Draft gets rolling tonight

MILAN, Italy – The Season 17 EURO Draft will get under way tonight with some real intrigue surrounding the first few picks.

Every year in this virtual evolution league, the main question is how much faith can you put in a prospect because he will be stuck with his first qualifying NHL season as the basis for his lifelong attributes in Websim. Some have great starts and will be better in the EURO League than they ever will be in the NHL. But some could be giant busts, like David Jiricek was for Bratislava last season.

Or do you play it safe with someone like Alex Vlasic, Joel Hofer or some other low-80 PO players available at the top of the draft?

And then there’s the question of who gets first pick. Rarely does the Number 24 team get first pick once the lottery is held.

Prague has the best chance of winning the top pick, with Liverpool (formerly Hanover), Athens and Amsterdam having the next best chances. In 5th right now is the host city, Milan, and their fans will go nuts if they can jump from 5 to 1 to talk a nice Italian boy like Macklin Celebrini.

Here are the top 3 picks for the last 3 seasons:

Season 16