It's a Trade! Booberry Talks Move to Seattle

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Grand Marais, Minn. -- This past Sunday was an interesting one for goaltender Xavier Booberry, in the midst of the offseason before his final VHL season. He woke up and cooked himself some breakfast, ham and eggs. He took a walk along the shore near his lakeside Minnesota home. Then when he got back, he heard a voicemail from his agent – promptly informing him that his team for three-plus seasons, HC Davos Dynamo, intended to trade him.

 

Speaking publicly for the first time since the trade that sent him from Davos to Seattle, Booberry tells VHLDaily.com that he’s happy where he ended up, that he believes he and his new Seattle teammates have a good chance at winning it all. At the time, though, Booberry says that he was in a state of shock.

 

“Let’s be clear, I didn’t ask for a trade at all; I really thought I’d be with Davos until the end of my career. I fully intended to give it another go at the title," he explained. “Apparently that feeling wasn’t mutual. And with the level of effort I’ve put in and my skill on the ice – yeah, I can honestly say I’m pretty surprised.”

 

From what the Davos organization has said publicly and privately, the decision was cap-related, with Booberry’s salary raising to $6 million this season due to new VHL rules. However, it’s notable that following the dual trades where Siyan Yasilievich was replaced with Brian Kowalski, the team would have been exactly at the salary cap and at a full roster even without trading Booberry.

 

Yet, the efforts persisted. Booberry was told about multiple different destinations that he might be headed, among them Malmo and Chicago. Ultimately though, Booberry landed in Seattle for the price of a second round pick, a small sum that reflects how many teams in the league are already established at the goaltender position. Seattle themselves declined a team option on previous goaltender Dusty Wilson in order to make room for Booberry, a decision that ultimately led to Wilson hanging up his skates entirely when finding a home seemed unlikely.

 

Now with his new home though, Booberry’s beginning to feel more excitement the closer we get to the season. This is a team set up for success after all, with Seattle making the North American Conference finals just last season and having the fourth-most wins among all VHL teams in the past five seasons. Booberry believes that the forward core might be the strongest he’s ever played with, he’s excited to be reunited with former Helsinki teammate from the S80 Draft Alessandro Nano, and he’s curious what final moves the team will have to set up for the rest of the season.

 

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Booberry’s agency has positive past history with Bears management. That history dates back to when Seattle drafted forward Gabriel McAllister with the first pick in the S56 Draft – a pairing that later led to McAllister winning both a title in S59 and an MVP with the franchise.

 

“I know what I’m capable of. I know what Seattle’s capable of. And I think we’ve got a good shot at putting our collective power together for something really good here,” Booberry adds. “Did Davos end the way I would have wanted? No, it didn’t. But is that part of my career behind me now? It is, and I’m really to show why Seattle and I together is something to be feared.”

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