One of the great success stories of last year's Estevan Bruins campaign came to a halt on Monday.
The team traded offensive defenceman Austin Yano to the Kindersley Klippers for defenceman Brett Blatz.
It's an exchange of flash and dash for size and grit.
It was a trade that shocked many, and some league observers are talking about Yano being such a dynamic offensive force and that the Bruins are crazy to trade him.
That was last year. We haven't seen that Yano this season.
As a rookie, Yano certainly had a lot of work to do to get better in his own end, but his offensive capability made up for it, and his ability to log tons of minutes alongside Tyler Kauk was a major boon to the club.
This year that production has dried up, with seven points in 23 games. Although Yano has taken the puck end-to-end a lot this year, that has more often resulted in chances the other way, rather than Bruin goals.
Yano was one of several players on this team who regressed, and it seems to me that there has been a lot of complacency in that dressing room this year.
Players who maybe didn't work hard enough in the off-season to step up their game. Players not taking the game seriously enough. Players who carry on as usual after a loss, and aren't taken to task for it because they worked hard and just couldn't put the puck in the net.
At some point that simply isn't good enough.
It's not good enough for a team that was expected to be a contender. It's not nearly good enough for fans who have seen this song and dance time after time after time. God knows they've supported the Bruins in just about every way possible. They deserve a winning team.
It costs a lot of money to run a junior hockey team, and in the age of social media and entitlement, it's getting harder and harder to find players who pour everything they have into the game and their team. Players who are here primarily for hockey, not for partying and girls.
Certainly that doesn't apply to everyone - on the Bruins or in general - but it's a big issue. And I believe it's a huge reason for the start this team has had.
Yano was a core player in the team's dressing room. He was well-liked, and seemed to be firmly entrenched here.
The trade was a complete surprise, and for that reason, it should send a message to the Bruins who are still here that they could be next unless things start to change.
There's very little urgency with this team right now, and for a club that has performed massively below expectations, that is disturbing.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at sports@estevanmercury.ca, on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at estevanmercury.ca/bruinsbanter.
