Wolves add Blues prospect
Sudbury Wolves and Owen Sound Attack have finalized an Ontario Hockey League trade that features two veteran forwards who are also National Hockey League draft picks.
The Wolves have shipped overage forward Matt Schmalz to the Attack in exchange for hard-nosed, 19-year old forward Liam Dunda. The teams also exchanged conditional draft picks.
Both players have size as Schmalz is 6-foot-6 and Dunda is 6-foot-4.
Schmalz is an NHL draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings and Dunda is a St. Louis Blues prospect.
Schmalz scored 24 goals for Sudbury in 2014-2015 but tallied just nine times in 2015-2016.
Never a big goal-scorer through three previous OHL seasons, Dunda scored a career-high seven times last season.
Wolves general manager Barclay Branch sees the acquisition of Dunda as an upgrade.
“Liam is an NHL draft pick, he’s highly motivated and he’s got experience and by all accounts, he has significant leadership qualities,” Branch told Postmedia. “We feel he upgrades our forward group.”
Branch also feels as though Dunda can score more than he has.
“First and foremost, the thing that strikes you about him is he’s a physical specimen,” Branch said. “When you drill down a little bit on him as a player, he showed in minor midget he has some touch. With the right opportunity, I think he’s going to show that more than he has in the OHL. We feel there’s some significant upside there.”