Lottery Day Fallout [1/2]

[CowboyinAmerica 2,705]

 

What's Next for the Tankers?

 

A lottery is by nature a crapshoot, a leap of faith. This season, three VHL teams made a leap of faith and semi-tanked for the highest draft pick possible, with Cologne, Seattle and Riga diving in head-first to try and win the first pick in the draft. The only problem was, each of them (along with Toronto, who didn’t tank) had a chance to win that first pick.

 

The mood was tense in the weeks leading up to the lottery, postponed until after the playoffs’ conclusion for the first time in recent memory. It was even tenser as the commissioner’s office pulled out the envelope that would decide the first pick.

And it was… Seattle.

 

Obviously, nothing is assured, and Seattle could very well decide that Aackckqz Ky is the future of the VHL and take him first. But for the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that Gabriel McAllister will go first. So here’s a look at what changed for the three tanking teams as a result of that lottery.

 

 Seattle Bears

 

Getting McAllister could be a franchise changer for the Bears, and I don’t even think that’s really an exaggeration. Seattle has only won one championship since Season 30 expansion, and that was the Season 43 title that some observers have viewed as one of the most surprising championship runs in VHL history. Though there have been sustained periods of Seattle playoff runs, they have very rarely translated to even finals appearances in recent days, let alone titles.

 

Now, the Bears have their basis for making a run. I don’t think the team is quite there yet – McAllister, Forsberg, Laflamme, Perought and Federov are a hell of a core, but all those players are still young. Especially if Calgary plays true to form and continues to contend to compete, I see Seattle looking similarly to S55 Toronto: competitive, but not quite there yet. But with a few more pieces and consistent growth, the latter end of the 50’s could turn into a yearly Toronto-Seattle battle, with McAllister part of a formidable Seattle top line.

 

 Cologne Express

 

The theme for the Cologne Express has been delay and amass. The team has picked up extra first round picks and retired former GM players in an attempt to build a massive army, but losing McAllister may delay that process even further. Ay Ay Ron would be a franchise defenseman at the number two pick – as long as he doesn’t get designated as a GM player. Still, it's hard to build around a defenseman. And outside of him, the pick would be… the random Ky? The inactive Fook? Honestly, it’s probably Komarov, who would require another year in the VHLM.

 

The Express will get there in time, and the GM has demonstrated that he’ll do whatever it takes to amass pieces for the franchise. But, in the end, some drafts are better than others. And with the GM player now coming in Season 57 as compared to 56, and the fifth pick not likely to yield an immediate star, it’s still going to be another couple of seasons before Cologne has the pieces to field a competitive roster (free agency surprises not withstanding).

 

 Riga Reign

 

Honestly, the situation for Riga intrigues me even more than Cologne, because the team might move into playoff contention by default if Stockholm’s new GM decides to sell. The team has Krigars moving into a prime contract, King and Aleksei in their third year after the draft, and Bogdanovic ready to jump into the VHL with a bang. The time might be now for Riga to make a move, whether they feel they’re truly ready or not.

 

As explored before, McAllister would have been the perfect complementary piece to Krigars and Aleksei. Now, I fully expect the team to explore the trade market for that piece – and it likely won’t come cheap. New York and Stockholm’s older players are names to watch here, and both the third pick in this draft and firsts the next two seasons would be in play in that case. I said before that Toronto might be the most active team this offseason out of necessity, and Calgary is there too – but Riga is certainly one to watch from the European Conference.

[Gooningitup 1,290]

No way i go 2nd lol but thanks for considering me over the other 2 options if not AyRon

[Gudnason 607]

I love your media spots dude, but Rudi Ying just got fisted anally by a circus monkey in the Riga section.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

REVIEW:

 

So I'm reviewing this after the fact, but congrats on basically going 3/3 with your predictions. Seattle obviously took McAllister 1st overall, Cologne traded away the 2nd overall pick and punted the next couple of seasons, and Riga made a couple of big trades to bolster their roster. You got any suggestions for the next lottery numbers?