Claimed: Oslo Storm Draft Review [1/2]

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Oslo Storm Draft Review

 

 

OSLO, NORWAY - There's a storm brewing in Oslo. With the conclusion of the Season 57 VHLM Dispersal Draft, expectations are rising for the Norwegian based team. Last season's roster was extremely top heavy. The two main cogs of the team (Boner and Ko Kane) moved on to the VHL. Winger Ben Greene was a solid contributor, but couldn't quite be called a super star. However, this team is different. Almost every draft pick by the team this year is expected to improve throughout the season, resulting in a much more complete team than last year. This, in addition to the continued improvement of Greene, should lead to a very solid team. Without further ado, here is a review of the Oslo Storm's most recent draft class.

 

Jasper Canmore - Center - 77 TPE - @Bushito

 

So, there's actually a funny story with the first overall pick. For the longest time, I thought I didn't have my 1st round pick for this draft, as the draft pick trade tracker wasn't completely updated. It wasn't until the current draft thread was finished that I realized I had the 1st pick, and I didn't start my review of the draft board until a couple of hours before the draft. With that, I had quite the conundrum, as there were multiple players available who would have been worthy of the 1st overall pick. In the end, I went with Jasper Canmore. Everyone knows that @Bushito is one of the biggest TPE whores on the site with his players, so there was no concern with him not hitting the 175 TPE cap. However, there were more than a few centers who have the potential to hit the cap as well, so I was considering going with another player at a different position. In the end, I wanted to get a sure thing with the first overall pick. Canmore should be one of the VHLMs best this year.

 

Aksel McKnight - Left Wing - 75 TPE - @Kesler

 

This was one of the easiest picks for me this draft. After picking Canmore with my 1st pick, it wouldn't have made sense for me to select another center, which ruled Mueller and Stronk out. Removing those two left McKnight and Burger King on my board for this pick. Obviously I ended up going with McKnight, but I don't think I could have gone wrong with either player. King was (and still is I believe) the only active goalie in the VHLM, which can be a very important position. I could have secured this position and had an absolute strength relative to the rest of the league. However, I went with McKnight under the idea that if no one besides one other team has a goalie, then we basically all don't have a goalie. With that in mind, I selected McKnight in order to boost our offense and go with the strategy to just outscore every team. And yes, you need to do that to win anyway, but you all know what I mean. As he's currently built, McKnight is a playmaking winger, which is a bit of a rarity in the VHLM.  However, this means that McKnight will fit seamlessly on any line, as the majority of forwards are built as snipers. There was a little bit of risk with this pick as @Kesler is just coming back to activity, but even if he never updated the player again, McKnight would still be a solid VHLMer. However, I doubt that this will be the case, as we all know that Kesler can make pretty good players. McKnight will more than likely hit the 175 TPE cap this season and should be near the top of the assist chart this year.

 

Ryszard Macht - Defense - 30 TPE - @Devise

 

I couldn't have been more excited when this pick came up. With the first two picks being forwards and losing Ko Kane to the VHL, the Storm's defense was somewhat bare. While Nicodemeus Raven is a decent player, he's not quite good enough to be considered a 1D at the VHLM level. As the second round was progressing, I thought Macht was going to be selected 10th overall, but he ended up falling into Oslo's lap. Macht's player agent @Devise is known for making solid at worst players and does have the capability of making a Hall of Famer as well. Based on the agency's comments its looking like Macht trend towards the latter more than the former, which will bode extremely well for Oslo. Macht is expected to lead the Storm's D this year. 

 

Elias Karlsson - RIght Wing - 36 TPE - @Heracles

 

As we started to get to the later rounds of the draft, I wanted to focus on high upside new members or returning players. Going through the remaining players, @Heracles was one of the few members to have logged in recently at the time of the draft. This is still the case, as this member has logged in from time to time and chimed in to the locker room discussion. Karlsson is a two-way forward who leans towards more of a scorer than a playmaker. Karlsson will fit in nicely on the 2nd line and 1st PK unit. Karlsson won't be expected to be a primary scorer on this team, but he should be a good depth player on the second line. While Karlsson has been missing from the practice facility the past couple of weeks, Karlsson has the chance to develop into a nice VHLM player next season and become a good prospect for whichever VHL team drafts him.

 

Emil Woods - Goaltender - 37 TPE - @TheMinimum

 

Due to a trade least season, the Storm did not have a 5th round pick. With their last selection in the draft, Oslo selected goaltender Emil Woods. Woods is admittedly a long shot prospect, but as a goalie, there is tremendous upside for the team. Woods is currently battling to be the starter with the incumbent OSL G, and with any training will more than likely get the spot. At this point though, Woods may be on the bench.

 

 

For Jeff Gow

Weeks of  10/9-10/15 & 10/16-10/22

[Beaviss 4,949]

Great draft for you guys! Sorry about the fact you didn't know about the first round pick was super busy leading up to the draft! 

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Review:

Definitely a lot to like there as far as your draft was concerned.

Devise, Kesler, and Bushito's players are alwys great to have.