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.