WHL NOTEBOOK: Wheat Kings GMs face annual dilemma

The Brandon Wheat Kings have had five general managers at the Western Hockey League trade deadline in the last decade — Kelly McCrimmon, Grant Armstrong, Darren Ritchie, Doug Gasper and now Marty Murray — and each has faced a difficult quandary.

How do you balance the needs of the current team and future clubs? It’s easy to spend, but a strategic approach to budgeting requires a strong degree of self-awareness and an understanding of when it’s time to buy and when it’s time to sell.

With that in mind and with the trade deadline nearing on Jan. 8, we’ll begin a look back at the last 10 trade deadlines, the situation the team found itself in, and how it decided to proceed. For clarity’s sake, the period will be defined as any deal between the end of the Christmas break and the actual WHL deadline.

The most recent five seasons will run in today’s edition of the WHL Notebook, with the next five appearing on Jan. 6.

2024-25

• Deadline: Jan. 9, 2025.

• GM: Marty Murray.

• BWK trades:

— On Jan. 9, sent 19-year-old goalie Alex Garrett of Saskatoon to the Wenatchee Wild for a fifth-round pick in 2028.

— On Jan. 9, acquired 17-year-old goalie Hudson Perry from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2027.

— On Jan. 7, sent defenceman Rhett Ravndahl to the Kamloops Blazers for a fifth-round pick in 2026.

– On Jan. 7, sent defenceman Charlie Elick and a third-round pick in 2026 to the Tri-City Americans for forward Jordan Gavin and defenceman Merrek Arpin.

— On Dec. 27, sent a fifth-round pick in 2026 to the Everett Silvertips for goalie Alex Garrett.

• BWK recap: Brandon was playing well but with the Medicine Hat Tigers, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Calgary Hitmen all loading up in the Eastern Conference, the cost of joining them would have been prohibitive. Garrett had been acquired with Ethan Eskit hurt and Carson Bjarnason at world juniors with Canada. Ravndahl wasn’t going to see big minutes with the acquisition of Arpin, and Perry, who was playing Junior A, was added to compete for a job at camp this fall. Elick, the team’s top pick in the 2021 draft, wasn’t playing well after being drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets and was dealt for the smooth forward Gavin.

• Reaction: Marty Murray: “It was really busy. You talk to everybody. It’s crazy how expensive everything is. It’s tempting, but at the same time we engaged in conversations about some of those bigger fish on the market, and for us, losing a really good young prospect or multiple draft picks, is tempting but not a path we really want to explore and do detriment to this window we have as well as the future of our club.”

• Result: Lost in quarterfinals.

• WHL blockbuster: On Jan. 8, 2025, the Spokane Chiefs acquired 19-year-old forward Andrew Cristall from the Kelowna Rockets, sending one player, two first-round picks and three other picks.

• WHL champion: Medicine Hat Tigers. They added overage forward Mathew Ward, 19-year-old forwards Misha Volotovskii and Marcus Pacheco, 18-year-old forward Ryder Ritchie, overage goalie Harrison Meneghin, 19-year-old defencemen Tanner Molendyk and Bryce Pickford, and 18-year-old defenceman Jonas Woo since the end of the previous season.

 

2023-24

• Deadline: Jan. 10, 2024.

• GM: Marty Murray.

• BWK trades:

— On Jan. 10, sent forward Nate Danielson to the Portland Winterhawks for defenceman Rhett Ravndahl, forward Nick Johnson, first-round picks in 2025 and 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2026.

— On Jan. 10, sent forward Evan Groening to the Prince George Cougars for a 10th-round pick in 2027.

• BWK recap: With teams loading up all around them, the Wheat Kings chose to be sellers, unloading their classy captain for two players and three picks, and also dealing a depth forward. Even with Danielson, they would have had a tough road to get by the eventual champion Moose Jaw Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Groening was looking for a bigger role and found it in Prince George.

• Reaction: Marty Murray: “You look at what the teams in our conference did in the last month, we just couldn’t afford to get into a war of acquiring those types of players without sacrificing so much for the future. Whether they had built up assets or not, we just didn’t, so that played into the real tough decision to move Nate today.”

• Result: Lost in quarterfinals.

