The rebuilding of the Guelph Storm continued Saturday as they traded veteran defenceman Owen Lalonde to the Flint Firebirds.
In exchange for Lalonde, 19, the Storm received 17-year-old defenceman Michael Bianconi, two second round picks and conditional picks.
Lalonde came to the Storm from the Sudbury Wolves in 2017. He played 160 games in a Storm jersey, scoring nine goals and adding 64 asists.
Bianconi is a six-foot, 170-pound left shot who was originally selected by Flint in the third round of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection. Last season he had a goal and five assists in 50 games. This season the Toronto native has one assist in six games.
The picks coming Guelph's way with Bianconi are a second round pick in 2021 that originally belonged to Mississauga, FLint's second round pick in 2022, a conditional second round pick in 2024 that originally belonged to Hamilton and Flint's own fifth round pick in 2022. The conditional picks are dependent on Lalonde returning to the league for an overage season next year.
“Michael is an outstanding skater who has the ability to move the puck well and competes hard every night,” Storm general manager George Burnett said in a press release. “We expect him to play a big role in our club moving forward.
“This was a very difficult decision to make at this time,” Burnett said. “Owen is a valued member of our leadership group and played an important role in our championship run last spring.”
