Page 3 of Scoring Position

By Neil Wilson, Cassandra MacTavish, and Eric Doyle

August 25

With training camps starting next week but kids not yet in school, we need an excuse to lock ourselves in our offices. Also this week featured some truly wild trade news, and if we don’t talk about it we’ll explode. So the Athletic team jumped on the Slack channel and posed the question—after the last week, who’s moved up in our preseason rankings? And who’s moving down?

Cassie:I say we start with the obvious: the trade that made hockey fans test their coffee for hallucinogens.

Eric:Let me preface this by saying that I’m a Montreal fan and I love Ryan Wright. Tons of fans do. Sure he’s no superstar, but I’ll take him to anchor my bottom six any day of the week, and that’s without the fact that everyone in the room loves him and he’s one of the only hockey players who’s actually got a personality in an interview. Call it off-ice intangibles.

But….

Neil:“But” is correct.

Cassie:But, Lucas Lundströmand a pickfor even a very charming and charismatic 3C is absolutely bonkers.

Neil:Forget checking the coffee for hallucinogens. I’m checking the Fuel GM to see if he’s a pod person.

Cassie:It’s clear what Montreal was thinking. Wright for Lundström alone is a no-brainer. Even if you don’t need an excellent cheap young defenseman—which Montreal does—turning around and flipping him would be laughably easy. Add in a pick as a sweetener and they’d have had to be crazy not to take that deal.

But Indy….

Eric:What is in the water down there? Because GM John Rees is drinking it. I would say he deserves a prize for making the most baffling trade of the summer and tanking the Fuel’s chances… except they are already the worst team in the league.

Neil:I don’t wanna be that guy, but are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Cassie:I feel like none of us want to be the first one to bring this up, so I’m just going to say it: The only way this trade makes any sense is if, for some reason, they think Wright is the piece they need to fix the team’s most glaring problem.

Eric:That’s not fair. With Lundström gone, their defense is also a shambles. But sure, let’s talk about Nico Kirschbaum.

Neil:Number one draft pick going into his final year of ELC, and Kirschbaum has failed to produce more than middling numbers. He should be close to a point-per-game player. Instead he’s got 79 points in 130 games. He has incredible flashes of brilliance and then… nothing. Very streaky.

Cassie:In fairness, he did break his radius at the end of last year, so there’s no telling what numbers he might’ve put up healthy.

Eric:The Fuel need Kirschbaum to step up. At this point, they have to be frustrated. He’s gotta get his head straight. Wright’s a guy who can get his team fired up, but he also doesn’t let them get frustrated. If he can get Kirschbaum playing like he can every night, this trade is actually a slam dunk.

Cassie:Sure, but that’s a huge if. And let’s not leave out the important details.

Neil:You mean that out of the noted character guys maybe available by trade, the Fuel coincidentally picked the only one who’s also openly gay?

Eric:I’m not saying the Fuel are attempting to solve their would-be star center’s mental hang-ups by getting him a hockey boyfriend.

Neil:But you’re notnotsaying it.

Cassie:To put it in NASCAR terms, it’s a tire pile that’s one oversteer away from a flaming wreck. But at least it’ll be fun to write about?

Puck Drop

WITH NOsmall amount of trepidation, Ryan knocked on the door.

“It’s open!” came the immediate answer, in a voice that sounded cheerful and good-natured.

Ryan took a deep breath and pushed it open.

General Manager John Rees’s office was on the club level of the ADESA Arena—not-so-affectionately known as the Wreck Center by the team’s beleaguered fans. His blinds were open to let in the sun, which lent the room some warmth over what was otherwise an industrial-looking space—neutral gray walls, a glass desk with only a few smudges, a couple of potted plants that were probably fake, if the dust on their leaves was any indication, and the requisite NASCAR images on all the walls.

Rees, a man in late middle age with a head of salt-and-pepper hair and a Colonel Sanders mustache, stood and offered his hand. “Ryan! Thanks for coming in to meet with me. I know you’ve got a lot to do settling in.” His handshake was firm and warm.

What was I gonna do, decline?Guys like Ryan did not warrant one-on-one meet and greets with GMs. “I was happy to make the time,” he said, which wasn’t exactly a lie but was definitely the expected answer.

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