SASKATOON – For the second straight season, the Saskatoon Blades are off to a dreadful start. The Blades are 0-4 to begin the year, one loss shy of tying a franchise record to start the season.
The Blades continue to search for answers, which means another batch of roster moves on Monday.
The biggest deal happened in the afternoon, when the team acquired 20-year-old defenceman Adam Henry from the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Henry has 76 points and 131 penalty minutes in 176 career WHL games with Lethbridge and Seattle.
“He’s just a guy who can really help quarterback your powerplay,” Blades head coach and general manager Bob Woods said of Henry.
“We’re kind of depending on some young guys to do that right now and if you can bring in an experienced guy in I think that will help solidify that and help settle things down on the back end.”
The Blades sent young defenceman Turner Ottenbreit to Seattle to get their hands on Henry.
“Otto is definitely a guy we didn’t want to lose. You don’t like to lose those younger defenceman, but when you want to get something you usually have to give something up,” said Woods.
To make room for Henry, the Blades released 20-year-old Chase Clayton.
Clayton had 22 points in 58 games with the Blades last year after being acquired from Calgary last year.
The first move of the day was a trade with the Swift Current Broncos. The Blades dealt defenceman Ayrton Nikkel to the Swift Current Broncos, getting back 18-year-old blueliner Cole Bevan and a seventh round draft pick.
The 6’1, 208 pound Bevan had two assists and nine penalty minutes in 18 career games with the Broncos and will have new opportunity in Saskatoon.
“He was a guy that we watched in the (pre-season) tournament in Edmonton and both Dean (Brockman) and myself really liked him,” admits Woods.
“When we seen he was available, we thought he would be a good fit for us. He’s just a physical, steady defenceman.
The Blades also released 19-year-old defenceman Tyler Dea on Monday.
It was a busy day, one that Woods hopes can help turn the season around.
“These are all positive moves and I think we’re a better hockey team today.”
Woods also isn’t shutting the door on more moves down the road.
“We have until the 15th of October for the 20-year-old waivers. If we can upgrade, we’ll always try to do that, but I think we want to try to get to our team here so we can really start to put things in place.”
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