A trade Saskatoon Blades fans had been waiting weeks on finally came down late Monday night, with star defenceman Tanner Molendyk on the move to the Central Division.
The Blades swung a blockbuster deal sending Molendyk and a fellow 19-year-old, forward Misha Volotovskii, to the Medicine Hat Tigers in exchange for a nine-piece package including a pair of 17-year-olds in forward Hayden Harsanyi and defender Jack Kachkowski, as well as five draft picks.
The picks headed to Saskatoon are first- and second-round picks in 2025, third- and fourth-round selections in 2026 and a fifth-rounder in 2028.
Molendyk departs the Blades as one of the franchise’s most revered defencemen, putting up 134 points in 210 games and anchoring the team’s blue line over the course of its back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference final.
Drafted 24th overall by the Nashville Predators in 2023, Molendyk is coming off a quarter-final exit with Team Canada at the world juniors in Ottawa, where he put up two assists in five games. As for Volotovskii, he was in the midst of his fourth season in Saskatoon and departs with 35 points in 195 games.
Joining the Blades will be a pair of the Tigers’ top young players in Harsanyi and Kachkowski, who were each selected in the 2022 WHL draft.
Harsanyi, a first-round selection by Medicine Hat, put up 28 points in 68 games over the course of his rookie season in 2023-24 and had four points in seven games this year before suffering an injury that has kept him out for three months. The Blades said in a media release, however, that he is expected to be ready to return to the ice this week as part of the team’s Alberta road trip.
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Kachkowski joined Medicine Hat mid-season in 2023-24 after a stint playing in the Alberta Junior Hockey League as one of the junior A circuit’s top prospects. Since moving to the WHL, he has registered one goal and 13 points in 64 games.
The move comes just days after the Blades sent longtime sniper Brandon Lisowsky to the Victoria Royals in exchange for a package that included overage forward Tanner Scott and a pair of draft picks, as well as a trade earlier on Monday that saw Martensville, Sask., product Kazden Mathies moved back home from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a fifth-round selection.
Saskatoon kicks off its three-game Alberta road trip on Tuesday night visiting the Red Deer Rebels with the WHL trade deadline set for Thursday.