Originally posted March 3, 2021.
It was the Doug Gilmour trade from Calgary to Toronto.
That was the trade that hooked me as a nerd when it came to useless hockey trivia. I’ve been able to recite the ten players involved in it off the top of my head ever since that fateful day. Yes, it was Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Rick Walmsley, and prospect Kent Manderville sent to Toronto by Calgary for Gary Leeman, Craig Berube, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese and prospect Alexander Godynyuk.
Ever since that deal, I was always interested in the fallout from trades like that and how teams are able to convert pieces into more pieces, or the trades don’t have repercussions.
So when my pal, Jordan Karst, launched “Canes This Week” to focus on the Lethbridge Hurricanes, one of the regular topics I wanted to tackle was trade trees for deals involving the team.
Now that we have a league-wide reach with the DUBNetwork Podcast, I thought I’d bring that idea to major deals involving every team.
When it comes to junior hockey, the idea of a trade tree is more fascinating because of the implications of bantam draft picks. So much can happen that can turn a first-rounder into a bust and turn a seventh-rounder into a goldmine. And if you’ve ever looked at the WHL Transactions website, some draft picks are traded like hotcakes and sometimes multiple times.
When tracing these trees, it can take hours to figure out how a pick ended up in one team’s hands after realizing who had the pick initially.
That was certainly the case in putting together the first trade tree for the DUBNetwork Podcast. Not only did I want to find an anniversary of sorts, but I also wanted to find an absolute blockbuster. And I found that with the Brayden Schenn trade from Brandon to Saskatoon.
The Blades were clearly a good team out of the gate and wanted a piece to put them over the top, while the Wheat Kings were a bubble team who wanted to load up for the future. They also had that big piece in Brayden Schenn.
He was coming off two solid seasons and had started the season with the Los Angeles Kings. When it became clear he would be heading back to junior, the conversations started about whether he could be moved.
One of the general managers who approached Kelly McCrimmon was Saskatoon’s Lorne Molleken. They went back-and-forth on some proposals before finalizing a blockbuster. Schenn and a third-round pick in 2012 would head to the Queen City for prospects Tim McGauley and Ayrton Nikkel, as well as four draft picks.
As it turns out, that deal led to a few more blockbusters down the road and even has a pending draft pick coming up in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft.
Let’s dive a little deeper:
To Saskatoon
Brayden Schenn – he performed exactly as expected. 53 points in 27 games and pitched in another 11 points in ten playoff games. However, the Blades ran into the powerhouse Kootenay Ice, who had made their own blockbuster at the trade deadline when they acquired Cody Eakin from Swift Current. And yes, a trade tree involving that deal is already in progress.
3rd round pick in 2012 – the Blades used this pick to select Cameron Hebig. A few years later, Hebig and Ryan Kubic would be sent to Regina for Tyler Brown, Bryan Lockner, and four draft picks. So let’s break that one down a little more:
- Tyler Brown – ended up playing in nine games for the Blades, posting a 4-4 record with a 3.96 GAA.
- Bryan Lockner – he was immediately sent packing again, as the Blades traded him along with two draft picks (a 1st rounder in 2020 and 2nd in 2021) to Medicine Hat for Max Gerlach
- 1st rounder in 2020 – the Blades kept the pick to take Tanner Molendyk
- 2nd rounder in 2020 – the Blades sent that pick along with Jackson Caller and a 3rd rounder for Nolan Kneen
- 3rd rounder in 2019 – the Blades used that pick to select Ethan Chadwick
- 3rd rounder in 2021 – to be continued…
To Brandon
Tim McGauley – just 15 when he was traded, McGauley came as advertised. He posted 259 points in 276 WHL games, with all but five coming with the Wheaties. He was also a big piece of the team’s run to the WHL final in 2014-2015 and then winning it all a season later, where he posted 26 points in 21 games.
Ayrton Nikkel – also 15 when the trade happened, Nikkel’s stay in Brandon lasted a couple of seasons before he jumped around the league. The Wheat Kings traded him to Everett in 2013 along with a conditional pick for Nick Walters and Taylor Sanheim. The Wheaties turned around and dealt Walters and Tanner Browne to Lethbridge for Colt Conrad and another piece to that 2014-2015 team, Ryan Pilon.
1st round pick in 2011 – the Wheat Kings used this pick to select Jordan Papirny. A major presence in the net during those two aforementioned playoff runs, Papirny was involved in another major trade in 2016-2017. In an effort to bolster their lineup for a playoff run, the Swift Current Broncos acquired Papirny for two players and two draft picks. Let’s break that one down now:
- Kade Jenson – the young defenseman was eventually dealt to Victoria for a fifth-round choice in the 2018 Bantam Draft. The Wheat Kings used that pick to select Logan Hammett.
- Travis Child – the netminder was also sent packing before too long. Child was sent to Edmonton for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2018, who Brandon turned into Owen Weihs.
- 2nd rounder in 2019 – this took a little digging but this pick was involved in a swap with Red Deer. The Rebels wanted to move up to take Hunter Mayo with the 23rd overall selection. The Wheat Kings acquired two picks, where they selected Zach Turner with the 31st pick and Liam Watkins with the 75th choice.
- 5th rounder in 2018 – this pick was a little harder to dig into because 5th rounders are thrown around fast and furious. What I ended up doing was cross-referencing the original draft order with the trades listed on the WHL Transactions website to figure out how each pick ended up where and I was able to narrow down that, someway, somehow, Everett’s original 5th rounder was traded to Red Deer, Saskatoon and then to Swift Current before ending up in Brandon’s hands. They used it to take Jaxon Dube.
2nd round pick in 2011 – thank goodness this one is straightforward. The Wheat Kings used this pick to take Jayce Hawryluk. The future NHLer went onto score 278 points in 232 games over four seasons with the Wheat Kings, helping them to the WHL Final in 2015 and winning it all in 2016.
1st round pick in 2012 – interestingly, this left the Wheat Kings with two first-rounders and because they wanted to get a little firepower, they felt one was expendable. They used their own pick in the first round to take Braylon Shmyr. The next pick was also theirs, but they had traded it along with Jordan Fransoo and Dakota Conroy to Victoria for Kevin Sundher. Sundher, who was a 20-year-old, picked up 11 points in 18 regular-season games for the Wheat Kings then added three more points in nine playoff games. The Royals, meantime, used that pick to take Chaz Reddekopp.
1st round pick in the 2012 CHL Import Draft – this one also took a little digging because this would have left the Wheat Kings with two picks yet they only used one. A quick Google search let me figure out that Brandon actually traded that pick to Edmonton for a 5th round pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft. The Oil Kings used that import pick to get Edgars Kulda.
An interesting story on that 5th rounder, though. It was sent packing along with goaltender Brandon Anderson to Everett for Geordie Maguire. Maguire spent one season in Brandon before he was traded to Regina for a conditional draft pick. As it turns out, the “condition” was pretty big. Regina had to promise not to take Nolan Patrick with the second overall pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft. The Pats agreed, which worked out well for them as they were able to take Sam Steel. Prince George decided to take defenseman Josh Anderson, which allowed Brandon to take Patrick with the fourth overall pick.
See how easy a simple trade can turn into something much more convoluted? We’ll find a few more to share with you as we keep rolling ahead with the podcast. Speaking of the podcast, check out Episode #5 as I had a quick chat with Lorne Molleken about how this trade came to be and some of the science behind building a blockbuster move. Check it out now wherever you get your favourite podcasts!
