LEWISTON – The Lewiston Maineiacs’ lineup remained intact on Monday as the deadline to trade players under 20-years-old passed. The team did make one move, but it did not affect any of the current players.
Lewiston traded goaltender Michael Chiasson, who was in camp last year but has not been up with the club since, to Rimouski. In return, Rimouski ceded its seventh-round pick in the 2006 QMJHL Entry Draft to the Maineiacs.
“He wasn’t here at all anyway,” said Maineiacs head coach and general manager Clem Jodoin. “(Rimouski) called me late last night and offered an 11th-round pick, and I said no. They called back at 11:45 p.m. and offered an eighth, and I called them back at 11:59 and said we’d do it for a seventh.”
The deal involves incentives, all of which benefit Lewiston. Should the 19-year-old Chiasson play for Rimouski this season, Rimouski would owe the Maineiacs, in addition to a seventh-round pick, a fifth-rounder in 2006. If Chiasson is with the Oceanic as a 20-year-old next year, the Oceanic would then owe Lewiston their fourth-round pick in 2007.
The Maineiacs were content with the rest of their roster and allowed the deadline to slip by without any more moves. Twenty-year-old players are allowed to be traded at any time.
Tuesday marks the beginning of the league’s 19-year-old “free agent” period. If teams have 19-year-olds on their lists who have not made the team, those players are at liberty to shop around for another club. Last year, Maxime Robert was cut from the Maineiacs and played for Acadie-Bathurst. This year, since Chiasson is no longer on the roster, the Maineiacs have just two players who qualify for that list: Pierre-Luc Faubert and Alex Berry. Faubert played as a 17-year-old in Lewiston.
The Maineiacs resume practices this morning, and will square off against the Saint John Sea Dogs in an exhibition game at the Colisee on Wednesday night.
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