It seems like just yesterday the Seattle Bears were contending for a spot in the playoff in one of the most difficult conference the VHL's has potentially ever seen. These were the famous last rumoured words of Seattle's GM, Blake Campbell, when describing his teams first leap into action when he first took over the reigns at the Bears formal dinner part last evening. The Bears made numerous moves during that season which put them ahead of most teams into the European conference, however, due to an extremely competitive nature and rosters in the North American conference that year, the Bears ended up folding their handed and called "bluff". They moved their talents to places where they wanted to go or could find success and that was the end of the mighty Bears. Following the catastrophic blow up to their roster, the Bears found themselves in a rebuild which went on from the end of Season 49 (when they pulled the trigger), until their first playoff birth since which happened in Season 51.
The following season, Season 52, the Bears were back in action and claimed first place in the regular season. Despite strong success and exceptional regular season performances from the entire roster and organization, playoff success was the furthest thing. Though they came close once and forced a game 7 against New York American's being down large in a round 2 match up, they fell short and he cinderella story could not be completed. Thus, enter in another rebuild. S54 was a long one for the Bears, as they went 11-49-12 on the season - a sign of things to come in Seattle as they hunkered down for the long haul. Over the seasons, the Bears have slowly progressed through their rebuild rather slowly as GM Blake Campbell showed patience in his players and the so called "path" he was taking the team. Fast forward a couple of years and you find the Seattle Bears moving at a pace that had been unseen in Seattle for quite sometime.
The past 48 hours - Trades and Extensions
Trades
The Bears sat back as they tried to make trades, yet found that nothing was coming their way. As they made phone call after phone call, email after email, they got nowhere. However, looking around the league they found their North American opponents getting strong and stronger. Strong North American rivals, the Calgary Wranglers, managed to pick up a target that the Seattle Bears were attempting to add to their roster in Shawn Gretzky. After multiple failed attempts and talks, Davos moved Gretzky to the Wranglers for THREE first round draft picks. It was at that moment Seattle knew that had to strongly start playing their cards better before they lost anyone else they were after on the market. Then, over a period of 24 hours, the Bears made it all happened and pushed themselves from just outside the playoffs, to potentially a team that could beat Quebec out (with some luck possibly, too).
Bourdon Trade @Lunaro @ADV
This was one of the main deals that Seattle was focusing on. Currently in their line up, they have only one solid defender and that comes in the presence of one of the top, elite youngsters in the league - Aleksei Federov. Some argue he may not be the best defender right now, but Fantasy League performances and statistics could make a case that he is in fact a top 3 defender in the league right now (with circumstances and rosters also being taken into account). Bourdon may not be an elite prospective defender who is going to carry the blue line on his back, but he's an excellent pick up for the Bears and it costed them a draft pick which at the time was 3 drafts away.
GM Campbell: "We strongly pursued this young defender. While he isn't a #1 guy, he'll fit in extremely well to the roster and his presence is acknowledged and appreciated. He's an amazing member. We've heard great things about him in other locker rooms and all we can say is we're happy to have him here. Seattle has a nice program and group of guys who I know for sure will be willing to help him out.
Peter Quill Trade @Tyler @Green
This was the 3rd deal that popped up, but the 2nd one with Davos after the Gretzky talks fell through. Quill was always mentioned by Seattle, but nothing ever fully took off until the Gretzky deal was made. Though there was quite a bit of back and forth, it wasn't so much that the value was off in the deals, it was more so what assets were going to be involved and if Davos management truly wanted to complete a transaction which included Peter Quill. At the end of the day, and partially to Seattle's surprise, Quill ended up a Bear.
GM Campbell: "This was another deal that once we got the wheels in motion and talks began, they picked up fairly strongly. Picture wildfire, but Davos having a little piss jug trying to put the flame out and Seattle with a dramatic, over the top torch burning down the place. Quill fits into Seattle's plan 100% and gives us options that we never had before. It's in his court if he wishes to remain a centre or a wing, but either him or Forsberg will be on the move. BUT, at the end of the day, they will also always remain secondary options for taking draws.
Fook Yu Trade @tfong @Frank
This was probably one of the most surprising deals of the day (for the Bears anyway). Frank approached Banackock the day prior, however, talks never went further than those initial couple messages. It was in Seattle's interest to see how the draft played out and they weren't 100% on dealing the pick. On one end, they were receiving a solid member, player and person - but on the other end, they were dealing a solid asset which could flourish with the team. Moments before the draft, both teams spoke again with Seattle giving Quebec the heads up that they would continue to wait to see what happens. During the draft, Keller, Jones and Boner went 1st, 2nd and 3rd, leaving Louth in the 4th position (who Quebec wanted). Talks immediately sprung up and GM Campbell took the leap of faith. A risky move, but one he felt would strongly pay off for the teams immediate and future success.
GM Campbell: "It was a risky move. It was in the back of my head quite a while prior to the draft and I often found myself going back with it. I seen the upside to both moves, but also the down. Yu wants a competitive team, so there's extra pressure there. I'm not scared, not worried, that we can't contend. We will and are going to do everything in our power to give him what he wants and to make him fully happy. We're also extremely grateful that he welcomed the transaction and Bears so warmly. We feel Fook is going to be a huge piece to Seattle success".
Extensions
While those 3 trades were some of Seattle's bigger moves, they also made a couple smaller ones that still have made big ripple affect on the team, league and fans of Seattle. Over the last little while, the Bears locked up forward's Peter Quill and Mattias Forsberg and both goalies Key Perought and mista4ke. This follows the signing of elite defender Aleksei Federov during last season. Again, while not the biggest of transactions when compared to the others which involved the Bears, they still were huge and show the determination and efforts by the management and team as a whole.
Final Message
We're extremely excited for the future when it comes to hockey in Seattle. I've always been known as an extremely passionate GM. I try and try and bust my balls at all costs to make my guys happy and give them the success they deserve. Yeah, they work hard for themselves to make their personal stats better, but while on the Bears, they also do it for the team. With that being said, they're also doing it for management. It all comes back to that. I owe all my guys the best that I can give them and hopefully that means a cup or two. It's been a while since I've felt extremely passionate and excited about the team and I'm not going to lie, my excitement level has skyrocketed. I'm confident in the roster I have moving forward and am honoured to theoretically lead the group of guys we currently have in the locker room. Over the next little while, especially during this off-season, our eyes will be focused on the present. We want to bring a cup back to Seattle and will to extreme lengths to make that happen. Is there some obstacles in our way? Of course, but that's never stopped myself or any of these guys before. We're going to make it happen.
1,517 WORDS
Federov claims 3 weeks --> Oct 2nd to 8th/ Oct 9th to 15th/ Oct 16th to 22nd
ALSO, DOUBLE weeks for Oct 2nd+8th AND Oct 9th to 15th.
Thanks.
.png.ed69a7260a477fcf4feead7a0e4b7506.png)
