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sash · 12-02-2018, 12:11 AM

Welcome to SHL Talk Media, the place you go for your latest SHL news and analysis. Today's program is going to be loaded, as we will be going over the future of the Minnesota Chiefs, the Louie Garrett trade, and some top rookies in this draft class.

The Minnesota Chiefs made tons of noise at this recent trade deadline, completing two blockbuster trades.

The first notable trade of the deadline night by the Chiefs, and the biggest trade of the deadline, was the move that sent defenseman Isak Ødegård to the San Francisco Pride:

pride

Acquire
Isak Odegard

Chiefs

Acquire
Luisa Koller
S45 NEW 2nd
S47 SFP 1st* [If Odegard signs extension after S45 with SFP, MIN gets their choice of S46 or S47 SFP 1st]

This was quickly followed by an extension which would allow Odegard to play in S45 with the Pride, worth 5,000,000.

Isak Odegard is one of the highly touted defenseman in the league, with an outstanding TPE number over 1.6k, and one who has been consistent in his production, producing over 35 points per season in the last few season. During the last few seasons, Isak Odegard was well regarded as the Minnesota Chiefs number one defenseman for some time now. Of course, it seems that Odegard was uninterested in remaining with the Minnesota Chiefs, likely stating clear intentions of leaving in free agency, leading to this trade. The Chiefs did get a high first in return for sure, the Pride aren’t exactly at elite status yet, despite approaching this status slowly but surely. It appears that if the Pride and Chiefs get lucky and Odegard feels the Pride is a good fit for the star defenseman, Minnesota’s management will opt into exchanging the S47 first for the S466 first, S46 being an extremely promising draft class already, and considering the Pride aren’t exactly in a position to compete yet, it will definitely be a high draft pick.

Taking advantage of Odegard’s likely will to leave the Chiefs was the Pride, coming up big time here. Of course, the Pride are known as a young and growing team, not looking like a playoff team anytime soon, however adding the mentorship and talent in Isak Odegard will be huge, especially if they agree to a deal for S46+. The Pride’s defense has now been bolstered quite a bit, now featuring two of the best in the league, Jack Tanner and Isak Odegard. Odegard being brought in will introduce a top 2 defenseman to the system, and for next season is an addition that the Pride hope can squeeze them into the playoffs, as the Renegades, Riot, and potentially Panthers and Dragons rosters weaken. As it stands however, with the finish to the season, Odegard hasn’t exactly fit into the Pride system, putting up a weak 4 points in 15 games, along with a -17 plus minus. Compared to his numbers in Minnesota, if they don’t improve next season, the odds of Odegard sticks around will be low.

The second, less significant yet eye-catching trade involving the Chiefs was a one for one that sent high profile top 6 forward Halfdan Thorstein to the Edmonton Blizzard, in exchange for young winger Xavier Paquette to the Chiefs.

Thorstein has always been an incredibly consistent producer in the top 6 for the Minnesota Chiefs since entering the league almost 10 seasons ago, consistently putting up 15+ goals and over 30 points per season. The move by the Chiefs seemed motivated by their new direction, and as Halfdan is on the edge of his prime now, it seemed he didn’t fit in the future of the Chiefs. Minnesota pulled off a clean one for one deal with the Edmonton Blizzard, bringing in S41 rookie forward Xavier Paquette, a forward believed to be the the key part of multiple trade negotiations involving the Blizzard in the past few seasons. Paquette growth has been progressing steadily but well enough that the young forward projects to be a consistent top 6 forward for the Minnesota Chiefs. Paquette’s never shown any intent to leave his team, and is regarded as a loyal member to his teams along with a great locker room presence as signaled by Kelowna and former Edmonton teammates. Considering the Chiefs shipped out a good top 6 scoring winger, acquiring a young winger in exchange for him as a replacement is perfect for the Chiefs going forward.

As mentioned earlier, the Blizzard have appeared to be looking to deal Xavier Paquette for an upgrade at their wings, and that's exactly what they get in Halfan Thorstein, described as a great top 6 goal scoring forward. The Blizzard have no reason to be concerned about losing Thorstein, as he is an inactive. The forward will definitely be a great forward for the Blizzard for the next few seasons, yet with regression beginning to take effect on the player, the odds are he won’t be the same Halfdan Thorstein in four seasons as we do today. It is quite clearly a win now move for the Blizzard been aiming for a cup for quite some time. With this addition to their third line, the Blizzard now look like an incredibly dangerous threat in the playoffs.

