Three more trades to report on during the draft, as three teams were involved in a round robin of deals.
The latest trade occurred this morning and saw Shane Doan, captain of the Stockholm Eagles, depart with unsigned free agent teammates Anton Babchuk and Corey Potter. The trio is now property of the Bern Bears who gave up defenseman Dalton Prout and left wing Mike Cammalleri. Three minutes after the trade was announced, Stockholm waived Cammalleri. Without Doan any more, Stockholm will be alright. They have Jeff Carter, Brendan Gallagher, Craig Smith and Ryan Johansen on the right wing currently and James Van Riemsdyk, Derek Brassard, Colin Greening and Mattias Sjogren on the left. Prout will add toughness and size when he is pressed into full-time duty a few seasons from now.
Bern, meanwhile, adds a starting defenseman in Babchuk. Depending on which free agents Bern GM Randy Rock is able to sign, Potter might also get ice time. Both new defensemen as well as longtime Bear Dennis Seidenberg are Type 3 free agents. Doan, who at 38 has one year left on a $5 million contract, adds his trademark brand of leadership to the Bern team that finished 14th overall before being bounced in 4 playoff games last season. He is considered an upgrade over Cammalleri and Bern is now strong – but old – 0n the left side with Doan, Henrik Zetterberg and Pascal Dupuis. Doan can also play center according to hockeydb.com and RW, according to hockey-reference.com. Jose Theodore is currently listed as Bern’s team captain, but in light of the Bears’ selection of Cam Talbot in the draft, it looks like Theodore’s playing days are numbered.
The two other recent trades both involved picks in the third round of the 2017 draft. Minsk drafted Jon Merrill and traded him to Bern, where he is the only defenseman under 28. It is believed the two teams agreed on a pick swap before the Merrill pick but the deal was slow in being approved so they simply made the trade after the selection.
Minsk had earlier traded its second-round pick in the current draft to Stockholm for a 2017 third-rounder. The Eagles used the Minsk pick to take Julius Honka.
The trades bring the total of off-season deals to 13 involving 15 teams. Stockholm has involved in 5 of the deals, Minsk in 4.
