News broke earlier this afternoon that the Calgary Hitmen traded Andrei Grishakov to the third place Victoria Royals for a third-round pick in the 2019 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.
Grishakov was in his second season with Hitmen after the club selected him 106th overall in the second round of the 2016 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
“The way we are going, unfortunately, we are not in the playoffs. If this continues this way, we will have a high selection in the 2018 CHL Import Draft,” said Hitmen General Manager Jeff Chynoweth. “If we did decide to do something, it would have had to be done in June anyways. This is just us getting ahead of the game and giving Andrei a chance to play for a contending WHL team.”
The Hitmen vacated both Import Draft selections last summer with Vladislav Yeryomenko and the right-handed Grishakov still on their roster.
These days, the Central Division is the worst division in the CHL and the Hitmen are among the bottom of the barrel in CHL standings, tied for seventh last with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.
The Russian product was on pace to have a career season with the Hitmen. He’s already tied his WHL career high with 11 goals through 37 games. Last year in 70 games, he recorded 35 points. This season, he is on pace for 52 points.
“We have reports going back a few years on [Grishakov], so we will see where he lines up on our roster. He’s got a skillset that could be a really good complimentary piece to our guys that play a skill game,” said Royals General Manager Cameron Hope. “We think he will fit in nicely with Dante Hannoun, Tyler Soy, Matthew Phillips and Igor Martynov. He should thrive with those guys.”
Victoria became a great landing spot for Grishakov following the departure of Yan Khomenko, who left the team to play for the Irbis Kazan, a Russian junior hockey league.
“We didn’t make this trade based off of what other teams are doing and where they are in the standings. We have had some players did not work out for us, which opened up an import spot and allowed us to get a player at a lesser price than what it would of cost us if it wasn’t an import player,” said Hope.
For the first time this season, Grishakov was bumped down to the fourth line last night, mainly due to the fact that Head Coach Dallas Ferguson needed to spread out his veterans in the youngest lineup he’s worked with all season.
Grishakov was a staple on the power play and rotated between the top three lines. He just came off a stretch that saw him record points in eight-of-nine games, including his second-career two-goal performance.
“It’ll be different not having him around,” said former teammate Luke Coleman. “He’s a skilled guy with a good shot. I’m going to miss him but hopefully he has a good year with Victoria.”
The Hitmen haven’t selected in the top 10 of the Import draft since 2011, when they landed Victor Rask third overall.
Rask spent two seasons with the Hitmen. In 101 career WHL games, Rask racked up 47 goals and 104 points. He has since moved onto the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League and has been with the big club for parts of four seasons.
This was the second trade the Hitmen have made leading up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
Following the Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn deal that sent them to Swift Current, Chynoweth stated that the Hitmen weren’t giving away players because that wasn’t the Hitmen way.
Earlier this morning, he acknowledged the fact that they are sellers heading into the deadline, as they sit seven points out of a playoff spot, but still plans on contending all the way to the end.
“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. We expect to make playoffs and we will battle right through game 72 for that, but at the same time, this might give us another option for a selection in the CHL Import Draft and a chance at selecting a top-end forward,” said Chynoweth.
Chynoweth admitted that defenceman Jake Bean has been a player that a lot of teams are inquiring about, but said that nothing would be done until the World Juniors are over.
The gold medal and bronze medal game of the World Junior Championship go tomorrow evening in Buffalo, N.Y., five days before the trade deadline.
The Hitmen will get their first chance to take on Grishakov Jan. 27, when they play the first of two-straight games at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria, B.C. The Royals sit third in the B.C. Division with a 21-15-3-1 record, five points back of the division-leading Kelowna Rockets.
