VSN Presents: Building a Contender - Seattle/Prague/London

[Alex 3,248]

@kirbithan

 

In our 3rd installment of our “Building a Contender” series we’ll be looking at a blockbuster trade which saw all three teams benefit greatly. This is the S84 blockbuster trade between Seattle, Prague and London. All three of these teams saw a lot of success as the result of this trade and have all made the finals since it took place!

 

This rather straight forward 3-way trade quickly evolved into this:

Just to provide some context on the above trade tree, here is what each colour means; Green = Still on team and playing; Light Blue = Prospect for team; Orange = Played and retired with team; Yellow = Played and was traded. Also in this case to keep things a bit more organized, boxes are around each team’s return for all of the trades.

 

 SEATTLE BEARS 

 

Starting off with Seattle, who acquired Nils Godlander @Moon in the initial trade. Godlander would play in 144 games over 2 seasons with Seattle, and put up decent points in that stretch with 68 goals and 58 assists for a total of 126 points! Following a tough end to S85 which saw the Bears being eliminated in 4 games in the wildcard round, GM Blake Campbell @Banackock made a trade sending Godlander along with Mikhail Kovalchuk and a S87 2nd to Prague for Babushka @BrutalBoost, Jeff Beffy @Strider, and a S86 1st.

 

Jeff Buffy would never play for Seattle and would be traded for a 4th where Seattle would draft Viktor Hasek @StackThePads, who wouldn’t pan out for Seattle.

 

With the S86 1st (2nd overall), Seattle would select Yaroslav Bogatyrev @Bojovnik, who currently plays for the team and has played in 272 games to date producing 91 goals and 129 assists for a total of 220 points in that stretch. Bogatyrev looks to be a key player in Seattle for sometime to come!

 

Babushka on the other hand would play for Seattle putting up 4 points in 14 games prior to being traded along with the S87 LAS 1st, and S88 SEA 2nd for Ryuji Sakamoto @der meister. Sakamoto would play for Seattle for the better part of two seasons playing a total of 130 games where they would produce a total of 92 points, most importantly Sakamoto would be clutch for Seattle in the S87 playoffs where they produced 17 points in 16 games played! Following the S87 playoffs, Sakamoto would be traded to D.C. in exchange for Mikhail Kovalchuk.

 

Now in his 2nd stint with Seattle, Kovalchuk would have a decent season with 59 points in 72 games and another 17 points in 19 games on route to the Continental Cup finals, where Seattle would fall just short. This past offseason Kovalchuk was traded again, this time to Warsaw in exchange for a S91 2nd.

 

 PRAGUE PHANTOMS 

 

Now moving onto Prague who played hot-potato with draft picks for a while. In the initial trade, Prague acquired the S84 LDN 2nd, which they would trade to Seattle for the S84 SEA and WAR 2nd, the latter of which Prague would use to select Damian Steele @73MPL4R, who has yet to play a VHL game and would not be traded prior to being a UFA. The S84 SEA 2nd would be used by prague to select Ben McLaughlin @Ben mclaughlin who would be traded to Malmo before playing for Prague along with half of Prague’s roster, the S88 PRG 1st, S88 VAN 2nd, and S88 PRG 3rd in exchange for Dabnad Shaw @Dabnad, the S88 LDN 1st, and S88 MAL 2nd, all of which would be traded prior to playing for Prague.

 

Dabnad Shaw was traded to Los Angeles for the S88 LAS 2nd. That draft pick would be traded as well with another 2nd round pick to London in exchange for an earlier 2nd round pick which would be used to select Olivier Gauthier @fonziGG, who is currently a prospect in Prague’s system and has put up very good numbers in the VHLE so far this season.

 

The S88 LDN 1st would be used to select Jacob Stone @scoop, who was promptly traded due to a lack of cap space. Stone would be traded to Malmo for Moritz Stauffer @GoodLeftUndone. To date Stauffer has done very well for a young defensemen with a total of 9 goals and 53 assists for a total of 62 points in 128 games played for the Prague Phantoms.

