Toronto Continues To Make Moves, Looking For Another Cup

[Devise 4,475]

The Toronto Legion will not go quietly into that deep night. After winning back to back Championships the Legion missed the playoffs in Season 66. It was a tough pill to swallow, only made easier by the boon of playoff success in seasons previous. But it was mostly tough because Toronto was fighting for a playoff spot for much of the season, and both Vancouver and New York, who ultimately made the playoffs and in Vancouvers case the finals, had lapses in the season where Toronto could of taken advantage. However even after the offense of the Legion found consistency, their young goalie JB Rift could not find it. 

 

This left a lot of evaluation on the table for me as Toronto GM. I will not lie, I did debate going full rebuild at one point during Season 66. I asked a couple of GM"s what they'd give me for a couple of my more notable names but ultimately I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing. We live in the era of players, I said to myself. The idea that somehow Toronto is worse off next season because we lost a few outside pieces when so much of that core was still intact made me lean hard back into the competitive direction. But I knew changes had to be made.

 

It started and ended with center. It's long since been out of the bag that @DollarAndADream and I had discussed the possibility if Ironside returning to Toronto all the way back in Season 64, when he was on the team and helped us get the first of the two championships. Last season after Rift Toronto's biggest weak spot was probably down the middle. Both The Charm and Ewan R Lawson despite being solid and consistent TPE earners finally had the harsh update scale/depreciation combo catch up with them, especially given it was their final seasons. While they certainly weren't bad, even chemistry couldn't save it from being King, Arroyo and Tzuyu carrying the bulk of the offensive load. That combined with the overall increase in other team quality, especially in the depth department led to us playing a lot more defense than we should of, and our big addition last season in Sullivan Jr wound up having to play in the defensive end just to keep us in games. 

Heading into the off-season I didn't know where Dollar stood anymore. While we had agreed that once he would be eligible, as because he was a former GM player he could not play for Toronto for 2 seasons after Season 64, that he would join us provided we were competitive, I was honestly wondering if he still even remembered. Still, I knew I not only needed to get the team in shape for potential FA's like Ironside, I also needed to make sure I didn't put all my eggs in one basket. Enter the Davos rebuild and the opportunity at Rylan Peace. There was no doubt in my mind that Peace was my first target. Davos was still in the playoffs when Shawn and I discussed what he was selling, and I made no hesitations to throw out the trade that was ultimately accepted. It cost the entire S69 suite of picks eligible for Toronto, a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th but nobody was willing to outbid, especially since Davos was seeking prospects on top to try and get a better offer. While the deal wasn't locked in fully until the playoffs had ended, I wanted to show my seriousness not only at competing, but at filling what I thought was the biggest hole. 

 

Having Peace also gave us the security to not panic if we didn't land Ironside. A depth center can handle the duties of a second line, I just couldn't repeat last season and have two players who were better suited for that role in both positions. Our top line guy needed to be our guy, and with his current age, Rylan Peace is that player. It was a good thing I did that too, because I spent the two seasons I wasn't allowed to contact Dollar/Ironside about FA things barely contacting him at all. Ultimately Ironside never wound up testing free agency and privately him and I had a little bit of a laugh about the whole situation as he informed me he entirely forget. Thankfully Toronto was otherwise able to clean up in free agency, we landed the top active FA in Veran Dragomir, picked up solid and underrated defender Cayden Saint, and landed a over 400 TPA inactive center in Gucci Garrop. 

 

The rest of the moves, which saw me acquire S65 player, and our youngest roster player Matthew Kai a steady earning winger who remains active, and both Lando Baxter and Bolt Vanderhuge on defense all came down to teams wanting to see active players getting minutes in the right spots and my desire to not only overload now, but begin preparation for seasons down the road. I feel I did a pretty good job on that front, as heading into the off-season the in regards to players on the roster post S67 Toronto only had 3 players for sure signed beyond Season 67. Even then, two of those players in Tzuyu and Joey Boucher had player options. The other player was my own goalie, JB Rift. 

 

While both those players still have a player option, and it is very likely that Joey Boucher winds up retiring before Season 68 to try his hand at a new player, we were able to add contracts to rebuild a core for the next few seasons. Sullivan Jr signed a one season extension, with a player option for S68. Although rumors are that Season 67 could be the last he plays on Toronto, as a potential re-tool has been teased to be in the works following Season 67. Roctrion King signed a two seasons extension all the way up to Season 69, and Rylan Peace came with a contract that runs all the way to Season 70, with Season 70 being a player option. Meanwhile the signing of Cayden Saint came for 3 more seasons. As an inactive as well, and a young one being S64 Gucci Garrop will be able to stay with the team without hitting depreciation for the first time until Season 69. 

 

While there still is room left to be done, especially when it comes to the post Season 67 roster, with the priorities right now on signing both Matthew Kai and recently traded for defender Lando Baxter to deals as well as getting my only draft pick Tzuyu committed longer, the end result is that the Legion went from on the verge of rebuild back to a healthy competitive team for a season, with now at least a workable pool of players and assets to move forward with beyond Season 67. Especially when in the Discord and on the forum all I heard heading into the off-season was things like "Toronto, you mean a few stars and a bunch of inactives?" When now I can proudly say that our roster sits with 11 steady actives and 2 inactive players. That we have a good mix of depth/utility and star power, and that we absolutely have the capacity to keep a core in tact here beyond just Season 67. It may not of been the perfect off-season, no off-season ever really is but I'm exceptionally happy with how the roster has shaped up both player and member wise. 

 

At the very least though, Season 67 will mark another chance for the Legion to try to capture a Continental Cup. It's a tough league out there, but even some of the critics of the Legions roster now put them somewhere in the top 4 teams of the league. As everybody knows as long as you make the playoffs you generally have a chance, and while the rosters of Helsinki, Calgary and Riga are certainly still impressive, arguments could be made on any of those 4 teams beating each other in a series based on the merits of each teams strengths and weaknesses. The real question for Season 67 is going to be which team comes from the bottom six of the pack to try to take what appears on the surface to be a 4 team race, and make it a 5 team one.