Rebuilding Saginaw Spirit prepping to move veteran goalie Jake Paterson

Jake Paterson was peddling away on a stationary bike in a basement corridor outside the visitor’s dressing room. It had only been minutes since the game ended and the 20-year-old had already put the loss in his rear view.

On this day, it was a 4-2 defeat for his Saginaw Spirit (5-7-1-0) against the Mississauga Steelheads. He made 41 saves and gave his team the type of performance you'd expect from a two-time member of Canada’s world junior team. Paterson was solid, anchoring a green defence corps which featured three 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old.

The Steelheads are far from an Eastern Conference juggernaut in the Ontario Hockey League – one game above .500 – so the loss by the Spirit was telling. The Detroit Red Wings returned Paterson, a third-round pick in 2012, to the Spirit in early October, since there was no room for him in the NHL team’s farm system.

The numbers were not in his favour.

“They have six goalies right now under contract so it was kind of a numbers game to send me back to junior,” said the 6-foot-1, 183-pound netminder after the game. “I kind of saw it coming. When you see the amount of goalies under contract – I think that was the only way it could have gone.”

“It’s good to have one last year here and hopefully have a good run.”

But don’t expect that run to come with Saginaw this season.

The trade speculation has been swirling since before Paterson was returned.This is a rebuilding year for the Spirit and general manager Jim Paliafito has made the decision to trade Paterson to a team willing to pay fair value for arguably the OHL’s best goaltender.

“We’re definitely committed to a rebuild and we’re going to stick to it,” Paliafito told Yahoo Sports on Sunday. “When the right situation comes to us and one that makes sense for Jake – to get on a team that can go the distance – then we need to do it and move him.

“He’s been great for our organization and I want to do right by him, so that’s important to us.”

And you can expect that deal to come sooner rather than later. A number of general managers were in attendance to see Saginaw’s three-game road trip through Peterborough, Oshawa and Mississauga over the weekend. Paliafito expects the discussions to intensify once teams get closer to the 20-game mark when fellow GMs have a better idea whether their clubs have the potential of taking a shot at the league title. One thing is for certain, Paliafito says he’s not going to drag the process out until the OHL’s Jan. 8 overage trade deadline.

“I’m not going to do that to Jake,” said the Spirit GM. “If we can make a deal that we think makes sense we would do it. We’re not going to hold on to January to selfishly better our record. We understand where we are as an organization right now. It’s tough, but it’s about the future.”

Recently Paliafito traded defenceman Brandon Prophet, 18, to the Barrie Colts for two third-round picks in the OHL draft. As a result, the GM said he’s looking for young players rather than acquiring more draft picks in return for Paterson.

“We just want to get young players back that will be age appropriate for us,” said Paliafito. “Pick wise, I don’t mind doing something with some picks, but we’re really looking for quality players and we’re not worried about quantity. We need to get the best available young player we can.”

At present, Paterson (3-4) is only two wins away from setting a franchise record for career victories with the Spirit, just behind former Saginaw netminder Ryan Daniels (74). It would be a shame for Paterson to leave Saginaw, a place he’s called home since the 2010-11 season, before getting his name in the team’s record book. It’ll also be tough for the youngsters on the team – particularly the defencemen – to play without the security of having an experienced goaltender supporting them.

“For us selfishly, early, it’s good for us because it will give our young guys on the team some confidence and allow them to have some success,” said Paliafito. “There will come a point where we need to move forward and it will be an opportunity for Jake to move forward.”

In the meantime, Paterson is still focused on winning as many games as he can with the Spirit. He concedes, however, he too has heard the buzz surrounding his impending departure.

“I’ve heard rumours myself, but there’s not much I can do,” he said. “I just have to wait and see what happens.”

Sunaya Sapurji is the Junior Hockey Editor at Yahoo! Sports.
Email: sunaya@yahoo-inc.com | Twitter @Sunayas