Create Account

The Pre Draft Rankings Part I: Western Conference Double Week
#1

The Pre Draft Rankings Part I: Western Conference

As part of trying to discover what would be a good place for Xander Green to go to, we have done an extended analysis of the teams (okay I admit, this is all about the double money week). For each team I look at the players they have at my position, the prospects that are upcoming in my position, how I feel about the logo and teamname and what I feel about the management that is in control. A combination of these factors is what is important to Xander (and some more important then the others), but atleast it creates a general overview of what could be a great place to start my career at.

Disclaimer: I will only look at the true centers, not at wingers playing out of their position as it is too hard to keep track of that

Due to mpc already asking in my article if the Seattle Riot are on of the options, I decided to start on the West Coast (and to not keep him waiting much longer, the Seattle Riot)

Seattle Riot

Players When I look at the center position for the Seattle Riot, I could definitely see myself playing an important factor for this franchise. The centers they have are not yet at an elite level where it would impossible to pass them. The current centers on their roster look like this:

(S31) - Frederick Boone - (TPE 357)
(S30) - Justs Sirmais - (TPE 721)
(S28) - Gunnar Rask - (TPE 772)

As you can see, there would certainly be room there as Rask isn’t showing that much activity, Boone is behind a lot as well for someone who completed his second full season. Both have not completed a single update in 2017 so far. Sirmais on the other hand looks like he has the #1 spot locked in by now, as he is about to surpass Rask. There is still room for improvement centerwise as they will need higher activity out of this position.

Prospects

(S33) - Teddy Kesler - (TPE 414)

This is where it gets trickier, they acquired an active center last season and he is still updating. With being just one season behind him, it is a large bridge to overcome to get into a top 6 role. Due to the activity of Kesler, it is not likely the Riot will make a move to acquire Green. If they are going for a center, they might be better off with a defensive one to bolster the third / fourth line.

Logo / Teamname

I never really liked the Seattle Riot as a teamname or logo, it is just something that does not attract me as an identity I would like to identify with. While the player situation isn’t that bad for my player, I am not sure if I would be willing to dedicate myself to this franchise for a long period of time.

Management
The management is the one thing that could change my mind, as Christoph Klose is a manager I like and respect. Gifter of Bikes always has been a great guy to be around with in sim leagues, and I am sure I would love him as my GM. It is certainly something I would take with me into deciding if I would stay at the franchise, it definitely scores them some extra points, but if it will be enough?

Points:
Players: 7/10
Prospects: 3/10
Logo / Teamname: 3/10
Management: 10/10
Total: 23/40


Los Angeles Panthers

Players When you look at the pure centers they have, you must think you are dreaming. They had a great playoff run even though they didnt manage to reach the finals, and all that with just two pure centers? There is definitely room to jump in for Xander Green. The following centers are on the roster:

(S30) - Jean-Luc Reflieux - (TPE 878)
(S24) - Kaapo Kekkonen - (TPE 1520)

Kepponen still has a few years left in him before he starts to regress, so eventually there would be room as a second line center here because Reflieux is probably out of reach due to low amount of difference in draft years with Green.

Prospects The prospect part is where things really get great for Xander, the pool of centers is fully empty. Part of the reason they traded Malkin for two first rounders probably, but even if they went for a center with that pick, Green would have the 1 year advantage, and if he commits to it, it will be a bridge to far for the other guy to catch him.

Logo / Teamname As my player render is actually from an Los Angeles player (Jeff Carter, as Wasty already made a sig with him for me), it is obvious that I actually like L.A. Even though I have never played here, I liked the re-design they did seasons ago. Replacing the ugly old Panther logo, for a fresh and modern look. Definitely a jersey I could see myself play in.

Management Wasty is fellow sim league daddy, so what is not too like. We could annoy the shit out of the rest of the team if we went on a baby picture post streak. The meme wars of the generation before the millenials. Yeah, definitely see this as a match that could be fun.

Points:
Players: 10/10
Prospects: 10/10
Logo / Teamname: 7/10
Management: 9/10
Total: 36/40


Winnipeg Jets

The third team we cover is the Winnipeg Jets, a franchise where I never came into much contact with, also not with my first player. The Jets were an essential part of my fantasy team last season as my late round pickup of Big Manious delivered me some nice points, while Luke Fleming also was not the worst forward of my team. But that’s just fantasy, how will the position in the team be for Xander Green.

Players When looking at the players we see a longer list then we did with the Los Angeles Panthers, on center we see the following players on the Winnipeg roster:

(S32) Alek Koivu - (TPE 504)
(S31) Jason Visser - (TPE 899)
(S25) Luke Fleming - (TPE 1664)
(S25) Travis Kudleychuk - (TPE 1235)

While Kudleychuk and Fleming are getting older, they already have decent prospects on the roster already to take over their spots in due time. On center it is really crowded in their current team and with Koivu and Visser being that young, there won’t be an open spot anytime soon. The Jets seem settled down the middle for now.

Prospects With them already being filled for a while, they did not have a real need to get more centers. They did take a chance on adding the following prospect:

(S32) Sami Free - (TPE 185)

But as you see from his TPE, there is likely 0 chance that Maxy will return to put an effort into this player, which is a shame because he has been a great contributing member in the past. Ofcourse the Jets management still hopes he makes a return as he could still turn into a valuable bottom line player.

Logo / Teamname Well, not much to say here actually. I always liked the sim league teams for creating their own identities. And even though these Winnipeg Jets were here when the new Jets were still the Falcons, it is still a rip off of the old original NHL teamname. It just does not have the fantasy feeling for me and is a reason why I will likely never play a game for that franchise. I prefer the teams to be more original, but due to the extended history in the league, I don’t see them changing the identity anytime soon.

Management Management, what to say about it. I don’t think I ever had any contact with either Atlas or Nereus, unless they are players from the past that have switched their usernames. But no positive points for management here, but also no negative, which might actually be a nice thing for once.

Points:
Players: 3/10
Prospects: 10/10
Logo / Teamname: 1/10
Management: 6/10
Total: 20/40


Portland Admirals

The Portland Admirals are the first of the expansion teams on my list. While the expansion was ages ago, these teams are actually still rather new for me, as I was not active much outside of the West Kendall Platoon locker room in the last years of Willems his career. It will be curious to see how these teams developed its rosters and how the competition will look for Xander Green.

Players

A solid four lines of good centers will make it hard to penetrate the Admirals line-up. While they don’t have the highest numbers (even though Otto and Reed are doing nicely for their age) it is mostly Jonathan Lundberg who is running the show. He is by far the best center for the Admirals and it will take long for Green to be able to get into the top six for this franchise

(S31) Cikgnar Konstantinov - (TPE 385)
(S31) Geronimo Otto - (TPE 748)
(S31) Alex Reed - (TPE 664)
(S27) Krysztof Kowalski - (TPE 752)
(S25) Jonathan Lundberg - (TPE 1685)

Prospects

(S32) Teodors Cukurs - (TPE 624)

To make things worse they also got Cukurs on the horizon. Cukurs was a teammate of Green in Prince George, and the fact that he centered the first line, while Green only played the third line all season, shows the difference in quality. There is no doubt that Cukurs will play an important role in the future of Portland, but with these players lined up, it is not a location where Green can see himself get the top 6 position he wants, too many young centers with an advantage on him to make that difference.


Logo / Teamname While I don’t think the teamname is much fun and the logo also feels a bit boring, there are no real negative feelings towards this franchise. Perhaps it is a plus that I didn’t really know them out of my previous career. The name and look bore me, but still you are wondering if there isn’t more than meets the eye with them.

Management Wally is the manager and I must say I have no idea who that is. I do not know him out of my past, so no real positive or negative points. I know there was a lot of drama surrounding Reed Laing, but with the compliance buyout I do believe they can set aside their pride and do what is needed to keep a healthy atmosphere with the club. So far he gets the benefit of the unknown.

Points:
Players: 3/10
Prospects: 2/10
Logo / Teamname: 6/10
Management: 6/10
Total: 17/40


Texas Renegades

The past offseason I gave them a lot of attention already, so my desire to not be part of this franchise is already known. Luckily it also wouldn’t make much sense from a players perspective, because they are still very crowded at center.

Players

(S30) Jean Chrétien - (TPE 177)
(S30) Beau Bent - (TPE 525)
(S27) Alexander Charlyby - (TPE 775)
(S25) Evandrus Jesster - (TPE 1354)
(S19) Liam Kinsler - (TPE 1135)

As you can see they got five centers currently on their roster, and while not all are that great in updating, they still have enough TPE to fulfill that depth role. The only one declining rapidly at this point would be Kinsler, but to cover for that they also a center in the minors.

Prospects

(S33) Joonas Rasmussen - (TPE 301)

As I just mentioned there is a center in the minors who was drafted next year, still needing some seasoning before he is ready to make the jump, he still has a tpe advantage over Xander Green, if he stays active he will be able to jump either in the second or third line spot, the Renegades seem to be safe down the middle for now.

