Trade deadline: big moves don’t materialize for Everett

Published 4:47 pm Tuesday, January 10, 2012

It turned out to be a quiet trade deadline for the Tips. The only players Everett moved out were the players the team reassigned in order to free up roster space, and the Tips made one minor deal in acquiring 18-year-old center Reid Petryk from Medicine Hat.

Petryk, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound native of Edmonton, Alberta, is in his third season in the WHL. This season he has seven goals, 12 assists and 56 penalty minutes in 43 games. I’m told he’s a hard-working player who can also be used on the wing.

To acquire Petryk, Everett surrendered the rights to list player Miles Koules. Koules, a 17-year-old forward, is currently with the U.S. NTDP’s U-18 team. He never attended training camp with the Tips and is currently committed to the University of North Dakota. The deal also includes a conditional fourth-round bantam pick, with the pick going either way depending on whether Koules ever reports to Medicine Hat.

Everett also reassigned three players. Defenseman Darian Henry was reassigned to Drumheller of the AJHL, where he will be a teammate of another Tips prospect, defenseman Tye Hand. Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said the slender 17-year-old will be given the opportunity to get ice time and put on weight, then will get the chance to make the team again next season. Henry had one assist in 16 games this season.

The others reassigned were 18-year-old wingers Vladimir Dolnik and Matt Grant. Dolnik, Everett’s first pick in the past import draft, is returning home to Slovakia. Grant, who was just called up from Cowichan Valley of the BCHL, is returning to the Capitals. It sounds like neither has a future with the team. Dolnik had five assists in 27 games, while Grant was pointless in four games.

Soetaert said he had some other irons in the fire, including fielding inquiries about Everett’s goaltending, but nothing materialized. It seems that even if the Tips did intend to be sellers, which I’m not convinced was the case, there wasn’t much of a market.

The net result of the player movement is that Everett is now within the roster limit with 24 players on the roster: 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. It’s a much more manageable number, and hey, they’re all healthy! Who’d a thunk it?

There were a number of interesting deals swung throughout the league over the past couple days, but maybe not the type of blockbusters we’re accustomed to seeing this time of year. The one that really blew me away was Seattle getting two first-round bantam picks and forward Seth Swenson from Portland for forward Marcel Noebels. That’s an unbelievable return for a player who takes up a Euro slot, who’s not an established star, and who’s certain to play professionally next season. It seems the T-birds were able to get their future building blocks without having to give up franchise goaltender Calvin Pickard after all.