Who is...? Part 3: Ian Venables (Plus some extra spicey trade tree talk!)
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Henrik
Registered Posting Freak
04-03-2022, 06:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-04-2022, 01:57 PM by Henrik. Edited 1 time in total.)
I somehow managed to open a Venables three days in a row, so I figured it was a sign. Although he had a fairly uneventful career, he was part of a fairly interesting trade tree that I had a lot of fun following through to the end, I will cover at the end of this article. ---------- The Career ----------
Venables is a great example of how difficult it can be to predict the trajectory of a goalie in hockey. Going into the S50 draft (a draft that was notoriously short on goalies, especially considering its size) Venables was seen as a sure shot to become a high level starter in the SHL. Almost all of the pre-draft predictions and post-draft summaries praised Venables to high heaven, and rightfully so. While he hadn't had a great rookie season with Anchorage, he'd put up some respectable numbers for a rookie on a team that was not in a healthy place. He had shown a willingness to work hard with his coaches, he had great fundamentals, excellent lateral movement and he was a very popular teammate. So while it was surprising for some to see the San Francisco Pride go for a goalie as early as 13th Overall, it wasn't particularly surprising that it was Ian Venables. After being called up for the 53rd season of the SHL Venables would start his career backing up long time Pride goalie Patrice Nadeau. Nadeau had just been given the role of starter after 7 seasons of being a relatively success backup for the team. It quickly became apparent that it would be difficult for the team to deny Venables a starting role as even in a relatively limited role he played very well for a rookie, posting a .922 save percentage and a winning percentage over .500 in his 10 starts. The following season Nadeau and Venables would split the starting role as management tried to figure out who their goalie of the future would be. Unfortunately for them, both Venables and Nadeau would post some of the worst numbers of their careers, with both goalies finishing under .900 save percentage. This would lead to the now infamous trade that would see Venables going to Hamilton (more on that later). Perhaps feeling somewhat wounded by the San Francisco management for giving up on him so soon, Venables began to slow down in development around this time and some cracks began to show. Although his play on the ice was still above par, he only got to start 6 games for the Steelhawks in S55. It is unclear what happened next, but it seems like a lack of willingness to work with the teams player development group and rumours of conflict in the locker room saw Venables move to Barracudeain the S55 post-season for a meagre return. At this time Tampa Bay was going through one of, if not the most, gruelling rebuild in recent league history. Venables was brought on in an attempt to salvage a player with great potential for a relatively low risk. In his first season with the team he'd get his first season as a starter, starting 35 games and giving Tampa a chance to win it every single night. The spark seemed to be back and although Venables had not reached the heights that a lot of scouts expected him to, he had established himself as a capable goalie in one of the toughest leagues in the world. Season 57 would arguably be Venables greatest season in the league and also his last. With the expansion to 18 teams, the schedule was extended to 66 games in a season and Venables would start 60 for the still very much rebuilding Barracuda. I proved that he had the will and stamina to play night after night after night on the worst team in the league and he gave it his all each and every night. He managed to win 16 games, posting a .904 save percentage and a career high 3 shutouts. It seemed like things were finally starting to turn the corner but to everyone's surprise, Tampa Bay did not resign Venables following his contracts expiration at the end of S57. No other SHL team took a shot at him either, abruptly ending his time in the SHL with just 5 seasons and 140 games played. ---------- Career Totals ----------
S53 - GP: 11 | Wins: 5 | Losses: 4 | OTL: 1 | Sv%: .922 | GAA: 2.45 | Shutouts: 1 S54 - GP: 28 | Wins: 14 | Losses: 10 | OTL: 1 | Sv%: .893 | GAA: 3.33 | Shutouts: 0 S55 - GP: 6 | Wins: 6 | Losses: 0 | OTL: 0 | Sv%: .905 | GAA: 1.33 | Shutouts: 1 S56 - GP: 35 | Wins: 6 | Losses: 23 | OTL: 2 | Sv%: .909 | GAA: 4.35 | Shutouts: 0 S57 - GP: 60 | Wins: 16 | Losses: 36 | OTL: 2 | Sv%: .904 | GAA: 4.13 | Shutouts: 3 Career Total - GP: 140 | Wins: 47 | Losses: 73 | OTL: 6 | Sv%: .905 | GAA: 3.34 | Shutouts: 5 Peak TPE: 720 ----------The Trade Tree----------
