Thunderbirds acquire Russell Maxwell from Lethbridge
Jan 9, 2014, 1:19 PM | Updated: 6:58 pm
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By Andrew Eide
With the WHL trade deadline 24 hours away, the Seattle Thunderbirds completed a trade Thursday afternoon that will land them Russell Maxwell from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. In exchange for the 19-year-old center, Seattle is sending Seth Swenson and Michal Holub along with a 2014 fourth-round Bantam Draft pick.
Maxwell is a center and has spent the last four seasons with the Hurricanes. Last year he tallied a career-best 22 goals and 55 points and has 56 career goals. So far this year he had 10 goals and 27 points in 42 games on a bad Lethbridge club. This will be the fourth player that has been traded to Seattle from the Hurricanes as Maxwell will join Adam Henry, Sam McKechnie and Jaimen Yakubowski, who were acquired earlier in the season.
Seattle will lose Swenson, which will free up another 20-year-old slot on the team. Swenson spent the last three seasons with the T-Birds after being picked up in a trade with the Portland Winterhawks in 2012. The forward has been a solid contributor, key penalty killer and seemingly popular player in the dressing room.
Holub left the Thunderbirds just before the holiday break as he did not feel he was getting enough playing time on a deep Seattle roster. He spent the last two seasons with the T-birds, appearing in 66 games and scoring eight points.
As mentioned, this move leaves the T-Birds with one over-aged player in Mitch Elliot. With still a full day left before the trade deadline it will be interesting to see if they make any further moves.
We will have further coverage of this trade as well as any others that break so be sure to check back to the blog as the trade deadline approaches.
Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.
