Skip to content

Clippers and Vees pull off a three-player trade

Nanaimo gets Marcus Mitchell, Penticton gets David Silye and rights to Maxwell Crozier
12470336_web1_180628-NBU-hockey-clippers-vees-trade_1
Nanaimo Clippers forward David Silye looks for a scoring chance during a game last season at Frank Crane Arena. Silye was traded to the Penticton Vees over the weekend. NEWS BULLETIN file photo

The Nanaimo Clippers made another major trade over the weekend, swapping veterans with the Penticton Vees and including the rights to one of the league’s top defencemen.

The Clips acquired forward Marcus Mitchell from the Vees and in exchange, sent forward David Silye and the rights to blueliner Maxwell Crozier.

Mitchell totalled 12 goals and 22 points last season with the Vees and Salmon Arm Silverbacks and is a veteran of 146 B.C. Hockey League games. He had six goals and 11 points in 11 playoff games last spring.

“He’s a player I feel can bring the leadership we really need this year. He’s a player I’ve admired and he’s a really competitive guy,” said Darren Naylor, Clippers coach and general manager, in a press release.

RELATED: Clippers and Capitals make six-player trade

Silye was Nanaimo’s third-leading scorer last season with 10 goals and 42 points in 54 games. He has 106 BCHL games under his belt.

Crozier, a finalist for the BCHL’s Top Defenceman last season, with six goals and 30 points in 49 games played. He made a verbal commitment last week to play for Sioux Falls of the USHL, according the Clippers press release, and if he does join the Vees, his former team will receive further compensation in the deal.

“The addition of David Silye gives us stability through the middle,” Vees head coach and general manager Fred Harbinson said in a press release, adding that Crozier is an “elite two-way defenceman” coming off a strong rookie season.

“We were made aware prior to the transaction that Max was looking to go to the USHL … We are hopeful Max will take time to re-evaluate his decision, nobody would blame him now that we’ve obtained his rights. This would give him an opportunity to play for Team Canada at the World Junior A Challenge and follow in the footsteps of some of the outstanding defenceman we have developed in the past.”


: