Sunday, March 9, 2008

Rats Add Offensive Firepower

The Minnesota Rink Rats are on a roll and they look to increase their recent winning ways with some key new additions. The team has announced that they have sent young defenseman Brent Seabrook to the Toronto Stallions in exchange for veteran right winger Darcy Tucker and young phenom Rob Schremp.

"This move is big for us," exclaimed Head Coach Barry Melrose. "It automatically gives us two strong lines and makes us good playoff contenders. I think we had one of the best young defenses in the league with Jay Bouwmeester, Brent Burns & Brent Seabrook so it's hard seeing Seabrook go, but this also gives us an immediate impact and also allows us to think about our future with a guy that has the offensive potential like Schremp. This move means we need to bring in some extra help on defense and we are currently talking to a few teams about that help. We hope to have something completed real soon".

Minnesota's defense has been a bit shaky lately as Ryan Miller recently had a two game streak where he had to stop 93 of 96 shots to get his wins. The team says that it is proud of their defense and feels that players such as Burns, Johnny Oduya and Kyle Cumiskey are developing very nicely and will hopefully be able to make a stronger impact next season as they continue their progress. Still, the team has not ruled out the idea of moving the aforementioned Oduya, Cumiskey, Schremp or even 1st round pick Dustin Boyd to bring in some extra help on defense.