The Fort Erie Falcons were at it again on Saturday night, shipping out Andrej Sekera in exchange for Niklas Hjalmarsson.
At first, the move caught many off-guard given Hjalmarsson's pending unrestricted free agent status. Sekera is locked up for three seasons and is the cheaper option but we all know from experience, that's not always something that GM Matt Young values when evaluating his team.
"Andrej is an outstanding player and Sanibel got themselves a really good player in this trade. We also got a really good player and Nik will fit in really well with us. We wanted to improve defensively and we feel that with Karl (Alzner) and Nik now in the fold, we can break up that Werenski/Hamilton pairing that at times has struggled in our own zone," explained Young.
Although Hjalmarsson is currently injured, he is expected to skate with the Falcons on Sunday and should be ready to play in Monday's contest against Halifax.
Saturday night also saw the Falcons take to the ice in Dartmouth to take on a Lakers team that looks to be gearing up for next season given they are currently 12 points out of a playoff spot.
Sam Reinhart had three assists while Captain Blake Wheeler added a goal and an assist in a 6-2 victory for the Falcons.
The game was also the first game for newly acquired Tyler Myers and the first game in over 40 games for defenceman Stephen Johns.
Myers played 11 minutes and was a plus one in the contest while Johns played only seven minutes and was a minus one.
For his part, Myers was happy to get on the ice with his new team.
"I'm a little out of shape as I haven't played much prior to this in Ottawa. It's been a tough year for me injury wise. I'll do what I can to contribute here when I am asked and I think next year I'm going to have a big year with a full training camp under my belt."
As for the Falcons, they return to action on Monday night in Halifax to conclude their current four-game road trip.
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