At the 2013 TOFHL Draft, The Hartford Wheelers were Drouin Work.
The Good Sir Gazette
Written by Cole Thompson
The 2013 TOFHL Draft was held this past Saturday, September 21st 2013, at Jon "The Comish" Wesel's house and it was one for the ages. Before we get into the results, and my thoughts on the actual draft, I'd like to take a few moments to reflect on some of the new additions to this year's draft festivities. First off I'd like to thank R. Lynch for his hard work on the amazing Logos that were placed throughout the Draft Headquarters. Not only did they look amazing (especially the 3D one), but they really brought a level of professionalism to the event. I am hoping that we can get one made up for every team with their logo, so that we can have them for the 2014 Draft. The other new addition, that I think was a big success, was The Draft Day Manifesto. I'm not sure how everyone else felt about it, but I for one enjoyed it and think it brought a new level of comradery. The Champ certainly enjoyed making everyone do ridiculous things throughout the day. Pictures of that to follow... I'd also like to send one more shout out to Vondy for his work on getting the draft spreadsheet online so that ProHo and TLM could see everything without us explaining it over skype, or facebook, or Baloogz (We don't want another N. Backstrom-N. Backstrom fiasco). It really made the draft go smoother than it has in the past. Overall I think the new additions really added to the sense of fun and excitement and I look forward to any new changes or ideas that may arise at next year's draft.
As far as the draft itself went, it pretty much had everything. There were numerous trades (11 in all), youth was definitely a theme (especially in the early rounds), there were surprises, steals, and a few head scratching picks. Leading off with the first overall pick was the Hartford Wheelers who, much like the Islanders in 2009 with Johnny T, kept everyone guessing on who he would take. Would it be Drouin or Mackinnon? Barkov or B. Ryan? J. Staal or D. Brown? After about 30 seconds of pondering at the draft podium (clearly he was struggling with which way to go) the veil was lifted and the Hartford Wheelers kicked off the 2013 Draft by selecting J. Drouin. The top three youngsters went in the first 4 picks as N. MacKinnon followed his Halifax Teammate by going 2nd Overall to Gorilla Warfare, B. Ryan snuck in at 3rd to Team Shake 'n Bake, followed by A. Barkov at 4th to Vonderkats. R. O'Reilly rounded out the Top 5 taken by MVB All-Stars.
Another big story of the draft was the welcoming of a new GM and new franchise into the fold. Matt Nidetz and Threat Level Midnight got their first taste of what it's like to be a GM in the TOFHL. The very first pick of a franchise is a huge deal. It can set your team up for big time success (S. Crosby by The Phenoms in 2006, J. Tavares by Project Hockey in 2009) or set you up for mediocrity or failure (M. Gerber in 2006 by The Good Sirs'). With their first ever TOFHL pick, Threat Level Midnight selected J. Carter at 7th Overall. While not my favorite pick of the draft, J. Carter is a solid player to add to the fold and will surely help TLM compete every night. I'd also like to acknowledge just how active Nidetz was at the Draft. Of the 11 trades that happened during the draft, Threat Level Midnight was involved in 4 of them! That is exactly the kind of excitement and participation we are looking for in this league. You always remember your first time, and I think we did a hell of a job popping Matt Nidetz' Cherry.
Nidetz may have been involved in a bunch of trades, but he wasn't the only team wheelin' and dealin. MVB pulled off one of the first trades of the day when he traded B. Burns (who he drafted 20th overall) to the Vonderkats in exchange for Derek Stepan and the 24th overall pick (which turned out to be V. Fasth). Wow. I'll discuss all the trades in detail on their own, but let's just say this one isn't even close in my mind. Overall there were eleven trades in total during the day, 4 of which involved players and I'll be discussing those individually in their own articles later. Speaking of trades, let's take a look back at the two trades that went down prior to the draft and see how they look now that there are actual players involved instead of just picks. I think it's very telling and quite interesting.
Team Shake 'n Bake receives: M.A. Fleury and the 147th overall pick (P.M. Bouchard)
Vonderkats receive 10th Overall (V. Nichushkin) and 40th Overall (D. Keith).
