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Muerto · 08-01-2019, 03:47 AM

The San Francisco Pride S49 Draft pride

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After many seasons at the bottom of the league standings, the Pride headed into this Draft not actually having a lottery pick! Instead, they were holding the 11th and 27th overall picks in a relatively small but top-heavy draft class.

As luck would have it, however, the Pride also had an option on Manhattan's first-round pick in either the S49 or S50 Draft - and with Manhattan's horrible season and the luck of the lottery balls, it turned out that the Rage's S49 pick was the 2nd Overall.

Despite knowing that the S50 Draft would involve a Reddit recruitment, team managers Grapehead and Tweedledunn couldn't risk that S50 pick being a much later one, and decided to take the bird in hand and claimed the 2nd Overall for themselves.

That 2nd overall pick had some trade value, too, and the Pride swapped that pick to Texas, dropping down a spot to 3rd Overall, and gaining a second round pick for a likely deep draft in S50.

So now, with the Draft at hand, the Pride held down 3rd, 11th, and 27th overall picks.

Looking at their team needs, the Pride currently boast a healthy roster full of active players across their lineup. However, their prospect pool is not the deepest. Four players from S48 remain in the juniors - Bobby Bobcalf, Jonas Larsen, and Timmo Kyllonen still have potential to make the SHL, while Richard Rocket seems to be fading fast and is questionable to remain with the team.

All of these players are forwards, so it was likely that defense would be a focus for this draft. Although the main roster is currently clogged, with 6 players all over 1K TPE, 2 of them, namely Jack Tanner and Isak Odegard, are in regression and at some point will age out. They would be looking at players this draft who would be able to make the jump in 3-4 seasons.

When the Draft approached, it seemed likely that Elijah Jones was going to go first overall. But a lot of what San Francisco would do at #3, depended on what Texas was going to do at #2. They made it clear that they moved up to make sure they would get the player they wanted, but remained tight-lipped about who that might be. It turned out to be the premier defenseman of the draft, Noah Brusky. This left the Pride scouting team into a deep huddle - it was known that they coveted Brusky themselves, but with the top defender off the board, they had to decide which direction to go - pick the Best Player Available regardless of position, or go off the board and take a defender at a higher spot than they were ranked. They came to a consensus, and at the podium, confidently announced, that the 3rd overall pick was:

*** Center - Bo Kane (Colorado Raptors) ***

Kane is a highly-talented offensive Center who draws comparisons to players like Jason Visser. Strong on the puck with an above-average shot, he has a nose for the net and is capable of finishing the play or finding the open man. He scored 11 goals as a rookie in Colorado. For this season, Kane is likely to return to Colorado for more seasoning, and the chance to be a top talent in the SMJHL.

The team did not have long to savor this pick, though, as now they had to sit back and watch who got taken before their next pick. They saw a couple of potential defensive targets get selected, Finn-Rhys to Edmonton at 4, then Devitt to Calgary at 9. So at 11, there were some great options for Blueliners still available, not to mention tempting draft fallers like Anthony Archer and Noah Andros. When it was their turn at the podium again, however, the Pride decided to select:

*** Defense - Mikas Bieksa (Vancouver Whalers ***

Bieksa had a lower TPE count than some others, due to joining the league as a Free Agent post-Draft, but his development has been steady and there was definitely some history with the Player Representative of Bieksa, as his prior client spent a season with the Pride. Bieksa has a high ceiling if he can stay healthy, and has the luxury of taking some time develop with the depth of the Pride's current D corps. He will benefit from further development in the SMJHL as he is poised to be a top-pairing player for the Whalers this upcoming season.

So now the Pride sit and wait for their second-round pick, basically looking to nab a potential late steal. When the time to pick came up, there was much speculation that the Pride would select forward Gutierrez from Kelowna, who had fallen spectacularly thus far despite being projected as a late-first to early-second round pick. However, the controversy swirling about Gutierrez due to asking out of Montreal after the SMJHL Draft seemed to scare GMs away. Despite having had a long time together with the previous player represented by RCG's agent, the Pride management opted to select another defenseman:

*** Defense - Heat Siecker (uhhhh ... I don't even know what SMJHL team he played for and really can't be bothered to look) ***

Siecker was once a highly-touted prospect, but his development has tailed off since the trade deadline. Is he alive? Is he dead? Only the fates know, and they give us no signs. Too early to announce his eternal demise, probably, maybe not KIA but definitely MIA. Let's hope it works out!

So in conclusion, the Pride make two good picks and one meh pick in the Draft. Kane definitely projects to be a big time player and could force his way onto the roster sooner than later. Bieksa is a more long-term prospect but hopefully will be ready to slot in as Tanner or Odegard age out. So check back with us in like, 4 seasons time and we shall see how this all panned out!

Team Training Camp begins soon, free admission for kids under 12 if accompanied by parents or guardians!

Preseason will start soon! Tickets on sale now!

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