Photo Credit : Richard Coburn

    The Bradford Bulls have had a busy off-season to date as General Manager Brandon Billie completed a trade with the New Tecumseth Civics and signed 10 players ahead of the league Draft May 12th.

   The trade between the Bulls and Civics saw Bradford trading the playing rights of Alex Egan back to the New Tecumseth Civics for a PDF and a draft pick. Egan was a member of the Bulls last season, but was loaned to the Civics days before the Christmas break for Civics Defenseman Jake Sterritt. Sterrit’s playing rights have returned to New Tecumseth for the 19/20 season.

   With the draft fast approaching the Bulls were looking to put some pieces in play to get a better idea of what their draft needs would be. The first piece to the puzzle was Re-signing former Bull, Roope Kalanti who was a big part of the Bulls success from 2016-2018. Following the Kalanti signing, GM Billie was able to Re-sign a handful of last season’s young prospects including Julian Favell, Charlie Lilly, Tyler Hayes, Chad Esperance, and Vince Amato. The young players will look to step into bigger roles this season and become high end JR players for years to come. The Bulls were able to add to the list by acquiring 3 more young prospects who will be announced shortly after the league draft on May 12th.

   The final big pre draft acquisition for the Bulls was the return of All-Star Defenseman Josh Labelle. Josh Labelle was acquired last season in a trade with the St George Ravens, sending goaltender Bennet Oxborough and a PDF the other way. Labelle would go on to have a career season offensively as well as being named to the 2019 GMHL All-Star Game.  In the final 30 minutes of the trade deadline the Bulls would eventually loan Josh to the Ville-Marie Pirates for their playoff run. Labelle and the Pirates would go on to defeat the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs in which was one of the most action packed tight series to watch. After defeating the Bulls in game 3 of the best of 3 series the Pirates would go on to dominate the playoffs and capture the 2019 Russell Cup. The Bulls are excited to have Josh back to lead the blue line and bring his championship experience with him.