Well clearly the team has driven itself into a rebuild scenario, which to my best belief was triggered by Isak Odegard’s interest in leaving the team. As a former GM myself, I did inquire many many times with an offer for Isak Odegard, yet the only answer I got was “no interest in trading Odegard sorry”. I’d bet money that the Chiefs were not wanting to see Odegard leave the organization, but considering his contract status, it had to be done. And when it comes to the Minnesota Chiefs, the teams defensive depth is very weak after Odegard, their only noticeable defenseman being regressing defenseman Caelan Fearghal, and young promising defenseman Geoff Moore (and of course Alonzo Garbanzo, but he’s retiring). Due to this weak defensive depth with no short term solution being clear, the Chiefs management likely felt they needed to rebuild and that’s what they’re doing, acquiring young assets for Odegard and Thorstein to kick off this rebuild. But what about Noro Wozy? And Terrance Nova? Both forwards, two of the best in the league, are still with the team and their status is very unclear. Well at least for one of them. Terrance Nova is less of a question for the team, he’s basically the next Alonzo Garbanzo except the forward version for the Chiefs in my opinion, he’s been an incredible forward for the Chiefs and is likely looking to finish his career with Minnesota (which by the way is far from over right now). Yes his contract is up soon, and odds are he likely doesn’t have a contract when free agency opens, but this is normal for the forward as he is always looking to take up what's left of the cap.

When it comes to Noro Wozy however, there are reasons for Chiefs fans to be worried. Just a few days before the deadline, there was reports of Wozy being moved - yet nothing came out of this. I can’t be sure if the Chiefs are still interested in moving the superstar forward, he seems to enjoy the Chiefs, however his time with the Steelhawks was certainly cut short due to what appeared to be a trade request by the forward. Noro Wozy still has a lot left in the tank, and it’s unclear whether the winger wants out or not, or if the Chiefs have Wozy in the future plans. Considering Noro Wozy does not expire for some time now (expiring at the end of S46), the Chiefs if they are looking to move him for younger pieces will likely take their time with moving Wozy.

Obviously, plenty of teams will be wanting to go and get this forward. A scorer of his level, and especially with a friendly contract (2 seasons with a 4m AAV) being available is hard to find, and the market is certainly out there. I believe the Stampede would show tremendous interest in the winger, considering that it seems they are struggling to find a new contract for upcoming free agent Luke Atmey, and Noro Wozy may be the perfect replacement for Atmey next season if the case is true. And even if Atmey is staying around, belief is Buffalo would be very interested in swapping inactive forward Kevin Hamilton for Noro Wozy, which would be a great upgrade for the Stampede forward core. Considering Kevin Hamilton still has multiple seasons left till regression, a deal surrounding him is something that the Minnesota Chiefs can be considering. Another very possible destination could be the LA Panthers! It’s very possible that the Los Angeles management team is unhappy with their third line production so far this season (only combining for 40 points this season), and assuming the Panthers want to continue to be contenders, moving assets to acquire Noro Wozy, putting him up in the top 6 and moving Woodcroft down to the third line to put it on his back is something LA should definitely look into. However, Wozy doesn’t come around free, I’d have to assume that a member of their third line would be involved in such deal, as well as a promising Gvidas Kazlauskas.

The Chiefs definitely have pieces they can invest in and build around. Obviously Terrance Nova will be a big one for the team and the Chiefs are likely going to keep him for a long time. Minnesota is also looking towards Geoff Moore to be a future star on the point - the rookie defenseman already playing over 20 minutes per game, and will likely build a blue line around Moore. Their forward core, with Nova included, will look toward being built around Xavier Paquette, Mohammed McLovin and Bobby Watson, with young prospects Eero Niemi and and hopeful future 1C Derek Bohne being key to the future forward core. And finally, and quite obviously, young Sebastian Primeau leading the way in goal

The Chiefs announcing a rebuild during the deadline wasn’t the only big story of the night, when the Texas Renegades and Seattle Riot completed a deal that rocked the Seattle fan base (and me as well.)

