Nicholas Andrusiak was acquired via trade by the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday ahead of the WHL Trade Deadline at 3 p.m. (Portland Winterhawks/Chris Mast)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

gm has confidence in group

Rebels deal for blueliner at WHL Trade Deadline; King to return soon

Jan 10, 2023 | 4:24 PM

The 2023 Western Hockey League Trade Deadline came and went at 3 p.m. MT, with the Red Deer Rebels only getting in on a little bit of the action.

The lack of action, however, is perhaps an indication of where the team believes it sits with 30 games to go.

The Rebels announced today that they have acquired depth defenseman Nicholas Andrusiak from the Portland Winterhawks. In exchange, the Rebels send a seventh-round pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft.

Andrusiak has appeared in two games with Portland this season; he’s also played 20 games with the Melville Millionaires of the SJHL, recording three points.

Andrusiak, a native of Tisdale, SK and a left shot, was signed by Portland in 2021.

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“He is on his way here and will be in the lineup Wednesday,” Owner, President and General Manager Brent Sutter told rdnewsNOW shortly after today’s deadline passed.

“Simply, we wanted to add a depth defenseman because we really felt we needed to get deeper in that part of our lineup. That’s why we did that.”

It was a hard “no” from Sutter when asked if the Rebels had explored a blockbuster trade of any kind, a la the Kamloops Blazers and Everett Silvertips earlier this week.

“I wasn’t going in that ball game,” he said.

But perhaps the most intriguing news is that of the imminent return of Ben King.

“The best trade we made at the deadline was one we didn’t actually have to make, and that’s because with King, we’ll be able to inject a guy into the lineup who was a 50-goal scorer last season, sometime in the next couple weeks,” he shares. “That’s a pretty good addition. We’ll take that anytime. We’re excited to get back and we have a lot of confidence in our group.”

King played five games with the Rebels in October after returning from the Anaheim Ducks training camp, putting up five goals and five assists. Last season, King was second in league scoring with 105 points (52-53).

It was said after his injury in an Oct. 22 (11 weeks ago) game against Prince Albert that he would miss six to eight weeks with a lower-body injury.

For all that went down on Trade Deadline day and in the days preceding it, check out the WHL Trade Tracker.

Meantime, the Rebels still sit atop the Central Division with 56 points and a record of 26-8-1-3. Behind them are Calgary with 46 points, then Lethbridge with 44 and Swift Current with 37.

Red Deer has dropped its last two games after winning four straight coming back after Christmas; they are still 7-3-0-0 in their last 10, however, and have scored the third most goals (146) in the WHL this season.

Kai Uchacz leads the team with 33 goals and 18 assists for 51 points in 38 games; that point total is currently good for 6th best in the WHL. Uchacz, however, leads the league with those 33 goals, two ahead of one Connor Bedard who has 31 (in nine fewer games).

“We believe in our group,” Sutter concluded. It’s played well; our vets, the young kids, our goaltenders have all done a great job. At the end of the day, talking about the trade deadline, we weren’t putting our organization at huge risk only to deplete us for the future. That’s all a credit to our coaches and players, and we’re going to move forward with this group.”

The Rebels are back at it Wednesday, Jan. 11 at home against Moose Jaw. Puck drop is at 7 with the pre-game on 106.7 REWIND Radio starting at 6:30.

The Rebels then host Edmonton at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13, and head to Lethbridge for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday, Jan. 14.