Wednesday notes

Couple things today...

First, Lethbridge defenceman Luca Sbisa was named to the Swiss Olympic team today, so he will indeed be missing another couple weeks of WHL homestretch action in February as he jets to Vancouver for the Olympics. Just another factor that whoever acquires him in the next 12 days will need to take into consideration.

And lets not kid ourselves, he WILL be traded by the Hurricanes. They're 15 points out of the playoffs right now, there is zero reason for them to hang onto an asset that has that kind of value.

Secondly, a big trade today as the Edmonton Oil Kings trade their all-time leading scorer, 19 year old forward Brent Raedeke, to Brandon for 16 year old forward Klarc Wilson and a conditional 2011 3rd round pick. Probably the pick is conditional on Raedeke returning next year as an overager, which isn't likely.

So Brandon gave up Wilson - their 2008 first round bantam pick (10th overall in that draft) - for a half season of Raedeke. Yikes, are the prices ever high this year....but Brandon has no reason to hold back when they know they're in the Memorial Cup. Question now is, who else is prepared to pay these prices to load up in an attempt to be the WHL's other rep at that tournament....

Canada 16, Republic of Pylon 0

The title might sound a little harsh but that's exactly how this game played out. It was one of those games where you knew the outcome was decided already by the four minute mark of the first period. Canada was up 2-0 and the Latvians probably hadn't touched the puck yet.

If Latvia is the 9th or 10th best country in the world in this age group, then this game is exhibit A (yet again) for why this should go back to being an 8 country tournament like it was for years. Bottom line is that the Latvian team does not belong at this level if that's their best effort. Their goaltender couldn't even make all the routine saves and he certainly got no help from the inept defence. There probably aren't more than one or two players on the entire team who are good enough to play more than benchwarmer roles on any team in the CHL.

Everybody knew before the puck dropped that Canada was going to win this game, but nobody should beat anybody else by 16 goals at the highest level of any hockey competition. I doubt any of the 44 kids on the ice was having fun by the end of the game and the fans had long stopped cheering for goals....so lets not play games like this any more.

Wednesday notes

Couple things today....

Team USA made their final two cuts for their World Junior team, and those cuts were forward Chris Brown (Calgary Hitmen listee) and defenceman Max Nicastro (Everett Silvertips listee). The final cuts mean that two WHLers - Spokane's Tyler Johnson and Portland's Luke Walker - have made Team USA this year. Seven other players on the team are property of WHL clubs although they are currently playing in the NCAA. See my post from December 2nd for those names, if you're interested.

Also, the B-pool World Junior tournaments wrapped up the other day, and Germany and Norway have won promotion to the 2011 A-pool tournament in Buffalo with the big boys. Germany was relegated last year and have now won their way back, while Norway will be returning to the A-pool for the first time since 2006.

The two weakest teams from this year's A-pool will of course be relegated to the B-pools for next year....I'm betting on them being Austria and Latvia.

Lastly, there will be no posts here for the next few days at least, as I spend some holiday family time with the "three terrors", who are bouncing off the walls with anticipation. Then the World Juniors and the Macs midget tournament start on Saturday, the U-17 Challenge starts next Tuesday, and the WHL's 2nd half starts on Sunday. Is this a great time of year or what?

Safe and happy holidays to everyone....

U-17 Challenge info

If you're interested in following the World U-17 Challenge this year after Christmas, you can do so through Hockey Canada's website for the tournament. Rosters are available for all the teams there now, although only Team Pacific and Team Western have any current WHLers on them.

The European teams almost certainly have a few players who will play in the WHL in the future, perhaps as early as next season, but of course there is no way to know who those players will be....

The USA team is almost 100% the USNTDP U-17 squad, with no CHLers brought in....which I think is unfortunate since a player like Kelowna's Shane McColgan deserves to play in a tournament like this and would be a lock to play in it if he were Canadian. Perhaps a guy like Seattle's Colin Jacobs deserves some consideration as well....I just don't get how they can bring in some high school and midget players but won't bring in CHLers.

Anyways, if you're interested in following the tournament, here's the WHL affiliations of the kids in the tournament who do not currently play in the WHL:

Team Pacific:

Brock Balson (F) - Prince Albert Raiders

Laurent Brossoit (G) - Edmonton Oil Kings

Spencer Grabowski (F) - Kelowna Rockets

Aaron Hadley (F) - Vancouver Giants

Liam Liston (G) - Brandon Wheat Kings

Team Western:

Wilson Dumais (F) - Prince George Cougars

Todd Fiddler (F) - Medicine Hat Tigers

Zach Franko (F) - Kelowna Rockets

Jordan Fransoo (D) - Brandon Wheat Kings

Rene Hunter (D) - Brandon Wheat Kings

Boston Leier (F) - Medicine Hat Tigers

Austin Lewis (F) - Brandon Wheat Kings

Jens Meilleur (F) - Brandon Wheat Kings

Evan Morden (D) - Everett Silvertips

Colin Mospanchuk (F) - Medicine Hat Tigers

Tyler Oswald (G) - Saskatoon Blades

Zach Rakochy (G) - Red Deer Rebels

Chad Robinson (F) - Red Deer Rebels

Michael Sofillas (F) - Lethbridge Hurricanes

Mitch Vanteeling (F) - Kamloops Blazers

Team USA:

Rocco Grimaldi (F) - Vancouver Giants

Zac Larraza (F) - Prince George Cougars

Matt McNeely (G) - Portland Winterhawks

Adam Reid (F) - Lethbridge Hurricanes

The Russians are coming

Or one of them, anyway.

It's halfway through the season but it looks like Tri-City is apparently about to land their Russian goaltender, 19 year old Alex Pechursky. Pechursky is going to play for the Russians at the World Juniors and then - reportedly, anyway - will join the Americans.

Which creates a goaltending situation for the Ams. They're surely not bringing in a 19 year old import who's good enough to play for Russia at the WJCs, just to sit on the bench. So he's probably coming in to be the starter - or at least to compete with Drew Owsley for the starters job. All of which doesn't leave current backup Brett Martyniuk's roster spot in the "sure thing" category.

My guess is that assuming Pechursky shows up, Martyniuk gets traded or reassigned to Jr A.

Top Prospects rosters announced

It's Christmas break for the WHL clubs, so news will be a little slow for the next week or so. One bit of news today though, the rosters for the annual CHL Top Prospects game were announced today.

13 WHLers made the cut for the big game this year:

Forwards:

Brett Connolly (Prince George)

Emerson Etem (Medicine Hat)

Curtis Hamilton (Saskatoon)

Quinton Howden (Moose Jaw)

Ryan Johansen (Portland)

Nino Niedereiter (Portland)

Jordan Weal (Regina)

Defencemen:

Matt MacKenzie (Calgary)

Dylan McIlrath (Moose Jaw)

Alex Petrovic (Red Deer)

Mark Pysyk (Edmonton)

Troy Rutkowski (Portland)

Goaltenders:
Calvin Pickard (Seattle)

Joining Twitter

Some of you have mailed me over the last year suggesting that I should get a Twitter account....I gave in today and set one up: http://twitter.com/smallatlarge

Just another way to keep on top of and discuss my favourite sport and league I guess....

Credit where credit is due

Just a quick note to make a request from those of you who read this blog.

If you want to repost, borrow, quote, or use in any way the original work that I post here (basically anything which I do not credit another source for), you are welcome to do so. I only ask that you properly attribute where you got your information from. A mention would be nice. A link would be better.

I have seen two examples today where I believe somebody has borrowed my Macs midget data and reposted or rephrased that info without credit to me. I did a lot of work to come up with that info; you did two minutes of work to borrow it. You can at least give credit. Thanks!

Macs Midget tournament lineups

The organizers of the annual Macs midget tournament, which is held in Calgary every year between Christmas and New Years and is regarded by many as the premiere AAA midget tournament in North America, released their 25 team lineup for this year's tournament yesterday.

