With the clock ticking down on the trade deadline, the Prince George Cougars have added to the local content on their Western Hockey League protected list.
On Friday the Cougars sent 20-year-old left winger Chance Braid to the Kelowna Rockets for the rights to 17-year-old centre Brogan O'Brien of the Prince George Spruce Kings.
O'Brien, a native of Prince George, is in his second junior A season in the B.C. Hockey League. In 37 games for the Spruce Kings he has six goals and nine assists for 15 points and 22 penalty minutes.
"I've seen him in major midgets before he went to the Spruce Kings and I've seen him this year as well and he's got huge potential and a huge upside," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "He fits our need. He fits the birth years we're trying to build around and if we're going to move somebody from our roster we wanted to make sure we got a younger player."
Harkins said the six-foot-two, 195-pound O'Brien will not play for the Cougars this season and there's a good chance he will never suit up for the Cats (see other story).
Braid came to the Cougars June 2 in a trade from the Prince Albert Raiders along with 18-year-old forward Lance Yaremchuk in return for 19-year-old forward Jordan Tkatch and a sixth-rounder in the 2016 draft. Braid, a native of Chauvin, Alta., collected eight goals five assists and 42 penalty minutes in 35 games with the Cougars.
"Bruce [Rockets general manager Hamilton] inquired about him and it was a fair trade and it gives them the opportunity to use him and if they go deep in the playoffs," said Harkins. "Chance could maybe have the chance to win a Memorial Cup. We only play them one more time and that factored into it as well."
Thursday, in a swap of 19-year-old defencemen, the Cougars acquired Josh Connolly from the Kamloops Blazers for Marc McNulty. Later that day they signed 18-year-old goalie Patrick Gora of St. Albert, Alta., who had been playing in the AJHL for the Camrose Kodiaks. That left the Cougars with 26 players, one more than the maximum allowed after the roster deadline today at 11 a.m. PST. To reduce the roster to 25, one player had to be moved and the Cats elected to part with Braid.
While that opened up a roster spot for a 20-year-old, Harkins wasn't going out of his way to fill it in the remaining hours before the deadline.
"I'm very happy with the 25 players we have," said Harkins. 'If somebody wants to offer me something crazy I'd have to look at it, but at this point I'm done."
Gora posted some stingy statistics after winning the Kodiaks' starting job in net. In 24 games he compiled a 19-4-1-0 record with a 1.98 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and five shutouts.
"He's been a late bloomer who came through St. Albert's system and worked really hard to make a junior A team and putting up crazy numbers like he did just proves he's committed to becoming an elite-level hockey player," said Harkins. "It's all about playing time for kids and when you start to have that push from somebody around you it just makes you perform even better."
Gora joins a crowded crease, with 18-year-old Ty Edmonds and 16-year-old Tavin Grant remaining with the Cougars. Edmonds has played in 37 of the Cats' 41 games and retains the job as the starter. He started in goal Friday in Victoria against the Royals with Gora in the lineup as the backup. Harkins said the rookie Grant still figures prominently in the team's plans.
"Tavin is great and he's the future of our net," said Harkins.
"We're happy with Tavin's development and we just wanted to make sure that when we have a push to the playoffs we have some consistency and all three of them will get a chance to play."
