A shocking trade between WHL East Division rivals just a few days before they open the season against each other.

The Swift Current Broncos believe they now have one of the top goaltenders in the league after acquiring Logan Flodell from the Saskatoon Blades.

They sent a 5th round bantam draft pick in 2019 and a 2nd round pick in 2020 to Saskatoon for the overage netminder from Regina.

The Blades then replaced Flodell by trading a 2019 2nd round draft pick to Vancouver for 19-year-old goaltender Ryan Kubic. Saskatoon needed to make a move with overages Cameron Hebig, Braylon Shmyr and Evan Fiala also on their roster.

“This is something that has materialized only in the last 48 hours here,” said Broncos Coach/Director of Player Personnel Manny Viveiros. “We are very happy we have ourselves a very good goaltender and one of the better goaltenders in the league. Anytime you get an opportunity to get a goaltender like that you have to take advantage of it.”

Flodell played 48 games for the Blades last season and his 0.912 save percentage was 7th best in the 22 team league despite playing for a non-playoff team. Three of the goaltenders ahead of him have since graduated from the league.



“He’s very athletic,” Viveiros said. “He’s a great first stop goaltender. He very seldom gets beat on the first shot. He’s very sound and he handles the puck very well too. We’re very confident he can backstop us the whole season.”

The 5'11 Flodell has 100 career WHL games under his belt and went 22-20 with a 2.81 goals against average last season as his Blades fell just short of a playoff spot. He was the second-team Eastern Conference All-Star goaltender.

The Broncos had Taz Burman and Travis Child split their goaltending duties for most of last season putting up solid league average numbers. They added veteran Jordan Papirny at the trade deadline and ended up taking the league’s top ranked team from Regina to game 7 in the second round.

That experience was a good reminder of how important it can be to have a top flight goaltender on your roster.

“Anytime you look at any of the teams that have gone on to win any of the championships you certainly need that,” Viveiros said. “It’s probably the most important position non your hockey team. If you have good goaltending it can sometimes get you through games when you’re not in your best form.”

Adding Flodell certainly means the end to Burman’s time with the Broncos. He played 59 games over two seasons with the Broncos after being acquired from Seattle in the Landon Bow deal.

Burman and Flodell were actually a goaltending tandem in Seattle during their 18-year-old seasons before the Thunderbirds added Bow.

Replacing Burman with Flodell was not an easy decision for the Broncos.

“We’re going to have to let go a very, very good goaltender too,” Viveiros said. “Taz Burman – we certainly don’t take this lightly. He’s been an incredible player and young man for this organization. It’s one of the toughest decisions we’ve had to make.”

Burman has played 104 games in the WHL between Swift Current, Seattle and Red Deer. He went 18-12-1 last season with a 2.96 goals against average and 0.907 save perecentage.

Flodell won’t exactly jump right into the fire. The veteran will have a pretty light schedule to start with his new club. The Broncos play only three times in the first two weeks of the WHL season. That includes only one game this weekend on Friday in Saskatoon.

“It’s not like he is coming in at the trade deadline or in the middle of the season where we are playing four games in six nights,” Viveiros said. “We have an opportunity here to get his feet we so to speak… we have a good couple weeks to work with him here.”

Adding Flodell does not mean rookie Joel Hofer will be confined to the bench every night. Viveiros suggested their busy schedule will require two goaltenders who can start games for them, but this will also be a learning season for Hofer.

“We want to develop this young man also,” Viveiros said. “He’s at a really good age at 17 and we plan on him being our #1 goaltender in a couple years too.”

The trade left the Broncos with six overage players on their roster. They dealt with the first step of that process by releasing veteran Brandon Arnold and it appears Burman will also end up in a new home.

That leaves Flodell, Glenn Gawdin, Conner Chaulk and Arthur Miller for only three spots assuming Lane Pederson and Max Lajoie don’t return from their professional teams.

“We’ll carry that right to the overage deadline,” Viveiros said. “We have time to make those decisions. As far as the (signed players) we don’t expect those guys to come back and if they do it will be later in the season. We’re going to have to make a decision by October 10th, but we still have time to evaluate and let those guys compete for jobs.”

The Broncos open the season on Friday in Saskatoon and you can hear that game on The Eagle 94.1 FM with Robertson Family Group Broncos Hockey at 6:30pm.