Fresh off their gold-medal finish at the World Juniors, a pair of Chicago Blackhawks prospects will have new juniors teams to play for after being part of trades announced on Saturday.
First, Colton Dach was traded from the Kelowna Rockets to the Seattle Thunderbirds, making Seattle the official WHL bandwagon destination for Blackhawks fans.
TRADE: the @SeattleTbirds have added @NHLBlackhawks prospect and #WorldJuniors gold medalist Colton Dach in a Saturday deal with the @Kelowna_Rockets.
📰 | https://t.co/PE3WGW0blG pic.twitter.com/EJgNXihofs
— The WHL (@TheWHL) January 7, 2023
The trade of Dach means that there are now three Blackhawks prospects playing with the Thunderbirds. Kevin Korchinski, Chicago’s No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, started the season in Seattle while Nolan Allan, Chicago’s No. 32 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, joined the Thunderbirds in a November trade.
Additional good news on the Dach front emerged on Saturday afternoon in the tweet below from Ben Pope of the Sun-Times, providing updates on the injury that prematurely ended Dach’s time with Canada at the World Juniors.
A couple Colton Dach updates:
1) The ugly-looking shoulder injury he suffered in World Juniors is not expected to require surgery and he is expected to return this season. That’s surely a relief for the Blackhawks.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 7, 2023
Seattle has a 28-4-1-1 record in the WHL this season, sitting atop the US Division standings.
Elsewhere in the CHL, the Mississauga Steelheads traded Ethan del Mastro to the Sarnia Sting:
#TradeAlert🚨: Ethan Del Mastro and Luca Del Bel Belluz have become the newest members of #Stingnation following an exchange with the Mississauga Steelheads.
Full release here: https://t.co/WsfT9mk9iD#SwarmWarning🐝 pic.twitter.com/261yO07E6m
— Sarnia Sting (@StingHockey) January 7, 2023
At this year’s World Juniors, del Mastro quickly became one of the most-trusted blue-liners for Canada, skating higher and higher quantities of ice time as the tournament progressed. He’ll likely see plenty of ice time with the Sarnia Sting, which has a 17-12-4-2 record (40 points), good for third place in the OHL’s West Division.