Hello again sports fans. Today we review some recent transactions of the Icecats and get some behind the scenes discussions with GM Silvio Saouaf on his logic. In the offseason, Iceland made a significant transition in acquiring veteran center Jordan Staal from Springfield for 3 draft picks. It appeared that GM Saouaf had a plan. Here is what he had to say. “With the additional positions that Aho and Suzuki could play, we saw an opportunity to pair one of them with Connor. As such, we needed someone reliable to be our 3rd line center and anchor our penalty kill. Staal was the perfect solution. Negotiations with Springfield were smooth and we got a deal done quickly.”
Iceland then appeared to once again go all in with the acquisition of defender Rasmus Ristolainen from Chippawa for 2 prospects. It was not clear what role Risto would play as the Icecats signed veteran defender David Savard in the offseason. “Risto was acquired to be a sold depth dman, providing solid defense and veteran leadership, should we need him. Early on, it looked like Savard was struggling so Risto gave us some options.”
Having acquired Staal, GM Saouaf decided to deal veteran and all around great player, Ryan Nugent Hopkins for youth and futures from Amos. It was tough to see Nuge go but the youth coming up provided that flexibility. Young players like Aliaksei Protas, Dylan Holloway, Dimitry Voronkov and Martin Pospisil demanded ice time. In return for Nuge, Iceland also traded young dman Mason Lohrei, given their depth at D. Iceland acquired another solid young and talented winger, Zach Benson, along with 3 picks. Iceland had previously struggled to phase in young and talented wingers and now they seem to have a surplus.
The Icecats roster was not set and we will continue looking at their transformation in the next blog. Stay tuned, sports fans!
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