For a team that didn’t make a move until there was less than 24 hours to the W-H-L’s Trade Deadline, the Saskatoon Blades ended up making four deals…two of Thursday and two more on Friday.
After dealing away veteran centre Eric Florchuk and sophomore defenceman Majid Kaddoura in separate transactions Thursday that brought them 18-year-old blueliner Rhett Rhinehart and 18-year-old centre Evan Patrician, the Bridge City Bunch found themselves in need of more moves Friday. That’s because 18-year-old winger Kjell Kjemhus informed the Blue and Gold that he was retiring. So the Blades went out and picked up 19-year-old forward Caiden Daley from Regina for a sixth round choice in 2021. The finale, completed just before the 4 o’clock Friday deadline, saw the Bridge City Bunch send 18-year-old Czech centre Matej Toman, the rights to unsigned 2004-born prospect Cale Ashcroft and a sixth round draft pick in 2022 to Swift Current for 19-year-old Slovakian forward Martin Fasko-Rudas, whom the Broncos had picked up earlier in the day in a swap with Everett. The moves leave Saskatoon with 23 players…14 forwards, seven defencemen and two goalies for the rest of the campaign. Following are the news releases of the two Friday trades from the Blades…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saskatoon, SK – The Saskatoon Blades have acquired 2000-born forward Caiden Daley from the Regina Pats in exchange for a 2021 6th round draft pick.
Daley, a native of Winnipeg, was drafted by the Brandon Wheat Kings with the 22nd overall selection at the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. The 19-year-old winger has played in 237 regular season games, scoring 20 goals and adding 46 assists for 66 points. Additionally, Daley has 15 games of playoff experience with the Wheat Kings.
The 6’1″, 178-pound Daley was an assistant captain for Team Canada Red at the 2016 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, playing under then assistant coaches Mitch Love & Ryan Marsh.
The 6th round pick in 2021 going to the Regina Pats was originally acquired by the Blades in the trade that sent Cyle McNabb to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saskatoon, SK – The Saskatoon Blades have acquired 2000-born Slovakian import forward Martin Fasko-Rudas from the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for Czech import forward Matej Toman, the rights to unsigned 2004-born prospect Cale Ashcroft and a 6th round draft pick in 2022.
Martin Fask0-Rudas, who was acquired by the Broncos from the Everett Silvertips earlier today, hails from Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. The 19-year-old forward has played in 147 Western Hockey League games, notching 25 goals and 29 assists for 54 points. He was selected at 58th overall by the Silvertips in the 2017 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft. Fasko-Rudas has just returned from the 2020 World Junior Championships where he scored once and added an assist in five games played.
Blades’ Head Coach Mitch Love previously coached Fasko-Rudas as an assistant Coach for the Silvertips’ during the 2017-18 season. That year, the Silvertips went all the way to the WHL Championship series, with Fasko-Rudas playing in 20 games and scoring five goals with three assists during in that span. Last year he played an additional 10 playoff games for Everett, scoring four goals and adding five assists.
With the addition of Fasko-Rudas prior to the deadline, the Blades’ roster is now settled at 14 forwards, seven defencemen and three goaltenders.
Fasko-Rudas is expected to arrive in Saskatoon tomorrow.
