A moratorium on trades over the Christmas season began Dec. 17 and ends on Wednesday, but you can be guaranteed that with the trade deadline looming on Jan. 10 that cellphones were ringing over the Western Hockey League break.
鈥淚 found over the past years that鈥檚 the time where people are talking the most because there鈥檚 nothing you can do, so you have a date that you鈥檙e working towards to make some sort of change after the break,鈥� said Victoria Royals general manager Cam Hope.
The Royals鈥� GM has already been bust this month, pulling off an significant deal. Hope often beats the rush and pulls the trigger early and 2017-18 was no different as he sent Ryan Peckford to Moose Jaw for Noah Gregor with some draft picks to be swapped in the deal.
鈥淪ometimes I don鈥檛 do anything at all,鈥� Hope chuckled. 鈥淚鈥檓 like the guy at the high school dance, who says I ask everyone to dance and sometimes I don鈥檛 get anyone. One thing that I did learn in high school, though, is you better start early.鈥�
With Regan Nagy and Dante Hannoun out of the lineup due to injury and illness, respectively, the Royals have not been at full strength. Tyler Soy also left the last game before the break with an injury to be outlined once the team returns from the break.
鈥淲e鈥檒l see what happens, we鈥檙e down a couple guys right now so it鈥檚 hard to know exactly what we have because of injuries right now. We鈥檝e got a really good veteran team and it鈥檚 just a matter of seeing if there鈥檚 anything we can add to make this group even better. We鈥檒l see,鈥� he said.
Nagy鈥檚 out until at least the first week of January and Hannoun could be out for a few more weeks as well. As for Soy? That could be a costly shoulder injury.
Hope will have to make one move for sure when Nagy returns as he will be one 20-year-old over the limit as he added defenceman Kade Jensen earlier in the season.
鈥淓ventually, yeah,鈥� he said of having to deal with his over-age situation. 鈥淪ometimes these things take care of themselves, right. You can see around the league that guys are getting injured and people have to scramble with their 20s.鈥�
As for getting back to work on Wednesday at home at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the visiting Prince George Cougars in the first of back-to-back mid-week games, Hope said the break was a good one.
鈥淭his year is nice in that it鈥檚 a little bit longer break because of how the dates fell,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t does give guys a longer opportunity to get away for a full week, which is kind of rare. Even including the travel days, they should have a nice rest.鈥�
As for facing the Cougars in the annual return from Christmas, Hope said: 鈥淚 think Prince George likes that because they can bring all the guys back in through Vancouver and it saves wear and tear on everybody.鈥�
