The Chilliwack Bruins, unable to trade three veterans, released them as training camp wrapped up Sunday. The Bruins also signed six players to WHL contracts.
D James Bettauer, 18, F Matt Ius, 19, and F Scott MacDonald, 18, were made available for trade and then released.
“As a group, we felt we needed to move in a different direction,” GM/head coach Marc Habscheid said in a press release. “By making this decision now, it gives each of them some time to decide what they want to do next.”
Bettauer, from Burnaby, B.C., had seven points and 21 penalty minutes in 68 games last season. MacDonald, from Surrey, B.C., had 12 points in 63 games.
Ius, from Pitt Meadows, B.C., began his WHL career with the Everett Silvertips and also made a stop last season with the Swift Current Broncos before joining the Bruins. He had six points in 28 games with Chilliwack.
Meanwhile, the Bruins signed F Travis Belhorad, F Matt Bissett, D Brett Cote, F Zane Jones, F Brandon Magee and D Turner Popoff.
Belhorad, a Coloradoan, is the first American player to sign with the Bruins, who are into their fourth WHL season. He was signed as a free agent.
Bissett, from Pitt Meadows, was the 143rd selection in the 2009 bantam draft. He had 112 points, including 63 goals, in 64 games with the bantam AAA Ridge Meadows Rustlers last season.
Cote, from Oakbank, Man., was taken 48th overall in the 2009 bantam draft. A 6-foot-0, 200-pounder, he played with the bantam AAA Springfield Ice Hawks.
Jones, a fifth-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft, had 24 points in 29 games with the Red Deer Rebels white team, a bantam AAA squad.
Magee was acquired with a fourth-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft. He totaled 74 points, including 37 goals, in 33 games with the bantam AAA South Side Athletic Club team in Edmonton, then added 19 points in 11 playoff games.
Popoff, a 2008 seventh-round pick, had 36 points and 72 penalty minutes in 64 games with the bantam AAA Richmond, B.C., Blues.
(Thanks to Small Thoughts at Large for the stats.)