From the Monsters Desk: Week 22 - Trade Deadline Shakeup

This week we say goodbye to a few long-time prospects and hello to some guys trying out for next year. Karl Stollery, Paul Carey and Mike Sgarbossa were traded on Monday likely because the Avs were going no further than this year with them. That's show business and I wish them all well.

Traded

Karl Stollery - Traded to San Jose for Freddie Hamilton. Karl started his Monsters tenure in 2012 after a 4-year career at Merrimack College and earned an NHL contract after his first full season with LEM. He stands 5th on the franchise all-time games played list with 195.

Paul Carey - Traded to the Boston Bruins. Carey joined the Monsters soon after Stollery in 2012 and ends his stay at Lake Erie with 40G/49A in 171 games for the franchise.

Mike Sgarbossa - Traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Mat Clark. Sgarbossa was acquired by the Avs in 2011 in a trade with San Jose and started in Lake Erie at the beginning of the 12-13 season. He was an AHL All-Star in his rookie year and ends up with 28G/59A in 146 games.

Acquired

Mat Clark - A large (6'3 220#) RH defenseman that brings steady defensive play, sounds like exactly what the Monsters need. Has 5G/41A in 281 AHL games with Syracuse and Norfolk while in the Ducks organization. Will be a Restricted Free Agent at the end of the season.

I feel a bit sorry for Clark, about 5 minutes after he was traded there were memes about his 1970's TV private eye mustache all over MHH. Gotta admit it's pretty sweet.

Freddie Hamilton - A 6'1 195# C/LW, Hamilton has good enough scoring numbers (9G/21A) with an awful Worcester team to be in the top-3 for LEM in points. Will also be a Restricted Free Agent at the season's close.

Ben Youds - A small (5'10 176#) defenseman acquired from the Providence Bruins on Tuesday. No idea if this is part of the Carey trade or something unrelated. Youds has spent the last 4 seasons in the AHL with Rockford and Providence and has 12G/55A in 184 career games played. Played in the ECHL All-Star Game in 2013 while with the Toledo Walleye.

Other transactions

Joey Hishon - Called up the Avs yesterday to take Paul Carey's place

Dennis Everberg - Was sent down to Lake Erie for 5 seconds yesterday for possible post-season eligibility

Injury report

Duncan Siemens and Tomas Vincour returned to action Friday. Not that it matters now, but Sgarbossa rejoined the team for his final game Saturday. Mitch Heard was listed as out with LBI for Saturday's game, so aside from that and the long-term boo-boos for Smitty and Noreau, the Monsters are pretty healthy.

Thoughts

Honestly, this is pretty tough news for Lake Erie. They lose Hish and Boss and probably another defenseman to be called up until Erik Johnson returns to the Avs. Hamilton seems to be a younger, slower Carey with some hockey IQ and more grit. Clark sounds like a bigger defenseman to take Stollery's place (I'd hope he's taking Bruno's place, but that ain't happenin'. This year at least).I like the idea of a defensive guy that can help out Duncan a bit and make the d-core more well-rounded. Youds is an upgrade on Leach maybe? IDK, has that "David Oliver Special" feel to it. I think these are smart moves by the Avs to get some players for tryouts, but the effects on Lake Erie's slim playoff hopes we'll just have to see after these guys get some games together.

On the brighter side, it was good to see Duncan Siemens back on the ice this past weekend, He looked good but a little rusty. Tomas Vincour was about the same as he's been all year, just ok but better than a PTO for sure.

This is the first time since Cam Gaunce was traded that we've lost guys in the middle of the season like this, at least we won't be facing Syracuse, Worcester or Providence any time soon.

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Also Tip-a-Monster was Monday night and with the deadline and all that I haven't had a chance to get any info on it. I'll try to get some stuff into Friday's article.

Recap - Week 21

I'll make this short and not sweet at all. The Monsters were awful against Iowa last weekend. One point in 2 games against the worst team in the entire league. Lake Erie is now 1-6-2 against the bottom 3 teams in the conference and 23-14-6 against everyone else. That’s like giving away around 7 points for no good reason at all and is the difference between being in a playoff spot and sitting in 12th place. Luckily we only play 3 more games against the shitbird bottom-feeders and 19 against everyone else. So there's still a chance.

One positive note: Aggz became the Monsters all-time leading scorer. So, hey!

Preview vs Milwaukee

The Monsters face Milwaukee for the 8th of 10 meetings tonight and even tho' we are pathetic against bad teams, we are good against the Admirals with a 4-2-1 record so far. Both teams have been struggling lately with only 3 wins in the last 10 games,

I'm not even going to hazard a guess at the lineups.

Schedule

Wednesday night vs Milwaukee 7:00pm in the ET, radio on WHK

Links

Stats

Standings

Preview from LEM

Next up

Weekend series Friday & Sunday vs the Chicago Wolves

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Tonight's game is in a prime spot to be your Avs pre-game primer, should be over in plenty of time for the 10:00pm ET start. Stop by and support your Monsters. Enjoy!