Just prior to Saturday’s game against Trail, the Cranbrook Bucks announced a trade with the Victoria Grizzlies.
Cranbrook acquired 2003-born defenseman Declan Ride from the Grizzlies in exchange for 2002-born forward Noah Leibl and future considerations.
In Ride, the Bucks are adding a 6’6” right-shot defenseman, who definitely checks a couple of boxes that the Bucks didn’t have previously. He will add some much-needed size and stability to their backend.
Cranbrook likely won’t depend on much offense from Ride, who put up one goal and three assists for four points in 21 games with Victoria this season.
In 2019-20, the Oakville, ON product played for his hometown Blades of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he didn’t score any goals but did contribute six assists in 42 contests. Ride was also with Oakville last season but didn’t play any games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cost for the big blue-liner was steep for the Bucks, as they sent their first-ever player and inaugural season co-leading goal scorer Leibl the other way.
The San Diego, CA product played in all 20 games for the Bucks during the 2020-21 Pod Season, tallying five goals and an assist for six points. Leibl added another goal and two assists in 13 games with the Bucks this season prior to the trade to Victoria.
His presence will surely be missed in Cranbrook, as Leibl was popular among his teammates and a fan favourite as well. He was also known for his presence in the community, as Leibl took home the Bucks Community Service Award last season.
In the team’s news release announcing the trade, Bucks head coach and general manager Ryan Donald shared his thoughts on Leibl’s departure from Cranbrook.
“Our organization wishes Noah well in the next phase of his hockey career. Noah will be greatly missed by his teammates and our community, as he was a steady presence in many of our community events.”
“While it is never easy to see a teammate go, we thank him for his time with the Cranbrook Bucks and helping us to lay the foundation for what our organization will become.”
Donald also gave a glimpse of what the Bucks are expecting from Ride going forward.
“We are excited to add Declan to our defensive group, and help him continue in his development towards his NCAA career. We felt it was an opportunity to add an experienced right-handed defenseman with size and puck-moving ability to our D corps, to complement our group well.”
Ride, who is committed to play NCAA Division I at the University of Miami (Ohio), will join the Bucks after the holiday break.
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