The Truro Bearcats have acquired 19-year-old forward Merle Putnam from the Pictou County Weeks Crushers for defenseman Drew MacKinnon, forward Lane Lochead, future considerations, and three conditional draft selections: 2023 2nd Round pick, 2023 5th Round pick, and a 2024 2nd Round pick.
Putnam, from Masstown, was drafted in the 2nd Round, 19th overall, by the South Shore Lumberjacks in the 2019 MHL Entry Draft. After spending the 2019-20 season with the Weeks U-18 Majors, Putnam was dealt to Pictou County. In his rookie season of 2020-21 in the MHL, he had six goals and nine assists for the Crushers and also played five games for the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. In 2020-21, Putnam was fifth on the team in scoring with twelve goals and seventeen assists.
Lochead was drafted by Truro in the 1st Round, 12th overall, in the 2021 MHL Entry Draft and played one game for the Bearcats during the 2021-22 regular season in addition to six games during the team’s run to the Canadian Tire Cup Final. MacKinnon was selected in the 5th Round, 75th overall, in the recent 2022 MHL Entry Draft.
The Bearcats thank Lochead for his play last season and welcome Merle Putnam to the team.