While the Moose Jaw Warriors chose not to make any deals during the Western Hockey League trade deadline on Jan. 10, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger was working the phones regularly throughout the day and in the lead-up to the deadline, but in the end, decided what the team currently has on the ice is far more valuable than anything they would have received in return.
As a result, the Warriors now have a vote of confidence from the man in charge, and will be looking to make the most of their still-intact talented crew.
“There wasn’t anything really big, it was just phoning around and collecting offers from other teams,” Ripplinger said of how things worked out on deadline day. “If there was a guy a team was going to move and we felt it was going to help the organization, we would have looked into it, but the prices were a little bit high for me. I’m not going to pay a high premium when I could take a guy off our 50-player protected list and they can do the same thing.”
Ripplinger isn’t kidding when he talks about high prices. Other teams in the league were shipping slews of first- and second-round draft picks to acquire assets, with the trade that sent Olen Zellweger and Ryan Hofer from Everett to Kamloops a perfect example. The Silvertips ended up receiving the Memorial Cup-host Blazers’ first-round Prospects Draft picks for the next four years and 10 draft picks overall in addition to four younger players.
With the market that overheated, Ripplinger felt it was in the team’s best interests to sit things out.
“You see what other teams were doing, everyone knew where I was sitting with the club and there was never a good enough offer for me to give up one of our guys,” Ripplinger said. “You’re trading a guy for two and three firsts and that’s what happens when your league is hosting the Memorial Cup. There are two teams who will be representing the Western Hockey League, so that’s why the market was so high for a lot of teams.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt that for the most part, the Warriors have played well. They had a 24-14-0-2 record heading into play during the weekend and have held fourth place in the Eastern Conference much of the first half. They’ve also defeated each of the league’s leaders at one point or another, including wins over the Winnipeg Ice, Red Deer Rebels, Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers in the first half, teams that have made regular appearances in the CHL rankings.
“I think we went into the trade deadline believing in this group, they’ve had some big games and played well, and I felt that this is the group to lead us here,” Ripplinger said. “I have confidence in our team, I have confidence in our coaches. We’re not a young team and we’re not exactly an older team, but we need to be consistent. Once we find the path for us to be a consistent hockey team, I think we can go as far as we want to go.”
The Warriors are back in action Friday night when they host another of the league leaders in the Portland Winterhawks. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
