This is when decisions get made.
Former Storm GM Mike Kelly used to always say it took 12 to 15 games into a season before you really knew what you have. Or didn’t have.
The Guelph Storm has 12 games under its belt, 14 by the end of the weekend, and the time for wondering should be over.
A power forward, another experienced defenceman and an overage upgrade should all be on the list of needs right now. Some would argue a goalie might be to, although that one remains up for debate.
The Storm has the young players and the draft picks to go on a shopping binge. Just how much they want to shop remains to be seen.
And it should be a buyer’s market.
Teams that are (or should be) in rebuild mode have some gems to deal. There are also a number of very good overagers that should be being shopped.
Brandon Saigeon in Hamilton, Justin Brazeau in North Bay, Kyle Maksimovich in Erie and Anthony Salinitri in Sarnia are all overagers who could be available.
The list of 19 year olds on the market on rebuilding or almost-there teams is also impressive: Mac Entwistle and Dylan Strome in Hamilton, Jason Robertson in Kingston and Ryan McGregor in Sarnia, just to name a few.
Coming into the season, Morgan Frost in Sault Ste. Marie was supposed to be the guy everyone would be after, but the Soo screwed that up by being the best team in the West after 15 games.
It is also a time when several teams will accept what they already knew, that they aren’t good enough to compete for a championship this year and have to do what’s best for their franchise in the longer run.
Of course it’s not as simple as every team holding a fire sale if they are in the bottom half of the standings.
Not all the aforementioned players will be traded, for a variety of reasons.
Some teams are under performing and expect much better results, some middle-of-the-road clubs will have the “we could upset anyone” in the playoffs attitude.
Teams also have varying degrees of willingness to move last-year players. Some will have a ‘get-what-you-can’ mentality and other will have a ‘they-stay-if-we-don’t-get-what-we-want’ approach.
Others will keep a player because of what they mean to the franchise, having spent their whole careers there. Sometimes players will refuse to be traded.
But even with those variables, there is going to be many players available and perhaps only four or five teams looking to go all-in when it comes to trading for them.
The Guelph Storm sits at the top of that list.
