D Stefan Elliott (Saskatoon, 2006-11) has signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Minsk (Belarus, KHL). Last season, with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL), he had one goal and seven assists in 20 games. He also had one assist in three games with the Ottawa Senators (NHL), and six goals and 14 assists in 44 games with the Belleville Senators (AHL).
The Kamloops Blazers have signed D Mats Lindgren, who was the seventh overall 
selection in the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft, to a WHL contract. . . . Lindgren, whose father, Mats, is a former NHLer, is from North Vancouver, B.C. Last season, he had four goals and 22 assists in 27 games with the bantam prep team at the Burnaby Winter Club. . . . Lindgren was the first of two first-round picks made by the Blazers in the 2019 bantam draft. With the 20th selection, they took F Connor Levis, who played for the bantam prep team at St. George’s School in Vancouver. . . . Lindgren and Levis, who are close friends, both had made verbal commitments to attend the U of Michigan and play for the Wolverines, starting with the 2022-23 season. . . .
The WHL’s teams now have signed 18 of the 22 first-round selections from the 2019 bantam draft.
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WHL 2019 FIRST-ROUNDERS
UNSIGNED:
3. Prince George — D Keaton Dowhaniuk
4. Prince George — F Koehn Ziemmer
20. Kamloops — F Connor Levis
21. Swift Current — D Tyson Jugnauth
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SIGNED:
1. Winnipeg — F Matthew Savoie
2. Winnipeg — F Conor Geekie
5. Brandon — F Nate Danielson
6. Brandon — F Tyson Zimmer
7. Kamloops — D Mats Lindgren
8. Seattle — F Jordan Gustafson
9. Saskatoon — F Brandon Lisowsky
10. Seattle — D Kevin Korchinski
11. Moose Jaw — D Denton Mateychuk
12. Medicine Hat — F Oasiz Wiesblatt
13. Calgary — D Grayden Siepmann
14. Swift Current — F Matthew Ward
15. Spokane — F Ben Thornton
16. Brandon — F Rylen Roersma
17. Regina — D Layton Feist
18. Edmonton — F Caleb Reimer
19. Victoria — D Jason Spizawka
22. Prince Albert — F Niall Crocker
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The Vancouver Giants have traded F Dawson Holt, 20, to the Regina Pats for Russian F 
Sergei Alkhimov, 17. . . . Vancouver also received a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2022 WHL bantam draft, with Regina getting a conditional seventh-rounder in the same draft. . . . Holt, from Saskatoon, was the eighth-overall selection in the 2014 WHL bantam draft. . . . He had six goals and 13 assists in 53 regular-season games with the Giants last season, then put up seven goals and nine assists in 22 playoff games. . . . In 200 career regular-season games with the Giants, he had 25 goals and 51 assists. . . . Alkhimov had 13 goals and 14 assists in 66 games with the Pats last season. He joins Slovakian F Milos Roman, 20, as imports on the Giants’ roster. Roman was a fourth-round selection by the Calgary Flames in the NHL’s 2018 draft. He has yet to sign a pro contract. However, because he is a 20-year-old 
drafted player, he is eligible to play professionally, which allows the Giants to use their first pick in Thursday’s CHL import draft. . . . Regina also will be using one selection as it looks for an import to join sophomore D Nikita Sedov, 18, who is from Russia, on its roster. . . .
Going by the last available rosters on the WHL website, the Giants now contains seven 20-year-olds — F Owen Hardy, F Jadon Joseph, F Brayden Watts, Roman, D Landon Fuller, D Dylan Plouffe and D Bailey Dhaliwal — and the Pats have three — Holt, F Austin Pratt and F Sebastian Streu. . . .
Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post explains right here why Regina general manager John Paddock made this trade, even though he was really reluctant to part with Alkhimov.
The Victoria Royals have acquired F River Fahey, 18, from the Winnipeg Ice for a 
conditional eighth-round selection in the WHL’s 2021 bantam draft. . . . Fahey is from Campbell River, B.C. . . . He was a fourth-round selection by the Red Deer Rebels in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . In 2017-18, Fahey had one goal and two assists in 26 games with the Rebels. Last season, he had one assist in 21 games with Red Deer, then added two goals and three assists in 24 games with the Ice.
JUST NOTES:
The Edmonton Oil Kings have released Belarusian F Andrei Pavlenko, 19, so will be looking for an import in Thursday’s draft. He had three goals and one assist in 20 games with the Oil Kings in 2017-18, then added nine goals and 17 assists in 58 games last season. . . . The lone import on Edmonton’s roster is Belarusian F Vladimir Alistrov, 18, who had 12 goals and 26 assists in 62 games last season. . . .
The Kamloops Blazers have released Finnish D Joonas Sillanpaa, 18, after just one season. The 6-foot-6, 185-pounder had one goal and four assists in 61 regular-season games last season. . . . The Blazers are bringing back Czech F Martin Lang for a second season. Lang, who will turn 18 on Sept. 15, had 11 goals and 22 assists in 65 regular-season games last season. . . .
F Nolan Foote of the Kelowna Rockets has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which selected him 27th overall in the NHL’s 2019 draft. He had 36 goals and 27 assists in 66 games last season while hampered by a wrist injury. In 168 regular-season games over three seasons, he has 68 goals and 70 assists. His brother, Cal, a defenceman who played with the Rockets, is in the Lightning’s organization after being drafted 14th overall in 2017. . . .
The WHL has said that it will release the complete 2019-20 regular-season schedule today. . . .
The midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos have added Tyson Dallman to their staff as an assistant coach. Dallman, from Prince Albert, played two seasons (2011-13) with the Tri-City Americans.
TAKING NOTE 