Avalanche make a trio of trades

Jan. 5, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - While most of his players have been taking time to rest over the holiday break, Alaska Avalanche coach and general manager Keith Morris has been busy, working the phone lines.

Morris finalized a trio of deals this week, trading a pair of veterans and gaining depth on defense in return.

Alaska has sent captain Jeff Dimmen to St. Louis in exchange for a pair of players, Morris said this week.

Forward Jesse Bryant has also been traded to Southern Minnesota for future considerations.

As the Avalanche skated into the break, it became evident to Morris that Alaska was in dire need of depth on the defensive end of the ice.

&#8220We were playing with four defensmen down the stretch,” Morris said. &#8220We felt like we needed to upgrade that position.”

In order to do that, Alaska had to ship Dimmen, arguably the franchise's top blueliner in the last season-and-a-half.

&#8220Jeff's been an outstanding ambassador, both as a player and a leader, for us,” Morris said.

Morris also made the deal, in part, to accommodate Dimmen's wishes.

&#8220Jeff and I had a long talk before the break. He wanted to do something different for the last three months of his junior career,” Morris said.

Dimmen, who has been out of the lineup since tearing his hamstring against Bismarck on Nov. 16, has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Canisius hockey program next fall. Before his injury, Dimmen led the North American Hockey League in scoring among defensmen with 17 points.

Last year, Dimmen posted a team-high 20 assists.

The Colorado Springs, Colo., native now goes to a St. Louis franchise that is currently in first place of the South Division with a 25-6-2 record. The Bandits' 52 total points in the NAHL is second to only Mahoning Valley's 53.

To get Dimmen, St. Louis sent forward Shawn Skelly and defensmen Tyler Elbrecht to Alaska.

Morris promptly sent Skelly to Bismarck in exchange for another blueliner, Alex North.

&#8220Basically Jeff Dimmen was moved for two younger defensmen,” Morris said. &#8220It's a good move for our franchise.”

Dimmen is in his third and final year of junior hockey, while Elbrecht and North are both 18 years old.

Elbrecht and North also bring different styles to the team.

Elbrecht, a native of Edwardsville, Ill., is a big, stay at home defensman, standing at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds.

At 5-11 and 180 pounds, North is more of a fleet-footed blueliner, Morris said.

Elbrecht has two assists in 18 games, while North has a goal and eight assists in 17 games.

Morris also signed another defensman, Tyler Currier, this week. A native of Colorado, Currier skated with the Rocky Mountain Wranglers AAA Midget squad.

&#8220He's young, can skate and really competes,” Morris said.

Currier is also another 18-year-old defensman.

Like Dimmen, Bryant is also in his final season of junior hockey. Alaska shipped the Anchorage native and former Service High School standout to the Southern Minnesota Express. In return, Alaska receives a 2007 tender and future considerations, Morris said. A tender gives Alaska the opportunity to sign an additional prospect in the offseason.

The trade gives Bryant, who has not garnered a ton of interest from colleges, the chance to get more exposure.

&#8220We want to give Jesse the best opportunity as a 20-year-old,” Morris said. &#8220It gives him an opportunity to showcase his talents in Minnesota, and the chance to be looked at a lot in the next three months.”

The trade of Bryant opens up a spot among Alaska's top six forwards. That will allow players such as Brad McCabe and Krystian Dziubinski to see more ice time.

McCabe led the team with 11 goals when he injured his knee in early November. Morris said McCabe is expected to be back on the ice within the next few weeks.

Dziubinski is an emerging talent who played very well during the final stretch of the first half of the season, Morris said.

Morris has now made four deals since taking over as general manager in November. In three of those four trades Morris has acquired a defensman.

With the changes, Morris now has nine defensman at his disposal - Currier, Elbrecht, North, Clay Kasten, Josh Erhardt, JC Richardson, Todd Graham, Reed Rushing and Tully LaBelle-Hamer.

&#8220It gives us an opportunity to do different things,” Morris said.

Dimmen and Bryant served as two of Alaska's three captains. Morris said the Avalanche will wait until the entire team is back in the Valley before naming new captains.

The Avalanche players began to trickle back into the Valley late this week. Morris said he gave his players a break over the holidays. Most hail from Outside of Alaska and returned to the Lower 48 to see their families, Morris said.

The Avalanche are back on the ice next week, hosting North Iowa on Friday and Saturday.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.