DeKeyser and Legassic Leave Trail

(DeKeyser in a Plymouth Whalers jersey during an OHL try out)

The Trail Smoke Eaters got some bad news today. Last year's winner of the Smokies top defenceman award, Danny DeKeyser is leaving Trail to join Sioux City of the USHL. They picked DeKeyser in the 12th round of their draft. He decided to go to their camp to check things out, and after camp made the call to play there next season.

This is obviously a huge blow to the Smokies as DeKeyser was expected to be one of their top players for the 2009-10 season. We all know Danny is a good enough player to earn an NCAA scholarship no matter where he plays, so I would suspect this will be his last year of junior hockey regardless. I will have Smokies Coach and GM Jim Ingram on Overtime tonight to discuss Danny's decision and what that means to Trail. Tune in to Mountain FM between 6pm and 10pm tonight. That's 104.1 FM in Trail.

Needless to say I'll be cheering for the Penguins on Friday!

DeKeyser's departure isn't the only bad news the Smokies got today. Forward CJ Legassic has decided to start school in the fall and is (from what I understand) giving up his BCHL career. It's unfortunate that we won't get to see CJ continue to evolve into a real go to guy with the Smokies. We only really got a hint of what CJ could due because his season was derailed by injuries. I know if he had come back Legassic would've been one of the most annoying guys to play against in the league. He also had the potential to put up some serious points. From my perspective the bus is losing two fun, character guys.

Sometimes we have to remember that these young men are trying to do what's best for their future. As a fan or broadcaster we're focused on the team, but guys like CJ and Danny obviously are thinking about what these decisions mean their personal lives, their future and their education. Agree or disagree we certainly can't put ourselves in their shoes, so I defer to them and hope things turn out exactly as they hope they will.

Again we'll have more about this with Jim Ingram on Overtime tonight and I'll have more to say on the USHL subject in the future. For now I just want to say thanks to Danny and CJ for what they contributed to the team and to my show/broadcasts last year. They're both classy young men and deserve all the success in the world. I know we'll all miss them.