MOOSE JAW -- Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger was a busy guy in the lead-up to the Western Hockey League trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.
While the team had managed to recoup a large portion of their Prospects Draft picks in the lead-up to the last few weeks before the Jan. 9 deadline, what happened once the World Juniors trade freeze ended changed things entirely -- both from a team personnel perspective and draft perspective.
Almost every high-profile remaining Warriors asset was dealt including:
-- Team captain Brayden Yager and goaltender Jackson Unger going to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for defenceman Colt Carter, goaltender Brady Smith, forward Landen Ward and six draft picks.
-- Assistant captain Rilen Kovacevic going to Prince Albert for forward Luke Moroz, forward Krzysztof Macias and a draft pick
-- Smith going to Vancouver for goaltender Matthew Hutchison and two draft picks
-- Assistant captain Brayden Schuurman going to Seattle for forward Cooper Ernewein and two draft picks
-- Overage defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk going to Red Deer in a three-way trade that brought defenceman Eric Johnston to the Warriors from Swift Current in addition to two draft picks from Red Deer.
In the end, from Nov. 15 to the trade deadline, the Warriors would complete eight deals that sent nine players to other teams while bringing back 10 new players and -- most importantly -- restocking no less than 19 draft picks from 2025 through 2028.
As impressive a haul as one could hope for, especially in a single season after winning the WHL Championship.
“After last year's trade deadline and doing what we did, we knew that we had to restock the cupboards and make some hard decisions come this year to recoup some picks and hopefully get some prospects,” Ripplinger said. “We filled the cupboards and we got some prospects, so I think we did a good job getting all our assets back.”
In most cases, such a rebuild would take at least a couple seasons. But the Warriors were blessed with a lot of returning talent from the championship run, and that winning pedigree helped when it came to making deals. Still, to get so much done in a single trade cycle was an accomplishment.
“I wouldn't say it was by design, but it was something that I challenged myself to do,” Ripplinger said. “I didn't want to leave the team in a situation as a manager, whether you get opportunities to go take on another job somewhere or move on, there was no way I was going to leave Moose Jaw empty-handed.”
After heading into the campaign with only a handful of top draft picks over the next four seasons, the Warriors now have picks in every round of the 2025 Prospects Draft except the eighth, including two picks in the third round, four in the fourth and two more in the seventh, with a total of 16 overall.
Moose Jaw is still missing first and second round picks in 2026 and a first round pick in 2027 but have two first-round selections in 2028 and six picks in the first three rounds.
That’s a satisfactory situation for Ripplinger, even with the hole at the top two years from now.
“Yeah, I'm not too worried about that,” he said. “We've banked so many picks that it becomes monopoly money where you can start spreading the wealth a little bit. And if we have to add some players, we've always got the sweeteners now. So the organization's healthy in that department.”
Beyond the picks, the Warriors also landed some solid young talent that will have a chance to develop over the next couple seasons, meaning another potential run may not be too far in the future.
“We're going to have a young team next year, but we'll have a lot of 18-year-olds,” Ripplinger said. “And if they all take the right step and move forward and become good players and better players,when they're 19, maybe have a chance to take another run at this.”
Ripplinger also kept an eye on what the contenders were doing -- especially Lethbridge, Calgary and Medicine Hat in the Central Division, with each team making multiple deals to take a shot at the 2025 title -- and had a few memories of what his crew went through in the lead-up to last season’s deadline.
“I wouldn't change it for the world,” Ripplinger said. “Even if we didn't win, I still would have done what we did. But we're fortunate to have everything go right for us last year.”
The Warriors return to action on Friday night when the Regina Pats are in town. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
