Recapping the Moscow Offseason

[Spartan 4,400]

Off-seasons in Moscow are usually pretty busy and filled with interesting situations. See last season's trade for Jacob Tonn @MexicanCow123,  our sign and trade for Roque Davis @Josh two seasons ago, and our trade three seasons ago for Mikko Lahtinen @Beketov. Almost every off-season I've experienced has had some kind of big change to our team, and this season was no exception. 

 

Going into the season, @Victor had made it somewhat clear to me that he was intending to step down at the end of the season, a decision he had already delayed as per his own explanation in the last week. Props to my fellow S72 draftees for keeping him around. But that already meant that big changes were to come, and the changes started pretty quickly with Josh approaching us to say he wanted to take Davis to LA to maximize their window, which I had figured would be coming eventually. We were able to negotiate a deal pretty quickly, and then just tossed it on a shelf and went about our business in the regular season where we had a phenomenal team performance. Davis, Lahtinen and Tonn all experienced fantastic seasons as well, winning plenty of hardware during the awards last week. Cheers to you guys, so proud and happy for y'all .

 

Then when we got to the playoffs, we obviously didn't perform how we wanted, but such is life with STHS. A bright spot however, or a somewhat inconvenient one depending how you frame it, was LA winning the draft lottery. Josh and I quickly renegotiated the deal slightly to match the change in expected value, allowing us to bring in Bob Tristan @N0HBDY. Josh is already becoming my favorite to negotiate with since we never chatted for longer than 15 minutes about a trade. Short and sweet. Having the 1st overall pick while losing our best defenseman, and having our 2nd best center retire meant that change was imminent, and Victor and I quickly agreed that the best direction to take was to tear it all down. Victor got it started by sending Letang out to DC, and then I had been shopping Tonn and Lahtinen for a short while as well. 

 

@McWolf and London were very interested in 1st overall, to obviously try and secure the top draft duo in @Mr_Hatter and @OrbitingDeath . We had some long discussions that went through the night, trying to figure out various situations that could get both teams what they wanted. We hit just about every obstacle and delay in the road, but we managed to keep churning through every counteroffer until we finally agreed on a direction much different than where we started, which was Moscow receiving 3oa, Kevin Malone @eaglesfan0366, and other rookies/prospects such as rookie Philip Stein @IHateBobNutting. However, we lost stars Jacob Tonn and Mikko Lahtinen, but they were both welcome to the deal and to compete for another season or two, while Moscow severely needed young players and future assets. When it came to motivation for acquiring the 3rd overall pick, I had my eyes set on bringing Hatter back to Moscow, and OD and his penchant for creating legendary players as well. After some really nice chats with both, all sides were willing to make it happen.

 

The draft went pretty smoothly, with limited surprises. We landed our outstanding duo as expected, and then were pretty surprised to have Kyle Glass @Tbeez99 available to us in the 2nd. Knowing his work with Tony Bolonee, we were pretty excited to land another veteran member who can make a big impact for us starting next season. As we headed into the 3rd round, Duncan Idaho had suggested a promising player named Duncan Montana @124715, a close friend of his, and seeing him available towards the top of the 3rd, we decided to make a move and acquire him. A slightly longer term project than Glass, but we fully expect to see him join the big leagues within 2 seasons. At the end of the 4th, I honestly was thrilled to see Brent Skimmer @Adrest245 available. Knowing his connection to Kenny Khan over in the ECFA, Skimmer's representation was familiar to both us and a member in the London trade, Bahram Kamkar @Eagle Eye. Bringing the two competitors together was a great move, as they immediately started working to compete with each other for a roster spot in the near future. Overall, I think with just a few days to prepare for the draft, we were able to bring in some quality players and people in to Moscow to help set the culture for the future.

 

After the draft, with other teams facing difficult cap crunches, we were able to also land Jordan Tate @Aye my name jeff, a player I've had the pleasure of coaching in the VHLM and Maksym Kanjowski @Max12, a young power forward. Both players are expected to be part of the rebuild, and we're really excited to work with both of them. Free agency also went really well for us, as we re-signed Ryan Schwarz @Enorama to be one of the leaders of this young team, and acquired Markus Schauer @Plate, a veteran defenseman who needed a change of scenery in hopes of taking his game to the next level to meet his potential. 

 

Overall, I'm really pleased of not only the team we have on paper, but the people we have in the locker room and giving me advice as a new GM. We've gotten a lot younger in a really short time, and a lot of players changed homes. The change this offseason compared to others has been ridiculously high, but we've already started to build some really nice chemistry that we hope translates to our play during this season and for the seasons to come. The future is bright in Moscow and the culture is just getting even better as well!

 

Now I intended for this to be a VHL.com article and started typing this in the VHL.com section, but we're over 1,000 words so I'll just be sending this over and claim some nice TPE

 

(1,021 words)

[a_Ferk 766]

I see you applied the old @PatrikLainetactic of tagging as many people as possible. 'Tis an effective one I must admit.

 

You recapped the Moscow situation/offseason pretty well I'd say. I don't see any major flaws with your article, however you made fun of Jigg's nickname that I made for him earlier so imma give you 9.9/10.

[Spartan 4,400]

5 minutes ago, a_Ferk said:

you made fun of Jigg's nickname

I did?

[a_Ferk 766]

1 minute ago, Spartan said:

I did?

Yeah his discord nickname, spartan 2.0

[Spartan 4,400]

Just now, a_Ferk said:

Yeah his discord nickname, spartan 2.0

oh on discord, not in the article lol

[a_Ferk 766]

3 minutes ago, Spartan said:

oh on discord, not in the article lol

yeah lol

[Victor 10,938]

You did good.