Franchise gears up for next season

by **BuffonIdol** Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:03 pm

As the trade deadline loomed notorious wheeler dealer BuffonIdol pulled three trades. Amongst the melee of arrivals and departures the net change was as follows:

Out:
Ondrej Pavelec
Maxim Afinogenov
Enver Linsen
Kevin Klein
Victory 1st rounder this season
Victory 3rd rounder next season

In:
Cam Ward
Andy Greene
Jiri Hudler
Wayne Simmonds
Colby Armstrong

Buff explained the moves… “I’ve always been an advocate of reverse-engineering and I apply that to my GMing. With the team looking likely to miss the play-offs once more I decided to ship my high pick in order to strengthen the roster for next season. It is unorthodox but we have bought in 5 players who will all slot into the pro team right away and address some of our problems.”

Pavelec never realised his talent here and I am hoping my man crush [Cam Ward] will bring a steadier presence to the crease in tandem with Bryz[galov]. Greene completes a formidable D core which I believe is almost unparalleled in this conference. With these changes we hope to imitate other highly tight defensive teams which have had great success in the 606hl.

Our forward skaters could perhaps be blamed for not being physical enough or playing gritty hockey. Colby [Armstrong] and Wayne [Simmonds] will help address that and along with Stoll give us a formidable 3rd line. Our top six on paper might not as powerful as it used to but then they never lived up to their promise anyway. Jiri [Hudler] has proven experience of performing with top talent at the Badgers so we have no doubt he will slot in with Captain [Towes] and Swede [Sedin] just fine.

It was a shame having to give up the picks we did but we still have another likely top 10 pick from the Giraffes and the Pirates are loaded with players right no anyway so prospects isn’t a worry for us.”

At first glance it might appear that the Victory have made some odd moves recently but on the balance of it this is a team gearing up for a play-off push over the next few seasons with the pro team entering their prime headed by a coach and GM who know their weakness and have moved to address them.