The Guelph Storm made a move two hours before the OHL trade deadline Friday, acquiring 18-year-old import defenceman Martin Haš from the North Bay Battalion.
Haš, a 6-foot-4, 187-pound fifth round pick of the NHL's Washington Capitals, had just recently agreed to report to the Battalion but hadn't played a game there. He has been playing in Finland.
In exchange the Storm sends two conditional third round draft picks to North Bay. One of the picks is conditional on Haš playing a game in the league this season and one is conditional on him playing a game in the league next season.
One pick is a 2022 pick originally owned by the Saginaw Spirit and the other is in 2023 originally owned by the Mississauga Steelheads.
"I'm picking him up in about three hours and he's hopefully joining us on the swing," Storm general manager George Burnett said, adding that they would be joining the team on its trip to Ottawa tonight and Kingston Saturday, possibly playing in Kingston.
"We've talked about it for a little while and it came up during discussions during the World Junior tournament," Burnett said of how the deal came about.
Haš's agent is Allan Walsh.
The right-shot defenceman, who turns 19 next month, played for the Czech Republic at the recent World Junior Hockey Championships, recording three points in five games.
In 18 games with three different Finnish teams this season he had three goals and one assist. He has spent the past three seasons playing in Finland.
Haš joins Andei Bakanov as the team's two import players.
Burnett said Roman Bychkov, the Russian defenceman the Storm picked in last year's import draft who didn't report, remains their property.
North Bay selected Haš in the first round, 23rd overall, in th 2019 import draft.
Last summer Haš described his hockey journey to the Washington Capitals web site:
A center turned defenseman - Martin Has recounts his #CapsDevCamp experience after Caps traded up to draft him in the 5th round last month #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/K1xubkVYhd
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 17, 2019
