WHL Trade Deadline winners and losers – East Division edition

It’s finally here! The day when we join the world a few dozen people across Western Canada for the cliched tradition of making snap judgments on who won and lost at the WHL Trade Deadline. Oh happy day!

WINNER
Saskatoon Blades
Additions: 1992 F Michael Ferland, 1993 F Erik Benoit, 1993 F Collin Valcourt
Subtractions: 1992 F Adam Kambeitz, 2013 Bantam Draft – 1st, 4th, 5th round picks, 2015 Bantam Draft – 1st round pick
About time  we say something positive about the Blades this year. Fact of the matter was they needed to make some plus-sized moves (they’ve got a great personality too!) to at least try and start playing like a true contender, and they did just that. They may have not have cured all that ails them, but on paper they have a much better chance today than they did when they woke up Thursday.

LOSER
Saskatoon Blades
See what we did there? Yesterday’s deals are very much a double-edged sword – it’s now or never for the Blades. The future is bleaker than an Estevan Bruins power play. They already mortgaged their future once recently (Brayden Schenn, anyone?) and after yesterday, no longer hold first-round picks in the next three Bantam Drafts. And as Alan Caldwell pointed out yesterday, they not only lose a minimum of 14 players from this year’s roster next year, they also don’t have any first or second-round picks from any of the previous three Bantam Drafts in their system either.

WINNER
Swift Current Broncos
Additions: 1995 F Jay Merkely
Subtractions:  1993 F Josh Derko, 2014 Bantam Draft – 3rd round pick
As predicted here and in the Prairie Post, the Broncos did not necessarily set out to buy or sell but still ended up making one of the biggest splashes in the pre-deadline pool. Merkley fills virtually all of the Broncos’ needs up front in one shot, and all in exchange for a guy who wasn’t going to be in Swift next year anyway. He made a good first impression too, tapping in a power-play marker in Wednesday’s win over Red Deer.

Weekend wrapup: Pats on a roll, Adam Lowry’s once-in-13-years streak, and Millionaires embarass Bruins

Are the Regina Pats ready for some real competition? The Patricias got healthy over the Christmas break (Dyson Stevenson, Chandler Stephenson, Luke Fenske and Colton Jobke all returned from lengthy absences between Dec. 27 and 29) and have now won five in a row, including three games in three nights over the weekend. They’ve moved up to eighth in the Eastern Conference, just one point back of Swift Current for seventh. Next up: Two games in three nights against the East’s No. 2-ranked Prince Albert Raiders and No. 3-ranked Calgary Hitmen.

The other big question in the East is who will be the one to stop Adam Lowry? The Broncos captain scored twice Saturday against Lethbridge to extend his points streak to 17 games and pass Layne Ulmer’s career-best of 16 games. Lowry now has the second longest points streak for a Bronco since Jeremy Reich hit the scoresheet in 23 straight games to kick off the 1999-2000 season (something Reich credits Ulmer almost entirely for – read more later this week here and in this coming Friday’s Prairie Post.)

Elsewhere in the East Division, Saskatoon continued its Jekkyl and Hyde act with two convincing wins over Medicine Hat and P.A., the Moose Jaw Warriors lost three games in three nights to extend their losing streak to four, and the Raiders are also on a three-game skid.

In the SJHL, former WHLers Sean Aschim and Lucas Froese had a successful two-night stand with the Estevan Bruins, combining for five goals and eight assists in back-to-back wins for the Melville Millionaires this weekend. Aschim played 84 games for P.A., Kelowna, Moose Jaw and Seattle in WHL while Froese split eight games between the Pats and Broncos. No word on if Aschim and Froese cooked the Bruins breakfast Sunday morning or even gave them their real names.

Humboldt extended its winning streak to six games Sunday with a 5-1 win over the Weyburn Red Wings, who have now lost three in a row after winning their first two in the post-Dwight McMillan era.

And La Ronge Ice Wolves goalie/Swift Current product Myles Hovdebo stopped 40 shots Friday in a 1-0 win over the Flin Flon Bombers for the Swift Current product’s first shutout of the season.

Defending the Pats, a big night for Wheaton King, and a call for a management salary cap in the CFL

SaskaThoughts

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• Kelly Friesen of Yahoo! Sports wrote a column yesterday calling the Regina Pats deadline-day losers. We haven’t looked at the Pats through rose-coloured glasses in recent years, but have to respectfully disagree on this one. First, times were much different when the Pats foolishly chose not to trade Jordan Eberle and Colten Teubert. It’s a red herring to suggest those decisions should have informed the Pats this year. Second, it’s important to note the Pats did get three draft picks in return. Yes, the Pats gave up a first-round pick (and others) for Martin Marincin. Thing is, that first-rounder is not going to be a Top 10 pick anyway and, outside of the Top 10, the WHL’s Bantam Draft is little more than a glorified crapshoot. Third, keep in mind the Pats are 12-10 against the other Eastern Conference teams currently in a playoff position. It’s our unusually humble opinion that legitimate playoff experience and building a culture of competitiveness is far more beneficial to the cause than stockpiling draft picks and prospects who may or may not ever see the light of day in the Dub.
• There’s a great poll up at Daniel Fink’s blog asking which team you would HATE to see win an SJHL championship. In my mind it’s a toss-up between the Minot Top Guns and the Lebret Eagles, but apparently you have to vote for teams that still exist.
• And just a quick note that Rider Prophet and Rod Pedersen are both representing Saskatchewan in the finals of the Best Canadian Sports Blog voting. We were apparently left off the ballot as the system is currently unable to handle the flood of votes we’d receive. Cast your vote here.

Trade deadline roundup: Moose Jaw loads up, Battlefords and Nipawin play catch-up

I hate to say ‘I told you so’ but, well, you know. The rumour mill’s credibility fell victim to a stack of delicious pancakes today when the Regina Pats’ leading scorer, Jordan Weal, was NOT dealt at the WHL’s trade deadline. Man I’m tired of being right. Now that our shameless backpatting is out of the way, let’s get to some real news.

The Moose Jaw Warriors are in beast mode. Over the past 36 hours the Warriors acquired over-age point-a-game sniper Cam Braes from Lethbridge, and over-age point-a-game playmaker James Henry from Vancouver. The moves address Moose Jaw’s main concern – scoring – in a big way. The Warriors’ offence has dropped from 3.56 goals per game to 3.08 goals per game since losing defenceman Morgan Rielly to a knee injury and they’ve been getting it done by committee ever since. With Quinton Howden back from World Juniors and two new elite forwards in the fold, the sky should be the limit for Moose Jaw.