Zero. Nada. Zilch.
In fact, only four trades total were made in weeks leading up to the deadline. Two of those were by the Warriors, first sending goaltender Brock Gould to Portland on Feb. 10 so the Colorado Springs, Col. native wouldn’t have to deal with border crossing issues during the pandemic. The Warriors then dealt Peyton McKenzie to Kamloops for a sixth-round pick in 2021 on Feb. 23.
As it turns out, that would be the final deal any team would make in the WHL this season.
Warriors general manager Alan Millar hinted that might be the case when the league announced its return to play plan for the East Division back on Feb. 12.
“I think we feel real confident in our team a year from now and the steps our team can take,” Millar said at the time. “This will be important in building that, and we feel our young group of players is strong and the development part is very important… you won’t have your traditional buyers and sellers so I don’t anticipate very many moves.”
There were a total of 28 trades in the week leading up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline in 2020, including 12 on the day itself.
The WHL kicks off its 24-game ‘season’ on Friday, Feb. 26 with a pair of Central Divison games when Medicine Hat travels to Red Deer and Lethbridge heads to Edmonton to take on Moose Jaw’s Ethan Peters and the Oil Kings.
The East Division teams -- including the Moose Jaw Warriors -- are in the final two days of quarantine and will report to the Regina Hub on Feb. 27, go through another five-day quarantine and prepare for the first slate of games on Mar. 12. No schedule has been announced as of yet, but all games will be played at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
The U.S. Division plays their first game on Thursday, Mar. 18, with Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Reece Newkirk and the Portland Winterhawks doing battle with Tri-City.
No return-to-play announcement has been announced for the B.C. Division.
The final order of business for WHL squads is finalizing rosters, which must be completed by midnight Thursday.
