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The Swarm Extremely Busy At Trade Deadline

March 14, 2006

Minnesota Swarm General Manager Marty O'Neill was burning up the phones on Tuesday throughout the National Lacrosse League.

The Swarm add:

  • Sign D Shawn Summerfield to an one-year contract.
  • Sign F Dean Hill off the Practice Roster to an one-year contract.
  • Acquire D Andrew Biers from the Calgary Roughnecks.
  • Sign D Kyle Ross to the Practice Roster.
  • Acquire the Toronto Rock's first round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft and second round pick in the 2006 Entry Draft.

The Swarm move:

  • Trade D Darryl Gibson and their second round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft to the Toronto Rock.
  • Release F Tony Henderson and F D'Arcy Berthiaume.
  • Trade their second and third round picks in the 2006 Entry Draft to the Calgary Roughnecks.

Location, Location, Location is what the motto of the day. Gibson wanted to be closer to his home in Ontario and got his wish granted by being sent to the Rock It is so frustrating that the Swarm can lose the opportunity to gain or keep good players in this league based on geogprahy alone. Darryl has given great leadership and experience to our much improved defense this year and that is much appreciated, I just wish the Swarm and Darryl could have found a way to make it work for the rest of the season at least.

In addition, we gave the Rock our 2nd Rounder in 2007 and got a second rounder in 2006 and a first rounder in 2007.

We did get Andrew Biers from Calgary for our second and third round picks in 2006. Biers appears to be a player who can add some scoring punch, help with faceoffs and the defense. He seems to be very similar to D'arcy Berthiaume who we released in order to make room for on the roster.

It looked like D'acry maybe having trouble in the future in getting playing time but I think his experience in the league would still benefit us more down the road. I think of all the players that left today, D'arcy will be the one we regret the most. I enjoyed meeting him here in Minnesota and wish him well in Portland since it looks like he will join Ryder Bateman there.

Marty still wasn't done as he released Tony Henderson. Once again, Tony was a plesure to meet and very talented but he frustrated me a bit with his scoring chances around the net that weren't finished. Nonetheless, good luck Tony.

That leaves twenty-one players on the active roster. Well not quite as we brought back Shawn Summerfield again this year. It always seems to be Shawn is the odd guy out on this team but another chance is here for Shawn.

In addition, we now get to see Dean Hill on the active roster. The 21 year old who played with Spartan in junior B last year now gets the chance to show his scoring touch with the Swarm. Hopefully, he will do as well in his first game as Rory McDade against Buffalo. I have a good feeling about Dean and I think he will win a lot of fans over.

Since Dean was signed off the practice roster, Marty signed Kyle Ross to the practice roster. Kyle was with the team up to the beginning of this season. Don't be surprised if Kyle does get a chance to get on the active roster and get in a game or two.

The message Swarm fans are getting from today's move is mixed. We are giving young guys like Summerfield and Hill a chance to gain experience for the rest of the season. However, we just lost veteran leadership and an all-star on defense in Gibson and a strong presence in the locker room in Berthiaume. All of this right in the middle of a knock down drag out playoff race when we could really use Gibson and Berthiaume. We were forced to make some of these moves today because of persoanl reasons or are we looking forward to next year instead of giving the team every chance it needs to make the playoffs this year. I really believe we can make the playoffs this year and still do but the Swarm took a big hit on their way there today.