{"id":385641,"date":"2026-01-03T13:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385641\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T13:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:23:06","slug":"rockets-acquire-defenseman-keith-mcinnis-from-red-deer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385641\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets acquire defenseman Keith McInnis from Red Deer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rockets get a defenseman<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"Kelowna Rockets defenseman Keith McInnis (left) has been acquired from the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for forward Kalder Varga and future draft picks\" class=\"large_overlay\" limg=\"\/content\/2026\/1\/large\/screen_shot_2026-01-02_at_4.37.11_pm_p4255828.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/screen_shot_2026-01-02_at_4.37.11_pm_p4255828.jpg\" style=\"height:444px; width:640px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo: Contributed<\/p>\n<p>Kelowna Rockets defenseman Keith McInnis (left) has been acquired from the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for forward Kalder Varga and future draft picks<\/p>\n<p>The Kelowna Rockets have acquired 19-year-old defenseman Keith McInnisfrom the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for forward Kalder Varga, a third-round pick in 2028, and a sixth-round pick in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>McInnis, a six-foot-one, 196-pound left-shot defender from Red Deer, Alberta, has 20 points (6G, 14A) in 34 games this season with Red Deer.<\/p>\n<p>Known for his offensive skill and physical presence, he also played with the Brooks Bandits in the BCHL and spent time in the USHL with the Waterloo Black Hawks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a move that adds an important dimension to our group,\u201d said Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeith is a mobile, confident defenseman who can play both the left and right side on defense while creating offence and helping us transition the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Varga, 17, a 2023 WHL U.S. Priority Draft seventh overall pick, scored 11 points (8G, 3A) in 34 games this season with Kelowna.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKalder is a young player with lots of upside who has worked hard for our organization. We thank him for his contributions and wish him nothing but success with the Rebels,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rockets get a defenseman Photo: Contributed Kelowna Rockets defenseman Keith McInnis (left) has been acquired from the Red&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-385641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}