Royals swap goals for grit in pair of post-holiday trades
It was a busy Wednesday for Victoria Royals general manager Cam Hope, who swung a pair of deals the day the Western Hockey League trade moratorium lifted.
The Royals added size and grit, welcoming six-foot-three, 210-pounder Jeff de Wit from the Kootenay Ice and six-foot-one, 191-pounder Braydon Buziak from the Regina Pats. Both are 19-year-old forwards with valuable playoff experience as well.
Hope sent forward Jared Legien to Regina in return for Buziak and a conditional seventhround draft pick in 2018 and swapped a sixth-round pick for de Wit.
“We picked up some size and a little bit of grit with the Legien deal, shaking it up a little bit and adding a different element,” Hope said of the recent acquisitions.
Neither newcomer was in the lineup Wednesday in Game 1 versus Prince George in the back-to-back series, but could be here for tonight’s outing at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, barring travel problems.
“It’s one of those deals where you hope it works not only for the teams, but for the players and gives everybody a fresh start for the second half,” Hope added of the Legien deal that sends him back to his home province.
Sources out in the East Division stated Legien — who had 13 goals and 33 points, but just two assists in the last seven games — had asked for a trade closer to home.
In 32 games in Regina this season, Buziak had two goals and five assists with 46 penalty minutes after collecting 11 goals and four helpers in 55 outings last season. He added a goal and four assists in 23 playoff games with the Pats in 2016-17.
Hope sent a sixth-round draft pick in 2019 to Kootenay for de Wit, who in 22 contests this season — split between the Ice and Regina Pats — has three goals and three assists with 10 penalty minutes. During the 2016-17 campaign, the Red Deer native registered nine goals and seven assists to go with 26 PIMs in 66 games with the Pats and the Red Deer Rebels. Over his 226-game WHL career, de Wit has 58 points (including 22 goals) and 91 penalty minutes.
De Wit was originally drafted by Red Deer in the first round, 14th overall, in the 2013 WHL bantam draft and with his addition and the recent acquisition of Noah Gregor, the Royals now have six of the top 80 selections from that year. In that group are Dante Hannoun (11th overall), de Wit (14th), Matthew Phillips (33rd), Ralph Jarratt (37th), Gregor (55th) and Jared Freadrich (80th).
As for the trades, Hope said there were plenty of calls across the WHL.
“More calls than expected. I thought it might go quiet, but there was more activity than expected. It really got hot [Tuesday and Wednesday],” said Hope.
“You’re always looking to see if you can support the group with something that might help. We’ll see how that goes.”
The trade deadline is Jan. 10.