The Moose Jaw Warriors picked up some more skill, depth and experience in a trade with the Victoria Royals on Thursday.
The Warriors added 19-year-old defenceman Kalem Parker and 19-year-old forward Brayden Schuurman in exchange for 18-year-old forward Ben Riche in a deal that adds a top-flight defenceman and depth scoring to the local squad.
Moose Jaw also sent two first-round picks (2024 and 2026), a second-round pick in 2025, a third-round pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2026 Victoria’s way -- almost all assets from earlier trades -- in exchange for an eighth-round pick.
“With Parker, we get a top-two defenceman that will come in, and once [Denton] Mateychuk comes back, our top-four will be pretty good and Schuurman coming in, we get some secondary scoring and some more leadership as well,” Ripplinger said in a press release announcing the trade. “We’re looking at them as two-year players, they’re 19, they both could be back at 20.”
Parker is in his fourth season in the Western Hockey League and was selected in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild this summer.
The six-foot, 189-pound defenceman has eight goals and 64 points in 157 games with the Royals. He had a career-high six goals and 38 points in 68 games last season.
“Parker is a drafted NHL defenceman, he moves the puck well, plays with grit and he brings lots of leadership to our group,” Ripplinger said.
Schuurman is also in his fourth WHL campaign, with the 5-foot-9, 197-pound forward having put up 16 goals and 29 points in 39 games last season.
“Schuurman works real hard, he’s good on draws, he can score — at 17, he had 29 goals and last year, he missed some of the season with an injury and still scored 16,” Ripplinger said.
Of course, there’s always the difficult part of making major deals and in some cases that involves sending away players who have been part of your organization for many years.
Riche was in his third season with the Warriors after being selected in the second round of the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft.
“It’s always disappointing when you’ve got to trade somebody that you put a lot of time into, but for Ben, he’s going to get an opportunity to play in their top-six and that’s what Ben wanted,” Ripplinger said.
The Warriors were also busy on the trade from on Wednesday, sending fifth-year veteran Eric Alarie to the Seattle Thunderbirds after fellow overager Martin Rysavy returned from the NHL.
Rysavy, Parker and Schuurman are all expected to be in the line-up Friday night when the Warriors are in Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes.
