Tigers swing blockbuster, acquire Tanner Molendyk and Misha Volotovskii from Saskatoon

By James Tubb on January 6, 2025.

NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB Saskatoon Blades defenceman Tanner Molendyk watches a pass from Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna in the first period of a 4-3 Blades' overtime win Nov. 23 at Co-op Place. The Tigers acquired the 19-year-old Molendyk and 19-year-old forward Misha Volotovskii in a nine-piece trade.

The Medicine Hat Tigers swung a ‘holy moly’ kind of trade Monday evening.

The Tigers acquired 19-year-old defencemen Tanner Molendyk and 19-yearold forward Misha Volotovskii from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for a seven-piece package that includes 17-yearold forward Hayden Harsanyi and 17-year-old defenceman Jack Kachkowski.

The Tigers also send five draft picks to Saskatoon, a 2025 first-round and second round pick (originally Portland’s), two 2026 draft picks, a third and fourth- round picks and a fifth-round selection in 2028.

Monday’s trade is the first time the Tigers have moved a first-round pick since 2019 when they sent an opening round pick as part of a package to the Vancouver Giants in the deal for overage defenceman Dylan Plouffe and 18-year-old forward Lukas Svejkovsky. The Tigers traded Svejkovsky to the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2021 for three draft picks, including a 2022 first-rounder that was used to select Harsanyi 16th overall.

Head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins spoke with the News Monday evening. He says they’ve pursued Volotovskii for three years and started talking about a move for Molendyk before Christmas before things heated up starting Sunday.

“Two players who will be good players for us,” Desjardins said. “They’ve played on winning teams, they have great structure in the game. So they’re obviously two really good adds for us.”

Desjardins reaffirmed the other moves made around the Central division didn’t play into the trade. He says they have remained committed to the group that sits tied for first in the Eastern conference and to the fans.

“We have a great group of fans, obviously we’re committed to them and we’re committed to try to make it a good year. They’ve been good to us. So we’re showing we want to do what we can to be good. And then same to our players, we have a good group of players that want to win. We just thought these two guys help us.”

Molendyk, a 24th overall pick by the Nashville Predators in 2023, has four goals and 21 points in 21 games this season. He returns from representing Canada at the World Juniors alongside Tigers forward Gavin McKenna. In 210 career WHL games, all with the Blades, the Kamloops product has 26 goals and 134 points.

“We have a pretty solid blue line, we have lots of really good teams around us, there’s just no guarantees, because there’s so many good teams, but we do think it’s a good blue line and it gives us a chance to win,” Desjardins said.

Volotovskii has notched four goals and 11 points in 37 games this season. In his WHL career, the Calgary product has 19 goals and 35 points in 195 games.

“He’s a pretty good shutdown centreman and he’s a guy who can help,” Desjardins said. “He’s great on face-offs, big body, so lots of good things from him in that role.

“We just, we just felt this would give us a chance, and for our fans and for our players, we wanted to try to make it happen.”

Desjardins says they’re working to get both players in Medicine Hat with the plan to have them in the lineup Wednesday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders at Co-op Place.

On the other side of the trade, Harsanyi had a goal and four points in seven games this season, out of the lineup since Oct. 11 due to injury. In 79 career WHL games, he has 13 goals and 32 points.

Kachkowski has eight assists in 37 games this season. In 64 career games, Kachkowski has a goal and 13 points. Desjardins says both were hard to move but they wanted bigger roles than they had and would get following the trade.

“Kachkowski is a good young defenceman, he’s a player we wanted but he was playing in the No. 6 position for us,” Desjardins said. “You bring in Molendyk and he goes to No. 7, he doesn’t get to play and he wouldn’t have been happy with that. Harsanyi wanted more, and with our group up front, it was tough for him to get power play time. He wanted more and it was going to be hard to satisfy him as well.

“It’s something that kind of worked out for both (teams), both guys are good, young players and we’ll miss them in our organization. That’s a big move for us to move a couple of ’07s to go with guys all in this year.”

The WHL trade deadline is Thursday at 6 p.m. MST and Desjardins says they always expect to be quiet. He won’t be turning his phone off and was happy with the deal, referencing the 14-piece trade Kamloops executed to acquire Anaheim Ducks defenceman Olen Zellweger and Ryan Hofer in 2023.

“You’re always listening, you’re always looking but we’re excited about where we’re at,” Desjardins said. “You look at the Zellweger trade, what that one was, Zellweger and Hofer, and we’re pretty excited to get Molendyk for the price we did.”

Editors note: The original story has been updated with the correct draft pick return.