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Pickle Juice · 04-12-2022, 05:21 PM

Introduction: The Initial Trade

Nearing the end of S56, the Tampa Bay Barracuda and the New England Wolfpack engaged in a mutual trade that shook the rest of the league. Tampa Bay was sending the first overall pick of the S57 draft to New England, in exchange for a S58 NEW 1st round pick, a S60 NEW England 1st round pick, and a S60 NEW 2nd round pick. What did each team look like at the time of these trades?

New England was sitting at 10th in the standings, 6th in the Eastern Conference, and 3rd in the Atlantic Division. In 50 games they managed to accrue 25 wins, 23 losses, and 2 overtime losses for a total of 52 points. They were 11th in the league in goal differential with -27, their top offensive player being Slap McShotty (50GP, 20G, 33A, 53P).

Tampa Bay struggled tremendously in S56, sitting 16th in the league standings. They were 8th in the Eastern Conference and 4th in the Atlantic Division. Throughout 50 games they accrued 11 wins, 37 losses, and 2 overtime losses for a total of 24 points. They were 17th in the league in goal differential with -145, their top offensive player being James Ronlain (50GP, 13G, 13A, 26P).

With both of these teams generally underperforming, it makes sense that they would want to make moves to speed up their respective rebuilds. But how exactly did this trade benefit each of these franchises? Let’s take a look.

New England Receives:
TBB S57 1st (1st OV)- Select Jonathon Granstroem, Forward

Jonathan Granstroem Stat line:

S60: 66 GP, 20:15 ATOI, 10G, 23A, 33P, 92BLK, 114H
S61: 66GP, 19:55 ATOI, 13G, 22A, 35P, 106 BLK, 96H
S62: 66GP, 20:23 ATOI, 12G, 18A, 30P, 72 BLK, 145H
S63 66GP, 20:43 ATOI, 11G, 14A, 25P, 136 BLK, 150H
S64: Traded to Manhattan

New England wins/losses:
S60: 27-31-8, 15th overall
S61: 36-24-6, 7th overall
S62: 36-25-5, 9th overall
S63: 20-42-4, 16th overall

Trade with Manhattan

NEW Receives:
MAN S64 1st (3rd OV)- select Moritz Seider, Defenseman
Paul Koivu, Forward (Prospect)

MAN Receives:
NEW S64 1st (5th OV)- select Chad Nickelback, Defenseman
Jonathan Granstroem
S65 2nd

Now let’s take a look at how Tampa Bay fared in this trade.

Tampa Bay Receives:
S58 NEW 1st Round Pick (8th Overall)- Select Finn Von Murphenstein
S60 NEW 1st Round Pick (4th Overall)- Traded to Winnipeg Aurora
S60 NEW 2nd Round Pick (23rd Overall)- Select Olof Karsikko, later traded to Los Angeles

Finn Von Murphenstein Stat Line:
S60: 66GP, 18:34 ATOI, 5G, 14A, 19P, 57BLK, 55H
S61: 66GP, 17:42 ATOI, 5G, 17A, 22P, 51BLK, 51H
S62: 66GP, 19:07 ATOI, 12G, 23A, 35P, 41BLK, 72H
S63: 66GP, 21:48 ATOI, 10G, 20A, 30P, 43BLK, 56H

Finn Von Murphenstein is starting to find his game in the SHL. Putting up very respectable seasons for a young defenseman, he is continuing to improve his play this season after a minor slump last season.

S60 NEW 1st Trade

WPG Receives:
S60 NEW 1st Round Pick (4th OV)- Gonzo Gobbledygook
S60 CGY 1st Round Pick (16th OV)- Daniel Merica Junior
S60 BAP 2nd Round Pick (30th OV)- Traded to Montreal
S62 TBB 1st Round Pick (14th OV)- Traded to NEW then back to WPG

TBB Receives:
Magnus Liljestroem
S62 WPG 2nd Round Pick- Traded to Manhattan

Magnus Liljestroem Stat Line:
S60: 66GP, 19:54 ATOI, 6G, 19A, 25P, 127BLK, 58H
S61: 66GP, 23:53 ATOI, 17G 28A, 45P, 203BLK, 93H
S62: 66GP, 22:38 ATOI, 12G, 29A, 41P, 163BLK, 65H
S63: 66GP, 23:47 ATOI, 12G, 34A, 46P, 132 BLK, 95H

Liljestroem quickly became an instrumental part in Tampa Bay’s increasing success. He not only injected an additional veteran presence into the lineup, but also became one of the top producing defensemen on the team. He has been able to remain dependable on the defensive side of the game while still putting up points and helping his team out offensively.

Olaf Karsikko Trade

TBB Receives:
Vorian Atreides, Forward, (2M Retained)
S65 LAP 1st Round Pick

LAP Receives:
S64 TBB 2nd Round Pick (Looking at the S64 draft page, I’m unclear what happened with this pick. I believe it was traded to Montreal and used to select Ike Broflovski, Forward, at 35th OV)
Olof Karsikko

Vorian Atreides Stat Line:
S61: 66GP, 21:44 ATOI, 24G, 33A, 57P, 25BLK, 116H

Atreides only played one season in Tampa Bay, but he was the team’s leading scorer with 57 points in 66 games.

