THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Brayden Schenn is going home.
The Brandon Wheat Kings dealt the MVP of this year’s world junior hockey tournament and a 2012 third-round pick to Saskatoon prior to the WHL trade deadline of 1 p.m. ET on Monday.
To acquire Sheen, the Blades gave up a pair of 15-year-old prospects, defenceman Ayrton Nikkel and forward Tim McGauley, as well as four draft picks (first-round picks in 2001, 2012 and a first-rounder in the 2012 CHL import draft as well as a 2011 second-round selection).
The trade is a definite move up for Schenn. Saskatoon sits atop the East Division with a league-high 63 points while Brandon is tied with Regina for last, both with 34 points.
Schenn, 19, a Saskatoon native, was a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2009 and spent the first two months of the season with the NHL club, registering two assists. He also had three goals and four assists in seven games with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs.
Schenn led Canada to a silver medal at the world junior tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., registering eight goals and 10 assists in seven games. He was named the event’s top forward as well as its MVP after tying Dale McCourt’s mark for most points by a Canadian in the tournament.
“We feel that Brayden Schenn is a player that can help us achieve our goal which is to become WHL champions and ultimately Memorial Cup champions.” Blades head coach and GM Lorne Molleken said in a statement. “Over the last number of years we’ve been building toward this, ultimately we want to win a championship and we feel we have the team for it this year.
“We have an opportunity to bring a young man back home to finish his WHL career, which we are extremely excited about as an organization.”
McGauley and Nikkel were Saskatoon’s two top picks in last year’s WHL bantam draft, going 20th and 42nd overall respectively.
“This trade is a very important trade for our franchise,” said Brandon head coach and GM Kelly McCrimmon. “We felt that it was important to recover from some of the moves we made to build our team for last season’s Memorial Cup.
“When we were awarded the Cup in October 2008, we felt then that it might be a three-year process with today’s move being part of that process.”
In other deals Monday:
— The Everett Silvertips sent forward Kellan Tochkin and defenceman Alex Theriau to the Medicine Hat Tigers for forward Ryan Harrison and a 2011 second-round pick.
— The Tri-City Americans dealt forward Brooks Macek and defenceman Spencer Humphries and a conditional 2012 third-round pick to the Calgary Hitmen for defenceman Matt MacKenzie.
— The Portland Winterhawks traded defenceman Branden Scheidl to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for forward Ryley Bennefield.
— The Vancouver Giants sent defenceman Tanner Sohn to Saskatoon for a 2013 10th-round draft pick.
— The Seattle Thunderbirds acquired defenceman Mitch Spooner from the Regina Pats for a conditional 2012 fifth-round draft pick.
— The Moose Jaw Warriors dealt forward Michal Hlinka and two draft picks (third- and sixth-round 2011 selections) to the Prince Albert Raiders for forward Sebastian Svendsen.
— The Prince Albert Raiders sent defenceman Ryan Button to Seattle for forward Charles Wells and a first-round pick in the 2011 CHL import draft.
