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Huberdeau Kicks Off 2013 Rookie Draft

In News, Transactions on November 23, 2013 at 1:19 pm

The Ice Harbor Storm chose Jonathan Huberdeau to kick off the 2013 Rookie Draft. From there, it was a day of few surprises.  Perhaps most notably, the Pittsburgh Hornets cashed in on the deadline deal that sent Brad Richards and Sergei Gonchar to South Carolina – on top of Travis Hamonic, they drafted Justin Schultz and Mark Psysyk with the Fire Ants’ former picks, alongside Alex Galchenyuk (2nd overall), Beau Bennett, and Petr Mrazek.

The day’s trades included:

– Charleston sending veteran defensemen Derek Morris and Marek Zidlicky to Boston for Michael Rozsival and the Banshee’s 3rd (Alexander Urbom) and 4th (Jordan Schroeder) picks

– New England then picking up Morris from Boston for Tim Gleason

– New England shipping out Mason Raymond and Tomas Tatar to Baltimore for Michael Grabner

– Salem trading Luca Sbisa and its 3rd (Tye McGinn) to Boston for Carl Gunnarsson

– El Dorado moving two 4ths for Great Lakes’ 3rd in 2014

– Vancouver swapping its 4th for New England’s 4th in 2014

Round 1
1. Ice Harbor – Jonathan Huberdeau
2. Pittsburgh – Alex Galchenyuk
3. Delta – Brendan Gallagher
4. Baltimore – Vladimir Tarasenko
5. Winnipeg – Nail Yakupov
6. West Virginia – Dougie Hamilton
7. Sterling – Jonas Brodin
8. Farmington – Tyler Toffoli
9. Pittsburgh (from South Carolina) – Justin Schultz
10. San Francisco – Jakob Silfverberg
11. El Dorado – Mikael Granlund
12. Portland – Brendan Dillon
13. Great Lakes – Danny DeKeyser
14. Denver – Emerson Etem
15. Charleston – Filip Forsberg
16. Boston – Alex Chiasson
17. Baltimore (from Nashville) – Charlie Coyle
18. New England – Chris Kreider
19. Vancouver – Ryan Murphy
20. Salem – Torey Krug

Round 2
21. Vancouver (from Ice Harbor) – Nick Bjugstad
22. Delta – Cory Conacher
23. Baltimore – Alex Killorn
24. Pittsburgh – Beau Bennett
25. Winnipeg – Jake Allen
26. West Virginia – Mikhail Grigorenko
27. Sterling – Jake Muzzin
28. Farmington – J.T. Miller
29. Pittsburgh (from South Carolina) – Mark Psysyk
30. San Francisco – Thomas Hickey
31. El Dorado – Nathan Beaulieu
32. Portland – Ondrej Palat
33. Nashville (from Great Lakes) – Max Reinhart
34. Baltimore (from Denver) – Tyler Johnson
35. Charleston – Taylor Beck
36. Delta (from Boston) – Drew Shore
37. Baltimore (from Nashville) – Jarred Tinordi
38. New England – Jamie Oleksiak
39. Vancouver – Andrej Sustr
40. Salem – Eric Gelinas

Round 3
41. Boston (from Ice Harbor via New England) – Richard Panik
42. Delta – Matt Irwin
43. Baltimore – Sami Vatanen
44. Pittsburgh – Petr Mrazek
45. Winnipeg – Austin Watson
46. West Virginia – Mark Arcobello
47. Sterling – Richard Rakell
48. Farmington – Dmitrij Jaskin
49. Boston (from South Carolina) – Nicklas Jensen
50. San Francisco – Antoine Roussel
51. El Dorado – Quinton Howden
52. Portland – Radko Gudas
53. El Dorado (from Great Lakes via Ice Harbor) – Stefan Matteau
54. Denver – Brian Flynn
55. Charleston – Ryan Stanton
56. Charleston (from Boston) – Alexander Urbom
57. Charleston (from Nashville) – Scott Laughton
58. Vancouver (from New England) – Frank Corrado
59. Vancouver – Jean-Gabriel Pageau
60. Boston (from Salem) – Tye McGinn

