Sbisa coming back

News out of Anaheim this morning has the NHL's Ducks re-assigning 19 year old defenceman Luca Sbisa.....the location of the re-assignment wasn't specified but as a player drafted from the CHL, I believe the only option for Sbisa is back to the WHL and the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

This presents a problem for Lethbridge since they already have two other imports - overage forward Radim Valchar and 17 year old goaltender Ville Kolppanen. In order to make room for Sbisa, they need to trade/release one of those two. Their other option is to trade Sbisa's rights to another WHL club - there are currently five WHL teams (Calgary, Kelowna, Saskatoon, Swift Current, and Tri-City) with openings for an import and I'm sure at least a couple of those are very interested in a player of Sbisa's calibre. And of course any of the other teams in the league could make a move to free up an import spot if they wanted Sbisa as well.

I think the choice for Lethbridge comes down to whether they think Kolppanen has a future in their net beyond this year. If he does, then they probably want to keep him, and I think a trade of Sbisa is more likely in that case. Otherwise though, it makes more sense to release Kolppanen now and use Brandon Anderson as Linden Rowat's backup once Anderson is healthy again. And the Canes can surely use a player like Sbisa on their back end as well. It will be interesting to see what the Canes decide to do with their good fortune of having a player like this fall into their laps somewhat unexpectedly.

Ugliest. Jerseys. Ever.

Credit to Jeff Hollick's blog for the link. Here's what the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs were unfortunately forced to wear last night. Skip ahead to about 2:10 for a good look at these crimes against good taste.

Fun stuff - strength of schedule

One of the things that always surprises me about sports and statistics is how willing most fans are to accept a team's record and position in the standings as proof of how good a team is. Obviously there's some correlation there but one important factor that is seldom taken into consideration is strength of schedule.

Is a team with an .800 record on the strength of beating up the league's patsies really that much better than a team with a .600 record against stronger competition?

What I've done is calculated the average strength of each team's opponents this year, by averaging the winning percentage of all of a team's opponents on the day they faced that opponent. That bold part is key because if you've played a team twice, their current winning percentage was not the same both times you played them.

Here's the rankings:

	Current Win %	Avg Opp Win %
Edmonton	0.500	0.648
Portland	0.667	0.618
Tri-City	0.818	0.604
Everett	0.750	0.593
Moose Jaw	0.692	0.587
Medicine Hat	0.615	0.559
Red Deer	0.462	0.552
Calgary	0.769	0.516
Regina	0.429	0.510
Chilliwack	0.375	0.506
Kelowna	0.591	0.504
Kootenay	0.385	0.485
Brandon	0.500	0.480
Prince George	0.182	0.475
Prince Albert	0.429	0.471
Lethbridge	0.333	0.462
Swift Current	0.577	0.441
Vancouver	0.692	0.440
Spokane	0.611	0.429
Kamloops	0.600	0.394
Seattle	0.318	0.380
Saskatoon	0.750	0.372

So, you can see that Edmonton may only be a .500 team in the standings, but they've compiled that record despite having to play opponents who are, on average, .648 teams:

Sep 19: Calgary (1.000) - L

Sep 23: Kootenay (.500) - SOL

Sep 25: Saskatoon (.750) - W

Sep 26: Prince Albert (.667) - W

Sep 30: Medicine Hat (.833) - W

Oct 2: Moose Jaw (.600) - W

Oct 4: Medicine Hat (.600) - SOL

Oct 9: Lethbridge (.250) - L

Oct 10: Swift Current (.625) - W

Oct 12: Brandon (.500) - L

Oct 15: Portland (.700) - L

Oct 17: Swift Current (.600) - W

Oct 18: Saskatoon (.700) - L

Oct 21: Calgary (.750) - L

The Oil Kings have only played one team that was under .500 at the time. Granted, they lost that game, but this is still a tough schedule.

And then there's Saskatoon. They look strong at .750 but they've compiled that 8-2-0-2 record against the weakest competition in the league:

Sep 18: Regina (.000) - W

Sep 23: Regina (.000) - SOL

Sep 25: Edmonton (.250) - L

Sep 27: Regina (.250) - W

Oct 2: Prince Albert (.400) - SOL

Oct 3: Brandon (.600) - L

Oct 7: Kootenay (.429) - W

Oct 9: Red Deer (.375) - W

Oct 10: Lethbridge (.333) - W

Oct 17: Calgary (.778) - W

Oct 18: Edmonton (.583) - W

Oct 21: Regina (.462) - W

In Saskatoon's defence, they ARE 2-1 against teams over .500, so they are beating some good teams too. But they're definitely padding their record against weak competition so far.

As for Seattle....well, they're only .318 despite playing only .380 opponents, so you can pretty conclusively state that they're not very good since they can't even beat bad teams. And Tri-City is .818 despite playing the third-toughest schedule so far, so that looks better and better on them.