As always, there's a ton of WHL prospects in the tournament, and a lot of these kids will be wearing WHL uniforms at this time next year. By my count, there are 163 WHL prospects in this year's tournament, and here they are, broken down by midget team with their WHL affiliation and how they were acquired listed as well:

Beardys (Duck Lake, SK) Blackhawks:

Brett Blatz - Spokane (2008 9th round)

Jared Iron - Kootenay (2009 8th round)

Tanner Moar - Kelowna (2009 7th round)

Zane Morin - Saskatoon (2007 8th round)

Landon Robin - Vancouver (2009 7th round)

Kyle Schmidt - Calgary (2008 3rd round)

Jaimen Yakubowski - Lethbridge (2009 4th round)

Calgary Buffaloes:

Ryan Bloom - Kootenay (2008 2nd round)

Carson Brown - Chilliwack (listed player)

Sam Fioretti - Moose Jaw (listed player)

Austin Frank - Prince Albert (2008 5th round)

Blake Orban - Vancouver (2009 3rd round)

Matt Scarth - Lethbridge (2008 10th round)

Robert Trzonkowski - Calgary (2009 8th round)

Bryton Udy - Prince George (2008 5th round)

Calgary Flames:

Connor Garden - Medicine Hat (2009 9th round)

Calgary Northstars:

Ken Cameron - Vancouver (listed player)

Riley Guenther - Tri-City (2009 3rd round)

Brendan Santini - Calgary (2008 5th round)

Calgary Royals:

Gui Glasspoole - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Hunter Shinkaruk - Medicine Hat (2009 1st round)

Austin Smith - Swift Current (2008 2nd round)

Cariboo (Prince George) Cougars:

Jari Erricson - Everett (2009 2nd round)

Luke Gordon - Calgary (listed player)

Michael King - Kootenay (2008 3rd round)

Tyson McCallum - Red Deer (listed player)

Alex Roach - Calgary (2008 11th round)

David Stephens - Edmonton (listed player)

Leduc Oil Kings:

Ryley Bennefield - Lethbridge (2009 2nd round)

Jordon Cooke - Kelowna (2008 4th round)

Zane Jones - Chilliwack (2009 5th round)

Michael Williamson - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Lethbridge Hurricanes:

Darren Dietz - Saskatoon (listed player)

Brandyn Hulit - Lethbridge (2008 4th round)

Rhys Kingston - Saskatoon (2008 7th round)

Ashton Mcleod - Swift Current (2009 7th round)

Max Moline - Tri-City (2008 5th round)

Shane Pilling - Prince George (2008 4th round)

Lucas Sutter - Saskatoon (2008 2nd round)

Alex Wakaluk - Lethbridge (2008 9th round)

Jordan Wyton - Moose Jaw (2008 9th round)

Lloydminster Bobcats:

Kolten Anderson - Prince George (2009 11th round)

Braden Crone - Chilliwack (listed player)

Jetlan Houcher - Seattle (2009 3rd round)

Brody Pollard - Swift Current (listed player)

Linden Springer - Prince George (listed player)

North Island (Nanaimo) Silvertips:

Dylan Moore - Swift Current (listed player)

Kade Pilton - Chilliwack (2009 2nd round)

Evan Richardson - Swift Current (2009 1st round)

Adam Smith - Portland (2009 9th round)

Jesse Ursic - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Okanagan (Kelowna) Rockets:

Conor Barrie - Seattle (listed player)

Nathan Browne - Kamloops (listed player)

Brandon Bruce - Swift Current (listed player)

Tanner Burns - Moose Jaw (2008 8th round)

Justin Hickman - Seattle (2009 2nd round)

Brendan Jost - Everett (listed player)

Brent Lashuk - Prince Albert (2009 4th round)

Turner Lawson - Saskatoon (2009 11th round)

Zac McPhee - Tri-City (2008 6th round)

Max Mowat - Kamloops (listed player)

Brett Mulcahy - Everett (listed player)

Prince Albert Mintos:

Tyson Dallman - Calgary (2008 6th round)

Steven Glass - Prince Albert (listed player)

Sawyer Lange - Prince Albert (2009 4th round)

Dawson MacAuley - Medicine Hat (2009 2nd round)

Jeffrey Ness - Kamloops (2009 8th round)

Eric Roy - Brandon (2009 1st round)

Tyrel Seaman - Brandon (2009 4th round)

Jordan Swenson - Spokane (listed player)

Red Deer Rebels:

Mac Engel - Spokane (listed player)

Connor Hartley - Calgary (2008 4th round)

Sam Jardine - Red Deer (listed player)

Kirsten Odendaal - Red Deer (listed player)

Jarrett Zentner - Kootenay (2008 4th round)

Saskatoon Blazers:

Corbin Boes - Portland (2008 10th round)

Rhyse Dieno - Kamloops (listed player)

Scott Helmkay - Kootenay (2008 9th round)

Greg Kost - Saskatoon (listed player)

Boston Leier - Medicine Hat (2008 3rd round)

Jesse Roden - Regina (2009 10th round)

Mitchell Schwark - Kamloops (2009 6th round)

Logan Sproule - Edmonton (2008 5th round)

Saskatoon Contacts:

Kohl Bauml - Everett (2009 3rd round)

Andrew Johnson - Moose Jaw (2009 2nd round)

Jonathan Lashyn - Swift Current (listed player)

Logan McVeigh - Kamloops (2009 2nd round)

Robbie Newton - Swift Current (from Seattle for Scott Ramsay)

Cody Pettapiece - Edmonton (2009 6th round)

Taylor Reich - Moose Jaw (listed player)

Michael Sagen - Regina (2008 8th round)

Chandler Stephenson - Regina (2009 1st round)

Shattuck-St. Mary's (Faribault, MN) Sabres:

Jason Clark - Seattle (listed player)

Kirill Gotovets - Brandon (2008 Import draft)

St. Albert Raiders:

Matthew Benning - Kootenay (2009 2nd round)

Troy Bourke - Prince George (2009 2nd round)

Shane Brolly - Lethbridge (2008 9th round)

Spencer Galbraith - Brandon (2008 12th round)

Brady Goebel - Prince George (2008 8th round)

Jayden Hart - Medicine Hat (2009 3rd round)

Bryton Mills - Kootenay (listed player)

Nicholas Walters - Everett (2009 1st round)

Matthew Waseylenko - Prince Albert (2008 5th round)

Tisdale Trojans:

Tayler Balog - Lethbridge (from Regina in Carter Ashton deal)

Shay Folden - Chilliwack (2008 7th round)

Wyatt Garagan - Tri-City (2009 4th round)

Brady Gaudet - Kamloops (2009 1st round)

Michael Statchuk - Saskatoon (2009 5th round)

Carter Struthers - Chilliwack (listed player)

Zach Walker - Seattle (2008 5th round)

Nathan Zimbaluk - Swift Current (2008 6th round)

UFA (Strathmore) Bisons:

Levi Bews - Saskatoon (2009 2nd round)

Mason Burr - Red Deer (2009 2nd round)

Dustin Cave - Prince George (2009 9th round)

Connor Chartier - Spokane (2009 2nd round)

Devon Fordyce - Prince George (2009 6th round)

Shayne Gwinner - Moose Jaw (2009 2nd round)

Keaton Lubin - Calgary (2009 3rd round)

Trent Ouellette - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Josh Smith - Prince George (2009 1st round)

Jason Swyripa - Brandon (2008 2nd round)

Michael Winther - Prince Albert (2009 1st round)

Vancouver Canadians:

Brayden Low - Portland (2009 7th round)

Brodyn Nielsen - Saskatoon (2009 10th round)

Ryan Olsen - Saskatoon (2009 1st round)

Turner Popoff - Chilliwack (2009 7th round)

Jessie Siemens - Vancouver (listed player)

Troy Stecher - Portland (2009 7th round)

Tommy Stipancik - Saskatoon (2009 3rd round)

Vancouver NE Chiefs:

Matt Allan - Swift Current (2009 6th round)

Jordan Beveridge - Kamloops (2008 2nd round)

Matthew Bissett - Chilliwack (2009 7th round)

Mitchell Deacon - Medicine Hat (listed player)

Connor Sanvido - Seattle (2008 1st round)

Vancouver NW Giants:

Matt Bellerive - Vancouver (2009 2nd round)

Mitch Fyffe - Kootenay (2009 9th round)

Alex Kerfoot - Seattle (2009 12th round)

Eric Kerluck - Spokane (2008 5th round)

Curtis Loik - Vancouver (listed player)

Brandon Morley - Kamloops (2009 3rd round)

Connor Rankin - Tri-City (2009 1st round)

Griffin Reinhart - Edmonton (2009 1st round)

Destry Straight - Portland (listed player)

Winnipeg Wild:

Daniel Asham - Brandon (2009 8th rd, BRN)

Channing Bresciani - Red Deer (2008 6th round)

Danys Chartrand - Red Deer (listed player)

Patrick D'Amico - Seattle (2009 11th round)

Matt Franczyk - Moose Jaw (2008 5th round)

Shane Gingera - Calgary (2008 5th round)

Steven Hak - Lethbridge (listed player)

Brendan Leipsic - Portland (2009 6th round)

Graham McBain - Saskatoon (2008 4th round)

Matthew Miller - Edmonton (2009 4th round)

Cory Nygaard - Regina (2008 6th round)

Brett Pile - Tri-City (2008 8th round)

Yorkton Harvest:

Levi Cable - Kootenay (listed player)

Devan Fafard - Saskatoon (2009 8th round)

John Odgers - Prince George (listed player)

Andre Parker - Vancouver (2008 4th round)

Gage Rapitta - Kamloops (listed player)

Damon Severson - Kelowna (2009 9th round)

Dustin Skilliter - Calgary (2008 9th round)

Tayler Thompson - Prince George (listed player)

Davis Vandane - Saskatoon (listed player)

If I missed anyone, I'm sorry. Corrections and additions are welcome, just send me a mail or leave something in the comments for this post.

For anyone interested in following the tournament and the WHL prospects, you can do so at their website here. Tournament starts on Boxing Day.

A couple notes here - first, there's only 24 teams listed above; the missing 25th team is the Carolina Jr Hurricanes and I didn't bother looking for WHL prospects on their roster because I assume there are none, since the team is not based in WHL territory. If I'm wrong there, then I'm wrong.

