Moscow Shakes it Up Blockbuster Style

[Arce 755]

S89 will look different for the Moscow Menace. From in between the pipes all the way out to the core of forwards Moscow has changed majorly offensively, defensively and goaltending wise. Moscow felt it needed a major shakeup after another early exit as they lost in heartbreaking reverse sweep to their rivaled HC Davos Dynamo. This after Tomas Sogaard captured the Kevin Brooks Trophy, securing 51 goals on the season. Ronan Lavelle captured the Mike Szatkowski Trophy, securing 109 points on the season. And Hammar Voss in the running for the Sterling Labatte, and Alexander Valiq trophies after recording 26 goals, 87 points, 230 hits and 155 shots blocked. Goaltender Matt Murdock had an up, and down season. Murdock was lights out the first 3 games of the Davos series, but it was a completely different story the next 4. That was Moscow's season ins a nutshell. It came to an end in frustrating fashion.

 

Now what? GM Euron Leonidas wasted no time getting busy in the S89 season. He feels it was time to make some big time changes to the team. Moscow made a blockbuster trade with the Prague Phantoms acquiring forward Jason, defenseman Deron Nesbitt and goaltender Clueless Wallob in exchange for forward Jason Argos, goaltender Matt Murdock, Moscow's S89 2nd rounder, and Moscow's S91 2nd rounder. Prague was looking to shed cap and get a little younger in between the pipes. Moscow was looking to stack up their forwards with Jason and get a budget friendly defenseman in Deron Nesbitt with the uncertainty with defenseman AK 92 Wit da Hoodie. It looks like with this trade Hoodie will not be in a Menace uniform in S89, making his future uncertain. Wallob and Murdock are very similar in terms of skill, with Murdock being younger. Murdock will be missed in the Moscow locker room but Wallob is a very welcomed addition and should give the Menace the same competitive edge. Jason joins a forward core of Tomas Sogaard, Ronan Lavelle, Fraser Wallace and Left Alone. Nesbitt will likely be joining a 3 defensemen system with Hammar Voss and The Mediocre One. This system has found it's fair share of success when running a high talent of forwards and having a good goaltender in between the pipes. Wallob can and will rise to the occasion. He will be backed by one of the best backup goaltenders in the business Sam Tombstone. A two goaltender system can help make or break playoff seeding. Moscow is wise to keep that in tact, rather than referring to the bot backup.

 

"We are going to miss Matt for sure, but we are absolutely thrilled to have Jason, Deron and Clueless on board." forward Ronan Lavelle said. "The atmosphere here is awesome, and I think they'll really enjoy it. The past 2 seasons have really been disappointing with early exits after a great regular season. We are hoping these guys can help us turn the tide." Lavelle concluded. Jason has been a 30+ goal scorer each of the last 2 seasons, and is looking to climb closer to 100 points this season. Jason is a built goal scorer, joining two others who know how to shoot the puck. This could create a real nightmare for the opposition's defense and goaltending. Deron Nesbit is coming off of his best season yet production wise. He had 76points, 64 of which being assists. With Moscow's core of forwards, Nesbitt has a chance to build off of this and set new career highs. Nesbitt is a pass first defenseman with smooth puck handling so this should make the transition up the blue lines more productive for the offensive. Clueless Wallob is coming off his best season stat wise as a goaltender. He recorded 42 wins, a .927 save percentage and a 2.53 GAA, while also recording 4 shutouts. Wallob did not have the playoff performance he would have liked against London, and will most certainly be looking to rebound in S89. With these 3 key additions, will this be enough to get Moscow over the hill they have run into the past two seasons?