The Tips made a move to add some secondary scoring today, acquiring 20-year-old left wing Clayton Bauer and a sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft from Red Deer in exchange for 20-year-old right wing Brennan Sonne and 17-year-old defenseman Matt Strong.
Bauer is in his fourth season in the WHL and will be joining his third team this season. In 20 games between Red Deer and Kootenay he had four goals and four assists. Last season he compiled 24 goals and 28 assists in 68 games for the Ice.
This move should help alleviate some of the pressure on Everett’s top line of Zach Hamill, Dan Gendur and Kyle Beach. It also gives the Tips another left-handed shot among the forwards, something that’s been in short supply.
To acquire Bauer the Tips had to sacrifice some grit in Sonne, the team’s best fighter. From a personal standpoint I’m going to miss Sonne because he was one of the most quotable players on the team.
Also, by trading Strong the Tips are now down to six defensemen. We’ll have to see what Everett does about finding a spare. The obvious answer is to bring Jeff Regier back, but I doubt his BCHL team would be happy about that. There’s also the Eddie Friesen situation to consider, though is seemed those bridges have been burned. And y’know, Eric English has practiced with the team as a defenseman in the past …..
1:06 p.m. UPDATE
I just got finished talking with general manager Doug Soetaert and the team is bringing Regier back to fill the spot vacated by Strong. The Tips are fortunate to have a player like Regier hanging around who’s ready to step right into the lineup when needed, and Everett once again has a 16-year-old on the roster.
Also, for those wondering about the whereabouts of David Reekie, Soetaert said he though Reekie was leaning toward playing professionally, either in the ECHL or the Central Hockey League. But apparently he’s still weighing his options.
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