Also, I'm not sure which of their multiple teams the Shattuck-St. Mary's school is sending to the tournament. I assumed their prep team, which is the roster I used. They do have an AAA midget team as well though, which did not have any WHL prospects on it. In any case, S-SM doesn't look like they'll be nearly the powerhouse this year that we've seen them be in past Macs tournaments.

Prospects in the tournament by WHL affiliation:

14: Saskatoon

11: Prince George

10: Calgary, Kamloops, Medicine Hat, Swift Current

9: Kootenay

8: Chilliwack, Lethbridge, Seattle

7: Moose Jaw, Vancouver

6: Brandon, Portland, Prince Albert, Red Deer, Tri-City

5: Edmonton, Everett, Spokane

4: Regina

3: Kelowna

There's also 11 of the 2009 first round bantam picks in the tournament, and 14 of the 2nd round bantam picks. Also one 2008 first rounder and five 2008 2nd rounders. So, lots of blue-chippers. And of course it's a good place to be a free agent player too, since every WHL team has scouts at this tournament to scope out the available talent....

Final cuts made

The final cuts have been made for the Canadian World Junior team, and they are forwards Scott Glennie, Cody Eakin, Louis Leblance, and Philippe Cornet; defencemen Tyler Cuma, Shawn Lalonde, and Dylan Olsen; and goaltenders Olivier Roy and Matt Hackett.

So, two WHLers cut (Glennie and Eakin) which means that 8 WHLers have made the team:

Martin Jones, G, Calgary Hitmen

Jared Cowen, D, Spokane Chiefs

Travis Hamonic, D, Moose Jaw Warriors

Colten Teubert, D, Regina Pats

Jordan Eberle, F, Regina Pats

Brandon Kozun, F, Calgary Hitmen

Brandon McMillan, F, Kelowna Rockets

Brayden Schenn, F, Brandon Wheat Kings

So the Hitmen and Pats will each be missing two key players until the second week of January.

Also, this marks seven straight years that the Hitmen have put at least one player on Team Canada:

2009-10: Martin Jones and Brandon Kozun

2008-09: Brett Sonne

2007-08: Karl Alzner

2006-07: Karl Alzner

2005-06: Justin Pogge

2004-05: Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Ladd

2003-04: Ryan Getzlaf

Near as I can tell, this ties the Spokane Chiefs for longest streak of consecutive years with a player on the team. The Chiefs did it seven straight years from 1994 through 2000.

Canada starts the hunt for their 6th straight WJC gold medal on Boxing Day against Latvia.

Another cut

Not really a cut, but Brandon Wheat King forward Scott Glennie has left the Canadian WJC camp after suffering a concussion in last night's scrimmage. Tough way to not make the team, but Glennie is only 18 and will have another chance next year.

Glennie's departure drops the number of WHLers in camp to 9 of the remaining 30 players.

First cuts

Team Canada cut four players from the World Junior tryouts this morning - forwards Tyler Seguin and John McFarland, and defenceman Brandon Gormley and Nicholas Deslauriers.

Seguin, McFarland, and Gormley were the only 17 year olds in the camp, so this year's Canadian team will have no "underage" players and will be 100% made up of 18 & 19 year olds. All three of those guys are going to be NHL first round picks - Seguin will likely be either the #1 or #2 overall pick - but the strength, maturity, and experience of older players probably gives them an edge.

No WHLers in the cuts, so there's still 10 WHLers vying for one of the 22 spots. 31 players left in total, so 9 more cuts to come yet - 2 goaltenders, 3 defencemen, and 4 forwards will be let go tomorrow morning after the last scrimmage tonight against a team of CIS university players.

TSN's Bob McKenzie offers up his opinion this morning on who will make the team. Bob has 8.5 of the 10 WHLers making the team: Brayden Schenn, Brandon Kozun, Jordan Eberle, Brandon McMillan, Cody Eakin, Colten Teubert, Travis Hamonic, and Jared Cowen for sure, with Martin Jones in a tie position for backup goalie.

Monday notes

Few things this morning...

First, Brandon made their first move in stocking up for the Memorial Cup, acquiring 19 year old forward Shayne Wiebe from Kamloops. Wiebe is one of the guys I figured Kamloops would NOT want to trade, since he was one of their two best players AND he'll be back next year as an overager. But apparently he had quietly asked for a trade out of the circus in Kamloops and I guess it doesn't get any better for him than going to his hometown and to a team that is going to play in the Memorial Cup.

High price paid by the Wheat Kings though, 17 year old Jordan DePape. DePape was the rookie of the year in the Manitoba Jr A league last year after posting 85 points as a 16 year old. He'll be a good player and the Blazers are going to get two and a half or three and a half years out of him yet.

Second note, if you haven't heard already, the Fraser Valley Bruins of the B.C. AAA midget league were involved in a bus accident on Friday outside Williams Lake, B.C. en route to a tournament. The bus hit black ice and spun off the road and down an embankment, landing on its side. Thankfully there were no fatalities and actually only one or two significant injuries. The only name that has been mentioned as being amongst the injured is that of 15 year old goaltender Mackenzie Skapski, who apparently underwent surgery for "internal injuries". Skapski was a 3rd round pick of the Kootenay Ice back in May and had a lengthy stay with them at training camp despite not being old enough to play in the WHL this year. Hopefully he will make a full recovery.

Several other good WHL prospects are on that team and were presumably on that bus too, including four of last year's first round bantam picks - Steven Hodges (Chilliwack), Chase Clayton (Calgary), Jason Siebert (Kelowna), and Dalton Sward (Vancouver).

And the first scrimmage is in the books at the Canadian WJC tryout camp in Regina. Some WHL boys got mentioned and some didn't.....two more days to impress the coaching staff, the team gets announced on Wednesday.

Pats deal again

And another Pats trade....this time with the Giants. The Pats have sent 17 year old goalie prospect Derek Tendler (who was playing Jr A for Estevan of the SJHL after being beat out by Dawson Guhle for a job with the Pats in training camp), a 2010 5th round bantam pick, and their 2010 first round import draft pick to Vancouver in exchange for 19 year old forward Cass Mappin, 17 year old defenceman Mitch Spooner, and the rights to 17 year old forward Mikael Jung. Jung has been playing Jr A in the BCHL for Cowichan Valley.

Reaction....well, we knew the Pats weren't done dealing, they needed to add defencemen and getting Spooner addresses that need. Spooner was Vancouver's 2007 first round bantam pick but had been playing sparingly in Vancouver and looked like he might have been passed on their depth chart by three or four 16 year old d-men. The Pats are shorthanded on defence so right away this is a chance for Spooner to get a lot of ice time and maybe show some of the abilities that made him a first round pick in the first place.

Mappin is another former first round bantam pick who is on the move for the 2nd time this year - Vancouver acquired him from Red Deer just two months ago. He's an enigmatic player, a guy who has not quite reached expectations due to a lack of consistency. He had the problem in Red Deer, he had it in Vancouver. I see the Pats talking about their high expectations of him....why do they think he'll be any different there? He's 19, at that age and after two organizations, what you see is probably what you get. But the good news is that inconsistent or not, Mappin has point-a-game ability and will fit in on the top two lines in Regina.

Not sure if Jung - little brother to Edmonton Oil Kings goalie Torrie Jung - is reporting to Regina this year or if this is a move for next year. He was cut by the Giants both of the last two seasons but wants to play in the WHL. Whether the Pats have room for him this year after acquiring three other new forwards in the last two days, I don't know. They have 16 forwards on their roster right now already, so if they do bring Jung in, then a couple other guys are getting reassigned.

As for the Giants....now they have a goalie glut. I'm pretty sure they are going to bring Tendler in right away, he is good enough for the WHL. The question is what they do with their two existing goalies, Mark Segal and Jamie Tucker, both 18. Plus they sent 16 year old Brendan Jensen down to Jr A a few weeks back, so this team now has four goalies aged 18 or younger in their plans, and they really only need two. Got to be some more moves coming here....I'd have to say that on the surface of things, it doesn't look really good for Tucker. Jensen is a next-year guy and I doubt they are bringing Tendler in to sit him on the bench, so it's probably either Tucker or Segal who is being moved out. They just got Segal and he has played fairly well, so my guess is that Tucker gets moved and they go with Segal-Tendler the rest of the year. We'll see.

So, Brent Parker has gotten an early start on his post-Christmas shopping. Which GMs are going to be the next to follow suit?

Deadline minus 31

One month today - 31 days from now - is the WHL's trade deadline. The last chance for contenders to beef up their rosters, and for the also-rans in next-year territory to cash in on valuable assets who won't actually be around to help them "next year".

The first big move of the pre-deadline period came yesterday in that deal between Regina and Lethbridge, with Regina serving notice that they are going to try to move up in the standings, while Lethbridge making it official that they are out of the race and heading for a rebuild.

So, where does everyone else stand? And which players might be on the move in the next four-plus weeks? Let's take a shot at figuring it out....for the most part I am going to focus only on 20 year olds and 19 year olds who are not likely to be back in the league next year. I'm not going to bother speculating on most players 18 and younger since they are typically not the ones moving to contenders....Ashton yesterday being a notable exception....

