Minnesota Swarm Acquire Ryan Sharp for Two Draft Picks from the LumberJax

February 9, 2007

I really like this deal. Ryan Sharp is a very good transition player. He is a fantastic addition to our transition game along with Brock Boyle, Andrew Biers, Mark Miyashita, Ryan Cousins and Riley Kemp.

Also, Sharp has a history of scooping up numerous loose balls. Hopefully, that will carry over to Minnesota which would mean more possession for us.

Sharp played with Ryan Cousins on the Peterborough Lakers team this past summer that won the Mann Cup. He was an all-star last year and is only 24.

We still got first round picks next year and using one to trade for Sharp is a pick well used.

I wish Rory McDade good luck. He may still get on the practice roster but he wasn't getting much playing time and with Hominuck on board that was going to change. Maybe, he will catch on somewhere else.

That leaves the Swarm with nine forwards, twelve defensemen and two goalies. In the last game in Portland, the Swarm played eight forwards and may continue considering they just added more depth to their transition. With Jamie Taylor's status unknown, maybe the Swarm will give Ashton McLean sometime on offense since he played offense during the summer and maybe better suited there.

Looking at the active roster, from my calculations, the Swarm have the following year-long geographical distribution:

• Ontario 13 - Biernes, Boyle, Cousins, Culp, D. Hill, T. Hill, Hominuck, McLean, Pacey, Sharp, Sullivan, Stewart & Taylor
• British Columbia 7 - Biers, Disher, Kemp, Kilby, Martin, Patterson, Talbot
• Minnesota 2 - Pollock, Ward
• Colorado 1 - Miyashita

This is quite a change since the team's inception. From once having nine players playing for the Victoria Shamrocks in the summer, the Swarm only have Noah Talbot and Jon Sullivan still on the team. The team is becoming more Ontario based and with Sean Pollock joining Ryan Ward in town, a year long Swarm presence is growing. Possibly, with the large amount of players living in Ontario, the possibility of practicing during the week in Ontario maybe a possibility.

We even got younger with the two trades. We let go Kelly Hall who is 27 and McDade who is 25 and got Mike Hominuck who is 25 and Sharp who is 24. The Swarm's average age is 25 which is the lowest in the league along with Chicago and San Jose. Even as we got younger, we got two players with a lot of game experience and we still have thirteen players who played with each other going back to the Swarm's first season in 2005.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more dealing (including the two players the Swarm just got) before the trading deadline next month, but I do like the additions and hope to see them mesh well with the team.