TRADE ALERT: HSK/CGY

[Doomsday 4,143]

 

 Helsinki Titans Receive:

D Cody Smith

S72 CGY 1st

 

 Calgary Wranglers Receive:

S72 HSK 1st

 

Analysis

 

After finishing near the bottom of the VHL and enduring severe turmoil in their locker room, Brady Stropko's Calgary Wranglers stunned the league with a drastic turnaround. Grabbing the top two prospects of the draft in Edwin THE Encarnacion and Mikko Lahtinen with the first two picks in the VHL Entry Draft and making several off-season moves, the Wranglers were back in business. Bolstered by a defence featuring Brady Stropko Jr, Charlie Paddywagon and Jordan Tonn, Calgary cruised to a 41-24-7 record, good for second in the North American Conference. Defeating both the D.C. Dragons and Seattle Bears in six games, the Wranglers advanced to the Continental Cup Finals, where despite a valiant effort, they came up short against the Moscow Menace. Still, in position to make a serious run, the Wranglers needed to shed some cap first. 

 

The Helsinki Titans found themselves in a real dogfight to reach the playoffs in the farewell tour of Julian Borwinn, Alexander Pepper and Sidney Crosby. Bolstered by the emergences of Ben Hafkey at centre and rookie defenseman Erik Summers, along with Pepper winning his 300th game, the Titans finished the season 35-32-5, securing the tiebreaker over the Prague Phantoms to earn the third seed. Although they avoided a first-round match-up with the Moscow Menace, Helsinki squared off against an old foe: the Riga Reign. In another classic series between the two that went to seven games, the illustrious careers of Borwinn, Pepper and Crosby came to an end with a 5-2 loss in Game Seven. Ravaged by retirements, the Titans needed a pickup at defence to replace Sidney Crosby's veteran presence, among other things. 

 

Both teams were able to accomplish a lot with this trade. Calgary, of course, sacrifices some of their tremendous depth at defence in order to clear up cap space. In the process, they'll almost certainly be moving up in the first round of a loaded Season 72 draft class. Cody Smith will help fill in at defence for Helsinki, although how effectively it will remain to be seen. The ugly effects of depreciation have wreaked havoc on Smith, and it has gone entirely uncombated thus far. The Titans could be missing out on a top choice for a player that will either continue to rot by the season or, as Smith is in the final season of his contract, a lacklustre rental instead of a higher draft pick. It's almost as if Helsinki is doing Calgary a favour, as Calgary not only gains valuable cap room but they likely also get to move up in the first round of a sure to be stellar draft class. That's a win-win if I ever saw one. 

 

Get-to-Know the Players

 

Cody Smith

 

A Season 66 draft pick of the Calgary Wranglers, Cody Smith has experienced both the highs and lows while with the Wranglers. After scoring 45 goals and 42 assists for 87 points with the Mississauga Hounds in Season 66 in the VHLM, Smith reached the VHL the following season. In four seasons with Calgary, Smith tallied 151 points, 393 hits, 332 shots blocked and a +18 rating. A vocal part of the Wranglers, Smith rose from being the 42nd overall pick of his class to being named the Assistant General Manager of the team that drafted him, the Calgary Wranglers. However, his activity has dropped off. Recently depreciating, he has not added any TPE since that happened. It's definitely not the start the Helsinki Titans were looking for at all from Smith, but if he returns, he's certainly capable of making a difference for them. 

 

Players Mentioned: @cody73, @Bushito, @Tagger, @Beketov, @DMaximus, @MexicanCow123, @Jubo07, @Sonnet, @SidTheKid87, @McLovin, @Erik Summers

[Gustav 6,468]

There isn't a ton that Calgary is losing here, and they're a) almost definitely moving up a few spots, and b) potentially getting a lotto pick if Helsinki tanks hard enough. Wranglers win.

[zepheter 589]

Hard to vote for Helsinki on this one. They're losing arguably the best player in the league and their franchise goalie. I highly doubt Smith will be able to make up for their losses.

[Jubo 1,839]

This article leaves out the fact that Helsinki is drafting their GM player in the next draft. We require any first to do so. We got a roster player + a first for a first. Where that first lands has no impact on who Helsinki it drafting.

[Doomsday 4,143]

18 minutes ago, Jubo07 said:

This article leaves out the fact that Helsinki is drafting their GM player in the next draft. We require any first to do so. We got a roster player + a first for a first. Where that first lands has no impact on who Helsinki it drafting.

 

Perhaps, but Calgary is still potentially acquiring a lotto pick for a bargain of a price. It might not affect Helsinki where the pick is for them, but for the Wranglers to be potentially acquiring a lotto pick for what is quite frankly a bargain of a price, that tips this to them regardless. 