First, the teams I think are definite sellers:

Edmonton: they are probably out of the playoff picture too - 10 points back right now anyway. I'd expect them to be sellers and if they are, they have a couple good assets they could consider moving. Top of my list would be 19 year old forwards Brent Raedeke and Tomas Vincour, both of whom are likely gone to the pros next year. Vincour's value suffers due to being an import but he has to be an upgrade on somebody's import somewhere. And there should be a good return for Raedeke if the Oil Kings want to move him, I think he's one of the better players in the league that most fans don't think of in that top-players category. After those two guys, I think it drops off unless the Kings want to move overage goalie Torrie Jung or overage forward Brett Breitkreuz. Jung could be a good starter for a team looking to upgrade that position, or at the very least, a solid insurance policy as a backup goalie if somebody wants to use an overage spot on a backup. And Breitkreuz has struggled this year but he's a gritty forward with some offensive upside, and contenders always want those guys. So, there will be interest in him if somebody has an overage spot in need of an upgrade.

Lethbridge: the Canes are 12 points out of a playoff spot and all but packed it in yesterday by trading their best forward. Who's next to go? Their biggest chip has to be defenceman Luca Sbisa, a 19 year old with 40-some games of NHL experience under his belt. Sbisa's an import though, which restricts his value somewhat, and he's also potentially going to miss an awful lot of time over the next two months while playing for Switzerland at the World Juniors and possibly the Olympics as well. But if you're trading for him, you're probably looking for his help in March through May, not so much in January and February - so I think there's still a high value on him. It's also interesting that the top three overall teams in the league all happen to have import spots open and could acquire Sbisa without having to move another import out - so I think something happens with this guy. Lethbridge would be crazy to hang onto an asset like this when they're not going to make the playoffs even with him. Amongst Lethbridge's other players, I don't see any other 19 year olds that they'd likely want to trade - Reddington and Maxwell have value but should be their overagers next year. That leaves a couple overagers - goaltender Linden Rowat and forward Carter Bancks. Similar to Edmonton's Jung/Breitkreuz duo, Rowat could make a very nice insurance policy for a contender, and Bancks is a good two-way character forward, the kind of guy lots of teams want. There might be some interest in both those guys.

Prince George: they're out of it. They know it, we all know it. They are 10 points worse than the next-worst team in the league, not just their conference, and they are headed for last overall and having both the Forsberg brothers in Cougars colours in 2011-12. So they're definitely going to be sellers, I'm just not sure they have a lot to offer since most of their team is fairly young and/or not very good. Overage defenceman Dallas Jackson may attract some interest but probably not a steep price in return, given his age. And 19 year old forward Marek Viedensky is probably going to have some interested parties around the league, given his size (who doesn't like 6'3" centermen?), point totals (he leads the Cougars in scoring) and the fact that he's a plus player on a team of almost exclusively big minuses. But Viedensky is an import and that restricts his value as well. Only teams with an open import spot can take him, unless the Cougars want to take an import back in return. So that reduces his trade value to the point where the Cougars might not get enough for him to make it worth trading him.

And now the probable/definite buyers:

Brandon: they are hosting the Memorial Cup, so they are the only team in the WHL that knows they're going to have a guaranteed shot at winning the biggest prize of all. There is no reason for them to not pull out all the stops this year, especially considering the losses they are probably facing going into next season. Might as well go all-out this year. My guess is the top priority here may be improving the depth on the blueline....another top-four guy would fit in well, I think. They have lots of scoring already and seem set in net as well, but if the prices are reasonable and they can keep an opponent from bulking up, I wouldn't rule out trades at any position here.

Calgary: they weren't expected to contend yet again this year but they find themselves holding down #1 overall two weeks before Christmas. IMO their "blue chip" prospect pool is a little shallower than it has been in the past, which might limit what they can afford to give up, but I would expect the Hitmen to be looking for a top-end defenceman, a top four or even top pair guy, somebody who can move the puck. There is too much inexperience on the blueline here to go deep in the playoffs otherwise. I would say Sbisa is a good fit here if these teams wanted to make a big intra-division trade like that. Elsewhere....the Hitmen are set in net but another top-six forward wouldn't hurt either. But definitely defence has to be the top priority.

Medicine Hat: I don't know whether the Tigers belong here or not....they are up with the Calgarys and Brandons in the standings now so I guess they could add some big names and try to win this year too. They do have 8 19 year olds (including six 19 year old forwards) though so if they're NOT going to go for it then they really should move out a couple at the deadline in return for younger players. Something just tells me the Tigers might belong more in the tinker-but-no-major-deals category.

Regina: I wouldn't have put them in this category before yesterday but the Ashton deal served notice that they are going to try to do something this year. I think the defence here is the next to get some attention; they look set up front but they are really short of high-end guys on defence and four of their seven players there are rookies. Experienced top-four defencemen needed....but they aren't cheap, especially when almost every contending team in the league would love to have more, and how much more of the future do the Pats want to give up? I'd also question whether they have the goaltending to get them through four rounds of the playoffs. Maybe this is where a guy like Torrie Jung would work out, although it means they'd have to move one of their existing overagers.

Saskatoon: 2nd overall right now, and first in win %. The Blades have been a streaky, unpredictable team at times this year - sometimes unbeatable, sometimes looking shaky. When they're hot though, they're hot....and they don't have a lot of big weaknesses. If anything, I think they'd be looking for a top-six forward - makes one wonder whether they were in the Ashton trade talks and Regina beat them out. Another veteran depth body or two on defence and up front never hurt either, depending on the price.

Spokane: slow start, but being the hottest team in the league the last couple weeks has moved them into 4th overall - by win % anyway. Do they make a move for this year? I think they will, since it could be easier this year for a Western Conference team to make the Memorial Cup. If Brandon wins the East, then the winner of the West is going to the Memorial Cup regardless of whether they win the WHL or not. The Chiefs have as good a chance as anyone in the West. I think another top-six forward would definitely be a good acquisition here. Their defensive top four are strong but another #5/#6 guy for depth isn't a bad idea either.

Tri-Cities: tops in the West right now by a good margin, the Ams are combining some balanced scoring with good defensive play as well. They also already made a key move a few weeks back in acquiring defenceman Eric Mestery. I wonder if maybe the Americans are in more of a wait-and-see mode now, waiting to see what their competitors do first and then evaluating whether they need to answer back with a move of their own. Certainly I would say that right now, the Americans don't NEED to do anything. They look pretty strong as-is.

Vancouver: always contenders, although just the other day, coach Don Hay was wondering whether this year's team has what it takes to achieve the goals that past groups have. Could be an indication that there's some significant moves coming here, or it could mean they're more likely to do nothing and just take what they can get this year. There's some quality younger players on this team and maybe they don't want to blow that up. If they were going to make a move, I think another veteran defenceman would be on the wish list since there's not a lot of veterans on the defence here now.

Most everybody else is somewhere in the middle, so I've tried to split them into two groups - teams who I think will either miss the playoffs or be first round cannon fodder for a contender (which means they are probably interested in being sellers, depending on the prices being offered), and teams who I think might not be contenders but who could possibly win a playoff round or two if they made some more minor adjustments. Those teams might not be in the hunt for major moves but might look to add one "name" player, or just a couple depth players perhaps.

Miss playoffs/first round fodder:

Chilliwack: much better now than they started the season, but I'd still be surprised if the Bruins can climb enough by late March to avoid somebody like Tri-Cities or Spokane in the first round. However, I also don't think there's much here that they would WANT to trade, because a lot of this team can come back next year and should be much-improved. I think the Bruins might decide to ride the season out and see how far they can get with this lineup. IMO anyway.

Kamloops: they should have been better than this but their season has been a disaster. They are ripe for a purging of more veterans....the problem is that I don't think they have a lot of veterans who are not returning next year and whom other teams would have a lot of interest in. Definitely forwards Tyler Shattock and C.J. Stretch, but Shattock could very well come back next year as an overage (he doesn't have to be NHL signed until May 2011) so perhaps the Blazers don't want to part with him. Stretch is an overager who could have some value to a contender though, as is goaltender Kurtis Mucha if the Blazers want to move him. Other than that though....maybe defencemen Curtis Kulchar and Zak Stebner might have some interest around the league as depth additions if the Blazers want to move them instead of keeping them as next year's possible overagers. Forward Shayne Wiebe they have to keep for next year. Mark Hall has little value. That's it...

Kootenay: another team I thought would be better than they are....and another team that might not have much in the way of 19 & 20 year olds to offer up in a trade. I doubt there's much interest in Todd Mathews (G-19), Ryan Molle (D-20), or Dominik Pascovsky (F-19). 19 year old forwards Steele Boomer, Matt Fraser, and Kevin King would probably draw some interest, but they are also all going to be overagers in the league next year so maybe the Ice would rather keep them. That leaves overage forward Dustin Sylvester, who would surely be an upgrade at forward for some team's overage situation...if the Ice wanted to move him, that is.

Red Deer: I thought for sure the Rebels had to improve, if only because of the amount of young talent they have. And they have improved over last year, but probably not enough to be assured of a playoff spot.....and they're looking at being first round fodder for a Saskatoon, Calgary, or Brandon if they do make it. If they want to make a move for next year, I think Willie Coetzee is the likely first guy to be targeted by contenders. He has signed in the NHL so he might not be back, and he's averaging 1.5 points per game this year for a team that hasn't scored a lot. Overage forward Nathan Green is another good target for acquisition, although he is currently out long-term with a broken leg and likely won't play again until after the trade deadline....which might scare off some suitors.

