Moose Jaw hockey fans have in all probability seen the last of Jamie Lundmark in a Warriors uniform.
The Western Hockey League club revealed Wednesday that the 19-year-old forward has elected not to return to Moose Jaw since his release from the New York Rangers and has officially asked to be traded.
With that, the club has actively began shopping Lundmark and hopes to have a deal in place as soon as possible.
"I've talked to about three teams already (Wednesday) and haven't got that far (in negotiations)," Warriors general manager Ralph Schmidt said. "I don't think there's any stipulations to a trade and if I find a team that gives us what we're looking for, that'll be the deal I make."
While Lundmark didn't specify which team he was interested in playing for, he did give a list of four or five clubs through agent Gerry Johansson, including the defending champion Kootenay Ice -- where former St. Albert Saints linemate Mike Comrie is currently playing and is among the league's leading scorers.
"There are four or five teams they're interested in, but mainly they said they're kind of open," Schmidt said. "So that gives us a chance to look around and see what we can find."
Several rumours have made the rounds as to why Lundmark decided not to return to Moose Jaw, the most prevelant being him wanting to play for a Memorial Cup contender.
Schmidt said he wasn't given an outright reason for Lundmark's decision.
"From what I understand he just feels a change and a different team would do him good," he explained.
"It's his decision, but we were really looking forward to getting Jamie back. With our offence and once our back end gets two or three months experience under their belt, we believe we're going to be right there with anybody. Jamie would have been a big part of that."
Which is to say the Warriors aren't about to let Lundmark go for draft picks and future considerations -- when Schmidt pulls the trigger on a trade, it's going to be for an equivalent player or better in the team's eyes.
While Schmidt wouldn't go into details as to who they're looking at there's no question the move would have to be of immediate benefit to the club.
"I've been with this club for 12 years and we've been down this 'future' road too many times," Schmidt said. "We want someone who is going to come in and help the team right now because we think we're close to being right there with the best teams in the league. It's going to be someone who'll help us get there now, not in a couple years."
The immediate and most obvious choice would be a high-quality defenceman to shore up the Warriors' inexperienced rearguard corps, but Schmidt isn't closing his options to defencemen alone.
"We want someone who is going to come in and be an important player for us, whatever position that might be," Schmidt said. "Someone who will be proud to play in Moose Jaw and will be a major contributor to our team."
Neither Lundmark or Johansson were immediately available for comment.
Lundmark scored 40 goals and 91 points in his rookie season as a 17-year-old in 1998-1999 and was a league all-star that season.
He was drafted in the first round, ninth overall by the Rangers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft and after returning to the Warriors that fall scored 21 goals and 48 points in 37 games. He was sidelined for the season with a broken wrist shortly after returning from the World Junior championships.
Tribe Scalpings . . . the Warriors named Jarrett Thompson team captain Wednesday. The 20-year-old centre currently leads the the team in scoring with three goals and three points through five games and also led the Warriors in scoring through exhibition season. He scored 19 goals and 53 points in 63 games last season along with 141 penalty minutes . . . 20-year-old centre Jason Weitzel, 19-year-old right winger Shawn Limpright and 18-year-old centre Brian Sutherby were named assistant captains. The decision was reached by a vote among players . . . the Warriors are back in action Friday when they host the Prince Albert Raiders. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
