EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips made another personnel move Friday, bringing their roster one step closer to finality.
Everett traded defenseman Randy King to Prince George in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2006 Bantam Draft, meaning the Silvertips’ lengthy process of trying to finalize their roster is nearly at an end.
“I think it’s pretty much set,” Everett coach and director of hockey operations Kevin Constantine said. “Obviously the roster has to have success. But we like the roster we have right now.”
The 18-year-old King, a muscular 6-foot-2, 215-pound defenseman who hails from Salt Lake City, joined the Silvertips midway through the 2004-05 season. He played in 31 games last season, scoring two goals. He played in two of Everett’s first four games this season without registering a point.
King was not selected in the most recent NHL Draft, but he was invited to training camp with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, where he impressed enough to stick around for about three weeks.
“There were two reasons, really,” Constantine said about the trade. “We had 10 defensemen here and that’s too many. With Derek Lewis coming off our list and with Randy gone, that drops the number to eight, and that’s the right number in this league.
“And then, Randy’s got to go play,” Constantine added. “He’s just not at the stage right now where he should be playing in half the games, and he might have only played half our games.”
In trading King, Everett lost one of its biggest and strongest players. It also freed up more ice time for Everett’s younger defensemen, including 17-year-olds Taylor Ellington, Jonathan Harty, Graham Potuer, Zach Sim and 16-year-old Eric Doyle, all of whom now will have to contribute.
And Constantine is not concerned by the loss of King’s size.
“In Potuer and Ellington and Doyle we have three young guys who are all big,” he said. “Big is how you play, though. Jonathan Harty is our smallest guy stature-wise (among defensemen), but he’s our biggest guy. He leads our team in hits and had a fight this year, so what does size have to do with how big you play? Nothing.”
King is the third player removed from Everett’s roster the last three days. On Wednesday Lewis, a 19-year-old defenseman, was released and Brennan Zasitko, a 17-year-old left wing, was reassigned to the Selkirk Steelers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
“In Zasitko’s case, he needed to play a lot,” Constantine said. “He didn’t play much last year because of his shoulder injury and he was going to be in and out of the lineup for us this year, and that’s not going to help him get better. If we want him to be better for us a little bit from now, he’s got to play hockey.
“Lewis was just caught in a situation where we see him as an in-and-out-of-the-lineup guy and we don’t want to use a 19-year-old to be an in-and-out guy,” Constantine added. “We want to use those spots for young guys who are developing. So we didn’t think that was good for a 19-year-old on either end, our end or his end.”
The departure of King, Lewis and Zasitko brings Everett’s roster down to 24 players – 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.
Everett must make one more move, paring its group of four overagers down to three by Thursday. Left wing Kyle Annesley appears to be the odd man out in that mix, but the Silvertips are not expecting to make a move until the deadline.
Otherwise, Everett’s roster is set, meaning players such as 18-year-old training camp invitees Jesse Smyke and Ryan Sawka and diminutive 16-year-olds Zack Dailey and Shane Harper are secure in their roster spots.
“It’s definitely a relief,” Sawka said. “With the skill and talent we have this year, it’s just a great opportunity to be a part of something like this. So I’m thrilled.”
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