As the USHL playoff race approaches, we saw a slew of trades in the final month before the deadline day (Feb 27) where the playoff bound teams looked to bolster their rosters and the eliminated teams looked to build for the future. Neutral Zone will take you inside the USHL trades over the past 10 days and unbiased, neutral scouts will break down each trade and its ramifications on the playoff race.
USHL Trades within the last 10 days
Feb 27
Fargo: receives Kevin O’Neil
Madison: receives Jeff Losurdo
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Dubuque: receives Alex Stevens and Phase II 7th round pick in 2017
Sioux Falls: receives David Brumm, Phase I 5th round pick (2017), Phase II 2nd round pick (2017)
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Lincoln: receives Jack Doremus
Sioux Falls: receives Grant Reichenbacher, 2-3rd round picks (2017) and an affiliate player to be named later
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Muskegon: receives Austin Albrecht
Sioux Falls: receives Marcus Russell, 3rd round Phase II pick (2017)
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Bloomington: receives Walker Duehr
Chicago: receives Ben Mirageas
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Feb 26
Tri City: receives Harrison Feeney, Phase II 5th round pick (2017)
Bloomington: receives Logan Halladay
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Fargo: recieves Mitchell Chaffee
Bloomington: receives Christiano Versich, Phase II 5th round pick (2017)
Feb 21
Tri City: receives Chase Pilawski
Waterloo: receives Danny DiGrande
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Feb 19
Dubuque: receives Eric MacAdams
Sioux Falls: receives Regen Cavanagh, Phase II 3rd round pick (2017)
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To better look at the trades within the last ten days of the trade deadline we must look at who was involved and how it will impact the standings.
West Division
- Sioux City Musketeers 67 pts
- Waterloo Black Hawks 66 pts
- Des Moines Buccaneers 62 pts
- Fargo Force 58 pts
- Lincoln Stars 55 pts
- Omaha Lancers 42 pts
- Tri City Storm 39 pts
- Sioux Falls Stampede 38 pts
While nobody has mathematically “clinched,” it’s safe to say Sioux City and Waterloo are going to the playoffs. There appears to be a three-way fight for the final two playoff spots between Des Moines, Fargo and Lincoln. Some teams made a splash for a playoff push and other teams were quiet.
Sioux City: The Musketeers made a big move earlier in the month where they picked up Charlie Kelleher, Joey Matthews and Odeen Tufto from Tri City and Tarek Baker from Bloomington. Given those big moves the club hasn’t made a move in the past 10 days. The trade bolsters the team’s offensive attack, their power play and gives them a puck moving, agile, crafty defenseman. The best thing for the Musketeers is they only had to part with a second, fourth, fifth and sixth round pick in 2017 as well as Ryan Sandelin to get four immediate impact players. The team is 7-1-0 since those trades and the Musketeers appear to be in top form heading into the playoffs.
Waterloo: The Black Hawks made a move last week to move Chase Pilawski, an undersized, puck moving defenseman for a speedy, third line winger who can score goals. Their bigger trades happened earlier in the month where they picked up a top line scorer in Alex Limoges for a Phase I 2nd round pick and Caleb Rule (and a player to be named later). They also picked up NHL Draft pick in goaltender Peter Thome from Chicago. Thome had a rocky start to the season with Omaha, but in his last 5 games with Chicago Steel had an impressive 2.37 GAA and .911 SV %. Thome isn’t likely to replace Beydoun as the team’s starter, but he provides depth at the position for the playoff run. Waterloo is currently on a 15-game unbeaten streak.
Des Moines: The Buccaneers have not been active in the trade market this month with their last trade tacking place in late January where they picked up Scooter Brickey from Muskegon. It’s not surprising that Des Moines didn’t make a move considering the they are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and riding a six-game unbeaten streak.
Fargo: The Force have made a few minor changes to their roster over the past few days. They acquired Mitchell Chaffee from Bloomington for Christiano Versich and Kevin O’Neil from Madison for Jeffrey Losurdo. These were good moves for Fargo because while they lose a speedy playmaker in Verisch, they pick up a smart, skilled playmaker in O’Neil and improve their depth with a hard-working, two-way, physical forward in Mitchell Chaffee. They could have made a move for a goalie but they have stood by Matt Murray and Ryan Bischel.
Lincoln: Lincoln made one move at the trade deadline which was dealing Grant Reichenbacher and a pair of draft picks to Sioux Falls for Jack Doremus. This was a low risk, win-now move where they unloaded a talented younger play who will likely play two more years in the league for a top line center who makes plays and scores goals but will be at Denver next fall. Doremus will make an immediate impact in Lincoln and help bolster their offense and power play. His 18 goals would put him tied for first on Lincoln in goals.
Omaha: Omaha did not get rid of any assets in the past 10 days, but that wasn’t a real shock because the Lancers have already shed their older players earlier in the season and have been building towards next season.
Tri City: The Storm found themselves as sellers given that they had several talented players who are likely to be in college next year. Therefore, they moved a lot of their prospects for younger players and draft picks but as a whole they didn’t get equal value. They moved Charlie Kelleher, Odeen Tufto and Joey Matthews for a second-round pick, a fourth-round pick and a fifth-round pick. Odeen Tufto was a player they recently acquired from the Philip Alftberg and Paul Washe trade. They also moved Logan Halladay for Harrison Feeney and a 5th round pick. They accomplished the goal of moving older assets for young players and draft picks, but we think they fell short of getting fair value for the talent they let go.
