Toronto Pushes For Wildcard Spot

[Devise 4,475]

It has been an interesting off-season for the Toronto Legion and new General Manager Ryan Power. After taking over for the very talented Travis Boychuk near the start of the off-season, Power immediately got to work negotiating a bunch of trades, living up to his reputation of trading picks away. While the plan seemed to be go full rebuild early on, a veto'd trade after the confusion regarding the status of former GM player Sebastian Ironside, the Legion seemed to take a step back and evaluate the gameplan. 

 

The Season 63 draft seemed to be the sticking point, as the Legion traded away their 4th round selection after losing out on the lottery to the Riga Reign. The goal was to get a S64 lottery pick, and a trade was made with the Helsinki Titans. The Legion still wound up making a few notable selections in the S63 draft, selecting Tzuyu at 5th overall, Chace Trepanier at 19th and goalie Rhett Stoffiday at 22nd. While Stoffiday was shipped off in a later trade, we did speak to the Legions head of scouting and VHL Hall of Famer Daniel Braxton about the Legions selection in this seasons draft. 

 

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We were stunned with Tzuyu fell to us at 5th. We know that Helsinki had their man Crosby selected at 4th, and I think even they probably thought there guy would fall to fifth. I know our management had some conversations with them about that fifth pick in other trade talks. Even still, we didn't really know who their man was, we just knew that regardless a very talented player would fall to us at fifth. We were overjoyed that it was Tzuyu who comes from one of the most consistent player agencies the VHL has known. To the point that even if we had a higher pick in that draft, we would of considered taking Tzuyu. At a certain point that member reputation has to matter, and while we felt the S63 draft was stacked, Tzuyu was probably the player we most wanted out of that first round. 

Chace Trepanier is someone we had scouted well in advance of our selection. We knew after making our trades that we had one chance to grab a quality forward this draft, and because of the picks we lost it would have to be a deeper player. We knew it would be a player that may take a season to develop but we wanted someone who we could believe it and had the early activity to show us that come Season 64 he'd make our roster. Chace was that player for us. Similar to our earlier selection, looking through forwards that we realistically could get Chace was our target at that pick, and to have him fall to us there really worked well for us. After training camp we really felt happy with this player, and we think he'll be ready to challenge for rookie of the year in Season 64, and be an impact offensive player for us going forward. 

Stoffiday was a weird one. This was more in the area of GM selection than to do with scouting advice, but I think the gameplan on that front was that a quality goalie and member had fallen too far, and we realized that whether it was via trade or internally, the value of Rhett Stoffiday was way more than the pick we would have to use to get him. At a certain point you can't pass up on those kind of opportunities. In terms of scouting the only reason Stoffiday wasn't a big priority for us was due to our depth in net already, what with Carison and Rift just joining the clubs prospect chart. But we knew that Stoffiday could be a great player in the league. He is a motivated and determined player, and has shown all the early tools that say he's going to be a great starter in this league. Based on team need, it appears that he may end up being that starter for the Davos Dynamo. 

 

This bring us naturally to the trade that did occur following the draft. Davos who after winning a Continental Cup in Season 61 appeared ready to enter rebuild was having a hard time finding solid buyers. There were a few teams making calls, but the offers that would signal a quick deal simply weren't there. A lot of teams were full up on players, and the destination/need for the assets Davos had was little. Couple that with losing a few of their key players to Riga via free agency, and having their own pick in Season 64 meant that Davos was looking to offload some players. Ultimately a deal was made as Toronto sent Stoffiday, a S64 SEA 1st & TOR 3rd, as well as a  S65 TOR 1st & 3rd for Adam Warlock, Ko Kane, Ay Ay Ron and Shawn Broduer. 

 

The deal between Davos and Toronto did bring on it's share of criticism, with some wondering if Toronto had misjudged their compete window. Even after you look past Toronto not having their own pick, would it not made more of a smarter deal to fill up the roster with lesser players, and use less of your own assets to make the push for the wildcard spot? After all the team still had Carison, an active younger netminder. when you couple that with the aging nature of the majority of the players acquired, it made one curious what the Toronto GM was thinking. We had a chance to speak with the Toronto GM, Mr. Power about the trade and the teams outlook going forward. 

 

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Yeah it was an interesting deal. I'm not going to sit here and say I was overjoyed making it. But when I took over the club one of my biggest question marks was not having my own pick in Season 64. You take not having your own pick combined with having a bunch of decent depth players who have dipped in activity, and you start to question your direction. As Ironside no longer became a trade asset, I began to seek homes for some of my other depth guys that were assets. After all, that is what you do in a rebuild. However Davos actually had the better/more active pieces when it came to a firesale. Upon making the trade with Helsinki, I started to realize following Helsinki loading up on players in the draft, that the reality was if I do nothing Helsinki could nab the majority of Davos's better players for cheap say come deadline? At which point the trade I made with Helsinki to acquire a lotto pick in Season 64 gets put in jeopardy. 

