Benke Recalled . . . Kind of.

Good day all,

Here I sit at the radio station, it's 6:30 am and I know in 24 hours from now my day will end at some hotel in Brandon . . . long day ahead.

Here's the latest on the Benke situation. First of all, I can't believe how much play this is getting lately. You'd think that Benke won the Norris Trophy or something.

Ok, let me piece this together,

The Broncos re-assigned Benke to Fort Saskatchewan of the AJHL. He thought at first it was a good idea. A chance to get some playing time, build some confidence and play his way back on the Broncos if the situation arises. Problem is, he didn't want to play near his hometown of Edmonton and was contacted by Nanaimo of the BCHL. They threw some $$$ at him and wanted him there. In fact, they flew him out there for a tour and a look around. The BCHL is notorious for throwing around the cheddar to intice players.

The Broncos don't like this very much. They know full well that once they get their hands on big Karl (who would still not likely be a top four d-man in the BCHL) they would not let him go. I've been told Nanaimo has asked for his outright release and that they wanted to settle up financially for any costs incurred by the Broncos. The Broncos don't want to release him, they want him available for either a trade somewhere else in the WHL or to recall him if the injury bug catches up to them. They have time and $$$ invested in their bantam pick of 2003 and are not ready to part ways. Plus, Karl I believe still wants to be in the WHL be it with the Broncos or some other team that could use him.

Nanaimo says they will play Benke regardless if they get his "Bronco release" or not. That is against player transfer rules but the BCHL sometimes could care less about that. So, in order for the Broncos to keep him off the Nanaimo roster and ice, they've recalled him and suspended him. Benke to my knowledge is still in Nanaimo and could be skating with them shortly, if not already.

To my knowledge, the Broncos tried to move him to another WHL team - any team. The price? Future considerations . . . maybe a 8th or 9th round bantam pick if he was still with that team after the WHL trade deadline in January. There was no action, the phone went silent.

So Benke is in limbo and this story continues to get more play.

In other news, I ran into the Broncos Director of Player personnel Jaime Porter in Prince Albert. He wasn't too thrilled that he made an appearance a few weeks ago on Keen's Korner in my top 10 prospects post.

He said "keep me off that blog." I would have thought it would be a small honour to appear in Keen's Korner, but maybe not. Maybe he wants to be incognito.

Welcome to the Broncos and hockey-savvy Swift Current Jaime, where the fans know the name of the Coach, GM, Marketing guys, trainer, office manager, popcorn vendors, suite hostess, etc. No stone goes unturned in these parts.

We're on the air tonight at 6:30pm from Moose Jaw, face-off at 7pm.