I’m not one to play the conspiracy theory game when it comes roster decisions, but sometimes something catches your eye and makes you think, even only a little bit. A trio of transactions by the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, known to Canucks fans as “that junior team that Jake Virtanen played for”, certainly fits that description.

Calgary made two trades on Monday. The first was the bigger one, sending Chase Lang and Ben Thomas to the Vancouver Giants in exchange for Jackson Houck, Cody Porter, and Jakob Stukel. Afterwards, they put Elliott Peterson on waivers to get under the WHL’s overage player limit and traded Terrell Draude to the Saskatoon Blades for a 5th round draft pick.

The crown jewel for the Hitmen in these trades is Houck, who is an Edmonton Oilers prospect. He’s not a junior point machine by any means, but his four goals and five assists over twelve games outpace any of the players that they rid themselves of. Lang, Thomas, and Peterson were all producing at much lower clips than in previous years. In acquiring Stukel and Porter, they also add a few players that can contribute to the team in future years.

But that’s not what we’re here to discuss. What’s important is that the Hitmen, a team that have lost five of their last seven games, haven shaken up their forward group in a way that subtracts three regular forwards while only bringing two back in; with just one of them expected to have any significant offensive impact. 

Is it possible that they’re expecting Virtanen to come down? Maybe. If so, that would be a huge boost; the 19-year-old wouldn’t count as an overager, and history implies that he would be at least a point per game player for them. At the same time, this shuffle also subtracts a defenceman from the roster, so maybe there’s more coming. But the situation and the timing certainly make it curious; especially with a decision expected to come within the next week or so.