By Jeff Nagle
The Riverview Royals are retooling, rebuilding, resomething... For the first time in league history, the Royals are cruising to the basement and will likely miss the playoffs. What is waiting for them? uncertainty. However, holding their own pick means that they will likely get a crack at Dave Andreychuk, Chris Chelios, or Phil Housley in the upcoming draft. All three have qualities that make them a perfect building block for a rebuilding club.
"We have been scouting intensely over the past couple of months, and we would be elated to have any one of them. At this time, I couldn't tell you which I would prefer as there are unique qualities between each of the three big players in the draft." said GM Nagle.
With the Royals sitting in a good spot with a core group of four younger defensemen, Kaden Guhle being the central piece, picking up one of Chelios and Housley on paper would give them an embarrassment of riches. However, GM Nagle has a history of building teams around physically strong defenseman, so having the opportunity to pick up Chris Chelios might be too good to pass up if the Royals manage to net themself a lottery win.
Dave Andreychuk brings a great mix of offensive qualities while being defensively responsible. He has all the ear-markings of a Royal and could see himself on the top six right out of the gate. However, should the Royals pick up Andreychuk, they would likely be better served holding him back in Loggieville in order to further refine his offensive game in a traditionally goal-spree farm league.
Finally, in Phil Housley, the Royals would nab themselves a Power-Play specialist and would almost play a forward on defence role for the Royals moving forward. However, historically, GM Nagle has never been a big fan of offensive defenseman so picking up Housley would likely be his third choice. With Kaden Guhle already crafting himself into a shutdown defenseman, it might be advantageous to have a player like Hously playing his opposite.
There is still plenty of season left to play, so all of this is conjecture. The Royals are still hanging on to a playoff berth and with 2/3s of the season still left to go, anything is possible as they continue to hold onto star players in the likes of Lundestrom, Mathews, and Schvetnikov. Not to mention a very serviceable defense core, and a dependable star goalie. On paper the Royals are still a dangerous team and one capable of rifling off a 10 game win streak, so dreaming of a top three pick coming to Riverview is very much that, a dream.
1/28/2025 - 441 words
