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[2X Draft Media] SHL Teams Draft Preview: Central and Pacific Divisions
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(This post was last modified: 10-20-2021, 10:10 PM by Whitecap.)

Central Division
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Chicago is a team that has had a lot of success in recent seasons, including being one game away from winning it all in S60. They’ve had some great regular seasons, too, and they finished with a respectable 85 points, good for 5th place in the standings. As expected with a team this good, they do not have a lot of holes they need to fill, but will have plenty of opportunities to grab some steals in this year’s draft, despite not having a first round pick.
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Strengths: Chicago are a very well rounded team with good players at every position. They have a good amount of depth, and at the top of their depth chart they had four players score at over a point per game pace. Ryuuji Minamino had an outstanding season, scoring 37 goals, while also being a +46 on the ice. As far as prospects go, they have three players who are close to making the jump to the SHL, including Nike Kickz Jr., who, at 1037 TPE currently, might just make the team next season. Chicago also has a lot of active players on their roster, which is great if they want their players to deal with regression.

Weaknesses: Chicago is one of those teams that you have to look really hard at if you want to find any flaws. Their goaltender, Mat Smith, had a somewhat mediocre save % at .909, but he is still pretty young and has a good amount of TPE for a S56 player. They also do not have a lot of younger players on their roster. After their goaltenders, their player with the next most recent draft class is Mats Marner from S54.

Draft Outlook: Chicago’s first pick is at 27th overall, and they really could go any direction with it, except they likely won’t choose a goaltender. Maybe a player like Gordie Goodenough will be good enough to make the jump to 27.
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The Minnesota Monarchs have been improving over each of the last five seasons, albeit very slowly. Each season has seen them increase their point totals, but even then, they still only finished with 66 in S61, which put them in 15th place. They would probably like to improve in every position, and will need to use their two second round picks to try and do just that.
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Strengths: Minnesota’s S61 looked very similar to that of the San Francisco Pride. They finished only three points apart, and scored and allowed a very similar number of goals. This means that they played some very low event hockey. That is, not scoring a lot of goals, but not allowing many either. Although the team played a very strong defensive game last season, it seems that a larger margin of their TPE share lies in their forward group. Cal Labovitch is their highest TPE player at just over 2000, and he had a phenomenal season to top it off. He led the team with 72 points, which includes an impressive 42 goals. The Monarchs also have a couple of high TPE defensemen, but not all that much behind them.

Weaknesses: As mentioned above: the team, quite simply, could use some better players to fill out the roster behind their top guys. Despite the great season from Labovitch, Minnesota also needs a lot more goal scoring if they want to move further up the standings. Their 192 goals scored put them in fifth last in S61. Lastly, their goaltender has only 670 TPE, which may not prove to be enough for them in the future.

Draft Outlook: Minnesota will get to make two picks in this draft, both of which are in the second round. Their first selection is at 26, where I imagine they’ll select a skater, but could they go with a goaltender with their second pick? It will be interesting to see what they decide.
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The New Orleans Specters look to be climbing their way out of a rebuild, getting to put some horrible seasons behind them. They saw a significant improvement in S61, but still look like they have a lot of work to do. They have a young group, and many good pieces to get them to where they want to be, and maybe this draft will help them find the pieces they need to finish their rebuild.
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Strengths: New Orleans is a very young team, and will have plenty of time to build into a proper contender. All of their forwards are from S55 or later, and they have a few promising send downs that will help the team in the future. Although the team allowed a lot of goals last season, Jon St. Ark put up a solid performance in net, and is developing at a very good pace.

Weaknesses: The Specters’ two highest TPE players are both defensemen, and both very likely won’t be around in a significant capacity once they are competing again, as the two of them are from the S45 and S48 draft class. After giving up the third most goals in the league, I’m sure the team will desperately be looking to replace these two in the future. As things stand, this team simply does not have the top end talent needed to be a threat to the upper echelons of the league, although they are still young, and have time to improve in the future.

Draft Outlook: Looking at New Orleans’ draft picks, it is clear to me that they will need to make some good picks in this draft to round out their prospect pool, as they do not have a lot of picks left in future drafts. In the S62 draft, they will select twice in round two, and then twice again in round 3. It is hard to say who they will go with, as the second round is even harder to predict than the first, but I get the feeling they might go with a defenceman, if they can find one that they like.
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The Texas Renegades just seem to be one of those teams that always has a successful season. They have had some good runs in the playoffs too, with a cup win in S59, and then a finals appearance in S61 before ultimately getting swept by the Hamilton Steelhawks. As such, it is difficult to find any significant weaknesses in their game. Additionally, they will have a lot of selections to make in this draft, so they can be sure to try and keep their history of success alive in the future.
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Strengths: A lot of goals for and very few goals against seems to be a great recipe for success in Texas. They have a lot of players who are around 2000 TPE on their roster, and this is true for every position. Although they had three players score over a point per game, I’m more impressed by how spread out their scoring was this season. Eleven players scored more than ten goals, including two of their defensemen. A further eleven players also scored over 40 points, and their lowest point scorer still had a decent 26 points.