Hartford Wheelers receive the 1st Overall (J. Drouin)
Vonderkats receive 4th Overall (A. Barkov), 16th Overall (N. Backstrom), and 25th Overall (T. Plekanec)
One thing that every good GM likes to follow is when the first D-man and goalie is taken and how long can they wait to fill out those spots on their rosters (except in the case of MVB who is currently running with only 2 D). Well at the 2013 Draft the first Defenseman was M. Green (who for some reason I thought was kept) taken 12th overall by "The Champ" No Boundaries. By the end of the 5th round 14 Defensemen were off the board. For the first year that I can remember, however, there really wasn't a run of D-men as they were pretty well spread-out (Like Rob's buttcheeks, see below). In fact 5 defensemen, of pretty deece quality, were taken in the last 2 rounds, starting with F. Beauchemin at 148th and ending with R. Ellis at second to last pick (170th). Three goalies were taken in the Second Round,the first being N. Backstrom (16th overall) by the Vonderkats, followed by O. Pavelec (19th overall) by Project Hollywood who made a trade with Threat Level Midnight to move up in the draft, and finally V. Fasth (24th overall) by MVB All-Stars. That was the only run on goalies there really was as 12 goalies were selected scattered throughout the remaining 12 rounds, the last one being a former Good Sir in M. Neuvirth at 161st by Minority Report.
Finally we come to my favorite part of the draft: The Headscratchers and the Steals. The first head scratcher pick came courtesy of MVB All-Stars and his pick of R. O'Reilly at 5th overall. Now I'm not saying O'Reilly isn't a good player, I just think that 5th overall is pretty early. That said though, I'm a firm believer that if you really want a player, it doesn't matter when you take them. Next up we have B. Bennett taken 34th overall by Project Hollywood. Once again this is not a case of poor choice, but of timing. I think B. Bennett at 34th might have been a tad early, but once again if that's the player you really want (especially for minors) than you grab him as soon as you feel it's time. I for one have grabbed minors extremely early in the past (J. Campbell 65th overall in 2010 and N. Filatov 4th overall in 2008). If you notice one of them was a bust and the other I'm still waiting on. The final headscratcher, and this one truly is to me, is when Gorilla Warfare stepped up to the podium and took M. Martin 125th overall. I wasn't even sure he picked the right player. I half thought he meant M. Moulson, but no he most certainly wanted M. Martin.
Moving on from that conundrum, let's talk about Draft Steals. First up we have V. Lecavalier (57th) to Team Shake 'n Bake. Vinny should get top line and top PP time playing along the likes of Giroux. Look for a big year as long as he can stay healthy. Next we have J. Jokinen (73rd) taken by MVB All-Stars. He'll be playing in Pittsburgh. Enough Said. Finally we have a pair of picks by The Phenoms, T. Thomas (82nd) and S. Monahan (116th). In Tim Tom The Phenoms are taking a big gamble, but if he plays anywhere near how he did before taking a year off than Tim Tom will be considered the Steal of the Draft. Monahan is a different type of steal. While he won't help The Phenoms immediately like Thomas possibly will, he has the potential to be an excellent minor who can be groomed into stardom. Excellent pick by The Phenoms to help restock the cupboard for the future.
So there you have it, another draft come and gone. I hope you enjoyed the recap and I hope you'll check out the trade analysis page as we'll be adding new articles as soon as they are available. Now here are some pictures of the festivities, including "The Champ" in all his so called glory.
As far as the draft itself went, it pretty much had everything. There were numerous trades (11 in all), youth was definitely a theme (especially in the early rounds), there were surprises, steals, and a few head scratching picks. Leading off with the first overall pick was the Hartford Wheelers who, much like the Islanders in 2009 with Johnny T, kept everyone guessing on who he would take. Would it be Drouin or Mackinnon? Barkov or B. Ryan? J. Staal or D. Brown? After about 30 seconds of pondering at the draft podium (clearly he was struggling with which way to go) the veil was lifted and the Hartford Wheelers kicked off the 2013 Draft by selecting J. Drouin. The top three youngsters went in the first 4 picks as N. MacKinnon followed his Halifax Teammate by going 2nd Overall to Gorilla Warfare, B. Ryan snuck in at 3rd to Team Shake 'n Bake, followed by A. Barkov at 4th to Vonderkats. R. O'Reilly rounded out the Top 5 taken by MVB All-Stars.
Another big story of the draft was the welcoming of a new GM and new franchise into the fold. Matt Nidetz and Threat Level Midnight got their first taste of what it's like to be a GM in the TOFHL. The very first pick of a franchise is a huge deal. It can set your team up for big time success (S. Crosby by The Phenoms in 2006, J. Tavares by Project Hockey in 2009) or set you up for mediocrity or failure (M. Gerber in 2006 by The Good Sirs'). With their first ever TOFHL pick, Threat Level Midnight selected J. Carter at 7th Overall. While not my favorite pick of the draft, J. Carter is a solid player to add to the fold and will surely help TLM compete every night. I'd also like to acknowledge just how active Nidetz was at the Draft. Of the 11 trades that happened during the draft, Threat Level Midnight was involved in 4 of them! That is exactly the kind of excitement and participation we are looking for in this league. You always remember your first time, and I think we did a hell of a job popping Matt Nidetz' Cherry.
