GWMHL

Archive for the ‘Teams’ Category

Delta Acquires Muzzin from South Side

In BOS, DEL, SSR, Transactions on April 22, 2018 at 10:43 am

The Delta Sturgeon continue their arms race with divisional rival Ice Harbor, acquiring defenseman Jake Muzzin from the South Side Renegades for Cody Ceci. The Sturgeon hope Muzzin will be able to QB a powerplay that will likely feature shooters like Kucherov, MacKinnon, and Hall. Ceci, five years Muzzin’s junior, better fits the Renegades’ nascent youth movement.

Ceci had 1 goal and 15 assists in 79 games last season. Muzzin had 6 goals and 20 assists in 82 and was a league-worst -50 for the rebuilding Renegades.

In another minor deal, the Renegades acquired 24-year-old defenseman Jake Dotchin and Baltimore’s 3rd round rookie pick (57th) from the Boston Banshees for San Jose’s 3rd rounder (42nd).

Orrsmen Acquire Rinne

In PAR, Transactions, VAN on April 22, 2018 at 10:41 am

After 9 seasons with the Vancouver Night Train, veteran netminder Pekka Rinne is heading to a contender. The Parry Sound Orrsmen have acquired Rinne, along with its own 3rd round rookie pick in 2018, for goaltender Anders Nilsson, forward prospect Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, and Denver’s 2nd round rookie pick in 2018.

Rinne played 434 games with the Night Train and backstopped the club through its best years. But with Sergei Bobrovsky taking the reins in 2017-18 and the team getting younger, his days in Vancouver turned out to be numbered. He leaves as the franchise leader in games, wins, and shutouts.

The Orrsmen, whose 3-man platoon in the 2018 Gump Cup Playoffs fell flat, will be able to enter the 2018-19 season with a workhorse between the pipes to complement one of the league’s best young forward cores.

Trading Opens with Boston-Ice Harbor Swap

In BOS, IHS, Transactions on April 11, 2018 at 11:38 am

With the Gump Cup awarded, trading opened for the 2018 offseason — and one of the usual suspects was ready to pounce. The Boston Banshees were involved in the first move of the trading period for the fourth year running, sending defender Nick Leddy to the Ice Harbor Storm in exchange for centre Martin Hanzal and the Storm’s 2nd and 4th round picks in the 2018 Rookie Draft.

For Boston, who acquired Leddy just last season, the move may signal the beginning of a retool aimed at getting younger. The Storm, meanwhile, may have finally solved their long-standing need for a left-handed top-pairing defenseman.

Salem Takes Second Straight Title

In BOS, News on March 29, 2018 at 7:01 pm

Entering game 7 of their Gump Cup Final series, the Boston franchise was looking for its first championship since 1998. At stake for Salem: A second straight title and its fifth in six years.

The Sabercats opened the scoring early, Jeff Carter feeding Gustav Nyquist and the puck bouncing in off the post in a goal that was emblematic of what was to come for the Banshees.

Salem carried that lead into the second period, and then carried the game away with trio of goals in just three and a half minutes — first, Bo Horvat beat Matt Murray on a 2-on-1 with Paul Byron, then Patrick Marleau made Zdeno Chara pay for a costly minor with a PP goal, and Logan Couture scored on a breakaway. Horvat would add another goal later in the period, and just like that, in front of a shocked Boston crowd, the dynasty held a 5-0 lead.

The third found the Sabercats playing a cautious game — they would manage just two shots on Murray all period — and Boston pouring it on. But for most of the period, either Fredrik Andersen or bad puck luck (like a Nick Leddy post and an Artem Anisimov whiff on a rebound) got in the way.

With 3:48 left, Alexander Wennberg finally solved Murray after Ryan Ellis cut off a Horvat clearing pass. Then Charlie Coyle split the D to make it 5-2 with under two minutes remaining. But it was, to put it mildly, way too little, way too late. Salem hung on to secure the big 5-2 road victory in game 7 and another banner for its rafters. The Cats are getting older now, but they showed they had at least one more life in them.

History Repeating: This Ain’t the River Rats’ First Rebuild Rodeo

In Special Features, WVR on October 7, 2016 at 7:58 pm

When the West Virginia River Rats shipped out stars Sidney Crosby, Brent Burns, and Henrik Lundqvist (along with core players like Eric Staal, Dan Hamhuis, and Jason Chimera) in September it shook the very foundations of the league. But it wasn’t the first time GM Jim Connell decided to blow the whole thing up.

A little bit of backstory. In late 2003, the Bristol River Rats were a competitive team, but a heartbreaking loss to South Carolina in the Gump Cup Final put the franchise in a bind. With an aging core, the team was in no man’s land; not quite strong enough to win it all, yet too talented to replenish with top-flight draft picks.

So, before the 2003-04 season even started, the team acted, shipping out scorers Peter Bondra and Alex Mogilny. At the mid-season trade deadline, the ax fell on Mark Recchi and Nicklas Lidstrom. Despite all this, the Rats finished atop the Sawchuk East with a 43-26-16 record — only to be swept by Ice Harbor in the first round of the playoffs.

