PR - Saints

Saskatoon Saints Acquire Naslund from Division Rivals

Saints GM Geoffrey Young made an unexpected trade today with Bobcats GM Glenn Merkir. The teams second leading goal-scorer, Fredrik Sjostrom (18 goals), was sent to Brantford along with veteran centre Jason Arnott in exchange for veteran super star Markus Naslund and defenseman Thierry Nelson. The deal was somewhat surprising considering the Saints' relatively strong play so far this season. Currently sitting with the #2 Offence in the TFHL, the departure of Sjostrom could hurt their offensive output which took a while to gain momentum early on in the season.

The Saints had a light skate and team meeting in Saskatoon this afternoon, in preparation for tonight's game against the Melfort Mustangs. Following the practise, GM Young commented on his latest acquisitions: "In the long run this deal clearly helps an obvious defensive hole that we had. I've had my eye on Nelson ever since he was picked up by the once Saskatoon Ice. The former GM Mark Gaucher wouldn't part with him so when I got an offer from Glenn today, I felt this was a great opportunity to solidify our defence for the next 3-4 years at least. We've now got Baranka, Ballard, Rozakov, Nelson and Lashoff; all five of them are 24 or younger and in long-term contracts. Things are looking good, and with players like Vitaly Vishnevski playing great defensively - I think he has a league-high +23 currently - we are quite solid...Markus Naslund is a perennial point-a-game player, as well, and we liked what we saw last season after we picked him up at the draft from Derek Major. He was traded before because of our own salary problems but now we can finally give him the ice time he deserves." Markus Naslund: "I'm looking forward to playing again with some of the best young talent in the league...Chris (Higgins), Dan (Paille), Ilya (Kovalchuk), and of course lil' Lombardi, my former teammate and trade-mate from the Hurricanes! It's good to be back in Saskatoon and I hope I can finish my career in a Saints jersey...but I'd like at least one more championship ring first!"

The Saints face-off against the Melfort Mustangs in the first of three consecutive games between the #1 and #2 seated teams in the Hunter Division. Backup goalie Marc Cheverie will start again tonight after his solid play in the 8-1 win against the Bobcats. The 20-year old netminder has been impressive so far on Tuukka Rask's off-nights posting a 6-2-0 record with a .888 Save %.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix
January 9, 2008