Alright, All-Star weekend is over. Hope you had fun, all business the rest of the way. In other sports leagues, the end of All-Star Weekend and/or the trade deadline is when we as fans can really tell who’s taking their shot at the crown, and who’s folding up the tent to get ready for next year. In the PLL, today is both the end of the All-Star festivities AND the trade deadline. Unlike other leagues, there are only six teams vying for the title, and all of them (yes, even the Chrome), are good enough to win it. Of course, everyone could use some reinforcements. To be clear, most of this will be nitpicking and splitting hairs, because these teams are all so good, but it’s trade deadline day and if we don’t drown ourselves in a wacky hypothetical, what are we really doing here?

WHIPSNAKES

Honestly, the Whips are the only team that it really does make sense to just stand pat with what they have. They have the leader in the clubhouse for MVP at attack (Rambo), they have one of biggest 2-bomb threats in the league with Mike Chanenchuk, they’ve got Mr. Clutch Ryan Drenner, the list goes on. The acquisition of Alec Tulett for Jules Heningburg adds a little depth to spell Michael Ehrhardt at LSM. Joe Nardella is killing at the faceoff spot (huge all-star snub there). As presently constructed, the Whips are more than capable of essentially leading the PLL wire to wire for the crown. They are a bit low in the caused turnover category, but I’m not sure who would be available to help with that and who you’d take out of the lineup for the sake of playing them. The Whips ain’t broke, and Coach Stagnitta knows not to fix it.

REDWOODS

Faceoff Depth just got REALLY important. Greg Gurenlian has been recovering from a hamstring injury, and looks to have re-aggravated it playing in the All Star game. Hamstring injuries have a way of lingering, even for a guy who is as fit as Beast and will no doubt work like hell on his recovery. If Beast can’t go, the Woods need to find some help. Drew Simoneau could be a target as the Chrome look happy with Connor Farrell. The Archers also recently acquired Brendan Fowler, so they could feasibly move Stephen Kelly for the right package, or even try to flip Fowler. The ‘Woods are pretty good just about everywhere else. Their defensive 6v6 plus Troutner is outstanding; they’ve only given up 58 goals this year. The acquisition of Jules Heningburg took the offense to another level, and, as far as we know, this team will be getting Joey Sankey back from injury.

CHAOS:

Another midfield dodger. Jake Froccaro has 7 assists to lead the midfield. Myles Jones has six assists. The next highest total after him belongs to Mark Glicini, who spends most of his time playing savage defense and eating time and room shots. The Chaos have shooters galore at midfield, and the dodging duties primarily get run through the attack and Connor Fields (obviously). This, and launching two’s in transition, is serving the Chaos well so far this year. Another midfield threat allows the team to not just be a threat swinging from top to bottom, but side to side. The Chaos will presumably get Curtis Dickson back at some point as well. But if they could add a guy like Sergio Salcido who can consistently win a matchup with a shortie from multiple spots on the field, this team would have defenses scrambling constantly.

ARCHERS

A bomber. The Archers have the personnel to shred you in 6v6. This is not news. They also have the second, third, and fourth league leaders in caused turnovers in Scott Ratliff, Jackson Place, and Matt McMahon. But only three guys on this team have a hit a two ball this year, and one of them is Mike Simon who came over from Atlas a few weeks ago. The Archers are great when they get settled, and they’re great at hitting singles in transition, but a threat to hit from two will command more respect in transition and make those rotations and recoveries just a little bit longer, and give guys like Holman and Manny a little more time to run a fast or slow break (they don’t need much, but why not make life easier). The options here are either start getting more two balls out of guys like Ratliff and Schreiber, or acquire someone who can give you a boost in that area. The trouble is, if a team has a guy who can consistently shoot at hit two’s it’s unlikely that they’re going anywhere (Chanenchuk and Froccaro ain’t getting traded).

ATLAS

A turnover causer. The Atlas are last in the league in CT’s per game. Cade Van Raaphorst leads the team in the category despite not playing in every game. Andrew Hodgson is third on the team in CTs with TWO, and he’s played in two games this year, and he’s a shortie. Even with the likes of Durkin and Hartzell on defense, the Atlas just haven’t been able to force turnovers consistently. They get outstanding goalkeeping from Concannon and have a world beater taking faceoffs in Baptiste which are great ways to protect a defense that has lapses, but if either one of those doesn’t happen (see the Chaos game where Concannon had a 38% save percentage), things can get rough. The Atlas might be able to pry a guy like John Sexton away from the Redwoods and their glut of defensive talent. Sexton will cause turnovers and be a ground ball machine, upping the tempo for a team that occasionally gets stuck in the mud.

CHROME

Hard to say really, the Chrome have already started making moves as their brutal start demanded it. They signed Joe Fletcher from the player pool, we’ll see how consistently he makes the lineup (he played week 5 but not week 6.) Fletcher is obviously world class and has the Team USA credentials to prove it. The offensive end really is solid, and it’s insane that it took until week 6 for them to explode the way they did. Wolf (who is not ass), Guterding, Crotty, and less sexy names like Ranagan, Dennis, and even Simon Matthias have been able to be impactful for the Chrome on the offense end. They have the league’s third best goal differential despite having just one win. Joel White’s stat line has been a little low for what you’d typically expect, and that’s partially because he’s only played four games. A little depth at the LSM spot wouldn’t hurt this team. Even acquiring a guy like Isaac Paparo could give this team a boost. Paparo hasn’t been able to make the Whips lineup often, but I think he could be a nice option for this team. The Chrome get an opportunity to avenge a week one overtime loss to Archers to start their second half, and they’ll be feeling good having closed the first half with 19 goal explosion against the Chaos.

One thing is for sure, if the deadline comes and goes with no more trades, we should be disappointed but not surprised. We all know just how close all these games are, and it’s because all these teams are so damn good. They all have a shot to beat each other, and most may be content with just rolling the dice as is rather than acquire someone. That also, of course, could make teams more reluctant to trade a real quality player away. I hope we see some wheeling and dealing. I want an NBA trade deadline, not an NFL trade deadline. Buckle up and get ready to mash that refresh button.