Nidetz may have been involved in a bunch of trades, but he wasn't the only team wheelin' and dealin. MVB pulled off one of the first trades of the day when he traded B. Burns (who he drafted 20th overall) to the Vonderkats in exchange for Derek Stepan and the 24th overall pick (which turned out to be V. Fasth). Wow. I'll discuss all the trades in detail on their own, but let's just say this one isn't even close in my mind. Overall there were eleven trades in total during the day, 4 of which involved players and I'll be discussing those individually in their own articles later. Speaking of trades, let's take a look back at the two trades that went down prior to the draft and see how they look now that there are actual players involved instead of just picks. I think it's very telling and quite interesting.
Team Shake 'n Bake receives: M.A. Fleury and the 147th overall pick (P.M. Bouchard)
Vonderkats receive 10th Overall (V. Nichushkin) and 40th Overall (D. Keith).
Hartford Wheelers receive the 1st Overall (J. Drouin)
Vonderkats receive 4th Overall (A. Barkov), 16th Overall (N. Backstrom), and 25th Overall (T. Plekanec)
One thing that every good GM likes to follow is when the first D-man and goalie is taken and how long can they wait to fill out those spots on their rosters (except in the case of MVB who is currently running with only 2 D). Well at the 2013 Draft the first Defenseman was M. Green (who for some reason I thought was kept) taken 12th overall by "The Champ" No Boundaries. By the end of the 5th round 14 Defensemen were off the board. For the first year that I can remember, however, there really wasn't a run of D-men as they were pretty well spread-out (Like Rob's buttcheeks, see below). In fact 5 defensemen, of pretty deece quality, were taken in the last 2 rounds, starting with F. Beauchemin at 148th and ending with R. Ellis at second to last pick (170th). Three goalies were taken in the Second Round,the first being N. Backstrom (16th overall) by the Vonderkats, followed by O. Pavelec (19th overall) by Project Hollywood who made a trade with Threat Level Midnight to move up in the draft, and finally V. Fasth (24th overall) by MVB All-Stars. That was the only run on goalies there really was as 12 goalies were selected scattered throughout the remaining 12 rounds, the last one being a former Good Sir in M. Neuvirth at 161st by Minority Report.
Finally we come to my favorite part of the draft: The Headscratchers and the Steals. The first head scratcher pick came courtesy of MVB All-Stars and his pick of R. O'Reilly at 5th overall. Now I'm not saying O'Reilly isn't a good player, I just think that 5th overall is pretty early. That said though, I'm a firm believer that if you really want a player, it doesn't matter when you take them. Next up we have B. Bennett taken 34th overall by Project Hollywood. Once again this is not a case of poor choice, but of timing. I think B. Bennett at 34th might have been a tad early, but once again if that's the player you really want (especially for minors) than you grab him as soon as you feel it's time. I for one have grabbed minors extremely early in the past (J. Campbell 65th overall in 2010 and N. Filatov 4th overall in 2008). If you notice one of them was a bust and the other I'm still waiting on. The final headscratcher, and this one truly is to me, is when Gorilla Warfare stepped up to the podium and took M. Martin 125th overall. I wasn't even sure he picked the right player. I half thought he meant M. Moulson, but no he most certainly wanted M. Martin.
Moving on from that conundrum, let's talk about Draft Steals. First up we have V. Lecavalier (57th) to Team Shake 'n Bake. Vinny should get top line and top PP time playing along the likes of Giroux. Look for a big year as long as he can stay healthy. Next we have J. Jokinen (73rd) taken by MVB All-Stars. He'll be playing in Pittsburgh. Enough Said. Finally we have a pair of picks by The Phenoms, T. Thomas (82nd) and S. Monahan (116th). In Tim Tom The Phenoms are taking a big gamble, but if he plays anywhere near how he did before taking a year off than Tim Tom will be considered the Steal of the Draft. Monahan is a different type of steal. While he won't help The Phenoms immediately like Thomas possibly will, he has the potential to be an excellent minor who can be groomed into stardom. Excellent pick by The Phenoms to help restock the cupboard for the future.
So there you have it, another draft come and gone. I hope you enjoyed the recap and I hope you'll check out the trade analysis page as we'll be adding new articles as soon as they are available. Now here are some pictures of the festivities, including "The Champ" in all his so called glory.