WHL trades since Dec. 27:
Trades: 24.
Players: 42.
Bantam draft picks: 32.
Conditional bantam draft picks: 6.
(WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10).
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Peter Anholt, the general manager of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, was a busy man on Monday.
Let us count the ways . . .
1. He acquired two veteran forwards — Matt Alfaro and Zak Zborosky, both 20 — and a sixth-round pick
in the 2018 WHL bantam draft from the Kootenay Ice for F Brett Davis, 17, F Colton Kroeker, who turns 20 on Jan. 21, a second-round selection in the 2018 bantam draft and a fourth-round pick in that same draft.
PETER ANHOLT |
2. Left with five 20-year-olds, two over the maximum, Anholt dealt F Ryley Lindgren, 20, and a sixth-round pick in the 2018 bantam draft to the Swift Current Broncos for F Carson Dyck, 15, and a third-round pick in 2018.
3. Anholt got down to three 20-year-olds be trading D Shaun Dosanjh to the Portland Winterhawks for a ninth-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft.
4. The Hurricanes dropped D Ethan King, 17, from their roster. He now will play for the junior B Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
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Zborosky and Alfaro were Kootenay’s leading scorers. They were scratched from Sunday’s 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants in Cranbrook, B.C., signalling that something was in the works.
ZAK ZBOROSKY |
MATT ALFARO |
Zborosky, a Reginan who was a fifth-round pick by the Ice in the 2011 bantam draft, is one of the WHL’s top scorers. This season, the 6-foot-0, 180-pounder has 28 goals and 16 assists in 44 games. His 28 goals are tied for fifth in the WHL. In 237 career games, all with the Ice, he has 173 points, including 86 goals.
Alfaro, a list player, has 50 goals and 83 assists in 243 games with Kootenay. This season, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound native of Calgary has 39 points, including 13 goals, in 41 games.
Alfaro and Zborosky will debut with the Hurricanes on Wednesday against the host Edmonton Oil Kings.
Davis, from Oakbank, Man., was a fourth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft by the Hurricanes. This season, the 6-foot-1, 180-pounder has seven goals and four assists in 29 games. In 85 career games, he has 12 goals and nine assists.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Kroeker, from Surrey, B.C., was selected by the Regina Pats in the seventh round of the 2012 bantam draft. This season, he has six goals and 21 assists in 41 games. His 27 points are more than any other player on the Ice roster. Kroeker has 22 goals and 37 assists in 155 career games.
The trade left the Ice with one 20-year-old — G Payton Lee, who is from Cranbrook — on its roster.
The Ice next plays Wednesday in Swift Current.
When all was said and done, the Hurricanes were left with Alfaro, Zborosky and F Tyler Wong, who is the team captain, as their 20-year-olds.
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RYLEY LINDGREN |
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Lindgren, from East St. Paul, Man., had 14 goals and 28 assists in 42 games with the Hurricanes this season.
Lindgren was a fifth-round pick by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the fifth round of the 2011 bantam draft. In 229 career games, he has 136 points, including 56 goals.
He joins F Ryan Graham and F Calvin Spencer as the Broncos’ 20-year-olds.
The Broncos expect to have Lindgren in their lineup when they play host to the Ice on Wednesday night.
Dyck was a second-round pick by the Broncos in the 2016 bantam draft. He is the son of Michael Dyck, a former WHL defenceman who is a former Hurricanes head coach, and a nephew to former WHL D Joel Dyck. Carson has 41 points, including 10 goals, in 18 games with the minor midget Lethbridge Hurricanes this season.
Carsen Dyck, just acquired by @WHLHurricanes has committed to @PennStateHockey; Canes must see chance to change his mind #WHL @CTVLethbridge— Darrell Romuld (CTV) (@CTVDarrell) January 9, 2017
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Dosanjh moves on to his fourth team this season, having started with the Prince George Cougars and then made stops with the Kamloops Blazers and the Hurricanes.
In 12 games with the Hurricanes, Dosanjh, who is from Richmond, B.C., had three assists. In 154 career games, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder has three goals and 10 assists. He was a third-round selection by the Vancouver Giants in the 2011 bantam draft.
The Winterhawks now have two 20-year-olds, the other being F Keegan Iverson.
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King, from Vernon, B.C., was pointless in 14 games with Lethbridge this season. He was a second-round pick by Lethbridge in the 2014 bantam draft.
Moving the 6-foot-6, 225-pound King leaves the Hurricanes with 21 players on their roster, including 12 forwards and seven defencemen. Obviously, then, Anholt isn’t finished.
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The Victoria Royals have acquired D Loch Morrison, 19, and a fourth-round selection in the 2017 bantam draft from the Prince Albert Raiders for D Brayden Pachal, 17, and a sixth-round pick in 2017.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Morrison, who is from Prince Albert, has two goals and 11 assists in 37 games this season. The Raiders acquired him from the Calgary Hitmen a year ago. In 165 career games, he has 10 goals and 30 assists. Morrison, a seventh-round pick by Calgary in the 2012 bantam draft, was a member of the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos, who won the 2014 Canadian championship.
Pachal, who is from Estevan, Sask., had three assists in 34 games with the Royals this season. In 74 career games, the 6-foot-0, 195-pounder has one goal and eight assists. The Royals selected him in the second round of the 2014 bantam draft.
The Royals are at home to the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday night, while the Raiders entertain the Hitmen.
The Royals are at home to the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday night, while the Raiders entertain the Hitmen.
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