It’s only been three years since the Raiders dealt Kaiden Guhle to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
That isn’t a huge time frame in a league like the NHL where a player can play upwards of 10-15 years in the league. However, in the junior hockey ranks, players can play a maximum of five seasons in the league before aging out.
The Raiders traded away Guhle, who was their captain at the time, to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Dec. 1, 2021 and the trade is still having a major positive impact for Prince Albert.
Guhle was the lone asset sent to the Oil Kings in the deal. In return, the Raiders received forward Carson Latimer, defenseman Eric Johnston, first round picks in 2021 and 2023, a sixth round pick in 2022 and a conditional third rounder in 2025.
Guhle had spent parts of five seasons with the Raiders prior to the trade. He was drafted by Prince Albert first overall in the 2017 WHL Prospects Draft. He appeared in 156 regular season games as a Raider registering 17 goals and 58 assists. Guhle also appeared in 23 playoff games for the Raiders and was part of the 2019 WHL Championship squad.
The Raiders were in a strong spot the following season, sitting in first place in the East Division with a 36-18-6-4 record when the season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coming out of the 2020-21 bubble season, the Raiders struggled out of the gate and a player the caliber of Guhle wasn’t going to lift Prince Albert to a championship that season.
Because the Raiders were so successful in the two seasons prior to the pandemic, general manager Curtis Hunt says that Prince Albert needed to recoup some assets from previous seasons.
“If you look at the history of our league, you have these windows of runs. You’ve made some deals and you’ve given up some picks. The thought process there is, let’s fill the cupboards back up. Edmonton was on the rise, they had won the Central in 2019-20. Obviously we beat them in the conference final in the 2019 playoffs. They were poised with a team just a little bit younger than ours and it was their time.”
Starting with the two first rounders that the Raiders received in the deal, Prince Albert would keep and use both of those selections. The 2021 first round pick, which Edmonton had previously acquired from Kelowna, was used on Cole Peardon. In 124 games with the Raiders, Peardon has registered 10 goals and 17 assists.
The 2023 first round pick ended up becoming the first overall pick which was used on defenseman Daxon Rudolph. In 19 games as a 16-year-old, Rudolph has registered one goal and four assists while playing major minutes every night, something not seen often with young defenseman in the WHL.
Hunt says general managers across the league will try to acquire picks from teams after their championship windows have come to a close, which was the case for Prince Albert in the Guhle trade.
“We saw Everett make the trade with Kamloops to get their pick in the year that we kind of anticipate, championship teams are built of 19 and 20 year olds. We anticipate the year when they’re going to be without those guys and that’s what we thought with Edmonton at the time and actually thought it again with Seattle (with the Nolan Allan trade). I know some teams like to do a lottery pick protection and push that pick off. I think for us, our mentality is we’re helping you win now and we want to pick when we want to pick. In the end, the player is the most valuable piece of the (trade) because you just don’t know.”
Carson Latimer spent 75 games in a Raider sweater after coming over from Edmonton in the trade. During that time, he potted 22 goals and 38 assists and even earned the nickname “The Mayor of Prince Albert” from former Raider broadcaster Rob Mahon following a post-game interview in the Ches Leach Lounge.
Latimer found himself on the move again on Dec. 31, 2022 when the Raiders dealt him to the Winnipeg ICE. In return, the Raiders received centremen Aiden Oiring, a third round pick in 2024 and a third round pick in 2025.
Oiring has blossomed since arriving in Prince Albert appearing in 122 games as a Raider, registering 39 goals and 68 assists. Oiring has become a key fixture in the top six as well as the power play and penalty killing units.
The 2024 third rounder that the Raiders acquired from Winnipeg as part of the Latimer trade was not used by the club. Instead, the selection which was 57th overall, was packaged with the ninth overall pick and a fifth rounder in 2025 and sent to the Kelowna Rockets in exchange for the fourth overall pick. The Raiders used that selection on centremen Ben Harvey. The 15-year-old has posted 11 goals and 10 assists in 17 games with the Edmonton Jr. Oilers U18 AAA.
Eric Johnston was the other player acquired in the deal. In 173 regular season games with the Raiders, the Regina product registered 10 goals and 17 assists. During the 2023-24 season, Johnston served as the 48th captain in franchise history.
On Jul. 25, 2024, the Raiders traded Johnston to the Swift Current Broncos in exchange for a third round draft selection in 2028. If Prince Albert does not trade that pick, they will select a player born in 2014. If that player plays in the WHL as a 20-year-old, that will be the 2034-35 campaign, more than a decade after the initial Guhle deal.
The 2022 sixth round pick acquired in the deal originally belonged to the Raiders. Prince Albert sent the pick to Edmonton on deadline day back in 2019 in exchange for goaltender Boston Bilous.
Prince Albert would use the pick to select forward Ethan Bibeau. After playing in a single game in 2022-23, Bibeau would make the Raiders out of training camp for the 2024-25 season. So far, Bibeau has tallied five goals and four assists
Even with the fact that the Raiders have received a load of assets that will have an impact on the team for years to come from the trade, Hunt says it is never an easy decision to trade any player away, especially someone with the impact that Guhle had both on and off the ice.
“Trades aren’t easy in the end. The work leading up to it is one thing. The emotion going through it because we’ve watched these kids develop is another thing and they’re never as easy as you think or as cut and dry as you might think. We live in the TV world like it’s this spectacular thing. There’s no glamour in it. In the end, you’re looking for a deal that benefits both teams, those are the best deals because those create great good relationships and good partners.”
So far this season, the Raiders sit in ninth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with an 11-9-3-0 record through 23 games.
The Guhle trade, along with the Nolan Allan trade made in 2022 will continue to have a major impact in Prince Albert for years to come.
“Those players from those two (deals), this is kind of the first year of it. It’ll progress as these kids get older.” Hunt explained. “That being said, we’re still today looking to enhance our group if we can and give us a real good opportunity to have a good push here in the playoffs, especially when you look at our record over the last eight to 10 games. The way we’ve played, we’ve come from behind. We’ve done a lot of things to win games.”
