OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys have made a recent massive trade with the Whitecourt Wolverines.
The Wolverines dealt defencemen Travis Baker and Nathan White along with forward Jayden Watson to the Grizzlys for Colby Browne, the rights to Nic DeGraves, currently playing in the USHL, along with a PDF.
Grizzlys assistant coach and assistant GM Pete de Graff says it wasn’t easy to part with Browne.
As of Thursday, the sniper from Evergreen Co. had racked up 16 points in 21 games. Last season he was second in team scoring, obtaining 36 points in 59 games.
However, it was a move the Grizzlys felt they had to make.
“The Grizzlys have depth up front but we felt it necessary to add experience to our relatively young back end,” de Graff wrote in an email.
“Travis Baker is a skilled puck moving 20-year-old defenceman who has lots of poise to his game and who we expect to log lots of minutes and be a potential power play quarterback.
“Nathan White is a big strong and physical stay-at-home defender who has some offensive upside and who we expect to make us tougher and harder to play against in our end.
Jayden Watson is a two-way forward who plays with skill and also plays a heavy and gritty game.
“We are excited to add these players to our lineup and we feel that this trade fills some voids we had in our lineup and makes us an improved team moving forward.”
The Grizzlys had a split decision last weekend. On Friday Nov. 11, they lost 5-4 to the Canucks in Calgary but stormed back to beat the Bulldogs 6-5 in Blackfalds on Saturday, Nov. 12.
