Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2018 7:25:59 GMT -5
New Jersey Devils
Being the last remaining team out of the final four that went the extremely young prospect route I think already speaks volumes to the team that I have assembled. Slaying the beast that is Connor McDavid from the Red Wings, and perhaps the 3 best young forward tandem in Mackinnon, Pettersson and Nylander from the Flames to get where I am right now. I think what separated my team from the rest so far is the pure value I have gotten at each and every pick. I personally think that anybody can have a successful first 5-10 picks or so because of the players that are available. It is when you get into rounds 10-30 that I think really define teams in both the short term but especially the long term. Being that this poll is only through the first 20 picks, I think it is hard to argue that any team in the league made better picks in rounds 11-20. I was able to stockpile high value prospects after high value prospects in these rounds where it was beginning to trend down. In fact through the first 20 picks my oldest player is 23 year old Teuvo Teravainen who is coming off his first full NHL season and put up a stellar 64 points.
Obviously Jack Eichel is my franchise center who is poised for a monstrous breakout season. I followed that pick with Miro Heiskanen who is arguably the best prospect not named Dahlin, however some people actually view Heiskanen as a better all around defenseman than Dahlin. (I'm not one of those people but HFBoards is a scary place sometimes) Then we were able to add the top rated forward prospect in Andrei Svechnikov who would have gone 1st overall if it wasn't for that same Dahlin guy. However, these were the easy picks I was talking about where it doesn't really take much knowledge to take these type of players.
I think where my knowledge kicked in was actually as early as round 6, identifying Martin Necas who is going to be a bonafide #1 Center in Carolina who would coincidentally be paired with Svechnikov in real life. #1 Centers are extremely hard to come by and the fact I was able to get him in round 6 to go behind Jack Eichel was outstanding. Following that up with Dobson and Juolevi was also something I did not have in my cards at the time as I normally wait to build my defense, but the sheer value of these guys available in rounds 7 and 8 compared to some of the other young defenseman taken ahead of them already was too good to pass up. Dobson projects to be the Islanders #1 D while Juolevi projects to be a top pairing defenseman. However, my favorite defensive pick was somehow acquiring Dante Fabbro in round 10 who I had rated around the same level as Dobson and Juolevi which would round out my future top 4 defense, while taking Kravtsov in round 9 to round out my top 6 forwards.
Perhaps another Steel of the draft.. *pun alert* was Sam Steel in round 11, which just happened to be my pick directly after Fabbro. This guy is oozing with talent and on a lackluster Anaheim Ducks team, this kid has all the opportunity in the world. I followed that pick with obviously one of my favorite players in McLeod who has so much raw skill and top end speed he projects to be a deadly weapon if he moves to wing for the Devils in the near future playing alongside either Hischier or Zacha. Martin Kaut is a guy I also am really high on from this past entry draft going 16th overall, he reminds me so much of Martin Necas being both of them were from the Czech league in their draft year, not too much hype around either of them, and Kaut actually had better numbers than Necas did in their draft year. Kaut will be one of the guys that some people will look back on maybe as soon as next season and be like wow I should have picked him up similar to Necas.
Of course we had to pick up Andreis brother, Evgeny to unite the Svechnikov Brothers which is our official trademark and team slogan now as seen above. Unfortunately the good times quickly took a turn as I almost threw up not just one Flyers player but 2 in a row... Phillipe Myers and Oskar Lindblom. Myers may actually end up being the #2 defenseman in Philly being Provorovs D partner, this ranks up there with my Fabbro pick in terms of what i think my best value round was. Lindblom is an extremely skilled winger who will most likely be playing 2nd line minutes this year or even possibly first line if Philly shuffles their depth chart around. Our next pick secures our 6 defenseman in the likes of Vaakanainen who somehow was still there in round 17, being 18th overall in last years draft. Vaakanainen projects to maybe even be on the Bruins top Defensive pairing as he is there top left shot defensive prospect and is ranked as their best prospect even though other Bruin prospects were taken ahead of him in the draft oddly enough. My final 3 picks I really enjoyed as the first of the trio i took Jake Virtanen in round 18 who I count as a calculated risk. Being that he was my 12th forward taken I figured why not take a flyer on the former 6th overall pick who just put up 20 points in the NHL and seems to be heading in the right direction to perhaps become a 2nd liner but may end up just being a 3rd line player. The low risk high reward in round 18 was too good to not take. Jason Robertson is another guy I really like and think he will reach the Dallas Stars' top 6 in the next 2 years as he possesses offensive firepower putting up over 40 goals in juniors 2 years in a row while also leading his team in points for 2 years in a row as well. My last pick is the big powerforward Lawson Crouse the former 11th overall pick in 2015. Powerforwards always take the longest to develop but Crouse is on a nice path right now putting up 32 points in 57 AHL games and ending the year strong. I think Crouse takes a big stride this season and plays close to all 82 games in the NHL this year.
