Along with the signings, there were several trades that occurred. The first saw the Montreal Rouge get a whole lot younger and the Mariners solidify their depth. The Rouge would send OL Harrison Ward, who waived his no-trade clause to have a shot at a title in Halifax, DB Malik Davenport and LB Hector Greenville both should add great support on the defence, and prospect OL Tony Walker-Jones. In exchange, they would get 24-year-old LB Conrad Kurst, who has a lot of promise as a LB to build a defence around, and a 1968 2nd Round Pick. GM Martin Gagneaux of the Rouge makes it clear with this trade that he has made one of the toughest decisions a GM could make in his position. It is very difficult to decide to do a small rebuild or re-tool after going all the way to the McCallister Cup, but he appears to be going for it. Kurst should be a great piece to build around on the defence. As for the Mariners, the trade shows how committed to winning they are this season.
The next trade saw the Pittsburgh Blacksmiths make a deal with the Indiana Victors. Pittsburgh would acquire 3 young players in DL Tyrone Powers, DB Ike Vander Waal, and OL Eustace Cloudwell, in exchange for 2 veterans in OL Jimmy McKay and DL Howard Grant. The acquisition of DL Howard Grant adds a lot of the Victors D-Line which was on the younger side. His experience alone should provide the Victors with more leadership and a stronger defence. Jimmy McKay also helps solidify the Victors' O-line which is easily top 3 in the league. McKay also returns to Indiana after spending the last 4 years in London and Pittsburgh. The most intriguing piece in the trade is former 17th overall pick Tyrone Powers heading to Pittsburgh. Powers was starting to fall behind in development and didn’t look like he would be able to find a consistent spot on the Victors roster. That left the threat of losing the still decently talented DL to leave for nothing next season, so they sent him to Pittsburgh. The other two younger players add a lot of future depth to the Blacksmiths and clear up some space for the Victors who want to bring in younger pieces from their reserve list. Overall, this was a very good trade for both teams.
The next trade was a bit smaller with the Boston Independents acquiring a pair of veterans from the Steelheads for some younger prospects. They would acquire OL Christopher Weeks to replace OL Bubba Hankins, who they traded in the Langstrom deal, and then DL Dale Rothery to help with D-line depth. With this trade, Rothery has now been traded 3 times and will play on his 6th team in his 8th season. In exchange, the Steelheads would get former 3rd round pick OL Griffin Morningstar, and Undrafted WR Davis Benny to start to get younger.
A cap crunch from the Blue Wings would lead them to make a deal with the Royals that would allow them to add more protection for QB Charles Lemieux. They would get OL Fabrice Beaufort from the Royals in exchange for OL Randall Graham and a 3rd Round Pick. Beaufort will also have $4,000 in salary retained by Ottawa so Buffalo is able to have Beaufort for the same price they had Graham for. This is a simple deal for the Royals who just get more youth and open up some space to move some more younger players into the lineup.
The Steelheads were not done with loading off veterans as they would make one more deal with the Providence Gold Stars. They would send OL Tyler Cunningham, DB Evan Harris, and WR Jake Columbus to Providence in exchange for a 1st Round Pick and prospect OL Seamus Cronin. Providence certainly will get a lot of benefits from Cunningham and Harris for this season, but since both are 32-years-old, it could be a one-year thing. Columbus, 27, should at least be a more long-term depth piece if he catches on with the squad. The 1st Round Pick might be a bit of a high price to pay, but it does a lot for the Gold Stars to maintain more of the roster which they feel fairly confident in this season.
After training camps started up and teams were finalizing their rosters, there were a few more small trades made for teams to get under the cap. Toronto was a benefactor, as they were willing to take on cap for both Providence and Halifax.
The Gold Stars would send S Ronnie Kirkpatrick and a 4th round pick to the Steelheads for S Matthew Bong and a 5th Rounder. Essentially, Toronto takes on the cap hit to move up in the 1968 draft.
As for the Mariners, they would send DB Malik Davenport, who they had traded for earlier in the offseason, and prospect DL Cal Ericsson in exchange for WR prospect Rick O’Shea. Despite Davenport being a big part of the trade with Montreal, he showed regression during camp and was outperformed by DB Janek Rodoslav and DB Finnigan Pike for the last spots on the roster. His high cap hit was too much to keep around so they moved him to Toronto along with a young piece for compensation.
Halifax was not done there, however, as they found a bit of a hole in their group of safeties. They would acquire S Frankie Munster from the Rouge in exchange for a 5th Round Pick.
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