Raiders send captain Allan to Thunderbirds in blockbuster deal

By Rob Mahon

For the second season in a row, the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders have made a massive mid-season splash by trading one of the most sought-after pieces in junior hockey.

And for the second season in a row, they’ve pulled in a tremendous haul of players and picks in the trade.

The Raiders announced Wednesday they had traded captain Nolan Allan and prospect forward Reese Shaw to the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for forwards Gabe Ludwig and Braden Dube, defenceman Easton Kovacs, a first-round pick in 2023 belonging originally to the Kelowna Rockets, a first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2026, a third-round pick in 2024, a sixth-round pick in 2025, and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026.

“We’re a third of the way through the season and we are on the outside looking in,” Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt said. “I believe this trade gives us better depth in our forward group and adds speed and skill up front.

“These draft picks allow us to further supplement our group as we work through the holiday season towards the (trade) deadline, in the event that there is an opportunity to make our group that much better again.”

Allan, a 2003-born defenceman and first-round pick of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, was in his fourth season as a Raider and first as captain. In 16 games this season, the Davidson product had posted four goals and seven assists, along with his usual bevy of hard bodychecks and gutsy shot blocks.

Ludwig is a 2004-born forward from Eagle River, Alaska who was a second-round pick of the Thunderbirds in 2019. So far this season, he has posted three goals and two assists in 15 games.

Dube, a 2005-born forward and a second-round pick in 2020, hails from Roblin, Man. Last season, he played for the MJHL’s Dauphin Kings and posted an impressive 46 points in 49 games. So far in his WHL career, Dube has two goals and two assists in 14 games.

Kovacs, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound defenceman born in 2004, started his career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before being moved to Seattle last summer. A product of Delta, B.C., Kovacs has one assist in 10 games with the Thunderbirds this season.

Last season, the Raiders sent veteran defenceman Kaiden Guhle to the Edmonton Oil Kings for two players and four draft picks at the start of December.