WHL: Warriors acquire Braes as deadline approaches

With less than 24 hours remaining until the Western Hockey League's trade deadline, fans and GMs around the league have been waiting for the first big domino to fall.

A deal has just gone down between Moose Jaw and Lethbridge, sending the Hurricanes' overage top scorer, Cam Braes, to the Warriors for a first-round pick in 2012 and a second-round pick next year.

With 24 goals and 45 points this season, Braes bring some offensive heft to a team that lacks a big-time scorer beyond Quinton Howden. But two high draft picks to get a 20-year-old for 30 games plus a playoff run is a lot to shell out.

Moose Jaw also figured in another deal today, sending defenceman Tyler Vanscourt to Vancouver for a fifth-round pick. Speculation around the league is that this move may be a precursor to the Warriors bringing in Martin Marincin from Prince George.

Other than Braes leaving last-place Lethbridge for second-place Moose Jaw, nothing else major has happened as of yet, despite rumours flying that stars like Jordan Weal, Calvin Pickard, Ryan Murray, Kevin Sundher, Brett Bulmer and even Emerson Etem might be available.

Last season, Portland dealt for Craig Cunningham nearly two weeks before the deadline, paving the way for trades that sent Cody Eakin to Kootenay and Brayden Schenn to Saskatoon.

The big moves paid off last year for Kootenay and Portland, which met in the WHL final.

This year, the Eastern Conference's muddled standings make it tough to see who's buying and who's selling. Edmonton and Moose Jaw are on top, but neither are considered runaway trains that can't be stopped. There's just six points separating third and eighth, and any of those teams could be looking at adding pieces, rather than giving up on 2012. Remember, last year Kootenay finished fourth in the East and went to the Memorial Cup.

The confusion is evident in quotes like this from Regina coach Pat Conacher, whose team has been reportedly weighing a trade for Weal, who has 69 points in 42 games:

There's a much clearer division in the Western Conference, with the top four teams -- Tri-City, Kamloops, Portland and Vancouver -- pulling away from the crowd (with Spokane still lurking).

That means Kelowna (with Bulmer), Victoria (Sundher), Seattle (Pickard), Prince George (Marincin) and Everett (Murray) could all pull off big deals that command more than what Moose Jaw surrendered for Braes. Sundher and Marincin seem the likliest to go. Everett and Seattle have thus far resisted suggestions to trade the faces of their respective franchises.

One team likely to remain quiet at the deadline is Tri-City. Riding a 13-game winning streak, the 32-7 Americans are cruising and probably don't want to rock the boat. They brought in enforcer Jesse Mychan from Everett on Saturday for a fourth-round pick, then acquired a fifth-round pick today for rarely-used defenceman Riley Guenther.

Scott Sepich is a WHL contributor to Buzzing the Net. Follow him @SSepichWHL.