Fortunate and few are the Western Hockey League players who spend their entire careers with one team. That’s just not in the nature of the business. That was brought home on a whiplash trade-deadline final day Wednesday with a number of players swapping teams, including Tyler Laventure from the Swift Current Broncos to the Victoria Royals in return for a fifth-round selection in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft.
Although the deal was quieter than the ones that saw NHL-prospect players go from also-rans to contenders in return for future high WHL prospects draft picks leading up to the deadline, it is immediately impactful for the Royals.
The six-foot-three, 200-pound Laventure, who did not dress in Wednesday night’s 5-0 Royals loss to the Warriors in Moose Jaw, will slot in automatically as the Royals’ goals co-leader with 15 and third-leader in points with 36. The 20-year-old forward from Lloydminster, Alta., has played in 234 career WHL games since being selected 31st overall in the second round of the 2018 WHL Prospects Draft by the Prince Albert Raiders.
“[Laventure] is a skilled forward that will bring offence to our group,” said Royals assistant GM Jake Heisinger. “He has produced at a high level throughout his WHL career and we feel he will be a good fit on our team.”
WHL teams can carry only three 20-year-olds and the Royals placed veteran Matthew Hodson on waivers, leaving Laventure, leading-scorer Dawson Pasternak and goaltender Braden Holt as Victoria’s three over-agers. In terms of production, the move is a clear step up, as Hodson had three goals and 12 points despite playing on Victoria’s first line. But on a human level, it meant moving a guy who has been with the Royals his entire WHL career since 2019-20.
“We are very appreciative to Matthew for the four years he spent as a Royal. It’s never easy to part ways with a player and person like Matthew. We wish him all the best,” said Royals vice-president of hockey operations Joey Poljanowski.
Meanwhile, the Royals game Wednesday in Moose Jaw was another example that nothing is ever static on WHL rosters before the trade deadline. The game featured former Royals veteran mainstays Kalem Parker and Brayden Schuurman, who were shipped to Moose Jaw in October for five draft picks that included the Warriors’ first-round WHL Prospects Draft selections in 2024 and 2026 and a second-round selection in 2025, along with forward Ben Riche.
Blue-liner Parker scored for Moose Jaw against his former teammates while first-round Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Brayden Yager had a goal and assist and second-round Seattle Kraken draft pick Jagger Firkus three assists for the high-powered Warriors (23-15-2). That was without NHL first-round draft pick Matthew Savoie, acquired by Moose Jaw at the trade deadline from the Wenatchee Wild, who will join the Warriors on the weekend after representing Canada at the world junior championship in Sweden.
Moose Jaw outshot Victoria 40-15 with rookie Royals netminder Jayden Kraus busy on the night.
Victoria (23-14-4) will continue its 5,000-kilometre bus trip through the East Division without Nate Misskey, the 2024 NHL-draft ranked blue-liner injured on Tuesday in Brandon, and forward Robin Sapousek, injured playing for bronze-medallist Czechia in the world junior tournament in Sweden.
The Royals are in Prince Albert to meet the Raiders (18-18-3) on Friday night and in Saskatoon to play the league-leading Blades (27-8-4) on Saturday night.
