S78 RIG-TOR Jolly Greene Giant Trade Tree

[TheNeonShaman 213]

Hello everyone I'm back with another trade tree! Today we've got a fairly big trade from season 78 that involved two teams trying to shake up their lineup. Riga and Toronto were both on the line for the playoffs and were looking to shake things up to make a playoff push. They got in touch and came up with this trade:

 

 

Both teams swap two players, and to balance there are some draft picks swapped as well. It's a fairly large trade with some decent players being swapped around. Unfortunately for the two teams, not much changes and they both miss the playoffs by one or two spots that season. Now time to see how each side of the tree branches out and benefits Riga and Toronto.

 

To start, here is what the trade tree looks like in all its glory:

 

 

And before I dive into all the trade, here is a color key so everyone knows what the colors mean.

 

 

Now without further ado, let's dive in.

 

RIGA

The Riga tree used to be short and sweet.

There. That was it. None of the 3 pieces acquired in the trade were moved until the S83 trade deadline. Oh Sens @osens was in the final year of their career (and what a career it was). After being traded, Sens put up 12 goals and 23 points in 33 games, a very solid finish to a very solid career. Next up is Jolly Greene Giant @DoktorFunk, the main focus of this trade along with Sens. Giant is a left winger who showed a lot of promise in a few seasons with Toronto. Upon arriving in Riga he wasn't scoring at the same heights he was with the Legion, but at the start of the next season Giant had a point to prove. He went on to put up 69 points in 72 games that season, and throughout the rest of his seasons with Riga he had 251 points in 299 games. Those are very good numbers for a player who became a veteran voice for a young Riga team until he was traded in season 83. Speaking of young Riga team, the second round pick in the season 79 draft turned into Donny Carter @TheNeonShaman. Carter, while getting into the VHL a season late, has looked alright for the Reign, and this year is an alternate captain for the team. With 31 goals and 88 points in nearly 150 games, he still has untapped potential that could put him as a very solid top six winger for Riga. The tree stopped there until the season 83 trade deadline, when GM @hedgehog337got back on the phones and set up this blockbuster trade.

 

Original Trade Grade: B-. Riga got some nice pieces but compared to what they gave up to Toronto (which will be discussed later) they could have done a bit better.

 

 

What TSN called the biggest trade leading up to the deadline, this blockbuster cost Riga a small fortune as they sent Giant along with a S83 3rd and the 1st and 2nd rounders from season 84. In return for this steep price is Alex Johnston @Alex, a past 63 goal scorer who is meant to make an impact and push Riga further in the playoffs. If all that was the goal, then an absolute success on Riga's part. Johnston did way more than just make an impact as he put up 26 goals and 21 assists for 47 points in 22 games! Those insane numbers continued in the playoffs during Riga's deepest playoff run since season 73. While that does just mean the second round, they pushed Moscow to game 7 in a tightly contested series where Johnston put up 8 goals and 16 points in the 12 game run. This trade, while expensive, has been well worth it for Riga, and if Johnston stays for awhile, this trade will look a lot better.

 

Trade Grade: A-. The grade will go up as Johnston plays more in Riga, because the skill he has showed should be able to balance out the big price.

 

With all that set, Riga had two trades, bringing in 2 players and 1 pick who turned into a player, trading 3 players and 5 picks. Combined, all the players who played for Riga have 498 games played, 166 goals, and 409 points. Not too bad of a return for the main trade, though Toronto's haul may very well overshadow Riga's.

 

The final bit in the Riga section are some thoughts on the trade by then and now Riga GM, @hedgehog337! 

