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2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?
* - Deadline create, but was still drafted to ISFL.
** - Recreate but is one of many Carolina alum
Just looking at things from a base point of view, the biggest draft day surprise was Madison Hayes falling to 10th overall. Chicago got an absolute steal of a pick, where I would have been unsurprised to see Sve7en go 1st overall given his track record in the SHL, and the early dedication he showed to the league. It was a confusing drop and steal at the time and it still confounds me that he was able to last until double digits to be picked. While 7 is only the 8th ranked earner TPE wise, they are the ORotY and a great locker room presence. I am 100% biased as I'm his interim Co-GM in the SHL but going to 10th was just... weird. Hayes is a bonafide HoFer in my eyes, and seeing her dro is near inexcusable.
On a complete different note I feel me being selected in the 1st round was somewhat of a questionable decision for the Copperheads. Amid and I go back a bit with him currently playing on Carolina, where I was apart of management for some time, but trading up to pick me is grabbing a low ceiling pick on a guy that would've been available later down the line. While the assets given up weren't wild, it's hard to imagine the pick couldn't have been used better.
Moving down the line of SHL draftees there's Overdoo, who was taken ahead of where most expected. Nothing against him, but at the time he was behind in TPE and him going 2nd overall was a surprise. On the reverse, though, he's an absolute gem to talk to and him being selected up high purely for his personality isn't entirely unreasonable. While his ceiling and earning aren't top 2 quality he's such a solid guy that it's hard to see him not being successful in the league for a long time, as he can help run a back room and maintain activity on a rebuilding team.
Next up we have Borgo San Lorenzo, who is a bonafide #GoodPlayer. One of the biggest surprises on draft day is seeing AgentSmith end up out of the first round. He's another top earner in the SHL and went 1st overall in the S55 draft over there, but he ended up falling out of the 1st? He's currently rocking the 10th most TPE in the class, is established as a simmer in other leagues, and is just a real solid due all around. Not a hall of famer like I see Hayes being, but another good look from the SHL-ISFL draft class.
There are actually a few more guys that ended up out of the 1st round that aren't entirely surprising, but they are still a bit odd to look back on from the perspective of a Kraken alum. TheDangaZone and Gumbaman came in with two very different backgrounds on the ISFL side of things. Gumba was a late, late, late create in the ISFL and SHL and was drafted late in both leagues, whereas TDZ is an established guy who has created solid players at a HoF level in both leagues. Despite that, they both settled in as post-1st round draft picks. Their earning is pretty in-line with my own--much like Sparky, who can be mentioned in this post-1st convo. All three of these guys are good guys who will be ISFL players, and are also SHL players. I just had to mention them on this path to commenting on everyone who is currently in the ISFL from the SHL.
And now we come to the final member of the SHL gang and my former GM in Carolina--Fuzz. Carter Fox has a longer timetable to success than others. He just recently did training and activity check work on the 9th of this month, so he is putting in the work. Unfortunately he is well behind the curve in terms of class TPE. While Austin is accomodating, and I've been covering his DTotY journey in articles in collaboration with Southpaw, his path to the big leagues will need to come with a degree of deterimination. I am not sure on the eligibility rules for the DSFL, but if his eligibility runs out soon he may be forced into an unsavoury position of being teamless before he can earn to a solid point, and will need to force himself into the lineup wherever he can. I hope it can be with Austin, but if we are too full I just hope he can end up somewhere he will be happy.
Those are my consolidated thoughts on the S27 SHL draftees. Most of us have made our ISFL debuts already, and others should be on their way soon enough. This amount of representation from another league feels unprecedented and should be analyzed as such, wherein an already strong class is complemented by the depth brought on by joint Football-Hockey fans.
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