Raiders confident after frantic finish to deadline
It was wild Wednesday in the Western Hockey League as the trade deadline struck at 4 p.m., but the Prince Albert Raiders opted out of the craziness.
General Manager Curtis Hunt orchestrated five transactions between Jan. 2 and 8, but was content to watch the final rush ahead of the deadline as the Regina Pats, Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos, Victoria Royals, and Portland Winterhawks pushed their chips into the middle of the table.
Big names were moved around the league over the final two days, as Brandon shipped Kale Clague to Moose Jaw and Tanner Kaspick to Victoria, Prince George moved Dennis Cholowski to Portland, Saskatoon flipped Cam Hebig to Regina, and the Broncos brought in Stuart Skinner, Giorgio Estephan, and Tanner Nagel from Lethbridge.
“We did exactly what we thought we needed to do. I didn’t see any need for us to chase anything else. I think we’ve got some great 17-year-old players, I think we can protect those guys a little bit better now with the addition of the two [veterans] in our lineup that can play big minutes for us,” Hunt said as he met with the media after the deadline had come and gone.