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17 October 2006
Our new assistant GM, Al Lalonde, identified the need to upgrade our centre position as our #1 roster priority. With that in mind, I made two trades that significantly improved our roster.
On the 9th, we sent winger Paul-André Dirk, a draft pick, and the rights to two players on our reserve list to Belleville for Zenith Cross. Zenith is 17, can play both centre and right wing well, and has a scorer's touch. He is also a very good defensive forward. Zenith has been identified as a possible first round pick in the 2007 NHL draft.
A week later, we picked up centre Shawn Stevens from Sault Ste. Marie. Shawn had a goal and 11 assists in 11 games with the Greyhounds. He's 18 and, as his stats indicate, he's an extremely creative playmaker. Like Z, he is very solid in his own end.
Shawn's acquisition will give us the ability to put together a second scoring line; he'll center one, and Kris Keating the other. Zenith will be a perfect fit on our third line, and he'll make it a little more dangerous offensively. We can use both our new guys on the special teams, too.
I'm still shopping for a defenceman, but if I don't find one I really like, I won't make a trade for the sake of making one.
After 12 games, we're 7-4-1, and our 15 points have us 2 up on Oshawa in the Eastern Division race.
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