As a fantasy sports player, I get cold feet thinking about making every trade, no matter how small. I admittedly get in my head thinking about the domino effect that could take place. It takes a long time for me to finally accept a deal. I also admit it’s ludicrous. It’s not even real life.
So I have the utmost respect for general managers of sports teams that are able to pull the trigger on any deal, let alone a blockbuster. The implications of trading draft picks and prospects would scare the living daylights out of me. Which is probably why I’ll never have a job in any front office.
When analyzing Western Hockey League trades, it amazes me how GMs must have ice in their veins. It’s one thing to deal a fifth- or sixth-round pick. It’s another to send several prospects and high-end draft picks along for a key piece of the puzzle in the quest to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and, ultimately, the Memorial Cup.
That was the situation facing Jeff Chynoweth and the Kootenay Ice ten years ago. Already armed with a strong nucleus of players and a new head coach in Kris Knoblauch who was getting the most out of that team, Chynoweth started looking around the league for players who might put them over the top.
Two came to mind: Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings and Cody Eakin of the Swift Current Broncos. He began discussions with Brandon’s Kelly McCrimmon and Swift Current’s Mark Lamb to see what it would take to bring those players to the Rockies. It became apparent quite quickly that Eakin might be the better fit.
“Really it came down us that Cody had lived in a small town,” Chynoweth told the DUBNetwork Podcast. “My brother was the head coach when they drafted him so he’s familiar with that small town Swift Current moving to another small town in Cranbrook, two of the smallest markets in the CHL.”
Then it became a matter of getting the right package together. He says they knew they would have to give up prospects and three draft picks, but having an extra first-round pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft made it a little easier to swallow.
What tipped the scales for the Broncos was Colby Cave.
“He was the key for them,” Chynoweth said. “And he turned out to be a great junior and one of the greatest human beings I have ever met. Honestly, one of the nicest kids I’ve ever encountered in my 30 years in the WHL.”
As the GM points out, you only get so many opportunities to make a run at a WHL championship and he felt that team was ready to do it with Eakin, so they pulled off the swap. Eakin was heading to Kootenay for Christian Magnus, Ryan Bloom, Jarett Zentner, Colby Cave, Steven Myland, a first-round pick in 2011, a second-round pick in 2011, and a third-round pick in 2012.
“We just felt it checked off too many boxes,” Chynoweth added.
The move paid off, as the Ice went onto win the WHL title and represented the league at the Memorial Cup.
And now for the juicy part: how did the ripple effects play out from this deal? Let’s take a look.
To Kootenay
Cody Eakin – the lone piece heading to the Rocky Mountains. Eakin picked up 44 points in 26 regular-season games for the Ice, then had another 27 points in 19 playoff games. The now 29-year-old has played in 600+ NHL games with a handful of teams and is now with the Buffalo Sabres.
To Swift Current
Colby Cave – as mentioned, the key to the deal for Swift Current. Cave spent the rest of his junior career with the Broncos, including two seasons as the captain (2013-2014 & 2014-2015). He went on to make it to the NHL with the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers. Cave passed away in April 2020 from a brain bleed.
Christian Magnus – originally a Bronco, Magnus was sent to Kootenay in 2008-2009 before returning to Swift Current in the Eakin deal. He picked up six points with the Broncos that season, then finished off his junior career with 24 points in 62 games for the club in 2011-2012.
Ryan Bloom – a promising winger who put up solid points in midget hockey, Bloom played in six games for the Ice before being dealt. He played in another 24 games for the Broncos, picking up one assist. He moved onto the AJHL for three years before landing at Queen’s University.
Jarret Zentner – another forward with some offensive upside, Zentner also didn’t catch on in the WHL. After a seven-game stretch with the Ice, he was traded but didn’t play a game for the Broncos as he spent the next few seasons in the AJHL and SJHL.
Steven Myland – a goaltending prospect out of Cloverdale, BC, Myland bounced around different levels of hockey until the end of 2014. He did suit up in six games for the Broncos, twice in 2011-2012 and four more times the following season.
First-round pick in 2011 – there’s a bit of a mystery surrounding how exactly Chynoweth ended up with two first-rounders in this draft. The Broncos acquired the 13th overall selection from Kootenay, which they used to select Zach Gonek. That selection originally belonged to the Vancouver Giants, but there are no real indications as to how that pick ended up in Kootenay’s hands. Even Chynoweth couldn’t quite remember how that came to be. As for Gonek, he would later be traded to Prince George for Jordan Harris, who spent most of three seasons in Swift Current.
Second-round pick in 2011 – the Broncos used the Ice’s pick here to select Cavin Leth. There is quite the tree involved in this pick as Leth spent a little more than two years with Swift Current before being sent to Seattle for Sahvan Khaira. The 6’4” defenseman also spent a couple of seasons in Swift before he was traded to Everett for Ethan O’Rourke and a third-round pick in 2020. O’Rourke suited up in 73 games for the Broncos before moving onto the BCHL and USports, while that third-rounder was packaged to Calgary Andrew Fyten. The Broncos then sent Fyten to Edmonton for a conditional draft pick, which turned into a fourth-round pick that was sent back to the Oil Kings for forward Raphael Pelletier. Clear as mud?
Third-round pick in 2012 – if you thought the last pick was like following a bouncing ball, this one will have you feeling the same way. The Broncos used this pick to select Wyatt Sloboshan. He was involved in another blockbuster a couple of years later that saw the Broncos send him to Saskatoon along with Connor Sanvido, a second-round pick in 2014 and a third-round pick in 2015 for Nathan Burns and a seventh-round pick in 2014. Burns finished out his junior career with the Broncos, picking up 34 points in 28 games, while that seventh-round pick was used to select Kyle Dronyk, who didn’t play in the WHL.
So that ends the tree for the Broncos. There are several other limbs you could go off this deal, including Fyten and Sloboshan. Last year, the Broncos did a full roadmap of that deal from top to bottom, which shows even more connections to 2022 and potentially beyond. So this trade tree is far from over. Which, if you’re a fantasy sports player, is your worst nightmare.
