The Humboldt Broncos have pulled off a midseason trade in hopes of improving their sometimes-anemic offence, trading defenceman Cody Pettapiece to the Weyburn Red Wings for forward Kyle Oleniuk. The trade was announced on Nov. 27.
Pettapiece had been a member of the Broncos since 2011. In 98 career games with Humboldt, the 19-year-old tallied 38 points, including 11 so far this season.
Oleniuk is a 20-year-old who began his SJHL career in 2011 with the Flin Flon Bombers before spending the last two seasons in Weyburn. He is off to a fast start this season, with five goals and 12 assists in 24 games, tied for second on the Red Wings in scoring.
The trade addressed a need for the Broncos and, as harsh as it may sound, Pettapiece was expendable as a defenceman on a team full of solid options on the blue line.
"We always want to upgrade in different areas," said head coach and general manager Dean Brockman, who pulled the trigger on the move. "We had one too many defenceman, absolutely."
With a Dec. 1 deadline to cut team rosters down to 25 looming, Brockman said there was a bit more urgency to get the trade done quickly.
According to Brockman, the deal had been in the works for "quite some time", with things moving forward once Weyburn made Oleniuk available.
"Weyburn is going in a bit of a different direction and they made him [Oleniuk] available on the trade wire," Brockman said.
Any trade is not just about hockey, though. There's also a human component to deal with, especially when the trade pieces are teenagers.
"It's a horrible thing you have to do," Brockman said. "You don't feel good about it at all."
A trade can turn a player's world completely upside down and it's an area of the game that most don't think about or completely understand.
"He was shaken up," Brockman said of Pettapiece. "We don't expect him to understand the business side of hockey. We just ask these guys to play."
Oleniuk appeared in his first game with the Broncos on Nov. 28 against Kindersley. It had been less than two days since the trade and he hadn't even practiced with the team yet.
"I woke up yesterday and had a message on my phone to go see coach at the rink," Oleniuk said after his first game in Humboldt. "That was when the trade happened and then Dean got a hold of me on the phone. I went home, gathered my stuff, came up to Humboldt and played tonight."
In Oleniuk's own words it was a "whirlwind" as he suited up alongside players he'd only met earlier that day.
Even though this was the third time he'd been traded, Oleniuk admitted to a little more nerves this time, though he couldn't put his finger on why. He also said it was a nice change to go from the struggling Red Wings to the Broncos, who now sit in first place in the Kramer Division after beating Kindersley in Oleniuk's debut.
"It's pretty crazy that in 24 hours you can go from the bottom of the league to the top," Oleniuk said. "Winning's a lot more fun than losing."