"So, despite both Riga and Toronto suffering horrible luck by that time I was still hesitant to pull the trigger on that trade. Needless to say, it was Peace (now ex-Legion GM) who came up with this idea. I was still not sure if this trade would work for both of us and I was clinging on to that roster for so long. I was just refusing to believe that roster couldn't do anything in that sim engine and until the possible minute I was hoping the next sim will start our crazy win streak like it was supposed to do. And quite frankly, the trade talks were happening on summer. The time when I had lots of work and I would rather spend my time outside than sitting on laptop. And the team performance never gave me much reasons to be engaged in the league for a lot. This saga ended when Peace's patience was running thin and after some little thoughts I decided to agree on the deal. Still, I was disappointed by all of this. I had a clear vision that Riga S75 class was about to be big, but in reality it ended up in me almost quitting the league altogether. In fairness, we had a bit better performance post-trade so perhaps I pulled this for too late. But who knows really."

 

TORONTO

The main pieces the Legion traded for actually provide quite a bit of value, but Toronto doesn't hold onto them for long.

 

 

Addison McLaren @tcookiedid not have a long stay in Toronto, as only 56 games after being traded to Toronto they were traded again. However McLaren did put up 49 points in those games. Han Jae Kuk @Dtaylwas near the end of their career and played the end of season 78 and the full season 79 before retiring. The other two pieces are third rounders from season 80 that are traded quite fast.

 

Trade Grade: B+. There was quite a bit of good pieces acquired here, and if they all stayed, there could have been some real value in this trade for Toronto. Nevertheless, the trades made from these pieces get the team even better players.

 

 

Following the branch that goes off from the two 3rd rounders, there is several big trades. Starting with the Prague 3rd, it is packaged with Nicholas Sunderbruch @NickSunderbruch and sent to London for a season 79 2nd rounder. That pick is then put into another package, this time with the season 80 Riga 3rd that Toronto had received in the main trade. This time the return is much greater though. Vick Fairchild @GreenGatoand Aurelien Moreau @Frankgo back to Toronto. However, neither of them stayed long. Fairchild stayed for a full season, put up 98 points, and then got paid in free agency. Moreau was a rising star on a falling Toronto team, so they were traded. Moreau goes to Moscow for a season 80 1st and a season 81 2nd. Those picks turned into Oskar Lindbergh @Doomsday, the current Legion goalie, and Harry Hagel @jasplunds, a defensemen currently in the VHLE. Lindbergh has performed well for Toronto in their two seasons as starter, and while they have a similar amount of wins and losses, their save percentage is 0.915 overall, a very respectable number. Lindbergh's numbers should only get better as their career progresses.

 

Trade Grades:

3rd + Sunderbruch for 2nd: B-. Gave up a roster player with a 3rd for a second. Not a crazy good trade.

2nd + 3rd for Fairchild and Moreau: A+. Ridiculously good trade, 2nd and a 3rd for a pretty good player and an elite talent. Absolute robbery.

Moreau for 1st and 2nd: C-. Even though a pick turned into a starting goalie, the other one turned into a player stuck in the VHLE. That is all Toronto got for one of the best defenders in the league. Tough.

 

 

The final branch stems from Addison McLaren and is the most complicated branch of the tree.  It starts with McLaren being packaged with a season 81 4th and sent to HC Davos for Jakub Brozik @Viper, a season 81 1st and a season 81 3rd. A very good return for McLaren, and it sets up a bunch of possibilities for future trades for Toronto. Along with future trades, this transaction also brings in Jakub Brozik, who has been a very good depth piece for Toronto and in 144 games they have 139 points.

 

Trade Grade: A-. A player and a 4th for a player, a 1st, and a 3rd is a pretty good haul. This is made better by the fact that McLaren went on to be traded by Davos.

 

 

Following the season 81 Davos 1st, it is actually traded back to Riga along with a season 81 2nd so that Toronto can move up some picks in the draft with London's season 81 1st. With the 1st, the Legion draft Cadmael Ixazaluoh @Vice. Ixazaluoh is a defenseman who just completed their rookie season with 56 points in 72 games for Toronto, a very good player.

 

Trade Grade: C. Even though Ixazaluoh is very good, Biggie Cheese @a_Ferk (selected with the first that Riga got) had better stats in their rookie season this year, and even though the player selected with the 2nd was forced to retire, that still means Riga got more value because of having a second round pick to take a chance on and as of now having the better defenseman.

