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BCHL teams can’t resume trading with CJHL clubs until Jan. 1

Brian Wiebe

As is customary each year, the BC Hockey League’s 18 teams aren’t allowed to make trades with any of the 117 teams in the Canadian Junior Hockey League between Dec. 10 and New Year’s Day. It’s simply because the national association of junior A leagues has an annual trade freeze between those dates.

However, it doesn’t prevent BCHL teams from making trades with each other, as iss evidenced by the Dec. 17 deal that saw defenseman Declan Ride go from Victoria to Cranbrook for forward Noah Leibl and future considerations.

One of the big questions that arose after the BCHL withdrew from the CJHL earlier this year was how the separation would affect transactions between BC’s junior A league and others across the country. The truth is, it hasn’t affected the transaction wire to and from Canada’s western-most province at all.

Just before the trade freeze came into effect on Dec. 10, the Nanaimo Clippers swung a pair of deals with teams outside the province. In fact, Clips general manager and head coach Darren Naylor also made a trade with an Ontario Junior Hockey League club the day before the freeze.

Those deals saw Nanaimo bring in 2003-born goaltender Brett Mirwald from Humboldt of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, 2002-born forward Ben Kotylak from Calgary of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and 2002-born forward Mateo Dixon from Toronto of the OJHL.

Since transactions for the 2021-22 season started on June 1, BCHL clubs have made a total of 130 trades, with 78 of them involving teams in the CJHL.

Leagues in the CJHL# of trades involving BCHL teams (since June 1)
Alberta Junior Hockey League25
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League16
Central Canada Hockey League14
Manitoba Junior Hockey League13
Ontario Junior Hockey League7
Maritime Junior Hockey League3
Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League0
Quebec Junior Hockey League0
Superior International Junior Hockey League0

The last normal season before the pandemic with specific roster deadlines was 2019-20. That season saw a total of a dozen trades consummated between BCHL teams and those outside of BC from the lifting of the CJHL trade freeze on Jan. 1 through to the trade deadline of Jan. 10.

With the 2021-22 season approaching the halfway mark and all but one BCHL team in the playoff hunt, trade activity leading up to the deadline should pick up as teams fine-tune their rosters in anticipation of the awarding of the Fred Page Cup for the first time in three years.

Brian Wiebe

Brian's been involved in the BCHL in a variety of capacities for 17 years. From 2002 to 2012, he served in several roles around the Merritt Centennials organization, including as team president, board member, beat writer, colour commentator, webmaster, media and communications coordinator and marketing assistant. He's been writing about the BCHL since 2008 and served as colour commentator on the TSN 1040 broadcasts in 2012-13. BCHLNetwork is one of Brian's many passion projects that he balances around his full-time job as an instructor in the Radio Arts and Entertainment Program at BCIT in Burnaby.