The Kootenay Ice have dealt forward Brendan Hurley to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a third-round pick in the upcoming 2012 WHL draft on the league's trade deadline day.

Hurley, an 18-year-old left winger, has spent the last three years with the Ice, but was concerned about the amount of playing time he was getting on the third line, according to Ice general manager Jeff Chynoweth.

"Unfortunately Brendan was in a situation where he didn't think that he could get the ice time that he was going to be happy with," said Chynoweth. "We're really happy with our younger players' development and moving forward not only this year, but next year, we got to get those young guys as much ice time as possible."

Ideally, it would have been nice to pick up a roster player to replace Hurley's absence on the fourth line, but that kind of deal never materialized, Chynoweth added.

However, the third-round pick from Medicine Hat will replace what the Ice gave up in last year's blockbuster trade for Cody Eakin, as the club parted with it's third round pick in the 2012 draft as part of the eight-player deal.

"Our first choice, obviously, was to get a player back, preferably in the '93 or '94 age group, but unfortunately, that didn't come to fruition," said Chynoweth. "Our next best option was a draft pick and not having a third round pick from last year's Cody Eakin deal, it was imperative that we get that back to stock our cupboard for the bantam draft in May."

While the Ice dealt away Hurley and Adam Rossignol over the last few days, Chynoweth said the trades weren't made based on his desire to move them and added that they would be 19-year-olds next year and a bigger part of the team.

"From our end, we were looking at both players as being key parts of our team next season but that didn't come to be," said Chynoweth.

Looking across the league this year, some of the prices for trading deals were pretty steep, Chynoweth noted, which he admits were likely based on the precedent of the Eakin deal.

He also pointed out the precedent of another high-profile swap in the Brayden Schenn trade, an exchange last season between Brandon and Saskatoon that sent Schenn and a draft pick to the Blades for two players and six draft picks.

Even though a few teams made some pretty big deals in the days leading up to the deadline, Chynoweth said he didn't feel any pressure to pull another Eakin-esque blockbuster.

"Brandon and ourselves set the bar very high last year with the Cody Eakin and Brayden Schenn trades," said Chynoweth, "so we knew that that's what was going to happen coming down the deadline.

"We didn't have many bullets left in the gun to make those deals and, more importantly, we like the group of players that we have here. We have a number of players who have won a WHL championship and that's something you can't buy, you have to earn."

Notable trades around the WHL over the last few days:

The Prince George Cougars traded Brett Connolly's rights to the Tri-City Americans in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2013 draft and a conditional pick in the first round of the same draft year, along with another conditional pick in the second round of the 2014 draft.

Connolly is currently playing in the NHL for the Tampa Bay Lightning, however, the club will have to finalize it's roster on February 27-the league's trade deadline. If Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman decides to send Connolly back to major-junior hockey, he will join up with the Americans.

The Portland Winterhawks have acquired Marcel Noebels from the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for Seth Swenson and first round picks in the 2012 and 2013 WHL draft.

The Prince George Cougars and the Regina Pats made an eight player swap; Martin Marancin and a fourth and seventh round pick in the 2012 draft, along with a fourth rounder in the 2013 draft went to the Pats in exchange for Ricard Blidstrand and a first and second round pick in the 2012 draft and a fifth rounder in the 2013 draft.

The Victoria Royals sent it's leading sniper in Kevin Sundher to the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for Jordan Fransoo, Dakota Conroy and a first round pick in the 2012 draft.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes sent captain Cam Braes to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for a first round pick in the 2012 draft and a second round pick in the 2013 draft.

Check out the WHL's website at www.whl.ca for a complete look at all the trades that went down on Tuesday.