Miners make trade; send Sutter and Hutton to Vegas for picks.

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

The Sudbury Miners and Las Vegas Aces made a move early Sunday evening, as the Miners sent pending UFA forward Brandon Sutter, along with defenseman Ben Hutton, to the Las Vegas Aces in exchange for Las Vegas’ 2nd  and 3rd  round picks in 2019.

Las Vegas was looking to add some veteran help and will take on both Sutter and Hutton’s combined cap hit of just over $4 million for the remainder of the season.  With this latest transaction, Sudbury again moves a couple of veteran contracts for a couple of potential top 50 draft picks.  Sudbury will pick eight times in the first two rounds of the 2019 draft, barring any further transactions.

Sutter was a valued player for the Miners.  He was a big part of the Miners league-leading penalty kill and was often matched up against the other team's top lines.  In 26 games this year, Sutter has 4 goals and 7 assists and was among the ice time leaders for the team. But considering the Miners are in a rebuild mode and that Sutter will command north of $4.3 million to re-sign in the off-season, the time to move him for future assets was now.

The 24-year-old Hutton, is in his first full year of the CCHL.  His current entry-level contract expires at the end of next season and he has contributed 3 goals and 4 assists in 26 games so far this year.  The Prescott, ON native, was the Georgetown Millers' fifth-round draft pick back in 2014.