Well the world did not end yesterday with the WHL trade deadline. Gregg Drinnan has a comprehensive review of the 10 deals that happened before the deadline with 8 deals occurring the day of. You can find Gregg's analysis at Taking Note.
A scout from the SJHL once said that one of the smartest men in juniour hockey is Saskatchewan native and Brandon GM/Coach/owner Kelly McCrimmon, citing being at a select camp where Kelly was the only Brandon person present while the Regina Pats had over five scouts present. Compare their records over the past five years and you can see why he is given such high praise. Not to be outdone in the Brandon/Saskatoon swap Lorne Molleken, Jarrod Brodsky and Dough Molleken have found some diamonds in the rough like Sam Klassen in the short time Lorne has been back in Saskatoon. They have also not had overwhelming success with some bantam picks like Mitch Berg. Berg is also from the same Saskatoon born draft class as Jared Cowen, Jimmy Bubnick, Brayden Schenn and Carter Ashton so you can measure the disappointment of that.
What is the point of all of this? I would call the trade for Brayden Schenn a push and that each team is going to win. Saskatoon does well in listing undrafted players and won't miss the picks and Brandon has stocked the cupboard for the future. The Blades also increase ticket sales for the remainder of the 2010/2011 season and have a valuable asset for a lengthy playoff push with a hometown product.
I am sure Spokane and Kootenay both hope that Cody Eakin is also available to play in four days for the first outdoor game in WHL history. You can see the preparations at Avista Stadium live on the internet here. Of course the second game in WHL history will occur in February in Calgary when the Hitmen play the Regina Pats the day after the second outdoor game of the NHL season when the Flames face the Montreal Canadiens.
It does seems teams did pay a high price for some players and it not being a case of teams seeing the other one coming. There is still much speculation of what might have happened if the Regina Pats moved Colten Tuebert and Jordan Eberle last season at the deadline after Brent Parker kept the assets. Chad Lang made a minor deal yesterday but would he had made the deal if he was the GM last season instead of Parker?
Beyond the trade anarchy many teams made roster moves either releasing players or assigning them to the junior A loop which also had its trade deadline yesterday as well. In fact the only trade deadline left is for the NHL which will have much more fanfare and hoopla then what was seen yesterday.
Kamloops
Alan Caldwell has a comprehensive review of the situation in Kamloops on his blog Small Thoughts at Large. That situation should be resolved today when the WHL, Kamloops Blazers and Kamloops Daily News meet. Also of note on Alan's blog is a review of who has what left for picks in the bantam draft this year.
Many think the 1995 draft of bantam players will be one of the deepest in years.
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
no games scheduled
TONIGHT's ACTION
Brandon @ Saskatoon (Schenn will not be in the lineup and said on CBC Radio this morning he will not resume skating until at least next week)
Seattle @ Tri-City
Prince George @ Vancouver
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