org's softness quotient increasing by the day..
largely indifferent about the trade itself but who's gonna be protecting this embarrassment of riches in the A now? 2 fan favorite, high character guys gone in a matter of days..
Mayor says Boko was basically done a favor. No real future in LA/Ontario.
Prior to this season, the only thing I knew about Hults was from Mayors Manor et. al. So I was surprised to see how small he looked when I watched some Reign games. But he seemed steadier than guys like Durzi or any of the career minor leaguers.
When this guy is 25/26. years old he could find an everyday spot on an nhl lineup with a weak squad. Similar to Walker and Roy. Plus we just tossed Brickley, so right now guys like Gaunce and Phillips are the leftovers.
But this does make sense with guys like Spence, Grans, Durzi, Faber, Nousianan, and now Clarke in the pipeline over the next 2-3 years. So it’s clearing a log jam and getting some help at forward for the Reign. So yeah, total AHL deal all around.
Good point, our D prospects are definitely getting stronger and perhaps Hults is the odd man out. But I personally liked Hults more then Durzi, I think the same deal would have been done if Durzi was the player. No idea if the dudes we got back are any good but if Hults becomes a regular decent NHLer and we got two career minor leaguers that would really suck.
Durzi made real strides forward this year. His career is moving in the right direction. Hults has his fans here, but was never really a threat to make it to the NHL without taking a huge step forward, but he hasn't done so - he was a longshot who is running out of time quickly and hasn't capitalized on his chance.The only tangible difference between Hults and Durzi is that dumping Durzi at this point is losing face.
So they traded two guys who will probably never play regular shifts for two guys who will never play regular shifts.
This is the type of trade that if it's completed during the season, it doesn't even make the ticker.
AHL deal. Word is Imama was not going to be qualified. Hults was a disappointment defensively, but I'm surprised they moved him so quickly after he missed much of the season injured. Burke is an AHL veteran who can score coming off a disappointing season, so he'll be a good add as a veteran player for the young ONT team and can help offensively. I'm not sure Steenbergen will even be qualified, but if he is, a bottom six AHL player. If not, opens up another spot on the 50 man roster. Reign have re-signed Doty to handle the tough stuff, he's an AHL heavyweight that one of the toughest in the league. Probably will see more ice time this year.