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***Gwdjohnson*** · 01-27-2021, 10:04 PM

So as I'm sure many of you saw, I have been traded to the Seattle Argonauts in a blockbuster deal with Hamilton that probably left a lot of people with questions like "Why would Hamilton do this?" or "Why would Gabe want out of an ideal situation in Hamilton?" Well in this article I want to hit on a bunch of the main points for why I am now the proud newest member of Seattle, and basically just summarize my thoughts on everything.

To start, I requested a trade from Hamilton around the start of the playoffs. It was something I thought a lot about as the season progressed, and ultimately raised to management. I was not really enjoying myself on the site most of last season, and it became pretty clear to me that a change of scenery might be what I needed to give me the drive and motivation to get invested in my career and the site again. Let me just put down a bunch of my thoughts on things and hope its all coherent.

So one thing that was a big factor for me was the repetitive nature of how seasons have gone in FHM, especially recently. Hamilton dominates the regular season, and then it becomes a cage match with the other Great Lakes teams in the playoffs to see who wins. The drama of seasons started to get kind of sucked out for me and it just felt like each season was the same as the next. Focusing on Anchorage in juniors too, it all really hurt my interest in keeping Johnson active too, and I was pretty close to just committing to staying and letting him die out in regression instead. But I decided that I've done all this hard work getting this player to the level he's at now, and maybe all I need instead is a new environment on a team that's more of a project with something to develop and play for.

I have nothing at all against Hamilton, love everyone on the team and am looking forward to continuing to talk to everyone in that locker room every day while I still use Discord. They are all more than just fake hockey friends to me and playing for another team doesn't change that I am still a Hamilton Steelhawk at heart. I am looking forward to seeing them still thrive despite the large shifts in their team this offseason, and while I'm looking forward to helping Seattle get to the top of the Northwest and hopefully beyond, I hope Hamilton continues to be the top dog of the Great Lakes.

When it comes to Seattle, I am very excited to be joining them and they were one of my top choices for a team to go to. I told Hamilton to just take the best offer for me and didn't want to have any influence in their decision making process, but Seattle were about my #2 choice team to go to through the whole process. That doesn't mean I'm disappointed to not go to the #1 choice, I'm still really eager to get started on contributing to Seattle right away. Tig is someone I can consider a very good friend and we've known each other since my second season in the league when I got drafted to Hamilton. I have complete confidence in him as a GM and he's someone I trust will be sharp and always making moves that work towards a good future for the team. Jeffie is someone who is up there for my best friend in sim leagues and him being on Seattle was one of the biggest selling points in me wanting to come here. I'm super happy to get the chance to share a team with him here and be two key pieces of the project. Getting Reid was an absolutely massive move for them too and he's another guy who's gonna be a massive core member of the locker room and the process. Stoked to share a team with grok too, we've only really known each other a couple seasons now but he's a great dude and I'm glad to be sim hockey friends with him. Guys on the team like hhh, thor, ProjectSaint, Evans and Darzins are more guys who I like a lot and make this team attractive for me. And I'm looking forward to talking to and getting to know the Argos of the present and future who I haven't met yet.