Blaisdell traded to the Sudbury Wolves

By Sam Laskaris

SUDBURY – As it turns out Doug Blaisdell will not be playing his entire junior career with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers.
Blaisdell, a citzen of Oneida Nation of the Thames in southwestern Ontario, had spent the past four seasons with the Rangers.
And the 20-year-old overage defenceman also began the 2017-18 campaign with the Rangers. But on Tuesday morning Blaisdell was asked to report to the office of Kitchener’s general manager Mike McKenzie.
At the point Blaisdell was told he had been traded to the Sudbury Wolves in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 OHL Priority Selections draft.
“I honestly had no idea it was coming,” Blaisdell said. “I was told I’d be a big part of the (Kitchener) team this year. And I was playing big minutes.”
OHL squads are allowed to dress a maximum of three overagers (players who have already turned 20 before the season begins). Blaisdell was one of the three overagers the Rangers started the season with.
Though he had no indication he was going to be traded, Blaisdell said he realized something was up when he was summoned for an early-morning meeting with the Rangers’ GM.
“I don’t have any discipline problems and I abide by all the team rules,” he said. “I just had that gut feeling it wasn’t going to be good news. Any time the general manager tells you to come to his office at 8:30 in the morning chances are it’s not going to be good news.”
Blaisdell played 11 games for Kitchener this season.
“At camp they had told me they were looking for me to be a leader on the team,” he said. “They were really impressed with my play.”
But the Rangers’ brass was obviously looking to go in a new direction in terms of its overagers. The same day Blaisdell was traded away Kitchener acquired overage forward Kole Sherwood from the Flint Firebirds.
Though disappointed to leave the Rangers, Blaisdell, who is from the Michigan city of Dearborn, is welcoming the opportunity now to play in northern Ontario.
“Sudbury wanted me and I found out from my agent after they were even asking about me in the pre-season,” he said. “I think it will be good to have a new experience,” he said.
The Wolves were looking for some blueline help when they acquired Blaisdell, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, as they only had five healthy defencemen.
Blaisdell made his debut in a Wolves’ jersey on Wednesday night, helping the hometown Sudbury side double the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 4-2.
It certainly didn’t take Blaisdell long to make his way to Sudbury. After Tuesday’s morning meeting notifying him of the trade, he packed his belongings and had made his way to the northern Ontario city by 3 p.m. that same day.
Blaisdell is the second First Nations player to join the Wolves this season. Last month the Sudbury club acquired Dokis First Nation citizen Troy Lajeunesse in a trade with the Sarnia Sting.
Lajeunesse, a 20-year-old forward, spent his first three OHL seasons in Sarnia.
But this won’t be the first time Blaisdell and Lajeunesse are teammates. About eight years ago they had suited up for the same squad, the Team Ontario Stingrays, in various summer hockey tournaments.
While growing up Blaisdell and Lajeunesse had also played against each other in Little Native Hockey League tournaments.