Claimed:Turbulent Start to the Season brings Blockbuster Trade and Front Office Changes for Cologne

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Turbulent Start to the Season brings Blockbuster Trade and Front Office Changes for Cologne

The Cologne Express are off to a rough start this year. After many Experts had them near the top of the league in their preseason-rankings, Cologne surprised everyone with a big blockbuster trade to start the season, that saw them trading away Rookie-sensation Davey Jones to Davos for two First Round Picks and depth-forward Tony Stark. And so far without Jones, the team has failed to live up to the hype and to the promise they have shown last season. Currently Cologne sits in fourth place in the European Conference and is actually closer to fifth placed Riga than to the Vasteras Iron Eagles, who sit in third. Right now the Express are out of the playoff-picture by seven points and even though there is still plenty of time to turn things around, fans and players alike are growing impatient.

“It is too easy to just point at the Davey Jones trade and use it as an excuse”, Express forward David Collier told the press in a recent interview, “of course this team is better with Davey on it and we all would’ve liked it if he had decided to stay, but we all have to look at ourselves and our own performances and not at who is or isn’t on the roster. I can’t be happy with the way I have played so far this season and I know that a lot of my teammates feel the same way. Losing a great player is one thing, but us guys who are still on the team aren’t playing as well as we did last season either and we have to change that before we can point to any other possible reasons for our bad start.”

 

 

Collier himself was projected to step up into a leadership position this season when the coach named him one of the Alternate Captains, but while he has grown into a team leader in the locker-room, his on-ice performances hasn’t be where he’d like them to be. Through 23 games Collier only has 4 goals and 11 points and is a team worst minus-5. He is still one of the better scorers for a team that has disappointed offensively so far this season, but was recently moved down to the 2nd line so that the teams newest acquisition, Tony Stark, could get a chance on the teams top-line. Stark is not the only new face in the Express line-up, as two Rookies are getting their chance with the big club this season in Lauris Prikulis and Mikhail Mikhailovich. Not with the team anymore are Zach Cuff and Marcus Figgarowta-Nahimal who the team traded for picks, and back-up goalie Vincent Vega who ended his career.

One of their players being traded and another getting a letter wasn’t the only important news out of Cologne in the early stages of this season though. A possibly way more impactful move for the future of the Franchise was the acquisition of a new Assistant General Manager, a position that has been vacant since the inception of the Franchise and in general isn’t very common among VHL-teams, as very few of them employ an Assistant GM. Serving as the new second in command behind long-term GM Joey Kendrick will be Alexander Schneider, the 37-year old German never had an impactful hockey career himself but despite his young age already has over ten years of experience as a coach and team manager in the German youth leagues and lower-tier men’s leagues. “Mr. Schneider already helped us out a bit in different areas over the last season and he was especially involved in our draft preparations, so we felt like it was time to finally make it official and hire him in a front office position”, Express GM Joey Kendrick told the press following the announcement. Mr. Schneider has not been available for a statement yet, but according to sources close to the team he has already been involved in the scouting process for the S37 draft as well as trade negotiations.

Edited January 14, 2014 by RomanesEuntDomus

[Doomsday 4,034]

Content: 3/3 - It's incredible to see how crazy good Davey Jones truly is, especially for a guy only in his second year in the VHL. Some players just seem to always under-perform in this sim, but Jones just has "it." Truly going to be a special player.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - A couple mistakes, but stuff that could be easily ironed out. Overall, well-done though.

 

Experts = experts

Rookie-sensation = rookie sensation

depth-forward = depth forward

on-ice performances hasn’t be where he’d like them to be. = on-ice performances hasn’t been where he’d like them to be.

Rookies = rookies

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Definitely!

 

Overall: 6/6 - Well done.

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