Raiders goaltender Boston Bilous has been moved to the Moose Jaw Warriors. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Keegan and Carter Show Now

Raiders ship off from Boston to Moose Jaw, move ahead in goal with Karki and Serhyenko

Jan 7, 2020 | 11:59 AM

The Prince Albert Raiders shipped off the Boston Bilous to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday morning for a fifth round pick in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and a seventh round pick in 2021. The Raiders acquired Bilous last season, on Jan. 10, from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a conditional sixth round pick.

That leaves the Raiders’ net to be occupied with newly acquired Keegan Karki, who was traded from the Everett Silvertips late on Friday night, and rookie Carter Serhyenko.

But as Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt said, he didn’t make the move for Karki necessarily to replace Bilous. But after Bilous was part of a three-headed goaltending monster in Edmonton, he didn’t want to go through that again in Prince Albert.

“Even understanding that three goalies isn’t always a great scenario, it is a workable one and I believe a manageable one. Throughout the weekend and getting into last night, indications from Boston and his agent were that he’s been part of a [three goalie situation] in Edmonton, and it wasn’t maybe right from him,” Hunt said. “So we tried to pursue something, and that came together relatively quickly with Moose Jaw in their position. It gives Boston a good opportunity in a tandem, and it for us, it shores up our goaltending as well.”

Although Karki was brought in initially to work alongside Bilous, Hunt is happy to move forward with him in the driver’s seat.

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“I’ve always said you always look to improve your team at any given time. Knowing that once you have three goalies, you always have calls and you always have requests… I really thought of it as an opportunity with the direction we were going as a group, I thought of [Karki] could be a great support, not even a support, maybe even a mentor,” he said. “He’s an older guy, he’s a bigger guy and he’s a little more mature, a little stronger, a little quicker and a lot bigger. I thought there were some compliments there for our group, but that being said, we’re very comfortable moving forward with the pair we have.”

When the Raiders acquired Karki late Friday, he travelled all the way from Prince George to Winnipeg to make it in time to join the Raiders as they were playing the ICE. Serhyenko was the scratch for both games on Saturday and Sunday, and there were some rumblings among Raider fans that maybe Serhyenko would be assigned to Junior A or Midget AAA. But now after the Bilous trade, it appears Serhyenko will be remaining with the club.

“I like Carter’s development. It’s hard for a goalie, especially in a backup role but it’s a big step from midget into our league. It is for a player, never mind a goaltender,” Hunt said. “I like the way he moves, I like his attitude, I like his approach, his work ethic on and off the ice. I think he hasn’t had the starts, but we were very clear up front that there’s potential to be a very good goaltender at the Western Hockey League level and beyond.”

The Raiders will take on the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW