State of the Loons; Claude Giroux

In our last article we mentioned that GM Czepiel owed it to the team and to the fans to try and win now. Well... He did it.

This past Friday, the Loons were in Fort Erie to play the Falcons. It seemed odd that Czepiel joined the team on a mini one game road trip, and the rumors increased when Czepiel was seen at the local Happy Jacks with Falcon's GM Matt Young. Later that night Czepiel watched from the owner's suite as the Loons pulled off an impressive 6-4 with over the Falcons. Normally the press is allowed into the locker rooms 30 minutes after the game, however on Friday night both locker rooms remained locked and word began to circulate that the Loon's flight back to Capeside had been delayed. At 10:27pm Czepiel emerged from the visiting locker room and announced that he and Young had agreed on a trade. "We have agreed to send Anthony (Beauvillier), Quinn Hughes and the rights to Vegas' 2019 first round pick to Erie for Claude Giroux" Czepiel announced. Czepiel went on -  "Matt and I have been having ongoing discussions over the past few days and I think tonight's result sped those talks up. With both Claude and Wheeler being unrestricted free agents at the end of the year, I had hoped that we might have a slim chance at getting our hands on a superstar like Giroux which our roster was missing. And luckily for us it worked out. Though, I would be lying if I said I am not having second thoughts already. Quinn will be a dynamic player in the league and Anthony is already having success at 21 years old, not to mention we now will not pick until the 5th round in this years draft and not til the 3rd in 2020. Coach Janney and these players have forced me to change our philosophy and we need to try and take advantage of what we have going here because you can't take winning for granted."

As exciting as this trade is for the Loons and their fans, it does create a lot of question marks for the future. With the current CCHL rules, a team is only able to resign one UFA . Capeside will likely risk losing both of their goaltenders along with top defenseman Matt Niskanen. Czepiel has emphasized the need for young talent, Giroux is already 30. When Hopkins was dealt away it was said to be because 25 was past this team's window. Has this first 20 games really changed things that drastically? How will Czepiel restock his prospect pool after losing Hughes, Beauvillier,  Tychonick, McKeown and Dipietro with no draft picks? Will Vrana, Puljujarvi, Donato and Carlo be able to take the next step in order to continue Capeside's winning culture? All these questions will not matter if the Loons can continue to win and make a serious bid at the Kehler Cup, but will the additions of Giroux, Sedin and Neal be enough to compete with the likes of Minnesota, Siberia and Calgary? Time will tell.