Americans Acquire Castro From 'Canes

[Stay-Puft]

http://www.amshockey.com/news/article.src?ID=3554

September 27, 2009

Dan Mulhausen Tri-City Americans


Photo courtesy of the Lethbridge Hurricanes
KENNEWICK, WA - Tri-City Americans Governor/General Manager Bob Tory announced today that the team acquired 17-year-old defenseman Cody Castro from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a 6th round pick in the 2010 Bantam Draft. The move puts Tri-City's roster at 27 (14 forwards, 10 defensemen and 3 goaltenders).

Castro has played in three of Lethbridge's four games this season, going scoreless with a minus-1 rating and two penalty minutes. Last year, he appeared in 49 games during his rookie WHL season with the Hurricanes, notching a goal and two assists with a minus-6 rating and 65 penalty minutes. The 6'3 215 lb native of Peoria, AZ was selected by Lethbridge in the 11th round (229th overall) of the 2007 Bantam Draft.

[Stay-Puft]

This trade doesn't make much sense to me. Unless there's a d-man or 2 going as part of another trade. We've only kept 7, maybe 8, d-men for the last couple of years. Now we have 10. Someone's either being reassigned and/or moving elsewhere is how I view this.

Any thoughts?

[LifelongChiefsFan]

Bob never has been one to shy away from a trade has he. It wouldn't shock me at all if the Ams are looking to bring someone in. Whether or not it's a goalie or a forward I can't say. To be perfectly honest I think Tri should stick with the 2 goalies they have and develop both of them this season, all assuming the Russian kid doesn't show. It's not looking good, but you never know. Owsley and Martyniuk are two very skilled players who just haven't really gotten a shot yet.

I haven't seen nearly as many Chiefs/Ams games as I would've liked over the last few seasons, but the Ams team I saw on Saturday was the worst I've seen since the 2005-06 version. Now it was only one game, so I'm not trying to imply that this year's Tri-City team is bad and won't amount to anything. But they didn't look good on Saturday. Tri-City is still a very fast team, but they are a small team. For pretty much the entire night, whenever a Chief and an American were battling in the corners or along the boards, the Spokane player would be able to knock the Tri player off the puck. The Ams were never really able to cycle or create a whole lot of sustained pressure in the Chiefs' zone. Castro helps bring in some size, but he's only one player. If Bob brings in a big power forward, the 2 bigger bodies would help immensely.

But a lot of this is speculation on my part, based on just one game. Obviously it's still way too early to tell how things will go. I think the Oct 3rd game will be a good indication of where the Americans stand though. Spokane generally has trouble playing in Kennewick no matter what season it is. If Spokane goes into the Toyota Center and dominates like they did for the final 2 periods on Saturday it might be cause for concern. If the Ams take care of business, then there probably isn't too much to worry about. JMO, take it for what it's worth. :)

[Redwic]

This trade is bizarre, in my opinion.

The Tri-City Americans currently need:

#1: A true #1 goaltender. If the Russian goaltender does not show up, then why won't the team pickup a goaltender like Rowat? He's not the greatest, but I think he's better than either Owsley or Martyniuk.

#2: Power Forward or top-scoring Forward.
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These seem to be the missing pieces keeping the Tri-City Americans from being a top team in the league.