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trella · 06-18-2021, 05:10 PM

“Just relieved to have a roster together” - @hockeyiscool

If there was one quote I had to use to sum of this offseason for the Tampa Bay Barracuda, it would be this one. What a crazy and uncertain offseason this was. With expansion, a wild trade market, free agency, and another big and stacked draft class, we certainly had our hands full as I’m sure most other GMs did too.

The S59 season was disappointing but exciting, a morale killer, but also a morale booster. Definitely a very strange season for sure. On the ice, the team undershot our expectations thanks to 20 or so one-goal losses. This was very frustrating for the team, and it felt like this season was gonna be another playoff-less one. However, in a crazy push in the last sim of the season, the Cuda actually managed to sneak into the playoffs, just 5 seasons after infamously going 0-50 in Season 54. With how hard it can be to rebuild in this league, nevermind crawl your way back into the playoffs after a historically awful season, making the playoffs last season and stealing a game off of the Stampede was a huge accomplishment for the team.

Spirits were high coming into this offseason. The team is closer than ever, after the rollercoaster ride that was last season. @Jericson started a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with a bunch of us which had brought the team together even more. Everyone had stuff to look forward to next season.

With expansion looming, we knew that we would be losing two big pieces of our team, which always sucks. Leaving anyone unprotected was really difficult for me. I view this team as family and parting ways with family is one of the hardest things you can do. Prior to expansion, someone who I consider a close friend and has always been a true ambassador of the Cuda, @_mcp announced to the team and the league that he would be no longer updating his player and taking a step back from the league as a whole. MCP has always been someone that Dwight and I admired for his foresight in knowing when to pull the plug on a core and setting up the future. Without his deft negotiations and his ability to get fantastic value for the old Cuda core, this team would be nowhere close to where it is now. While MCP did not leave management gracefully, his contributions were massive in building this current team. MCP is always a friendly and welcoming place in the locker room, always treating everyone with real kindness and respect, as well as helping Dwight and I transition into managing an SHL team, something that we both had not done before.

Knowing this, we decided to leave MCP unprotected in the expansion draft, as he would not be active for us anymore, plus we probably have the best defensive pipeline in the league. Other notable names left unprotected were Justin Keahi, James Ronlain, and Elwulf Jericson.

In the expansion draft, we ended up losing two of my best friends on the site, MCP and @MyLittleHexx (Keahi). This definitely stung and those two were and still remain to be big parts of the locker room. Replacing them would not be easy. I did reach out to Philidelphia to see if they had any interest in trading Hexx back to us, but they were not interested (can’t blame them!) so we had to look elsewhere to fill the holes left by expansion.

Not soon after expansion, long time Barracuda and former 1st round pick, Igor Victory @Wearingabear took his talents elsewhere, signing with the Philadelphia Forge in Free Agency. While it definitely sucks to lose such a great player and an even better person, we understand why this happened, myself and the rest of team wish you the best of luck in Philly, bear! :victory:

Now with 3 holes in the roster, 1 forward and 2 defensemen, we obviously had some work to do in order to get this team ready for the season. We knew that S60 would be a season where we really wanted to start competing and becoming one of the better teams in the league. Doing this after losing 3 major pieces wouldn’t be easy, but we were prepared to use our surplus of draft picks to make something happen.

When I saw @roastpuff put on the block, I nearly spat out my drink. Going for roast was the biggest no brainer ever for us. We knew it would take a pretty penny to get someone like roast, but we were totally willing to pay the price. 3 firsts and a swap of 2nds for roast was a hefty deal, but one I would make again. This not only filled one of our holes on defense with an absolute stud of a player and a user, but also upgraded our #1 defenseman as my garbage player had been filling that role the past few seasons. Having Liljestrom leading the charge from the back end will be massive for this team. Words can’t begin to describe how excited I am to bring Roast onto the team. I once again wanna thank @Muerto for the great and easy negotiations. Seriously one of my favorite GMs to work with.

With Roastpuff acquired, we had one more D spot to fill. With roast moved, I thought that he would be the last Max-Earning S53 defenseman that would be available, but boy was I wrong. @juke was thrown on the block by Manhattan and once again I was all over it. I’m sure you all have heard about everything that happened with those negotiations. While it definitely sucked to not be able to land juke, and I was pretty fired up that night, I hold no resentment towards juke. I have a tremendous amount of respect for juke and it is my job as a GM to honor a player’s wishes and I wish him all the best in Chicago.

In the aftermath of the juke talks, Dwight and I decided that the best course of action would be to just call up @r0tzbua , one of our many blue-chip defensive prospects in our system. R0tz was a guy that we were super excited to land in the draft and I can’t wait to see what he can do in his rookie season on a strong team. He will be a big part of this team and it all starts now!

With one more roster spot to fill, a Forward, I went knocking on @JayWhy ‘s door once again. There were a few good options on Manhattan to fill our last spot, but none that caught my eye more than @luketd . Luke is someone I’ve considered a close friend for years now and the opportunity to grab him, even in his player’s old age, was the perfect move for our team. Anyone who has met Luke knows what he brings to the table and I don’t have enough great things to say about him. On the ice, Thomason will bring a dependable, 2-way center that we have been needing behind Fiddler for awhile now. Once again, thank you JY for the quick and easy negotiations. You are one of the best my friend.

Now, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t talked about the draft yet. The draft kind of took a backseat this season in comparison to expansion and the insane amount of trade talks, including a bunch I won’t touch on here. After trading away 2 of our 3 firsts to Winnipeg in the Roastpuff trade, we had a lot less to worry about in the draft. I cannot touch much on this draft as I was not around after our first round pick of JJJJ Angler @tMuse as I was out for a graduation dinner (who am I to tell my girlfriend no to dinner on her grad day?). Dwight and the crew did a fabulous job as always and I know that I can always feel comfortable putting faith in them to go above and beyond.

Heading into S60, the Tampa Bay Barracuda look poised to have a solid season in that should be an absolute bloodbath. I for one, am really looking forward to seeing how this season shakes out!

Thanks to everyone who made it this far, I know nobody really cares Smile

CHOMP CHOMP WATER DOG, THE EARTH IS FLAT

I will be taking any questions that you may have, adding a presser to this article

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

***JKortesi81*** · 06-18-2021, 05:20 PM

CHOMP CHOMP WATER DOG.

It's been awesome watching you guys grow in TBB @trella

Now you're making those power moves. Good luck man. Not too shabby for a late coming power forward in S35 who knew nothing. Wink

trella · 06-18-2021, 05:21 PM

06-18-2021, 05:20 PMJKortesi81 Wrote: CHOMP CHOMP WATER DOG.

It's been awesome watching you guys grow in TBB @trella

Now you're making those power moves. Good luck man. Not too shabby for a late coming power forward in S35 who knew nothing.

Much love brother, its been a wild ride Smile

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

Fitted2106 · 06-18-2021, 05:21 PM

WHEN DID U REALIZE THAT I CHOMPED THE FLAT EARTH INBETWEEN A SIMULATION LIFE FRIEND GLOBER

peej2189 · 06-18-2021, 05:22 PM

Round earthers are in shambles

***luke*** · 06-18-2021, 05:26 PM

imagine trading 3 2nds for a washed player

trella · 06-18-2021, 05:28 PM

06-18-2021, 05:26 PMluketd Wrote: imagine trading 3 2nds for a washed player

Better than the 4 1st u always talked about :p

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

***luke*** · 06-18-2021, 05:30 PM

06-18-2021, 05:28 PMtrella Wrote:
06-18-2021, 05:26 PMluketd Wrote: imagine trading 3 2nds for a washed player
Better than the 4 1st u always talked about :p

lmao. I am your pat maroon to get you over the cup.

r0tzbua · 06-18-2021, 05:33 PM

CHOMP CHOMP BOIS

***sve7en*** · 06-18-2021, 05:33 PM

why must you take my boys early :(

PremierBromanov · 06-18-2021, 07:07 PM

Friendship with juke ended

Luke is my best friend now

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