Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Bulls get bigger with acquisition of Kuptsov

Press Release

BELLEVILLE, ON - On a day when most CHL clubs are trying to introduce a new European player to the North American brand, the Bulls went out and acquired a player who has already made that adjustment.

In a sense, the Bulls made an import pick of their own, they just took several steps to do so. After a pair of trades on Tuesday involving goaltender John Chartrand going to the Sudbury Wolves and some pick shuffling with the Peterborough Petes, the Bulls have made a deal with the Mississauga Steelheads on Wednesday.

Coming to Belleville is 6'2", 214Ibs. winger Sergey Kuptsov who scored 13 goals and added 13 assists in 65 games as a rookie in Mississauga under Head Coach James Boyd. Kutpsov will join fellow Russian Daniil Zharkov as the Bulls' second European skater on the roster.

In exchange, Belleville will send Mississauga a conditional third round selection in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection and the 69th overall pick (Andrei Vasilevski) in today's CHL Import Draft.

"Sergey is a quality young player who has established himself in the league," said Burnett of the deal. "He's played alongside Daniil Zharkov in the past during international play and we like the size and skating that he'll bring to our club. Sergey is also very versatile and is able to play any of the three forward positions."

Kuptsov has been a teammate of Zharkov twice in past tournaments, with the prominent occurance being at the World Under 18 Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic.

"We made this a conditional deal with the hope that we'll see Sergey here in a Bulls uniform this fall," added Burnett. "He's a guy who's skill set has drawn our attention and we want to see him in a Bulls jersey."

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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