The Carolina Hurricanes have traded forward prospect Jamieson Rees to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round pick.
Rees, 23, had just four assists and no goals in 37 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds and Charlotte Checkers of the AHL this season.
Over his career, the 2019 second-round pick had 29 goals and 84 points in 192 games over four seasons in the AHL.
He was a pest on the ice, accumulating 192 penalty minutes in those four seasons, but he had started to accumulate a bit of wear and tear already having had a couple of surgeries.
He's a high-energy player that can forecheck well, but so too can everyone else on the Canes.
Rees was simply put never going to crack the Hurricanes' roster. Too many players had leapfrogged him in development and he just didn't showcase enough to warrant a callup over anyone else.
Part of that isn't his fault, as his injuries often coincided with crucial development time, but he just wasn't able to pop off the page at any point.
Being a smaller player doesn't help him either as his offense just wasn't there enough to offset it.
The Canes in turn are able to recoup a bit of an asset and perhaps Rees can find a role in Ottawa. It's not easy to bounce around in different organizations that won't prioritize your development, so maybe a stable home will do him some good.