In hockey as in many Sports, you Reap what you sow. So for the Reapers of Guelph, an amazing playoff run has a price. After coming a hairs breath from their first ever Kings Cup title, the team now must face a tough and difficult decision.
What do we do now?
The answer should seem simple. This team has always been a contender, and coming off their best year yet, challenging for the title should be certain. Unfortunately that is not the case.
"We incurred a large payroll bringing in the likes of Zubov, Hossa and Sakic last year." said GM Gandour. "The truth is that this team needs an identity, not just to keep pushing with what it has. Two roads lie before us... but which one to chose? The answer is said best by Robert Frost. 'I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.' If only I could determine which road less teams are taking. It makes sense in hockey terms, more demand and less supply."
With the team up in the air what to do, the natural focus of conversation went to the teams targets in Free Agency.
"We have shifted strategies there," GM Gandour admitted. "We had targetted two big pieces in the market at a price we felt was overpaying. To our surprise, both our targets went above our cap on day one. We have regrettably decided not to pursue Shane Doan's or Rob Blake's return to the Reapers. Shane Doan is done as a Reaper. We set out with our pro scouts and operations board to determine a budget, a set of targets with backup options, and an alternative plan for proceeding in auction. Unfortunately the backup plan was to focus on a long term plan without the immediate impact. With so few studs to select on the market, plan B out of necessity has come to pass. Our backup plan is to sign a lot of good depth players, and use them to fill roster gaps created by dealing our more tradeable assets."
With this revelation it is believed that both Marian Hossa and Vincent Lecavalier may be dealt this offseason. It is also believed that the asking price would be nothing less then the foundation blocks for the future in terms of a strong young team.
The Reapers however have not totally given up on bringing back some of their free agents.
"We remain optimistic" said GM Gandour, "that we can bring back one or two guys. Currently we remain in talks with Joe Sakic, Sergei Zubov and Scott Walker. We are also considering talks for Michael Nylander's return to Guelph. We did have to bow out of the Brian Boucher sweepstakes after hitting our max, but we believe we can still sign a good quality goalie without paying 1 mil plus for him."
It is believed the Reapers shifted interest to veteran goalie Johan Hedberg when Boucher told Guelph that he was heading elsewhere. IT is also beleived that if the team did dismantle, a tougher more volatile team would take its place. The only year this team was not a contender, they had records set for fights and PIMs. They had a team of goons that made for entertaining hockey. This philosophy has only been seen in recent years in games vs their rival the Calgary Browns. GM Gandour however has a slightly different view.
"We are not after players who only fight. We have been actively pursuing versatile forwards that can be an annoyance for other teams to play against. We were after Lucic for years, we added Cooke over a year ago, and Burrows was a long time Reaper. We are after guys like Laperierre and Asham, but seeing the price we may end up bowing out. If it comes down to it we may sign one or two goons, but we prefer players who can play a role beyond 3 shifts a game."
For now the Reapers are in multiple trade discussions. It is believed the team is heatedly discussing trades involving the likes of Marian Hossa, Scott Clemmensen and Ken Klee at this time. No word on if any deals are imminent.
From a free agency side, all the Reapers RFAs with the exception of Matt Foy were offered a minimal contract to maintain their rights. It is believed that the team will not pursue any other teams RFAs.
With the team talking future, I asked the GM why they were not active in the draft that just passed.
"We were active," GM Gandour argued, "but it never showed on the draft sheets. We were in talks that could have brought us into the draft in multiple areas and in every round. However in the end we believed the return was just not enough to justify the players we would have moved. Sometimes the best deal is the one you don't make, and I have years of that lesson ingrained into me. I still look back at the Malkin Blake deal and think MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING! That would have been a deal best never made."
Lastly the teams cash situation is such that despite an influx of over 2 million in cash awards, they still can not afford to spend wrecklessly. It is believed of all the offers the team has out currently, only two are over the 540,000 mark and one of those less then 1 million.
Reporting for your Reapers,
Sal Trachan
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