SASKATOON – The Saskatoon Blades are fully committed to making the playoffs in 2016. Monday’s transactions further emphasized that point, as Blades head coach and general manager Bob Woods executed a pair of trades to bolster his team’s roster for a run at the post season.
Who’s in:
- LW – Braylon Shmyr – 8 goals, 8 assists in 28 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings
- D – Colton Waltz – 75 points in 241 WHL games
- D – Dustin Perillat – 28 points in 53 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors last season
Who’s out:
- D – Mitchell Wheaton – 10 assists in 38 games with Saskatoon
- D – Shael Higson – 3 goals, 2 assists in 33 games with Saskatoon
- D – Dean Stewart – 1998-born prospect. Saskatoon selected Stewart in the 6th round of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft
- Two second-round draft picks, plus a fifth rounder
Trading away a pair of second-round draft picks isn’t a massive blow for Saskatoon because the Blades still have several high draft picks in their back pocket.
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Dealing those draft picks was a price Woods was more than willing to pay to make the Blades a playoff contender.
“We’ve upgraded in all of our areas,” said Woods “We’ve talked about being buyers at this time of the year and I think we did a good job of doing that.”
Here is how Monday’s transactions panned out:
First, the Blades sent a conditional second-round draft pick in 2017, a fifth rounder in 2016, and the rights to 17-year-old prospect Dean Stewart to Moose Jaw in exchange for Dustin Perillat. The 18-year-old defenceman from Saskatoon racked up 28 points in 53 games with the Warriors last season but has been sidelined for most of the 2015 campaign with a broken jaw. Perillat is approximately one week away from being healthy enough to play.
Then the Blades shipped overage defenceman Mitchell Wheaton and 17-year-old blueliner Shael Higson, plus a second-round draft pick in 2017 to Brandon. The two players coming back to Saskatoon in the trade could help propel the Blades to the post season. The Blades acquired 1995-born defenceman Colton Waltz and 18-year-old left winger Braylon Shmyr.
Colton Waltz has played a combined 271 regular season and playoff games in the WHL. The Blades younger players on the back end should benefit from Waltz’s experience.
Braylon Shmyr could turn out to be a really nice fit for Saskatoon. Last season, he racked up 40 points while playing with the Wheat Kings. Shmyr’s scoring touch could enhance Saskatoon’s 16th-ranked powerplay.
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