Brandon brings Slobodian home in trade

The Brandon Wheat Kings have brought home another local boy, acquiring overage defenceman Cole Slobodian for a pair of draft picks in a deal announced Thursday.

Slobodian, who was in his third Western Hockey League season with the Portland Winterhawks, was acquired for a fifth-round pick in 2028 and a third-round pick in 2030. In 128 regular season games in Portland, he has 22 points and 87 penalty minutes.

The six-foot-two, 198-pound blue-liner began to hear rumblings on Tuesday and was officially notified on Wednesday.

“It was mixed emotions,” Slobodian said. “The coming home part is super exciting. It’s obviously tough to leave a team you’ve played over two years with, and all those guys. That part kind of sucks but coming home is super exciting. It will be really exciting to live at home and play in front of the people I know in Brandon.

“I know there are a lot of people who will come out to their first couple of games I’m there.

“Even just being in the community, I know how much the Wheat Kings mean to the city. Being able to play on that team and represent Brandon will be super awesome.”

The left-shooting Slobodian went unselected in the 2021 WHL draft but was quickly listed by Portland.

Back when the Manitoba Junior Hockey League had a draft, he was picked ninth overall by the Virden Oil Capitals in 2022, and played his 17-year-old season with them after spending his 15- and 16-year-old campaign with the U18 AAA Wheat Kings. The second season included forwards Jaxon Jacobson and Brady Turko, who he’ll now rejoin.

Slobodian debuted in Portland in the 2024-25 season in his 18-year-old campaign.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said Slobodian brings a lot his club needs.

“Cole has experience in the league and he’s a defence-first, shutdown type of guy,” Murray said. “We feel like adding that veteran presence to our back end could be very useful. He’ll eat a lot of minutes up and maybe take some stress off some other guys who were playing a little bit too much. Hopefully this balances things out.

“Watching Cole, we feel like he’s really come along defending. In Portland he relished the role of playing against the other teams’ top lines. We’ll continue to count on him doing that with us.”

Portland had four overagers, including another defenceman in Avery Laliberte of Lorette and forwards Nathan Brown and Ben Miller.

Brandon had room for another 20-year-old player since it only had forwards Kris Muissu and Brett Wilson.

“In terms of teams I could have gotten dealt to, I think this is probably the best-case scenario for me,” Slobodian said. “I think it should be a pretty seamless transition knowing a lot of those players and skating with a lot of them in summer. Even the assistant coaches, Aaron Rome, I’ve done skills with him when I was little and even Whitey (Ryan White) too. I’ve known him a long time so I think it will be pretty easy coming into the locker room.”

Slobodian flew to Prince George in the morning and met with the team in the afternoon.

From Murray’s standpoint, bringing in a local player speeds up the transition time. He also acquired 19-year-old Josh McGregor of Brandon during the off-season from the Swift Current Broncos as part of a three-way trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“It helps for sure,” Murray said. “Having a player who’s probably grown up watching the Wheat Kings and understands what they mean to the community is important. Cole, Josh, those type of guys, they know a lot of guys on our team and skated with a lot of guys, not just the Brandon guys but the players who have been in town. Hopefully it will make that adjustment period go a little quicker.

“He’ll get thrown into the fire. He’ll be here (Thursday) and be in the lineup for Friday.”

The deal was made in part because the team’s seven-man blue-line has lost 19-year-old Ilari Kapanen for an extended period of time after he got hurt in the team’s second game. That left the Wheat Kings with six defencemen, three of whom are rookies, 16-year-old Cruz Jim and 17-year-olds Ethan Young and Easten Turko.

The veterans are McGregor and 18-year-old Nigel Boehm and Cameron Allard. Portland GM Mike Johnston is someone Murray talks to more than other GMs, and he knew they weren’t sure what the Hawks had planned for their overagers.

“We talked on and off, Mike and I, during the summer about what teams are going to be doing, what are you doing,” Murray said. “Finally it just made sense for both sides I guess, and for us, Kapanen is out four to six weeks too so now we’re sitting with six D.

“It was important to not start this trip with six D because things can go south pretty quick if you have a couple of injuries, and you’re really chasing it.”

The fact Brandon just happened to be on the West Coast when they made the trade made Slobodian’s acquisition that much nicer. The overager has some things he’ll be eager to share about skating in the B.C. Division.

“It’s crazy,” Slobodian said. “I’ve played in those rinks a lot more than they have so hopefully I’ll have some experience to give.”

When he was much younger, the Slobodian family billeted a pair of Wheat Kings, Jon Gaudet and Taylor Cooper, and they subsequently had season tickets. After going to a lot of games, he said it will be surreal to suit up for them now.

He expects that first game at Assiniboine Credit Union Place will be memorable.

“It will be awesome,” Slobodian said. “It will be weird for sure coming out the other side of the tunnel but I think it will be awesome. I think I’ll have a lot of family and friends there so it’s super exciting. I can’t wait for it.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com