It has started . . . unofficially

No one is talking yet -- the WHL, in its infinite wisdom, apparently will begin releasing all trades at 2 p.m. Pacific time -- but sources indicate that the Kamloops Blazers have traded RW Tyler Shattock, 19, RW Jimmy Bubnick, 18, and D Zak Stebner, 19, to the Calgary Hitmen for F Chase Schaber, 18, D Austin Madaisky, 17, and a conditional bantam draft pick. At this point there aren’t any details on the draft pick but it likely is tied into whether Shattock, a fourth-round selection by the St. Louis Blues in the 2009 NHL draft, returns to Calgary as a 20-year-old.
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The Prince George Cougars have already dressed eight different goaltenders this season and will make it nine on Wednesday when they play host to the Red Deer Rebels. The Cougars headed south on a road trip last week without G Hudson Stremmel (concussion). That left G Alex Wright to, uhh, shoulder the load. Which was fine until he took a shot up high in a Friday game against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. Wright thought he was just a bit sore until late Saturday afternoon when he started preparing to face the host Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent. He was stretching, etc., and tried to do some pushups when he came up really sore. It turns out he has a broken collarbone. . . . The Cougars were able to get permission from the WHL to use Everett Silvertips list player Luke Siemens as their starting goaltender in Kent. The Thunderbirds won that game, 4-1. . . . As Sunday’s trade deadline approached, the Cougars were looking for a goaltender and also were hoping that Stremmel would be ready to go by Wednesday.
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The Swift Current Broncos have traded F Mike Brown, 19, to the Tri-City Americans for a fifth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. Brown has seven points and 54 penalty minutes in 36 games with the Broncos. He is in his third WHL season and is a grandson of Hockey Hall of Fame Bill Hay. . . . The Americans also have assigned Cody Castro, 17, to the Tri-City Titans of the Nor-Pac league, a junior A/tier III circuit. Castro, from Pasadena, Calif., had one assist in 16 games after being acquired from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in September.