What a week!  The Bathurst Titan… err.. are they still ducks?.. and are they angry?… blew things up this week, and the Scotsmen pounced… raided???.. no that’s your 8% Norweigan side Shannon…

Ok, but seriously, Quintin is BACK and he blew shit up to collect a ton of assets to put together something new.  If anyone was worried Miramichi looking like the rebuild was over might make it hard to make the playoffs in Lemieux, you can relax, Quintin has got you.  Even though I had production goals this week and next, I wasn’t going to miss out.  To be honest, I think I was the first person Quintin reached out to because I had been in discussions with him pretty consistently and made offers on Sanderson and inquired on Dach.  So what did the Scotsmen do in this crazy week kicked off by a 4-way deal?

The Scotsmen have been vocal about wanting one of the best bluelines to nurse Askarov’s development and keep the goal scoring to a minimum.  After picking up Bouchard and solidifying a top 4 that was right up there with the top 4 from any other team, it seemed it was time to ride things out for awhile.  There were rumors about Dahlin.  Heiskanen perhaps after Cains saw what they had.  Goodfellow was even so bold as to inquire about Alexeyev even though he knew there was no chance the Royals were breaking up the Russian Mafia. 

When GM Sullivan reached out, the wheels fell off.  The Scotsmen like defensive blueliners, and Dobson was offensively skilled.  One of the best in the league, but the Scotsmen pitched Dobson, Brent Burns and a 2nd to the Ducks for Jake Sanderson and Rasmus Ristolainen.  Now, not only did the Scotsmen have the young stud they wanted to build around, but they now had a top 5 D that was beyond their wildest dreams.  Until GM Nagle smelled the blood in the water and was eyeing up McDavid.  First it was potentially both of the Russian mafia for B&B (Bouchard and Byram), but they it changed and it was just Goodfellow’s pièce de resistance, Alexander Alexeyev.  Let me break the 4th wall and say I LOVE the way Jeff built this guy.  He is everything I could hope for.  

Then, GM Kenny, already up a stud D in Dobson from the 4-way, wanted to firm up his projections and inquired about Lafreniere.  If you are keeping score, that’s three GMs that came to me.  I had been inquiring off and on for months, but this was everything coming together at once.  Lucas Raymond again is a very Scotsmen type, a winger with intensity and puck control will get me in the cockles of my heart.  

Last but certainly not the least, it was time for the Scotsmen to go after Kirby Dach and then consider a strong backup for Askarov to help the 20 somethings develop.  The cupboards were pretty bare, but the Scotsmen threw the kitchen sink at Dach.  It was initially considered but Quintin was going to wait for another GM was was interested in Dach.  The Scotsmen pulled on their future assets and upped the ante and Quintin was willing to not wait and Dach became a Scotsmen.  After some discussion on the value of Matt Murray, the Scotsmen pulled another pick off the board leaving them with only a single 2nd round pick in the next 5 drafts along with some 3rds.  

Did Goodfellow pounce?  Did the league raid the Ducks locker room?  How important is it to feel out potential deals, even if they won’t be considered right away?  Is the balance OK between forwards and D in South Esk or will they fail to score enough goals to compete for the Lemieux conference?  The only thing for certain is that was a fun week, no one can say they don’t enjoy the excitement and spectacle of a team changing directions and shaking things up in a big way.  

Time to work on some odds for James.  Hope you got something out of the week that was, and what shall be… (Kamala pun).