“Mikey was one of the top 10 players in the league and for fans, and myself, it was lousy we didn’t have a player right away for Mikey DiPietro,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said. That changed on Friday when the six-foot-four, 205-pound Afanasyev, who is expected to be a first-round pick in next week’s NHL Draft, committed to the Spitfires. “My game would translate to OHL,” said Afanasyev, who had 27 goals and 62 points in 58 games with Muskegon last season. I think he’s going to score a ton of goals next year.”While Afanasyev was one piece of the DiPietro deal, Rychel is also hoping to soon be able to lock up second-round pick Pasquale Zito. The feisty forward was acquired with one of the picks obtained in the DiPietro deal.

Source: National Post June 15, 2019 01:07 UTC