I then just looked at my roster and realized, if I wanted to the push I could make for those players, and the better roster, was more straight forward than Helsinki's was. Despite me trading for their pick, Helsinki and Toronto were in similar situations standings wise. One of us was going to push up against what was likely at the time, Davos, for a wildcard spot. Obviously given that neither Helsinki or Toronto had their own picks, the reality was going to be that I would rather us have the best chance at the wildcard spot. So I leveraged the only real play I felt Toronto had at that point in time. The asset advantage, to acquire the best players I needed to ensure we can get the most out of the assets we planned on keeping. It's as simple as that. 

I certainly think at surface value looking at the trade I made seems suspect. Why would a team who clearly needs younger assets to retool/rebuild trade 1st round assets and a future goalie prospect to settle for fringe competitor. However I do think as you examine the situation we were in more, the move just makes logical sense. Given the uncertainty in net I felt more comfortable going with the goalie I already created as future Legion starter. He won't be ready to make the VHL for a few seasons, and there was no point stringing Stoffiday along, not if I could grab the value needed to push my team over the edge for the wildcard this season, and if we are being real I still think we will be fine in S64. The only player we lose to retirement is Ay Ay Ron, with Kane, Brodeur, and Warlock all sticking around for S64. This also allows us to lay in the bed that was made for me regarding Aksel McKnight who we have signed till S65. It's obviously and wait and see type of deal, especially as players develop, other moves get made, and the actual placement of picks get set in stone. But I don't think I really view this as a trade Toronto could really win or lose. It was a necessity given the situation, and I think Davos got relatively fair value on their players. The two thirds added for Ay Ay Ron is probably a bit pricey, but at that point it was just about sealing a deal. 

But like I said, this is a tough deal to judge from our angle and I think it's very easy to take the armchair approach of giving props to Davos for getting value for the players they had on their roster in hard circumstances. I make no doubts that had we played on till deadline or closer and had a minor bidding war that Davos probably sells some pieces to Helsinki. I just felt that was a chance I couldn't take. I think part of looking closely at any deal is understanding the situations the GM's are in when making them. Hell even with Helsinki, after first negotiations with their GM they weren't sold on bulking up nearly as much for the S63 draft as the end result would indicate. As GM's we have to be open to the direction our teams take. It wouldn't make sense, for example, for multiple GM's to push for the same objective at the same time, especially as things tier. The breakdown of the league means teams are put in a situation where if you aren't one of the four competitors your better off rebuilding. However other factors do influence that. What picks you have, how many players you have on your roster, keeping your actives happy and getting them the stats they need. You saw that with Riga this past season not knowing if it was going to be them or Seattle as they pushed in a wildcard spot. But still getting huge stats for their players.

 

In all my seasons on this job I always found that the best approach to take is the one that fits the nature of your teams situation. While going full 180 can often make sense, if your trying to force the assets and team makeup what you want them to be you can lose sigh of the reality of the team needs. I personally think I was guilty of making mistakes like that in the past, and after hard looking at the roster even before the big trade with Davos? I saw a wildcard team. I didn't have the market to make this team worse than that, and given we didn't have our own pick I had no reason to do that. So I pushed the needle further to make sure that puzzle piece fit. As is the case, any move can always come back to bite you, but I have no regrets. I'm proud of the team we will assemble in Season 63 and I look forward to doing what I can to get the best out of this franchise. 

 

As usual, the Toronto GM always full of words. Time will certainly tell the tale on this deal, as draftee's get selected and we see full value of the entire off-season moves for the Legion. One thing that doesn't seem to be a question at this point will be the competitive nature of the Legion heading into Season 63. With a legit starting goalie, a very tight defensive core and a deep forward core that for sure lacks in some star power, the Legion seem poised to secure up the wildcard spot in Season 63. How well they fare against Calgary, Quebec, Seattle and Riga will be the bigger question mark. Much of the Legions now legit players are aged, and only remain with their status to the transition of the league as the new stars begin to rise. And aging players with less star power has rarely been a long term success in the VHL. Generally star power gets complimented by aging players and younger players. Another question mark that hangs over the Legions head is the future of Sebastian Ironside? Will he be forced into auto-retirement or allowed to play with the Legion until the next assigned GM player JB Rift gets called up? This is a decision that could absolutely have an impact on the Legions competitiveness this season, as Ironside would be an example of star power that could give the Legion a better chance against the top four clubs. 

 

Season 63 promises to be a bold one for the Legion nonetheless, as we stay tuned to see all of this unfolds. 

 

 

2223 Words, Using for PT Weeks (Oct 8-14, 15-21, 22-28, 29-Nov 4) Using for JB Rift

[Banackock 7,630]

Nice to see insight. Good read! 

[Stoffiday 127]

That trade might actually be the best thing in my career.