Another PWHL blockbuster sees Toronto Sceptres part with Jocelyne Larocque

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Trades in the PWHL do not happen often, but when they do, they pack a real punch.

The first trade of Year 2 in the league followed that trend to a T.

The Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge, two teams off to rather slow starts to the year, really shook things up trading an established forward and defenceman each way.

Coming to Toronto are veteran defender Savannah Harmon and veteran forward Hayley Scamurra.

Headed back to the Nation’s Capital are veteran defender Jocelyne Larocque and forward Victoria Bach.

The deal is an eye opener for a number of reasons.

Both Harmon and Larocque are the two respective franchises first overall picks in the first ever draft.

All four players have National Team experience and with the 36-year-old Larocque, the most experienced player in the PWHL leading that category by a healthy margin.

As one would expect given Larocque’s long history and Bach’s history with the Canadian National team as well as the Sceptres, this was not an easy decision for Toronto GM and Canadian National team GM Gina Kingsbury.

“It was extremely difficult,” Kingsbury admitted on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “This is the ugly part of professional sports in some ways. You form some really great relationships with your athletes over the years, and I have a long history with both of these athletes with Toronto and the National Team.

“It’s never fun to tell an athlete that they’re traded,” Kingsbury said. “It being two local athletes it makes it more challenging in some aspects but ultimately I promised this team and this organization that we will always make decisions that are best for the collective and we won’t make decisions personal, either positive or negative. In this case it’s people we really like who have done great things for us in Toronto but we felt this was the right decision for the organization and we have to put personal feelings aside to make the best decision collectively.”

Larocque has been a steady force for more than the past dozen years on the National team collecting two Olympic golds and a silver as well as four World Championship gold medals, six silvers and one bronze.

She has been one half of the most consistent defensive pairing in women’s hockey along with Renata Fast.

The two have logged so much time together they know each other’s moves intuitively.

The Sceptres have relied heavily on the pairing logging league high minutes in the inaugural season together and then following that up again this year with another heavy workload.

In the locker room, Larocque was part of the Sceptres leadership group serving as an assistant captain. It’s that leadership and her presence that will probably leave the biggest hole.

In Ottawa she will re-unite with National team teammates like Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark and Emerance Maschmeyer, but the end of the Fast/Larocque pairing is almost shocking.

Kingsbury pointed out that Harmon and Fast have a bit of history of their own having played together during their college days at Clarkson and the hope is some of that chemistry can be rekindled.

As it has been with Team Canada for well over a decade, with the Sceptres, Larocque was like a team mother keeping things positive and the group together.

Bach, also a national team member though without Larocque’s longevity, takes a crafty offensive game to Ottawa.

The smooth skating and slick puck handling Bach delayed her PWHL debut as she finished up teacher’s college in year one but quickly became a regular on game day either filling in on the second or third line.

The return joining the Sceptres as early as tonight against their former team is no less impressive.

Harmon and Scamurra are both international veterans with the U.S. National team.

Kingsbury confirmed both players were with the Sceptres for an optional morning skate on Tuesday and were given the option of playing or not in Tuesday’s game versus the Charge. Both insisted on playing.

Harmon will reunite with Fast while Scamurra will join captain Blayre Turnbull’s line alongside Emma Maltais.

Neither player will have a problem adding to Toronto’s preferred style of play which is physical and tough to play against. Both willingly engage in the physical aspect of the game and do so at a high level with Scamurra tipping the scales a little in her favour in the phsysicality department.

Harmon brings the added bonus of giving Ryan another power play specialist from the point, a role Fast has been logging by herself for the most part.

Kingsbury said the added importance of the power play with some of the unique rules in the PWHL game and the elite goaltending in the women’s game made Harmon a very attractive piece for Toronto’s lineup.

In terms of age the Sceptres gain appreciably in the swap of defenceman exchanging Larocque’s 36 years for the 29-year-old Harmon while Scamurra is two years older than Bach.

While perhaps not as top-end elite as the first trade in league history that saw then reigning Patty Kazmaier winner Sophie Jaques move from Boston to Minnesota in exchange for Finnish star forward Susanna Tapani and defender Abby Cook, this trade will most assuredly shake things up.

mganter@postmedia.com