Veteran Kamloops Blazers defenceman Austin Madaisky is moving on and moving up.

The 20-year-old blue-line stalwart has been assigned to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League. The Falcons are the farm club of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, with whom Madaisky signed a contract in April.

Madaisky will be in Springfield, Mass., in time for training camp, which begins on Sept. 28.

The club's AHL regular season begins on Oct. 13 with a home game against St. John's.

Although the Abbotsford Heat are an AHL member, the Heat will not be playing Springfield this season.

The AHL is a 30-team league split into two conferences — the Eastern and Western — stretching from Abbotsford to St. John's to Charlotte, N.C. to Houston, Tex.

Madaisky played in 70 games for the Blazers last season, tallying 13 goals (11 on the power play) and 37 assists for 50 points. He was plus-20 and accumulated 87 penalty minutes, fourth-highest on the roster.

The six-foot-three, 199-pound Surrey product  came to Kamloops from the Calgary Hitmen in the 2009-2010 season.

In four WHL seasons, he played 239 regular-season games, scoring 29 goals and adding 85 assists f or 114 points. He had 283 penalty minutes and was a career plus-8.

Madaisky played in 15 games through three post-seasons, including two playoff journeys with Kamloops, scoring three goals and adding 10 assists for 13 points.