Jones trade announced

The details of the Seth Jones trade were finalized at the press conference tonight - Portland has sent Everett four players off their protected list - '94 defencemen Ben Betker and Reece Willcox (Portland's 2009 3rd round bantam pick), and '96 forwards Tyler Sandhu (Portland's 2011 2nd round bantam pick) and Mitch Skapski (Portland's 2011 4th round bantam pick). So a nice little haul of prospects which, assuming a few of them pan out, could be a very nice return for one season of Jones.

Betker signed with Portland earlier this season and got into one game. Sandhu did not play any games with Portland this year but he did sign with the Winterhawks, so those two guys are committed to the WHL.

Skapski and Willcox have not signed. Willcox is committed to Cornell University so obviously there is a chance Everett will never see him. They have a sales job to do on those two guys.

Fun note: Skapski (14th) and Sandhu (16th) were both in the top 20 scorers in the B.C. AAA midget league last year. In fact, both of them outpointed another, more famous 1996-born forward in that league: 2011 #1 overall bantam pick Jake Virtanen (Virtanen was 25th in scoring). Skapski was even on the same team as Virtanen.