Looking Back: Seattle Bears Off-season

[Banackock 7,992]

It was no secret heading into this off-season that the Bears needed to make some pretty solid moves if they were looking to give it another shot, stay relevant and stay competing. With a strong season behind them after capturing a Victory Cup only to fall heavily short in the second round of playoffs against a goalie and his team (Stopko + Toronto), there was speculation that a potential rebuild could be in order. They had limited assets to move, were already in some form of cap issues and were losing 2 players to retirement and their best player, Matt Thompson, to Free Agency. Huge hits like this, especially when cap is a concern, are often difficult spots to get out of and require a lot of effort, motivation and value. It was Seattle mission to make sure they kept competing though. Of course, this could be seen as a GM whose time is slowly coming to an end looking to see what he can add to his trophy case for he goes. ALL OR NOTHING - what's the pot going to be? Well, this off-season - sure, there was that one horrendous trade - but overall, not too bad and the team is looking solid out of the gate. So, because I have a doubles week and am busy next week (that's why I'm writing this now - for next week, hehe), let's analyze the Bears off-season and early on components to the season.

 

1. Free Agency

 

The draft had passed and there wasn't a whole lot of action for Seattle. They took chances on 2 players, more so just the one, hoping and hoping that they make a triumphant return @jacobaa19. Heading into Free Agency, there was mostly 3 good sized players available to the market (Ironside, Thompson and Charm), but one of them wasn't able to come to Seattle due to a league rule that prohibits GM's from regaining assets previously moved in a specific time frame. If Seattle was going to win and go for it this season, they needed both of those members. The discussions started with Thompson and eventually led to Ironside. I made my case to each of them about the team, my thoughts on the season, my plan for the roster and the rest of the off-season and a few options we had at juggling the cap. Reluctantly and fairly quickly, Thompson agreed and shortly after, so did Ironside. That offensive power at this point is crazy in my eyes and I'm loving every minute of it. Unfortunately, I was not loving the cap situation.

 

Prior in the off-season and even a little in playoffs and whatever, Seattle and Davos opened up the lines and were discussing trade on @majesiu. It was made known that Davos was actively trying to shop the defender. It was also known, thanks to permissions to speak to the player, that he was disgruntled and didn't like playing there. The deal was lined up, it was a good one and much less than what they ended up playing. HOWEVER, if the Bears would have made the trade then - would Thompson and Ironside have signed with Seattle? The initial deal was S57 1st for Jerwa. This opened the doors of adding the D-man cheaper and moving others off now for assets. It was either Malenko or Kovalev. 

 

2. The Trade

 

This was option A. Unfortunately, Shawn knew I was in a shitty spot and had to make a deal. @Tagger said it best. If you're moving cap, prepare to lose. I got my assed kicked. Yep. Highway robbery. But, I also got the piece I wanted and helped a member out. He's also good and young. The price was heavy, but I moved enough cap without having to remove any further roster spots. My main concern and thing that pushed me away from moving kovalev was that it would only remove enough cap - I couldn't add anyone else afterwards and my roster would be smaller - thus, less options etc. Sure, I could move Kovalchuk or Malenko to F, but then only play 6F, 2 D? So it was that or 5F, 3D if Kovalev moved. By moving Kovalchuk or Malenko, that cleared up enough space to acquire something else and 110% my main mission was finding a younger D-man, that was in their rookie phase of the contract for the discount, to somewhat replace the void of moving Malenko. Hello, Jerwa. Really the only one going. I know he's a great member in other leagues and has amazing potential. Is it a gamble? Yeah, but I think it's going to pay off. I'm wanting to win and it was my mission to get my players the best chances to win. It was a very, very heavy price - but I still found what I needed. Will it hurt the future? Likely so. Or, rather, it's going to make it very difficult (possibly). BUT, it did correct the present and give us the best chance we could possibly have in our scenario to win a championship. That's my job. Best way to win for the guys who are pushing with me.

 

3. The Final Result

I managed to sign Thompson back to the Bears. I would call that an asset gained for Free, but I did already have him so it's not overly too much that. Still counts though! Ironside I did add for free and Jerwa I paid an arm and a leg for. To sooth the pain that was left by Davos in Round 2 of my lickens, I broke it down as having to pay for Ironside. Thompson came back - or was reacquired, Malenko was traded for Jerwa and a 1st for Ironside. When it's looked at that way for off-season movements, not too bad. Again, my mission was to win. Dragoman, Thompson, Ironside, Smirnov, Garrop and Kovalev as a Top 6. That's some pretty fucking lethal names and an amazing roster. We need to find the right places for people and things will fire off. I mean, Dragomir is already busting out of his shell with a crazy 17 in 6 right now... 

 

I've made the word count for 2 weeks and am lazy, but that's a good semi-brief explanation of the thinking that went on this past off-season. Good luck this season everyone!  

 

Smirnov - 2 Weeks

March 4 -10 (DOUBLE - donation - 12 TPE)

March 11-17 - 6 TPE

[Nykonax 1,563]

44 minutes ago, Banackock said:

Of course, this could be seen as a GM whose time is slowly coming to an end looking to see what he can add to his trophy case for he goes

[Beketov 8,959]

7 hours ago, Nykonax said:

FWIW @Banackock has been saying this for like 10 seasons