State of the Loons : Throwing in the Towel?

When the team boarded the plane in Siberia to take the grueling red-eye flight back to Capeside - their record was a solid 14-7-2. Sitting at 30 points was good for 4th in the Corfield Conference and positioned for another playoff run. The Miners were in town Monday night for the second half of the long-distance back to back. Bright and early Monday morning prior to the Miners/Loons game, Sudbury Gm Terry James was seen in the Nest lobby waiting to meet with GM Czepiel. The two met behind closed doors throughout the afternoon and were seen sitting together during their team's game that night in the owner's box.

At the post-game press conferences each team announced a major trade: Sudbury acquired defenseman Ryan Suter, center Sebastian Aho and two mid-round draft picks. Capeside acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo, winger Kevin Fiala and two blue-chip prospects in Alex Turcotte and Matthew Boldy. And it did not end there... An hour later Czepiel was again at the podium announcing a deal with Georgetown which sent last year's MVP David Krejci, prospects Kupari and Gylander and a 2nd round pick to the Millers for top goaltending prospect Ilya Samsonov and a first-round pick.

So ...Many fans are wondering - What the Hell?

Czepiel spoke with us - "When we looked at this year's team we see a team that can definitely make the playoffs, but we see a team with a lot of holes and a lot of players that are not living up to expectations. The issue is, we do not have many future assets that we can use to strengthen this year's team. After last year's unexpected success we sent away a lot of draft picks and young players and that has left us dry. So we made a tough decision. We are reloading - not rebuilding. By reacquiring Carlo we add a young, cheap, defensively sound defenseman to an aging defensive group. Turcotte and Samsonov could be ready to jump in as early as next year. The trading away of Aho and Kupari doesn't make a lot of sense, but the addition of Turcotte creates a log jam on our center depth chart with Dubois, Turcotte, Beecher, and Zegras. Our goal from day one has been to build a team that will be able to remain successful year after year, not just for a one or two year window. I believe that these moves can help make that a reality."

Will the "reload" continue? Recent UFA signings Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Jack Johnson will be able to be moved in a few weeks. Veterans Nick Holden and Brook Orpik could be dealt soon to teams with playoff aspirations. Adding young wingers should be the Loons priority over the next few months as that is the team's area of weakness.

Updated top 10 prospect list

10 Egor Afanasyev
 9 John Beecher
 8 Matthew Boldy
 7 Bode Wilde
 6 Jakub Lauko
 5 Ian Mitchell
 4 Oliver Wahlstrom
 3 Ilya Samsonov
 2 Trevor Zegras
 1 Alex Turcotte