The Victoria Royals traded one Jared for another on Wednesday, shipping 1998-born forward Jared Dmytriw to the Red Deer Rebels for 1998-born defenceman Jared Freadrich.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the rotation of Jareds. We were up a couple of Jareds, we needed to shake it up a little,鈥� Royals general manager Cam Hope, said light-heartedly.
鈥淚 think it was a couple of things. One is we were definitely more experienced at forward. We had a lot more 19-year-old forwards than experienced defencemen so it made sense there,鈥� Hope said with a more serious tone. 鈥淚t also made sense for this player.
鈥淗e鈥檚 had to play behind guys like Tyler Soy and Matt Philips and [Regan] Nagy. He鈥檚 had a hard time showing what he can do as a top forward and I think he鈥檒l have a much better opportunity to do that in Red Deer,鈥� Hope added of Dmytriw, who produced 30 goals and 21 assists in his 181 regular-season games in Victoria.
There is also the factor of shoring up the back-end and with the possibility of Chaz Reddekopp not returning for his 20-year-old campaign, Hope needed some insurance on the blue line.
鈥淚t is up in the air. I鈥檓 fairly confident we鈥檒l get the others back, [Scott] Walford and [Tyler] Soy and [Matthew] Phillips, but Reddekopp is the wild card,鈥� said Hope. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a signed guy, a 20-year-old who can play in the American [Hockey] League. It does make you nervous about whether or not he鈥檚 going to be available to us.鈥�
Freadrich, of Camrose, Alta., is a five-foot-11, 174-pound rearguard who played in 64 games for the Rebels last season, tallying 30 points (including 24 assists) 鈥� Red Deer鈥檚 second-highest scoring blue-liner. He began the year in Regina and had one assist in three games with the Pats.
In 126 career Western Hockey League games, Freadrich totalled 11 goals and 40 assists for 51 points to go along with 77 penalty minutes. He鈥檚 also played 19 post-season games, accumulating five assists. He was originally drafted by Regina in the fourth round, 80th overall, at the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.
Dmytriw, meanwhile, was drafted by the Royals in the fourth round, 83rd overall in 2013.
The Royals also made the addition of former National Hockey League goaltender Dwayne (Rollie the Goalie) Roloson official as he joins the major-junior organization as a consultant.
Roloson 鈥� who led the Edmonton Oilers to a Stanley Cup final appearance back in 2006, but was injured in Game 1 vs. Carolina 鈥� has been on the ice with the Royals for a pair of weeks now.
鈥淗e kind of fell into our lap. He knows [Royals assistant coach] Doug Bodger a little bit. Rollie just moved to the area here about a year ago and it鈥檚 our good fortune that he reached out to us and said: 鈥業f you would like to me to help out, I鈥檓 all ears and let鈥檚 chat about it.鈥� He鈥檚 fit in really well,鈥� said Hope.
鈥淗e鈥檚 been with us through most of camp and for practices since then. It was a no-brainer for us. As soon as he offered to help, it was a no-brainer,鈥� stressed Hope.
鈥淩oloson will report to goaltending coach, Lynden Sammartino, on the goalie side, but at least he is here and can work with them. Lynden is based in Vancouver and he goes back and forth. Rollie is also a skill guy working with our other assistant coaches J.F. [Best] and Bodger, doing the skill work,鈥� said Hope.
Roloson, 47, also played with the Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning. He also served as a goaltending consultant with the Anaheim Ducks from 2013-16, helping John Gibson and Frederik Andersen to the NHL鈥檚 William M. Jennings award, which is handed out annually to the goalie tandem that allows the least amount of goals in the league.
Last season he was an assistant coach for both the Shawnigan Lake School Midget Varsity and Bantam Prep teams.
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