Sioux Falls: The Stampede were among the most active in the last 10 days for the Trade Deadline and did a lot for the future of their program. They moved Alex Stevens, Jack Doremus and Austin Albrecht who are all in their last season of junior hockey and acquired David Brumm, Grant Reichenbacher and Marcus Russell. Reichenbacher is a nice get, a younger player with atleast one more year left in his USHL career who is only at the start of his development curve. They also traded Eric MacAdams who is on track for attending UNH in the fall for uncommitted veteran Regen Cavanagh who could very well be back in the USHL next season. These trades also include a series of draft picks and players to be named later including a second round pick (2017 Phase II), a third round pick (2017 Phase I), 3 – third round picks (2017 Phase II), fifth round (2017 Phase I), sixth round pick (2017 Phase II) and affiliate Zach Risteau. Sioux Falls dumped a lot of assets but they picked up a lot of pieces to build their future around.
East Division
- Chicago Steel 65 pts
- Dubuque Fighting Saints 62 pts
- Muskegon Lumberjacks 60 pts
- Youngstown Phantoms 59 pts
- Green Bay Gamblers 52 pts
- Bloomington Thunder 41 pts
- Madison Capitols 40 pts
- Cedar Rapids 22 pts
Looking at the playoff hunt, it looks like the East Division is pretty well in place with the top 4 teams starting to pull away from the pack. The only team that could make a playoff push in the finals weeks could be the Green Bay Gamblers, but they made no moves at the Trade Deadline. Bloomington, Madison and Cedar Rapids are looking towards the future and made several trades in the past month to achieve that end.
Chicago: The Steel made a nice move the day before the trade deadline where they moved Walker Deuhr to Bloomington for NHL Draft prospect Ben Mirageas. Mirageas gives Chicago a highly mobile, two-way defenseman who can help on their power play and in 5v5. Earlier in the month they picked up two key pieces in NHL Draft prospect goaltender Dayton Rasmussen from Tri City and Jason O’Neill from Sioux Falls. They only gave up Zach Risteau (currently playing in the BCHL), a sixth-round draft pick, a seventh-round pick and NHL Draft pick goaltender Peter Thome. They also add a sixth-round pick from Waterloo in the trade. Therefore, the East leader was able to receive a few immediate impact players while not losing much in current production or giving away much in future draft picks.
Dubuque: The Fighting Saints were active on the day of and day before the deadline. They picked up a top line defenseman in Alex Stevens from Sioux Falls as well as a seventh-round pick in exchange for David Brumm, a second-round pick (2017) and a fifth round pick (2017) as well as future considerations. It’s a win now move, and they had to give up some value in draft picks but Stevens is more than worth it for a playoff run. A week before that deal they picked up Eric MacAdams from Sioux Falls for veteran Regen Cavanagh and a third-round Phase II pick (2017). Again, they had to give up a valuable draft pick and veteran player but they pick up a top six forward who can help their team in a lot of ways. Overall, the Fighting Saints bring on two immediate impact players who will help them at both ends of the ice and on special teams from day one.
Muskegon: The Lumberjacks acquired a top six forward in Austin Albrecht on the trade deadline day in exchange for Marcus Russell and a third-round Phase II draft pick. Earlier in the month they picked up another talented, top six forward in Austin Alger from Omaha for affiliate player Andy Nedeljkovic, a third round (2017) and a sixth-round pick (2018). Nedeljkovic was Muskegon’s second round pick in 2015 and is having a strong season in Tier 1 Elite League this year, but Alger is an immediate impact player who is on a point per game pace since the trade.
Youngstown: Youngstown did not make any moves in the past 10 days. Their last trade was on February 13th where they picked up Pierce Crawford in exchange for Noah Lalonde. Crawford is a talented player maker with junior hockey experience who has 3 points in the past 4 games, only one point shy of what Lalonde produced through 31 games played.
Green Bay: Green Bay did not make any moves in the last 10 days. Their only move was earlier in the month where they picked up Easton Brodzinski from Madison in exchange for affiliate defenseman Christian Berger and a sixth-round Phase II draft pick.
Bloomington: Bloomington made a series of moves in the last month including three trades the day before the deadline to acquire three difference makers in Walker Duehr, Logan Halladay and Christiano Versich. The bad news is all three of those players will likely be in college in the fall and they had to move Harrison Feeney, Mitchell Chaffee and Ben Mirageas to get them. Earlier in the month they moved their captain Tarek Baker for UConn commit Will Garin. They moved mostly players who will be in college next year, were able to acquire some draft picks and help build for the future.
Madison: Madison has been fairly active in the trade market throughout the season, but in the last 10 days made only one move which was trading Kevin O’Neil in exchange for Jeffrey Losurdo. This was a smart move because O’Neil is slated to play at Yale in the fall and Losurdo will have another year (maybe two) in the USHL. Earlier in the month they traded Easton Brodzinski to Green Bay for a sixth-round pick and affiliate player Christian Berger. Overall the Capitols didn’t make any blockbuster moves but they moved assets headed to college in the fall for some future pieces and draft picks.
Cedar Rapids: Cedar Rapids, the worst team in the USHL this season, did not make a single trade in the final month of the trade deadline. This has more to do with the fact that the team was eliminated from the playoff picture early in the season and was actively trading older players for future prospects. At this point, they didn’t have a lot of trade chips to work with. We thought they might move Justin Cole, Zac Robbins or Zack LaRocque for future draft picks or younger players but that didn’t happen.
The Western conference was more active than the East in the final month of the trade deadline and we saw teams like Sioux Falls, Tri City and Bloomington take steps to improve their future while Sioux City, Lincoln, Muskegon, Dubuque and Waterloo have made a series of win-now moves in the past month for the upcoming playoff race. Overall, we felt Sioux Falls was the leader among the “sellers” because they were able to acquire a lot of good draft picks for the upcoming draft and some pieces for the future. For the “buyers” we felt Sioux City was able to acquire the most talent and immediate impact difference makers which will set them up well for their Clark Cup aspirations.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
