New Hampshire AP — The Northern CHEEFS are known for three things: winning, devouring the waiver wire, and never shying away from a big trade. In his rookie season, General Manager Kyle Hamel traded two first-round picks for David Krejci and Chris Kunitz. A few weeks later, he recouped a 1st and then-rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy in exchange for the Sedin twins, only to trade that 1st at the trade deadline with Brendan Gallagher for Alex Ovechkin. It didn't pan out that year, but Hamel made it abundantly clear that he would do whatever it takes to make a run.
"We’ve been chasing Cups from day one since taking over the franchise," said Hamel in a recent interview. "Now, it’s time to reset in a year that we feel should be tagged with an asterisk. No playoff grind, no real champion! We feel the same way about last year as well. We’ll use all our moves by the trade deadline. Hopefully, we see something from enough of these young guys to build around and get back to where we want to be."
Almost three weeks into the 2020-21 season, the CHEEFS are staying true to their ethos despite finding themselves in unfamiliar territory -- the cellar -- despite never finishing below 8th since bursting onto the scene in 2014. Aside from a handful of building blocks, their roster is made up almost entirely of young players and a shooter tutor guarding the net.
One thing hasn't changed amid the turmoil, though, and that's Hamel's appetite for wheeling and dealing. The CHEEFS have already made four deals in the young season - first shipping out stalwarts Evgeni Malkin and Roman Josi for Quinton Byfield and Cody Glass, followed shortly by another blockbuster that saw recent RFA acquisition Mikko Rantanen and long-time CHEEF defender Aaron Ekblad head to Quispamsis for David Pastrnak and 2021 1st and 2nd round picks.
All of a sudden, David Pastrnak has come home.
"Pasta was drafted by us and we traded him back in 2015 to chase the cup. He’s home now and we couldn’t be happier as his personality and skills represent our team," continued Hamel.
Indeed, that Pastrnak trade in 2015 remains one of the most fascinating deals in league history. CHF moved Pasta, Nathan Beaulieu, Vasilevskiy, and Andrew Hammond to the Wolfsburg Vipers for Ryan Johansen and Tyler Toffoli. The deal certainly looks more appealing to CHEEFS fans now that Pasta is back on the menu.
"We were also lucky to land Mikko as an RFA, but he understands this is a business and he’s happy to land on a contender."
About 6.5 hours up 95-N, nestled against the Bay of Fundy, is where you'll find that contender - Joel Hatfield and the Quispamsis Puckers. Hatfield, whose rookie and sophomore WHL seasons have both been shortened by the pandemic, is over the moon to land Mikko "The Moose" even with the big price tag.
"It all started in the morning when my Director of Analytics had let me know that since the third day of the season (Jan 15) we were the third-best team in the league," said Hatfield, taking a brief break from counting beaver pelts to recount his feelings about what will surely go down in Quispamsis hockey history as "The Trade".
"We had initially inquired about Ekblad because he seemed like a great value to grab from a selling team and would be a big upgrade to some of our underperforming players. [...] After some lengthy internal discussions with the entire Front Office, we agreed that this would be a great deal for both sides. Ultimately it is the injury concerns to Pasta that allowed us to entertain this deal."
Less than an hour after pulling the trigger, Quispamsis traded Anthony Mantha and an 8th round pick to another contender, the North Short Netminders, for a 4th rounder. The modest return surprised some fellow GMs and surely upset more than a few Mantha jersey owners, but Hatfield had his reasons.
"We wish nothing but the best for Mantha, but in full transparency, this was a player and contract that we absorbed from a different administration and we have definitely noticed the drop in play since his big payda. His lack of hustle, toughness, and grit are characteristics we can not ignore. It looks like he gave up big checks for a big check."
Meanwhile, back south of the Canadian border, the CHEEFS completed yet another trade right before this went to press - reacquiring its own 2021 1st round pick from the Jotunheim Giants for Mikhail Sergachev. Under the guidance of new GM Brian Mazzucco, the reinvigorated Giants are in the hunt for prize money and now welcome Sergachev to a promising defensive corps that already includes Cale Makar and Alexander Romanov.
With no shortage of newness this season and mixed feelings about the lack of WHL playoffs,
the old school total points grind is very much underway and the standings are tightly packed. At a glance, 7th place is within 30 points of 1st, and 12th is just 50 points away from the prize podium. Game on!
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