At this point in the article I would like to take a moment to look at the Venables trade tree, as I found it a very good example of how Hamilton continuously managed to eek out value out of assets with some really smart trades. I know trade trees generally work best in a visual medium but I do not do graphics unless its ugly dudes with big noses that I make in paint so you are just going to have to bear with me. In the interim between S54 and S55, San Francisco and Hamilton would make the infamous Kryyst trade, To Ian Venables S57 SFP 1st S55 HAM 2nd S56 SFP 3rd* To Geezus Kryyst *If SFP makes the playoffs in S55, this gets upgraded to a 2nd round pick. They did not. I dont really think we need to talk about this too much, its been talked to death already. It was a great trade for Hamilton, especially considering the role goalies have in FHM. That S55 Hamilton 2nd round pick would later become Jason Desrouleaux. He would never play for Hamilton but would sign with Winnipeg in S57 as a free agent. He played 4 seasons in the SHL. To S56 SFP 3rd To S57 EDM 2nd The S56 SFP 3rd was traded during the S56 draft to Edmonton (who used it to draft Bane). In return they would receive an S57 EDM 2nd round pick. This pick would be used to draft Wen Baters. Baters played one season for Hamilton before retiring. To Ian Venables To S56 TEX 4th Venables was later traded to Tampa bay for a Texas 4th round pick. This pick was used to draft Čeněk Iqbal in the S56 draft. Iqbal never played a game in the SHL. Now, here comes the interesting part. That S57 San Francisco 1st round pick ended up being a 2nd overall pick, so quite valuable. It was traded to Minnesota ahead of the S57 draft in a package deal. To S57 SFP 1st Asclepius Perseus Flitterwind To Devin Basher S58 MIN 1st S61 MIN 2nd* * If Flitterwind resigned with Minnesota, it would turn into a S61 first rounder instead. He did resign there and so Hamilton ended up drafting Gabe-Gooney-Waters Harrak with that draft pick in S61. (So much drama that evolved out of this trade tree, I love it!) You might think that this is looking pretty damned good for Hamilton already and it definitely is, but they arn't done yet. That S58 Minnesota first rounder? Yeah, thats getting moved in a deal with Baltimore. To S58 MIN 1st To S61 BAP 1st S59 BAP 3rd S58 SEA 2nd Baltimore would go on to draft Noel Blanchet with this pick so I think they feel pretty good about making this trade. Again, Hamilton just keeps on adding more and more value on to this trade. And before you ask, no, they aren't even done yet. That Seattle 2nd rounder is getting moved. To S58 SEA 2nd Gabe Johnson To S58 SEA 1st S59 SEA 2nd S60 SEA 1st Hamilton just keep using these assets in larger trades to keep on gaining value. That S58 and S60 Seattle firsts were used to draft Dogwood Maple and Ty Murphy, respectively, so two absolute knock out picks for the Steelhawks. AND WE ARE STILL NOT DONE YET! To S59 SEA 2nd S60 HAM 1st To Elijah Jones Even in this trade, they manage to add something that they need and that will add to the group right away without paying too much. They even managed to send out their own pick and save the more valuable Seattle pick in S60 and BAP pick in S61. You'd forgotten about that one, right? They still have it. And they would use it to draft Big newff. The Hamilton S60 pick would be used by Atlanta to select Alfred Yankovic. The Seattle 2nd would be used to select Jack Nishimori. And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the end of the Kryyst trade tree. How well did Hamilton do then, I hear you ask? If we just look at the picks acquired from this set of trades after all is said and done. After all the back and forth trading for other picks and for players, they managed to GAIN three 1st round picks, two 2nd round pick (one of which was upgraded from a 3rd to a 2nd in the Edmonton trade), one 3rd round pick and one 4th round pick. Now thats some pretty damned impressive wheeling and dealing. This has got to be one of the most one sided, drama filled and most interesting trade trees in the history of the league and I just had to share it with you all. ----------
This article is part of an ongoing series that covers players from the league's history. The aim is to provide a short and entertaining summary of a players SHL career in written form followed my a stat summary. These articles contain an element of what I call 'in-universe' writing which means they may contain embellishment or made up scenarios in order to add some flavour to the writing. If you have any criticisms, suggestions or have a player in mind that you would like me to cover in the future, check out the Who is...? series hub.. I hope you enjoyed the this instalment in the series, keep an eye out for the next one! Ready to be graded. 1850 words + stats and research.
fishy
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Henrik
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charlieconway
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S50 had a lot of great players come out of it, but also a lot of coulda-beens.
Henrik
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kikish18
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