Malmo Trades

[Toasty 57]

The Malmo Nighthawks have been very active in the trade market this season, already having made 3 trades in the off-season alone. After all of the wheeling and dealing, the Nighthawks seem to have come out on top. Today, I'll be reviewing these three trades and rating them on a scale from 1-10, with 5 meaning the teams broke even and 10 meaning Malmo got a complete steal.

 

TRADE #1: Apr. 26, 2019 - MAL Acquires: Basaraba Moose - RIG Acquires: S67 MAL 3rd, S68 MAL 2nd, S68 MAL 4th

 

Advantage started off ambitious with his first as GM of the Nighthawks, immediately trading 3 of his picks just after the expansion draft, for proven defensive prospect Basaraba Moose. Moose had over 30 goals and 90 points last season with the Halifax 21st of the VHLM. He came onto the scene midway through S63. He was selected by the Riga Reign with one of the last picks of the S64 VHL Entry Draft, going 28th overall. Following the draft, Moose spent two more seasons in the VHLM, the first of which, he showed little improvement and was sent down for a third season, in which he found his game and helped the 21st to their second straight Founder's Cup finals. Moose went from a D-level prospect with little promise, to a solid blue chipper asset, who showed he was ready for the VHL last season. Riga was most likely going to call him up and start him on the second pair this season, but with the trade to Malmo, he could see a bigger role and increased development. If this is the case, and Moose does develop faster in Malmo, I believe that the Nighthawks won the trade, however, if last season was just a flash in the pan for Moose, Riga most likely got the better of this deal. For now, I would say it is a risk for both teams, but the potential reward is higher for Malmo, so I believe they won this trade by a narrow margin.

 

TRADE RATING: 6/10

 

 

TRADE #2: Apr. 30, 2019 - MAL Acquires: Gucci Garrop, S66 SEA 4th - SEA Acquires: S66 MAL 3rd

 

Only 3 days after making his first trade, Advantage strikes again, this time blowing the opposing GM out of the water, and picking up Gucci Garrop, while only dropping a few spots in the draft in return. Garrop is a young forward, coming off his first full VHL season. He produced at almost a point per game last season and has tremendous potential. Value wise, this trade isn't even close, however Malmo wasn't really addressing their needs (defense) when they picked up Garrop and it didn't make a lot of sense for them to give up more picks which could be used to pick defense, for more forwards, which they don't need. However, it was somewhat understandable since the value was so one-sided. For what Seattle got compared to what they could have gotten elsewhere, they lost this trade by a huge amount.

 

TRADE RATING: 8/10

 

TRADE #3: May 5, 2019 - MAL Acquires: Bolt Vanderhuge, Mikka Pajari - RIG Acquires: Gucci Garrop, S68 MAL 3rd

 

This trade really cemented to the players of Malmo that Advantage as a GM knew what he was doing. He traded a guy he got for almost nothing, in return for a decent defenseman, which the team needed, and a quality veteran centerman. Although the value in this particular trade was pretty even, the value looks amazing in Malmo's favour when looking at the big picture. The GM was able to turn the extra value from a player he didn't really need, into something he did, and personally I think this is a strategy that not enough GMs use. In my opinion, if you get a trade offer that you know you would be winning based on trade value, accept it, even if it doesn't address your needs, because you can always trade the new assets for things you do need and get a way better return than you would've for the pieces you gave up. These couple trades by Advantage are a perfect example of this. He was clearly going to win the Seattle trade, even if Garrop was not a player he needed, but he knew that he could always turn Garrop into defense of equal value if he needed. So in my opinion, these two trades by Advantage were genius. In the long run he traded a 3rd for a 4th, which is almost equivalent to giving away your 6th. So we'll say he traded a 6th to get Garrop. He then traded a 3rd and Garrop to get Vanderhuge and Pajari. In the long run it ends up being a 6th and a 3rd for Vanderhuge and Pajari, and if you ask me, that is one sweet deal!

 

TRADE RATING: 7/10

 

 

TOTAL TRADE POINTS: 21/30

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Toasty