Miners Make a Move...

Miners make a deal; send Saad cross-country to Victoria

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

It is normally a quiet time of the year in the CCHL following the Entry Draft, but that could not be further from the truth in the Nickel City. The Sudbury Miners and Victoria Ronin made a move early Friday morning, which ended days of hard discussions between the two organizations.

News of the trade broke late Thursday evening but wasn’t able to made official until the trade call was completed at the CCHL Headquarters in Dayton early Friday morning. The trade, which is now official, breaks down as follows:

Sudbury sends F Brandon Saad and $3 million in exchange for Victoria’s 1st round pick in 2019
and 4th round pick in 2020.

Victoria will take on Saad’s $6.25 million cap hit, which expires after the 2019-20 season. Sudbury,
which had acquired Saad in an earlier deal this summer with Fort Erie, had a small window to get a deal done as his no-trade clause was set to kick in on August 1 st.

The deal will mark the third time Saad has been traded this summer having gone from Springfield to Fort Erie, then to Sudbury and now Victoria. "I would have liked the opportunity to show the fans what I could have brought to the team," Saad said on a conference call. "But I understand that it is a business and I can see why Sudbury made the move. I’m excited to go to the West Coast and play in Victoria. I may be able to even unpack my suitcase this time and just think of the frequent flyer miles I have earned this summer.”

Seeing Saad traded was a bit of a shock to the fans, as his name had not been mentioned in the various media outlets as possible trade bait.

“It’s never easy to part with a player of Saad’s talent and character. He is a proven player and when we acquired him earlier in the summer, we had every intention of keeping him as a valuable part of our organization moving forward”, stated General Manager Terry James.

“But, in this business things can change quickly when an opportunity presents itself and that was the case with this trade. We wanted to do good for Brandon. We wanted to make sure that he went to a team that would give him the chance to win and help him find his form and rebound from a down year. But for us, at the end of the day, to secure another high pick in 2019, it was a deal that we felt comfortable in making” quoted James.

Digging for Prospects – Sudbury Miners 2018 CCHL Draft Review

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

With the 2018 CCHL Entry Draft now in the books, Sudbury Miners General Manager Terry
James offered up a quick summary to reporters on Wednesday morning and gave a quick review on how he felt his team did during this years’ draft.

“We’re very pleased and excited,” James said. “We drafted players we feel will take some
grooming and development, and they probably won’t be CCHL-ready for a year or two, but at the end of the day, I think we’ve added some skill at different positions.”

Armed with 25 picks in this years CCHL draft, the Miners were able to continue to stock the
cupboards with some talented young men and address some holes in their prospect pool, as they try
and build a team that will be in Kehler Cup contention for years to come.

The Miners draft philosophy has not changed. The organization strongly believes in letting these
prospects grow and find success at the various collegiate, European, and AHL levels, and with that
approach, it will pay big dividends down the road for a patient organization. James added that the team would not be giving up prospects or picks for short-term gains, instead opting for the long-term
approach to development.

Overall, this isn’t a draft that makes the Miners a better team in 2018-19 but it should be a draft
that pays dividends down the road if some of these players develop as projected.

Below are the picks that make up the 2018 Sudbury Miners Entry Draft Class:

Isac Lundstrom, C 1 st Round - 18th Overall
Grigori Denisenko, LW 1 st Round - 20th Overall
Serron Noel, RW 2 nd Round - 26th Overall
Rasmus Sandin, D 2 nd Round - 31st Overall
Jared MacIssac, D 2 nd Round - 39th Overall
Liam Foudy, C 2 nd Round - 40th Overall
Mattias Samuelsson, D 2 nd Round - 41st Overall
Lukas Dostal, G 2 nd Round - 42nd Overall
Jessie Ylonen, RW 3 rd Round - 50th Overall
Filip Hallander, LW 3 rd Round - 52nd Overall
Adam Ginning, D 3 rd Round - 54th Overall
Sampo Ranta, LW 3 rd Round - 60th Overall
Olof Lindblom, G 3 rd Round - 61st Overall
Jacob Olofsson, C 3 rd Round - 63rd Overall
Gabriel Fortier, LW 3 rd Round - 65th Overall

Sean Durzi, D 4 th Round - 78th Overall
Spencer Foo, RW 4 th Round - 88th Overall
Tyler Madden, C 5 th Round - 97th Overall
Jon Gruden, LW 5 th Round - 100th Overall
Ty Emberson, D 5 th Round - 107th Overall
Tyler Weiss, LW 6 th Round - 116th Overall
Alexis Gravel, G 7 th Round - 138th Overall
Giovanni Vallati, D 7 th Round - 146th Overall
Angus Crookshank, LW 8 th Round - 160th Overall
Riley Hughes, RW 8 th Round - 165th Overall

State of the Loons!

Well, it’s been a couple of months since we spoke with GM Czepiel. Luckily we were able to catch up with him here in Vegas; the site of the 2018 CCHL entry draft.

Puljujarvi - what happened? “I’ve always been the first to admit that I have a lot to learn about running a hockey team. The opportunity to take over a CCHL team came out of nowhere and honestly, I was unprepared. It continues to be a learning process with some bumps in the road. After free agency, I brought in our team of scouts in order to put a strategy together for our inaugural draft. The common sentiment was that this was a very deep draft and it would make more sense for us to have quantity over quality. Siberia is in a position to win now, had a ton of picks and was looking for quality instead of quantity. In other words, we matched up perfectly. Siberia paid what we felt was a fair price and acquired Puljujarvi to play next to McDavid. We understand that we once again upset our fan base and will continue to offer full refunds and exchanges at the pro shop for all Puljujarvi merchandise. However, we are thrilled with the six quality players we were able to draft thanks to that trade.”

Draft recap - “This being our first draft, it was definitely a learning experience. Not only were we focused on selecting the right players for the future of our franchise but we were also learning about the other CCHL general managers and their drafting strategies. We hope that will help us in future drafts. It will take a few years to know how we did, but we are extremely optimistic.”

Czepiel on the draft - “One of the worst kept secrets was that Wahlstrom was our main target. We see him as a future first line wing with 40 plus goal potential. He was a no-brainer for us at pick number 4. Bode Wilde was the first player that we scouted back in February once we took over the franchise. Back then he was projected to be a top 10 pick, we were absolutely thrilled to get him at pick 30. Given my reputation, it should be of no surprise that I was able to swing a few deals during the draft. We added a current CCHL defenseman that should help our power play and projects to be a top 4 defenseman, along with a two highly touted goaltending prospects. Those deals will become official once the draft is complete and the trade freeze is lifted. As a rebuilding franchise, we didn’t have one specific need so we're looking to take the best available player with every pick. I believe we finished with a well-rounded draft class. Forwards: Wahlstrom, O’Brien, Eriksson, Karlsson, Lauko, Jenkins and Hutsko. Defensemen: Wilde, Tychonick, Utunen, Barteaux, and Demin. Goaltender: Vehvilainen. We are thrilled with every pick and have high expectations for each player. We truly believe that our draft was a success, and are just as excited by our picks at the end of our draft as our early selections. I really feel that we got some steals at the end with Toni Utunen and Dawson Barteaux.

Summer League play - “Summer league play is more than halfway through and I’ll be the first to admit that the team is performing much better then I thought possible. The entire roster is playing well but the play of Zibanejad and Halak has been unbelievable. Barring injuries, there is growing optimism around a possible run at a playoff berth.”

The Loons currently sit at 8-6-2 and head coach Craig Janney has the team playing with confidence. Yes, it is only the summer league but with each victory, the fan base is growing and becoming more invested in the team. Let’s just hope Czepiel doesn’t screw it up the way he has screwed up the Pirates - but we will leave that alone for now.