Let’s play WHL general manager for a few minutes. . . . The players mentioned in this exercise all have been traded this season or, in the case of RW Tayler Jordan, have left their team and are at home waiting to be sent elsewhere. . . .
It is early, really early, this season. You are in charge of the Kamloops Blazers and the Medicine Hat Tigers offer you C Scott Wasden, 19, D Zach Sim, 19, and RW Matt Lowry, 19, for D Keaton Ellerby, 19. . . . What do you do? . . .
It is later in the season. The Portland Winter Hawks will trade you C Colton Sceviour, 18, and RW Tayler Jordan, 17, for LW Travis Dunstall, 18, and D Keaton Ellerby, 19. . . . If you make that deal, you know the Winter Hawks are going to flip Ellerby to the Moose Jaw Warriors . . . . What do you do? . . .
Neither of those trades were made but I have been told by sources within the WHL that they were on the table. The first one never really got close to fruition; the second came close to happening but was killed by the Kamloops ownership group. . . . In the end, the Blazers swapped LW Travis Dunstall, 18, to the Tigers for Wasden and a 2008 seventh-round bantam pick. I also was told that at least one other team offered a third-round bantam pick for Dunstall. . . . The Tigers got a 2008 fifth-rounder out of Prince Albert for Sim. . . . The Brandon Wheat Kings gave up a 2008 sixth-rounder for Lowry, who is having a terrific season. . . . Kamloops ended up sending Ellerby to Moose Jaw for RW Brady Calla, 19. There are a couple of conditional draft picks built into that deal. Should either player return as a 20-year-old, a fourth-round pick will change hands. . . . Sceviour ended up with the Letbhridge Hurricanes, when he, F Nick Hotson, 20, and D Lucas Alexiuk, 18, were traded for F Jacob Dietrich, 20, F Nick Dietrich, 18, D Ryan Kerr, 18, D Travis Bobbee, 17, and a 2008 fifth-round pick. . . .
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A light day in Europe, according to Garth MacBeth. But he has one signing to report. . . . G Norm Maracle (Saskatoon) signed a two-year contract extension with Iserlohn (Germany DEL). This extension takes him through 2009-10. . . .
D Stefan Ulmer is scheduled to leave the Spokane Chiefs on Monday and make his way to Europe where he will join the Austrian national junior team at the world under-20 championship (Division I Group A) in Bad Tolz, Germany. That tournament runs from Dec. 9 through Dec. 15 and includes teams from Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Ukraine. . . . With Ulmer leaving, the Chiefs will add D Brendan Kichton, the 55th pick in the 2007 bantam draft, for games in Edmonton and Lethbridge next week. Kichton is playing with the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders. . . .
RW Michal Repik of the Vancouver Giants will leave Dec. 10 to join the Czech entry at the world junior tournament. That event will be played in the Czech cities of Pardubice and Liberec, beginning on Dec. 26. Repik played for the Czech in last season’s tournament, too. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province reports on his blog (Dub Hub) that the Giants also may lose D Jon Blum to the American team. USA Hockey is expected to announce its roster on Dec. 4. That announcement will come on Versus during the first intermission of a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. . . .
On Nov. 21, the Tri-City Americans dealt RW Travis Gorman, 18, to the Kootenay Ice for a 2009 sixth-round bantam draft pick. Gorman, however, left the ice shortly after the trade was made. The Americans have since waived the draft pick, so the deal, in essence, didn’t happen. . . .
The Prince George Cougars have added D Matt Cumming, 16, to their roster and he is expected to play tonight against the visiting Vancouver Giants. Cumming, the 198th pick in the 2006 bantam draft, is from Kamloops. He is the son of Lorne Cumming, the head coach of the KIJHL’s Chase Chiefs. Lorne also scouts for the Vancouver Giants. Matt, 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, has been with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers, for whom he had one assist and 20 penalty minutes in 20 games. He had been a healthy scratch in five straight games, so perhaps that had something to do with his decision. . . . Cumming had 13 points and 56 penalty minutes in 39 games with the major midget Thompson Blazers, who play out of Kamloops, last season. . . . Tonight’s game between the Giants and Cougars in Prince George originally was scheduled for Friday night. . . .
F Garry Nunn, 18, has left the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies and joined the Vancouver Giants. Nunn is expected to play Saturday against the visiting Everett Silvertips. Nunn, a Victoria native who was never selected in the bantam draft, had 40 points in 28 games with Victoria. He is the second high-profile BCHL player to join the Giants in the last few days. C Casey Pierro-Zabotel left the Merritt Centennials to play for the Giants. While Pierro-Zabotel gave up any chance at a scholarship from Michigan Tech, Nunn had said he was going to attend Minnesota State-Mankato and play for the Mavericks.
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