TRADE TREE: Luca Sbisa to Portland

In case you haven't noticed, when you break down a trade involving WHL bantam draft picks, it tends to have ramifications for years to come. And I've found another major deal made by the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club, which did exactly that. Only this time, it sent me down some crazy rabbit hole that is still kind of going. Back in 2010, the Hurricanes sent defenseman Luca Sbisa, a 1st round pick in the 2010 CHL Import Draft and a 5th round 2011 bantam pick to Portland Winterhawks for Daniel Johnston, Jacob Berglund and their first round import pick.

LISTEN: Episode #28 of Canes This Week Buckle up kids because the breakdown on this is something else. We all know what happened with Sbisa. The 1st round import pick the Winterhawks acquired became Sven Baertschi. He was pretty good for Portland as they went to the WHL championship both years he was there. The 5th round bantam pick turned into Michael Fortin, whose career fizzled out with the Swan Valley Stampeders. Johnston and Berglund finished out their WHL careers with the Hurricanes, which leaves us with that import pick. The Hurricanes ended up trading it to The Regina Pats Official Page for a 6th round bantam pick in 2012. The Pats went on to select Ricard Blidstrand, who spent a year and a little with the Pats before he was packaged up with a bunch of picks to Prince George Cougars Hockey Club for Martin Marincin and picks. I'll get back to that deal in a second. What did the Hurricanes do with that 6th rounder in '12? They selected goaltender Eric Szudor. He didn't see the light of day in the WHL. But he kicked off a run of three straight goalies in that round. Brandon took Logan Thompson, who is still there, while Kamloops grabbed Cole Kehler, who played a few games with the Blazers. So here's how that deal basically works out:

To Lethbridge Daniel Johnston ---> done after 2013 Jacob Berglund ---> done after 2011 1st Round Import Pick ---> Regina (who picks Ricard Blidstrand) for 6th Round Bantam in 2011 ---> Eric Szudor

To Portland Luca Sbisa ---> done after 2010 1st Round Import Pick ---> Sven Baertschi 5th Round Bantam Pick '11 ---> Michael Fortin Now, back to the Blidstrand-Marincin deal. Regina used their picks to select Brendan Kallis and Colton Kroeker, who obviously ended up in Lethbridge before too long. The other pick ended up getting traded to Calgary, who selected current backup goaltender Kyle Dumba. On the other side, Prince George picked up the 11th overall selection in 2012, which was flipped to Everett in a blockbuster, and the Silvertips picked Kevin Davis. The 2nd pick was actually a Tri-City pick, which the Cougars turned into Aaron Boyd. For those with long memories, this was actually a selection moved in the Carter Ashton deal between the Pats and Americans. READ MORE: Breaking Down the Ashton Blockbuster The last pick was a 5th rounder in 2013, which was originally a Kelowna Rockets pick. Regina had grabbed it in the Myles Bell deal, where they got Colton Jobke, a 2nd in '12 and a 5th in '13. That 2nd in '12 became Brady Reagan, who we've already linked to Ryan Pilon deal (go to the above link), which was linked to the Ashton deal. As for that 5th in '13, the Cougars turned that pick into Lane Zablocki, who ended being traded back to Regina in the massive Jesse Gabrielle deal. Essentially, here's how the Blidstrand to Portland deal shook down: To Portland Ricard Blidstrand 1st Round Bantam Pick '12 ---> sent to Everett in Kharia/Erricson blockbuster ---> Everett picks Kevin Davis 2nd Round Bantam Pick '12 (previously acquired by REG from TC in Carter Ashton blockbuster) ---> PG picks Aaron Boyd 5th Round Bantam Pick '13 (previously acquired by REG from KEL in Myles Bell blockbuster) ---> PC picks Lane Zablocki

To Regina Martin Marincin 4th Round Bantam Pick '12 ---> Brendan Kallis 7th Round Bantam Pick '12 ---> Colton Kroeker 4th Round Bantam Pick '13 ---> sent to Calgary in Dawson MacAuley deal ---> CGY picks Kyle Dumba So if you follow the chart, you can link the Luca Sbisa deal to Sven Baertschi, Ricard Blidstrand, Martin Marincin, Carter Ashton, Myles Bell, Ryan Pilon, Lane Zablocki, Colton Kroeker and Jesse Gabrielle, amongst a few. Six-degrees of separation, indeed.