With all the early activity, the WHL trade deadline passed with little more than a fizzle on Saturday afternoon.
There were some big time buyers and surprising sellers, but now the rubber meets the ice, so to speak. Trades can look good on paper but it’s how they play out on the ice that matters.
Here’s a look at the notable moves and teams from the trade deadline:
Kelowna Rockets
The deadline champion Rockets scooped up two of the biggest fish out there. They landed Josh Morrissey from Prince Albert prior to the holiday break and then had Leon Draisaitl fall in their laps when the Edmonton Oilers seemingly dictated a trade from Prince Albert to Kelowna for the German prospect. Draisaitl has been as advertised—scoring in all three games he’s played with the Rockets so far.
Kelowna played its first game with both Draisaitl and Morrissey this past weekend against the Medicine Hat Tigers. It didn’t go as planned for the super team as the Tigers got a third period power-play goal from Markus Eisenschmid and would go on to win 5-3. Surely that was just an anomaly while the Rockets players learn to play with each other, right?
Medicine Hat Tigers on Twitter
Regina Pats
The Pats win the award for most-curious trade deadline strategy. John Paddock said he was going to move his 19-year-olds, and he wasn’t kidding. Despite being in the thick of the Eastern Conference race, the Pats moved Morgan Klimchuk, Kyle Burroughs, Dryden Hunt and Connor Gay. That’s three of their best offensive players and their top defenceman.
Paddock clearly wanted to try and compete now while also building for the future. He landed 2015 NHL Draft prospect Jesse Gabrielle from Brandon for Klimchuk and picked up Connor Hobbs from Medicine Hat along with a couple of draft picks. They also got Jake Leschyshyn from Red Deer for Gay. Leschyshyn was Red Deer’s first-round pick last year and is a top WHL prospect. Regina got younger and set themselves up nicely for the next couple of seasons.
Can the Pats still compete this year or did they throw in the towel? They’re off to a rough start to the post-deadline stretch losing both games this weekend.
Medicine Hat Tigers
In many ways Medicine Hat has flown under the radar this year compared to the high profile Rockets and Wheat Kings. Its win at Kelowna last weekend should cause people to stand up and take notice, however. They were already one of the best defensive squads in the league and now have added a top-end scorer in Hunt. He’ll join the league’s top two scorers in Trevor Cox and Cole Sanford. Nobody should sleep on the Tigers come playoff time.
Everett Silvertips
Everett made a big trade before the season got going when they picked up Nikita Scherbak from Saskatoon. General manager Garry Davidson went public with his desire to add another top-six forward in the week leading up to the deadline. When the trade deadline arrived the Silvertips were unable to pull off any moves, which left Davidson frustrated. Will they have enough to fend off the rest of a tight U.S. Division?
Kamloops Blazers
The Blazers are last place in the Western Conference and figured to be sellers. Their biggest asset was Cole Ully. He’s sixth in league in scoring with 54 points and would have brought back a pretty good price. Kamloops didn’t move Ully, who is signed by Dallas and most likely gone next season, and will play out the string without picking up future pieces. Was that a mistake? Time will tell if the Blazers missed out on a good opportunity.
Brandon Wheat Kings
The Wheat Kings are still on top of the Eastern Conference standings despite having one of the youngest rosters in the WHL. They picked up some experience in landing 19-year-old Morgan Klimchuk. They had to give up some grit in Jesse Gabrielle, but Klimchuk should be a great fit in Brandon. The Wheat Kings also picked up 20-year-old Reid Gow from Spokane to help bolster their blueline. Gow had left the Chiefs before the season started but was willing to play closer to home with Brandon.
Seattle Thunderbirds
Seattle made a couple of minor moves in picking up Cory Millette from Prince Albert and shipping away defenceman Scott Allan to Saskatoon. Despite only making a few trades they have to still feel like they swept up at the deadline. The Thunderbirds had 30-goal scorer Roberts Lipsbergs returned to them from Stockton of the ECHL and had defenceman Shea Theodore return from the World Junior Championship. They did announce that captain Justin Hickman’s season—and junior career—was over due to injury, but in essence they picked up Lipsbergs and Theodore for Hickman. Seattle has won seven of its past nine and have yet to have Theodore and Mathew Barzal in the lineup together—something that will change in the coming weeks.
Player of the week
Shea Theodore, D, Seattle Thunderbirds After winning gold with Team Canada at the world juniors, Theodore returned to Seattle and caught fire. He scored three goals and five points in two games. At one point he had a hand in five straight Thunderbirds goals and now is tied with Thomas Hickey for second in career points by a defenceman for the Seattle franchise.
2015 NHL Draft Tracker
Ivan Provorov, D, Brandon Wheat Kings Provorov continues to impress—his 40 points lead WHL rookies and are second amongst defenceman. On top of the impressive numbers, he left Calgary’s defence looking silly with some end-to-end magic on Sunday afternoon.
Jansen Harkins, C, Prince George Cougars Harkins is an unknown prospect in some aspects. He plays for a smaller market team that doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but he’s the real deal. The North Vancouver product is an elite playmaker, as his 36 assists attest to. Can he be a first-rounder?
Tyler Soy, C, Victoria Royals Another prospect quietly having a strong draft year. Rated a ‘C’ prospect by NHL’s Central Scouting, Soy has a career high 36 points in 41 games. He could be a later-round find come June.
Caught in the cold
In ‘it could only happen in junior’ news, the Medicine Hat Tigers had to postpone their game at Victoria last week because they were snowed in. The Trans-Canada Highway was closed for avalanche control, keeping the Tigers from their destination. The game was played the next night and the Royals probably are wishing the snow kept Medicine Hat stuck in Alberta as the Tigers won 3-2. Nothing like life on the bus in the Dub.