From a Komets' press release:
The Komets announced Monday that they have traded forward Mike Vaskivuo and defenseman Nik Pokulok to Elmira in exchange for forwards Matt Carter and Christian Ouellet.
Carter, 26, has appeared in 29 games with the Jackals this season and ranks fourth on Elmira with nine goals and 15 points to date. The left winger completed his four-year college career with the University of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) during 2011-12 leading P.E.I. with 20 assists and 38 points in 28 games while being named a Second Team All-CIS All-Star. Carter also made his pro debut in 2011-12 skating 11 ECHL games with Cincinnati. Last season the Mississauga, Ontario native shared the year with San Francisco, Las Vegas and Elmira. He finished his rookie season posting 12 assists and 15 points in 29 games with Elmira. Carter led Jackals rookies in the playoffs with seven points in six games. Carter comes to Fort Wayne on the heals of scoring points in six of his last nine games played (4 goals, 2 assists).
Ouellet, 22, (wuh-LET) has appeared in 19 games with Elmira this season (3g, 7a) after beginning the season skating four games with San Francisco of the ECHL. In 2011-12 the right winger complete his juniors career by splitting the season between Gatineau and Chicoutimi in the QMJHL where he registered career highs of 25 goals, 43 assists and 68 points. Last year Ouellet made his pro debut sharing the season with Gwinnett and San Francisco. The Alma, Quebec native has posted points in three of his last four games with Elmira (3a).
Vaskivuo, 27, started the season with Fort Wayne and scored five goals and 21 points in 23 games.
Comments
Matt Carter, 6-1, 224, he's 26
Komets will be his fifth team in three seasons
Christian Ouellet, 6-0, 195. He's 22
fourth team in two seasons
Hope they have some offense with them. We need goal scorers in the worst way. We dont need just the average players. We have enough of those guys.
Glad we finally got someone for Vaskivuo so we don't have to be shorthanded. Hopefully both of these guys are the physical and defensive presence this team needs along with their scoring capabilities.
Carter -19 Ouellet -10 No wonder Elmira wanted to dump them
So, if both of these players are from Canada, how will we sort out this whole visa issue? We've been told we're unable to trade for or call up anyone except American players due to visa paperwork being such an issue. Is is somehow different with these two players?
My guess is they've probably been working on this one for a while, but I will try to find out.
Also, note that out of Elmira's current roster there are only 4 guys with a positive +/- and all four of them are a +1.
OK, here's the answer. If a player is already in the ECHL, he has his P1 visa in place, and before a player can play in this league he has to have his visa WITHIN THE LEAGUE. If an ECHL team calls up a player from the SPHL, FHL or signs one from the CHL they have to get their P1 Visa with the ECHL team BEFORE they can play.
So, if an ECHL teams calls up or signs a player who was already in an ECHL training camp, they already have their P1 Visa with an ECHL team and they are good to go because they had to have the paperwork in order before they got to training camp.
When the Komets were in the CHL, they had 30 days from the time they acquired a player to get the Visa paperwork in order, but in the ECHL they have to get it done before a player can play.
Hope that helps.
pretty funny blake! we trade for a couple guys and people on here are upset already cause theyre not wayne gretzky! be glad we got something for the malcontent and we were aable to unload that 6'5 softie. now lets see who we get for lang.
Thank you chuckitt. Perfectly said.
Glad to hear from CatEyes. I'm with chuckitt on the naysayers. They may turn out to be correct but at least the K's got something. It's always a concern when you read about a player being with numerous teams in a short period of time. I'm not sure I'm with sgriffith on his examples of Klotz and Sterencky. I do get his point, however.
Elmira is horrible..it's no wonder those guys were that bad...we got 2 players for 2 guys who weren't playing...even though I liked pokuluk