S62 WPG 2nd Round Pick Trade

TBB Receives:
Luke Thomason

MAN Receives:
S61 SEA 2nd Round Pick (30th OV) – Select Archangelo Scardog Jr.
S62 TBB 2nd Round Pick (34th OV)– Select Vin Bangsa Wamy
S62 WPG 2nd Round Pick (21st OV) – Select Vasily Arkhangelsky

Luke Thomason Stat Line:
S60: 66GP, 18:56 ATOI, 13G, 29A, 42P, 8BLK, 73H

Luke Thomason only played one season in Tampa Bay, but he was able to bring reliable play to a depth position.

Tampa Bay Wins/Losses:
S60: 29-31-6, 12th Overall
S61: 38-23-5, 6th Overall
S62: 39-22-5, 7th Overall
S63: 44-17-1, 4th Overall

And now, for the other branches of this trade tree.

S60 BAP 2nd (30th OV) Trade

WPG Receives:
Alex Marshall
Mack Daddy

MTL Receives:
S60 BAP 2nd Round Pick (30th OV)- Select Miles O’Brien

S62 TBB 1st Trade:

WPG Receives:
Teylora Petrov

NEW Receives:
Alexis Saint-Michel (Later traded to Calgary)
S62 TBB 1st Round Pick
S63 WPG 3rd Round Pick (41st OV)- PASS

S62 TBB 1st Trade (Part 2)

WPG Receives:
S62 NEW 1st Round Pick (12th OV)- Select Tommy TIghtpants,
S62TBB 1st Round Pick (14th OV)- Select Christian Kissinger

NEW Receives:
S63 BAP 2nd Round Pick (38th OV)- PASS
S64 NOLA 1st Round Pick (8th OV)- Outdoor Truck
S65 WPG 2nd Round Pick
S66 WPG 1st Round Pick

Alexis Saint Michel Trade

CAL Receives:
Alexis Saint-Michel
S61 NEW 1st Round Pick (6 OV)- Select Darwin Koff
S63 NEW 2nd Round Pick (31st OV)- Select Brent Ashe II

NEW Receives:
Kaspars Claude (Later traded to Los Angeles)

Kaspars Claude Trade

NEW Receives:
Golden Face
S67 MTL 2nd Round Pick

LAP Receives:
Kaspars Claude

Tampa Bay/ New England acquisitions stemming from the original trade:
New England:
Jonathon Granstroem, S60-S63
Moritz Seider, Prospect
Paul Koivu, Prospect
S63 WPG 3rd (41st OV), PASS
S63 BAP 2nd (38th OV), PASS
Outdoor Truck, Prospect
Golden Face, S63-Present
S67 MTL 2nd

Tampa Bay:
Finn Von Murphenstein, S60-Present
Magnus Liljestroem, S60-Present
Vorian Atreides, S61 TBB Leading Scorer
Luke Thomason, S60
S65 LAP 1st Round Pick

Conclusion

So did the trade work out on New England’s end? Being in 10th place when they made the trade, they only managed to finish above that 2 out of the 4 seasons Granstroem was on the team. They struggled to make any deep playoff runs and never really succeeded past mediocrity. Granstroem played 4 full seasons on the team, eating up heavy minutes each season. A consistent core player, he succeeded most in his role as a power forward through racking up hits and blocked shots. A defensively sound forward playing his role successfully on a struggling team. New England never was really able to succeed from the time of the trade to the time of this media being written, and they have begun retooling for a new rebuild. In doing so they decided to trade Granstroem away with a couple of future draft picks in exchange for the draft pick that turned into Moritz Seider as well as the prospect Paul Koivu. Through a series of future trades stemming from the assets gained in the original trade with Tampa Bay, New England was also able to add Outdoor Truck as a prospect as well as Golden Face to the roster. Additionally, they are still in possession of a S67 MTL 2nd rounder, which could be an important asset moving forward. In contrast to Tampa Bay, New England seems to have set themselves up to succeed in the next 5-10 seasons. They have an impressive list of prospects just from this trade alone.
Did Tampa Bay make their roster better and improve the future of the team? I would say they did. This trade was directly related to acquiring two main players in their core in Murphenstein and Liljestroem. They were also able to find a season leading scorer in Atreides, as well as a 1st round pick in S65. They are also still in possession of a S65 LAP 1st round pick. Since completing the trade with New England, Tampa has consistently been in the top 10 in the standings and competing with the best of the best. They have been in a deep playoff run and continue to succeed within the top 10.

So who do you think won the original trade? I am sure I could have kept the “trade tree” going with a few of the other assets acquired by other teams from the original trade, but I wanted to keep the focus on New England and Tamps Bay since they were the original two teams involved in the trade.