Warriors, Royals complete multi-player deal Thursday
The Moose Jaw Warriors have acquired Minnesota Wild prospect Kalem Parker and forward Brayden Schuurman from the Victoria Royals.
The two Clubs announced the trade Thursday. In return, the Royals receive 18-year-old forward Ben Riche, first-round WHL Prospects Draft selections in 2024 and 2026, a second-round pick in 2025, third-round selection in 2027 and fifth-round selection in 2026.
“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,” said Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger.
“We’re looking at them as two-year players, they’re 19 [years old], they both could be back at 20.”
“We would like to thank Kalem and Brayden for their contributions in the community and to the Royals organization over the past three seasons.” said Royals vice-president of hockey operations Joey Poljanowski.
“This trade signals the direction we are committing to moving forward, with an emphasis on youth and player development. These draft picks set us up to build towards the future while embracing our youth this season and adding a competitive forward in [Ben] Riche.”
Parker, a product of Clavet, Sask., was selected by the Wild in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft this past June.s selected by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft.
Over 157 career games with the Royals, he has totalled 64 points (8G-56A).
Parker led all Victoria defencemen in scoring in 2022-23 with six goals and 38 points.
Schuurman, who hails from Abbotsford, B.C., collected 29 points (16G-13A) in 39 games with the Royals during the 2022-23 season.
He has appeared in 134 WHL games, all with Victoria, totalling 50 goals and 95 points.
Riche joins the Royals after originally being selected by the Warriors in the second round of the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft.
In 71 career games, all with Moose Jaw, the product of Bethune, Sask. has accrued 19 points (8G-11A).
Both the Moose Jaw Warriors and Victoria Royals are next in action away from home Friday, October 6.
The Warriors pay a visit to the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7:00 p.m. MT, Enmax Centre), while the Royals take on the Kamloops Blazers (7:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre).
🚨 TRADE 🚨
We have acquired 19-year-old defenceman Kalem Parker and 19-year-old forward Brayden Schuurman from the Victoria Royals!
Details ⏩ https://t.co/bEbA8PNv66#TakeFlightMJ pic.twitter.com/QfFQC4fNjF
— Moose Jaw Warriors (@MJWARRIORS) October 5, 2023
NEWS | The Royals have acquired Ben Riche, a 2024 1st, 2026 1st, 2025 2nd, 2027 3rd, and 2025 5th from the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for Kalem Parker, Brayden Schuurman and a 2027 8th.
Welcome to Victoria, Ben!
🔗 | https://t.co/NBJgcGkmZJ pic.twitter.com/WLGxQAqMjv
— Victoria Royals (@victoriaroyals) October 5, 2023