November 11 2019
It didn't take long for the Ronin to show their true colors about the current season when they traded former Norris trophy winning defenseman PK Subban to Dartmouth. The return isn't overwhelming either although we can't make a final assessment as the draft pick and Ryan Merkley have yet to make the NHL. The cost savings are the real motivation for Victoria to make this move.
While Lawson Crouse has upside and is a former 1st round pick, his best NHL season is 25 points with Arizona of the NHL. Granted he has played less than 200 games in the NHL and as a bigger player, it has been said that they often take longer to grow into their frame and adjust to the speed and pace of the NHL. At least the Ronin hope so.
The team did have pending UFA defenseman Marco Scandella on the bench who now gets a regular starting gig, they also had a roster issue when Jake Virtanen went down with a minor injury. So the thought process in BC was that Scandella should make up some of what they lost in Subban. They also feel that Crouse can fill in on the wing and improve overall team depth upfront.
The onerous Subban contract went to a team that can easily afford his price, plus they can bank on the upside of Merkely and the pick thrown into the deal. The team is fortunate enough to have some very promising kids on the backline including Chabot, Hughes, Lindell, Mayfield & Cholowski so that they can easily take on the risk of Merkley and hope the best for him.
The move also helps clarify who their UFA resign is likely to be as Tyler Myers can likely be retained at less than 4 million dollars due to the CCHL free agency resigning rules. This move signals that the team is likely to continue their rebuild for at least 1 more season in the hopes of becoming a better than 500 hockey team and banking the all-important playoff bonus money in seasons to come.
Its been a slow process but things are starting to come together now. Rumors now indicate that Andrei Svechnikov will soon be joining the club, but the club would not respond to questions about his status.
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