Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Two trades in the WHL

Press Release

The Saskatoon Blades have settled the team’s overage situation by trading Milan Kytnar to the Vancouver Giants for a 3rd round Bantam Draft pick in 2010.

Kytnar, a native of Topolcany, Slovakia, has played in 3 games so far this season and has picked up one assist. The 6’1”, 180-pound center was second in Blades’ scoring last season with 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points in 65 games played while adding 89 penalty minutes. In 7 postseason games last season, he had 3 goals and 1 assist for 4 points to go along with 14 penalty minutes.

A draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2007, Kytnar signed an entry-level contract with the NHL club this past May.

The Blades acquired Kytnar prior to last season along with defenseman Colin Joe for a 1st round pick in the 2008 CHL Import Draft and a 5th round Bantam Draft pick in 2009.

In making the move, the Blades now have settled on left winger Derek Hulak, right winger Walker Wintoneak, and defenseman Sam Klassen as the team’s three 20-year-old players for the 2009-10 season.

“With the four remaining overage players we had in our lineup we knew we would lose a quality hockey player,” said Blades General Manager & Head Coach Lorne Molleken. “Milan will have a great opportunity in Vancouver but it is still sad to see him go. We sincerely wish him the best of luck in his future.”

“In terms of Hulak, Wintoneak, and Klassen, they have deserved the opportunity to continue to perform here. Each of the three is a huge part of our team this season.”

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HURRICANES TRADE TADJDEH TO CHIEFS

Lethbridge, AB – The steadily improving Lethbridge Hurricanes, fresh off a three point weekend made yet another trade this morning. Canes General Manager/Head Coach, Rich Preston, announced the Canes have acquired an 8th round pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft in exchange for goaltender Michael Tadjdeh.

Tadjdeh, a native of Calgary, AB was listed by the Canes in 2006-07 and spent the 07-08 season with the Calgary EDGE Varsity team. While there, he notched an impressive 1.65 GAA in 26 games with a pair of shutouts. In 08-09, Tadjdeh filled in well as a backup to Juha Metsola, notching a 10-10-0-0 record with a pair of shutouts in his first WHL season. With the acquisition of Linden Rowat from the Regina Pats and he additions of rookie goaltenders Brandon Anderson and Ville Kolppanen, Tadjdeh was the odd man out in Lethbridge and was sent home to Calgary two weeks ago to await a trade.

This past weekend, the 20 year old Rowat improved his record to 2-1-1-0 as the Hurricanes net minder. Rowat has an impressive 186 WHL regular season games under his belt and an amazing 87-67-8-10 record with 10 shutouts. Rowat had a breakout season in ‘06-07 finishing with a 25-18-1-6 record and 4 shutouts. He was selected by the L.A. Kings in the fifth round (124th overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. In 07-08 he had a career season breaking the 30 win mark for the first time with a 33-15-4-2 record and a 2.68 GAA and a .904 sv % in 3244 minutes. This was good enough to earn the goaltender a spot on the Eastern Conference first all star team in 2008.

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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