#TradeTree - The Butterfly Effect

Somehow, I think I've been able to link two of our trade trees in a weird, roundabout way and it will once again show the ripple effects of how one trade can set the wheels in motion for trips down interesting rabbit holes.

Let's start with our blog about the roadmap to Ryan Bowen. As you'll recall, we were able to do the six degrees of separation to get from Jesse Craige all the way to Bowen.

READ MORE: #TradeTree - Roadmap to Ryan Bowen

There was one trade in there that we didn't really dive deep into. It was the trade of Craige to Chilliwack for winger Cody Smuk and a third round pick. We learned then that pick turned into Sam McKechnie.

But it's Smuk that keeps our latest tree rolling. You see, the Hurricanes eventually sent him and a 2009 fifth round pick to Moose Jaw for goaltender Todd Mathews and a 2009 sixth round pick.

As we all know, Mathews didn't stick around very long, as he was quickly flipped to Kootenay in a deal involving draft picks. The Ice would get a seventh rounder in either 2009 or 2010, while the Hurricanes picked up a fifth rounder in either year.

As it turns out, the Ice went with the '09 pick, and used it on future long-termer Jonathan Martin, who ended up being sent to Swift Current, where he would be captain in his final year of junior. The Hurricanes also used their pick in 2009, and used it to select future captain Jamal Watson.


Here's where things got really dicey for me. Watson was later traded to Seattle for Cory Millette and a fifth round pick in 2016. Trying to track which pick that was turned into a bit of an adventure because Seattle actually had acquired fifth rounders from both Saskatoon and Swift Current, as well as they had their own. For the record, I tracked at least a dozen trades in the WHL involving fifth rounders, so this wasn't easy.

But I think I have figured out that it wasn't any of those picks. You see, back at the trade deadline in 2015, the Hurricanes sent their own fifth round pick to the Thunderbirds for Scott Allen. It looks to me like the Birds flipped that pick back to the Canes in the Watson deal.

That pick was traded one more time, and that's where the second old blog comes into play.

READ MORE: #TradeTree - Getting the Hall Twins

In May 2016, the Hurricanes sent Jayden Sittler and that pick to Spokane for the third and seventh round picks in that year's draft. As outlined previously, those picks turned into Kirby Proctor and Justin Hall.

We'll just call this all the WHL's version of the butterfly effect.