Check-in of Toronto

[der meister 3,335]

After a disappointing exit in the North American Conference Finals, losing quickly to the eventual Continental Cup Champion Seattle Bears, the Toronto Legion have a lot of work to do. For starters, the Legion lost their two leading scorers in Harry Callahan and Diego Machado, along with second line center Mikko Borisyuk, making it a total of 50% of their forward corps lost to retirement. The Legion are in a pivotal moment: do they try to fill these holes on the fly, or do they double-down on their losses and start shipping out the remainder of their assets to go for a full rebuild?

 

Legion General Manager Doug Stevenson, Jr, put all questions to bed early Wednesday morning when he made a splash in acquiring center Spanish Moon Moth from the Chicago Phoenix in exchange for a 2nd and 3rd round pick. Moon Moth has been a wildly consistent forward over the past three seasons, topping 100 points each time, and last year setting a career best in goals with a whopping 58. Moon Moth is a very solid two-way center, as well, which will only help the team moving forward.

 

One of 58 for Spanish Moon Moth

 

Along with the splashy trade, Toronto has officially graduated winger Inker Belle from the VHLM. Belle is a diminutive player, standing only 5'5" high and weighing a paltry 150 pounds, but the Legion are hoping that last season's breakout for the Halifax 21st repeats itself at the VHL level. Belle registered 39 goals and 97 points last season and has a strong eye for playmaking and passing.

 

On the blue line, Toronto hopes Andrew Skilton can build off of a tremendous breakout season of his own, which saw him notch a career high with 81 points. A threat at both ends of the ice, Skilton may be the Legion's best overall skater and is surely a key to building off of last season's playoff run. He's also young, a full 5 seasons away from retirement, with plenty of time to grow before that unfortunate day arrives.

In net, last season's duo of Dalkr Vidarsson and Toddly Bobbly seem all but guaranteed to return. Both netminders put up excellent numbers last season and have two years remaining until they get Logan's Run'd into oblivion.

 

Forwards Dorji Khan, Wayne Shotzky, and Konstyantyn Shevchenko will be looked at to provide leadership up front to the squad. Both Khan and Shotzky saw new personal bests in the points category last season, seeing gains of 14 and 20 points, respectively. For Shevchenko, he was able to rebound nicely in the second half of the season after a slow start, finishing a handful of points behind his previous season total from when he was a member of the D.C. Dragons. Rumors have circulated that each of the three returning forwards have told management they are willing to spend the offseason developing their faceoff skills to help make up for the lack of a natural center, though time will tell if that is necessary or not.

 

Shevchenko, for his part, stayed in Toronto for a few days after the heartbreaking loss to Seattle, before flying to Vienna, Austria, to visit his parents and check in on their foundation. With the invasion of Ukraine still underway, and the political climate looking less and less supportive for his native country, Shevchenko is said to have donated over 90% of last season's salary to helping refugees from Ukraine to immigrate out of the war-torn nation. During locker cleanout interviews, Shevchenko pulled no punches with regard to his opinion on the changing climate.

 

"Politicians are playing games with people's lives," he said, gritting his teeth. "Thousands of innocent people who want to live in peace have lost their homes and are at the mercy of dictators who see them as nothing more than collateral damage. До біса Путіна, до біса до Трампа і до біса Ілона Маска. Slava Ukraini!"