Firebirds deal holdout goalie
Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have granted the trade request of Kyle Keyser and shipped the 1999 birth-year goalie to the Oshawa Generals.
In exchange, Flint receives a second-round pick at the 2017 OHL draft for Keyser, who posted a 4-10-0 record to go with a 4.42 goals against average and .877 save percentage with the Firebirds in 2015-2016.
Firebirds general manager George Burnett told HockeyNewsNorth.com that he hopes to use the second-round pick acquired from Oshawa to bring in a veteran player to Flint.
“We have accumulated quite a few extra draft picks now and the plan moving forward is trade them to make us a better team sooner than later,” Burnett acknowledged.
The reputable Flint GM added that moving Keyser wasn’t in the Firebirds plans for this season but the goalie’s request left Burnett with little choice but to make the trade.
“It’s not the perfect situation for us,” Burnett added, “but as I said to you earlier, the plan now is to use our extra draft picks to bring in players who can help us now.”