Boyer traded, other moves

The Jeremy Boyer trade holdout is over....the Thunderbirds have traded him to the Saskatoon Blades for 15 year old forward prospect Stefan Burzan (who was the Blades' 6th round pick in the 2009 bantam draft) and a 2010 3rd round pick.

I think Seattle got a good return for Boyer, although nothing that is going to help them this season. But getting a decent WHL-committed prospect and a 3rd round pick for a guy who was refusing to play for you (which never enhances a player's trade value) is a pretty good return. So, this is probably a good deal for both teams.

For the Blades, getting Boyer probably makes it easier for them to trade Walker Wintoneak, which is probably going to have to happen in order to resolve the team's overage problems.

As a Blades aside, I see Hampus Gustafsson is no longer listed on the Blades roster on either their official site or the WHL's site. So, has he been released perhaps?

Two other moves today - the Hurricanes took the first step towards resolving their four goaltender logjam by sending 18 year old veteran Michael Tadjdeh home. Tadjdeh, who I assume will be traded if there's any takers or released if there aren't, was the 'Canes backup goalie last year but was unable to hold onto his job this year after the team acquired Linden Rowat on the weekend. So the battle for the backup job in the windy city is now down to two 17 year olds, Finnish import Ville Kolppanen and the injured Brandon Anderson. I suspect Kolppanen keeps the job for now until Anderson is healthy, and then the team will have to choose between the two of them. One thing's for sure: Kolppanen's going to need better numbers than his current 7.49 GAA & .800 save percentage if he's going to keep the job.

And another veteran lost his job today too as the Broncos reassigned 19 year old defenceman Andrew Hewett back to Jr A in Manitoba. Hewett played 36 games for the Broncos last year but had been a healthy scratch every game so far this season.