The Moose Jaw Warriors didn’t see a lot of action during the Western Hockey League trade deadline on Monday afternoon, and that was purely by design.
In fact, if it wasn’t for a major injury to one of the team’s veterans in the weeks leading up to the deadline, Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger just might have stood pat.
That’s just how much confidence Ripplinger has in this current crew of players to take a serious shot at the playoffs, and a sign he hopes the players will take to heart.
“I think when you start making too many trades, you’re putting a bandaid on a cut when you create a revolving door by trading guys and trading guys,” Ripplinger said. “We drafted these players, we see a lot in these guys and when you trade them before their potential, you end up not developing your own players, you’re developing other team’s players.
“Our plan is to develop within,” he continued. “Next year, we know we’ll lose (19-year-old captain) Daemon Hunt, we know we’ll lose the three 20-year-olds, but we know we have guys who’ll take a step next year as well and we’re looking forward to seeing that happen.”
In the end, the lone deal the Warriors did make brought overager Cordel Larson into the Warriors fold from the Spokane Chiefs in exchange for 19-year-old forward Cade Hayes and a draft pick. A day later, the Warriors released 20-year-old Logan Doust -- who suffered an upper-body injury prior to the Christmas break and was unlikely to return in the near future -- in order to get back under the three overager limit.
“I probably wouldn’t have made a change at 20-year-old if Doust wasn’t injured, but I just thought we needed another guy,” Ripplinger admitted. “Logan brings a lot of character and he worked hard, he was a team player and a serviceable player, but I just felt that I didn’t want to go into the rest of the year with two 20-year-olds. Then Cordel Larson, we know he brings skill, character and grit and lots of leadership, so I thought that was a good move for us.”
Larson had an immediate impact, scoring twice and putting up three points in his first game in a Warriors uniform on Wednesday night, an 8-2 romp over the Calgary Hitmen.
“You always feel good about the move when a player comes in and contributes right away,” Ripplinger said. “Obviously he played with a lot of energy tonight, and I feel like he’s going to play like that the rest of the year and help us get into the playoffs. So I’m really excited to see him in our line-up.”
All in all, the Warriors didn’t receive a whole lot of inquiries on deadline day, at least none sweet enough to make the team take the jump.
“There were a couple of teams that made some offers, but they weren’t really serious about getting into a bigger deal, and I felt that for us making the playoffs this year, not trading Daemon or Ryder or someone like that, we need the experience,” Ripplinger said. “We’re not rebuilding, we’re looking to take a step and with the team we have now, I’m confident we can do it.”
With their roster now set for the remainder of the campaign, the Warriors hit the road for three games in four nights against the cream of the Central Divison crop -- the second-place Red Deer Rebels on Saturday, third-place Hitmen on Sunday and first-place Edmonton Oil Kings on Tuesday.
