Gentlemen, as we wrap up the regular season I want to lay out what is coming up so you can all be prepared.  

Pro/Farm Playoffs will run as normal.  As quickly as possible after the playoffs we will handle retirements, rerates and aging.  

We will then have a quick window for GMs to submit their protection lists for the Expansion Draft.  Hopefully you all have started planning and the rerates will just finalize what you already have planned.  

During World Juniors (roughly 13 Days) the Lumberjacks and Redtails will plot and scheme, and maybe make some deals before the Expansion Draft begins.  

When World Juniors is complete we will run the Expansion Draft. 

We will then move on to the regular Season 6 Draft and Free Agency.  

Please be prepared especially for the expansion protection lists.  You have a lot of time during the playoffs to get that figured out.  We have a lot to accomplish this offseason and nobody wants to be waiting around for one person to get it together.  

Since the recent coach change, the Miami trident are now 8-2 in their last 10 games. New coach Trudel wanted to shuffle lines and rightfully so with the team previous performances. That puts the newly aquired 3 time all star Jimmy Ruddel on the first line with Kennelly and Larochelle, and Lokhanov on the 2nd line with Koonts and Peltokangas. Ruddell's impact is already noticeable: The first line is now scoring again (9pts for Ruddell and Larochelle and 10 for Kennelly in the last 11 games) and on the 2nd line, the Lokhanov-Koonts duo is on fire (13 pts in 11 games for Lokhanov and 15 in 11 games for Koonts). Granted, this is a small sample to truly evaluate Trudel's impact on the team but one thing is for sure: The Miami Trident are looking more and more like they did at the start of the season. 

The Trade Deadline is this Sunday February 22nd at 6PM EST.  

All trades must be agreed to and posted by this time.  NO EXCEPTIONS.  

Contract Extensions will remain open until March 1st so that newly acquired players can be extended.  

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"