Dealing a team's notable name and fan-favourite is never an easy task. But, in the case of yesterday's traded that sent Swift Current Broncos defenceman Artyom Minulin to the Everett Silvertips, it was one deemed mutually beneficial by the Broncos Head of Hockey Operations. 

"We know Arty was a big part of this organization, and it makes it really difficult on my end of it," said Dean Brockman, noting Minulin rightfully possessed a need the Broncos just couldn't meet. "At the end of the day, Arty's desire to get an NHL contract, and just try to be on the team that could get him there... we're not in a situation where we could do that for him."

As noted yesterday afternoon, 17-year-old defenceman Alex Moar is head back to his home province, a move that brings more youth to the Broncos.

"For us, it made sense in a lot of different directions, especially getting the '01 age group, which we kind of lack right now - we thought that was important," Brockman explained.

The 5-foot-9 defender, according to Brockman, brings a vital skill-set to the Broncos' back end.

"Alex is a guy that's going to play on our powerplay, he's a puck-moving guy, he does some dynamic things at times," he said. "Certainly a guy that competes really hard - he doesn't have the big structure or any of that, but he doesn't like to lose, so that's a big part of it. He's a player that always wants to get better, and we have time for those guys every day. In my small discussion with him today, he was really excited to come to Swift Current."

As is the case with high-calibre teams, which Moar's former Silvertips squad seem to certainly be, there just wasn't enough ice time to go around. The 2001-born defenceman only suited up in four games this season with Everett.

Similar to Riley Stott's success in Calgary (41 points in 47 games) after the Broncos' deal to acquire Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn last season, Moar will look to thrive in an increased role with his new team.

"He was stuck in Everett where he couldn't use his skill-set," said Brockman. "For us, there's every opportunity here to do that. We're excited to have him - he brings some more skill to our back end, which we desperately need."

The Broncos now carry seven defencemen born in the 21st century, with two 2000's (Christian Riemer, Garrett Sambrook), four 2001's (Moar, Roope Pynnonen, Austin Herron, Connor Horning), and the 2002-born Billy Sowa.

"Essentially, you could have the same D-core for two-consecutive years, or maybe even three if you pencil it out the right way, and everything turns out," said Brockman.

"That was our priority. I felt that, coming into the organization, is where I wanted to head with that direction. Are we there? No. We're going to tweak - any time you can improve yourself, whether is a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis, we're going to try and do it. Until we get that right mix, until we get to that D-core we're really comfortable with, we'll just keep going down that path where we can make some things happen."

The Broncos now head into a game of significant importance this Friday - 'Bronco Strong' night. Look to Swift Current Online this afternoon for a preview of the game, where Swift will don special jerseys.