 

 

The final branch of the trade tree follows the season 81 Davos 3rd that was acquired in the McLaren trade tree. It was packaged with Phoenix Dawson @Toast and sent to New York for two 2nds and Aldwin Craig @Eldredman . Craig played 48 games with Toronto and had 28 points, not good enough for them to earn another contract, as he left in free agency. The season 80 2nd was used to select Link Zhang @WHY_Bolts, who has already retired and never played a game with the Legion. The season 81 2nd was put into the final trade of this tree and used to help Toronto trade up for the second time in the season 81 draft. That second and the Malmo 1st are sent to Riga for the S81 Prague 1st. With that pick Toronto selected Harkat Mulds @hylands. Mulds has played 144 games and has 127 points, not bad stats though their scoring dipped in the most recent season.

Trade Grades:

3rd + Dawson for Craig + 2 2nds: C. This is a tough trade, as Craig never panned out for Toronto, and Dawson is still a very effective forward going into their final season. The two seconds would make the trade better but they both didn't pan out and the 3rd was then traded by New York and turned into assets.

1st + 2nd for 1st: C+. It's not as bad as the other 1st round trade up, and Riga got very unfortunate for both of their second rounders to get hit with retirement before they could be effective, but their first Alexandre Leduc @Lemorse7had a great rookie season and as of now is better than Mulds.

 

In the end Toronto traded 4 players and 10 picks to acquire 5 players who are still on the team throughout 8 total trades. In total, the 9 players who played at least one game for Toronto have 226 goals and 630 points in 796 games played. The one goalie has 130 games played with 60 wins and a career average save percentage of 0.915%.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

While Toronto definitely got more in the terms of quantity, though the quality is a lot closer. Riga's players scored at a pace of 0.82 points per game while Toronto's players scored at a pace of 0.79. Another point is playoffs, as Riga's players have played 29 playoff games and have 30 points while Toronto's players have played 30 playoff games and have 30 points, giving Riga the advantage. The real comparison comes from current players, as Carter and Johnston on Riga can't match up with the 4 skaters and 1 goalie still on Toronto. Overall, both teams put together a very good trade tree for both sides, and it is impressive how even the two sides are. Toronto seems to have the better result in present day, but it's hard to argue that overall Riga had an equally good or even slightly better outcome. That's it for me! Peace out!

 

Word Count: 2179

For Weeks of: 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24

[Shindigs 1,771]

Then @Spartan had to get in on the action and turn Harkat Mulds into a S84 Moscow 4th round pick instead, as well as trading Moreau back to Toronto to make the tree start looking like the Hapsburg family tree. Mulds going IA skewed the ending trade values by a fair bit, so would have been nice to have had that mentioned. As is somewhat standard with recent trade trees, @Lemorse7 had more than one entry.

 

These trade trees are always a blast though, it gets kinda crazy to follow everything.

[Lemorse7 900]

We don’t talk about Juha no no no 

[TheNeonShaman 213]

8 hours ago, Shindigs said:

Then @Spartan had to get in on the action and turn Harkat Mulds into a S84 Moscow 4th round pick instead, as well as trading Moreau back to Toronto to make the tree start looking like the Hapsburg family tree. Mulds going IA skewed the ending trade values by a fair bit, so would have been nice to have had that mentioned. As is somewhat standard with recent trade trees, @Lemorse7 had more than one entry.

 

These trade trees are always a blast though, it gets kinda crazy to follow everything.

Yeah I decided to stop the tree at this year's deadline. I'll probably do updates to this one and the other one I did in the future, but for now I'll start on a new one.

[hedgehog337 3,480]

3 hours ago, Lemorse7 said:

We don’t talk about Juha no no no 

 

[Vice 284]

Woah! I was in a trade tree?! These things are always fun to read.

[TheNeonShaman 213]

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