Just something to think about....

Trade

Trade last night, Kelowna sending 2nd-year defenceman Aaron Borejko to Red Deer for a 2010 4th round bantam pick.

Red Deer had to do something since they had only four healthy defencemen. Even with the addition of Borejko, they still only have five d-men to dress until Alex Petrovic and Nick Bell are back from their injuries.

The first pick in the 2028 NHL Entry Draft is....

FYI. the blog might be light on updates for the next few days. My wife & I had a baby yesterday morning, a boy whom we've named Ryan. It's our third child but our first boy, so I'm just a little bit extra-happy about that.

Now I just have to get used to diapers and 3am feedings again. And that is why perhaps there will be a few less posts in the next few weeks than usual, until things get back to normal.

Oh, and I recommend WHL GMs start stockpiling first round bantam picks for the year 2024. You can never have too many chances to get a player this good.

Pats swap Euros

Regina has swapped one of their Euros, as they released rookie forward Michal Poletin today and added former Saskatoon Blade import pick Hampus Gustafsson.

Obviously this means the Blades had dropped Gustafsson from their protected list after sending him home back when they were trying to figure out who of Gustafsson, Milan Kytnar, and Jyri Niemi to keep. After trading Kytnar the Blades could have kept Gustafsson after all but I guess they did not want to add him back to their protected list for whatever reason. Now they'll get to play against him five or six times this year if he's any good.

Correction

I've been informed that teams with injured overagers actually have 14 days to make a decision on their overage picture after the injured player is ready to play. I previously said it was 7 days but it is actually 14.

They can still only dress three per game during that 14 days period of course.

Thursday notes

Today at 3pm Calgary time is the WHL overage cut-down deadline. There are six teams who are still carrying more than the allowed limit of three 20 year olds: Brandon, Medicine Hat, Prince George, Spokane, Swift Current, and Vancouver.

However, I understand that three of those teams have been given injury exemptions: Spokane (Spurgeon/Letts), Swift Current (Tassone), and Vancouver (Nunn). So those teams will not have to do anything today. Instead they will have 7 days from the day their injured player(s) return to rectify their overage situations. This is similar to last season, when the Broncos were allowed to retain the rights to Jesse Dudas until well after Christmas as he recovered from a knee injury. When he was able to return, the Broncos had a week to get back down to three O/A's, which they did by trading Dudas to Regina.

So only Brandon, Medicine Hat, and Prince George need to make moves today. Medicine Hat has pretty much made their decision already, as goaltender Ryan Holfeld has not dressed for a game in three weeks and wasn't even brought along on the team's B.C. road trip last week. So it's just a question of whether they find a trade partner for him today or whether they have to release him for nothing. In Brandon, it seems to have come down to either Del Cowan or Aaron Lewadniuk as the odd man out. Either one of them should be able to find another place to play though. In Prince George, I have no idea what the Cougars are going to do. Probably Garrett Thiessen is the odd man out there but maybe it'll be Tyler Halliday instead. I don't think they can afford to let go of Alex Rodgers (2nd on the team in scoring) or Dallas Jackson (their best offensive defenceman when he gets healthy).

Three teams have openings for one more overager each: Calgary, Kelowna, and Kootenay. I predict that at the end of the day, one of those three teams will have traded for either Cowan or Lewadniuk from Brandon, and the other two will have done nothing since none of those teams is likely to be interested in Holfeld or Thiessen.

UPDATE: Prince George has placed Dallas Jackson on their injured list and so they do not have to make a move today either. So apart from Brandon making a move, this is shaping up to be a pretty dull overage deadline today.

UPDATE #2: I didn't mean to imply that Prince George just did this today. For all I know he has been there for a while....probably has since he was hurt in preseason. I just learned about it today is all I meant.

Graham James is going to jail again....

....well, we hope, anyway.

Both Fleury and Kennedy have said they are certain there were many more victims of James than just themselves. So far, only three victims have come forward - Fleury, Kennedy, and the still-unnamed player who joined Kennedy's complaint against James.

I certainly hope that having yet another high-profile victim come forward will encourage some of the lesser-known victims to also step forward. We don't need to know their names if they're not comfortable with that. What we do need is more evidence and more testimony to ensure James gets put away for a long, long time.

U.S. division predictions

And lastly, but definitely not leastly, the U.S. division.

I thought picking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th here was a tough call, I think all three of those teams are reasonably closely matched. I gave it a shot but really, any final order of those three teams would not surprise me.

