It is the Western Hockey League trade that keeps on reverberating for the Victoria Royals.
On Thursday the Royals acquired 20-year-old forward Vaughn Watterodt from the Saskatoon Blades for 19-year-old forward Ben Riche.
Riche was part of the deal last season that saw Victoria send former stalwarts forward Brayden Schuurman and NHL Minnesota Wild-drafted defenceman Kalem Parker, both former U-18 players for Canada, to the Moose Jaw Warriors for a flotilla of draft picks to build for the future. Schuurman and Parker got to win a WHL championship with the Warriors, the first in the club’s 40-year history, and play in the Memorial Cup. The Royals got Moose Jaw’s first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, second-round selection in 2025, third-round pick in 2027 along with Riche. The trade accomplished what the Warriors, looking to win immediately, and the Royals, looking to the future, hoped it would for each of them.
Now Riche, a five-foot-10 native of Bethune, Sask., who had 15 goals and 34 points in 62 games for the Royals, has been flipped to the Blades for six-foot forward Watterodt, who has 32 goals and 74 points in 173 career regular-season games for the Blades and also two assists in 18 games in starting his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers.
As important to Royals’ brass is that Watterodt has had deep playoff runs the last two seasons with the Eastern Conference finalist Blades, who this year lost in seven games to Parker, Schuurman and the Warriors. Watterodt has played in 39 WHL playoff games with seven goals and 18 points. That is a key consideration for a modestly-rising Royals team that finally made the playoffs this past season after missing the post-season in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and placing last in the WHL in the 2021 bubble season.
“Vaughn brings close to 40 playoff games of experience to our group which will be extremely valuable for our young players and our entire team,” Royals GM Jake Heisinger said in a statement.
The 20-year-old native of Rosetown, Sask., was the 210th-ranked North American skater for the 2023 NHL draft by Central Scouting but not selected. Watterodt will take up one of Victoria’s three allowable over-ager slots for the 2024-25 season, which begins Sept. 20-21 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Tri-City Americans.
“He is a competitor that gives it his all each and every night,” said Heisinger.
“He has played any role asked of him over the years and with an elevated offensive role on our team, we feel he will be a key contributor this season.”
