Wednesday roundup

Mike Gauthier has been returned to the Raiders from Toronto Maple Leafs camp. As soon as Jeff May gets back into Prince Albert as well, something is probably going to give there in regards to their overage situation. The Raiders have three overage defencemen right now (Gauthier, May, and John Flatters) and with 4 or 5 other WHL-experienced defencemen on the roster as well as some quality younger players and a new import defenceman as well, they aren't going to burn three overage spots on defencemen they don't really need. Look for at least one or maybe even two of those guys to be moved.

Speaking of Raider overagers, they are now down to just those three after two cuts yesterday. One of the players cut was overage forward Jarrid Dowhay.

" Messier Traded" is once again the headline in Edmonton. Not quite as dramatic a trade for the local sports scene this time, but Lyon Messier discusses his feelings on being moved. And here too.

And still in Edmonton, a look at the Oil Kings' goalie situation, where Chris Ward and Dalyn Flette are battling to be Alex Archibald's backup.

The Pats have an European dilemma: three imports in camp and none of them are distinguishing themselves from the others in the battle for jobs. Might they actually be considering using Kaspars Saulietis as a two-spotter? At least he has proven he can score in the WHL, with his 19 goals last year. Once they've made their decision, both Tri-City and Brandon have only one import currently, so there's trading partners out there. Same goes for Everett, who also have three imports at the moment.

Still with the Pats, they cut three forwards yesterday. Amongst the casualties was 2006 1st round bantam pick Brett Miller, who I guess wasn't ready for the WHL as a 16 year old. It's not common to see first round bantam picks get cut but Miller had that appendectomy in early August and might not have been in the best shape yet for camp. He'll get another shot at the team next year I'm sure. For Kent Sauter though, the WHL dream is going to end soon if another team doesn't pick him up now that the Pats have let him go.

Incidentally, Miller is the second of the 2006 first round bantam picks to fail to make his WHL team this year - Everett cut Kellan Tochkin a few days back.

A nice look at Giants sophomore forward James Wright, who also happens to be one of the WHL's top prospects for the 2008 NHL draft. A blurb at the bottom of the article also points out that the Giants are believed to be shopping for a veteran defenceman and are out scouting. Give Donn Clark a call....

My favourite part of that article though? The part about Kyle Beach taping "Team Ontario" onto the front of his jersey as a protest against the coaching staff. Doesn't this kid realize that that tournament is heavily scouted by NHL scouts? Kyle Beach is his own worst enemy and he really needs to work on his reputation this year if he wants to hear his name called early in the 2008 NHL draft. This kind of shit only reinforces the notion that he marches to his own drum and is hard to coach. That's going to move him down on some NHL draft charts if he doesn't smarten up and show some signs of maturing.

Anyways, speaking of defencemen, Lethbridge is happy with what they've got now that they've dealt Todd Panchyson away and released overager Nic Knudsen. The Knudsen part is news today, and means the 'Canes have only two overagers on the team now.

And still speaking of defencemen, the Prince Albert paper has a bit on the decision to send Shane Malone home. Guess he didn't impress the new coach, but he also wants to play closer to his home in Nanaimo. Like I said, Scott Bonner should give Donn Clark a call.....

You gotta feel for Rebels goalie prospect Travis Rolheiser. He's playing well in camp but he's in almost an impossible situation of trying to beat out incumbents James Reimer and Morgan Clark for a job. Plus he's 18 so it's close to now-or-never for his WHL hopes this year. Maybe somebody else will want him if he's not able to unseat Reimer/Clark.

The Blades are quite pleased with Stefan Elliott, who's half of their return on the Devin Setoguchi trade. I know Setoguchi helped the Cougars into the 3rd round last year but I can't help but think that when all is said and done this could go down as one of the most lopsided trades in recent WHL history. Elliott could be a 4-year Blade and a big star by the end of his career, and who knows about that 2008 first rounder - which could be a pretty high pick if the Cougars struggle this year.

Still with the Blades, they're happy to add another local kid in yesterday's deal that netted them Cody Wutzke. I have to correct writer Doug McConachie though when he says Garrett Zemlak, Kirk Belyk, and Jordan Braid were not drafted. That is not true - all three of them were drafted by the Hitmen in 2004 (5th, 6th, and 8th rounds) but subsequently released starting last winter. The Blades picked them up when they were dropped by Calgary.

And with the Hitmen now, defence recruit Keith Seabrook discusses his reasons for leaving the NCAA. Here's my reaction: he left because he thought the WHL schedule of 70-90 games a year is better for his development than the 40-some games in the NCAA. So was the NCAA's shorter schedule unknown to him while he was pursuing a scholarship?

Tri-Cities has reassigned two players. No surprise that one of them was Paul Levarsky, after the trade that brought in the two d-men from the Blazers. The other one, Shinnimin, is only 16 and will be back next year. He is only 5'5" so hopefully he grows a couple inches before then too.

And finally today, Swift Current's renovated arena will have a retractable roof! OK, not really, but it's weird to see daylight shining through into an arena. The Broncos play their first eight games on the road this season in order to allow time for the renovations to be completed. They play their home opener on October 12 and I gotta say, it looks like it might be a tight schedule since there's obviously a lot of important work to be done yet. The building is still missing part of its roof and they've only got a month to the day to finish it.