One year ago, the Surrey Eagles mortgaged their future at the B.C. Hockey League's annual Jan. 10 trade deadline with a future's-laden deal that landed blue chip forward Adam Tambellini in the Eagles' nest.
The move paid off as Surrey went on to win the BCHL championship and the Western Canada Cup before their quest for a national title ended in the semifinal round of the Royal Bank Cup.
As another transaction deadline approaches, the Eagles are once again dipping their toes into the trade pool although the circumstances are much different for first-year head coach and general manager Peter Schaefer. Instead of working with a team that is one good player away from championship contention, the current edition of the Birds has spent most of the 2013-14 season flirting with .500. The team is third in the Mainland Division and in a position to make playoffs, but nobody is clearing space in the Eagles' trophy case to make room for new silverware.
With that in mind, Schaefer pulled the trigger on a pair of trades to send 20-yearold veteran players to contending teams in exchange for younger, talented forwards.
On Saturday, the Eagles dealt power forward Nicolas Pierog to the Penticton Vees for Anthony Conti and future considerations. Schaefer made another move Monday, shipping captain Brett Mulcahy to the Vernon Vipers in exchange for Chase McMurphy and futures.
Penticton is currently in first place in the BCHL's Interior Division and are ranked 10th in the country, while Vernon will be the host team for the Royal Bank Cup in May.
"It's tough to trade guys I've coached for almost two years now, but at the end of the day, it upgrades our players now and for the future," Schaefer said.
"The guys we traded gave us all they had and now our captain (Mulcahy) will be playing in the Royal Bank Cup guaranteed and Pierog just got offered two scholarships. That's kind of what it's all about at the end of the day."
Schaefer insisted he is not in selling mode, looking to write off this season in favour of future success. Both of the players joining the Eagles immediately have secured U.S. college scholarships for 2015 - Conti to Alaska-Anchorage and McMurphy to Alaska-Fairbanks - and will be in the Eagles' nest for one more season while the two departing players are in their final junior A campaigns.
"The guys we acquired are different styles of players than the guys who left," Schaefer said. "It clearly wasn't working for us this year and sometimes it's just a matter of tinkering with the chemistry of your second and third line players.
"It's tough to explain these moves even to the team because we are in a playoff spot. We are trading good players, but we are getting good players back and those players coming here will be here next year as well. I don't know if we are really in a selling mode, but we are definitely upgrading for the future. Chilliwack sent (star forward Austin) Plevy to Brooks, Alberta and I would say that's more of a selling move than anything we've done."
Late Tuesday Schaefer completed his wheeling and dealing by sending forward Luke Sandler to Nanaimo for futures.