For this PT, I'm going to discuss the Vancouver Whalers. The big thing with this team is that they are clearly in win-now mode, with at least six players leaving at the end of the season, so it's Cup or bust for the whaling crew. Let's take a look at the team's roster:

Centres:
S55 Daniil Nikiforov
S55 Wile Coyote
S56 Dee Centerman IV
S56 Rikki Petrov

This is a solid group that should all be returning for another go-round in S57, so Vancouver is in good shape here. Daniil Nikiforov is an elite talent who broke out last season and is continuing his run this year as well.

Wingers
S54 Rotticus Scott
S54 Luffy Richard
S54 Bryce McMahon
S55 Devin Basher
S55 Jacon Desrouleaux
S56 KnockedOut ByOvechkin
S56 Valtterri Kauppinen
S56 Markleesio Hopscotch

This is where the hurt really kicks in, as Vancouver will be losing three or maybe four of their top wingers by TPE to the SHL after the season. We knew this was a risk with this core to buy Scott from the Knights since a lot of them were going to need replacing, but ultimately we decided it was worth it to make a Cup push with this group and this was always going to be the peak season with myself being the only player needing replacing.

Defense
S54 Ryosuke Sato
S54 Slimey Snail
S55 Johnny Shuffleboard
S55 Lonnie O'Donoghue
S56 Sarah Burke
S56 Zebulon Leavitt

We're losing Sato and Snail to the SHL next season, but we have a very "next player up" mentality and will still have 3 425 TPE defenders next season, with Lonnie O'Donoghue hanging around as an inactive for two more seasons after this as well.

Goaltending
S54 Name Redacted
S57 Jon St. Ark

Going into the last draft, we knew we had no other holes on the team and focused on getting our successor for Name Redacted, who was in his last season. Arkz has been a great fit in our locker room thanks to previous ISFL connections on the Whalers, and on the ice Jon St. Ark has put up the best stat line in the SMJHL through the first half of the season.

Picks:
Own 2nd
NBB 3rd
Own 4th
Own 5th
Own 6th

While we took a big risk to move draft capital for a rental, it's actually not too bad looking at the retool next season. Of our departing players, Name Redacted already has his replacement on the roster, and with our defense stepping up big-time we'll still have three 425 TPE defenders even with our S54s leaving. The big issue to address will be on the wings.