The Western Hockey League trade deadline passed Thursday with no movement on the part of the Red Deer Rebels.
Not that GM/head coach Brent Sutter didn’t try to make something happen. In fact, he was close to re-acquiring former team captain Adam Kambeitz from the Saskatoon Blades, who are hosting the Memorial Cup tournament in May and completed a series of last-minute deals in an attempt to improve their inconsistent team.
Kambeitz, a 20-year-old, became available when the Blades acquired overage power forward Michael Ferland from the Brandon Wheat Kings in return for a first-round pick in this year’s bantam draft, and Sutter was confident he could swing a deal for the five-year WHL veteran.
But in the end, Blades GM/head coach Lorne Molleken sent Kambeitz to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a third-round 2014 bantam draft pick, a price Sutter would have paid.
“There was lots going on today, I certainly had a lot of communication with teams,” said Sutter. “I thought I had one thing in place but it fell through in the last hour.”
And that, he admitted, was his attempt to bring Kambeitz back to the Rebels.
“I knew that Saskatoon was going to move Kambeitz and he was certainly someone we were interested in getting and bringing him back,” said Sutter. “Unfortunately Saskatoon didn’t want to move him to another team in this conference.
“I’m disappointed for Adam. We traded him (to Saskatoon) in October to put him in a spot where he’d have an opportunity to play in a Memorial Cup in May. I’m certain he would have been happy to return to our team. Like I said when he left, he has a Rebels logo tattooed to his behind. I tried to make it happen but it didn’t materialize, so we’ll move on.”
Meanwhile, former Rebels forward Colten Mayor, 19, was traded by the Regina Pats to the Calgary Hitmen in return for forward Carson Samoridny, 18, and a fourth-round pick in this year’s bantam draft.
In addition, Saskatoon acquired Red Deer minor hockey product Collin Valcourt, a 19-year-old power forward, from the Spokane Chiefs in exchange for a first-round selection in the 2015 bantam draft and a fifth-rounder this year.
l Defenceman Mathew Dumba will be in the Rebels’ lineup for tonight’s game at Saskatoon (6 p.m., Rogers Sportsnet). He’ll leave Saturday to attend the Minnesota Wild training camp.
As a result, the Wild’s first-round pick in last year’s NHL entry draft will miss the Rebels’ game Saturday at Prince Albert and possibly next Thursday’s contest versus the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings before being returned to the club.