 

Prague would also trade the S88 MAL 2nd would also be traded prior to being used by Prague as they would move the pick with a S89 3rd to Toronto for a earlier S88 2nd where they would select BjorkaBjorn BjornaBjorkson @JardyB10, who appears to be a career VHLE defensmen, however, should Prague desperately need a cheap defensemen they would be a great fit at a 1.5 million dollar cap hit.

 

 LONDON UNITED 

 

Now moving onto London who was the busiest of all the teams following this trade having made several more major trades, despite not trading three of the four pieces they received initially. First off, Jack Hextall @Jack Feriancek would play for London for three seasons in which they would score 37 goals and add 83 assists for a total of 120 points in 216 games played before they would leave in free agency and sign in Los Angeles. Tynan Slyvester @diamond_ace on the other hand would play in London for their final two seasons prior to retiring where they would score 20 goals and pick up 63 assists for a total of 83 points in 144 games to end their career. Lastly, with the S85 SEA 2nd, London would select Johnny Kalamazoo @KzooJohn who looks to be a career VHLE player at this point.

 

The lone piece that London would trade from the initial trade was the S84 CGY 1st, which they would trade to Warsaw in exchange for the S84 WAR 1st and S86 WAR 2nd. With the S84 WAR 1st London would select Molly the Cat @JCarson, who is still with the team this season and has played an integral role in their recent success having produced 334 points in 343 career games. Additionally, they had 29 points in 23 games on route to winning the S88 Continental Cup!

 

The S86 WAR 2nd would be traded back to Warsaw in S85 along with Johnny Xavier @Johnny_HX and the S87 LDN 4th. Going back the other way was the S85 WAR 1st and the S86 WAR 3rd, both of which would be traded.

 

The S85 WAR 1st was traded with the S85 LDN 1st to Calgary in exchange for the S85 LAS and CGY 1st round picks. With the 5th overall selection (CGY pick) in the S85 draft London selected Astro Singh @8Ovechkin8 who is currently a free agent and only played one season with London where they had 10 points. With the 10th overall pick (LAS pick) London struck gold as they selected franchise goaltender Jesse Teno @aimkin! To date Teno has a 99-66-21 record and a 0.926 SV%. More importantly Teno won the S88 Kanou Trophy as they put up a 15-6-2 record and a insane 0.949 SV% during the S88 playoffs!

 

Going back to the S86 WAR 3rd that was acquired in the Johnny Xavier trade, London would trade the pick with a S86 4th to Toronto for a S87 3rd and S88 4th where they would select Nick Sansoe @Tipskid97 and Tomas Zubras @Zuby respectively. The former of which is still in London’s prospect pool and could potentially make their VHL debut in S90.

 

Retrospectively, all three teams benefitted from the initial trade as each of them gained or were able to later on that would help them on their way to the finals. But, with how Jesse Teno stole the S88 playoffs, it’s very hard to ignore the amazing work by @Dil and @jacobcarson877 to finally get London a cup!

 

Other Players that are somewhat involved:

Spoiler

@heffcolton @kelvi @JigglyGumballs @Rayzor_7 @ShawnGlade @DollarAndADream  @hylands @Try_Me678 @DC21 @Je Barbaslov @McGriddy10 @thecaringbear @frescoelmo @Phil @Zylen @RileyL @ThatCanadian @CODENAMEJIMMY

 

GMs:
 SEA - @Banackock
PRG - @Acydburn
LDN - @Dil/ @jacobcarson877 (didn't make a trade in the tree, current GM)
TOR - @Moon 

CGY - @Ricer13

LAS - @InstantRockstar

MAL - @KaleebtheMighty

WAR - @N0HBDY

DCD - @FrostBeard

DAV - @Alex

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Alex

[Triller 1,688]

The early steps of London winning their first cup!  Lovely!

[JardyB10 4,869]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

where they would select BjorkaBjorn BjornaBjorkson @JardyB10, who appears to be a career VHLE defensmen, however, should Prague desperately need a cheap defensemen they would be a great fit at a 1.5 million dollar cap hit.

 

Yeah but then I'd have to ragequit so it would have to be VERY desperate indeed!

[thecaringbear 19]

How would Caring Bear be involved in this 

[Alex 3,248]

17 hours ago, thecaringbear said:

How would Caring Bear be involved in this 

Drafted with the S89 PRG 3rd that was traded to Toronto