Patrik Bartosak is on board with the Los Angeles Kings’ decision to send him back to the Red Deer Rebels for one final year of major junior seasoning.
“I talked to him at noon today and he’s good with it,” Rebels general manager/head coach Brent Sutter said Wednesday. “He understands the decision. He knew all along that this was an option.”
The Kings selected the Canadian Hockey League netminder of the year in the fifth round of Sunday’s NHL entry draft and told Sutter Tuesday that Bartosak would be returning to the Rebels as a 20-year-old. The Kings have goaltenders under contract at each level of the organization and will wait a year to sign Bartosak.
“Patty said he knew this was an option, that it could happen,” said Sutter. “Now he knows for sure and he’s prepared to come back here in August.
“He’s getting ready to leave for L.A. for the Kings prospects camp. Then he’ll go home and come back here for camp in August.”
Rebels training camp runs Aug. 24-29 at the Centrium.
With Bartosak coming back and forward Dominik Volek already on the Red Deer roster, Sutter did not participate in Wednesday’s Canadian Hockey League import draft.
The Vancouver Giants had the first overall pick in the import draft and selected Russian defenceman Dmitry Osipov, who was the No. 1 pick in the recent Kontinental Hockey League draft. Osipov, according to his agent Rich Winters, will pass up the big bucks of the KHL to join the Giants next season.
l It appears that the Minnesota Wild may be making room for Rebels defenceman Mathew Dumba, the club’s first-round pick in the 2012 NHL entry draft.
The Wild might be convinced that Dumba, 19, is NHL-ready after dealing defenceman Justin Falk to the New York Rangers Sunday and placing rearguard Tom Gilbert on waivers Wednesday.