Vancouver Misses the Mark (so far) [1/2]

[McLovin 393]

Vancouver Misses the Mark (so far)

 

It's been a few days since Vancouver and Helsinki decided to shake up their top-6 cores and swap wingers in Ben Hafkey along with 2 additional draft picks & ACL TEAR respectively. Now that some time has passed, an already lopsided trade is starting to seem more and more puzzling in the eyes of Wolves fans and management, and the effects of the trade are already taking their tolls on both teams. Let's get into the details and figure out what led up to the trade, the execution of it, with the current and potentially long term aspects of the trade taken into consideration.

 

The Teams prior to the trade:

Vancouver went into the trade leading the league in points, riding on the momentum of Denver Wolfe, MGS, HHH & a hot backup goalie to carry themselves to a 8-1-0 record. Hafkey, playing on the second line at the time, had 3 goals & 4 assists to help as well. The start of the season could not have gone better for them as they started their backup goalie in all 8 initial games and putting themselves atop the league. With those games out of the way, and their starting goalie in Greg Eagles taking over the starting position for the rest of the season, the future was looking bright, and a potential return to the playoffs and finals appearance for the second time in three years was again brought to the table. Helsinki on the other hand was another story. The team had a rough start to the year with a sub .500 record to go along side with a seemingly stagnated ACL TEAR notching a few points to start S69. After making the finals in back-to-back years in 66 & 67 and winning it once against the Vancouver Wolves, the sluggish start to the year was unacceptable to GM @Jubo07 who wanted a change of scenery. 

 

The trade:

GM Jubo came into the GMing world of the VHL after assuming an assistant GM job in Philadelphia, and was a piece of the Reapers squad that won the Founders Cup in S66. Ben Hafkey was also a member of that elite team and was a crucial point producer in the playoffs that helped propel the team to a Cup championship. Jubo, realizing that something needed to be done to help the Titans get some momentum going, brought in a familiar face in Hafkey, alongside a 2nd & 4th round pick. The price was ACL TEAR, drafted 12th overall in the S67 draft by the New York Americans. His initial growth was good enough to notch him 50 points in 72 games the year prior, and Vancouver, looking to improve the second line scoring, took notice of this and went out to acquire TEAR.

 

The result so far:

It's hard to overshadow how much this trade has helped one team, and taken a heavy toll on the other. Within a few hours of the trade, the effects were already taking place. Hafkey in his first three games with his new squad put up 3 points, while ACL TEAR in his first ten only managed 3 points. The teams records also reflected these changes as Helsinki sky rocketed up to first place with a record of 10-1, while Vancouver fell to second with a 5-5 record since the trade respectively. The Vancouver LR also took a hit as players began to question management and noticing their point production also taking a massive hit. It's very obvious that going from first place to a .500 record rocked the chemistry of the team, and with MGS requesting a trade shortly after the Hafkey trade, it's yet to be seen as to how this will effect Vancouver in the long-term. As for Helsinki,  they'll ride the momentum of fresh blood and a rejuvenated second line to make a push into the playoffs.

Edited November 25, 2019 by ItsMcLovin

[Renomitsu 930]

Review

Lovely article - especially now that you've pointed out how the teams' trajectories have effectively swapped post-trade; I'd love to see you try your hand at some editorializing in the future, though it may work better in articles where your player isn't involved. I don't have any major grammatical/other stylistic changes to suggest for you unfortunately!

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

@Beaviss once again making bad trades. He really is Jim Benning

[Beaviss 4,949]

16 minutes ago, TheLastOlympian07 said:

@Beaviss once again making bad trades. He really is Jim Benning

 

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