Thoughts on the two trades from Jon Whiting

The first one has sent 20 year old defender Jesse Forsberg to the Moose Jaw Warriors. In exchange, they get a 3rd round pick in the 2015 Bantam Draft.

This solves the 20 year old situation by cutting down to the number of 20's to 3 (all forwards). This was probably the easiest way to solve the 20 year old issue and the too many defenders situation in one move. A 3rd rounder coming back is about on par with the other 20 trades as of late.

What is interesting is that Moose Jaw already had 3 20's, so maybe not a location people might have expected. Forsberg is a good defender on the back end, and a tough player at that. But Evan Wardley is starting to turn into that as a 19, so possibly the team didn't need another one. Off the ice, Forsberg was a class act, and I personally wish him the best of luck in the future.

The second move caught me by surprise.

The Birds have moved 18 year old Griffin Foulk to Lethbridge. Coming back is a 19 year old defender in Adam Henry. With the trading of Forsberg I certainly didn't expect another trade involving another defender. Foulk was advertised as a puck moving smooth skating defender when he was acquired from Everett. At times he showed this, but others times he looked like just a 2nd / 3rd line defender out there and he only had 3 assists in 46 games last season for the Seattle.

GM Farwell described Adam Henry as "adds some additional offense from the back end and supports our forward group and developing style of play.” Which is basically the same exact quote that Farwell used for Foulk when we got him. I don't know much about Henry, but he is still a defender that has played 4 years the league.

The funny thing I find about these two trades is almost all fans and the coaches / GM said those two were the best defenders during the playoffs last year and now neither are on the team.

How fast times change.

http://www.letsgobirds.com/2013/10/t...wo-trades.html