A question that would have seemed ridiculous three months ago now has to at least be part of the conversation: does the Guelph Storm consider selling its top players?
Ludicrous, perhaps. But if they're not buying, they better be selling.
A team built to contend for a Western Conference title this season enters the last weekend before the Christmas break tied for fourth place and could potentially sit in sixth come Monday morning.
Take overtime and shootout losses into consideration and they’re two games under .500.
That’s not a contender, and if you’re not a contender, don’t be a pretender.
Nobody on the roster has overachieved. At least seven, maybe more, have underachieved in the first half.Isaac Ratcliffe, Nate Schnarr and Dmitri Samorukov would have significant value on the trade market.
Of course there is an equal argument that the Storm should go the other way and make some trades to add to the current roster.
Perhaps a bigger argument, maybe.
They are not a bad team. Many nights they are a very good team. They have been involved in 16 one-goal outcomes, losing 10 of them. It wouldn’t take much to turn that worm around and adding the right three players would make this team a legit contender. Maybe not the favourite. But certainly a team that would stand a much better chance of beating a London or a Sault Ste. Marie in the second round of the playoffs.
Because right now they look an awful lot like the team of 2014-2015, a team that can win the first round of the playoffs but not get out of the second round.
They have added just one player since the start of the year, Dom Commisso, a useful forward with several positive attributes, but also one who has also scored just once 25 games since arriving.
They don’t need superstars. They need depth and consistency. Those players are out there. But at what price?
Guelph has extra draft picks, they have some young talent and they have an OHL trade market that should be flooded with quality players available and only three or four teams looking to buy.
Moves need to be made, one way or the other. Because sitting there thinking that this team can turn itself around the second half just isn’t logical.
We’re 30 games into the season, not 10. You know what the Guelph Storm is.
