Sundher now a Wheat King

The WHL's Victoria Royals announced Monday that they have traded Kevin Sundher to the Brandon Wheat Kings for two players (Dakota Conroy, Jordan Fransoo) and a first round draft pick in the 2012 WHL draft. Chosen by the Sabres in the third round of the 2010 draft, Sundher currently ranks 7th in WHL scoring with 64 points (22+42) through 40 games (21 multi-point efforts). He signed his entry-level contract with the Sabres on December 15th.

For Sundher, the writing has been on the wall since he inked his deal with Buffalo. The Royals entered the trade deadline mired in a nine-game losing streak and were likely going to be given an opportunity to gain assets in exchange for a player who will be playing professionally in the fall. He leaves Victoria as the franchise's all-time leading scorer with 90 goals and 241 points in 255 career games.

With that behind him, Sundher now gets to travel a thousand miles east to Manitoba to finish off his junior career. The speedster is likely to be the Wheat Kings #1 center, giving him an opportunity to play alongside Team Canada scorer Mark Stone, and likely increasing his chances of becoming the Sabres first 100-point prospect since Dylan Hunter hit it big with London in 2005-06.

Sundher will make his Wheat Kings debut Wednesday in Brandon against the Saskatoon Blades.

Click below for Sundher's 2011-12 highlight playlist.