Seattle: with Chilliwack and Kamloops, another team that is likely to struggle to make the playoffs, only to face a powerhouse opponent in the first round if they did make it. Also another team though that probably doesn't have any 19 year olds with a lot of value. Maybe defenceman Stefan Warg, but he is an import, which restricts his trade value. Overage forward Prab Rai might have some interest.

And now the teams who could go for more minor improvements, and hope to win a round or two as opposed to trying to win the whole thing this year....

Everett: lots of good younger players on this team....might not want to do much to mess around with that.

Kelowna: same with Everett, Kelowna's losses for next year are not staggering. They probably return four of their five 19 year olds, so most of their losses are their overagers, who have not been huge contributors this year. I bet they don't do much and try to win a round with this lineup.

Moose Jaw: good 17 & 18 year olds on this team, they don't need to blow everything up for a run this year. Maybe move a couple of the veterans they have and further strengthen their younger age groups, and they could really be a force next year. They could get a small fortune back if they wanted to trade Travis Hamonic, for example.

Portland: cooled a little after a strong start but they should still be a 3rd-4th-5th place team in the conference, good for a chance at a playoff round or two. Also a team whose strength is in its 17 & 18 year olds, not its 19 year olds. The 19 year olds they do have are probably good bets to return again next year so I might not do anything at all if I were the Hawks. Try to win a round or two this year for experience and then really go for it next year.

Prince Albert: coming on a bit after a bad start, the Raiders are now a middle-of-the-pack team in the Eastern conference. Not going to be contenders but they could be a team that thinks it can win in the first round anyway. Might just tinker as opposed to anything major. Could maybe upgrade Fredrik Cedergren's import spot since he's not contributing a lot and won't be back next year. Good spot for Viedensky or Vincour?

Swift Current: made a move to shore up their goaltending last week after dropping nearly out of the playoff picture. Another team that is going to get most of their 19 year olds back (of their six, only Novotny isn't in the 2010-11 overage picture IMO) so they may just try to push into the middle of the pack and get into position to face another of the middle of the pack teams in the first round, win a playoff round, etc.

That's how I see it anyway....fire away if you don't agree.

Major trade today

Big trade today, probably kicking off the countdown to the trade deadline which is one month from tomorrow....

Today's deal sees Lethbridge trade 18 year old forward Carter Ashton, 19 year old forward Craig Orfino, and their 2010 3rd round bantam pick to Regina in exchange for 17 year old forward Graham Hood, 15 year old forward Taylor Balog, Regina's 2010 2nd round bantam pick, and Regina's 2011 first round bantam pick.

First reaction here is whoa, Regina gave up a lot of their future to get Ashton. They are gambling big time that Ashton returns to the WHL next year as a 19 year old instead of sticking in the NHL, because if they only get a half-year out of Ashton, they get hosed in this trade by giving up a first and three 2nd round picks (Hood and Balog were 2nd rounders in 2007 and 2009) for a half year of Ashton plus a year and a half from Orfino.

I think the deal also sends a pretty strong signal to the rest of the league that Regina is not going to be sellers at this year's trade deadline. In other words, you can trash-can any and all rumours of Jordan Eberle or Colten Teubert being traded anywhere. If anything, Regina plans to load up and try to make a run for it this year by adding Ashton to an already potent offensive lineup.

It's also clear that Lethbridge is throwing in the towel on the season. They are 12 points out of the playoffs and clearly don't think they can make up the gap. Which means rumours about the rest of Lethbridge's veterans - most notably defenceman Luca Sbisa - will only intensify from here on.

It's going to get interesting....Regina just struck the first blow in the battle to improve their team leading up to the deadline. Who's going to follow their lead now?

Ineligible player

Here's something you only see in the NHL every couple years, if even that.

Montreal's Ryan White (good WHL boy there too!) was forced to leave last night's game against the Ottawa Senators after four shifts in the first period, because it was discovered that Montreal had never properly notified the NHL that they were recalling White from the AHL earlier in the day.

Thus, White was not on Montreal's official NHL roster and not eligible to play in the game. Had the Canadiens scored while White was on the ice, the goal would have been taken away.

Happens from time to time....not a common thing though. I do remember it happening in the WHL at one game I attended about 12 or 13 years ago. I think it was Saskatoon that was affected and as it turned out their coach had written down the wrong name when it came to his goaltenders, and the guy who started the game for them wasn't on the game sheet so he had to leave the game about halfway through the first period.

Stats stuff

Today's stats post is brought to you by the letters P, I, and M. As in, Penalties In Minutes. A look at all things penalty-related around the league today...

First, does taking a lot of penalties make you a bad team? The common sense answer might seem to be that yes, lots of PIM is bad because it usually leads to opposing powerplays, which leads to goals against. But the stats don't bear that out:

Team	Win %	PIM/G
Saskatoon Blades	0.750	21.07 (3)
Calgary Hitmen	0.734	18.69 (11)
Tri-City Americans	0.724	14.97 (22)
Spokane Chiefs	0.679	15.64 (19)
Brandon Wheat Kings	0.636	16.24 (17)
Vancouver Giants	0.621	19.94 (6)
Portland Winterhawks	0.609	18.34 (12)
Medicine Hat Tigers	0.606	19.42 (9)
Everett Silvertips	0.589	17.61 (15)
Moose Jaw Warriors	0.567	15.8 (18)
Prince Albert Raiders	0.544	17.76 (14)
Swift Current Broncos	0.531	16.28 (16)
Regina Pats	0.530	18 (13)
Red Deer Rebels	0.517	19.9 (7)
Kootenay Ice	0.516	21.16 (2)
Kelowna Rockets	0.500	18.74 (10)
Chilliwack Bruins	0.470	20.3 (5)
Kamloops Blazers	0.469	22.56 (1)
Seattle Thunderbirds	0.406	15.09 (21)
Edmonton Oil Kings	0.375	15.31 (20)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	0.367	19.5 (8)
Prince George Cougars	0.207	20.83 (4)

You can see that the top three teams in the league by winning percentage are actually from three different PIM extremes - heavily penalized, average, and lightly penalized. And the worst teams in the league are also a mix of heavily and lightly penalized teams. So it doesn't seem to make much difference.

How about by actual powerplays given up, not just PIMs taken? After all, some of those PIMs are going to be coincidental ones which don't hurt a team on the ice:

Team	Win %	PP/G
Saskatoon Blades	0.75	4.93 (10)
Calgary Hitmen	0.734	5.03 (9)
Tri-City Americans	0.724	4.69 (15)
Spokane Chiefs	0.679	4.86 (11)
Brandon Wheat Kings	0.636	4.06 (22)
Vancouver Giants	0.621	5.52 (4)
Portland Winterhawks	0.609	5.28 (7)
Medicine Hat Tigers	0.606	4.52 (19)
Everett Silvertips	0.589	5.32 (6)
Moose Jaw Warriors	0.567	4.23 (21)
Prince Albert Raiders	0.544	4.56 (18)
Swift Current Broncos	0.531	4.75 (14)
Regina Pats	0.53	5.61 (3)
Red Deer Rebels	0.517	4.48 (20)
Kootenay Ice	0.516	4.58 (17)
Kelowna Rockets	0.5	4.84 (12)
Chilliwack Bruins	0.47	5.64 (2)
Kamloops Blazers	0.469	6.03 (1)
Seattle Thunderbirds	0.406	4.84 (12)
Edmonton Oil Kings	0.375	4.63 (16)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	0.367	5.43 (5)
Prince George Cougars	0.207	5.17 (8)

Again, not necessarily any relation....we do see a trend where the teams which allow the most PPs per game are drifting towards the bottom of the standings here (as we might expect), but there are still a number of average-to-heavily shorthanded teams near the top. We may be able to conclude that the strength of a team's penalty killing players is a factor here - better PKers means you can give up more PPs without getting seriously hurt - but I don't know of any way to measure the strength of a team's penalty killers, so we'll leave it at that.

How about intimidation? Does it actually work in giving teams an edge?

This is hard to exactly measure but I'll take the number of PIMs that each team has earned through fighting majors and roughing minors (the two most logical results of intimidation attempts) and break that down:

Team	Win %	Rough PIM	Fight PIM	"Intimidation" PIM/G
Kootenay Ice	0.516 (15)	66	280	11.16
Saskatoon Blades	0.75 (1)	86	235	10.7
Prince George Cougars	0.207 (22)	106	190	10.21
Kamloops Blazers	0.469 (18)	152	170	10.06
Red Deer Rebels	0.517 (14)	78	210	9.93
Medicine Hat Tigers	0.606 (8)	128	190	9.64
Chilliwack Bruins	0.47 (17)	112	185	9
Vancouver Giants	0.621 (6)	106	185	8.82
Lethbridge Hurricanes	0.367 (21)	82	170	8.4
Kelowna Rockets	0.5 (16)	84	170	8.19
Calgary Hitmen	0.734 (2)	66	195	8.16
Brandon Wheat Kings	0.636 (5)	72	190	7.94
Prince Albert Raiders	0.544 (11)	90	170	7.65
Portland Winterhawks	0.609 (7)	124	115	7.47
Everett Silvertips	0.589 (9)	60	135	6.96
Regina Pats	0.53 (13)	94	135	6.94
Moose Jaw Warriors	0.567 (10)	68	140	6.93
Swift Current Broncos	0.531 (12)	70	135	6.41
Edmonton Oil Kings	0.375 (20)	62	120	5.69
Seattle Thunderbirds	0.406 (19)	84	95	5.59
Spokane Chiefs	0.679 (4)	70	85	5.54
Tri-City Americans	0.724 (3)	44	100	4.97

Well, of the five teams with the most "intimidation" penalty minutes, four of them rank no better than 14th overall in the league. But the fifth team in that group is also the #1 overall team in the league. Go figure.

