In a surprising move made today, the Victoria Royals announced they have traded prolific scorer Dante Hannoun to the Prince Albert Raiders.
With his time with the Royals, Hannoun played 286 career regular games over parts of the last six seasons, amassing 248 points (98g-150a) over his career. This season, the centre forward scored 36 points (19g+17a).
In this postseason, he played in 32 games and earned 8 goals and 15 assists for 23 points.
Hannoun sits in the top 10 of several Royals franchise categories, tying for fourth in all-time points, fourth in all-time assists, fifth in games played, and seventh for goals scored.
Overall, Hannoun sits as the fourth all-time in playoff scoring for the Royals.
“It is never an easy decision to trade a player who has been with your club since being drafted,” said Royals General Manager Cameron Hope in the announcement.
“Dante has been a tremendous player and person for our organization. We thank him for all he has done for our franchise and wish him success in Prince Albert.”
The Delta, BC product was originally drafted in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft by the Royals in the first round. He was 11th overall.
I challenge you pic.twitter.com/XVLoJp4i0t
— Dante Hannoun (@hannoun19) November 26, 2018
Trades
While Hannoun is heading to northern Saskatchewan, two forwards are making their way west to Victoria, Carson Miller and Kody McDonald.
A centre, 2000-born Miller of Yorkton, SK, was selected in the first round of the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, and was 21st overall.
This season, he collected 18 points (10g-8a) in 38 games for Prince Albert, and has a total of 20 goals and 27 assists for 47 points in 156 career regular season games.
Meanwhile, forward Kody McDonald returns to the BC Division after being traded to Prince Albert last season from the Prince George Cougars.
The Lethbridge, AB native has played 295 career WHL games split between the Raiders and the Cougars, and has amassed 174 points (81g-93a), and 501 minutes in penalties.
This season, the second round pick (24th overall) participated in 30 games, earning 18 points (6g-12a) in that period.
The Royals played their last home games of 2018 prior to the holidays in Victoria, to make way for the World Juniors.
The team returns to Victoria to battle the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday, January 9th, without Hannoun on the starting line.
