Sask. WHL teams busy ahead of league trade deadline
With the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) trade deadline two days away, all five of the league’s Saskatchewan based teams were busy on Tuesday.
Starting late Monday and into Tuesday afternoon, a total of seven trades involving the Saskatoon Blades, Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos or Prince Albert Raiders were made.
More than a dozen players and another dozen draft picks were swapped.
The WHL trade deadline is Jan. 9, teams have until 6 p.m. MST to submit trades to the league office for approval.
Blades Blockbuster
A flurry of moves across the league began with a blockbuster deal just before 8 p.m. Monday when the Blades sent star 19-year-old defenseman Tanner Molendyk to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Originally drafted by Saskatoon with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 WHL Prospect Draft, Molendyk has racked up 26 goals and 108 assists for 134 points in 210 career games over five seasons.
He also served as an alternate captain for two seasons and was a cornerstone in the Blades’ run to the Eastern Conference final which saw Saskatoon fall to Moose Jaw in seven games.
The McBride B.C. product was drafted by the Nashville Predators with the 24th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
He also made Canada’s national junior team twice (2024 and 2025) but was injured during pre-tournament play in 2024 in Gothenburg, Swe.
Also headed to the Tigers is winger Misha Volotovskii.
The 19-year old Calgary product has four goals and seven assists in 37 games played this season.
In return, the Blades got a boatload. Including the WHL’s 16th overall pick in 2022, Hayden Harsanyi.
The 17-year-old forward has played just seven games this season, as he deals with an injury.
Saskatoon also received defenseman Jack Kachkowski and five draft picks, with one being Medicine Hat’s first rounder in this spring’s prospect draft.
Broncos beef up blue line
Six other deals were made by teams across Saskatchewan.
Swift Current acquired 2005-born Czech defenseman Marek Ročák from the Kelowna Rockets.
Ročák, 19, is in his third full WHL season, having played 119 games with the Rockets and recording 60 career points (10 goals, 50 assists). During the 2023-24 season, Ročák appeared in all 68 regular season games for Kelowna and added 15 playoff games to his résumé as part of the BC Division.
He recently represented Team Czechia at the 2025 World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa, where he helped his team secure a bronze medal.
In exchange, the Broncos send 2006-bornm Meadow Lake, Sask. forward Dawson Gerwing and a 4th-round pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft to the Rockets.
Around the province
The Warriors woke up Tuesday morning to deal goaltender Brady Smith to Vancouver.
In return, they received 18-year-old goalie Matthew Hutchison, a 2025 4th-round pick and a 7th rounder in 2028.
An hour later, Moose Jaw made an in-division trade with the Prince Albert Raiders.
The deal saw the Raiders acquire 20-year-old Kelowna, B.C. forward Rilen Kovacevic in exchange for Krzysztof Macias, Luke Moroz, and a 4th-round pick in 2027.
In 33 games with the Warriors this season, Kovacevic has 21 goals and 19 assists.
In the 2024 WHL Playoffs, he had four goals and 15 points in 20 games, helping the Warriors to their first Western Hockey League Championship.
Moroz, a Grand Coulee, Sask. product, has four goals and 15 points in 34 games this season.
Moroz was selected by the Raiders in the first round, 15th overall, in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft after scoring 108 points in 27 games with the SKAAU15’s Prairie Storm in 2021-22 and 47 points in 40 games with the Regina Pat Canadians in ‘22-23.
Regina makes trio of deals
The Pats were also busy Tuesday, making three trades.
The first saw 19-year-old defenseman Aleksy Chichkin to the Prince George Cougars for a 2027 4th-round draft pick.
Chichkin has tallied seven points (3G-4A) in 32 games with the Pats this season.
Later, Regina sent forward Anthony Wilson to Lethbridge for two future draft picks.
Wilson, 19, tallied 28 points (14G-14A) in 73 games with the Pats over the last two seasons, with 11 points (7G-4A) in 27 games this season. The Swift Current, Sask. product has 67 career points (30G-37A) in 210 WHL games. The 5-foot-10, 194 lb. right-shot forward was drafted in the third round (#69) of the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft.
In a corresponding move, the Pats acquired 17-year-old Ashton Brown from Wenatchee.
The Sherwood, Alta. product has six points in 32 games with the Wild this season.
Regina sent a 2027 6th rounder the other way.
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