Broncos trade Odgers to Vancouver

The Swift Current Broncos further trimmed their already smaller roster by sending forward Dakota Odgers to the Vancouver Giants for a 5th round 2015 WHL bantam draft pick.

"We have a lot of players that are alike," said Broncos Coach/GM Mark Lamb. "They command the same ice time. There's not enough ice time to go around. We want to do the best for our players and we want to find them a spot if they're not going to get the ice time here and they do have some value."

Odgers was a 2nd round pick of the Broncos in the 2011 bantam draft. He had 6 points in 73 regular season games with Swift Current.

"I really hope he goes there and plays well," Lamb said. "He's a hard player. He's a tough guy that really cares and has a lot of heart. Vancouver (is) a young and upcoming team. They're going through some tough times right now and I think he'll really help their team."

With this trade and the recent release of Luca Leone the Broncos are now down to twelve healthy forwards and seven defencemen on their roster. Lamb isn't concerned with their numbers or necessarily looking to add to the group.

"We've got (signed prospects) that are close by," he noted. "We've got (Brandan) Arnold and (Tyler) Adams. We've got (Mathew) Parsons in Prince Albert also. Jaydan Gordon we'd like to find more ice time for him. (Kristian) Ferletak hasn't played and we're trying to get to know him. The games that he has played he's played very well for us."

"We felt it was time to get Odgers going and get something back for him... it's just time to move on."

With prospects Lamb is comfortable leaving them with their midget or junior a teams so they can develop.

"I think it's better to have them playing all the time," he added. "If we need to go get them and get them in some games or we have to keep them there's nothing wrong with that either."

Odgers has had his share of ups and downs in his young career. He missed most of his bantam draft year to injury before getting picked by Swift Current. In his 16-year-old season the Broncos were ready to keep him in the WHL, but he chose to go back to midget for more ice time while being coached by his father and former NHLer Jeff Odgers.

Dakota ended up joining his brother John for an SJHL championship run in Yorkton at the end of that season. He went from that high to a shoulder injury that derailed the first half of his rookie season in the WHL.

Despite flashes of offence and a consistent display of heart the scoring hasn't come to him yet in his major junior career. Odgers has shown a willingness to drop the gloves and high level conditioning that he will bring with him to the Giants.

The trade indicates the Broncos were more comfortable Ferletak and Andreas Schumacher in the lineup night in and night out. They also haven't shied away from dressing Gordon as a seventh defenceman and running elevan forwards on some nights. That doesn't mean they won't explore the trade market.

"We're always looking," Lamb said. "We're looking to improve on our back end and forward. If there's something that we think will help us we're not afraid to do it. If it's a real high impact player that we think can better our team now and in the future we're all in on that. Just for a stop gap for a while... we have good players here and we're starting to gel right now."

Lamb also indicated his confidence in Ferletak and Schumacher in making this move. Both players have taken some time to adjust to the North American game in their rookie season as imports.

"I've seen a lot of growth," Lamb added. "You could see the last few games (Schumacher) has started to get up to speed. He's learning the league and learning the competitiveness of the league. That's something that these guys have to go through. Sometimes it takes a little longer for these guys. We're seeing in their practice habits and in their game that they're quality players who can help our team."

Odgers left with a thank you to fans on his Twitter account.

"Thank you so much to the (Swift Current Broncos) organization, fans and players for the amazing 2 years," he said. "Will never forget the city or the people."

Swift Current visits Prince Albert on Friday and Saskatoon on Saturday. You can hear those games on The Eagle 94.1 FM with our pre-game show at 6:30pm.