Any lingering doubts were erased. The GM acted. Along with a massive trade that sent superstar defender Scott Niedermayer to the rival Storm, the Rats dealt away all their top scorers: Jaromir Jagr (coming off a 40-goal year), Alexei Yashin, Ray Whitney, Tony Amonte… even Bobby Holik. Between September 14 and October 19, 2014, the the team made 14 trades and jettisoned basically every veteran on the squad.

When the dust settled, the River Rats had amassed six first round picks and four second rounders: 10 picks in the top 30. With them, they drafted:

Read the rest of this entry »

Great Lakes Deals Hartnell

In BOS, DEL, DEN, GLP, Transactions on July 2, 2016 at 10:10 am

The Great Lakes Pilots have shipped veteran winger Scott Hartnell to the Delta Sturgeon. In exchange, the Pilots get Brad Richards and Delta’s 4th rounder in 2016. Hartnell is coming off a surprise 52-goal, 92-point season.

From Delta GM Andrew Martin:  “This has nothing to do with Brad Richards. He filled the role we asked him to fill, and was a consummate professional. However, the coaching staff has decided to move Nathan Mackinnon to Center for the upcoming season. This really necessitated us looking at our roster and seeing if we had adequate big bodies to fight in the corners. The answer is a resounding no, and so we have been on the lookout to obtain someone to help dig pucks out for our talented Centermen. We’re happy to have added Scott to our club, and look forward to him helping us in our bid for a playoff spot in the upcoming season.”

In other news, the Boston Banshees sent depth centre Boyd Gordon to the Denver Spurs for Great Lakes’ 4th, previously acquired in the deal that sent Joffrey Lupul to the Pilots.

Baltimore Crab Win the Gump Cup!

In BAL, News on April 16, 2016 at 10:06 am

The Baltimore Crab have won the 2016 Gump Cup!

Sami Vatanen’s goal with 5:48 left in game 5 against the Nashville Knights gave them a lead they would not relinquish. And so, in their first playoff appearance in 14 years, after many seasons of rebuilding, the Crab are your new GWMHL champs.

En route to the cup win, the Crabs beat Winnipeg in five and then knocked off the defending three-time champ Salem in a four-game sweep.

Nashville’s Patrick Kane led the league in postseason scoring with 21 points. Knights starter Cory Schneider also led all the goaltending category except the one that matters most in the playoffs — wins. That distinction belonged to the Crab’s Roberto Luongo, who put together a sensational run on the way to his second career championship.

Fire Ants Win Draft Lottery

In SCA, Transactions on April 10, 2016 at 1:24 pm

The South Carolina Fire Ants won the draft lottery today, moving from 3rd to 1st. Will the Ants take Connor McDavid or go off the board? We’ll find out in a few months.

The San Jose Hosers held at 2nd while the Portland Winterhawks, who had the league’s worst record (14-56-12) fell to 3rd overall. Still, in what’s shaping up to be one of the best talent pools to date, the ‘Hawks are all but guaranteed a fine player.

GUMP History Update

In Special Features, Teams on March 31, 2016 at 12:22 pm

All of the history files have been updated including the 2015-2016 season. Once again a huge thanks to Dave for providing the data!
There are some interesting items and milestones that occurred this year.

Jaromir Jagr
The ageless wonder has surpassed Teemu Selanne as the all-time leader in GUMP history with 1,433 points. Not only that, but he continues to play at a high level and could become the first GUMP player to exceed 1,500 total points. He also moved up to #2 all-time in assists breaking the 800 barrier and also became the 5th player in league history to register 600 goals. He also moved into 3rd place all-time in games played.

Joe Thornton
Jumbo Joe has become the first player in GUMP history to surpass 1,000 assists this season. He has also moved up to #3 all-time in points with 1,360.

Jarome Iginla
Moves into 4th place all-time in points with 1,357 and stands #3 overall in goals scored with 657.

Patrick Marleau
Became the 14th player in league history to register 1,000 points, landing at # 12 with 1,008 total points.

Roberto Luongo
Moves to #3 all-time in wins with 382.

In team related news, South Carolina set a new record low in faceoff win percentage winning just 39.59% of thier draws. Amazingly, the Delta Sturgeon set the 2nd lowest faceoff percentage last season at 39.98%!

Farmington had the 7th highest team faceoff percentage @ 57.74%

 

Delta Ships Ladd to Division Rival

In DEL, NAS, Transactions on January 8, 2016 at 9:25 am

The Delta Sturgeon (18-18-4) may only be three points out of a playoff spot, but that didn’t stop them from shipping out one of its top wingers — to division rival Nashville, no less.

The white-hot Knights (30-4-6) add Ladd, who has 29 points in 40 games, to a forward corps that already boasts three of the season’s top scorers, including Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Daniel Sedin.

The trade was made during the first half of play but only finalized at the just-opened midseason trade window.