Following last nights game, Port City pulled the trigger on another deal, making this their third trade in just 6 weeks.  Last night the Privateers acquired 3 time All Star winger Tomas Rydval from the New York Knights.  Rydval was the Knights first ever draft pick and has been arguably their best player since the franchise’s inception.  At just 29 years old he is still in his prime.  Currently Rydval has 52 points in 54 games which is right on par for him.  In 352 career games he is averaging just over 1 point per game.  It’s expected that he will slot in on the second line in Port City working with Zack Nowry and Kerby Daviault.  All three of these players are producing right around a point per game this season.  

Heading to the Knights in this deal is Cameron Lodewyks.  Lodewyks was an original draft pick of the Privateers and has been a solid presence in the middle since day one.  Also heading to New York is defenseman Samuel Hammer.  Hammer was an offseason addition to the Privateers this year and has been playing solidly on the 2nd line for Port City.   

GM Green had this to say about the deal.  Obviously we haven’t been having the success we have in the past and we’ve made a few changes here to try to make sure we get back into playoff position as we head down the stretch.  We expect Zilei to be back this week and with this addition and the previous acquisition of Parsons we think we now have the offense to complete with the top teams.   We’ve been pretty good from a statistic standpoint getting shots on goal and limiting the opponents but we just weren’t seeing the results in the expected amount of goals.   Bringing in Tomas is all about fixing that.  He’s a two time 30 goal scorer and should hit that mark again this year.  That’s the kind of proven scorer we need to get us going and hopefully make us a contender in the post season.  With the inclusion of Hammer in this deal we may be taking a look at that area but for the immediate future we are recalling Esa Pekkarinen from Raleigh.  He’s been up before and should be up to speed for us.  

Rydval will make his debut on Saturday when Port City hosts St Paul. 

Some say this was long overdue, but Ibrahim Fagerberg's tenure as the Trident's coach is over.

The Trident were off to a scorching start this season as they were, for a time, the top team in the league, but since the holliday break, the team has been freefalling in the standings. They are now 5-15 in their last 20 games. Coach Fagerberg seems totally unable to turn the ship around and being one of the highest payed coaches in the league, this is simply unnacceptable. Even if the Trident is a young team at its core and growing pains are something to be expected, Fagerberg's resulsts seemed always to disapoint, giving the roster he was working with.

"We feel we have a young offensive minded team, but season after season, we always seem to struggle scoring goals. Maybe this move should've happened sooner, but we feel like Ibrahim's coaching is not a good fit with us. We wish him the best for the future"

Following the announcement, Julian Trudel will be apointed as the new coach of the Miami Trident. Trudel is an offensive minded coach with a lots of experience and leadership.

"I am extremely excited to be joining the Miami organisation. I am looking forward to work with such a young and talented roster. I feel I can bring some guidance and poise to the team that should help them win big games and turn back to the team they were at the start of the season"

Halifax, NS — With the season officially past the “maybe we can still fix this” stage, the Halifax Chaos have decided to embrace their destiny and hit the big red REBUILD button. Yesterday marked what can only be described as the beginning of the end for the current roster configuration in Halifax.

The Chaos shipped out LW Jimmy Ruddell and D Laurent Presswood to the Miami Trident, opting instead for youth, picks, and patience. In return, Halifax welcomed LW Dan Strom, D Casey Fawcett, and a small treasure chest of future assets: a 1st and 3rd in S7, plus a 2nd in S6. Miami, meanwhile, is clearly done waiting around and is making a push toward respectability—and maybe even the playoffs—while Halifax stares longingly at the future.

With the move, Strom gets first crack at Ruddell’s old spot, skating alongside C James Pontes and RW Mikhail Chevkin.

“Not gonna lie,” Strom said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start. James has been awesome helping me settle in, and Mikhail is so talented that sometimes I just end up watching him from the neutral zone.” He laughed.

If Strom can’t capitalize on the opportunity, Halifax could turn to Jaiden Holmgren, who’s struggled so far this season but might benefit from a fresh role—or at least a fresh look.

Expectations are modest tonight as the Chaos head to Portland to face the mighty Twisters. That said, Halifax has played Portland surprisingly tight this year, so stranger things have happened. Goalie Karim Hogdal was the first netminder off the ice at today’s practice and appears ready to lead the Chaos into battle.

Hey—when you’re rebuilding, hope is free.

In Quebec City today the Southern All Stars spoiled the Norths fun with a 4-3 win in what has to be one of the lowest scoring All Star games ever.  Outstanding performances in net all around with Sampa Paunonen of the Blues turning back all 13 shots he faced.   Full Box Score here  

MVP honors go to Leonard Ananin of the Voodoo.  

I have gotten a few requests about the expansion protection lists and I apologize for any confusion on that.  Here are the rules regarding how protection lists will work.  Please review this before you start extending players so you are clear. 

Protection Lists

The following expansion rules apply to protection lists for existing teams during this league
expansion and any future expansion.

Protected Players
Each of the 24 existing teams will submit a protected list with one of two options:
● Protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goaltender.
● Protect 8 skaters (forwards or defensemen) and 1 goaltender.

Players aged 23 and younger at the time of the expansion draft (following rerates, retirements and aging) will be considered protected
and cannot be selected by expansion teams. Teams may expose these players aged 23 and
younger if they so choose.

Player Exposure Requirements
Each of the 24 teams must expose:
At least one defenseman who is under contract for the following season and has played a
minimum of 40 LTLHL games in the prior season OR 70 LTLHL games in the prior two seasons.
At least two forwards who are under contract for the following season and meet the same
game requirements as the defenseman.
At least one goaltender who is under contract for the following season or will be a restricted
free agent (RFA) and has received a qualifying offer prior to the draft.

Once you have gone over your roster you may find that you can't protect enough players and you are exposing more players, or you may have a very young roster and find you can protect almost everyone.  The minimum you must expose is.  2F, 1D, 1G.   As your strategy you may choose to expose more players, such as veterans with large contracts etc.  But everyone will expose the minimum 4 players.  

Hopefully this is clear to everyone now.  Again I apologize for any confusion on this issue.