Road to the S72 Founder's Cup, Pt. I: S71 Offseason

[McWolf 3,115]

Everyone wrote us off from the start. After being heavy buyers in Season 69 (nice), a season in which Peace led the team to a ridiculous 68-4-0 record in the regular season and a Founder’s Cup, the Wild was left without much to work with. That being said, Elmebeck had decided early in Season 70 that he was going to rebuild for Season 72, selling two players - Kristopher McDagg and Damien Wolfe - for a 1st-round pick in Season 72 each.

 

When I joined the staff near last trade deadline, I followed with the plan of having one more rougher campaign and getting back up as one of the serious contenders for the Season 72 Founder’s Cup. I traded our only valuable active asset - Gary Tarantino - to the Minnesota Storm for a 3rd-round and a 6th-round picks. However, I didn’t like not having any player on the roster in Season 71, so I decided to trade later round picks in future drafts for ones in Season 71, thinking I’d be able to get a couple of players to suit in Season 71, players who will hopefully stay with the team through Season 72, when things will start to get interesting for us. Without going through every trade I made, here’s a summary of what was dealt:

 

Saskatoon gave away

Gary Tarantino

Blake Bridges

S72 3rd-round pick

S72 5th-round pick

S72 7th-round pick

S73 4th-round pick

 

Saskatoon received

S71 3rd-round pick (Cassius Gardner)

S71 3rd-round pick (Bobby Wyman)

S71 3rd-round pick (Adam Frence)

S71 4th-round pick (Erik Hjalmarsson)
S71 4th-round pick (Kazimir Komarov)

S71 5th-round pick (Gino Alkamino)

3 picks in the 6th or 7th round (3 inactives)

 

All in all, we have received 6 valuable mid-round picks, with which we drafted 6 active players - 4 forwards and 2 defensemen. Slow earners, sure, but that just means that they are more likely to stay down one more season with the team and be here for our Cup run in Season 72. We have also managed to do that without touching any of our earlier picks next season, as we still hold three 1st rounders - including Houston’s 1st rounder, which should be a lottery pick - and our own 2nd rounder. I might look to sell a couple of S73 picks for, notably, a goalie and maybe a couple more 2nd rounders but, all in all, I feel like this team has the tools to make a surprise push this season - at the time of writing this, we are 3rd in the VHLM standings - but most of all, the Wild is already set to be one of the top contenders next season.