Eight player trade bonanza

Any Hollywood writer would be proud of the script that unfolded in negotiations between the Stevenage Beefs and Chatham Victory over the past few weeks. The thrilling climax resulted in an 8 player blockbuster which saw league leading right wing Dany Heatley leave the Mary Rose bowl for the concrete delights of Stevenage with his fellow travellers Alex Edler, Milan Michilak and Paul Stastny in tow.

Welcomed to the Chatham fold were top shut-down man Dennis Seidenberg, young wing wizard Nikolai Zherdev, shoot-out dangler king Pavel Datsyuk and two-way phenomenon Martin St Louis.

The Victory may have lost out on scoring and youth but GM Buffon saw many positives in the move…

“Of course when a trade of this size comes off there are always going to be detractors. With so many variables involved it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen.

The biggest problem this team faced when I arrived was defence and I believe I have now addressed this by giving my coach the players that suit his style.

Sure losing Dany and other high point players [Bobby Ryan] isn’t what we wanted but in Dats and Zherdev we think we have a potent combination that can go some way to making up for that.

It was well documented that Milan and Paul did not get on well here and so there loss is a blow I felt we could take. Alex though full of potential wasn’t really performing for us in his own zone so with the arrival of other high scoring defensemen [Brian Campbell] he was therefore surplus to requirements.”

Reporters took the opportunity to ask Buffon how he felt about recent Victory results since the takeover…

“Well we haven’t really progressed, continuing to play just above .500 hockey. I ask the fans and media not to judge me on my predecessor’s terms but to judge me on what we have now. The run in will be used to experiment and tinker in preparation for next year. I really believe we now have a package that will be on the inside come the end of next season.”

When asked about his newly acquired reputation for frantic trading and if this deal signalled the end of his pre-deadline trading Buffon simply looked in Marc’s direction and winked.

The Victory face the Beef in tonight’s game. A game in which many players could potentially embarrass their previous employers.