Jake DeBrusk (photo from scbroncos.com)

Jake DeBrusk's days in Swift Current are officially over.

Jeff Marek of Rogers Sportsnet initially reported the big deal between the Broncos and Red Deer Rebels.

He tweeted on Saturday night that the Broncos will be dealing the star forward to the Rebels for an as yet unknown return. Marek suggested as many as six teams had been targeting DeBrusk.

Earlier this morning, the Swift Current Broncos announced they had in fact sent DeBrusk to the Rebels for forward Lane Pederson, a first round pick in 2017 and a third round pick in 2016.

Following Marek's tweet, multiple sources including Sportsnet's John Shannon, Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal and Troy Gillard of The Drive in Red Deer confirmed news of the deal.

DeBrusk's name had been mentioned in association with the Rebels and their quest to build a strong team to host the Memorial Cup going back to last season.

Broncos Coach/GM Mark Lamb had hinted on our broadcast of the team's final game before the holiday break that he would be busy on the phone over Christmas. The possibility of Swift Current moving some key veterans at the trade deadline this season has been a talking point throughout the league given their youth and recent struggles in the standings.

The Broncos have lost 14 of their last 16 games while battling a serious injury bug and still limiting their goals against. Offence has been hard to come by and may be even more sparse having dealt away a 40 goal scorer in DeBrusk.

Red Deer is getting an NHL first round draft pick for their Memorial Cup quest. The Boston Bruins selected DeBrusk 14th overall in June after he completed a breakout sophomore season. The Edmonton native led the Broncos with 42 goals and added 39 assists in 72 games.

Swift Current took DeBrusk in the 7th round of the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft when he was only listed at 5'5 and 120lbs. The son of former NHLer Louie DeBrusk grew in both stature and performance to become perhaps the single biggest steal of that draft.

He broke out with the Broncos as a 17-year-old by scoring two game winning goals in their playoff series against Medicine Hat.

DeBrusk has 26 points in 24 games this season while battling the impact of a lower body injury he sustained while blocking a Joe Hicketts shot over a month ago.

The Broncos have three more games against Red Deer this season and host them on January 16th.

You can hear more on this news during our pre-game show when the Broncos host the Warriors this afternoon. Our broadcast starts at 3:30pm on The Eagle 94.1 FM and puck drop is just after 4pm at the Credit Union iPlex.

Click here for a timeline of DeBrusk's Broncos career last edited in June