On The Move Again

The player to the left is former Saskatchewan Huskies forward Zane Franklin who, after five games, was leading the ECHL's Reading Royals in scoring. You may have noticed that I used the word "was" in that previous statement regarding his scoring exploits for Reading, and that's for good reason. On October 30, the Reading Royals decided to trade their leading scorer across the country as Zane Franklin will now suit up for the Idaho Steelheads for the foreseeable future. Honestly, I can't understand why Franklin was dealt to Idaho by Reading, but the return of "future considerations" makes even less sense for the 1-3-1 club. However, no one has ever said that hockey makes sense, so Franklin will now skate for Idaho.

After writing a piece on Canadians that I've seen play powering the Royals this season just a few days ago, one of those players that I profiled gets dealt for some player to be named later, and the Idaho Steelheads immediately place Franklin on their reserve list, meaning that Franklin has been relegated to the ECHL pressbox for now. His five points in four games looked pretty good coming from Reading, but Idaho seems content with their current roster of 20 players.

In case you needed a bit of a better explanation on the ECHL reserve list, that list can have up to two players who are contracted but not on the injured reserve or on the active roster. The players under contract on the reserve list do not have their salaries count against the salary cap, and these players can be moved from the active roster to the reserve and vice versa at any point. As I said, it's like the ECHL pressbox.

There was no reason for Reading making this trade as far as I can tell, so I'm still confused as to why this happened. I checked the local newspaper, but the Reading Eagle didn't even mention Franklin being dealt to Idaho in any of their Royals recaps. The Royals' website says nothing about the trade while Idaho's website has a very high-level brief on the trade. As it stands, I can't find any reason for Reading to make this deal which, from an outsider's perspective, makes them worse rather than better.

If there is one benefit for Franklin, he's from Marwayne, Alberta which slightly north of Lloydminster. If he has friends and family from his hometown who want to come see him play, Boise is a mere 17-hour drive from Marwayne as opposed to the 34-hour drive to Reading, Pennsylvania. With Franklin having spent time in Lethbridge as the captain of the Hurricanes, he may have friends there who could make the 12-hour trip to cheer on Franklin. Either way, he's closer to home in Boise than he ever was in Reading, so that's a nice benefit of the trade.

In going to Idaho, Franklin joins a 3-1-0 team who are averaging 4.25 goals-per-game. While he may be on the reserve list for now, Franklin may fit into the Steelheads' offensive scheme nicely with his talents, and that should bode well for both the team and Franklin in piling up the points. Ryan Dmowski has five goals and three assists in those four games to lead Idaho in scoring with Colton Kehler sitting at six points thanks to his four goals. Those two have over half the goals for the Steelheads this season, so getting a playmaker like Franklin into their system will benefit those two goal scorers as well.

If Idaho was serious about making a run for the Kelly Cup this season, adding a player like Franklin doesn't hurt those chances. I don't know what Reading is thinking in making this deal, but they must have some sort of plan to make up the difference in dealing away their top scorer. Whatever the case may be, a good player is getting settled in Boise after a strong showing in the opening few games for Reading, and here's hoping Zane Franklin can get into the lineup and contribute to Steelheads' success this season!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!