Crónicas de los Reyes: a quiet trade deadline

[VattghernCZ 1,165]

 

To be honest, if “trade deadline” was the theme week even a season ago, it would probably be the first time I’d skip it (don’t take this too seriously, I say stuff like “this may be the first time I skip it” every season, and I have yet to do so). But as it happens, this was also my first trade deadline as a general manager. Which opens the possibility to lazily earn the six uncapped simply by re-visiting trade proposals both coming my way and coming from my side, and give my view on them.

 

The first proposal came very early in the season rather than in the deadline week, but I’ll include it nonetheless. Mexico was offered picks for a depth forward, which I rejected. At that time, we had 7 forwards (one of them close to IA), 2 defensemen and a goaltender on the roster. All of the forwards have at least one season of term left, and the whole core should be over 200 TPE for the next season’s playoff run. The only way we’d trade one of them away would have been for a defenseman, or the other team would have to overpay – which they were not willing to do.

 

The second time I’ve got engaged in trade talks was when an elite forward on one of the heavyweight teams was days away from going IA. Said heavyweight team at that time was in the position to trade one of their defensemen, so that’s what I’ve offered – a forward for a defenseman, balanced by picks in case said forward doesn’t update. They did update, so we didn’t re-visit the trade talks again.

 

I shut down the third trade proposal on the spot. One of the better teams was looking to reinforce their blue line, and was looking at one of Mexico defensemen. However, even though we’re really aiming to go for it in S98, I had said we’re not folding this season, and said defenseman is a huge piece of our team, on top of being the team captain. The member had also said they would like to stay in the M for one more season as a 350+ TPE player, and there’s absolutely no way I’m trading away re-sign discussion rights of the face of the franchise.

 

The next trade talk was really just me kicking the tyres rather than serious negotiations. I was looking for a third defenseman, mostly to reduce the ice time of a bot defenseman who has to cover any time one of the Mexico defensemen goes in the box. I wasn’t able/willing to offer much, so I had set my eyes on a defenseman turning FA this offseason on a re-building team. However, the team’s GM wanted to retain discussion rights with said defenseman (just like I wanted in the previous point) unless I offer too much for them to refuse. It was a short, pleasant talk with a team with bright future.

 

The last trade I had my eyes on was what would be perceived as a lateral move and more of a locker room move. However, this may very well be an offseason move, so I wasn’t even mad when the GM didn’t respond – the message is probably in their message requests, not in their DMs. I didn’t push it, as it was really just hours away from the deadline, I’ll let the GM know immediately after the playoffs end to try to finish this move as an offseason trade or a draft day trade.

 

With the trade deadline behind us, and a waiver defenseman already joining us, this is a group we’re rolling with into the playoffs. We may not be the favourites, but I like the squad, and a first round upset wouldn’t surprise me at all. Good luck everyone!