noticed Bernik Vzrala(Off) still on the draft board and presented it to Glyc and Infidel who agreed. I knew Off from a couple days in the Czech Locker Room and saw that he was very active, and a really good Locker Room Presence. As you know we got off immediately.

4th Round:
34.

Vancouver Whalers (Via Colorado Raptors)- Casimir Stevens @Daco
Going into the 4th round we know we need a Goalie immediately, because we had none. Our plan was actually, if people started the goalie craze in the beginning of the 3rd round we would spring on Casimir Stevens. I think for the most part, He was our #1 goalie that we were looking at. He had everything that we wanted. A dedication to the site, a recreate that knows how to build a goalie, and active in discord. We were very happy getting him in the 4ht round. A complete stud and future star goalie for the Whalers.

36.

Vancouver Whalers - Egor Kucherov @Djenthallman
So 2 turns from then we were looking for more players. We had a deep need for both Defenceman and Forwards. Infidel brought up Egors name at 34, but we needed to get Casimir First. Infidel had a good confidence in him, so we got him.
37.

Vancouver Whalers (Via St. Louis Scarecrows Via Colorado Raptors) - Petr Mikulak @efiug
While deciding on him, I also included Petrs name into the mix as well, since we were also in need of a winger. I have seen Petrs(Efuig) talk a decent amount in the Czech Locker room, and with his time on the site, he looks like a good draftee that would be going in the 4th round. His updates are good, and he compliments well with his Attributes to other builds.

5th Round:
46.

Vancouver Whalers - Backdoor Barnacle @L0RD F4RQUAAD
Right now the Whalers needed more Wingers going into the 5th round. We had 3 rounds of not picking any players so we had to make it good. I liked the talks I had with him, and had a lot of hours on the site already, and made a media post. He seemed like a safe pick in the 5th round, so we took him.

6h,7th,8th round.
None. Traded them away

9th Round
84.

Vancouver Whalers (Via Colorado Raptors)- Rudy Mentz @pokey91
Going into the 9th round we did not really look at our draft board seriously since the 5th round. Of course we crossed names out, but we did not go in depth. At 80th pick we started to look and saw that Rudy Mentz(pokey) did not get picked yet. A bonus is that he was in the Draft thread, so it made it obvious that we had to draft him. He was a winger which we needed and was active.

86.

Vancouver Whalers - Filip Jedlicka @gluckman
I also saw that this Czech Beauty has not been drafted yet. Has a discord, was active. Had a couple hours on the site, as well as getting a good update page. Something I look at when we draft. We also liked his responses to the questions we sent him. An overall good guy. A good pick in the 9th round of any draft.

10th round.
96.

Vancouver Whalers - Trey ward @waward
Another person we saw watching the draft thread, we liked his responses, he had 4 hours onto the site when he got drafted. He also had an update page which was a big plus too. As always a good gut feeling goes a long way. We also needed another winger to pick, so this fit us well.

11th Round.
106.

Vancouver Whalers - Jeremy Chen @CanadianCurler
This is the whalers latest pick ever, and I think we did alright given what was out here. Jeremy Chen did not have an update page on the site yet, but I did not expect someone in the 11th round would really have one, and you can always teach someone how to update. We did message him beforehand. Even in his PM’s when asking where he would get drafted he said “somewhere near the end” which worked out well for us. By the time we scouted him only Halifax talked to him, so it pays well to try to pm everyone. I think Jeremy might be one of the last active draft picks and we could not have gotten a better draft pick out of him.

In Recap:
We got who we wanted at the picks we had, we feel that we got the Best PLayer Available for our needs and wants as a team, and I feel like we succeeded in our goals. I feel like this draft is a success. Everyone joined the discord and have responded to us. I think that this season we wont be the top in the league, but we will get closer and closer as the time passes. We still have a good capped guys to get up to that point, and I think our coaching and our lines placements will get us over that hump and maybe we will surpass expectations.

Whalers Co-Gm,
Arnost Holub

Off · 12-21-2018, 04:19 PM

Great read!

***Inf1d3l*** · 12-21-2018, 04:23 PM

Great write up, last night was crazy but man, we really hit the nail on the head with this class!

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