Jordan Thomson (photo by Darwin Knelsen for scbroncos.com)

A swap of defencemen has the Swift Current Broncos targetting a more defensive approach on their blue line.

They traded 19-year-old defenceman Jordan Thomson to Brandon for 18-year-old defenceman Mark Taraschuk.

“(Taraschuk's) style is weighted to the defensive side of the game,” Broncos Coach/GM Mark Lamb told scbroncos.com. “That’s what we need to help us close out games."

They've played different roles for their teams so far this season.

Taraschuk has been primarily a third pairing defender on a veteran Wheat Kings club, while Thomson started the season on Swift Current's top pairing and has played on the power play. In that time the two players have actually had similar offensive production.

Thomson has 2 goals and 4 assists in 24 games compared to 4 assists in 18 games for Taraschuk. The difference comes in +/- where Taraschuk is a +2 on a team that was +21, while Thomson was -11 on a team that was -15.

Taraschuk joins the Broncos with less pedigree than Thomson. The Winnipeg product was a 6th round draft pick of Brandon's in the 2012 bantam draft and spent a couple seasons developping in Midget AAA before making the WHL jump.

He helped the Wild to two consecutive Manitoba Midget AAA league championships as his role evolved with the team. In his 15-year-old season Taraschuk scored 14 points in 43 regular season games and added 5 more in 10 playoff games for a stacked team.

He came back as a veteran 16-year-old and claimed the captaincy before boosting his production up to 38 points in 43 games and 9 in 11 playoff games. That was good enough for a spot on the league's second all-star team as he helped them to another championship.

Taraschuk then put up 6 points in 32 games of limited duty with the Wheat Kings on a stacked roster as a 17-year-old. He managed a +14 rating and got into 2 playoff games for Brandon as well.

Thomson was a higher profile player selected 4th overall in the 2011 bantam draft by Kamloops. He eventually left the Blazers asking for a trade and wound up with Saskatoon where he has the most success of his career so far. With the Blades Thomson managed 18 points in 33 games over two seasons. His combined numbers with Swift Current were 14 points in 55 games.

The Broncos added Thomson in a bit of a strange situation at the trade deadline last season. They thought they had dealt Brycen Martin to Kamloops until Josh Connolly refused to report to Swift Current and they had figure out something different quickly. That resulted in the Broncos sending Martin to Saskatoon for Thomson and Red Deer's 2016 first round bantam draft pick.

Another factor in the deal is age. Thomson would have filled one of only three overage spots next season if he stayed with the Broncos. Taraschuk will only be 19-years-old in 2016-17 and fits with a cluster of defencemen that includes 1997 born Max Lajoie, Kade Jensen and Jaydan Gordon.

Taraschuk is listed at 6'0 and 198lbs. He will join the Broncos for home games against Saskatoon and Prince Albert this weekend. They are both part of the team's 30th anniversary celebrations that will feature a special jersey designed by Taylor Vause on Friday and the Teddy Bear toss on Saturday.