Americans Trade Grist to Blazers for Draft Picks

Kennewick, WA – Tri-City Americans Governor/General Manager Bob Tory announced today that the team has traded 19-year-old Sam Grist to the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft and a 5th round pick in the 2014 Draft.

After a whirlwind of moves, today’s trades brings Tri-City’s roster down to the WHL-mandated three overage player limit and includes forwards Justin Feser and Jesse Mychan and defenseman Drydn Dow.  The Americans’ roster now sits at 24 players, including 14 forwards, 8 defenseman and 2 goaltenders.

Grist, a 6’4 200-pound defenseman from N. Saanich, British Columbia, was originally listed by Tri-City in April of 2010 before joining the club full time at the start of the 2010-11 season.  Since then, Grist has gone on to appear in 119 WHL games, while totaling 3 goals, 15 points, 207 penalty minutes and a career plus-17 rating.  Prior to posting a season full of personal bests in 2011-12, Grist received a free agent invite to the Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp in 2011.

“With the emergence of some of our younger defensemen like (Wil) Tomchuk and (Brodie) Clowes, who is close to returning to practice, we had to get our numbers down on defense,” explained Tory.  “This move allows Sam to play on a good team, closer to home, while opening some ice time for our other players.”

Tory continued by saying that “Sam has been a great teammate and will be missed.  We wish him all the best in Kamloops.”

The Americans kick-off an 8-game road trip this week, as they make the long trek to Manitoba for a match-up with the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday, October 13.  Game time is 5:30 p.m. (PST) at Westman Place.  Fans can catch all the action live, via WHL Live, at the Americans’ home away from home, Kimo’s Sports Restaurant, in Richland.  The game will also air live on NewsTalk 870 AM, starting with the Sterling Bank Warm-up Show at 5:15 p.m. (PST).