Central Division, Insight

Daily Dose of the Dub: Prokop and Elder going to Calgary; Blocker headed back to Swift Current

Written by DUBNetwork on

Family reunion in Calgary

The Calgary hitmen have signed 2000-born forward Josh Prokop. Josh, 18, will join his younger brother Luke on the Hitmen. Originally committed to Ohio State for 2018-19, the elder Prokop changed his mind and will join Calgary immediately.

Hitmen acquire Elder

Another forward was added to the roster in Calgary. They traded a third-round pick in 2019 to the Swift Current Broncos for 20-year-old forward Kaden Elder. The Saskatoon native was a first-round pick by the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2013 and after a three-point 16-year-old season and two goals in his first 14 games in 2015-16, he was moved to the Swift Current.

Elder excelled in a shutdown role for the Broncos but still piled up 27 points in 2016-17 and 32 points in 2017-18. He was a key player up front on the team that captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup last year.

Elder was one of six overage players the Broncos had and a third-round pick in return will be a little way to start recuperating all the assets they dealt away in 2017-18.

Elder is now the third overage player with the Hitmen, joining forwards Jake Kryski and Luke Coleman.

Elder wore number 10 for the Broncos, but there will likely be some dealing done in the locker room as Luke Prokop wears that number currently.

Blocker joins Stanley in Swift Current

Another piece of the blockbuster trade between Swift Current and Lethbridge last year, is heading back the other way. The Broncos sent an eighth-round pick to the Hurricanes for 2000-born forward Owen Blocker.

Blocker played 71 games for Swift Current over two seasons, before joining the Hurricanes. In 47 combined regular seaosn and playoff games, Blocker blew away his previous statistical output, putting up nine points.

In just his first game this year, Blocker went awkwardly into the boards while delivering a check and was stretchered off the ice. He was not listed on the injury report though and appears to be ready to play once settled in with the Broncos.

Chicago making some decisions in regards to d-men

It seemed that Henri Jokiharju was locked into the opening night lineup in Chicago after they cut down to seven defenseman. Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville has said that they will carry seven blue liners.

That certainty has been tested a bit now with Chicago acquiring Brandon Davidson. The 27-year-old Davidson has played four seasons in the NHL for four different teams.

It could be that Chicago was bringing in another veteran d-man they can plug into a third-pairing role. How well Jokiharju plays over the last couple of preseason games, will go far into them deciding to keep him or send him down.

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Here are the 1999 or 2000-born players still in the NHL:

-Henri Jokiharju – D – Portland Winterhawks – Chicago Blackhawks – 2017 NHL Draft – 1st round pick.

-Michael Rasmussen – C – Tri-City Americans – Detroit Red Wings – 2017 NHL Draft – 1st round pick.

-Jaret Anderson-Dolan – C – Spokane Chiefs – L.A. Kings – 2017 NHL Draft – 2nd round pick.

He got into another preseason game last night.

-Ty Smith – D – Spokane Chiefs – New Jersey Devils – 2018 NHL Draft – 1st round pick.