Rockets Acquire Veteran Blueliner; Release Wall
The Kelowna Rockets have acquired 20-year-old defenceman Zac Stebner from the Tri City Americans.
The Rockets acquired Stebner along with a 7th round bantam draft pick in 2011 in exchange for two picks in the annual WHL bantam draft: A fourth round pick in 2011 and an eighth rounder in 2012.
To clear roster space for Stebner, the Rockets were forced to release 20-year-old defenceman Brendon Wall.
“We lose a real solid player in Brendon Wall,” said Rockets president/general manager Bruce Hamilton. “Unfortunately we can only have three 20-year-olds. It wasn’t anything Brendon did. We had an opportunity to get a player that played in the league final last year and was a valuable player for Calgary.”
Stebner split time last season between the Kamloops Blazers and the Calgary Hitmen, joining the Hitmen for the team’s final 30 regular season games as well as 23 playoff games.
A 6-foot-3, right-handed defenceman, Stebner has played 233 career regular season WHL games and a further 27 in the playoffs.
“Zac was a player we originally tried to acquire from Calgary,” said Hamilton. “We think he will be a nice compliment to Tyson Barrie and the rest of the defensive group we have.”