The Kelowna Rockets didn't have the most interesting trade deadline, but they did make two moves on the day.
Kelowna's first move involved releasing 20-year-old forward Lane Zablocki. Zablocki, who was acquired in a trade with the Victoria Royals earlier in the season, played 22 games with the Rockets where he collected four goals and eight assists.
The second move for the club was claiming 20-year-old defenceman Matt Barberis from the Vancouver Giants. Barberis was originally drafted 20th overall by the Giants at the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft. The Surrey B.C. product has notched 85 points in 168 career WHL games.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to release Lane,” said General Manager, Bruce Hamilton. “The way our hockey club is today, we had the chance to pick up a really skilled overage defenceman that will help us give our young guys more and more ice time."
"I think it’s important that Korczak, Steffler, Thomson, and Augustine get to play more and with one of the three overage defencemen all the time. They’ll get a chance to improve their game and play in situations that they don’t get to all the time. Barberis is a skilled, great skating player. He has had a tough year injury-wise, but he’s cleared to play, and we’re excited to get him into our lineup. He probably won’t play until next weekend.”
Barberis will get his first chance to play for the Rockets this weekend as the Rockets have back to back games against Prince George from the Honda Centre. Puck drop on Friday and Saturday is 7:00 p.m.
