VSN Presents: VHL Trade Deadline Review

[jacobcarson877 2,076]

It is time! Trade deadline has passed, new creates are flowing in, and teams are looking to gear up for the playoffs! There wasn’t a lot of cap space floating around in the VHL, and rosters are looking rather full, so it took some interesting manoeuvring to get anything done. But do not fear! The VHL did provide us some interesting trades to look at, and maybe just once, VSN will say something publicly nice about Seattle!

 

 

To kick us off, Vancouver and Malmo.

 

 

Malmo

receives:

Reese McFleury

 

 

Vancouver

receives:

S88 MAL 1^st

 

 

Spaz puts all of his eggs in 1 basket, acting as AGM, and a future defender for Malmo. While this move doesn’t affect anything this season, it does indicate there will likely be some roster turnover for Malmo this offseason, as they change out some of their depth pieces and continue to lean into their core.

 

 

Vancouver gets what should be equivalent value for McFleury, with there still being promising talent through the first round in this coming draft. With Vancouver having a D core they are happy with, the pick will be more helpful for adding time to their competitive window.

 

 

 

Next up is a bit of a crazy one. Seattle, Riga and Davos come to some sort of conclusion.

 

 

HC Davos

receives:

Florida Man

 

 

Riga

receives:

Gus Bentley

Isamu Knievel

S88 DAV 1st

S89 LAS 3^rd

 

 

Seattle

receives:

Tavish DeGroot

 

 

Why don’t we start with Davos here. They cleared some roster spots and consolidated their assets into Florida Man, an established scorer, and the perfect player to complete the all important 2 duo on their roster. Davos looks to propel themselves above the rest of the EU, who are deadlocked in a duel to see who will make the playoffs. If Florida Man can find some chemistry with Mason Jones or Pete Mitchell, Davos could easily be a contender.

 

 

Seattle turns a slightly underperforming Florida Man into the ultra-performing Tavish DeGroot. Only having been separated for 49 games, DeGroot had blossomed in Riga, taking advantage of a rather weak roster, and looks to bring back some new experience and scoring touch to Seattle. Acting as a winger now, DeGroot should see continued offensive domination, and has helped Seattle build an all-of-a-sudden terrifying forward core.

 

 

Riga gets back assets from a player they really had no need to sign and brought some excitement to their roster for the first half of the season. Knievel should continue to be a useful depth piece for the seasons to come, and Bentley will either do the same, or Riga will use their Team Option to open that roster space back up. Good return for their assets, and a chance to continue to pile on more and more exciting young prospects to dominate the EU in a couple seasons. Shoutout to Riga for giving DeGroot the chance to go back to a contender, and even better, likely their top choice in Seattle.

 

Vancouver brings some more value into their franchise, buying off one of Helsinki’s young and exciting established players.

 

 

Helsinki

receives:

S88 VAN 1st

 

Vancouver

receives:

Tater Tottingham

 

Vancouver continues to shuffle around their young defensemen. After losing McFleury to Malmo, they replaced him with the already VHL-ready Tater Tottingham. Essentially flipping McFleury into Tottingham and what should be a much better 1st rounder.

 

Helsinki gets some return on one of their prospects again, and continues the cycle of constantly rebuilding. We love a first rounder, but until that first rounder sticks around and actually plays significant games for Helsinki, they are just wasting any chance of a competitive window.

 

 

Next up we have the first of DC’s moves, after what can only be described as a disappointing start. This time they meet up with Seattle, who has already been busy.

 

 

Seattle

receives:

Vasile Lamb

S88 DCD 4th

 

 

D.C.

receives:

Deron Nesbitt

S89 SEA 1st

 

 

Seattle doubles down on this season and grabs pretty much the only redeeming factor of DC’s season in Vasile Lamb. They needed to go in hard if they were to look to leapfrog NYA, and bringing in a surefire Boulet candidate is a good way to do that.

 

 

DC gets back Deron Nesbitt, an Auto-12 defenseman, with over 900 TPA. Very solid return on paper, but DC would not be Nesbitt’s final destination before the deadline. DC tacks on a 1^st rounder, and hopes that this recruitment drive will bring them some exciting talent to begin their rebuild.

 

 

 

Our final trade before the deadline involves DC flipping Nesbitt, this time to Toronto.

 

 

Toronto

receives:

Deron Nesbitt

 

 

D.C.

receives:

Hasbulla Magomedov

Keita Kourou

 

 

Toronto picks up an established talent, who they will hope to woo back for multiple seasons. Given the nature of Nesbitt’s contract, it makes sense that the price to acquire them would be less than maybe I would have expected. This move isn’t for this season, but the hope of future seasons.

 

 

As much as I’m not sure DC needed Nesbitt, considering their spot in the standings, I would never have expected them to flip them to the only team in their conference lower than them. I do worry about the return here, only because of the previous trade. Kourou and Magomedov are certainly useful players, but considering Nesbitt was the main return for Vasile Lamb, it feels a little underwhelming. Only time will tell though, and DC has been known to find the diamond in the rough, and we shouldn’t count them out of finding an amazing asset with the S89 1^st.

 

 

While not our most eventful trade deadline, it has become clear Seattle are sick of being mediocre, DC is diving into their rebuild, Davos is ready to win now, Riga is patiently waiting to unleash their fury on the EU, Toronto is looking to kick themselves out of their rebuild, Malmo likes Spaz and Vancouver likes winning. Thanks everyone for tuning in, and best of luck for the rest of the season!

 

 

 

Players Mentioned:

Spoiler

@Spaz @boatsinking123 @TMGSosa @zepheter @rory @dlamb @AW13 @Motzaburger @woog @Trunkxolotl

 

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by jacobcarson877

[jacobcarson877 2,076]

I am just now realizing I missed the Tottingham trade in the middle of the chaos,  (da) bear(z) with me as I write that section

Edited February 20, 2023 by jacobcarson877

[AW13 196]

I get passed around like [insert one of the many phrases here]

[BOOM 8,426]

Just means you're popular!

[Lemorse7 900]

too much trade eww