North Bay Battalion Director of Hockey Operations Stan Butler is pleased with the state of his hockey team following the OHL trade deadline, which passed Wednesday.

The Troops made three trades of note, dealing veterans Brett McKenzie and Cam Dineen and picking up forwards Matthew Struthers and Jake Henderson, defenceman Braden Henderson and several draft picks.

Butler says they got younger on the blueline.

“By bringing in Henderson and trading Dineen we’re in a position with only three graduating defencemen. We didn’t have a ’99 centre ice man on our team and it was important to get that, which we accomplished with Struthers,” he says.

Butler likes his team down the stretch.

‘You can tell by our game on Sunday (a 6-3 win over London) we’ve developed a first line which is important in this league to have. We still think our defense is pretty good and we can develop Rose, Henderson and Maillhot for the future,” he says.

The Troops will host Owen Sound tonight.

It’s the first game in North Bay for former Battalion players McKenzie and Brady Lyle.

The Attack line-up also includes Daniil Vertiy.

Broadcast time tonight on Country 600 CKAT is 6:55 pm.

 

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