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Brandon Wheat Kings

Trade Tree: Three Overage Defenseman Traced Back to Ungar Swap

May 23, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


When a trade involves multiple draft picks or prospects, you can usually be certain a trade tree will grow from those branches. After all, picks and prospects grow, mature, and often become tradable players themselves over time. But even when no prospects are involved, a trade tree can still sprout several branches.

Such was the case for a trade the Brandon Wheat Kings made in the spring of 2021, and a trade tree that only just recently wrapped up on their side. A pair of 2002-born players switched homes, each to solidify depth at a different position, and the results of that trade were being felt well into the 2023-24 campaign.

On May 19, 2021, the Wheat Kings made a deal with the Red Deer Rebels, sending goaltender Connor Ungar to Red Deer for defenseman Mason Ward. A simple one-for-one swap on the surface, it has since morphed into a much larger trade tree on both sides.

THE TRADE: Red Deer acquires goaltender Connor Ungar

Brandon acquires defenseman Mason Ward

The Rebels brought Ungar in to help solidify their goaltending, which he did admirably. Despite only 15 WHL starts to his name before the trade, he earned an even split of the starts in Red Deer, and faired well in the 34 games he played. He put up a 21-9-1 record with a more-than-respectable 2.43 GAA and .911 save percentage, topping that in the playoffs with a save percentage of .921.

Red Deer had choices to make with their 20-year-olds the next season, however, and exactly one year later, May 19 of 2022, Ungar was on the move again, this time to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Along with fellow netminder Justin Maric, Ungar was traded for Kyle Kelsey and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft.

Like Ungar before him, Kelsey set a new standard for himself in Red Deer, starting 37 games in 2022-23 and finishing with a 2.64 GAA and .907 save percentage. And like Ungar before him, he was traded as younger goaltenders from within the Rebels system began to push him. He went to the Tri City Americans for a second round pick in 2025 and a fourth round pick in 2024.

A quick note on the picks Red Deer has acquired over the course of this trade tree. The fourth rounder they acquired from Moose Jaw in exchange for Ungar was used on defenseman Tate Dolinsky. Anyone who watches the Rebels will not be surprised to learn Dolinsky is a good sized defenseman (6-foot-3) who plays for Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg. He has yet to make his WHL debut as of this writing.

The second round pick in 2025 is, of course, still unused and untraded, so this tree will still develop for Red Deer. The fourth rounder in 2024, meanwhile, pinballed around somewhat. It was shipped from Red Deer to Victoria (when Red Deer used it as leverage to move up, swapping it and the 37th pick for the 30th selection), then from Victoria to Saskatoon (traded for a second-rounder in 2028) all on the day of the draft. For Red Deer, the end result was the 30th pick and Saskatoon Bandits forward Cash Arcand Vandale, whose career is off to a promising start but is still far too early to fairly evaluate in the context of a trade tree.

Red Deer's side of the trade tree is ended for the time being, but there is still a chance this tree grows as they still own a second round pick and two drafted players connected to the deal. We know all we can make use of on their side of the tree, however, so we shift over to the Wheat Kings, who, like Red Deer, got just one piece out of the trade but turned it into several others.

Mason Ward

At the time of the trade, the Wheat Kings hoped Ward would be a steady, physical presence on the back end, someone who could move the puck and bring nastiness. At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, he brought more than his share of size and snarl.

Ward would miss some time in the 2021-22 season, posting 14 points in 41 games and adding 82 PIMS for good measure. He seemed to be on track for even better offensive totals the next season, with four goals and nine points in 30 games for the Wheat Kings, but before he could finish his career season in Black and Gold, he was on the move.

On January 9, 2023, another team looking to add a veteran presence to their back end turned to Ward: the Swift Current Broncos. In exchange, they sent over a defenseman a year younger and with similar size in Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

Sadhra-Kang finished out the season with the Wheat Kings, and picked up eight assists in 30 games played to go along with 20 PIMs and a +6 rating. He scored his first goal as a Wheat King early in 2023-24, against his former Broncos squad no less, but before the calendar turned to 2024, Sadhra-Kang was on the move himself.

On November 30, 2023, the Wheat Kings sent Sadhra-Kang to the Kelowna Rockets in exchange for fellow 20-year-old defenseman Jackson DeSouza in another one-for-one swap. This one, as it turned out, would not lead to another bevy of trades, and that was because DeSouza ended his playing career as a Wheat King.

DeSouza brought exactly what the Wheat Kings were looking for in the deal, perhaps best summed up by his very first game in Brandon. During the second period of a game against the Rebels, DeSouza threw himself into a shooting lane and took a puck right off the side of the head. Though he had to leave the game and missed some time, the Wheat Kings rallied around DeSouza's example and won that game 5-2. By the end of the season, head coach and GM Marty Murray said DeSouza's willingness to sacrifice his body had rubbed off on the entire team.

DeSouza posted five points in 38 games with the Wheat Kings, but his contributions without the puck were the reason the Wheat Kings went out and grabbed him. In addition, his off-ice contributions boosted team morale and their presence in the community, and he was the recipient of the Community Service Award despite his relatively brief tenure with the team.

Finishing his junior career in Brandon, and thoroughly grateful that he did, DeSouza will take his talents to the professional ranks in Norway next season. As he was never traded, he is the final piece of the Wheat Kings' side of the Connor Ungar trade tree.

A one-for-one trade, a hockey trade, can help both teams address a weakness in the moment, provide a player with a needed change of scenery, or do both of those things. But if the swap of Ungar for Ward proved anything, it's that one-for-one trades don't have to stay that way.

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