VHL Trade Wars: Edition 9 (Season 60 Off-Season)

[Advantage 2,891]

VHL Trade Wars: Edition 9 (Season 60 Off-Season)

 

Good evening and Happy Canada Day to any of my fellow Canadians.  I decided to be a little bit of a procrastinator and save my media spot writing until Saturday evening, but ultimately better late in the week rather than not doing it at all.  This Trade Wars will have a few more trades involved as the overall bulk of the moves isn’t as large as some of the last few trades we have looked at.  So this edition will see three transactions looked at as there are only three other moves to review in the Season 60 Off-Season, and once again we see some familiar faces that seemed to have dominated the Season 60 Off-Season’s transaction log.

 

There are two themes that this edition has going for it with veteran players looking to win their first and only Continental Cups and a salary cap scramble, with the Calgary Wranglers looking to get under the cap ceiling and two teams looking to take advantage.  So buckle up as we look at three more moves that shaped the rest of the Season 60 off-season and gave the audience of our league more perspective on who may come out on top during the campaign.   

 

--------------------

 

S60 OFF-SEASON

 

To DAV 

D - Luca Volkov @Kyle

 

To TOR

S62 DAV 3rd Round Draft Pick (F - Kasper Loh @MrMaxx44)

 

General Managers: @Tyler (Davos), @DollarAndADream  (Toronto)

 

Date: June 14th, 2018

 

This trade sees the Davos Dynamo, who are entering a season where they are looking to compete for the Continental Cup, adding a veteran defender in Luca Volkov who was entering the final season in his VHL career.  Volkov, whose player agency has a familiar history with the Dynamo franchise, had played the previous six seasons as a member of North American organizations, with time spent in Calgary, New York and then Toronto.  

 

Over the course of his time in Davos, he would have a decent year as a solid accessory piece on the backend.  He finished the season with his worst offensive performance in six full seasons in the VHL, but still finished with a solid 46 points, 94 hits and 91 blocked shots in the most limited his minutes had been since entering the league.  In almost heroic fashion though, Volkov would step up for the S61 Playoffs, recording 8 points, 8 hits and an incredible 24 blocked shots over 14 games on route to the Continental Cup.  This was Volkov’s first and only Continental Cup in his VHL career, and the fact that he was able to step up and play a pretty important role during their run, just caps off his career in the best way possible.

 

During his entire VHL career, Luca Volkov would record 330 points in 447 career games, and added on 1081 hits and 720 blocked shots over that seven season (S55 was just a 15 game campaign for Volkov) career.  He would play on some really solid teams that just couldn’t follow through in the playoffs, finishing with 57 career playoff games and a respectable 35 points.  He also even put some time in on an awful young team that relied on the veteran to be one of the only go-to players, as he finished with 53 points and a statistically horrendous -102 plus-minus.  He certainly had a noteworthy career and it’s nice to see that not only did Davos get what they wanted out of this deal, but so did the player.

 

Toronto really shouldn’t receive much criticism or anything here.  They simply were doing right by the player in moving him off to a team that could compete for the Continental Cup, and basically were just giving him away for a cheap asset.  The pick they received was used on a forward by the name of Kasper Loh, who signed briefly with the Saskatoon Wild before showing a disinterest in playing professionally and moving on from the league.  There was no official word on why he chose not to continue on his hockey journey, but the only rumour I had heard was that his family business was a better fit due to the unlikelihood of making it to the pros.  

 

Winner: Davos @Tyler - It kinda has to be doesn’t it?  The Dynamo were looking to bring in a veteran defender to give them some solid minutes and hoped to return a Continental Cup run in his final season in exchange.  The Dynamo went on to win the Continental Cup and Volkov not only had a near 50 point campaign in a more limited role, but he also stepped up in the playoffs to help win it all.  Toronto didn’t make a bad move but ultimately the pick they made just never ended up getting it going.  Tough break but at least they did right by the player and Volkov got his chance to get his name in the history books.

 

--------------------

 

To TOR

F - Slava Aleksei @Tyler

S62 CGY 3rd Round Draft Pick (F - Jack Stucky @stucky71)

 

To CGY

D - Boner @Corco

 

General Managers: @DollarAndADream  (Toronto), @Bushito (Calgary)

 

Date: June 15th, 2018

 

This trade was one of two parts of the Calgary Wranglers trying to get under the league salary cap and this one even had a bit of controversy that I will briefly touch on first.  This trade saw Calgary move veteran defender Slava Aleksei, to the Toronto Legion along with a pick for Boner, a depth defender.  Aleksei, who is represented by the agency that runs the Davos Dynamo at the time, was pretty unhappy as they didn’t feel Calgary made any effort whatsoever to consider their player’s wishes in playing for Davos, and proceeded to move him to Toronto without communicating anything about a transaction.  This was in part due to the cap issue and Calgary scrambling to get under, but it is important to note that Aleksei would end up being moved to Davos during the regular season, in order to give him a chance at the Continental Cup (that they would win!) as opposed to being on the hopeless Legion who were in the midst of a rebuild.

 

As already stated, the Toronto Legion acquired Aleksei, who was fresh off another impressive season with 22 goals and 68 points to go along with 141 blocked shots in 72 games.  This was an excellent accomplishment for a veteran defender in his fifth year in the league as it was his first time surpassing the twenty-goal-plateau as a defender during his career, only having more than that as a forward in his rookie campaign.  Aleksei went on to play six full seasons, ending it with his Cup in Davos, and finished his career with 415 points in 432 games to go along with 659 blocked shots, five of which he played on the backend. 

 

The Legion also acquired a third round pick that they would use to select Jack Stucky, a Canadian winger who played 137 games over the span of two seasons in the VHLM, first with Yukon and then Oslo.  Over that span, he scored 32 goals and recorded 77 points, with all but 7 of those points coming in his second VHLM season, with the Oslo Storm.  Despite being drafted, his development just never got off the ground and while he showed some glimpses during the Season 62 campaign, some concerns were released about work ethic and overall talent, and Stucky would be let go and never seen in the VHL Professional System again.

 

The Calgary Wranglers got some much needed cap relief out of this deal, but also acquired Boner, a defenseman who was in the prime of his career and was known as a depth defensive defenseman.  Boner went on to play an impressive 576 games in the VHL and would record 211 points, 1972 hits and 1058 blocked shots, reaching the 1000-1000 club.  Boner played for Stockholm, Calgary, Riga and Toronto over the course of his career, with him being mostly known for his time with the Wranglers and his one explosive offensive season that he had with the Riga Reign.  However, it was his final season with the Legion where he captured his first and only Continental Cup, contributing a goal, 26 hits and 24 blocked shots over the playoff run. 

 

Winner: Draw – Yeah, I mean this is a tough one cause Aleksei ended up being moved on and he was only in his final season.  While Aleksei was definitely the best player in this deal, weighing what he could do in that one year versus Boner, who played for another four seasons in the Victory Hockey League and did so providing solid defense and physical play, is something to consider.  Ultimately I feel both teams got similar value in the end and given all that I can see, I ultimately would probably consider this is an overall draw.  I almost went with Calgary though, because their ability to clear cap space and not really lose too much on value was actually not a bad move, especially given the amount of criticism Bushito received for the transaction.  Not necessarily a defender of him not notifying a player of a potential move (cause I have been on that side of things and it can definitely be

frustrating) but it was still an okay deal all-around I think.

 

--------------------

 

To CGY

S62 QUE 4th Round Draft Pick (G - Matt Aloisi @twoplayable)

 

To QUE

F - Josh Stronk @Beerfridge

 

General Managers: @Bushito (Calgary), @Beaviss (Quebec City)

 

Date: June 15th, 2018

 

This was the second and final trade to get Calgary under the cap and involved them trading young forward Josh Stronk for a S62 QUE 4^th Round Draft Pick, which is pretty much as good as nothing.  In fact, some teams had passed on their pick before the selection was made.  Quebec City swooped on in and acquired the player who has a well-known agency in the sim league world.

 

Calgary moved Stronk, a young Canadian forward entering his third season of professional play, for essentially nothing, a fourth round pick used on goaltender, Matt Aloisi, who played one season with the Saskatoon Wild in Season 61, before dropping out of the VHLM Farm System.  During that season, Aloisi would go 6-17-2 for a 4.54 GAA and .857 Save percentage, in what was a fairly inconsistent 25 games for the Wild.

 

The Quebec City Meute swooped in and acquired Stronk, a young Canadian forward who had just finished his fifth season in the VHLM, three of which were with the Saskatoon Wild.  He was an incredible VHLM talent, who recorded a remarkable 430 points in 362 games over the course of his six seasons in the minors.  These tremendous statistical accomplishments were capped off by three consecutive Founder’s Cups, and with three different clubs (Yukon Rush, Saskatoon Wild and Oslo Storm).  Stronk finished his career by playing two seasons in the VHL; his first with New York and his second with Helsinki.  The two seasons he played were fairly similar statistically as he recorded 71 points and 114 hits over his 144 games in the VHL, where he played as a 2nd line center on two fairly mediocre squads.

 

Winner: Quebec City….kinda? – I personally think I have to say Quebec City since Stronk had a solid VHLM career and played a couple seasons in the minors, while the player that was involved on the other side of things played 25 goals before being going released and going unsigned in the VHLM.  With that being said, this is barely a win since Stronk didn’t debut on the VHL side of things until Season 62 and played a minimal role on a rebuilding club.  With that being said, Stronk was known as a great teammate and a breath of fresh air at Training Camps, so I give the Meute the win since he’s someone that brings joy to people’s faces in the locker room.  Plus he is a 6”8 250 lb behemoth who had the nickname “The Iron Giant”, so obviously he is the best player in the deal.

 

--------------------

 

And with that the ninth edition the VHL Trade Wars is complete and we have completed the Season 60 Off-Season, which had a tremendous amount of trades made.  This one saw three interesting moves made involving later round picks and veterans looking to end their career with some glory, and thankfully they did indeed find this success.  Luca Volkov and Slava Aleksei went on to win the Continental Cup in their final season, as a member of the Davos Dynamo.  A tremendous finish for two solid veteran defenders, and one that makes that tremendous cup win a really precious memory for the Victory Hockey League.

 

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the VHL Trade Wars and I look forward to bringing you the next edition, which will move on to Season 61 as I strive to continue breaking down the trades that shaped our incredible league history.  Once again, Happy Canada Day and I hope you all enjoy your day and continue to live life with your head up (if you can’t tell my stoner brain has taken over by the time I finished this article).

 

 

- 2024 Words (Claiming Week 1 of 4)

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Advantage

[Advantage 2,891]

Claim Week 2/4

[Advantage 2,891]

Claim Week 3/4

[Advantage 2,891]

Week 4/4