The Sudbury Wolves announced the acquisition of defenceman Kyle Rhodes from the Guelph Storm on June 27 in exchange for a conditional fourth round draft pick in 2019.
“Kyle is a big, strong right-shot defenceman who skates well, moves the puck well, and is hard to play against. He is a great person and also a great teammate,” said Sudbury Wolves Vice President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Rob Papineau.
“He can be described as a steady stay at home shutdown defenceman who gets the job done. Kyle is a guy we had targeted moving into next season and we have been in discussions with Guelph for the past few weeks.”
The Virginia native was selected by the Storm in the sixth round of the 2013 OHL Priority Selection and has played the last three seasons with the club.
The 6-2, 207 pound defenceman played a total of 163 regular season games and picked up 23 points. Kyle is expected to bring his leadership to the young Wolves blueline.
“I am excited for the opportunity to join the Sudbury Wolves and can’t wait to meet my new teammates and the coaching staff,” said Rhodes. “It is awesome that I get to play in Sudbury and am looking forward to the season.”
“As a testament to his character, Kyle won the Leadership Award this past season for the Guelph Storm,” said Papineau. “Kyle is a great addition to our dressing room and comes to Sudbury as an overage player who brings a team first mentality to our club.”
Fans will get their first chance to see Kyle in action when he joins his new teammates on Sept. 1 at the Sudbury Arena for the opening of training camp.