- Traded Lance Tabin and Braeden Johnson to Battlefords for '94 forward Justin Lund (Stars AAA) and '93 forward Michael Sagen (Regina Pats).
- Flipped Michael Sagen to Melville for a player to be named later.
- Acquired '92 defenceman Zane Morin from La Ronge for futures.
Also, Brandon forward (and the brother of Sanfred King) Wheaton King was re-assigned to the Klippers yesterday and will be joining the team.
A busy day!
Rockie Zinger's comments:
On Zane Morin
He's a guy that La Ronge didn't want to part with. He brings some size. The reports we got on him is he makes a good first pass, doesn't panic under pressure and he's got good character. It's a move that allows us to have a kid that could play three more years. We needed to get a little more depth on our back end.On dealing Lance Tabin
Lance Tabin's going to be a hard guy to replace. Unfortunately, due to the 20-year-old limit, we were over the limit and we were kicking tires. Zane's not going to come in and replace Lance and that's not what he was brought in for. He gives us a little more flexibility as an organization going forward.On Justin Lund
Justin Lund is playing for Battleford's AAA team. He's fifth in scoring on that team. Big body, very high academic marks, fits into the mold and the educational area that we're going to start to focus on in the organization. He aspires to get a scholarship and every report we had is right now, it could be a bit of a tough season in Battleford with coaching changes. From talking to Ken Pearson, they had a conversation with the kid and he's focused on coming in and playing Junior A next year. We expect he'll work hard next year.On getting Wheaton King from Brandon
Wheaton's a big body that can play either the wing or centre. He's 6'3", skates well, big body, good hands and isn't afraid to mix it up. The versatility with him being able to play the wing and also down the middle gives you options. He's got some offensive upside, he had 11 points in the WHL. Some people might say, well, only 11 points, but he wasn't being used in a scoring role in the Western League and there is some offensive upside. We see him fitting in nicely with our group of forwards.On Ryan Benn's decision to leave
It was very tough. Ryan came in at 3 pm and made it clear that he hadn't lost the passion for hockey. He really has a passion for hockey and he could see the writing that there wasn't going to be a lot of minutes for him. As much as he loved the guys and the community and the organization, he loved playing more. If he couldn't do it here he wanted to move on and do it somewhere else. It was a tough moment for Ryan and for the Klipper organization. You never want to see a player at that age have to make a decision like that. He's a really good kid and he wants to play the game of hockey.
(Ryan will return home to Spruce Grove to play for the Junior B Regals the rest of the season)
Satisfied with the deadline acquisitions?
We have to be satisfied with them because there's no looking back. We preach to our boys that you always want to strive to pursue excellence and be the best you can be. The decisions that were made as an organization, we hope it gives the guys still in that locker room the best possible opportunity to have a long playoff drive and experience some success. It's time to get at it.
