The Orlando Mounties made a huge trade the day. Finally ending a full year of speculation. The Mounties have traded beloved captain, John Tavares to the Stuggart Bisons for a 1st round pick and Pavel Mintyukov.  Tavares has spent the last 11 seasons of his career as captain of the Mounties after he arrrived via trade from the Mississauga Knights. There was immediate pressure on Tavares to help the Mounties and new GM (at the time) John Salerno capure a UHL cup.  That was never meant to be as the Mounties were bounced in the first round or missed the playoffs 10 out of the 11 year of the captains tenure.  Even with the lack of team success the fanbase never turned on Tavares. 

GM John Salerno said it was time the Mounties made a radical change to try to reset the team. They now have a young D core of Cale Makar, Pavel Minyukov and Thomas Harley. After years of trying to build around forwards up front, Orlando is now taking a defensive approach and hope that the offense will flow from the blueline. Orlando still boasts talented forwards up front such as Rikko Rantanen, JT Compher, Vincent Trocheck and Tomas Hertl. 

"I'm in shock to be quite frank" said Cale Makar. "John has been here for my entire career, it will be weird not to have him in the locker room with us anymore".

There is now a leadership void that only time will tell who will step up to fill. "I think its on all us to pull together and lead as a group. It's not going to be just one player. No one can replace a guy like him (Tavares)" opined Mikko Rantanen. 

For his time in Orlando, John Taveres played in 738 games while scoring 295 goals and 421 assists. He was almost a point a game player. 

We with nothing but the best for John in Stuggart. Hopefully he can win his championship and make the best use of possible of the assets we aquired. Orlando now has 5 picks in the first 3 rounds in next years draft. 

The Rink Rats made major moves in free agency.  The Rink Rat Report studio breaks down all the moves, the new line-up, and lays out its predictions for the upcoming UHL season.

With the new season coming, it's a new era in Radnor.  

With that new era, a new show for Ultimate Hockey League fans.

Introducing the first episode of the Rink Rat Report!

When the draft came, the Crusaders had visions on restocking the prospect cupboard with quality and depth.  That also came with a cost.  Moving out quality prospect Kent Johnson for the 9th, 54th and 64th pick in the draft wasn't an easy move, but one necessary to achieve the goal.

"I like Kent, but we feel like Ryan is a comparable prospect.  Their numbers are relatively similar in their first year in the NCAA, and as of this moment Leonard is leading the nation in goals by a freshman.  Currently he's the Hockey East player of the month.  We couldn't be more ecstatic picking him at 9th overall. When we were talking to Rich, (Black Frost GM) about the deal, it was condusive to having one of our main targets there.  When the top 6 shook out the way it did, we knew we were getting a player we wanted, and Leonard was at the top of the list.  Then it was just coming to a deal that worked."

With their own pick at 18th overall, the Crusaders had a very wide board.  Ultimately they took budding power forward Quentin Musty.  "There was a lot of debate at the table.  We were pretty surprised to see Honzek and Barlow jump that high, but we looked at the BPA at 18, and we twisted and turned between a few players.  We like Olli Moore but his offense is still not taking off.  Some of our scouts really like the start that ASP (Axel Sandin Pellikka) has had in Europe, but we have Jiricek and Hutson on the blueline coming.  So consensus we took something that is tough to find.  A big guy with a deft touch that can put the puck in the net.  Musty is that guy.  He is 1st in PPG as a D+1 in the OHL.  He is going to be a player."

With their own 2nd pick the draft the Crusaders went a little off the board by selecting Hunter Brzustewicz from the OHL Kitchener Rangers.  "We heard lots of rumblings on the floor about guys liking Hunter.  Oddly of all the players in the draft, there are a few you really want to come away with.  We had him ranked in the early 30s, a late first round guy.  And with his start to the season, we couldn't wait.  It was the acquistion of the extra 2nd and 3rd that allowed us to make this pick, knowing we had some selections coming. Hunter leads the entire OHL in Defenseman points by 10.  He is on pace for 112 points, as a defenseman.  If you wait, you chance someone scooping up a player you really want, so we didn't wait."

The targets just kept coming, and with the 2nd round coming to a close, the Crusaders were prepared to chance waiting until 54 to make their next selection.  "Some insider knowledge again.  We felt that Fowler was the guy we were going to take with our next pick.  It really wasn't a doubt.  But our head scout was having a cheeseburger at the concession, and overheard a guy talking about a guy with USHL pedigree that was almost certainly going to go in the next few picks.  Truly we felt that if we didn't end up with this player, it would have been a tremendous loss.  I called Paul (Knights GM) and offered him my yacht for the weekend and a 2nd next year for number 51.  He said he hates water but would do me a solid.  Paul's a gem of a guy, so we snapped up Jacob.  We are thrilled."

With the second pick acquired in the Johnson deal, the Crusaders added OHL Sniper Nick Lardis.  "We have liked Nick for a long time.  He is fast, great shot, and has that compete.  And he is on pace for 50 in the OHL.  That can't be discounted."

With the final pick acquired in the Johnson deal, the Crusaders decided to hedge their bets in net.  Pick 64 was used to select USHL goaltender Hampton Slukynsky.  "Between Hunter and Hampton we obviously decided to pick players with impossible to spell last names.  Hampton is developing at an unbelievable rate.  He’s 9-0-0 through 10 games and owns a 1.53 GAA and .927 save percentage, both of which are the best among USHL goaltenders. He’s also recorded a league-leading three shutouts this season and posted back-to-back goose eggs last weekend, which earned him USHL Goalie of the Week honors."

NORTH AMERICA MADE

In total the Crusaders selected 7 Forwards, 4 Defensemen and 2 Goaltenders.  They included 7 Americans, 6 Canadians and 0 Europeans.

CRUSADERS 2023 Draft Selections

With everything these days basically being considered part of the Internet of Things, having free WiFi may be added to the big three (food, shelter and clothing). 

Scouring the talent pool of players still looking to jump into the UHL, there was one very noticable candidate.  Not because of his physical size (6'4" and 230ish pounds), or his brash style of play, but more so because of his family's story and path.   Arber Xhekaj (dubbed WiFi by his teammates, because his name looks like the mashup of letters on the back of home internet routers) is a Canadian defenseman, who comes from the parents of two Canadian refugees.    His mother (Czechia) and father (Albania) fled from their homelands during the unrest happening in central Europe in the 1990s, meeting in Canada a few years later. Working at whatever jobs where available and living paycheck to paycheck they scraped up enough money to sign up their two boys to participate in Canada's national past time.

It was a no brainer to sign Xhekaj to a UFA deal.  His talent is one thing but his character is what sold the Bisons staff on inking the hulking defenseman.

So when you all come to visit Stuttgart for a game, or a holiday.  You're' welcome, there is now free WiFi.