Logo / Teamname Yeah, even though Oakland just moved, I still think this is a lazy Oakland ripoff, I didn’t like the name and logo when the franchise was founded and since then nothing really changed. I just don’t like the look and feel and that is a big reason for me not wanting to be there.

Management I have not really been in contact with the new management, but they actually seem okay so far. One has a dog and the other I know nothing about. But for me the history that surrounds the Renegades still is something that I hold against them, it might be unfair and the new management might do an actual good job, but with them picking at 2 they deserve somebody who actually wants to play there.

Points:
Players: 1/10
Prospects: 3/10
Logo / Teamname: 1/10
Management: 6/10
Total: 11/40


Calgary Dragons

Coming out of a championship loss, the Calgary Dragons might actually have one of the most stacked rosters at center. Just by looking at who they currently have it looks like a hard franchise to penetrate (who would try to penetrate a Dragon anyway, it would eat you alive).

Players

(S24) Yorgen Bartenberry - (TPE 294)
(S23) Schnitinfriz Jagr - (TPE 1421)
(S22) Alex Mack - (TPE 1495)
(S22) Bubba Nuck - (TPE 1775)
(S20) Nicholas Pedersen - (TPE 1560)
(S21) Jaime Hill - (TPE 781)
(S21) Chris Johnson - (TPE 1045)

As you can see they are really stacked through the middle, but they are also all very old players, as the youngest actually proper center is already from season 23. It will take a while before he is actually regressing hard, but with Green needing a few years anyway it might end up not being that bad. I'm sure the Firebirds won't mind.

Prospects
Prospects? Nope, they are not there, atleast not in the position that Green plays. He would be the future of the franchise if he ended up at this spot. With being the only center in the system it would take a few years, but he would find a spot eventually.

Logo / Teamname The Calgary Dragons must be a great place, as my first GM in the SHL (who was my GM for atleast 1 day) abandoned us because he was homesick to the franchise. I think the logo looks pretty decent and Dragons are cool and all, so they certainly get some points there.

Management I don’t think I ever spoke to c00kies, but I remember his player from back in the day. And Steelhead i actually helped settling into this league when he first started, so he is a guy I can really appreciate. This duo certainly gets some bonus points.

Points:
Players: 3
Prospects: 10
Logo / Teamname: 8
Management: 9
Total: 30/40


Edmonton Blizzard

When a team is on the decline with a shallow prospect pool, you know its getting time to rebuild. The Blizzard is still set with a #1 center for years, but the other spots are up for grabs. Just if you look at what is left at center you see it is very easy to get a spot there.

Players

(S31) Scott Escobar - (TPE 206)
(S25) Nikolaus Scholz - (TPE 1361)
(S17) Chico Salmon - (TPE 530)

One player is already outclassed by Green while the other will be surpassed by Green due to sheer regression. So not really much competition, but it really will take a while before Scholz regresses enough for Xander Green to take over the spot as the teams number one.

Prospects

The prospect pool is empty, and not only at center (which would be beneficial for Green) , but like almost completely empty. This will actually not being an automatic 10 for having no centers. But they do not have much of a future in their system as we speak, and that is something that looks scary.

Logo / Teamname Never been too big a fan of the name and logo, even though I did won my only cup there with Willems. It’s not that bad, but there is also a lot better, so a middle of the pack score for this.

Management And I really notice my long absence when looking at the GM names, another two names that don’t really ring a bell, so the usual points are given out here. It's hard to give out any bonus points for people I don't know, so hope they are satisfied with the 6 points they are all getting.

Points:
Players: 9
Prospects: 6
Logo / Teamname: 6
Management: 6
Total: 27


Final standings for the Western Conference

Los Angeles Panthers - 36/40
Calgary Dragons - 30/40
Edmonton Blizzard 27/40
Seattle Riot - 23/40
Winnipeg Jets - 20/40
Portland Admirals - 17/40
Texas Renegades - 11/40

Surprises from my end atleast include the Winnipeg Jets, whose shallow prospect pool at center made them jump the standings a bit. As normally I would rank my desire to play for Portland above them for example. Edmonton got decent scores all around even though I never really considered them at this point. The winners of the Western Conference for me are really the Panthers and the Dragons. The Riot scored some nice points on the management, but lost a lot with their logo. So I do think the rankings come atleast close to how I expected them up front. With just one season under my belt in the Western Conference and instantly winning a cup there, this conference feels like a match made in heaven. But usually the teams that I really like are all in the Eastern Conference. So it will be exciting to continue these rankings for that conference as well to see how the ranks will look in the end (besides, we all already know which team is going to win). It will mostly be a question to see if the Panthers can hold onto their current high spot compared to the other conference.



