EVERETT — Ty Mappin was supposed to be one of the foundation pieces of the Everett Silvertips’ future. But Friday the Tips acknowledged that’s not going to happen.
The Western Hockey League trade deadline passed Friday morning, and the one move Everett made was pulling the parachute on its former first-round bantam pick.
The Tips sent the rights to Mappin, a 17-year-old center from Big Valley, Alberta, to the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2015 bantam draft. Everett receives a seventh-rounder if Mappin reports to the Blades. That can be upgraded to a fifth-rounder should Mappin be on Saskatoon’s roster at an unspecified date next season.
It’s a meager return for a player who once was considered to be a cornerstone of Everett’s rebuild before falling out of favor.
“He wasn’t really interested in being here anyway, that’s why he left (following the preseason),” Everett general manager Garry Davidson said. “Saskatoon expressed some interest a while back, and they phoned me again. It makes sense. It gives him an opportunity somewhere else, and I hope it works out.”
Mappin was selected seventh overall by Everett in the 2011 bantam draft, when he was a consensus top-10 pick. He had an excellent showing at training camp as a 15-year-old, then was the leading scorer for a Red Deer Optimist Rebels midget team that won the Canadian national championship. He spent all of last season with the Tips, notching five goals and 12 assists in 63 games as a 16-year-old rookie.
However, he looked overmatched at times, and he was reassigned following a preseason in which he went pointless in four games. He’s been playing for the Olds Grizzlies of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he has three goals and 13 assists in 30 contests.
“For whatever reason, it hasn’t worked here,” said Davidson, who wasn’t yet Everett’s GM when Mappin was drafted. “Sometimes you have to accept things for what they are and move on. When Ty came through the draft, I was in Portland, but he was very highly regarded. I liked him a lot and I know other GMs did, too. It just goes to show that with prospects, some work out and some don’t. It doesn’t matter if you were drafted in the first round or the last round.”
Dealing Mappin was the only trade Everett made on deadline day. The Tips made two trades earlier in the week, acquiring center Remi Laurencelle from Lethbridge on Sunday for a pair of sixth-round bantam picks, then picking up winger Zane Jones from Calgary on Thursday for defenseman Micheal Zipp.
Davidson said he was still looking to add more to the team Friday, but nothing materialized.
“I was still snooping,” Davidson said. “We would have liked to have added another guy, but it had to be the right guy, someone who could come in and help our offensive game. We were in on a couple of those type of players, but we weren’t able to get anything done. Still, I’m happy with the two forwards we did acquire.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
