The Kelowna Rockets added depth their roster on Wednesday, hoping it’ll pay off come late May.
The WHL announced they acquired blue-liner Carson Sass from the Tri-City Americans in exchange for a 10th-round pick in the 2022 bantam draft.
Sass, who turned 20 on May 22, is a six-foot-one-inch, 190-pound defenceman who is entering his fourth WHL season.
He previously played all three seasons with Red Deer, but was recently waived by the Rebels, with Tri-City picking up his rights.
With Red Deer, he played 202 regular-season games, recording nine goals and 27 assists for 36 points plus 98 penalty minutes.
“Carson has been a solid defensive guy,” Rockets president and GM Bruce Hamilton said of Sass, who hails from Melville, Sask. “He’s going to provide us with depth.
“I felt that we needed to have another older guy on our blue-line, he will be able to provide us with that.”
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The addition of Sass means the Rockets now have nine defencemen – two over the team’s general limit. When the cuts will be made isn’t known, as seven Rockets will be attending NHL rookie camps and tournaments, including defencemen Kaedan Korczak and Sean Comrie.
In other news, Kelowna is 2-2 in preseason play. Last weekend, the Rockets fell 1-0 in Everett on Saturday, but bounced back with a 7-0 home-ice thrashing of Prince George on Sunday.
This weekend, Kelowna will close out its preseason schedule, as the Rockets visit Kamloops on Friday night, then host the Blazers on Saturday evening.