Raiders captain Nolan Allan is off to the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for three players and six draft picks. (Submitted Photo/Mark Peterson Media)

By Rob Mahon

Captain Allan Traded

Raiders send captain Allan to Thunderbirds in blockbuster deal

Nov 16, 2022 | 12:13 PM

For the second season in a row, the Prince Albert Raiders have made a massive mid-season splash by trading one of the most sought-after pieces in junior hockey. And for the second season in a row, they’ve pulled in a tremendous haul of players and picks in the trade.

The Raiders announced Wednesday they had traded captain Nolan Allan and prospect forward Reese Shaw to the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for forwards Gabe Ludwig and Braden Dube, defenseman Easton Kovacs, a first-round pick in 2023 belonging originally to the Kelowna Rockets, a first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2026, a third-round pick in 2024, a sixth-round pick in 2025, and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026.

“We’re a third of the way through the season and we are on the outside looking in,” Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt said. “I believe this trade gives us better depth in our forward group and adds speed and skill up front. These draft picks allow us to further supplement our group as we work through the holiday season towards the (trade) deadline, in the event that there is an opportunity to make our group that much better again.”

Allan, a 2003-born defenseman and first-round pick of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, was in his fourth season as a Raider and first as captain. In 16 games this season, he had posted four goals and seven assists, along with his usual bevy of hard bodychecks and gutsy shot blocks.

Ludwig is a 2004-born forward from Eagle River, Alaska who was a second-round prospects draft pick of the Thunderbirds in 2019. So far this season he has posted three goals and two assists in 15 games played.

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Dube, a 2005-born forward and a second-round pick in 2020, hails from Roblin, Manitoba. Last season, he played for the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, where he posted an impressive 46 points in 49 games. So far in his WHL career, Dube has two goals and two assists in 14 games played.

Kovacs, a 6’4, 200-pound defenseman born in 2004, started his career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before being moved to Seattle last summer. He has one assist in ten games with the Thunderbirds this season.

The Raiders’ next game is Saturday night on home ice against the Medicine Hat Tigers. That game will begin at 7:00.

More details on the trade to follow on paNOW.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP