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Wolves cut Graaskamp before Thanksgiving road trip

The Sudbury Wolves head for a tough long weekend road swing with one less body, as they released veteran Charley Graaskamp. The Wisconsin native spent half of last season with the Wolves after coming over in a trade with the Sault Ste.
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The Sudbury Wolves released veteran Charley Graaskamp in advance of their long weekend road trip to Southern Ontario. Photo: Terry Wilson / OHL Images
The Sudbury Wolves head for a tough long weekend road swing with one less body, as they released veteran Charley Graaskamp.

The Wisconsin native spent half of last season with the Wolves after coming over in a trade with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Wolves General Manager Barlcay Branch said they wanted to make two cuts to the roster after the season began and this decision was made looking to the future.

“We as a staff established a plan going into this season and we’re going to stick by that plan. A big part of that is giving our young kids a really good opportunity moving forward to develop as we move this whole program in the right direction,” said Branch. “We feel based on what we watched, it was the best decision for our organization moving forward.”

Graaskamp was traded for two draft picks, a fourth-round pick in 2016 and a conditional pick in 2018, but tallied just 28 points in 74 career OHL games, 10 points in 34 with Sudbury.

For head coach David Matsos, the decision was understandable and had nothing to do with the character of the player.

“[Graaskamp's] a good kid, zero issues off the ice," he said. "The one thing with a guy like Charley, with a skill set that he has, that if you can’t crack our top six and get on the power play, you start wondering if it’s worth bringing in a '98 born like an Alan (Lyszczarczyk) or a (Brady) Pataki and give them the minutes rather than give Charley the third and fourth line minutes.

“I think a team that is going for it, is going to embrace a guy like Charley on their third line. We just feel at this time it’s better to develop a young guys minutes for the future.”

The roster move gets the Pack down to 23 players and there is a chance there could be one more cut.

“I think we’re probably one body still more than where we want to be," Branch said. "We’re going to go into this weekend and I think by the end of the weekend we will have a decision as whether or not we are going to carry 23 or cut it down.”

The move comes as the Wolves head out of town for Thanksgiving, a swing against three Western Conference teams.

“It’s always tougher playing against the West than it is playing against the East, in the sense you don’t know them near as well," said Matsos. "It’s up to Drake and myself to get everybody ready through videos and everything else.”

For the head coach, this may be the best time to get this road trip out of the way.

“I think you’re at a benefit just in the sense that teams are still getting a feel for each other. You would like to catch London early rather than the post January deadline when they’ve added some major pieces to take another run at it.”

Sudbury will take on London on Friday and have an off day Saturday before heading to Sarnia on Sunday and capping it all off in Kitchener on Monday.

The three teams have a combined record of 7-2-2-1, and the Wolves enter play 1-3.

This is the first road trip for the Wolves on the season, a first chance for the team to bond after four straight home games to open the year.

It also falls as the Blue Jays open their playoff run, so will the team be watching?

“Even for the people who don’t watch baseball, I know everybody is so involved now. I can say I’m guilty of it too," Matsos said. "It’s fun to watch what’s happening in Toronto right now. I’m sure if we get a chance maybe as a group, we’ll catch a game on TV together.”

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