On June 19, Powell River completed a trade with West Kelowna that saw 2004-born forward Kailus Green and 2005-born forward Matthew Lee join the Kings while 2004-born forward Trent Wilson headed to the Warriors. The Kings had acquired Wilson on June 1 as part of a trade to complete an earlier transaction they made with the Surrey Eagles.
The origins of this trade go back to September 2022 when Surrey acquired 2003-born forward Ethan Riesterer from the Kings and received future considerations.
This article is about the Kings-Warriors trade, but before that, I need to examine the deal involving Riesterer 11 months ago. On Sept. 14, 2022, the Eagles acquired Riesterer from Powell River after he had spent the previous two seasons with the Kings. Across 70 games on the Sunshine Coast, he scored 12 goals and 28 assists.
After joining Surrey, Riesterer improved his offensive output and posted 13 goals and 24 assists in 53 games. He still has one season of junior hockey eligibility left.
Wilson to West Kelowna
Wilson has played for the Eagles since the 2021-22 season. That first season saw him play 51 games as a rookie and finish with eight goals and 13 assists. During the 2022-23 season, Wilson played 32 games and notched six goals and six assists.
Before joining Surrey, Wilson played at the Delta Hockey Academy in three different divisions in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. The Delta, B.C. product also played for the Eagles U16 team during the BCHL’s spring league in 2017-18.
Coming to Powell River
Last season, Lee only played 19 games for the Warriors as a first-year player. Before signing in West Kelowna, the product of St. Catharines, Ont. played at the Bishop Kearney Selects hockey program in Rochester, New York from 2020-22. Before that, Lee played for two seasons at the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Rockland, Ont. as part of Hockey Eastern Ontario.
From 2019 through 2022, Green played out of his hometown of Kelowna, B.C. on Okanagan Rockets teams in several different divisions in the British Columbia Elite Hockey League. In 2021-22, Green made his BCHL and Kootenay International Junior Hockey League debuts in one season.
That year, he played four games for the Warriors as an affiliate and also got into three games for the KIJHL’s Princeton Posse. Green committed to the Warriors in May 2022 and as a rookie in 2022-23, finished with nine goals and six assists in 50 games for West Kelowna.
What each team got
Trades like this fascinate me because it took months for the pieces to fall into place. The Eagles owed Powell River future considerations before the 2023-24 regular season even started and essentially, the Kings sent away the Eagles’ player to get two more players.
As for the Warriors, they cleared a roster spot by sending Green and Lee to Powell River. Simply put, West-K traded two veteran players for another veteran player.
Both Lee and Green can provide a veteran presence for Powell River as the Kings have already seen several veterans leave for the NCAA this off-season.
Meanwhile, West Kelowna gets a player with offensive potential. Last season, Wilson was on track to surpass his 2021-22 points total and the Warriors will welcome a player who can add to their scoring depth.
On Mar. 29, 2024, the Kings and Warriors play their only regular season matchup, and it also happens to be West Kelowna’s last regular season home game.
Wilson and the Warriors face his former Surrey Eagles teammates on Feb. 23. Meanwhile, Riesterer is a 20-year-old player with one more season of junior eligibility. If he returns with Surrey, he and the Eagles meet the Kings four times, with the first coming on Nov. 10 in Powell River.
