By @MichaelCaples –

A lot of attention is on the present for the Firebirds as the OHL club approaches its first season in Flint, but today, the team’s GM made a move for the future.

The Firebirds traded Ryan McLeod – the team’s No. 3 overall pick in last April’s OHL Priority Selection – to the Mississauga Steel in exchange for eight draft picks.

“This is a very important day for the future of the Flint Firebirds,” said Firebirdsgeneral manager Terry Christensen in a release. “We are now in a position to build our hockey club through the draft and as well, we have an inventory of high draft picks to make a trade if needed.”

McLeod, who did not report to the Firebirds’ training camp (per TSN’s Darren Dreger), now joins his older brother, Michael, in Mississauga.

In the team release, the Firebirds did not release what draft picks they had received in the trade.