Meanwhile, the four teams least-penalized for "intimidation" include two of the league's worst teams and also two of its best. So does intimidation work? I think it's inconclusive.....it may work for some teams and not for others.

Some individual player stats now....

Fighting major leaders:

Player	# Fights
Randy McNaught	13
Darian Dziurzynski	12
Curt Gogol	10
Ian Schultz	10
Tayler Jordan	9
Ryley Miller	9
Josh Cowen	8
Mitchell Callahan	7
Kale Kessy	7
Matthew Konan	7
Brett Lyon	7
Cason Machacek	7
Dylan McIlrath	7
Brock Montgomery	7
David Robinson	7
Tanner Sohn	7
Teigan Zahn	7

And now the powerplay machines.....players who take the most penalties which result in powerplays for their opponent:

Player	PPs
Brett Leffler	23
Brett Breitkreuz	22
Mitchell Chapman	22
Zak Stebner	22
Kyle Beach	21
Rasmus Rissanen	21
Art Bidlevskii	20
Lance Bouma	20
Radko Gudas	20
Brandon Manning	20
Geordie Wudrick	20
Ryan Funk	19
Brennan Yadlowski	19
Colin Jacobs	18
Mitch McColm	18
Brad Ross	18
Jordan Rowley	18
Troy Rutkowski	18
Kevin Sundher	18
Travis Toomey	18
Matt Delahey	17
Brendan Gallagher	17
Wacey Hamilton	17
Nino Niederreiter	17
Brent Raedeke	17
Alexander Urbom	17
Adrian Van de Mosselaer	17
Derek Claffey	16
Ryan Harrison	16
Sam Klassen	16
Shayne Neigum	16
Giffen Nyren	16
Brett Plouffe	16
Mike Reddington	16
Colten Teubert	16

Are these players hurting their teams? Not necessarily, since some penalties are "good" penalties - penalties which prevent scoring chances, etc. But definitely some of these guys are hurting their teams with all these opposition PP's they are causing.

And how about how many of those PPs actually result in goals?

Player	PPs	Goals
Art Bidlevskii	20	9
Brett Lyon	15	7
Stefan Warg	15	7
Nino Niederreiter	17	7
Brett Breitkreuz	22	7
Zak Stebner	22	7
Cam Braes	12	6
Marek Viedensky	12	6
Colin Jacobs	18	6
Rasmus Rissanen	21	6
Mitchell Chapman	22	6
Alex Petrovic	6	5
Dylan McIlrath	14	5
Brayden McNabb	14	5
Brayden Schenn	14	5
Shayne Wiebe	14	5
Derek Claffey	16	5
Ryan Harrison	16	5
Sam Klassen	16	5
Brent Raedeke	17	5
Brad Ross	18	5
Jordan Rowley	18	5
Troy Rutkowski	18	5
Brennan Yadlowski	19	5
Radko Gudas	20	5
Brandon Manning	20	5
Geordie Wudrick	20	5

And again by percentage of PP's which result in goals:

Player	PPs	Goals	%
Alex Petrovic	6	5	83.3%
Matej Bene	6	4	66.7%
Kyle Mulder	6	4	66.7%
Jesse Craige	5	3	60%
Matt Fraser	5	3	60%
Byron Froese	5	3	60%
Emerson Hrynyk	5	3	60%
Michael Ferland	7	4	57.1%
Cam Braes	12	6	50%
Marek Viedensky	12	6	50%
Carter Bancks	8	4	50%
Mackenzie Royer	8	4	50%
Matt Strueby	8	4	50%
Greg Fraser	6	3	50%
Todd Kennedy	6	3	50%
Matt MacKay	6	3	50%
Brett Lyon	15	7	46.7%
Stefan Warg	15	7	46.7%
Art Bidlevskii	20	9	45%
Spencer Bennett	9	4	44.4%
Joey Leach	9	4	44.4%
Brock Sutherland	9	4	44.4%
Brendon Wall	9	4	44.4%
Adam Lowry	7	3	42.9%
Daniel Medland-Marchen	7	3	42.9%
Brodie Melnychuk	7	3	42.9%
Eric Mestery	7	3	42.9%
Harrison Ruopp	7	3	42.9%
Garrett Thiessen	7	3	42.9%
Nino Niederreiter	17	7	41.2%

Alex Petrovic has taken six penalties which resulted in opposing powerplays. They scored while he was in the box five times. One positive way you could look at that though is to conclude that he could be a key penalty killer for them and their PK unit misses him when he's in the box.

That's it for today.....enjoy.

Witt hit by car

How tough are WHL boys?

Tough enough that they can get hit by a car and shake it off.

Player movement

Bunch of player movements over the last few days to take note of here....

Wheaton King is no longer a Wheat King; the Brandon Wheat Kings assigned the 17 year old King to a Jr A club over the weekend. I would think he'll be back next year to try to make the team again.....but if not, he certainly had one of the most memorable names to play in this league. It wouldn't even have been noteworthy if he had played for any other team though.

The Kootenay Ice have added 16 year old defenceman Jagger Dirk to their roster for the remainder of the season. Dirk, who had been playing in the BCHL up to this point this year, is the son of former NHL defenceman Robert Dirk. That makes two former Vancouver Canucks defencemen whose kids now play for the Ice, as Ice forward Max Reinhart is the son of former NHLer Paul Reinhart. I thought perhaps their dads may have been teammates on the Canucks at one point, but it turns out they missed each other by one year there. Paul Reinhart retired after 89-90 and Robert Dirk didn't join the Canucks until 90-91.

Chilliwack has added 18 year old forward Brett Miller, who is on his third team this season and fourth team of his career after being a first round bantam pick of Regina in 2006. He started this year with Red Deer - where he finished last year - but was cut in training camp. Then he joined Everett, where he played 2 games before being reassigned to Jr A. Now he is back for another kick at the WHL with the Bruins. I don't know if this is his last chance to make the WHL but that proverbial final kick at the cat has to be coming up soon.

Now for the departures; Prince George has sent home 18 year old forward Robbie Ciolfi for off-ice disciplinary and school-related reasons.

And two players - Regina's Alex Pym and Chilliwack's David Robinson - left their teams of their own accord yesterday, citing a lack of desire to continue playing hockey. This follows at least two other players that I know of who quit their team earlier this season for the same reasons - Edmonton's Henrik Tervonen and Kieran Friesen.

I know a lot of us might find these departures hard to believe - after all, most of us never came close to being able to play at this level of hockey and would give a body appendage to have had the chance. But take a minute and think about the demands that are placed on these kids, who are still teenagers. School, hockey, friends, off-ice team commitments, etc - and many of them are hundreds or thousands of miles from their families, their main support network. I think it's more amazing that more kids don't quit.

How many of us adults really love our jobs and how many of us do it only because we need a steady paycheque? I'm sure there's some of us who really do love our jobs, some who only do it for the money, and some who are a little of both. These players are the same way....some of them really love playing hockey and some are a little less in love with it. There's nothing wrong with that.

That concludes my Dr. Phil moment. I'm updating the stats database so look for some stats on the current season to be posted later today.....

Thursday notes

Couple things for today....

First, this is a day old, but the CHL and Canadian cable channel Rogers Sportsnet announced their 2009-10 broadcast schedule on Sportsnet the other day. You can see the seven WHL games they're showing here. There will also be some CHL playoff games shown (based on past years, those will be OHL games....I'd take that to the bank) and of course they also show the entire Memorial Cup tournament.

I don't understand why a Canadian all-sports network wouldn't want to show MORE of the CHL than just a paltry few games, especially when they're going to show the big finale in May. But I guess they wouldn't want to pre-empt their exciting hits like strongman competitions, poker, darts, or the world snooker tour for some boring hockey.

Secondly, as always happens after Canada announces their WJC invites, there's been a lot of "oh my god I can't believe XXXX didn't get invited" out there......and a lot of WHL fans wondering why only 10 WHLers were invited to the camp this year when last year there were 12 WHLer just on the final team itself.

Well, don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the entire team made up of WHLers and nothing else - in fact, I think all three CHL leagues could put a team into this tournament that would have a good chance of winning. But look at the makeup of the 36 players who were invited: there are 14 NHL first round picks on that roster, and four more 2010-eligible players (Gormley, Hall, McFarland, and Seguin) who are all bet-the-farm locks to be first rounders this year. That is potentially as many as 18 NHL first round picks on a 22 man roster.....most countries would love to have that "problem". There are six more 2nd round picks and another six more 3rd round picks. That's 30 of the 36 players who were (or will be) picked in the first three rounds of the NHL draft. They can only take 22 players.....some very good players and very good future NHLers are going to be left off this team.

