Erik Fleming is traded and Austin Frank is reassigned
Oct 26, 2011, 8:48 PM | Updated: Oct 27, 2011, 12:43 pm
Erik Fleming & Austin Frank
Today the Thunderbirds announced that D Erik Fleming,19 was traded to the Swift Current Broncos for future considerations in the 2012 Bantam draft (10th round pick according to the WHL press release). D Austin Frank,18 was reassigned to the Calgary Mustangs of the AJHL.
Fleming is a former first round pick (2007.. 16th overall) in the Bantam draft. He played for the Birds since he was 16 years old and had 156 games played. Unfortunately he never really developed into the player the Birds thought he would be when he was drafted. He ended up with two goals and 13 assists over his T-Bird career.
Fleming was injured for a good part of the season last year and after playing on opening night this season, he was once again placed on the injured list. Obviously the injuries didn’t help his cause especially since the Birds had 10 D-men on the roster before today’s moves. They now have eight. General Manager Russ Farwell did not have a comment at this time.
Frank had been a healthy scratch in several games leading up to his reassignment so that wasn’t a surprise.
This all means that D Evan Wardley is the only D-man that is currently on the injured list. D Kyle Verdino has one more game left on his two game suspension for a high hit in the game in Everett last Friday.