Weaknesses: Their only real weakness seems to be that they simply are not as good as Hamilton. Outside their current roster, they only have two prospects to speak of in their current pool. This makes it all the more important to make sure that their picks in this draft are used to find some good players so they can replenish that pool.

Draft Outlook: Three selections in the second round, and one in the first at 18th overall is what Texas gets to use to try and rebuild their prospect pool. If they can use these picks wisely, they might be able to usher in this new draft class when their current players start regressing, potentially avoiding a big rebuild along the way. As such, Texas will probably want to pick up some good players at every position, so they can continue to be a well rounded team in the future. An active player like Ignaz Pleyel might very well be available at 18th, and could be a very safe pick to make for the Renegades.
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Now we get to the Winnipeg Aurora, the team that will be the most active on draft day. As I’ve been looking through all these teams, I’ve noticed that many are without their first round draft picks. I was beginning to wonder where they all had gone until I got to Winnipeg and I found them. Along with Manhattan, Winnipeg is one of the teams deepest in their rebuild. They looked dreadful last season, but of course that was by design, and they will now get to reap the rewards of their suffering. The only question now is, who will they go with in the draft?
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Strengths: I have to be real here, none of Winnipeg’s major strengths are in their current roster. The team won a whopping total of three games last season, so this isn’t a big surprise. They do have some good defencemen that are gaining TPE at a decent pace, and they could still be a part of the team when they exit their rebuild. The team’s biggest strengths lie in their future, both in terms of prospects they already have, and draft picks they can use to add more. With a staggering 14 prospects already in their pipeline, Winnipeg will be sure to add a lot more with the amount of picks they have hoarded.

Weaknesses: I won’t dwell on this for too long, because it’s obvious the team just isn’t very good at the moment. Their weaknesses include pretty much everything. I mean, the second fewest goals, and most goals against, good for a -245 does not paint a pretty picture.

Draft Outlook: The Winnipeg Aurora will have a lot of decisions to make, with ten picks in the first three rounds, including five in the first. Most of the players in their current prospect pool are forwards, but then most of their better players on their roster are on defense, so they really could do anything with these picks. With their first pick, I think there’s a good chance they could go with Mikko Rashford. An active, and highly contributing member to the league could go a long way in getting this team out of their rebuild.

Pacific Division
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One of the most historic and successful teams in the SHL, the Calgary Dragons look to keep their winning tradition going as they will soon look to usher in a new group of players. The Dragons have been slowly declining over the past few seasons, and as some of their top players continue to regress, the S62 draft will be an important one for Calgary.
Strengths: The Calgary Dragons have really benefited from being in a weak division last season, as they still finished in second, despite being ninth in the league. Looking at the roster, the Dragons seem to have a very average roster with a few really good players sprinkled in. Joseph Weston had an impressive 71 point season, and their goaltending duo did quite well on the back end. Speaking of goaltenders, Calgary is one of the few teams that actually has a pretty decent backup goaltender in Kata Vilde, despite being from the S41 draft class. Lastly, Calgary also has a big prospect pool, including some players who are close to making the jump to the SHl.
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Weaknesses: I don’t think there is any team in the league that has as many S40s players as Calgary does. The Dragon’s biggest weakness has to be the fact that they are full of players who are probably close to collecting their pensions. I imagine a lot of these players will retire soon as they make way for the new group of Dragons that will look to fill their shoes.

Draft Outlook: Calgary is only missing their second round pick, and has some opportunities to shore up their prospect pool as this is a very deep draft. Although none of their current prospects are defensemen, their rostered defensemen are actually quite young. Most of their older players are forwards, so it is very possible they add more to their prospect pool. If a player like Jaeger Jones is still available at 13, I think he would be a great pick for Calgary.

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Edmonton has consistently been very average in the past three seasons. So consistent that they got exactly 74 points in all three of them. Given their strong roster, and the impressive amount of send downs they already have, I would be surprised if the Blizzard don’t put up more than 74 points in future seasons.
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Strengths: The Edmonton Blizzard are one of the better defensive teams in the league. All of their rostered defensemen are over 1300 TPE, and their top line has two of the best defensemen in the league in Gabriel Johnson and William Hartmann. The team did give up a fair bit of goals last season, but that probably has to do more with their below average goaltending than their defense. In terms of prospects, four of their send downs already have over 800 TPE, and they have another seven others that all show a good amount of potential.

Weaknesses: Their biggest weakness has to be goaltending. If you combined both goaltender’s TPE, they would still be the second worst player on the team. That being said, Tyler Ward is from the S57 draft class and still has plenty of time to improve and become a true starting goaltender for Edmonton.