Round 4
61. Vancouver (from Ice Harbor) – Mark Stone
62. Delta – Michael Sgarbossa
63. Denver (from Baltimore) – Riley Nash
64. Vancouver (from Pittsburgh) – Alex Petrovic
65. Winnipeg – Zach Redmond
66. West Virginia – Bobby Sanguinetti
67. Sterling – Colby Robak
68. Farmington – Chris Brown
69. South Carolina – Tomas Kundratek
70. San Francisco – Jordie Benn
71. Great Lakes (from El Dorado) – Ryan Spooner
72. Portland – Brandon Bollig
73. Great Lakes – Matt Tennyson
74. Great Lakes (from Denver via El Dorado) – Darcy Kuemper
75. Charleston – Alex Stalock
76. Charleston (from Boston) – Jordan Schroeder
77. Nashville – Oliver Lauridsen
78. New England – Mark Barbiero
79. New England (from Vancouver) – Johan Larsson
80. Salem – Eric Gryba

Prospect Trade, Goalie Cuts Highlight Reopening of Transaction Period

In BAL, STL, Transactions on September 5, 2013 at 10:55 am

With the 2012-2013 season in the books, teams made their off-season cuts today – and while the list features the usual assortment of fourth-liners and bottom-pairing defensemen, two cuts – Jaroslav Halak and Anders Lindback – are likely to be snapped up by goalie-starved team once free agency opens.

In other news, Saint Louis and Baltimore swapped young wingers, with Nino Niederreiter heading to the Blues in exchange for Jaden Schwartz.

2013 Cuts
Ice Harbor – Maxim Lapierre
South Carolina – Jason Blake, Mike Komisarek, Louis Leblanc
Portland – Brett Connolly
Sterling – Yannick Weber
Denver – Cory Sarich, Anders Lindback
Baltimore – Jaroslav Halak
San Francisco – Cory Emmerton, Raphael Diaz, Bobby Butler, Alec Martinez, Ryan Shannon
Saint Louis – Ian White, Patrick Dwyer, Jacob Josefson
Winnipeg – Chris Tanev
Great Lakes – Tim Brent, Tom Wandell, Darren Helm, Anton Lander, Matt D’Agostini, Jack Skille
Vancouver – Mathieu Garon

Salem Wannabees Win 2013 Gump Cup!

In NAS, News, SAL on September 4, 2013 at 10:23 am

They’re ‘Wannabees’ no more. In their third finals appearance in four years, the Salem Wannabees are finally bringing the coveted Gump Cup to the Willamette Valley with a 4-3 win in game 6 over the Cinderella Nashville Knights.

Salem, a perennial regular season powerhouse, overcame shaky netminding from Craig Anderson – and outstanding work by Mike Smith at the other end – to sew up the championship. The turning point in the series came one game earlier, when Salem snapped Nashville’s home playoff winning streak in game 5. Nashville kept game 6 close but couldn’t claw back from a second-period deficit.

Salem’s Patrick Sharp led all skaters with 12 goals and 22 points. Nashville’s Claude Giroux was surprisingly quiet, but the Knights got clutch postseason work from Henrik Zetterberg (18 points and 3 game-winning goals) and Smith.

2012-2013 Award Winners

In BOS, NAS, SAL, SFS, Special Features, STL on August 7, 2013 at 9:07 am

In a season notable for a lack of headline-making offensive performances, many players still shone in the 2012-13 GWMHL regular season. As a few select teams battle it out in the playoffs, we take a (totally biased and absolutely unscientific) look at the players who made the biggest mark on the year.

Scoring Champ

Claude Giroux, Nashville Knights
Giroux won his first-ever — and not likely his last — scoring title in style. With 108 points, he was the only player to surpass 100 and was 11 points up on his nearest competition. Most remarkably, and we’ll circle back to this, is that Giroux finished the year with 42 points more than his nearest teammate, Patrick Kane. Where would the Knights have gotten without him? Not very far.
Honourable Mentions: Erik Cole, Saint Louis Blues (97 points), Patrik Elias, Boston Banshees (96 points)

Sniper Award

Erik Cole, Saint Louis Blues
Erik Cole was lighting it up even before Saint Louis started acquiring a deep supporting cast at the trade deadline.  We didn’t see many stratospheric point totals this season, but Cole had some close competition in the goals race, but the winger — who had 32 goals last season and just 16 the season before — just kept ticking en route to his league-leading 54.
Honourable Mentions: Steven Stamkos, Charleston Chiefs (51 goals), Milan Lucic, Boston Banshees (47 goals)
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Which Deadline Pickups Made the Biggest Impact After 24 Games?

