The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins fulfilled their dispersal draft duties and sent a defenceman with two full years experience to the Humboldt Broncos.
Mark Edmands, 20, will head up their young defence as the team rebuilds from their bus crash in April that killed 14 members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team and its staff.
“Mark has been a loyal, hardworking member of the Bruins organization since being listed by the club on his 15th birthday,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood in a press release.
Originally from Regina and a midget AAA Pat Canadians teammate of current and former Bruins like Jake Heerspink, Arthur Miller, Jake Tesarowski, Turner Ripplinger and Curtis Meger, Edmands played a total of 108 games with the Bruins, scoring six goals and 25 assists for 31 points in 108 games, collecting 57 penalty minutes. He has 25 games of playoff experience from the previous two seasons, scoring two assists in those games.
“From day one we have been committed to fulfilling our responsibility to transferring a player who can be a difference maker in helping the Broncos to rebuild their on-ice product,” Lewgood said. “Their willingness to delay this move has ultimately benefitted all parties involved.”
The Bruins are expecting a deep and experienced blueline to break camp in a week and dealt from a position of strength. Earlier in the summer, most teams handed over one or two players to the Broncos when several of their players died in the bus crash in April on their way to a playoff game in Nipawin.