And yes, some very good players and very good future NHLers didn't even get invited. But it's not like they got left home in favour of some schmucks. It's a tough job sorting through this much talent and maybe this year the OHL and the QMJHL just have a little bit stronger groups. I'm not going to worry about the WHL being underrepresented....the OHL and QMJHL guys who beat our western kids out all have pretty good credentials too.

Oh, and one other thing to think about - there are still eight players in the NHL who are eligible to play for Canada but who aren't being released to play by their NHL clubs:

Michael del Zotto (D) - NY Rangers (27gp-5g-12a-17pts-16pim)

Tyler Myers (D) - Buffalo (24-3-10-13-10)

Matt Duchene (F) - Colorado (29-8-9-17-4)

Evander Kane (F) - Atlanta (24-8-5-13-19)

Ryan O'Reilly (F) - Colorado (29-4-13-17-10)

Steven Stamkos (F) - Tampa Bay (26-17-12-29-14)

John Tavares (F) - NY Islanders (27-10-11-21-4)

James Wright (F) - Tampa Bay (26-2-3-5-6)

Imagine if those guys, who are posting those kind of numbers in the best hockey league in the world, all came and played at the WJCs. No, seriously.....

Calgary-Seattle trade

Hitmen and Thunderbirds make a trade this morning, Calgary taking a step to alleviate their glut of defencemen by sending 18 year old Erik Bonsor to Seattle for a 2010 6th round bantam pick.

Not a bad deal for Seattle, I think Bonsor is a decent 5th/6th defenceman who could develop a bit more if he got more ice time than what he was getting in Calgary, where he had fallen behind younger guys on the depth chart.

USA WJC preliminary roster

USA Hockey released their preliminary roster for their WJC team today as well. (That link is to a Microsoft Word document, BTW)

Two WHLers invited to USA's camp - Spokane forward Tyler Johnson (who played for USA last year as well) and Portland forward Luke Walker. In case you were wondering; yes, Walker did grow up in Canada but he has dual citizenship thanks to having been born in Connecticut.

There are nine other players on that roster who hail from WHL territories and whose CHL rights are owned by WHL clubs, but who are either playing NCAA or pursuing that route: goaltender Mike Lee (Portland Winterhawks), defencemen Justin Faulk (Tri-City Americans), Jake Gardiner (Kelowna Rockets) and Max Nicastro (Everett Silvertips), and forwards Chris Brown (Calgary Hitmen), Danny Kristo (Kelowna Rockets), Jordan Schroeder (Everett Silvertips), Derek Stepan (Calgary Hitmen), and Jason Zucker (Seattle Thunderbirds).

Canada WJC invites out

And the chosen few have been named....there are 10 WHLers invited this year amongst the 36 total invites:

Goaltenders:

Martin Jones (Calgary)

Defence:

Jared Cowen (Spokane)

Travis Hamonic (Moose Jaw)

Colten Teubert (Regina)

Forwards:

Cody Eakin (Swift Current)

Jordan Eberle (Regina)

Scott Glennie (Brandon)

Brandon Kozun (Calgary)

Brandon McMillan (Kelowna)

Brayden Schenn (Brandon)

There are also two NCAA or NCAA-bound players from the prairies as well - defenceman Dylan Olsen of Camrose (AJHL) who is Medicine Hat Tigers property, and defenceman Patrick Wiercioch of Denver University, who is Portland Winterhawks property.

Only seven WHL teams have players invited this year - Brandon, Calgary, and Regina have two each, and one each from Kelowna, Moose Jaw, Spokane, and Swift Current.

One other note - Teubert and Eberle are veterans of last year's team, two of only seven returning players. Their spots should be considered safe, in the absence of injuries or absolutely brutal selection camps. Eberle could have a leg amputated and still make the team after his heroics of last year.

Everyone else.....better have a good camp if they want to make the team. Should be tough decisions for the coaches, like always.

Oh, and we can only hope that for the game that Canada wears their green jerseys, that they take special care in avoiding too-many-men penalties.....

WJC invites to be announced

Hockey Canada will announce the 36 players invited to try out for this year's Canadian World Junior team in about 35 minutes, at 10am Mountain time. I'll post the roster and a few notes here as soon as it is released.

As proof that some people have too much time on their hands, TSN in Canada is going to broadcast LIVE the announcement of the invite roster. Uh, OK....I'm as interested as any other Canadian hockey fan to know who got invited, but I don't think I'm quite obsessed enough to watch a TV show hyping a freakin' invitation list. Almost half these kids named today won't even make the team.

Trade today

Trade today between Chilliwack and Swift Current - the Bruins have sent 19 year old goalie Mark Friesen to the prairies for a 2010 3rd round bantam pick.

To replace Friesen, the Bruins have summoned 18 year old goalie Braden Gamble from the AJHL's Drumheller Dragons. I assume he becomes the permanent backup to Lucas Gore.

So what happens now in Swift? Friesen is surely coming in there to be the new starter for the Broncos. So who's out - 19 year old Morgan Clark or 18 year old rookie Alex Sirard? Clark has better numbers but do they want to keep a 19 year old with 3.5 years of WHL experience as a mere backup? I think Clark is headed out the door....just my guess.

To suspend or not to suspend....

Seems like the hotly-debated hockey story this morning is that of whether or not the Florida Panthers' Keith Ballard deserves a suspension from the league for his moronic actions last night.

So far, opinion that I've seen/read seems to be split - some say No because it was his own teammate who was injured, plus there was no intent on his part to do what actually transpired. Then there's the Yes side, who point out that swinging a stick baseball style is a very bad idea, whether you injure someone or have any intent to injure someone or not.

What do you think? Have your say in the comments.

Me, I see - and agree - with both sides of the argument. Overall though, I do think Ballard deserves a suspension. Not a long one, but something in the 1-2 game range or thereabouts. If he had hit an opponent in the head like that, we wouldn't be talking about whether to suspend him. We'd be talking about whether he'd be eligible to play again before he's old and grey. Yes, he hit a teammate instead....but why is that less bad of an outcome? He did something stupid and somebody got hurt. I think there needs to be a message sent that swinging your stick baseball style is not acceptable whether you hit somebody or not. So, a couple games will do. IMO anyway.

As an aside, this exact same thing happened just six months ago at the World Championships, although thankfully in that case the goalie was not injured.

World Curling comes to Regina

First it was Swift Current, and now it's Regina who will take a turn hosting the World Curling Championships.

Regina was named the host of the 2011 World Mens Curling tournament today, which will run April 2nd to 10th, 2011, at Evraz Place - also known as the home rink of the Regina Pats. Swift Current is hosting the World Women's championships this year, in late March.

The WHL relevance of this stuff is that the Broncos are looking at being kicked out of their rink for the first round of the playoffs this season, and the Pats will be in the same boat for the 2nd round of the playoffs next season.

The Pats have seen the 2nd round of the playoffs only once in the last 11 years so there might not be a lot of risk involved in that decision. But still - how'd you like to actually make the 2nd round and then have to play your "home" games for that round somewhere else....like Moose Jaw?

I'm still wondering what the Broncos are going to do come March, since they are on pace to make the playoffs right now and won't have a place to play in the first round....

Schenn called up to NHL

The injury-riddled Los Angeles Kings have summoned their 2009 first round pick, Brandon Wheat Kings forward Brayden Schenn, from the WHL on an emergency recall basis.

Schenn has signed a 1-day amateur tryout contract with the Kings and is expected to play for them tonight in Vancouver against the Canucks. Apparently NHL rules do not permit him to stick around longer than one day, so he will presumably be reassigned to Brandon tomorrow.

The Kings lost forward Andrei Loktionov with an injury last night in Edmonton and with Schenn already on the left coast - having played last night in Victoria in the Canada-Russia series game there - it was probably more convenient for the Kings to add him for tonight on an emergency basis than try to fly in a replacement from their New England-based AHL club in time for the game.

Too bad the game is against Vancouver and not against Toronto. If it were the Leaves, then Schenn could make his NHL debut by facing his older brother Luke. Oh well.

Doyle to Portland

Firstoff today, happy Thanksgiving if you live south of the 49th....sadly, it's just another day at work for those of us on the other side....

The last team with more than three overagers on their roster has finally gotten down to the limit, as Swift Current has dealt overage defenceman Eric Doyle to Portland for 19 year old defenceman Travis Bobbee. Nothing official on this deal yet from either the teams or the league but Gregg Drinnan reported it on his blog so you know it's a done deal.

Swift had to make a deal to get down to three overagers since they are expecting Matt Tassone to be ready to play in the next little bit. As for Portland, they had a spot open after trading Kurtis Mucha last weekend.

A decent price was paid too, as the Broncos are going to get next season from Bobbee as well, whereas Doyle is strictly a half-year player for the Hawks. Doyle will provide another veteran puck-moving defenceman for Portland, who should be familiar with Doyle after his time in Everett earlier in his career.

