Raiders not going young, at least not yet.

Raiders coach and general manager Bruno Campese has fired the first salvo leading to the trade deadline with the acquisition of 19-year-old centreman Anthony Bardaro and 18-year old goalie Luke Lee-Knight along with a fifth round draft choice from the Spokane Chiefs. The borderline blockbuster move sees 18-year-old goaltender Eric Williams and struggling 18-year-old winger Todd Fiddler heading to the Chiefs.

Picking up Spokane’s leading scorer isn’t the kind of move usually made by a last place team who is 8 points out of a playoff spot (pending Wednesday’s game between Calgary and Prince George), but with a 7-1-0-1 record over the past 9 games in a crazy, competitive and unpredictable Eastern conference, playoffs are still a definite possibility.

This deal probably would not have been made if the Raiders were more than 10 points out of the race at the Christmas break and more importantly without the re-birth of goalie Cole Holowenko. The 18-year-old picked up last year in a trade with Chilliwack hadn’t started in 10 straight games before getting the call four games ago in Red Deer. That game marked the beginning of Holowenko’s transformation from harrowing to heroic. He has since gone 4-0 with 1 shutout, a goals against average of 1.44 and a save percentage of .958. Williams had clearly been the Raiders number one goalie until that point. Lee-Knight returns as the back up after proving he can play that role with the Chiefs (The Raiders traded him to Spokane in the Tyler Vanscourt deal at the end of preseason).

One reason this deal was made in addition to Chiefs G.M. Tim Speltz’ attendance at the Art Hauser Centre for the Raiders 5-2 win over Kamloops on December 13th, was the lone head to head matchup between the teams in Spokane. Bardaro was the first star October 14th after scoring the overtime winner in a 3-2 Chiefs victory. Williams was second star with his 40 save performance.
In addition to a proven goalie, the Chiefs are hoping Fiddler finds the form that saw him score 23 goals as a 17-year-old rookie. He was instrumental in last season’s Raider run to a playoff spot and their six game post season push against Saskatoon. However with only four goals this season including a current 16 game drought, a change of scenery was in order.

Bruno Campese still has the option to go younger by the January 10th deadline. Bardaro’s offensive ability (18 goals & 19 assists in 29 games) , experience and likelihood of returning next season as a 20-year-old could make it possible to swap experience for youth should the run toward a playoff spot go south in next two weeks.

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But taken at face value, the message of this trade is the Raiders are committed to do whatever it takes to get into the playoffs in a parity laden conference with no clear favorite.

dwilson@rawlco.com