The Saskatoon Blades have made the inevitable tough decision of trading away one of the four overagers on the roster.
The odd man out in the three 20 year-old limit was forward Ryan Hughes who heads to the Kamloops Blazers for a pair of draft picks and local 2001-born forward Jerzy Orchard.
Blades general manager Colin Priestner thanked Hughes in a team release and added playing in Kamloops will be a great way for him to finish his career. Priestner also noted moving Hughes was a very difficult decision for him and the Blades staff.
‘’Moving any one of our four 20 year-olds was going to be hard and leave a great player on the outside looking in,’’ Priestner said in the release. ‘’Ultimately we felt the return we could get for Ryan was more than fair and now we can go out and look to use those pieces to try and replace some of the offence we will lose with his departure.’
In the two 2019-20 regular season games played Hughes had a goal and two assists for three points, two of which came on the power play. Hughes also had four penalty minutes and was an even plus/minus.
The draft picks heading to Saskatoon are a 2022 second round selection and 2021 third round selection in the annual Bantam Draft. With the additional picks the Blades have two second round selections in 2022 and three third round selections in 2021.
From Delisle, Saskatchewan Orchard made his Western Hockey League debut last season, appearing in 41 games and recording a goal and two assists for three points. He also suited up in five of the Blazers six playoff games recording another assist.
“(Jerzy) brings a lot of energy and has some untapped skill,” Priestner said. “We look forward to bringing him into our group and seeing what he can provide to the depth of our team.”
Saskatoon`s roster now sits at 15 forwards, eight defenseman and two goaltenders. With Hughes gone the Blades three 20-year-olds are defenseman Scott Walford and Nolan Kneen and forward Riley McKay.
Jerzy is expected to join the Blades ahead of its next game on Friday, September 27th at the SaskTel Centre.
