The future of the Swift Current Broncos has been significantly overhauled in one day.
"We had scenarios that we had in our minds that we wanted to accomplish," said Broncos General Manager Chad Leslie. "For the most part, we did an OK job with it."
Swift Current made three trades on the day of the WHL Penticton Vees Expansion Draft and the 1st round of the WHL Prospect Draft.
They sent away three veteran players in Brady Birnie, Luke Mistelbacher, and Grayson Burzynski, while acquiring twelve draft picks and a prospect to restock the cupboards.
"It was all about asset management," Leslie said. "Getting some picks, entering into the first round, and then trying to build some draft capital as well."
Thanks to today's trades, the departure of Clarke Caswell to the NCAA, and the graduation of two veterans, the Broncos will start next season without six of their top seven scorers from 2024-25.
They also reshaped their draft capital after two seasons as buyers in the WHL trade market.
"We'd be able to look at this year as an opportunity to, with a really good returning d-corps and good goaltending, start to chip away at recovering some draft capital from the (Conor Geekie) deal," Leslie said. "Getting things to a point where we're not leveraging ourselves year in year out with the first-round pick. We just want to get things back on even keel, layer in, draft well, and be competitive year in year out."
The Birnie deal with Penticton was the result of the Regina native's decision to defer his commitment to Bemidji State University in the NCAA until 2026-27. That opened the door to find Birnie a new WHL home for his overage season.
"Brady is an intelligent kid, and the realization that to get down there and to play, to be physically ready to do it... I felt he needed two summers to get stronger to be impactful when he stepped in," Leslie said. "He evaluated and they talked about it as a family, and they made that decision that that probably was the best thing for him."
The deal also included Shaunavon native Nolan Stevenson. Swift Current had him on their prospect list while he played his junior hockey for Penticton in the BCHL.
"Playing in Penticton and being one of their captains, Nolan had a tremendous season this year and an exceptional second half," Leslie noted. "We tried to get him to come at Christmas time over to Swift Current and he felt loyal to the program there. He was the guy that obviously they targeted. With that, we had an opportunity to do a bigger deal and give Brady an opportunity."
Swift Current sent Birnie and 2009-born prospect Brooks DeMars to the Vees for a 2025 WHL Prospects Draft 4th round pick, a 2026 2nd round pick, a 2027 1st round pick, a 2028 5th round pick, and a conditional 8th round pick in 2028. Penticton was then able to pick Stevenson off Swift Current's list for the expansion draft.
DeMars was a list player for Swift Current who played for the Long Island Gulls in American U15 AAA
"It was a situation where there was not a high likelihood that he was going to come to Swift Current," Leslie said. "Penticton I think is going to do a great job in our league with their resources, their connections with the NCAA, and some American players. Their director of scouting had a relationship with Boomer (DeMars), and so they felt there was an opportunity to grab the player of that caliber that potentially wasn't coming to us."
If the Vees do sign DeMars, the 2028 8th round pick becomes a 1st round pick instead.
Swift Current then made another major move by shipping Mistelbacher and Burzynski to their home province of Manitoba in a deal with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
"What they return (and) adding these two guys, they're going to be a really tough team next year," Leslie said. "I think they've got a chance to be a contender. It was an opportunity to reward a couple of our players to have a good finish to their careers. It gives us an opportunity to reset and grab some assets to move forward."
In return, the Broncos added Brandon’s 2025 1st round pick (15th Overall), a 2nd round pick in 2025 (37th overall), Brandon's 3rd round pick in 2027, their 3rd round pick in 2028, their 6th round pick in 2028, and 2009-born forward Alex Letourneau.
"Alex is a really intelligent, skilled, big body," Leslie noted. "I think he's a guy that as a forward with that size that's gaining physical strength and growing into his body... his sense is really good. He's intelligent. He could run the power play from the top for a big man. He's got really good hands."
Letourneau had 12 goals and 9 assists in 38 games of U18 AAA in Alberta for Fort Saskatchewan. He put up 58 points to lead his U15 AAA team in 2023-24.
Swift Current then flipped the Wheat Kings' 1st round pick to Saskatoon for their 1st round pick (22nd overall), 4th round pick (72nd overall), and 5th round pick (93rd overall) in the 2025 draft.
The Broncos rounded out their day by selecting Cohenn Rotar out of Grande Prairie with the 22nd overall pick.
"We had a player targeted for sure, and we have a lot of defencemen in our system right now. Obviously, the players that were taken in around there, there was some really good defence. For where we were going and trying to get some more assets, it was an opportunity for us to do so and see if we could still have the player that we were looking for at that point."
Rotar scored 34 goals and had 33 assists in 33 games to lead the Grande Peace Athletic Club Storm in Alberta U15 AAA this season.
The Broncos now pick twice in the 2nd round, 4th round, and 5th round of the WHL Prospect Draft when it resumes tomorrow.
"It's a great draft," Leslie said. "When you think about all the players that are still on the board, I think the one thing about this draft is that it's as deep a draft for defencemen as I've ever seen. So we felt that getting an offensive player early was important based on how many good defencemen there are left on the table. There are a lot of good undersized forwards that can be really productive players in this league as well. I think it's a great draft and I'm excited for tomorrow. Our group is ready and we're excited."
Despite the major overhaul to the roster, the Broncos are far from throwing in the towel on the 2025-26 season.
"I have a lot of confidence in a lot of our guys," Leslie noted. "We return Joey Rocha, and we've got a really good couple of young goalies there in Aiden Eskitt and Berney Weston that are going to be very competitive with each other. Our back end, we return everybody but Burzynski and Hunter Mayo. We feel really strongly about our young D. I think they're going to take another big step."
Still, there can be no doubt that the Broncos have turned the page on the veterans they built the last two seasons around. The future starts now in Swift Current, and the next step for that future is a suddenly busy second day of drafting on Thursday.
The morning starts with the U.S. Priority Draft before the WHL Prospect Draft resumes.
Check Swift Current Online for full coverage of the Broncos' picks and any local players selected on draft day.