Local hockey fans who remember and follow the career of Watson native Dustin Tokarski may have to change team jerseys as of February 14.
The announcement came on Valentine's Day that Tokarski, who had been with the Tampa Bay organization since he was drafted in 2008, is headed to Montreal.
Tokarski was traded for fellow goaltender Cedrick Desjardins, who is returning to Tampa Bay, where he won his only two NHL appearances during the 2010-2011 season.
The 23-year-old Watson native has had a stellar career beginning in 2005-2006 when he and his Prince Albert Mintos teammates won the Telus Cup, Canada's midget hockey championship.
The following year, during his rookie season, he shared netminding duties in Spokane where he had a 13-11 record with two overtime losses and a 0.903 save percentage in 30 games with the Chiefs.
In 2007-2008, Tokarski was named most valuable player of the Western Hockey League Western Conference finals series against the Tri-City Americans. He later went on to be named the Memorial Cup MVP as the Chiefs were 4-0 and posted a 1.72 GAA and a 0.953 save percentage.
Tokarski was drafted in the fifth round by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2008 draft.
In 2009-2010, Tokarski had an outstanding season both as a Spokane Chief and as a member of the gold medal winning Team Canada at the 2009 WJC under-20 tournament.
Tokarski was in net for Canada's 5-1 gold medal win over Sweden. The Chiefs lost out in a classic Game 7 in the second round series against Vancouver.
In 2009, he suited up for the Norfolk Admirals and played there for three seasons, being called up to the Lighting twice in 2009-2010 and five times in the 2011-2012 seasons.
He began the 2012 season with the Syracuse Crunch and with this trade is now a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs.