Obviously not having a goalie is a big question mark, but as I stated before goalies are a crap shoot and I'd much rather take a skater in case one of my prospects does not pan out I have more in the cupboard to pull from and hit the jackpot on. Goales are by far the easiest position to trade for because teams who are starting their rebuilds every season always move their goalies and many teams end up with having 2 starters with the new ratings every season. Not to mention you can always trade for a veteran goalie that is still rated good as a rental as you develop goalies you take a flier on and hope they pan out.
New Jersey Devils Future Starting Lineup
Andrei Svechnikov - Jack Eichel - Teuvo Teravainen
Jonathan Drouin - Martin Necas - Vitali Kravtsov
Martin Kaut - Sam Steel - Oskar Lindblom
Evgeny Svechnikov - Michael McLeod - Jason Robertson
Jake Virtanen - Lawson Crouse
Miro Heiskanen - Noah Dobson
Olli Juolevi - Dante Fabbro
Phillipe Myers - Urho Vaakanainen
Pylon 1
Pylon 2
Andrei Svechnikov - Jack Eichel - Teuvo Teravainen
Jonathan Drouin - Martin Necas - Vitali Kravtsov
Martin Kaut - Sam Steel - Oskar Lindblom
Evgeny Svechnikov - Michael McLeod - Jason Robertson
Jake Virtanen - Lawson Crouse
Miro Heiskanen - Noah Dobson
Olli Juolevi - Dante Fabbro
Phillipe Myers - Urho Vaakanainen
Pylon 1
Pylon 2
Minnesota Wild
From the moment Stammer fell to me in round one and then Kane in the 2nd round I knew I had to piece together a contender around those pieces. I am in this league to win at all costs, and I feel I've done a really good job with this. I'm currently rebuilding 2 other teams on OG and PHL and I wanted to have a contender to my name. I have confidently taken some older pieces however I feel these guys will push me over the edge and hopefully bring me a championship early on in the league. My goal was to build a contender and I feel I have executed well on my plan. I feel out of all the teams that were drafting to win now I have done the best job with sticking to my plan and having continuity within my roster.
My top 6 forwards are scary and the two of the three main core pieces still have a few years of their prime left Stamkos (27) and Kane (29). Where as Bergeron is on the wrong side of 30. However he gives me arguably the best 1-2 punch in the league. My strength up the middle with Stamkos, Bergeron, Thornton, and Backes is second to none in the league. Once again, this team was built to win now, and I feel I have given my self the best possible chance to win. Not to mention I have guys like Ladd, Sedin, and Lebanc playing bottom 6 roles when they could easily be top 6 on other teams around the league. The depth of my forward group will give me versatility and will give the opposition's defence nightmares. Any of my 4 lines can light up on any given night and my depth will give my Top guys a break now and then.
My defence core speaks for itself as it is relatively young with the exception of Keith and will only get better has my team progresses. Keith will add veteran leadership to my backend and helps me ice an extremely good top 4. Parayko, Faulk, Keith, and Dumoulin are an extremely solid top 4 and give me piece of mind on the backend. Holden and Pouliot are a solid shut down pair as my 5th and 6th guys. Not to mention I have Andreas Borgman as my 7th D.
My goaltending may be my weakest link however I feel pretty confident in my D core in front of Jones. Not to mention Dell has proven the last two years that he is an extremely reliable backup. I didn't choose to pick another higher rated goalie earlier in the draft as some of my division chose to do. Instead I added better rated roster players as I felt that would help me more in the long run than a higher rated backup would.
Obviously this team was built with one goal in mind, even though I may have sacrificed the future of the group for my short term goal, I feel I have compiled a group of guys who are poised to win a Cup in the next couple years.
Go big or go home boys.