• WHL blockbuster: On Jan. 4, 2024, the Swift Current Broncos acquired Strathclair’s Conor Geekie for three roster players, two first-round picks and two other picks from the Wenatchee Wild.

• WHL champion: Moose Jaw Warriors. They added 19-year-old forwards Matthew Savoie, Rilen Kovacevic and Brayden Schuurman, plus 18-year-old forward Ethan Semeniuk, along with 19-year-old defenceman Kalem Parker and 18-year-old defencemen Vojtech Port and Aiden Ziprick.

 

2022-23

• Deadline: Jan. 10, 2023

• GM: Marty Murray.

• BWK trades:

— On Jan. 10, sent forward Jake Chiasson to the Saskatoon Blades for a first-round pick in 2023, a second-round pick in 2025 and a conditional second-round pick in 2026 if he played as an overager. (He didn’t.)

— On Jan. 10, sent forward Trae Johnson, a third-round pick in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024 to the Kelowna Rockets for forward Nolan Flamand.

— On Jan. 10, sent the rights to 16-year-old forward Colin Frank, a second-round pick in 2026 and a sixth-round pick in 2025 to the Portland Winterhawks for 19-year-old forward Dawson Pasternak of Winnipeg and a conditional fourth-round pick.

— On Jan. 9, sent overage defenceman Mason Ward to the Swift Current Broncos for 19-year-old defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

• BWK recap: The Wheat Kings walked a fine line, buying and selling as they looked to improve their club in the short term and long term. Flamand led them in scoring two seasons later, and the first-round pick from Saskatoon became Gio Pantelas.

• Reaction: Marty Murray: “A couple of players came our way in Pasternak and Flamand, who we thought could add some speed and skill to our lineup for multiple years, and we jumped on it. At that point, we made the decision that maybe allowed us to bring in a little more offence and opened up some options for Chiasson to bring back some assets that we probably need. That was how the day shook out.”

• Result: Missed playoffs.

• WHL blockbuster: The Kamloops Blazers were hosting the Memorial Cup, which always drives up prices because there is another motivated buyer. They made a splash by adding 19-year-old defenceman Olen Zellweger and 20-year-old forward Ryan Hofer from the Everett Silvertips for three players, a prospect and 10 picks, including four first-rounders.

• WHL champion: Seattle Thunderbirds. Over the season, they acquired 19-year-old forwards Dylan Guenther, Brad Lambert and Colten Dach, overage defenceman Luke Prokop and 19-year-old defencemen Nolan Allan and Easton Kovacs.

 

2021-22

• Deadline: Jan. 17, 2022.

• GM: Doug Gasper.

• BWK trades: None.

• BWK recap: The Wheat Kings made their last deal on Oct. 31 when they acquired 19-year-old forward Landon Roberts from the Tri-City Americans and chose to stay out of the trade market. They made eight deals since the previous hub season ended, also acquiring 17-year-old forward Ben Thornton and 19-year-old defenceman Mason Ward in the biggest.

• Reaction: Doug Gasper: “If you look at previous ones before COVID, there was a lot of activity and a lot of movement, even in the few days before trade deadline you saw more activity. This year, it was a pretty quiet market.”

• Result: Lost in quarterfinals.

• WHL blockbuster: Edmonton acquired Kaiden Guhle for two good young roster players, two first-round picks and two other picks.

• WHL champion: Edmonton Oil Kings. They acquired 19-year-old forwards Justin Sourdif and Jaxsen Wiebe, 18-year-old forward Cole Miller, 19-year-old defencemen Kaiden Guhle and Luke Prokop and 17-year-old defenceman Graydon Gotaas.

 

2020-21

• Note: The WHL teams competed in different variations of a bubble due to the pandemic and there was no traditional deadline.

 

2019-20

• Deadline: Jan. 10, 2020.

• GM: Darren Ritchie.

• BWK trades:

— On Jan. 10, sent forward Bode Hagan to the Swift Current Broncos for a sixth-round pick in 2021.

— On Jan. 9, sent forward Jonny Hooker to the Prince George Cougars for Reid Perepeluk.

• BWK recap: It was a quiet season on the trade front, with seven deals involving just nine players. The biggest saw them acquire overage defenceman Dom Schmiemann and 17-year-old forward Riley Ginnell. At the deadline, they got bigger and older by acquiring Perepeluk, and dealt Hagan to give him a chance to play.

