For the second time this week, the London Knights and the Kingston Frontenacs have struck a deal.
The Knights have traded 19-year old forward Max Jones to Kingston in exchange for 17-year old forward Sergey Popov, a 2nd round pick in 2023 and a 3rd round pick in 2021.
Popov, originally from Russia. moved to Toronto and playing for the Jr. Canadiens in 2014, where he had 39 points in 30 league games and began to get noticed by OHL teams. After a solid second season with the Jr. Canadiens, Popov was picked in the second round of the 2016 OHL Priority Selection. The 17-year old is now in his second season in the Ontario Hockey League and has already topped his offensive totals from last year through the first half of this season.
Knights General Manager, Rob Simpson thanked Jones for all that he helped London to accomplish in his time as a Knight.
“Max has been a very important part of our team since we originally drafted him and we would like to thank him for all of his contributions in London,”
The Frontenacs have now acquired four players in less than a week who own Memorial Cup rings. Sean Day and Gabe Vilardi arrived on Tuesday from Windsor and on Thursday, Cliff Pu went from the Knights to the Frontenacs for 17-year old Nathan Dunkley. He picked up his first point in a London uniform on Friday night in the Knights’ 5-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves.
Pu had a big night for Kingston on Saturday, netting a hat trick and adding an assist in a 6-4 victory over the Barrie Colts.
Kingston and Windsor just happened to meet on Friday, only days after their deal. Vilardi set up two goals and helped to build a 3-1 Frontenac lead, only to have the Spitfires come back with three goals in a 3:56 span in the third period to hand the Frontenacs their third loss in a row. Kingston currently sits fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Jones, who is from Orion, Mich., was a part of Team USA’s bronze medal team at the World Junior Hockey Championship and has been with the Knights since the 2015-16 season. He is very good friends with Day and will now have an opportunity to play with him at the OHL level.
London will complete a three-game, four-day road trip on Sunday when they meet the Battalion in North Bay, looking to build on their four-game winning streak. The Knights are 9-1-0-1 in their last 11 games. The pre-game show will begin at 1:30 on 980 CFPL.
London returns home on January 11 for a game against the Kitchener Rangers at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens. The first 5,000 fans to enter the building will receive a London Knights poster calendar.
In other deals from the weekend, the Erie Otters traded Taylor Raddysh and Jordan Sambrook to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for Hayden Fowler, five 2nd round picks, two 3rd round picks and two 6th round picks.
The Sarnia Sting acquired defenceman Cam Dineen from North Bay for defenceman Braden Henderson, two 2nd-round picks, two 4th-round picks, a 6th-round pick and two conditional draft picks.
In one other move, the Owen Sound Attack picked up 18-year old forward Cade Robinson from the Erie Otters for 17-year old defenceman Luke Beamish in a swap that did not include any draft picks.