T-Birds pick up two in block-buster trade with Lethbridge
Oct 24, 2013, 6:08 PM | Updated: 7:15 pm
Riley Sheen will be chasing pucks for Lethbridge after Thursday’s trade from Seattle (photo Seattle Thunderbirds)
By Andrew Eide
Seattle Thunderbirds General Manager Russ Farwell on Thursday announced a block-buster trade involving four players. Seattle has acquired 19-year-old forwards Jaimen Yakubowski and Sam McKechnie from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for Riley Sheen, Carter Folk and a third round pick in the 2015 Bantam Draft.
Yakubowski and McKechnie were two of Lethbridge’s top scorers last year as Yakubowski potted 32 goals and 50 points. McKechnie chipped in 26 goals and 43 points for the Hurricanes. The point totals were good for second and third on the team in scoring and first and second in goal scoring.
The Hurricanes are off to a horrible start on the ice and turmoil off it. Both Yakubowski and McKechnie had requested trades from the club and elected to return home until a trade was made. The situation in Lethbridge appears to be a pretty negative one when two of your returning leading scorers want out at the same time. Neither player had been off to a great start to this year – each with one goal a piece.
In return the T-Birds are losing Sheen who is coming off his best week of the season and had three goals and eight points in 12 games with Seattle this year. He is the key piece going back to Lethbridge and Seattle will have to find someone to bring the energy and hard work that he brought every night. Folk had appeared in seven games for Seattle and had yet to register a point.
This is the second trade that Seattle and Lethbridge have consummated with each other. Seattle picked up defenseman Adam Henry two weeks ago in exchange for defenseman Griffin Foulk. After his first home game with Seattle Henry was all smiles to be with the T-Birds which may say a lot about the situation with the Hurricanes.
Tim Pigulski will have more analysis on this trade later on tonight so check back with us for that.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andyeide
