The return of Schmidt has me thinking. Hopefully, our coaching staff can right his ship, so to speak. We may have the stud OA D that Schmidt was supposed to be when we drafted him. Originally, he was 1st round ranked in this league but slipped because of the NCAA / NTDP card.
If they do get him on track, should we try contending this year? A year where there is no super team and a year the OHL is hosting? There is a lot of talk about the direction this team will go in. Unless this team crashes in the next few weeks, the possibility of contending has to be on the table.
But we have no assets to buy. 2nd. 3rd. 3x4ths. That’s it. But we have young players on the roster.
If we decide we need three big pieces to contend, two forwards and a D, we have just added a forward and D for free in Mesar and Schmidt.
So if we need one more big add. How do we get it done?
Outside the box thinking here. So, don’t get excited. The following is just a thought.
I’ve been advocating the trade of Rehkopf this year to maximize return, get a 1st rounder along with picks.
But what if we buy, but in such a way that has us selling off everything that isn’t nailed down next year to gear up for 26-27? As it stands now, it’s possible to make that one big addition.
We don’t have many picks to move, but we have youth. Could we move one of Reid / Romano, (EASY!!! Easy now!!! I said it was just a thought), for a high end ‘05, to get better this year but give us another high end asset to move next year?
The reverse of a Rehkopf deal, in other words. Is there a team out there selling / rebuilding, who may put a high end ‘05 on the market?
For example:
Would Brantford entertain moving RW-Nick Lardis in such a deal? Involving Romano? In a “pick light” deal? We don’t have many picks but, MM could get inventive where, say, Rehkopf finds his way to Brantford in the off season? For their 1st rounder (8th overall) ‘07 RC- Jake O’Brien? In another “pick light” deal.
After the dust settles:
Lardis for Romano,
then,
Rehkopf for O’Brien.
Rehkopf trumps Lardis and that would be reflected in the picks involved in the deal.
The return for Rehkopf wouldn’t be as fruitful as expected if we sell him this year, but we’d have held onto him for a run this year, yet still be able to move him for an 07 1st rounder, what I’ve been advocating for all along.
Depending on the Martin diagnosis, I’d assume Motew would be the odd OA out? We have a couple months to see what Schmidt has to offer. But assuming he is the guy, we get what we can for Motew. Based on the Lockhart return, I wouldn’t expect much. Maybe he’s part of the Lardis deal and he goes to Brantford, who has an open OA spot.
Here’s how we’d look post trade deadline (mix and match):
Swick. Rehkopf. Lardis.
Martin. Sop. Mesar.
Ellinas. Lam. Miseljevic.
Bottineau. Mercer. Pugliese.
Morey. Stark.
Brzustewicz. Andonovski.
Schmidt. Campbell
Hamara. Reid.
Scott.
Parsons
Malboeuf.
Returnees off this roster we’d sell off next year, who’d definitely bring significant value:
Rehkopf (deal mentioned above)
Lardis
Andonovski.
OA’s Miseljevic, Parsons and Swick would bring some value as well.
Could moving these guys next year bring us the return that selling off Rehkopf, Brzustewicz and others would if we sold them this year? Or something close? As long as it’s something close, we’d have “had our cake and ate it too” by being able to contend this year.
When I say “pick light” deals involving Lardis and Rehkopf: I have us agreeing with Brantford that we preserve that 2nd ‘24 (Erie). That gets reflected in the off season deal. We need that pick to aid in having a healthy 08 group going forward.
So,
To Brantford:
Luca Romano
Simon Motew
3rd. 2x4ths.
To Kitchener:
Nick Lardis.
Off season:
To Brantford:
Carson Rehkopf
To Kitchener:
Jake O’Brien
2nd ‘25. 3rd ‘25. 3rd ‘26.
Rehkopf trumping Lardis gets us better picks than the picks we send to Brantford for Lardis. And, it allows us to keep the 2nd ‘24 (Erie).
Hey, I’m all about selling in some fashion. That’s my #1 option. But because of our early success, it’s a direction like this that MM surely must be contemplating.
Moving Romano is very unlikely, but not 100% impossible. Is swapping out Romano (11th overall) for O’Brien (8th overall) a saw off? Sure we’ll have traded off a 1st rounder but we’d get one back. Going forward, our 07 group is still very healthy. We’d get good return selling of graduating players next year which should set us up nice in the future.
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