It's been a quick adjustment for Carlin Dezainde in Swift Current.
After 160 games in Prince George, the Cougars traded Dezainde to the Broncos last week. He is already starting to feel at home.
"It's been easy so far," Dezainde said. "The guys gave me a super warm welcome. Obviously, I was a little shocked. I wasn't really expecting to get moved. It was bittersweet and I was also excited. It's always good to have a change of scenery and a new opportunity.
"I was a little sad saying bye. I had a lot of best friends and spent a lot of time there, but I was super excited as well."
Dezainde and the Broncos are set for action at home this weekend against Spokane on Friday and Moose Jaw on Saturday. He has only placed three games with Swift Current so far, but he has made a positive impression.
"He's been really good," said Broncos head coach Taras McEwen. "A 20-year-old that had success last year on a winning team. He just plays the right way. He's our type of player. Just talking with him, it was a really tough travel last week coming from PG, playing the Wednesday night, three games in four nights... so I think he'll be even better this weekend."
As a veteran who helped a team to the WHL final four last season, Dezainde can bring something to the table as a leader.
"He's been in our leadership meetings and had some really good points," McEwen said. "I really like his voice. Once he gets a little bit more comfortable with the team and his role on the team, I think he'll be an important voice here going forward."
Five years and 197 games give Dezainde a lot of experience at different stages of a WHL career.
"I've spent so much time in the league," Dezainde said. "I've been on a really good Prince George team last year that had a ton of success, but there's a lot of really good leadership in this room, too, and I can just continue to build on that. It's just about being vocal and leading by example. It starts during the week in practice and it's just pushing the pace there and creating good habits throughout the room. I think that's one of my really good leadership qualities."
That background has made an impression on the other leaders on the team as well.
"He's awesome," said Broncos captain Clarke Caswell. "Great player, great person. Obviously coming from a good PG team, he knows how to win games. He's going to be a huge part in our success this year."
Dezainde really started to expand his offensive production in his 19-year-old season. He had 56 points in 51 games last season and has added 12 in 10 games so far this fall.
"I've spent a lot of time in the off season working on my skill," Dezainde noted. "I think confidence is a big thing and having the ability to be creative. I'm just trying to work on it every day in practice, just little things and have fun with it."
The Broncos dropped both their games last weekend to drop to 4-5 on the season.
"We could prepare a little better from the last three games that I saw," Dezainde said. "We have played great second and third periods. It's just the start we can be better there for sure. We've got a good group, a young group, but a good group and we should be able to win games. So just got to make sure we're ready."
Listen to Redhead Equipment and Case IH Broncos Hockey on Country 94.1 FM starting at 6:45pm. Puck drop is 7pm at InnovationPlex.