[jRuutu 2,474]

Fellas, fellas - lotto pick?

 

Jim Bob is in town, we gonna win some games

[Big Mac 310]

1 hour ago, jRuutu said:

Fellas, fellas - lotto pick?

 

Jim Bob is in town, we gonna win some games

Calgary finna get this ring

[Big Mac 310]

2 hours ago, Doomsday said:

 

Perhaps, but Calgary is still potentially acquiring a lotto pick for a bargain of a price. It might not affect Helsinki where the pick is for them, but for the Wranglers to be potentially acquiring a lotto pick for what is quite frankly a bargain of a price, that tips this to them regardless. 

Not to add on Smith has admitted he’s an inactive, and I doubt he’s coming back he’s focused on the EFL.

[jRuutu 2,474]

2 hours ago, Big Mac said:

Calgary finna get this ring

Calgary - Helsinki finals!

[Big Mac 310]

23 minutes ago, jRuutu said:

Calgary - Helsinki finals!

Pffft if that’d happened I’d sign with the Titans for crying out loud 

[Big Mac 310]

15 hours ago, jRuutu said:

Calgary - Helsinki finals!

Btw you where my 200th reaction

[jRuutu 2,474]

3 hours ago, Big Mac said:

Btw you where my 200th reaction

Awesome Towards 500 next!

[Big Mac 310]

28 minutes ago, jRuutu said:

Awesome Towards 500 next!

Here’s hoping

[cody73 87]

On 3/17/2020 at 2:01 PM, Big Mac said:

Not to add on Smith has admitted he’s an inactive, and I doubt he’s coming back he’s focused on the EFL.

I'm not IA. I'm still around, and will add TPE to my player as the season goes along. My focus has been EFL cause I'm an AD over there... but I'm still committed to the VHL as a player. 

I'm just not as vocal here as I once was is all. 

[Big Mac 310]

18 minutes ago, cody73 said:

I'm not IA. I'm still around, and will add TPE to my player as the season goes along. My focus has been EFL cause I'm an AD over there... but I'm still committed to the VHL as a player. 

I'm just not as vocal here as I once was is all. 

I probably added that I didn’t mean this in a bad way 

[Doomsday 4,143]

Congratulations to Calgary for getting the third overall pick for peanuts!

[Victor 11,009]

1 hour ago, Doomsday said:

Congratulations to Calgary for getting the third overall pick for peanuts!

But Helsinki still gets the same player so...

[Jubo 1,839]

1 hour ago, Doomsday said:

Congratulations to Calgary for getting the third overall pick for peanuts!

My GM player is in the draft, so I just needed any first to pick him. This was a trade to fill a need at D. While we did not plan for the pick to be this good there is really no harm done for our future.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Jubo07

[Victor 11,009]

1 minute ago, Jubo07 said:

My GM player is in the draft, so I just needed any first to pick him. This was a trade to fill a need at D. While we did not plan for the pick to be this good there is really no harm done for our future.

How did this end up quoting me. FAKE NEWS!

[Jubo 1,839]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

How did this end up quoting me. FAKE NEWS!

lol, fixed!

[Doomsday 4,143]

2 hours ago, Jubo07 said:

My GM player is in the draft, so I just needed any first to pick him. This was a trade to fill a need at D. While we did not plan for the pick to be this good there is really no harm done for our future.

 

Knowing you more than likely would have a lotto pick, you could have gotten considerably more value than an inactive defenseman. I mean, you were so dead-set on getting a different first that you didn't seem to care about the value it took to do it. Calgary were just the ones smart enough to take advantage of that.

[Victor 11,009]

1 hour ago, Doomsday said:

 

Knowing you more than likely would have a lotto pick, you could have gotten considerably more value than an inactive defenseman. I mean, you were so dead-set on getting a different first that you didn't seem to care about the value it took to do it. Calgary were just the ones smart enough to take advantage of that.

It's a curious situation in truth. I was offering as well but a worse player than Smith so Jubo was right to take Calgary's offer.

 

Jubo was also right to look to trade down obviously as it was a free asset. The interesting thing is that the more any other team gave up, the less value we would get back. If I had tried to outbid Calgary I'd probably have to give Helsinki a player who likely would have got them into the playoffs therefore meaning I wouldn't get a lottery pick after all.

 

So in a way, the less Jubo got, the more he have up, but there was clearly a cut off point where he couldnt get too much anyway. Either way, it was a free asset.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Yeah I think Calgary won, but Helsinki didn't lose, is a fair way to put it. It's fine for Helsinki - the player is the same and they get Smith, so it's impossible to argue on just their side that not trading would be more valuable than trading, which is usually the condition for losing a trade. Calgary's certainly going to be happy with the pick, however.

[gorlab 4,321]

cody73 is highly underrated.