The Deutschland dangler himself in all his glory with the Prince Albert Raiders. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Neon Leon

WHL finals-winning goal can be traced back to the Leon Draisaitl trade

Apr 1, 2020 | 3:01 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders traded away ‘the Deutschland Dangler’ Leon Draisaitl to the Kelowna Rockets over five years ago, but the dividends of that move are still paying off.

The Raiders have two active assets that can be traced back to the Draisaitl deal. Dante Hannoun, who will forever be known around these parts as the beautiful human being that scored the 2019 WHL Championship winning goal, can also be drawn back to this trade.

Back on Jan. 6, 2015, the Raiders shipped off the King of Leon to the Rockets in exchange for the human erasing defenceman Dalton Yorke, the Swiss army knife in Kris Schmidli, a first-round pick in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, a fourth-rounder in 2016 and a conditional pick (the conditions weren’t met and the Rockets retained this selection).

The Raiders used that first-round pick to select Carson Miller. After playing 153 games with the Raiders from 2016-19, Miller was in a package with Kody McDonald and a third-round pick to the Victoria Royals for the eventual hero in high noon Hannoun. The Raiders also received a fourth-round pick in 2019, which they used to draft defenceman Tre Fouquette, who signed with the Raiders and played for the Mintos this season. They also got an eighth-round choice that year, and shipped it to the Seattle Thunderbirds to get Loeden Schaufler, who’s part of the 2019 WHL Championship winning Raiders.

Here’s a little look at the Raiders’ trade tree.

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Here’s the Leon Draisaitl trade tree.

It was certainly a tough time in Raiderland when Draisaitl was dealt. The Raiders were struggling at the time as they were 10 points out of a playoff spot with a 16-23-1 record and then-Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish basically forced the Raiders to trade him.

But that turns out to be a blessing in disguise as the Draisaitl deal still remains to be the gift that keeps on giving, even while he’s leading the NHL in points.

Stick taps to voice of the Swift Current Broncos Craig Beauchemin, whose story on the wild ride that is the Cody Eakin trade tree inspired me to write this, and Alan Caldwell who has plenty of beautifully detailed spreadsheets that make stories like these possible.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW