Red Wings prospect Alex Cotton was just traded from the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes to the Vancouver Giants, and the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen reports that nobody could be more excited about the trade than Cotton’s family.
Cotton is from Langley, BC, where the Giants play, and his mother spoke with Ewen regarding the trade that will afford Cotton “home ice” for the final steps of his Major Junior career:
Cotton played just one game — a 6-0 Lethbridge win over the Giants on Nov. 17, 2019 — of his first 154 in the WHL at the [Langley Events Centre]. He has a chance to play 28 of his final 58 in the league at the LEC after the trade. That explains why his mom is so pleased. She knows how lucky they are.
“As soon as the trade was announced, our phones started to go crazy with calls and texts,” Jennifer said about hearing from excited family and friends.
…
“It’s a complete upheaval right away. Alex had been in Lethbridge for four years. He was very connected to the community and he was very connected to his billet family,” Jennifer said. “They become an extended family for your family. It’s emotional. I know the billet family had a hard time. It’s a big change.”
There’d been rumours about the Giants being interested in Cotton for a couple of seasons. General manager Barclay Parneta admits to “kicking tires,” especially this past summer. He and Lethbridge general manager Peter Anholt had talked about a trade off and on since, and he says it largely came together last Wednesday, when both he and Anholt were in Kamloops watching the Winterhawks take on the Kamloops Blazers.
Cotton said last week he was “surprised but not surprised about getting traded,” realizing that the Hurricanes could be looking to build for the future this season. They were 5-8-0-0 going into action Thursday against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Last Friday, Cotton explained that his family is “super stoked about the trade. And I’m super stoked, too.”