• Reaction: Darren Ritchie: “We’re getting a big forward who plays with a purpose night in and night out. He should be a good complement to our group.”

• Result: No playoffs were held due to the pandemic.

• WHL blockbuster: The Winnipeg Ice seemingly never missed a chance to spend, acquiring 19-year-old defenceman Dawson Barteaux of Foxwarren from the Red Deer Rebels and two late-round picks on Jan. 10, 2020 for four second-round picks and two other picks.

• WHL champion: No playoffs were held.

 

THIS AND THAT

• QUIZ — The good old-fashioned player-for-player trade has almost become quaint in today’s WHL, with draft picks usually included in every deal.

Brandon has made eight player-for-player trades in the last decade. How many can you name? Which two players were involved in two such deals, and were actually traded for each other?

• WEEKLY AWARDS — The player of the week is 19-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Jonas Woo of Winnipeg, who had a goal and five assists in a pair of victories over the weekend.

The goaltender of the week is 17-year-old Wheat Kings netminder Filip Ruzicka of Trinec, Czechia, who stopped all 31 shots he faced in a 3-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Sunday.

The rookie of the week is 18-year-old Mason Kraft of the Wenatchee Wild of Moorhead, Minn., who had a goal and three assists as his club split a pair of games with the Spokane Chiefs.

• TRADE FRONT — There have been two deals since the Christmas trade moratorium lifted, with both coming from the Edmonton Oil Kings. They sent 18-year-old winger Poul Andersen of St. Paul, Minn., a conditional fourth-round pick in 2027 and the rights to two prospects, 16-year-old forward Boris Sigachev of Calgary and 16-year-old forward Brock Stevenson of Denver to the Red Deer Rebels for 19-year-old forward Jaxon Fuder of Cold Lake, Alta.

They also picked up overage defenceman Austin Zemlak of Fort McMurray, Alta., from the Tri-City Americans for a second-round pick in 2026 that originally belonged to Saskatoon and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2029. Zemlak had been playing with Arizona State University.

• SIN BIN — No players have been disciplined since Dec. 15.

• ALUMNI GLANCE — Kayden Sadhra-Kang, 22, is in his second year at the University of British Columbia, where he plays alongside former Wheat Kings Ty Thorpe, Jonny Lambos and Nick Jones and under head coach Sven Butenschon, who also played with Brandon.

He had nine points in 25 games as a U Sports rookie and has three goals and nine assists in 17 games this season as UBC leads Canada West’s West Division with a record of 15-3-0.

Sadhra-Kang played parts of seasons with Brandon, skating in 57 regular season games with one goal, 15 assists and a plus-minus of +12.

• THE WEEK AHEAD — Brandon visits the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday at 7 p.m., hosts the Saskatoon Blades on Thursday in a matinee at 2 p.m., and then visits Saskatoon on Saturday at 7 p.m.

• ANSWER — Here’s a look at Brandon’s most recent player-for-player transactions with no draft picks involved.

— June 5, 2024: Brandon sends 16-year-old forward prospect Reed Brown to Portland for overage forward Marcus Nguyen.

— Nov. 30, 2023: In a swap of overage defencemen, Brandon sends Kayden Sadhra-Kang to Kelowna for Jackson DeSouza.

— Nov. 13, 2023: In a deal involving 18-year-old forwards, Brandon sends Tony Wilson to Regina for Matteo Michels.

— Jan. 9, 2023: Brandon sends overage defenceman Mason Ward to Swift Current for 19-year-old defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

— May 17, 2021: Brandon sends 19-year-old goalie Connor Ungar to Red Deer for 19-year-old defenceman Mason Ward.

— Jan. 9, 2020: Brandon sends 18-year-old forward Jonny Hooker to Prince George for 19-year-old forward Reid Perepeluk.

— Oct. 29, 2019: Brandon sends 19-year-old forward Caiden Daley to Regina for 19-year-old forward Duncan Pierce.

— Oct. 25, 2015: Brandon sends 18-year-old defenceman Mark Taraschuk to Swift Current for 19-year-old defenceman Jordan Thomson.