‘I think our team is as good after the trade deadline as before’ – GM Bruce Hamilton

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Babcock was a fifth-round bantam pick of the Rockets in 2019.

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“We got compensated for it,” Hamilton continued. “We now have recouped a lot of picks that we had to spend for the [2020] Memorial Cup, and we didn’t have a chance to recoup them the year after because of COVID, so now we have filled the bank again and now we are feeling good about ourselves on making some things happen over the next year to make our team better.”

Moving Babcock to Saskatoon and Ismail Abougouche to Edmonton marked the ninth and tenth trades the team has consummated since May.

“We helped ourselves out,” Hamilton said on making his team equally as good before the trade as after. “We certainly didn’t step backward at all. I would have been interested in getting another 18-year-old forward, but there wasn’t anything we were prepared to spend that was going to make us better than what we are already.”

Making three-team deals, which involved seven pieces, doesn’t happen often. How rare are they? The Kelowna Rockets completed a deal involving Prince George and Moose Jaw years ago, with current head coach Kris Mallette being a part of the transaction. Kevin Swanson, still the franchise leader in games and minutes played, went to Kelowna.

“Saskatoon was chasing hard for Babcock for three months,” Hamilton revealed. “I noted that I wanted a defenseman back, a year younger but a high-quality player. The [Blades] didn’t have that there, so I said the guy I want is in Edmonton. I am prepared to move a player there, so you are going to have to move some currency to make this happen.”

That defender is 18-year-old Carter Kowalyk, who provides both size and grit.

“He is a big man,” Hamilton pointed out that at 6’3 and 193 pounds, Kowalyk likes to hit people. “He played some games with Edmonton in their championship year. This summer he had a labrum injury (shoulder), so he is coming off that. He is fine and is back playing the last little while.

“He won’t be an offensive threat. He is going to defend which is what we need. He is a stay-at-home guy and will make people pay for standing in front of the net which I think is something we are lacking right now with the group we have right now.”

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, with 12 of them being made league-wide on Wednesday, Hamilton is looking forward to the final 30 games of the regular season, including two games in Prince George this weekend (104.7 The Lizard has both games starting at 6:35 pm) against the first place Cougars.

“I think our players have gotten better as the season has gone along,” Hamilton added. “We lost nine in a row and now we have fought back to give us a chance to be in the playoffs. We probably have a chance to move up and be a problem if we get going here.

“I like our team.”