evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 (edited) The Quebec City Meute turned a few heads recently with their acquisition of Greg Clegane and Aleksi Koponen, both season 45 players. Of course to bring in some top talent you have to ship out some definite potential and that came in the form of goaltender of the future, Dmitri Dadonov. They also shipped out their first round pick in the upcoming draft as well as their second round pick for next year. With rumor that this is the first of many trades, one can only speculate what QC management has up their sleeve. With this trade, it can be assumed that the top line moving forward will be Koponen centering the line with Tom Lincoln and Unassisted on the wings. Koponen has played in all 288 VHL games with the Helsinki Titans since being drafted. In those four seasons, he’s averaged 90.5 points per year with his career high coming last season with 46 goals and 52 assists for 98 points. About the only negative for him is his 72 penalty minutes last season but his first three seasons in the league he hadn’t exceeded 30 PIMs so this could be a fluke statistic. His 61.4% faceoff percentage was good for third in the league last year so it’s hard to see Unassisted playing center assuming he’s going to get first line minutes. The next piece to this puzzle is Greg Clegane. Since coming into the league, Clegane has not won less than 44 games in a season, Quebec City, on the other hand haven’t won 30 games since season 45. They do have two of the best young defenseman in the league so with any luck, they can keep Greg’s streak alive and win forty-four plus games this upcoming season. When this trade was announced, management said this trade “will certainly make us a contender” however that remains to be seen. Expectations will definitely be a lot higher with the talent they have at their disposal. Additionally, the acquisition of such a stud goaltender should do wonders for the team. We caught up with Felipe Rodriguez, who will be entering his second year as a defenseman for the Meute, to ask him what he thought of the trade. “It’s a great trade, absolutely no doubt about it. But do I wish we still had Dadonov coming up for us next year? Yeah, maybe a little. I know Clegane is good but it is always a little disappointing to ship out someone you’ve worked with consistently. I’ll get over it, I’m sure, as long as we can string together some W’s when he’s out there. I always thought we were a few key pieces away from making this work in Quebec so now that we’ve got those pieces, it’s time to put up or shut up.” On what he’s done to get ready for the season: Felipe fails to capitalize on the opportunity. “I’ve been working on my puck handling this off season, put a lot of hours into it since we didn’t have to worry about post season games I had a lot of time on my hands. I think it will help with many aspects of my game actually. We’ll have to wait and see. Maybe I can show off some of my new skills in the World Cup tourney, if I’m selected for a team, of course.” On what he thinks management means when they say this is the first of many trades: “I really have no idea. I know we have three centers now in Coutzen, Koponen, and Unassisted but only one true winger in Lincoln. I’m not sure how long Coutzen is on contract with us though. We don’t have any other players we could really move and we just dealt our first round pick for this year. If we give up next year’s first round pick we better be getting a guaranteed ticket to the cup. If we move a player, there’s no one I’d want to see go. I’m probably the least experienced so it could easily be me though I was originally told I wasn’t going anywhere, this is a business and things to happen.” (687 words) Edited May 9, 2016 by evrydayimbyfuglien Kesler, Phil, Frank and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 5,111 Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Great spot! It's definitely a huge blockbuster trade, as quebec garner one of the best goalies in the league along with one of the best centers! I feel your post-trade stress syndrome. You've traded away a younger franchise goalkeeper and great member. Ultimately this trade has no losers.. only winners. You'll be happy with Draper and Victor... I know that from experience. They are both awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,829 Posted May 9, 2016 Admin Share Posted May 9, 2016 44 wins every season? Damn I have been spoiled by Helsinki. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted May 9, 2016 Author Share Posted May 9, 2016 2 minutes ago, Victor said: 44 wins every season? Damn I have been spoiled by Helsinki. Definitely expected to see lower numbers your rookie year but idk what your TPE count was by then. 23 minutes ago, Phil said: Great spot! It's definitely a huge blockbuster trade, as quebec garner one of the best goalies in the league along with one of the best centers! I feel your post-trade stress syndrome. You've traded away a younger franchise goalkeeper and great member. Ultimately this trade has no losers.. only winners. You'll be happy with Draper and Victor... I know that from experience. They are both awesome! Oh, I know, I'm not worried about it. Just thought we were gonna be fine as is. I'm just excited to see what we can do now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,829 Posted May 9, 2016 Admin Share Posted May 9, 2016 15 minutes ago, evrydayimbyfuglien said: Definitely expected to see lower numbers your rookie year but idk what your TPE count was by then. Well I was drafted with 322, just slowed down considerably since lol. Playing for the Victory and Continental Cup winners helped I guess. evrydayimbyfuglien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Admin Will 4,660 Posted May 9, 2016 Senior Admin Share Posted May 9, 2016 6 hours ago, evrydayimbyfuglien said: About the only negative for him is his 72 penalty minutes last season but his first three seasons in the league he hadn’t exceeded 30 PIMs so this could be a fluke statistic. Led the league in S48 in fights participated in and fights won so it was totally worth it. evrydayimbyfuglien and Kesler 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jala 922 Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Your articles are always great reads. Quebec speeding up their rebuild and Daniel getting an extra piece to help jumpstart his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evrydayimbyfuglien 600 Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 6 minutes ago, Jala said: Your articles are always great reads. Quebec speeding up their rebuild and Daniel getting an extra piece to help jumpstart his. Thanks! There was a time when I struggled to write stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOM 8,648 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 But I wanted to play for the so much. evrydayimbyfuglien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL 151 Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Reviewed! Great article I actually wasn't aware of this trade until you made this. Hope Riga and Quebec can build good teams and face each other in the final in the future. evrydayimbyfuglien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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