Rats Move Penner & Quincey

The Minnesota Rink Rats announced this morning that they have traded away a couple of big names, Dustin Penner and Kyle Quincey to the Miami Hooligans in exchange for Devin Setoguchi and Emerson Etem. Setoguchi and Penner have both had disappointing seasons for their respective squads this year so both organizations are hoping a change of scenery will do them well. Kyle Quincey has been Minnesota's best defenseman this season with 3 goals and 21 assists through 43 games. Quincey also sports one of the better plus/minus's on the Rink Rats.

Minnesota Head Coach, Dan Bylsma stated that he was excited about the trade. "Setoguchi has a lot of speed and has a solid history of finding the back of the net. He's still only 23 years old so he can very easily turn this thing around. We're also very excited about bringing over Etem. We contacted him and his family last night and while he was sad to hear he had been traded, I think he's excited about his future in Minnesota. The kid has blazing speed and also knows how to find the back of the net; something that will surely help his future in the WHL. It's tough to lose Quincey, but we have a lot of hope for our defense the next few seasons. Guys like Kevin Shattenkirk, Cam Fowler and Jamie McBain will all be stepping up in the near future to go along with what we already have on dee in John-Michael Liles, Kyle Cumiskey, and Erik Johnson. I wouldn't be surprised if Jordan Leopold bounced back next season as well."

Dustin Penner, who was a big acquisition for the Rink Rats this offseason in a move that dealt Mike Cammalleri, didn't have the success with Minnesota that many had hoped for. After a solid preseason and showing some chemistry with David Krejci, Penner only has 8 goals and 7 assists in 35 games played this season. While this is a big trade for both clubs, Minnesota has stated they're still shopping other players namely, Chris Higgins, Peter Regin, Shane Hnidy, Greg deVries, Dustin Jeffrey, and have even discussed goaltender Jimmy Howard.