Cap Wars: Goalies, Forwards, and fun with ECHL trades

Earlier this week, the Grizzlies made a few changes to their roster. We saw Paul and Tim Crowder traded for Wheeling's David Marshall, goalie Tyler Sims signing with Utah, Paul McIlveen completing the Dylan Hunter trade, and now joining the team - Shane Connelly. But with forwards Marshall in the AHL and McIlveen now suspended (we're assuming this means Europe for Paul as he played there last season), what did Utah end up with out of all this wheeling and dealing?


Well, two goalies - which is exactly what the Grizzlies were looking for. Rumor has it, the trade of the Crowder boys was mainly to free up money in the Grizzlies' salary cap so they could have bargaining power in finding new netminders, which is where Utah has been hurting lately. With defensemen able to step up into the offensive stratum if needed, missing four (Crowder, Crowder, Marshall, McIlveen) forwards may not make Colley as uneasy as going without the solid help in net the Grizzlies have relied on all season.

Of course, this is all just our speculation. But from some of these post game interviews, we get the impression that Colley is looking to his boys to start burying pucks on their opportunities, rather than looking for someone new to take on that role.

Let's take a look at the new goalie Shane Connelly. So far this season, Shane's played in games with 3 different ECHL teams (Utah will be his 4th), and for all statistical accounts he looks like a solid backup goalie to Tyler Sims. With the Devils, he comes to the Grizzlies with a 0.883 save percentage and 3.45 GAA. We found this awesome save from his college days to show you what this kid is made of:


Very nice.

We're interested to see which of the two goaltenders Colley decides to go with in net this Friday. Welcome, Shane!