Yahoo Sports 
WHL: Johnston talks Noebels trade; Ams take flyer on Connolly
Portland Winterhawks head coach and general manager Mike Johnston has taken some heat from armchair GMs about giving up first-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013 in addition to 18-year-old forward Seth Swenson to acquire 19-year-old German forward Marcel Noebels from Seattle.
Noebels had just 10 goals and 24 points in 31 games this year with the Thunderbirds after striking 28 times last season.
The trade came a day after Johnston surrendered a second-round pick next year to Edmonton for 20-year-old centre Cam Reid, who had been playing NCAA hockey for St. Cloud State.
Portland now has traded all of its first- and second-round picks for the next two WHL bantam drafts, yet Johnston said after Wednesday's 4-2 win over Kelowna that he'd do it all over again.
Reid centred a line with Ty Rattie and Brad Ross and scored a power-play goal in the first period of his debut. Noebels played on the second line and generated a few scoring opportunities, but didn't find the scoresheet.
"We acquired two players drafted by NHL teams for three draft picks, and I'm happy with it," Johnston said. "Our goal was not to move any key pieces to our future who are on the team now."
Noebels is a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, while Reid is a seventh-round choice of the Nashville Predators.
Deals were available at the deadline, according to Johnston, for bigger names, but not at a price he wanted to pay.
"We had a lot of deals come our way for great players in our league, but those teams wanted our younger guys and I'm not going to give up our young guys," Johnston said.
"I'll overpay on picks to get a player we need, but I'm not going to move a guy on our team now who's going to be here for three or four years. I'd rather give up first-round picks than our good 16- and 17-year-olds."
Johnston explained that he doesn't feel that the next two bantam drafts are of high importance to the future of his club.
"A big factor in this is that we've had a couple of key signings lately," he said. "We have our team projected for three years from now, and with all the guys we already know we'll have here and some further signings we anticipate, there won't be many spots available on our team three and four years from now."
Ultimately, Johnston feels that these deals will not weaken his team down the line:
"I value our draft picks, but I value the guys we have on our team right now more than that."
Elsewhere in the U.S. Division at the trade deadline, Tri-City made headlines for acquiring the rights to Brett Connolly from Prince George for a fifth-round bantam pick. They will also have to give up a first- and second-round pick to the Cougars if Connolly is sent back the WHL by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It might be a longshot for Connolly to return, but one would think the Lightning would at least be open to sending him to a team that could legitimately compete for a Memorial Cup title -- the Ams are currently the top-ranked team in the CHL rankings and in BTN's own Dynamic Dozen list.
Prince George is in ninth place in the Western Conference and going through yet another rebuild (playing as many as eight 16-year-olds a night). That probably wouldn't be an ideal playing situation from the perspective of the Lightning.
Tri-City GM Bob Tory shed some light on his thinking in an interview with Annie Fowler of the Tri-City Herald:
"It's an opportunity to get a world- class player in our lineup," Tory said. "It's not our choice, but Tampa Bay's. They will decide what is best for him and his development, and their team.
"I talked to Steve Yzerman (Tampa Bay GM) last night. Brett is there, and he is playing. As time goes on, we'll see if anything materializes. If he can help us pursue a championship, that would be a huge coup for our hockey club." (Tri-City Herald)
Tory also revealed in that piece that he made an offer for Kevin Sundher, who eventually landed with the Brandon Wheat Kings:
"Victoria thought what they were getting from Brandon was better than what we were offering. There were players I wouldn't trade. I like our team and our chemistry. The Connolly deal makes sense. There is little risk. Maybe we hit a home run here." (Tri-City Herald)
In Seattle, GM Russ Farwell got a nice return for Noebels but chose not to move star goaltender Calvin Pickard. From the seller's perspective, he echoed some of Johnston's comments above in a talk with Mike Caccioppoli of MyNorthwest.com:
"There were many teams that did not make any trades. There is less depth and teams did not want to give up players on their current rosters in return which really limits the number of trades possible." (MyNorthwest.com)
Farwell also claimed that a rumoured trade with Brandon for Pickard really was never all that close to being executed:
"Brandon removed so many of their prospects as untouchables that there really was not enough to complete a trade. I felt there was a lot of maneuvering behind the scenes whenever I spoke to them today. There really was never a serious offer from Brandon for this player (Pickard)."
As expected, Everett did not move captain Ryan Murray, but the last-place Silvertips also decided to keep 20-year-old leading scorer Josh Birkholz and 19-year-old goaltender Kent Simpson.
Spokane also didn't make any big moves, but the Chiefs did add 19-year-old Dylan Walchuk from the BCHL's Vernon Vipers. Walchuk started the year with Northern Michigan of the NCAA.
Scott Sepich is a WHL contributor for Buzzing the Net. Follow him on Twitter @SSepichWHL.
