Ultiplanet

Editors Note: this article was written before receiving news of Goose Helton’s injury. We hope Goose has a full and speedy recovery, and wish for his continuing health and safety. For the purposes of this article, please assume a 100% Goose.

There are very good reasons why trades don’t happen in frisbee, mostly having to do with the fact that it is not a professional sport, so teams can’t toy with the lives and livelihoods of the player base the way other professional sports leagues can. But imagine, if you would, a different, some might say better, world, where players are relocated at the whims of ownership, and ownership is very, very, creative. Here are 3 AUDL trades we would like to see in that world.

1: Philadelphia trades Eric Nardelli, Patrick Sherlock, and 2 youth picks to be named later for Orion Cable and Cash Considerations

On its surface, this trade might seem like a bad deal for Boston, who is sending away one of its premier young talents in Orion Cable. But Boston doesn’t have a talent problem, it has a professional approach to a frisbee league problem. Cable might become the most dominant cutter in the AUDL, but has played in 9 out of 24 games over the past two seasons despite being relatively healthy throughout. Cable could be the second coming of Ben Jagt, but if Boston can’t get him to come to the games it doesn’t matter. This is not a problem with Orion Cable by the way, in fact players deciding not to attend AUDL games speaks more to the low pay scale and the loose definition of “team”, then it does a specific players inclinations to play or not play frisbee. But it is a problem, and one that Boston seems to be particularly rife with (no players have played all 24 games the last two seasons, and only two: Ben Sadok and Willie Stewart have played 23).

In return for Cable, Boston receives Eric Nardelli, who is the definition of a committed frisbee player. Since his rookie season (where he was rostered 4 times), Nardelli has missed a combined 2 games in 6 years, both due to unavoidable circumstance. Nardelli would instantly become the most professionally experienced player on the Glory roster, and bring a stabilizing presence to a D line that has ranked bottom third in all defensive categories since the start of the franchise in 2021. Boston’s offense should be fine with the loss, and if anything might see improved efficiency given that Cable has a distressingly low completion rate of ~85%. Furthermore, an extremely committed player like Eric Nardelli is an unquantifiable boon to a team in the Glory who need to convince the entire player base that showing up to every game is important. A large and talented defender next to pieces like Gus Haflin or Chris Bartoli should give Boston a yet another nudge towards shutting down the elite offenses coming out of the east.

Nardelli is a big loss to Philadelphia’s d-line, and they would likely lean on their youth movement: players like Gavin Abrahamsson, Scott Heyman, or Adam Grossberg, to cover the spot. Adding Cable gives their o line, which hucked it as much as any team in the league, another enormous target downfield to place next to James Pollard and Greg Martin, a receiving trio that could rival the Empire in terms of shear mass of end zone targets. Plus Philadelphia could rely on their ability to get max games played from their star players (Nardelli among them) to perhaps entice Orion Cable into a participating in a higher share of the season.

Philadelphia certainly has to sweeten the deal here, despite Nardelli’s excellence it is tough to see Boston parting with Cable straight up. Therefore Philadelphia is sending two additional pieces. First is two youth players to be named later. This may seem foolish, Boston being a hotbed of ultimate and all, but Philadelphia is one top youth ultimate spots in the country, and way under the radar when compared to The Triangle or Seattle or for that matter even Boston. Alex Atkins, and Mike and Henry Ing are all elite level talents to come out of Philadelphia recently. Not to mention players like Paul Owens, or the litany of players fresh out of high school that have been on the Phoenix the past few seasons like Scott Heyman, Nate Little, Gavin Abrahamsson, or Adam Grossberg (to harken back a couple paragraphs ago). Snagging the next two prospects of that caliber is a haul and a half for Boston.

Boston also receives Patrick Sherlock, coach for Philadelphia AMP. This might not seem impactful on the surface, but Patrick has managed to attract the top talent in the Philadelphia area on to a singular mixed team. If all of Boston’s disparate mixed teams were amalgamated into one, they might be able to schedule their players to show up to more games instead of missing half the season for one tournament or another. Of course Patrick isn’t affiliated with any pro teams, so Boston would have to shell out a sizeable chunk of change in order to convince him to relocate: hence the cash considerations.

2: San Diego Growlers send Goose Helton and Travis Dunn to Carolina for a plethora of young talent: Ethan Bloodworth, Trevor Lynch, Connor Russell, Matthew McKnight, Michael Lee, and the rights to Liam Searles-Bohs

San Diego is stuck as what looks like the 3rd team in the West, and they might not even be that with all the new signings in LA. They could double down on their current team and mortgage their future for star players, but its unclear, looking at their roster, that they have the trade capital to bring in the talent necessary to compete with Colorado, and they might even fall short of Salt Lake or Los Angeles.

So instead, we’re sending the Growlers in the opposite direction: blowing it up to bring in young talent and build for the future. Dunn and Helton are aging (but still elite) super stars who are well worththe haul they are going to bring in, and go to a Carolina team who should have one goal right now and one goal only: winning another title. As a result, we are clearing the glut of young uber talent that could form a talented core for years to come and sending them to San Diego where they can get all the playing time they want and will be able to grow into a championship contender in their own right, and on a timeline slightly offset from Colorado’s.

San Diego gets Lynch (24?), Bloodworth (27), Russell (25), McKnight (23), Lee (24?), and the rights to Liam Searles-Bohs (24?) whenever Liam decides to play pro frisbee. The result is essentially an entire lines’ worth of players who will be hitting their peak in the next 3-5 years and who have all proven themselves top level talents in playoff scenarios. True they are losing roughly 100 scores, but the current iteration of the Growlers demonstrated their ceiling by getting trampled by New York in the 2021 playoffs, and their 2022 showings against Salt Lake and Colorado. Now they can say, “look at our youth” during any losses, while still fielding a competitive, if not downright scary, product over the coming seasons.

Carolina, meanwhile, is definitely gambling a lot here. Trevor Lynch played huge minutes for their D line in 2021 and was a valuable offensive piece, Bloodworth and McKnight are both key contributors, McKnight on offense and Bloodworth as one of the Flyers’ most important D line pieces. Lee and Connor Russell are both studs, but with the depth Carolina has they are buried too deep do have the break out seasons they could in the West. Plus LSB is a fantastic player who will inevitably be an elite level talent on any team in the league.

But Carolina’s time is right now. Atlanta is likely to take a step back, which really leaves just Austin in their way to making a third consecutive championship weekend. Their goal is to win another title, and to do that, they need to beat Austin, and perhaps more importantly, beat New York. In 2022, despite their considerable depth advantage over the Empire, Carolina didn’t have the offensive firepower to hang with the New York starting o line comprised of MVP caliber talents. So they need to bring in a pair of MVP caliber talents of their own to balance things out.

And Carolina can afford to sell off its youth. Perhaps better than any team in the league, Carolina has shown the ability to churn out elite ultimate players and craft a playoff team around them. They can afford to lose a class of all stars and feel confidant in filling it with the stars of the future.

3. New York sends Mike and Ryan Drost, Ethan Fortin, Matt Stevens, John Lithio, and the ability to play on Sundays to Salt Lake City for all past, present, and future Yorgasons.

The New York Empire are the best team in the league, and have nearly been so for the last three seasons. They are also very expensive, and getting older (and probably more expensive). There is no reason to anticipate a drop off for players like Jagt, Williams, Babbit, Osgar, Randolph… etc., but the point in the future when Jeff Babbit is no longer the most intimidating athlete in the AUDL is coming. New York could, of course, always pave the money path for the next star (maybe Joe White joins in a couple of years), but it might be better, and cheaper, to take a chance on some young stars right now and have them and their development in house.

The Yorgason’s in the league right now: Chad and Luke, are already elite playmakers and *probably* under 25 (they both go to BYU so there’s no way to know how old they actually are). Luke was effectively the glue for a Jordan Kerr O-line, and Chad was an explosive defender with big play potential after the turn. Chad’s stat line as a defender is reminiscent of the 2021 AJ Merriman DPOY campaign (35 assists, 12 goals, and 3000+ yards all from a d line player). Plus, rumor has it that there are several more equivalently talented Yorgason siblings coming up through the Utah youth program, who will now be eagerly bolstering the Empire for decades to come. Even if there are no more Yorgason’s, Chad and Luke are a haul and a half.

What are the Empire giving up for such a prize? Only a truckload of AUDL goal creating experience and more blocks than 7 franchises (15 if you count franchises that folded before the league kept block stats or the newly created Houston Havoc). Mike and Ryan Drost, brothers outgoing to compensate for brothers incoming, have 374 blocks in 238 games. Those are astounding levels of experience and tenacity. It bolsters the current strength of the Shred, which is blocks. Adding the all time block leaders to a team that was first in blocks in 2022 by a wide margin is certainly a way to magnify their strength into a super power.

Despite their tenacious defense, the Shred are in desperate need of players who can complete passes. That sounds rude, given their second round playoff appearance in their first ever season, but Salt Lake was bottom half of the league in turnovers per game, and in no game was that more apparent than their playoff game against the Summit, where they had 16 turnovers including 10 in the first and fourth quarters. Salt Lake needs players that can get the disc to Jordan Kerr and then get the reset when he can’t finagle a blade to the end zone.

Enter Matt Stevens and Ethan Fortin. Stevens (who probably can’t be traded in reality for off the field reasons) was the most ruthlessly efficient players on the most efficient team last season, with just a single drop (and no throwaways) accounting for his turnovers. Ethan is a possession handler who showcased a 400+ completion a year abilities in Philadelphia before joining Boston and New York teams that sent him to the D Line. It is time for Ethan’s triumphant return to offense along side the rest of the dynamic Salt Lake City O Line.

The final two pieces are John Lithio to replace the departure of Joe Merrill, and the ability to play games on Sundays (which currently can’t happen because of the Church of Latter Day Saints). Lithio is fantastic, with back to back 30+ goal seasons on uber efficient usage. But Lithio is buried as the third option downfield behind Babbit and Jagt, and is going to turn 30 this year. Rather than letting him be good in New York, he shall be fantastic in Utah as the primary scoring option for a plethora of Jordan Kerr Assists.

Sunday games give them more flexibility in scheduling, which matters. It isn’t huge, but it felt like Utah still needed something else to send them over the top.

There you have it: our top three trades for the 2023 AUDL season. Let us know how right we are in the comments!