Riot

Acquire
S46 TEX 1st
S47 TEX 3rd* (*Becomes S47 TEX 1st if Garrett resigns in Texas)
Cam Oullette
Aaron Freakin Rome

Acquire
Louie Garrett

Yeah, the Riot traded the face of their franchise. After a rough, rough offseason, the Seattle Riot lost the two players they were grooming to be the next franchise Seattle players, Liam O’Callaghan and Demaricus Smyth, both to sign and trades. These two departures sparked a rebuild movement by the Riot management, as in reality they don’t have much youth and not much depth after Eastwood, Lombardi, Zajac and Garrett, and the once very promising prospect pool has faded. Trading Louie Garrett wasn’t exactly expected to spark it, it was always thought that Seattle wanted to build their next championship team around him, but with regression coming up, moving the elite winger makes some sense, in exchange for multiple young pieces. For the Renegades however, this is a step in trying to become a contender. The Renes have struggled to make the playoffs lately, and the West being stacked is pretty much to blame. But since the team wants to make advances to be one of the best in the west (hah), the Texas management firmly believed that moving future picks for an elite forward like Louie Garrett would be what gets them ahead of the Dragons and Panthers in the standings. It didn’t really this season, however next season will be incredibly interesting, and with the Panthers weak depth core in mind, making the playoffs and being a contender next season is very possible.

Just shortly after moving Louie Garrett, the Seattle GM StaticShocked announced his resignation from the GM position. What's in store for the next GM of Seattle?

Well, the new Seattle Riot management will have to make the desicion of rebuilding, or trying to win now. The team does own multiple firsts in the coming draft, aswell as some very valuable players such as Romaulds Loks, Issac Comrie Hale, Clint Eastwood, Alexander Zajac and Joseph Lombardi. However, these players yet great, are either in regression or getting very close to that, and then there's the fact that Lombardi came to Seattle to win. After moving Louie Garrett, does he really believe that there's potential to win for the Riot, especially considering the team does lack depth? I believe not, and him requesting a trade seems very likely at this point, just like when he announced that he was leaving the Chiefs in free agency. Moving him and his heavy 8 million dollar contract will be something many teams will consider. And he also has a 4 team no trade clause, which automatically excludes the Chiefs, Stampede and Panthers and another undisclosed teams to the public. I don’t believe the Riot can work out a deal for Lombardi unless it sees the team retaining part of the 8 million contract Lombardi is currently on. The same thing will likely go for Isaac Comrie Hale’s large 7 million dollar contract. It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks for the new Seattle GM, and where the team is going next is something many Seattle fans will be anxious about. Luckily for the new Seattle GM, the only free agent they’re going to be worrying about is Herb Robert. Come to think of it that isn’t a good thing.

Speaking of rebuilding, there’s a great draft coming up this season, filled with plenty of great prospects. For a really nice run down of who’s out there this draft, take a look at this article by @Weretarantula http://simulationhockey.com/showthread.php?tid=90930 .

Alot of people aren’t exactly sure who goes first overall this draft, but honestly it shouldn’t even be a question. Andreas Kvalheim (@raymond3000) is in my opinion the undisputed first overall pick in this class. Raymonds previous player Kristian Eriksson is a HOF lock, playing over 1000 games, and scoring over 900 points. And his first player was another hall of famer. What makes anyone think that raymond cant do it again with Kvalheim? It shouldn’t even be a question as to who goes first overall, and especially for one of the clearly rebuilding teams, this is who you want to build a franchise around if you win the lottery.

This is not to discredit the other fantastic prospects in the draft. Leopold Lockhart @ej27, Dominic Montgomery @bilbo, Konstantin Voloshin @InciteHysteria, Donnie Dicks @Gooney, Nicolas Fleming @Nereus are all amazing recreates that are worth taking in the top 10 of this draft. But we shouldn’t ignore the new creates just because this draft is stacked with great recreates. I’m going to turn our sights on Colorado’s defenseman Cassius Darrow @hhh81. T Cassius Darrow has been a top earner in the draft class, sitting at over 260 TPE and we haven’t even started the playoffs, is someone who is now actively involved in the SMJHL, holding a spot in the SMJHL head office, and is someone that I can say is an incredible member of the Colorado locker room, and probably the next captain of the team if you ask me. Then there is Halifax prospect Mika Mayfield @BadWolf, who has been I believe a top 3 earner, if not the best earner in this draft class, with over 280 TPE already! Halifax has only said great things about her, she’s one of the favourites in the Raiders locker room right now.

I could go on and on about this draft class, however the depth of this draft class deserves its own article, something that I hope to put out after the draft lottery.

If you’re still reading, damn. I think the quality of this article died off after the Riot stuff, lol. Next time, I’ll probably be talking more about the upcoming draft class, as well as some upcoming free agents to look out for. Thanks for reading.