Brendan Guhle, back before the Raiders retired Dave Manson's number 4 jersey. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Groovy Guhle

Gregor, Martin and Allan can all be traced back to the Brendan Guhle trade; Raiders trade trees, Part 2

Apr 2, 2020 | 3:19 PM

Here’s part two of the Prince Albert Raiders trade tree series as we look back at some of the biggest trades in Raiders history, and how the Raiders are still benefitting from them.

About half a year before the Raiders drafted Kaiden Guhle first overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, they had to make a tough decision and trade away his older brother.

Brendan Guhle was one of the rare bright spots on a struggling Raiders team to start the 2016-17 season. The team struggled mightily out of the gate with a 5-16-1 record and traded the then-19-year-old Brendan to the Prince George Cougars on Nov. 18, 2016, just moments after the Raiders lost 4-2 to the very same Cougars in Prince George.

The move shocked Brendan at the time, but the deal has been instrumental to the Raiders’ success ever since.

The addition of Noah Gregor, who scored both regulation goals and set up Dante Hannoun’s Game 7 OT goal to win the 2019 Ed Chynoweth Cup, can be traced back to this move. Max Martin, who got the secondary assist and was a huge part of that the defence core, was the focal point of the trade. And Nolan Allan, who’s only started what many believe will be a fruitful hockey career, came from this deal as well.

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Max Martin, Kolby Johnson, a 2018 first-round pick and a third-round pick in 2019 was the return the Raiders received for Guhle.

Here’s the trade tree.

Zoom in on your device, or download the photo and open it in in a photo viewer to see the trade tree in all of its glory.

That third-round pick almost looks like an afterthought in the deal, but the Raiders used that pick to get Gregor. Along with that third-rounder, the Raiders also threw in an eighth rounder in 2019 and a conditional fourth in 2021 to acquire the rights to Gregor. Gregor, who was on the cusp on starting his professional hockey career with the San Jose Sharks organization, ended up reporting to the Raiders after all and instantly became a go-to player for the Raiders. He led the Raiders with 43 goals in the regular season and added another 13 in 23 playoff games.

Max Martin was the biggest immediate piece coming back in the trade. The Raiders got almost all of Martin’s junior career out of this trade, as he played 50 games of his sophomore year in the green and gold colours. He developed into a puck-moving defenceman that could munch minutes, and he certainly did as a 19-year-old playing alongside either Sergei Sapego or Jeremy Masella.

And going back to the hero Hannoun goal, it was Martin that kept the puck in at the blue line and played it into the corner to Gregor. Martin got a secondary assist on the goal.

But the entire hockey world probably knows Martin a little more to what he did in the next game he played. Martin completely destroyed Halifax Mooseheads forward Keith Getson into the boards to start the 2019 Memorial Cup.

And the Raiders had the opportunity to keep Martin as a 20-year-old. But with the logjam of overage defencemen, the Raiders instead moved Martin over to the Kamloops Blazers for a second-round and a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft.

That first-round pick in the deal was used to select Nolan Allan third overall. Allan has only started heating up, after getting his feet wet and playing every day on the Raiders’ blue line.

If there’s another trade you’d like me to dig up or something else you’d like to read about, reach out to the contact information below and let me know! I have a lot more free time on my hands at the moment to look into some crazy new things.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW