TRADE TREE: Cougars Acquire Draft Picks from Broncos

The Teams: 

The Prince George Cougars were retooling after enjoying a very successful 2016-17 season in which they won their first B.C. Division banner. Approaching the WHL Trade Deadline in January the Cougars sat fifth in the B.C. Division, and it became apparent that changes needed to be made. Over a five-day span, the Cougars traded four players, all of which were 19 years-old or older.  In all four trades, the Cougars got back WHL Prospects Draft selections or prospects.

Swift Current was all in during the 2017-18 season, as their roster already had one of the larger groups of 19-year-olds in the league. On top of that they also had some young, promising players like 18-year-old Aleksi Heponiemi and 16-year-old Logan Barlage. With a “win now” window, they brought in reinforcements like goalie Stuart Skinner and defenceman Josh Anderson. Those moves paid off as they went on to win the WHL Championship.

The Trade(s):

The Players: 

Josh Anderson is a big-physical defenceman, standing a 6’3” and 230 pounds. He played three seasons in Prince George after being drafted by the team third overall in the 2013 WHL Prospects Draft. He then went on to be a third-round selection by the Colorado Avalanche in 2016 and was one of the most valuable assets the Cougars had coming into the 2017-18 trade deadline. It is safe to say the Broncos were happy with what they got. After he signed with Colorado, they noted that “Anderson has been a vital part of the Broncos run this season and into the 2018 WHL Playoffs.” In 29 regular season games for the Broncos, Anderson put up seven points (2g-5a) to go along with a +8 rating. After his WHL career ended, he spent two seasons in the ECHL with the occasional call up to the AHL. On January 7th the Avalanche put Anderson on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buy-out.

The Cougars used the 2018 first round pick to take goalie Tyler Brennan 21st overall. Brennan is a big goalie at 6’3” and has shown a lot of promise since being selected, joining the team full time in 2019-20 as a 16-year-old. In two seasons, Brennan has compiled a 6-7-2-1 record in 20 games. He has also been a member of Canada’s U-17 and U-18 national teams. He won a gold medal with Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Under-18 Hockey Championship.

The next season, Prince George and the Winnipeg ICE controlled the top four picks in the draft. Winnipeg had the first and third picks, the Cougars had the second and fourth picks. General Manager & Head Coach Mark Lamb took advantage of the unique situation swapping the second pick to Winnipeg for the third overall selection and a 2020 Third Round Pick. Winnipeg would draft Conor Geekie with the second overall pick. Prince George used the third overall pick to take defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk. The product of Sherwood Park, AB played for OHA Edmonton Prep in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League. Dowhaniuk just completed a successfully rookie season in the WHL, as he compiled eight points (3g-5a) in 22 games.

Prince George kept the third-round pick in 2020 and took forward Zackary Shantz. In 2019-20 Shantz had 52 points (34g-18a) in 33 games playing for the Grande Prairie Storm U-15 AAA. This past season, playing for the Northern Alberta U-16 Prep team he had four points (2g-2a) in three games.