As usual, a few of the team captains trickled into the JCC a little early that Thursday night. Some of them paced the hallways mumbling to themselves. Some sat with their co-captain(s) to go over final plans. Others visited a bathroom stall, expunging themselves of some nervous energy.
After all, it was draft night. A night in which dreams are either realized or sealed away for another year. And this group – the team captains of the JCC Ice Hockey League – mean business!
With the help of captain feedback, all the returning players had already been re-ranked (where appropriate) several weeks prior. The New-Player skate took place the previous week and the final player rankings had been distributed to the captains. Each team had then submitted their protection lists – sealing the fate of up to 7 players from their previous season’s squad. But now it was time to fill in the blanks. Where would the goalies go? Who would take a chance on a rookie or two? How would teams manage their Jewish VS import ratios? (that was a joke, Glasner)
Most importantly, draft day comes down to one key factor: who thinks some players are under-rated and who thinks others are over-rated!
“The beauty of this imperfect system we have is that it leaves everything open to interpretation and the varying opinions of the captains,” league coordinator Kyle Berger said to himself while writing this post. “Captains are always debating different players’ values every year. No one thinks the rankings are all correct, of course. So draft time is the chance for them to put their picks where their mouth is. If they think a player is under-rated, they’d better be sure to draft him or her before someone else does and prove their talent-scouting superiority.”
Getting things started, the teams who don’t have a player protected in the opening round (based on their ranking being in the top 9) draw from a hat to determine the order of that round. Away goes highly coveted game-breakers like Daniel Wosk, Ben Groberman and Jake Switzer, who dangles the puck with a reach longer than the AT&T cell network.
Some picks are made faster than Rob Church reaches for a frothy malt while others try the room’s patience struggling to decide whether to stick with a “defence wins championships” policy or a “let’s just count on scoring more than they can” theory.
Round by round the order of the draft is determined by the total mathematical ranking of each team drafted to that point. This helps to keep things balanced and offers captains a chance to bring draft strategy into play. One team might take a player a round earlier than projected in hopes it will give them earlier picks in subsequent rounds, etc.
At the head of the table, Kyle and the Competition Committee, try to keep things flowing.
“Our role at the draft is simple,” he explained for the sake of clarification. “We facilitate the draft and advocate for the many player requests we have each season. When certain picks are made, with the support of the captains, we do what we can to satisfy as many requests as we can in that moment. But we also can’t compromise the integrity of the draft with regards to how and why it works the way it does. Requests can’t handcuff the system. So we advocate as much as possible, but won’t force players onto teams either.”
The draft moves along filled with mixed debate, plenty of “good pick, bad pick” commentary and at least every team being told once to “hurry the BLEEP up” by the rest of the room.
After all the ice settles, it takes all of 2.46 minutes for a few captains to browse through the final rosters and opine on the winners and losers of the draft. But before the puck is dropped, only one thing is for certain: The Red Herring won’t be the 2014-15 J-League champions!
Good luck everyone!
