The Victoria Royals not only didn’t make a splash, as the Western Hockey League trade deadline passed Monday, they didn’t even create a ripple as they stood pat.
It is the eternal question in major-junior hockey at the deadline. Do teams already loaded decide to go for broke by trading away portions of their future for a stronger Memorial Cup chance in the current season? The corollary is lower-level teams that trade away veterans for high draft picks to build for the future. The thinking there is that the pending five years of service of a first-or second-round potential star in the U-15 prospects draft is worth more than three more months of a graduating 20-year-old in a season going nowhere.
The Vancouver Giants sent Florida Panthers prospect and Team Canada junior player Justin Sourdif to the powerhouse Edmonton Oil Kings on Monday for first-round picks in the 2022 and 2025 WHL Prospects Draft. The lowly Spokane Chiefs this season traded captain and second-round Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick Jack Finley to the already-loaded Winnipeg Ice for younger forwards Chase Bertholet, James Form and a second-round selection in the 2024 WHL draft. That followed the blockbuster trade of Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick Kaiden Guhle from the Prince Albert Raiders to the talent-packed Oil Kings for two younger players, a first-round selection in the 2021 WHL draft, a first-round selection in the 2023 draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2025 draft.
The Chiefs were at it again Monday, trading 20-year-old forward and club leading goal scorer Luke Toporowski to the championship-minded Kamloops Blazers in exchange for Nick McCarry and a second-round selection in the 2025 WHL draft. Kamloops also sent 17-year-old Tye Spencer to the Regina Pats for 19-year-old veteran forward Drew Englot. The Blazers, however, protected themselves from future shock with another Monday trade that sent Minnesota Wild draft pick Josh Pillar to the Saskatoon Blades for a conditional 2022 third-round pick and a conditional 2024 second-round pick in the WHL draft.
The CHL No. 1- and No. 2-ranked Ice and Oil Kings and top-10 Blazers have gone all in on their Memorial Cup dreams for this season. Also-rans Spokane and Prince Albert have opted to look to the future, as have the Giants. The Royals’ currently-injured 20-year-old captain Tarun Fizer and their breakout 20-year-old star Bailey Peach were viewed as valuable commodities for contending teams, but Victoria (12-16-4) did not budge. The Royals hold down the eighth-and-final playoff position in the Western Conference and were also in about that same position in 2011-12 when then-GM and head coach Marc Habscheid looked to the future and traded established star forward Kevin Sundher to the championship-minded Wheat Kings for younger players Jordan Fransoo and Dakota Conroy and Brandon’s first-round draft pick in 2012, who became future five-season Royals blue line mainstay Chaz Reddekopp. The Royals still made the 2012 playoffs as the seventh conference seed without Sundher, but were swept in four games in the opening round by Kamloops.
“I really like the group we have and believe in it,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price, about his decision not to enter the trade sweepstakes, after his GM predecessor Cam Hope had a reputation for being highly active at the deadline mostly as a buyer.
“At the most this season, we’ve had 75 per cent roster strength, and much lower for much of the season. I really want to assess this group at 100 per cent and see what it can do,” added Price.
The dearth of available players continues for Victoria as the Royals had 10 players, including Fizer, out with injuries or under COVID protocols in dropping two games in Kelowna over the weekend. The club expects two more returnees in Prince George tonight and Wednesday to bring that number to eight players missing, which is still high.
The swings this season for the Royals are enough to cause virtual motion sickness. The three consecutive wins against the Giants post-Christmas have been followed by three straight losses to Kelowna. That followed the mother of all losing streaks against a single opponent when the Royals lost five consecutive games against Prince George in October. The Cougars (15-17-2) can certainly look to those 10 points as being critical to their season. Prince George will be gunning for the lucky seven against the Royals tonight and Wednesday at the CN Centre in two games rescheduled from previous COVID-19 protocol postponements.
“A lot of it has to do with our roster volatility, which has created a lot of randomness this season in terms of streaks and the like,” said Price.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
