Rybinski saga ends with Tigers trading for prospect, picks

By Ryan McCracken on January 5, 2019.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

Henrik Rybinski finally has a new home.

The 17-year-old forward requested to be traded from the Medicine Hat Tigers in early November and got his wish Friday by being sent to the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for prospect defenceman Aidan Brook, a second round bantam draft pick in 2019 and a third round selection in 2020.

Hat head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston says there was considerable demand for Rybinski, which allowed the Tigers to obtain a significant haul for the Vancouver product.

“Sometimes things work out certain ways. There was just enough interest in teams involved that we were able to get that return. It is, to me, a fairly significant return,” said Clouston. “We’re really excited about Aidan.He’s a good player, he’s a big, strong young man.”

Clouston added the Tigers will be able to choose the highest of Seattle’s two available second round picks— one of which came from the Regina Pats.

“They’ve got two picks and we will get the best one, which means right now we’re picking 25 if the standings stay the same. That’s a real early pick. It’s close to a first-round pick. We also get the third next year, which is another nice asset,” he said. ‘To get those three pieces is a real plus.”

Rybinski and the Tigers agreed to pursue a trade after the 6-foot-1, 176-pound sophomore asked for top-six minutes as a centreman — a request the Tigers were unable to fulfil due to a wealth of talent down the middle.

“It was an unfortunate situation but it is a situation that does happen with a little more regularity, with lots of teams,” said Clouston. “It took a while. I know it took some time to get to this point and yet that was the amount of time that it had to take.”

Clouston added he’s thrilled to welcome Brook to Medicine Hat and sees a bright future for the defensively minded blueliner. The 15-year-old comes to the Gas City with an impressive hockey pedigree, and even direct ties to the Tigers. Brook’s older brother, Josh, just returned to the Moose Jaw Warriors after competing with Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship, while his father Dwayne spent parts of three seasons playing with the Medicine Hat Tigers between 1987 and 1989.

“Bobby (Fox, director of player personnel) has seen him play this year, our scouts really like him. He’s got some offence, but he’s a little bit more of a defensive defenceman,” said Clouston. “He’s made the Team Manitoba roster for the Canada Winter Games coming up next month in February, so he’s been recognized as a real good player in that province. There’s some potential there, for sure.”

While Brook is not eligible to fill a permanent role with the Tigers until next season, Clouston says he plans on bringing him into Medicine Hat to familiarize the 6-foot-2, 161-pound defenceman with his new team.

“We’ll have to work it out with his schedule — school is starting back up. But we’ll be working to find an opportune time to have his and his family come in and take a look, spend some time with us and then for sure get him back for orientation camp which is scheduled for early June,” said Clouston. “I don’t know what the time frame will be. The first stage here is just getting to know each other a little bit.”

The Tigers also parted ways with winger Dawson Heathcote in early December, however Clouston says he has been removed from the team’s 50-man roster and will not be traded in the coming days. Heathcote has been playing with his hometown junior B Nanaimo Buccaneers since leaving the Tigers.

“He’s available to teams, and teams would just have to add him right now,” said Clouston. “Basically when he went back, he was mostly leaning toward playing at home, playing in Nanaimo and committing to that for the season. That’s basically where it stayed. There’s the option there if somebody was interested, he could play at our level, yet I think he’s content to play at home.”

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