In DEN, NAS, SCA, Special Features, STL, VAN on June 12, 2013 at 9:42 pm

streit

It was the most active trade deadline in recent memory. 24 games later, most of the players who found new homes have had a chance to show what they’ve got. But which teams’ acquisitions made the biggest difference?

1) Saint Louis Blues (17-6-1 since deadline)

The Blues were a good team before the deadline, but that didn’t deter them from making bold moves – and it paid off. Daniel Alfredsson (9 goals in 24 games) and Alex Steen (13 points in 12 games) were notable producers, but the real impact was on overall team depth. They’ve never been harder to defend.

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Bobrovsky Dealt to Baltimore in Deadline Blockbuster

In BAL, NAS, News, Transactions on May 8, 2013 at 8:10 pm

It finally happened.

Just one hour before the trade deadline, the Nashville Knights finally found a taker for Sergei Bobrovsky. With a logjam in goal and the specter of losing Bobrovsky’s rights at the end of the season, Nashville pulled off an eleventh-hour blockbuster, sending the netminder along with their first round pick in 2013 to the Baltimore Crab for winger Daniel Sedin and defenseman Mark Streit.

It’s a clear commitment for a total rebuild for the Crab, who also shed Alex Burrows two weeks ago. For the Knights – already laden with high-end offense – it’s a major push for a playoff spot, with division leader Vancouver falling off its first quarter pace.

Alfredsson Gets New Start in Saint Louis

In BOS, News, STL, Transactions on May 8, 2013 at 12:58 pm

After more than 11 seasons, veteran winger Daniel Alfredsson is on his way out of the Boston Banshees franchise. The team’s second all-time leading scorer has been traded to the Saint Louis Blues, who continue to load up on experienced talent, in exchange for winger Matt Frattin and Ice Harbor’s 3rd round pick in 2013. It marks the fourth major deal of the season for the Blues and the second move this week for the Banshees.

Fire Ants Bring In Defensive Help

In BOS, News, SCA, Transactions on May 6, 2013 at 7:02 pm

It isn’t the type of head-turning deal we’ve seen leading up to the trade deadline, but there really are no small moves. Today, the South Carolina Fire Ants acquired the services of defenseman Matt Greene from the Boston Banshees for a third round pick in 2013.

The Banshees have made it known they aren’t giving up – if the playoffs started today, they’d be in – but fine-tuning. In Greene (who was once cut from the Fire Ants, and has 9 assists in 40 games this year) the Ants add another veteran as they try for the post-season. Notably, they’ve now dealt their top three picks in this year’s rookie draft.

Fehr Leads Off Mid-Season Free Agent Claims

In News, Transactions on May 4, 2013 at 11:17 am

The Ice Harbor Storm kicked off the mid-season free agent claim period by reacquiring winger Eric Fehr, who the team had cut prior to the start of the season. And from there, the theme was ‘depth’. Both Pittsburgh and Delta rejigged their bluelines, with the Hornets signing Michael Stone and Chris Butler and the Sturgeon picking up Justin Falk, Joe Corvo, and Clayton Stoner.

Full results after the jump:

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Trade Action Continues, Fire Ants Load Up

In News, PIT, SCA, Transactions on April 29, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Not to be left out of the white-hot trade market, the South Carolina Fire Ants have made a move, picking up veterans Brad Richards and Sergei Gonchar from the Pittsburgh Hornets. That experienced scoring came at a price, as the Ants surrender their first and second round picks in 2013, along with young blueliner Travis Hamonic.

But South Carolina badly needed a player like Richards, who likely slots into the first line, in the absence of Travis Zajac. The Hornets, meanwhile, continue amassing a young defense corps also highlighted by Victor Hedman, Dmitry Kulikov, and Slava Voynov.