Words: 3010

[Image: m38.gif]
Update Thread - Player Page
Update Scale

Former players:
Ivo Willems (S9 SMJHL) (S10-28 SHL)  
Xander Green  (S33-35 SMJHL) (S36-47 SHL)
Vorian Atreides (S49-51 SMJHL) (S52-61 SHL)

Reply
#2

East > West tho

Wolfpack LW - Rainbow Dash - Updates Wolfpack
[Image: zVOLkfl.png] [img=0x0]https://i.imgur.com/eM6YKiW.gif[/img] [Image: zrRa4LD.png]
[Image: zmHxxsq.png] Rainbow Dash Fan S24-Present [Image: zmHxxsq.png]
Shl SHL Commissioner S34-S52 Shl
Wolfpack New England Wolfpack GM S30-S40 Wolfpack
Militia Montreal Milita Co-GM S26-S29 Militia
Reply
#3

Quote:Originally posted by Eggy216@Mar 30 2017, 04:27 PM
East > West tho
Yeah That

[Image: giphy.gif]



Reply
#4

Panthers Panthers

[Image: cWxBbhu.png]
Sig by Wasty and Copenhagen.
Former GM: [Image: bhn88m.png]
[pbhfx]




























[/pbhfx]
[Image: 7MO9RpC.png] | [Image: gs89eGV.png] |  [Image: gdppv5N.png]
Affiliates:[Image: 2ugjkte.jpg] [Image: bhn88m.png] [Image: e8s6jq.png] Former Affiliates: [Image: xaoosh.png]
Reply
#5

Quote:Originally posted by Eggy216@Mar 30 2017, 10:27 PM
East > West tho


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_nUWie6VOY

How the hell does that tag work :D

[Image: m38.gif]
Update Thread - Player Page
Update Scale

Former players:
Ivo Willems (S9 SMJHL) (S10-28 SHL)  
Xander Green  (S33-35 SMJHL) (S36-47 SHL)
Vorian Atreides (S49-51 SMJHL) (S52-61 SHL)

Reply
#6

Don't tell him GoB isn't GM Ninja
Reply
#7

TL:DR basically take the standings and there you go Smile

[Image: insayne.gif]
Reply
#8

Quote:Originally posted by mpc@Mar 30 2017, 10:47 PM
Don't tell him GoB isn't GM Ninja

Tomen spoiled it, I'll let your keep your points though <3

[Image: m38.gif]
Update Thread - Player Page
Update Scale

Former players:
Ivo Willems (S9 SMJHL) (S10-28 SHL)  
Xander Green  (S33-35 SMJHL) (S36-47 SHL)
Vorian Atreides (S49-51 SMJHL) (S52-61 SHL)

Reply
#9

Quote:Originally posted by Green@Mar 30 2017, 04:01 PM


Tomen spoiled it, I'll let your keep your points though <3

Luv u beb, be ours
Reply
#10

Quote:Originally posted by Insayne@Mar 30 2017, 05:54 PM
TL:DR basically take the standings and there you go Smile
because the best teams typically have the oldest players :-?

Green would have no reason to want to go to a team that is filled to the brim with other young players that he'd have to compete with for playing time

[Image: sIjpJeQ.png]
[Image: KPt6Yuu.png]





Reply
#11

Blizzard not at the bottom!? I like this guy.

[Image: IAP8v68.png]




pride Armada  Player Page || Update Page  Germany pride
Reply
#12

i'll remember this IVO

[Image: Marineau.png]
[Image: sLnhTvh.jpg]
[Image: zLnYlIW.jpg]

Reply
#13

just so you know koivu is a pending defencemen

Jets the more you know

C - Kenji Yoshimura  Panthers Kenji Yoshimura Updates Panthers
[Image: BigTittySmitty5.gif]





Code:
Credit to Wasty and Steelhead for the sigs - thanks dudes!
1
Reply
#14

</3

[Image: 0QGickG.png]

Riot Player Page Riot
Militia Update Page Militia
Reply




Users browsing this thread:
2 Guest(s)




Navigation

 

Extra Menu

 

About us

The Simulation Hockey League is a free online forums based sim league where you create your own fantasy hockey player. Join today and create your player, become a GM, get drafted, sign contracts, make trades and compete against hundreds of players from around the world.