MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks have made a major investment in their future by trading three of the team’s top players for one promising youngster and several draft picks that will bring more young talent next season and beyond.

At the same time, the Jacks say they still have plenty of talent on their roster to remain competitive this season, and plan on continuing to battle for a playoff spot in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.

The Lumberjacks made three major personnel moves over the past two days, trading talented veterans Jake Richard, Owen Mehlenbacher and Tyler Dunbar to three Western Conference teams.

Richard, the Jacks’ leading scorer this season, was sent to the Tri-City Storm in exchange for three 2023 draft picks and future considerations.

Mehlenbacher, a third-year Lumberjack and the team captain, was sent to the Fargo Force in exchange for forward Ty Hendricks and future considerations.

Dunbar, a third-year defenseman, alternate captain and the Jacks’ assist leader, went to the Lincoln Stars in exchange for two 2023 draft picks and future considerations.

All three veterans played major roles for Muskegon this season.

Richard led the Lumberjacks in scoring and is 16^th in the USHL with 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points. He was selected in last summer’s National Hockey League draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

Mehlenbacher was third on the Jacks in scoring with 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points. He was drafted last summer by the Detroit Red Wings.

Dunbar was fifth on the Lumberjacks in scoring with three goals and 19 assists for 22 points.

All three players will exhaust their USHL eligibility after this season and will play college hockey in the fall.

The trades do not mean that the team has given up on making a run for the playoffs, according to Lumberjacks Coach Parker Burgess.

The Jacks say they have any number of talented younger players on the roster who will get more ice time with Richard, Mehlenbacher and Dunbar gone.

They believe those young players – like forwards like Sacha Boisvert, Mavei Gridin, Michael Callow and William Hughes, and defensemen Easton Young and Owen Keefe – can help them make the playoffs this season while accelerating their development for the future.

They also add Hendricks, the talented 17-year-old who came in the trade with Fargo, to that list of talented youth.

“The future for us is important, but we also took stock of the development of some younger guys and how far they have come along,” Burgess said. “When you have really good older players (like Richard, Mehlenbacher and Dunbar) who play a lot of minutes, it’s tough to get those younger players ice time.

“We needed to provide opportunities for those younger players.”

The three players may have remained key pieces in Muskegon’s plans this season if the team was doing well, but the Jacks have stalled on the ice in recent weeks.

After starting the season with a 12-10 win-loss record through Dec. 9, the Lumberjacks are 4-11 since then and in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, four points out of the sixth and final playoff spot.

Burgess, who replaced former coach Mike Hamilton in late December, says inconsistency has been the Jacks’ major problem this season.

“Earlier in the year, some of that inconsistency was camouflaged by winning,” Burgess said. “There were times when we were not playing real good hockey but were still winning some games. That kind of hid some of the bad habits that have crept up later in the year and have resulted in losses.”