Greenville, SC—The Greenville Swamp Rabbits have made some roster moves in the last day after playing three games last week. Yesterday, they traded forward/left-wing Jake Smith to the Reading Royals in exchange for future considerations. Smith was an elite one-timing sniper on the Rabbits’ power play, but he unfortunately fell short when it came to scoring off the PP. With the additions of young rookies Austin Saint and Cole Donhauser, the 5’9 forward had competition for the roster spot, and unfortunately didn’t make the cut, as February 16 would be his last game played in navy-orange.
Today, the Rabbits have announced that they’ve signed another college rookie to their roster: Jonathan Yantsis. Yantsis, 24, played three seasons for Queens University as a right-wing forward, tallying up 72 points from 33 goals and 39 assists. He played 26 games this season and posted his highest point record of 18-19-37. His first recorded season would be in the 2020-21 season, but he would see zero action due to the Covid pandemic. Yantsis is 6’1, weighs in at 209 pounds. The Scarborough, Ontario native would begin his junior career in the notorious OHL for the Kitchener Rangers, as he would begin his inaugural season in 2016-2017. In total, he would play 214 games and tally up 149 points from 97 goals and 52 assists. During his 2018-2019 season, Yantsis would score his highest number of goals in his junior career of 50 after 68 games played. In his last season of 2019-20, he would end up scoring just 39 goals after playing 63 games.
