Orban Shipped to Edmonton

The Vancouver Giants made a move on Thursday, sending blue liner Blake Orban to the Edmonton Oil Kings for a second round draft pick. The move helps free up the log-jam of bodies on the back end and will likely result in more opportunity and ice time for the likes of Tyler Morrison, Dmitry Osipov and Shaun Dosanjh.

Here's the release from the Giants:

The Vancouver Giants have traded defenceman Blake Orban to the Edmonton Oil Kings in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2014 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.

The 19-year old has a career-high 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in 38 games with the Giants this season.

"Blake has had a strong season but he was a player that wanted a change of scenery and we had to get our young guys in a regular rotation," said Giants' Executive Vice President and General Manager Scott Bonner. "Having eight defencemen wasn't fair to our group and we knew one would eventually go so we got the price we wanted and he'll help Edmonton try to win the Eastern Conference."

The Calgary native has played 149 regular season WHL games over four seasons, all as a Vancouver Giant.