Two other player movement notes this morning as well - Everett has reassigned 18 year old defenceman Drew McDermott to Junior A, and Medicine Hat has added former T-Bird and Rebel, Josh Lazowski, to their roster.

Phaneuf hits a girl

A story making the rounds here the other day now has a video to support it....

Background: the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team has been playing a series of exhibition games against the Alberta-based boys AAA midget teams, as a tuneup for the Olympics in February. (I beleive the games count in the standings for the boys, so they're not "exhibition" games for the boys). The women have done pretty well in the series (8-3 record against the boys so far) but most games have been pretty close and it gives a pretty good indication of what calibre top-level international women's hockey is at - about the same calibre as AAA midget boys hockey in Canada.

Anyways, the games are played under women's hockey rules, which means no bodychecking - a factor which is no doubt a disadvantage to the boys. Last Thursday, however, Edmonton SSAC defenceman Dane Phaneuf - little brother of Dion Phaneuf and a Prince George Cougars prospect - forgot that rule and checked Canadian star forward Hayley Wickenheiser into the boards behind the net. Wickenheiser responded by grabbing Phaneuf around the neck and trying to wrestle him to the ice.

Funny stuff....especially when you consider that Wickenheiser is 31 years old and actually bigger (5'10", 170lb) than the 15 year old Phaneuf (5'10", 150 lb).

Women's hockey needs bodychecking allowed. Maybe not necessarily the big open-ice headhunting hits if they don't want that, but when a defenceman can't even rub out a forward behind the net.....that isn't hockey.

More trades

Two more trades today - that makes seven deals in the WHL in the last three days, if you're counting.

In the first deal, Tri-City has taken the 13th round 2010 bantam pick they got from Prince George in the Spencer Asuchak deal, and flipped it to Vancouver for 19 year old forward Todd Kennedy.

Hey, it's a 13th round pick. That's the modern-day WHL equivalent of being traded for a bus.

In the other deal, Portland continues to get younger by trading 19 year old forward Colin Redden to Prince Albert for a 2010 4th round pick. With the deal, and the move of Kurtis Mucha on the weekend, Portland now drops into 22nd on the average age list. So, they are the youngest team in the league now.

And another trade

Third trade today.....and it's those crazy Bonner brothers hooking up again. Does Scott Bonner even trade with anyone other than his brother anymore?

This time it's overage defenceman Ryan Funk heading to Kamloops in exchange for 18 year old forward Brett Lyon. And yes, Lyon was traded to Kamloops FROM Vancouver just last season.

Moving Funk gets the Giants down to three overagers on their roster, clearing the way for Garry Nunn to rejoin the team once his broken leg is healed.

Yet another deal

Another trade today - Tri-City sends 18 year old forward Spencer Asuchak to Prince George for an undisclosed bantam pick.

Blazers-Hitmen deal

Kamloops traded overage defenceman Giffen Nyren to the Calgary Hitmen for a conditional 6th round pick this morning.

Calgary had room for an overager and a need for a puck-moving defenceman. For the Blazers, this move drops them down to two overagers, since they waived Justin Leclerc yesterday after acquiring Kurtis Mucha. They now have only Mucha and forward C.J. Stretch for overagers.

Monday notes

The WHL's active leader in almost every accumulative goaltending statistical category was traded yesterday, and he did not go gently.

The Winterhawks traded overager Kurtis Mucha to the Kamloops Blazers for a 2010 4th round bantam pick, and Mucha was not able to hide his unhappiness at the way Portland treated him: "It’s tough. I put in my time and waited for the good times, and when the good times came they sent me out of here. It definitely leaves a little bit of bad taste in your mouth, no question about that."

Mucha is a nearly 4-year starter who leads all WHL goalies in every statistical category except wins (where Calgary's Martin Jones is the active leader) but his lack of wins is more because of the quality of teams he played on rather than his own abilities. So it's hard not to feel sorry for the guy; during those three long losing years, Mucha was often the only bright spot on the team, and now that Portland is in a position where they may be able to make a playoff run this year, his reward is a trade to another non-contender whose 09-10 postseason ambitions rely on them making the postseason first.

Sentimentality aside though, it's a business and with three goalies on the roster, the Hawks had to make the move that made sense for them both this year and in the future. I'm guessing they were not comfortable with the thought of Mac Carruth (and his one career WHL game) being their starter in 2010-11, which is what would have been on track to happen if they had kept Mucha and moved Ian Curtis instead. And a 4th round pick is a fair price for a midseason move of a one-year player at a position where there's usually not a lot of openings around the league.

And who knows, perhaps Mucha's stay in Kamloops will be a short one; with the WHL trade deadline coming up in just over six weeks, the possibility exists that Kamloops could flip him to a contender if the fortunes of the Blazers' season don't improve by Christmas.

One other trade in the WHL from the weekend that is worth mentioning as well, as the Rebels and Giants swapped 17 year old forwards. Gone to Red Deer is Lane Scheidl, and going to Vancouver is Connor Redmond. Trading Redmond represents the Rebels giving up on what appears to be a first round bantam bust (Redmond was #11 overall in 2007) although perhaps a change of scenery closer to home (he's from Maple Ridge) will help Redmond re-start his stalled career.

Interestingly, Redmond is the 2nd former Rebels first round bantam pick acquired by Vancouver this year - they picked up 2005 first rounder Cass Mappin earlier this season.

Thursday notes

Couple things today.....

First, a trade in the WHL today sees the Lethbridge Hurricanes returning 19 year old defenceman Eric Mestery to Tri-City (where they got him from last year in the Mitch Fadden trade) in return for a 2010 2nd round bantam pick.

Color me slightly surprised that Mestery commanded a pick that high in return. Sure, Tri-City's 2nd round pick is going to be at the tail end of the 2nd round and thus is about the same in value as, say, Prince George's 3rd round pick, but Mestery just never impressed me in his stay with the Hurricanes. But that's why I'm not a G.M. in the league....and we know the market value for four-year veteran defencemen is never cheap in this league.

One other thing that I think you can take away from this trade is that the chances that Lethbridge is dealing Luca Sbisa just continue to get smaller. Regardless of what Sbisa's agent might want for his client, I think the guy is staying put unless there's an offer that just knocks the Canes' socks off. They have too few good experienced defencemen behind him.

And on an NHL note, if you want an example of how badly the NHL is capable of bungling an absolute no-brainer of a call - even after video review - then you need to watch this video from last night's action. It's 2-1 Dallas midway through the 3rd period and Detroit scores the tying goal. Absolutely, unquestionably scores a goal. Except the on-ice refs AND video review central in Toronto decide it isn't a goal.....and Detroit goes on to lose the game.

As I understand it, the reason for the no-goal call was that the ref blew the whistle, or intended to blow the whistle, prior to the puck crossing the goal line. If so, what was the whistle being blown for? There was no penalty assessed on the play, the puck never left the area of play, there was no hand pass or knocked-down-with-a-high-stick situation, and there's no way the ref could have lost sight of the puck before it crossed the goal line. Those are about the only reasons why the referee can blow the whistle and stop play.

Bad, bad call.

Broncos/Rockets swap

Couple pretty big names on the move today as the Rockets and Broncos swap 19 year old forwards. Gone to Kelowna is Geordie Wudrick, while bound for the prairies is import Stepan Novotny and a prospect, 16 year old forward Tanner Clark.

I think Wudrick needed a change of scenery in Swift so the Broncos' end of this deal makes sense if that's the reason - it also moves him a lot closer to his home in Abbotsford. And with Wudrick likely to play next year as an overage, the Rockets probably had to add Clark to the deal to make it fair to the Broncos, who will only get the remainder of this season out of Novotny.

What I don't quite understand is why Kelowna would want to deal Novotny - their leading scorer. Were they just that high on Wudrick that they would surrender Novotny for him?

Sbisa to the Olympics

While catching up on things from the weekend, I found this link on Gregg Drinnan's blog...basically a columnist for NHL.com making his picks for the Swiss Olympic team.

What makes the item WHL noteworthy is that one of the players picked by the writer is current Lethbridge Hurricanes defenceman Luca Sbisa. Not a far-fetched choice either, since it is entirely possible that even at just 19 years old, Sbisa is one of the 6 or 7 best Swiss defencemen in the world. Couple thoughts about this though....

First, does Lethbridge (or whoever owns his WHL rights post-deadline) have to release him for the Olympic tournament? I can't think of any precedence for this because I can't remember the last time a major junior player was invited to play in the Olympics, if it has ever happened before.

Second, if you were Lethbridge, and assuming you had the choice, would you release Sbisa for the Olympics? It would mean you'd lose him for a big chunk of the month of February, which could have serious consequences for your team if they're fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch at that time. You're already going to lose him for a chunk of time after Christmas as he is a lock to play for the Swiss at the World Juniors as well.

And if Lethbridge were so inclined to trade Sbisa before the trade deadline, does his potential departure for the Olympics affect what they can expect to get in return from possible suitors? Playing in the Olympics - which is about the only chance we get in the hockey world to see the true creme de la creme of every country playing against each other - can only make a player like Sbisa a better player. But that's small consolation if his absence from your lineup in February means you miss the WHL playoffs by two points.

Just some things to think about....