My brief thoughts about the TOR/VAN trade.

[Peace 1,532]

So I still need two capped, and while I wanted to talk about this in a podcast, I understood that the next episode of 'WeAreLegion' is still very much in its infancy. I decided last night that instead of waiting around until the trade is more or less forgotten about, I'd briefly talk about my thoughts even if a VHL.com article ends up being a media spot. 

To sum of the trade for everyone Toronto acquired Hornet, Adrienne and a second pick from Vancouver recently. I sent Anigbogu, Weiss, Upton, a first round pick and a second round pick back to Vancouver in order to find neutral ground in both value and salary cap. Fonzi and I talked for nearly a full day in what I would say were good discussions, but the origins of this trade -- in my opinion -- stretch back to when Beaviss was still the GM of Vancouver and the original target was Sandstrom. 

Now Fonzi decided at one point in that he wanted to keep his player, I understood as most GMs actively used a now abolished clause to acquire their own player in the draft. Having the opportunity to play for the same team you manage is nice, and clearly you're going to rely on yourself to continue updating. Anyway when Beaviss stepped down and sadly left the league, the trade talks ceased for a bit until I discovered that Poptart was authorized to make moves for Vancouver. Poptart was smart though, he didn't want to commit to a large trade and his foresight may have saved Fonzi from my grubby large hands in the long run. There was a partial deal in place that would have sent a roster player and a pick to Vancouver in exchange for Sandstrom, but it never materialized and the negotiation for value never truly began. The ball park offer was decent though, so it could have happened if history was written a different way and Poptart landed the then open GM spot for Vancouver.

 

About half a week later Fonzi was announced as the GM. I bug him a few times about a trade but the season is early and no one wanted to make moves just yet, which is absolutely understandable so I had no choice but to go with the status quo and just wait for opportunities to arise and at this point the original target was still Fonzi's player.

Fast forward to the end of March and I approach the new Vancouver GM after a fresh sim and Seattle's latest trade. I know Toronto is doing well but I figure there is more I can do to get my team to another level, I wrote a media spot about those thoughts separately; original deal at this point was still on the table. This is when Fonzi informed me that he wanted to keep his player in Vancouver -- something I respected -- so the trade negotiations shifted to me asking about the availability of Adrienne. I sense there was a reluctant affirmation primarily due to the time that passed after I asked during what was an active conversation, but he was available at that specific moment in time so I jumped on the opportunity to improve my defense and upgrade away from Upton. (The reason we wanted to upgrade from Upton is I learned he may be quitting sim leagues, and I'm on a mission to win ROOKIE a cup this season. I couldn't have a member of my blueline fall to inactivity.) 

The asking price for Adrienne was -- firmly stating that this is (or was) my opinion -- a little much initially, but I could work with it. Fonzi said he was open to trading Hornet if I needed a forward and that actually threw a wrench in my plans, so off to Smarch I went to discuss the potential of this trade and how it suited Toronto's needs. We crunched the cap and discovered that we'd have just enough left over for a bag of pucks, but the value just wasn't where it needed to be for Toronto at the time. 

Proceed to renegotiate part of the trade with Fonzi, he does what he needed to do for Vancouver, and the trade is agreed upon later that evening. 

And there we go; through my eyes these were very much connected and spanned two GMs and an acting GM. I'm glad the trade was finally complete and now Toronto can focus on moving forward despite a rough sim with the new members of Toronto immediately producing for the Legion and our failure to play a third period of hockey. 

Have a good day!