CANES GET BUSY
HURRICANES STOCK UP AT TRADE DEADLINE
Overage scorers Alfaro and Zborosky added from Kootenay
With the Western Hockey League trade deadline looming today, the Lethbridge Hurricanes jumped into final-days transactions on Monday.
And they didn’t go too far to do it, heading just over the B.C. border and acquiring overage forwards Matt Alfaro, Zak Zborosky and a sixth-round draft pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft from the Kootenay Ice in exchange for forwards Colton Kroeker, Brett Davis and a second and a fourth-round pick in 2018.
In acquiring Alfaro and Zborosky, the Hurricanes made room by trading 20-year-old forward Ryley Lindgren and a sixth-round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for prospect — and Lethbridge product — Carson Dyck and a third-round pick in the 2018 WHL bantam draft.
Zborosky and Alfaro sat one-two in scoring in Kootenay this season.
Zborosky tallied 28 goals and 44 points in 41 games, while Alfaro had 13 goals and 39 points in 41 games.
“We’re really pleased to add Alfaro and Zborosky,” said Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt. “I think we’re adding two seasoned guys. They’ve got some playoff experience. I think we’re going to be a lot harder of a team to play against because of what they can bring. That, to me, was the biggest thing. Right now, it’s getting ourselves seeded for playoffs and then the focus is playoffs and they certainly bring some experience to that.”
Dyck — the son of former Hurricanes head coach Mike Dyck — was selected in the second round and 26th overall by the Broncos in last year’s WHL bantam draft.
Last season, he helped the Lethbridge bantam AAA Val Matteotti Golden Hawks to the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League championship title.
“We really liked Carson Dyck as a bantam and watched him play a number of times and what really jumped out at me was he went nose-tonose against (Peyton) Krebs (the 2016 first-overall pick in the WHL bantam draft) in the series against Okotoks and not only shut such an elite player down, but probably outplayed him,” said Anholt of the 15-year-old forward who has 10 goals and 41 points in 18 games with the Lethbridge minor midget Hurricanes this season.
“That says a lot about the character of the kid and the hockey sense of the kid.”
The addition of Alfaro and Zborosky will, obviously, be a bit more immediate.
“They’re top-six forwards and how they’re mixed, that’s up to Brent (Kisio, Hurricanes head coach) to figure out and how they work with the group we have,” said Anholt. “We obviously have (Giorgio) Estephan and (Tyler) Wong and Jordy Bellerive has shown he’s right there and (Ryan) Bowen has been in and out in whatever role we put him in. We’ll play that by ear, but ultimately the coaches will make that decision.”
With the deadline today, the Hurricanes may not be done kicking tires.
“Right now because of the trades we took three guys out of our top-nine and put two in,” said Anholt. “We certainly have to go shopping for another player. We feel there are a couple of guys on our list that are possibly an option, but we’d like to have that option as a backup. So we’re maybe going to have to go out and look for something else.”
In another move Monday, the Hurricanes sent defenceman Shaun Dosanjh to the Portland Winterhawks for a ninth-round pick in this year’s WHL bantam draft and re-assigned 17year-old defenceman Ethan King to the Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.