Dean Brockman and the Swift Current Broncos Hockey Operations staff are wheeling and dealing once more.

The latest move, made official this afternoon, sees overage import defenceman Artyom Minulin sent to the ultra-competitive U.S. Division.

The Broncos' Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel delt the Russian defender to the Everett Silvertips, along with an eighth-round pick in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft, in exchange for 2001-born defenceman Alex Moar. 

Brockman spoke with Shawn Mullin, voice of the Broncos, about the late-October deal:

The ability to trade a player such as Minulin can prove to be slightly more challenging than a typical overage player. Carrying both overage and import titles means filling two slots on the roster. That tends to limit the suitors.

The Silvertips currently only carry two 20-year-olds on their roster and, although both import slots are filled, Minulin will comfortably bump one of the young players off the roster.

Coming to the Broncos, the 17-year-old Moar has suited up in four games this year for the Silvertips, and sports a minus-one rating.

Moar, a 5-foot-9, 175-pound D-man, hails from Prince Albert, and spent his Midget AAA hockey career with the SMAAAHL perennial powerhouse Prince Albert Mintos.

In two seasons with the Mintos, Moar racked up 46 regular-season points (7 G, 39 A) in 74 contests, adding four goals and 13 points in 17 playoff games for his hometown club.

He's a former fifth-round bantam draft pick of the Silvertips (102nd overall in 2016). Moar also was selected sixth-overall by the La Ronge Ice Wolves in the SJHL draft that same year.

Moar also played for Team Sask at the Western Canada Under-16 Challenge Cup.

Meanwhile, the Silvertips are getting a WHL-champion defenceman who spent the previous three seasons with the Broncos.

Minulin looks to be healthy after recovering from shoulder surgery in the offseason, and is no stranger to finding the stat sheet.

The 6-foot-3 Russian had 126 points in 206 regular-season games with the Broncos, adding 15 playoff points in 34 games. He also chipped in three assists in three games at the 2018 Memorial Cup this past spring.

Minulin fellow former Broncos D-man Sahvan Khaira on the Silvertips, who are in the midst of a neck-and-neck race already in the U.S. Division.

The Silvertips hold the division lead with 20 points in 15 games (10-5-0-0), but sit just five points clear of the fifth/last-place Portland Winterhawks.