Reflecting on DC Dragons and Vladimir Trunov

[qripll 547]

Vladimir Trunov has not played a single game in VHL; however, you could see personal fans wearing Trunov jersey in Seattle, Helsinki, Malmo and now in DC. I wish I could say that Trunov has fans everywhere and I wouldn't be wrong, anyway, the reason is simple: during the offseason Trunov was traded three times. Seatlle traded him to Helsinki in an exchange for picks (1st + 2nd), Helsinki sent him to Malmo for Lovstrom, who is debatably the strongest goalie of the league right now, and the day after Trunov was heading to DC. We paid for him 12th and 2nd, I doubt I could buy someone similar for this price. Trunov is not the greatest player of his draft class. However, he was undervalued, and I took that chance. Trade tree under my tenure is growing up, it would be great to see someone examining every move I've made so far, but I guess it's too early to discuss it. Basically, I got Trunov for Ben Laas and 2nd DC. I think at this point this trade looks even better, Ben Laas was retiring veteran and getting 1st round pick for him at trade deadline was a mind-blowing deal, especially for GMs. Yeah, I am looking at you, Seattle. 

 

Ironically, Trunov won't stay long in DC. I've got an opportunity to move up on draft and with 3rd overall pick DC has drafted Toby Bob. He is the goalie I want to build my team around. Trunov is good for sure, but I think I want to see my player in DC jersey later, I assume it will be my next one and preferably a skater. To be honest, being a goalie is not that entertaining as I expected and I believe my 3rd player should've been skater because I doubt I will be able to earn as much as I do it now. It is what it is so Trunov's part of the trade tree will likely continue growing and looking at the past I am sure I did everything right. It was definitely a strange move to draft goalie prospect after I acquired future starter who is also my own player, but we will see how good I am at predicting and managing the team assests. 

Talking about DC, our draft ended after 5th overall pick. A week ago, we had 5th overall, 12th and 13th pick selections. Plus 21th and 24th in the second round pick. As I was pretty sure Malmo would take Bek and WAR would not draft Toby I decided to give up 1st DC S99 to get franchise goalie and close this position for years to come. So, taking that on my mind I decided to upgrade my D core and that's how Leif Reingaard became a dragon. World Cup winner brings winner mentality and experience in the team, moreover, it would be beneficial to Albin Aldgard to start his VHL path with such a great partner. I strongly believe that Brandon Petan Jr will win the Best Rookie award and Aldgard is the projected winner for the next season. Pairing with Reingaard will make Albin more productive and boost his development. With 5th overall pick, Dragons drafted first gen player - Agustin Martinez. Martinez was max earner and I am happy that we've got another great forward that will join us in S99. Sleepy is new to the VHL community, but I am confident that it won't be an obstacle to show the passion and fire burning out her soul. 
To conclude, this is how DC pre-draft moves look alike: 

Trunov < ---- > 12th OA (Bazooka Joe) + 2nd DC S99
3rd OA (Toby Bob) < ---- > 1st DC S99 + 13th OA (Lorenzo Mancini) 
Leif Reingaard < ---- > 21st OA (Chris Barbe) + 24th OA (Vincent Martinez)

Just to make it clear, I don't rush with rebuild as most guys think so and acquiring Reingaard is mostly on-the-spot decision. Calgary couldn't find him a better home and I suppose I was the only guy who made an offer. There were around 21-22 actives on the draft, so 21st and 24th are almost useless picks and considering that I moved my 1st next season I am interested to perform better and fight for the wild-card spot. With that being said, I believe you agree that Leif is a perfect addition to the team. More than that, I don't prefer to have overloaded draft and currently I hold 1sts from SEA, VAN and TOR. These are from contenders; however it would be more than enough to get 1 active earner and 2 clickers from next draft. I still focus on getting more prospects and developing my future core, nevertheless, with cap tweaks it would be tougher to find a spot for every prospect if I stay in rebuild mode for too long. 

 

Before S98 starts, I would love to post some predictions: 

 NA                         
VAN                       

TOR                        
SEA                                
CGY

NYA

DCD

CHI

LA

 

 

 EU

MOS

DAV
RIG

PRG

HSK

LDN

MAL

WAR

 

Players that are likely going to be traded during S98: 

 

Maxim Anisimov, Big OI Doinks - NYA - Both players will play their last season before retiring and New York has no upcoming replacement. If they decide to retool a bit, it would be a smart move. Currently, NYA prospect pool has some promising stars: Pepe Silvia, Ryan Mantzz and Tina Hughes. However, you can't build the team constantly being mid. It is the condition where you don't get as much value as you want from drafts, and you don't fight in late rounds of the Continental Cup. Before cap reduces, I assume there will be a team willing to bring a star veteran on roster and NYA shall take advantage of it. 

 

Conference Prince-de-Galles - HSK - Another retiring player that might be a perfect addition to most contenders at trade deadline. HSK is going to be in wild card spot for sure, but in the worst scenario they have some assets to be traded and use the return to retool a roster. One of them is Conference Prince-de-Galles. 

 

Joshua Schwarzer - CHI - Joshua is the hottest winger on the market right now. 100% Chicago will trade him, and they had better do it faster to make more value. At the moment, Schwarzer is pending UFAs. 

 

Roger Eagles - LA - After tremendously successful S97 draft LA got screwed and had only one pick of S98 Draft - 23rd overall. It is not what you expect to go through the rebuild process, so to make it smoother it would be a good step to sell Roger Eagles for both sides. As the return will definitely be huge and player deserved to be in top team. 

[qripll 547]

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[LucyXpher 1,812]

8 hours ago, qripll said:

We paid for him 12th and 2nd, I doubt I could buy someone similar for this price. Trunov is not the greatest player of his draft class. However, he was undervalued, and I took that chance.

Considering we only paid a 99 1st and two 2nds for S96 Narnia Shaw, S96 Xhekajs middletoe (both similar TPE to Trunov) and two other players the off season before, getting 12th and a 2nd back works just fine for me especially when the other assets in the Lovstrom trade amounted to a 1st as well.  Oh and people said we lost that trade for Shaw and Middletoe, smh. I think it was a fair trade for both sides, I’m happy with the return and I’m glad you felt it was a good deal!  
 

Maybe GMs should stop trying to fleece each other…

Edited Tuesday at 04:24 PM by LucyXpher

[qripll 547]

11 minutes ago, LucyXpher said:

Considering we only paid a 99 1st and two 2nds for S96 Narnia Shaw, S96 Xhekajs middletoe (both similar TPE to Trunov) and two other players the off season before, getting 12th and a 2nd back works just fine for me especially when the other assets in the Lovstrom trade amounted to a 1st as well.  Oh and people said we lost that trade for Shaw and Middletoe, smh. I think it was a fair trade for both sides, I’m happy with the return and I’m glad you felt it was a good deal!  
 

Maybe GMs should stop trying to fleece each other…

Yeah, that's fair deal. I mean, Vladimir is undervalued in terms of his impact on the club. I'm active in LR, earn enough and carry every team I play for (STHS blessed!) And being traded three times throughout the offseason is funny!

[LucyXpher 1,812]

24 minutes ago, qripll said:

Yeah, that's fair deal. I mean, Vladimir is undervalued in terms of his impact on the club. I'm active in LR, earn enough and carry every team I play for (STHS blessed!) And being traded three times throughout the offseason is funny!

lol that’s definitely true tbf, if it made sense for Malmo, I would have loved to keep you, but it’s not out time. Three trades in an offseason before your first VHL game is wild