Draft Outlook: Despite goaltending being a big weakness for the team, they already have a decent goalie prospect in Rusty Remao, and I doubt they pick one up in the earlier rounds of the draft. In the first round, they will be selecting 10th overall after having acquired Philadelphia’s first round pick earlier in the season. Zayne Dangle is a good choice if they opt for a defensemen, and Oskar Von Walther is an option up front.
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The Los Angeles Panthers have been a very average regular season team over the last five seasons, and have not made it out of the first round since S54. They do not have many picks this draft and will need to hit a homerun with their 8th overall selection if they want to build up their prospect pool in a meaningful way. They still have some pretty good pieces on their roster but an aging forward group will need some reinforcements in the near future.
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Strengths: Their forward group is pretty solid throughout the lineup and scoring seemed to be pretty spread out. Their leading point scorer, Grape Fruit, is also one of their youngest players, which bodes well for their future. Their top defense line is very good as well, with both players having high TPE. I’m not sure it’s a strength but it’s worth noting that the Panthers’ forward group has three players named Jimmy, including one Jimmy Jimmy. Bold strategy for them, maybe it will work.

Weaknesses: They seem to have managed fine without one, but their forwards do not actually have any natural centers amongst them. Their bottom defense lines could also use some help, although these players are quite young still and I imagine this is not a huge concern for them for the future. Some of their top forwards, on the other hand, are regressing a fair bit, and with only two forward send downs they probably need more help here.

Draft Outlook: The Panthers are slated to pick 8th, and then not again until the 5th round, meaning they will realistically only get one shot at drafting a future roster player, barring any trades of course. Based on just looking at their roster and nothing else, I feel that drafting a forward would be a good way to go for the Los Angeles Panthers. The top of the draft is loaded with good forwards so they will have a lot of options to choose from.
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The San Francisco Pride is very clearly a team that is working on exiting a pretty substantial rebuild. They seem to have positioned themselves quite nicely for the future and have been steadily putting out better performances each season. An already large prospect pool means that only having one high selection in this draft should not be a huge concern for them. There will still be many good players up for grabs when the Pride select 5th overall, so it is still worth looking at where they stand currently.
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Strengths: The Pride have some very solid players on their roster, and most of them still have quite a few seasons left in them. In fact, most of the team is still quite young, and will continue to improve in future seasons. Despite finishing 16th in the overall standings, they only gave up the 8th fewest goals, meaning this team is doing quite well defensively. Looking at TPE it looks like defense will continue to be a strength for the team on paper as well. For forwards they have a lot of send downs that should help them improve in this area as well in the future.

Weaknesses: Although the team did not allow many goals last season, they did not score very many either. Their 197 goals put them 6th from the bottom in the 20 team league. Despite some good performances from their top forwards, they will need to round out their depth more in this area if they want to see more goals in future seasons.

Draft Outlook: The San Fransisco Pride will be selecting 5th overall, and this could possibly be their only selection. Given their strength on defense, I have to imagine they go with a forward with this pick, which gives them plenty of players to choose from. If a player like Spack Jarrow or Aksel Fiske falls to them, I’m sure the Pride would be very happy to pick them up.
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After seeing major improvements to the team’s results in S59, the Seattle Argonauts seem to have hit a bit of a plateau just under the 80 points mark. The team has some solid pieces still and will look to further improve their strong list of prospects with a first and second round pick in the S62 draft. With only three of their roster players currently in regression, Seattle’s window to see some big improvements will probably not be closing any time soon.

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Strengths: The Seattle Argonauts top forwards are amongst the best in the league. Kriss Darzins, Reid Sutherland, and Bo Kane all had over a point per game in S62 and they had some good stats across the board. They have a good amount of center depth with more on the way with their send downs. It should be no surprise then that Seattle scored a decent amount of goals last season.

Weaknesses: Although their forwards look quite good, Seattle could use a bit of help on defence. Their top defencemen are not too bad at around 1700 TPE, but after that it drops off to 1365 and 1030 TPE on their second line. Then in net, neither of their goaltenders currently have over 1000 TPE, although their starter, Thor Odinson, is quite close to it and still managed to put up some decent stats so I’m not sure they need a lot of help there. They still allowed the 7th most goals so they will likely want to improve in that regard.
Draft Outlook: Seattle will have a pick in both the first and second rounds of the draft, the former of those being a third overall selection. There seems to be more forwards towards the top of the draft than defensemen, so there might not be too many options here. If they do select a defensemen here they could go with Ben Jammin if they want someone with lots of experience and should be a safe pick.


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"I’ve noticed that many are without their first round draft picks. I was beginning to wonder where they all had gone until I got to Winnipeg and I found them."

-best line

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Credit to enigmatic, Merica, tweedledunn, and jaypc8237 for sigs



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