At the half way point of the 2008 NLL season the Minnesota Swarm went looking for some depth in their quest for the 2008 Champion's Cup.

The Minnesota Swarm acquired two familiar faces from my prior stint as GM of the Philadelphia Wings when the Swarm received forwards Keith Cromwell and Dan Marohl in a three way trade involving the Philadelphia Wings and the Edmonton Rush. The Swarm also received Edmonton's 2nd round selection in the 2009 entry draft in exchange for Forward Mike Hominuck and a 1st round selection in the 2008 NLL entry draft. Philadelphia receives Minnesota's 4th round selection in the 2008 entry draft. Forward A.J. Shannon moves from Edmonton to Philadelphia to round out the trade.

Recent injuries have made us question the depth our team had for a serious playoff run. With Marohl and Cromwell we gain two players with solid NLL experience. Both are players I trust because of our past history. They are gifted offensive talents with size and speed, something you can never have enough of. Marohl and Cromwell had both recently fallen out of favor with the new look Philadelphia Wings, but have a long history of being play makers.

The last two seasons we have entered the playoffs short an offensive starter or two because of injuries. This trade eases the pressure for our injured players to recover fully and for our team to focus on what is in front of us. Hominuck had struggled in 2008 after being the injured offensive player the Swarm were missing for their 2007 playoff run. Part of that reason was his reduced power play time, due to the emergence of Andy Secore. Secore was diagnosed with a knee injury before the Swarm match in Philadelphia on February 22 and held out of the game. He, along with rookie forward Craig Point are questionable starters in Buffalo this Saturday night when the Swarm return to Buffalo to battle the Bandits.

Mike was a big part of our success last year and as always in a trade, you have to give up quality players to receive the same in return. I wish Mike all the best in the future.

We will make sure Secore and Point are in no danger before we put them back into action. The Swarm also released rookie Chris Courtney to make room on the 23 man roster for the newly acquired ex-Wings.