Sioux City Musketeers add Spagnuolo, Browning and Keane in trade spree

Sioux City loaded up on three new pieces in a single week, landing defenseman Zach Spagnuolo from the Chicago Steel, defenseman Danny Browning and goaltender Will Keane in a run of July trades that put the Musketeers’ roster plan in plain view.

The headline move came with real cost and clear intent. Sioux City sent a 2028 USHL Phase I sixth-round pick to Chicago for Spagnuolo, a 19-year-old defenseman from Allen, Texas, who skated in 31 USHL games for the Steel last season. That is the kind of swap that usually says more about a team’s internal timeline than its draft board: the Musketeers chose a player who can step in now over a pick that would not help for several more years.

The rest of the week widened the same theme. Browning gives Sioux City another defenseman, and the 2008-born Minnetonka, Minnesota, product arrives with a recent stop in the NAHL with the Bismarck Bobcats. Keane adds size and a different look in goal, with the 18-year-old from West Bloomfield, Michigan listed at 6-foot-4 and left-catching after coming over from the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Together, the three additions suggest the Musketeers wanted more bodies, more age spread and more competition at the two places summer roster building matters most: the blue line and the crease.

That mix fits where Sioux City stands after a run to the USHL Conference Semifinals in the 2025-26 playoffs before falling to Fargo. The Musketeers were already close enough to think about tightening details rather than overhauling the roster, and these deals point to a club trying to become harder to play against without waiting on long-term development. Spagnuolo brings the most USHL experience of the group, Browning adds another young defenseman with upside, and Keane gives the staff another netminder with pro-size measurements for junior hockey.

The timing matters, too. The 2026-27 USHL regular season begins at the Fall Classic in Chicago from September 16-20, 2026 and runs through April 3, 2027, leaving Sioux City with a clear runway to sort out roles before the games count. The Musketeers have already shown their hand: this summer is about building a deeper, younger, more competitive roster, one trade at a time.