Wheat Kings - PR

GM YOUNG PULLS OFF SHOCKER

In a move that has sent a shock through 'toontown and will likely go down as one of the most peculiar moves which GM Tyler Young has ever done, the Wheat Kings announced Wednesday that they have sent TFHL14 Vezina finalist and TFHL12 Vezina winner Roberto Loungo to the Owls, along with defenceman Martin Skoula and winger Petr Sykora. Coming to the Kings are center Josh Hennessy, winger Eric Fehr, defenceman Karol Rachunek, and goalie Kevin Weekes.

Triggering the shock is the seeming lack of any reason for this move. The Wheat Kings are already fairly deep at forward with young skilled players and Luongo is one of the league's preeminent goalies. However, the deal is now done and it will no doubt take a few years to demonstrate what was the ultimate result.

"These kind of trades are definately shocking," Tyler Young commented, "but you have to understand we want to build a dominant team here, so the key is to always aim for the bigger picture and not let an infatuation with a chance at immediate success blind us to following through with what the plan was all along: we want our team to be dominant, and all along trading Luongo was expected at a point before his play began to diminish - and thanks to his good season last year his value is as high as it will ever be."

Asked about the departure of Skoula and Sykora, both of whom are not chump-change, plus his plan for goal this season after losing Luongo's intended heir, Kari Lehtonen, in free agency, Mr. Young responded:

"Our hope is that Kevin Weekes will provide adequate goaltending this year - all he has to do is stop the puck eighty-nine percent of the time and we will be fine. We're not demanding excellence from him, heck Roberto wasn't statistically great last year, with our defence letting only about 25 shots against, we only need our goalies not to kill us. As for Sykora and Skoula, we figured it was fair cost for what we got in return. We think Hennessy looks like a young Langkow, and will no doubt be at the core of our team for the next decade. Fehr is the type of guy we've been looking for to fit in on our future third line with Hartnell and Kostitsyn, a versatile skilled guy with defensive instints, but he'll get another year on the farm first. Rachunek is no throw in either, he had fifty points last season and will hopefully add a boost to our dormant power-play, moreover talent-wise he's not too much of drop-off from Skoula in anything but defensive awareness."

TRADE POSSIBILITY: I wouldn't mind acquiring a goalie in a fair trade, if you're looking for something and have netminder you wouldn't mind dealing, then email me. Keith Tkachuk, the perannual 40 goal man and all-star, could definately be had if the deal is right, as could any of my players in a fair trade.