Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Plymouth trades Armstrong for Ryder

The Plymouth Whalers announced today the acquisition of 19-year-old center Daniel Ryder from the Peterborough Petes in exchange for 18-year-old center-right wing John Armstrong.

Plymouth also traded 2007 third-round and sixth-round draft choices and a second-round draft choice in 2008 to Peterborough to complete the deal.

“Dan is a proven goal scorer in our league and last season’s playoff MVP,” Plymouth coach-GM Mike Vellucci said. “We’re excited to have him in our lineup. We’re sad to see John leave, because he is a good player and an excellent person who will be missed by everyone. But you have to give up quality to get quality.”

Ryder – who turns 20 Friday – is in his fourth season for Peterborough and has scored 111 goals with 164 assists for 275 points and 149 penalty minutes in 225 career games with the Petes. Ryder helped Peterborough win the OHL championship last season, scoring 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points in 19 playoffs games. Ryder was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award (pictured) as last season’s Most Valuable Player in the OHL Playoffs.

In all, Ryder has scored 24 goals with 19 assists for 43 points and 32 PIM’s in 33 playoffs game in his career with Peterborough. Ryder was selected in the first round (14th overall) by Peterborough in 2003 and was a third-round pick (74th) overall of the Calgary Flames in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft and signed with the Flames last December.

Armstrong was selected by the Whalers in the first round (13th overall) in 2004 and has scored 28 goals with 49 assists for 77 points in 151 regular season games for Plymouth. Armstrong was selected in the third round (87th overall) by Calgary in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

Photo courtesy Ontario Hockey League

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