Brandon swaps blue-liner with Swift Current

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This article was published 09/01/2023 (714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings got a year younger on the blue-line Monday in a deal as the Western Hockey League trade deadline nears.

Brandon sent six-foot-five, 220-pound overage defenceman Mason Ward to the Swift Current Broncos for 19-year-old defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang of Richmond, B.C., a six-foot-four, 202-pound defender in his third WHL season. The trade deadline is today at 4 p.m.

Wheat Kings head coach and general manager Marty Murray said it was a deal that simply made sense.

“We looked at it a lot of different ways,” Murray said. “Sadhra-Kang is a year younger and they’re both kind of similar-type players. Mason brought a lot to the table with his physical presence and his size but we just felt like we were getting a year and maybe have an opportunity to have a guy come back as a 20.

“We like the way that Kayden defends. He has a good reach and provides a little bit of offence and he’s a plus player over the last couple of years. That’s what appealed to us.”

The deal leaves an opening in Brandon’s overage ranks, with Brandonites Nolan Ritchie and Calder Anderson filling the other two spots.

Sadhra-Kang, who had four goals, 21 assists and 60 penalty minutes in 101 career WHL games, arrived in Brandon around 6 p.m. on Monday in the culmination of a whirlwind day.

Broncos GM Chad Leslie called him to the rink early to give him the news, which meant he had to part ways with his first-time billets and then text his teammates to say goodbye so that he could get on the road.

“It’s obviously an emotional thing to hear,” Sadhra-Kang said. “It was hard listening to it but I had to thank them because they gave me an opportunity to push my career forward.

“I’m just happy I got to play there. I sat in the parking lot there to take it all in and texted my parents. One thing that was really hard for me was saying goodbye to the guys. I wasn’t able to sit by them because they weren’t at the rink at that time so the only way I could do it was by text and there were tears sometimes coming out of my eyes while I was doing it.”

With a 609-kilometre drive from rink to rink, Sadhra-Kang had lots of time to get excited for the next challenge. He said that helped.

“I started to get my feel for everything and understand what’s really going on,” Sadhra-Kang said. “It’s exciting to come to a team that wants you and that’s been hot honestly with their new coach … It’s good to see they’re turning it around here and I want to be someone who helps them do that. I want to make the playoffs.”

He was originally picked in the ninth round, 195th overall, by the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He debuted in Lethbridge in the abbreviated 2020-21 season, and was dealt to Swift Current on Oct. 8, 2021, for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2023.

The big defender spent his 16-year-old season with the St. George’s School U18 team in Vancouver, scoring once and adding 17 assists in 36 games.

“I personally think I move pretty well,” Sadhra-Kang said. “I would call myself a defensive, puck-moving defenceman. I take a lot of pride in shutting guys down and what comes first is the defence. A good offence comes from good defence, so if I play good enough defence, maybe sometimes I can jump in the rush off a turnover that catches four guys in the zone or sometimes I can make a pass to a guy on a breakaway just because I picked off the puck.

“I take a lot of pride in my defensive game and trying to be a plus player in my career.”

The six-foot-four Sadhra-Kang joins a long list of big defencemen Brandon had acquired in recent years, including the six-foot-five Ward, six-foot-five Mitch Wheaton (2015-16), six-foot-four Dmitri Osipov and six-foot-three Kade Jensen (2016-17), six-foot-seven Braydyn Chizen (2018-19) and six-foot-four Dom Schmiemann (2019-20).

The Wheat Kings acquired Ward from the Red Deer Rebels on May 17, 2021 for Connor Ungar, their backup goaltender, in a swap of 2002-born players entering their 19-year-old seasons. Interestingly, Ungar has also been traded again since that deal and now plays with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

In 71 games over two seasons with Brandon, Ward contributed 10 goal, 14 assists, a plus-minus of -5 and 152 penalty minutes. He had 12 more penalty minutes in six playoffs games last season.

Ward admitted he was surprised by the deal.

“You kind of always hear things here and there and rumours but it was definitely out of the blue,” Ward said.

The big defenceman, who billeted with goaltender Carson Bjarnason, said it wasn’t an easy day.

“It’s obviously really tough saying goodbye to your teammates and your billets and everyone you became close with,” Ward said. “You just have to look at the positives. A fresh start is always a good thing.”

Ward was born in Boca Raton, Fla., when his father Lance played with the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, and the family followed as Lance’s career later took him to California, New York, Germany and Sweden. They came home for good in 2011 when Mason was in Grade 12, initially settling at their lake-side cabin near Lloydminster, Alta., and then into town. They recently moved to Red Deer.

Now Mason is on the move again too.

“I would just like to thank all the coaching staff and especially (former Brandon GM) Doug Gasper,” Ward said. “He’s the one who brought me in here. A big thanks to my teammates and my billets. I really enjoyed my time here but I guess it’s on to new things.”

Brandon has made five other deals since last season:

— On July 14, they traded 19-year-old defenceman Jacob Hoffrogge to Everett for a seventh-round pick in 2024.

— On Aug. 8, they acquired 20-year-old forward Calder Anderson from Moose Jaw for a seventh-round pick in 2024.

— On Sept. 27, they traded 18-year-old forward Tyson Zimmer to Lethbridge for a third-round pick in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024.

— On Oct. 11, they traded 20-year-old forward Riley Ginnell to Moose Jaw for a fifth-round pick in 2024.

— On Nov. 24, they acquired 17-year-old forward Tony Wilson and 18-year-old defenceman Luke Shipley from Victoria for 17-year-old forward Teydon Trembecky, a third-round pick in 2023, a fifth-round pick in 2024 and a fourth-round pick in 2024.

Elsewhere around the league on Monday, the deals continued to drop, although none were as massive as the ones on Sunday.

• The Everett Silvertips sent a sixth-round pick to the Prince George Cougars for the rights to 17-year-old forward Nolan Chastko of Brandon, who is playing in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Virden Oil Capitals.

• Everett sent 20-year-old forward Drew Englot to Swift Current for 20-year-old forward Raphael Pelletier and a second-round pick in 2024.

• The Edmonton Oil Kings sent 19-year-old defenceman Ethan Peters to the Tri-City Americans for a second-round pick in 2025.

• Tri-City also acquired 17-year-old defenceman Jackson Romeril from the Kelowna Rockets for a fourth-round pick in 2023.

• Edmonton acquired Hoffrogge from Everett for a seventh-round pick in 2025.

None of those matched the two massive deals on Sunday. One of them saw the Kamloops Blazers acquire 19-year-old defenceman Olen Zellweger and 20-year-old forward Ryan Hofer from Everett for three players, a prospect and 10 picks, including four first-rounders. Englot was part of that deal, and was shipped out a day later.

Also, the Winnipeg Ice made yet another transaction, picking up 19-year-old Ottawa Senators prospect Zack Ostapchuk from the Vancouver Giants for two players, two prospects and four picks, including three first-round selections.

Elsewhere on Monday, the Winnipeg Jets reassigned a pair of its 19-year-old forwards who were playing with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose to WHL squads, sending Brad Lambert to the Seattle Thunderbirds and Chaz Lucius to the Portland Winterhawks.

Lambert, a Finnish-Canadian, was acquired by Seattle from the Saskatoon Blades on June 30, 2022 for a fourth-round pick in 2023, a sixth-round pick in 2023, a conditional first-round pick in 2023, and a conditional second-round pick in 2024.

Portland drafted Lucius, who was part of the American world junior squad, in the fourth round in 2018.

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