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Pistons Acquire Forward and Defenceman from SJHL

Article courtesy of Dave Anthony from Steinbachonline.com

It may be two months till Christmas, but the Steinbach Pistons head coach and general manager went and did his shopping early, acquiring a forward and a defenceman from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

In the first of two trades, the Pistons shipped the rights to 20-year-old forward Arthur Miller to the Estevan Bruins in exchange for ’97 forward Issac Embree and ’98 defender Nolan Ferguson.

In the second move, the Pistons traded Embree to the Melville Millionaires for ’98 forward Daniel McKitrick.

Here’s the break down:

To Steinbach: Nolan Ferguson (D) and Issac Embree(F)

To Estevan: Arthur Miller (F)

Then

To Steinbach: Daniel McKitrick (F)

To Melville: Issac Embree (F)

Welcome, Ferguson and McKitrick

Dyck went into detail about the players coming to Steinbach starting with Ferguson. “We’re excited, it brings more depth to our lineup. More experience on the back end, he moves pucks. He’s in his second year of junior and it’s been a break out year for him. He’s played in all situations and I know he was a big piece for (Estevan). He’s a guy that can play on both speciality teams, moves the puck well, see’s the ice well and get’s around the ice.”

Dyck knows that McKitrick adds more scoring punch to an already deep lineup. “He’s a dynamic player. When you’ve seen the player live, there’s an advantage. We saw Daniel play against us and know what he can bring. We’re very excited. He’s a threat on our power play and makes us better and deeper 5 on 5.”

Putting In Work

The two deals were separate but Dyck talked about the work that went into getting the deals done. “They take time. I think every team needs to process and evaluate how the moves will impact the team on the ice and in the dressing room. They’re not moves done hastily. There’s a lot of thought and in this case, there certainly was.”

Move Moves Coming?

The Pistons roster now stands at 25, the maximum allowed.

Dyck noted some dates that are upcoming and important when it comes to possible movement. “December 1st we go down to 25 cards. It’s somewhat complex but on the 1st we go down from 45 to 25 cards. If we have 25 players on our roster on December 1st, it doesn’t allow us to make any moves before the roster freeze January 10th, which at that point you need to be at 23. If we are at 23 roster players by the 1st of December, it allows us to make two moves before the roster freeze. Once it’s January 10th, the roster must be at 23. 23 is a number we’ve tried to target in the past to give us flexibility. It will depend on where our teams at and what becomes available closer to those dates.”

Dyck does have a timeline for when the new additions will be in Steinbach. “We have the day off (Thursday), we hope to have both guys on the ice for practice Friday. The plan would be for both guys to be in the lineup Saturday.”