By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Hurricanes tweak roster ahead of weekend home and home against the Oil Kings

Sep 27, 2017 | 12:28 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The Lethbridge Hurricanes were busy on Wednesday, with three roster moves and a trade made in a couple of hours.

First, the team announced the signings of overage forward Jack Flaman and 1999-born forward Zach Cox from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

Flaman, an undrafted 20-year-old from Vibank, Saskatchewan, was a member of the Vancouver Giants for the past two seasons. Last season he recorded 15 goals and 7 assists to go along with 31 penalty minutes for the Giants.

Cox is an 18-year-old who was originally selected in the eighth round by the Regina Pats in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft. The 6’4″, 188-pound right-winger suited up in 58 games with the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League last season. He had 10 goals and 15 assists, as well as 45 penalty minutes.

Both Flaman and Cox are expected to play this weekend for the Hurricanes.

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Then the club announced a corresponding move, when they released 1999-born forward Connor Lyons.

The 18-year-old was undrafted in the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft, but was signed by Lethbridge in 2016. Lyon’s is a Lethbridge native, and played 10 regular season games with the Hurricanes last season, and posted one assist. He also skated in three post-season games last year.

Just after lunch time, the Hurricanes announced they had acquired 1997-born defenseman Tate Olson from the Prince George Cougars in exchange for a third round selection in the 2018 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.

Olson, 20, was originally drafted by the Cougars in the second round (24th overall) in the 2012 Bantam Draft. In his four-year WHL career, Olson played 252 regular season games and posted 107 points (23g-84a) to go along with a plus-12 rating and 236 penalty minutes.

In 67 games last year for Prince George, the left-handed defender had 7 goals and 19 assists.

Hurricanes General Manager Peter Anholt says Olson is one of the premier defenseman in the league.

“Any time you get a chance to add a guy like him you have the obligation to do that. I think coming out to the Eastern Conference will be a nice change for him,” Anholt continued. “Olson is certainly capable of playing the power play, he’s got a lot of attributes and we think he can be a real good player for us.”

Olson will be sidelined until the beginning of November after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery.

With the acquisition of Olson, the Hurricanes sit at 26 players including: 16 forwards, eight defenseman and two goaltenders.

Lethbridge is back in action this weekend when they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings in a home-and-home set.

Friday night’s game is in Edmonton, then the Hurricanes return home to the Enmax Centre on Saturday night and game time is 7 p.m.