U.S. Division:

1. Portland - not jumping on the bandwagon here, as I said before the season that Portland would be first or second in the division this year. Their start to the season merely cements them at #1 in my books....the rebuilding is bearing fruit for the Hawks as they now have an excellent group of young talent there. After struggling to score goals last year, they have two good scoring lines this year, with depth through the third line as well. But the real strength of this team IMO is on defence, where you cannot name another team in the league that has four defencemen under age 18 as good as Portland's quartet of Johnston, Morrow, Rutkowski, and Wotherspoon. Their defence will be quite good for a few years as those guys get older and better. Add in a guy like Brett Ponich and it's a really good group there. And in net, over the last three years Kurtis Mucha has seen more rubber than an interstate and he's finally got a team in front of him that should allow him to post the kind of numbers he is capable of. One other thing, in addition to being full of good young talent, the Winterhawks are the tallest and heaviest team in the entire league, so that could give them an advantage over the long haul. Are they serious contenders for the league crown? Maybe, maybe not - they're a little light on experience throughout the lineup - but they are definitely my pick for regular season tops in the division.

2. Everett - My big question heading into the season about Everett was the quality of their defence. Well, the early returns certainly look like the two new imports plus rookie Ryan Murray have had a big impact on filling the holes there, so perhaps it's not as big a concern anymore. There's enough scoring on this team - six players with 40+ points last year and several of them should top the point-a-game mark this year. Also some good 18, 19 year old veteran depth on the 3rd line, something a lot of other teams do not have this year. They are also fairly set in net with Heemskerk, so no big holes there either. Just a solid top-to-bottom group here, I think a little short of Winterhawks territory but my pick for 2nd-best in the division right now.

3. Spokane - Portland might have the best YOUNG defence but I think Spokane has the best defence overall in the division. Cowen, Spurgeon, Ulmer, and Bartman is a pretty good top four, so good that the Chiefs felt comfortable trading Mike Reddington for Kyle Beach. And Beach joins a good forward group with Wahl, Johnson, and Koper - the depth does run a little thin but that's four certain 70-90 point players there and there's some good young guys to fill out some depth on the 3rd & 4th lines. In net is the one big question, where James Reid inherits the starting job and now must fill Dustin Tokarski's big skates. Is he up to the night-in, night-out job? The Chiefs think so since they haven't acquired anybody to push him. The answer to that question could really determine whether the Chiefs finish here at #3 or a spot lower.

4. Tri-City - 4th place sound so....mediocre, but like I said, I found this a tough division to separate 2nd from 4th, and if the Americans were in the B.C. division I could see them being 2nd or 3rd. There's five or six good forwards here, with Lazo, Hughesman, Reddick, Shinnimin, Feser, and Macek; maybe not as good in quality as the forwards on the three teams I put ahead of them, but there should be enough offence here. Some other good veterans to add some depth to the forward corps here too - always a good thing to have for when injuries hit, etc. The defence has some good veterans - Toll, Plouffe, Schmidt, etc, and a really good prospect in Zach Yuen. Maybe just a little behind the first three teams in overall quality and depth at that position too. In net is where I think the Americans really drop back from the rest though; they don't have an established #1 goalie and tried to land a 19 year old import goaltender to fill that job. That didn't work out so it's back to hoping one of Owsley and Martyniuk step up into that role. I don't think those guys are terrible but I like the starting goalies on four other teams in this division ahead of either of them. And one other note about the Americans - I pointed out that Portland was the biggest team in the league so I would be remiss if I didn't also point out that the Americans are the smallest team in the league, nearly a full half-inch on average shorter than the 2nd-smallest (Medicine Hat). That's a significant size difference. Small and speedy has its advantages too so this might not be a bad thing but it's something to consider.

5. Seattle (miss playoffs) - picking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th was hard....picking Seattle for 5th wasn't. The Birds have a fantastic young goalie in Calvin Pickard but the rest of the team is not nearly as strong. The blueline in particular is one of the weakest groups in the league, something that is going to make Pickard's workload a lot heavier than it would be. There's also not a whole lot in the way of proven scoring up front after you get past Rai, Nielsen, and Parker. I do think there's some good young players on this team at forward and on defence but the veteran group at those two positions is somewhat lacking and overall I think that puts them fifth in the division. One other note though - I put them down as missing the playoffs, but really, all Seattle has to do is be better than both Chilliwack and Prince George. I'm not sure that will happen but I wouldn't rule it out either.

Blades, Giants deal

Vancouver has acquired overage import forward Milan Kytnar from the Saskatoon Blades for a 2010 3rd round bantam pick.

This deal clears up the Blades' overage situation; they are left with Derek Hulak, Walker Wintoneak, and Sam Klassen as their three. Vancouver had room for an import, so no problems there, but they do have four overagers now. However, Garry Nunn is injured long-term so the Giants will probably not have to make another overage move until Nunn is ready to return, whenever that is.

So the Blades did not have to get rid of Hampus Gustafsson after all.....do they ask him back now?

B.C. division predictions

The B.C. division now.....

B.C. Division:

1. Vancouver - the Giants have a little more adversity this season than most teams do (losing their star sniper to the NHL at 18 & being kicked out of their home rink for two months) but I still think there's enough here to land them the top spot in the division - but it'll be a lot closer race than it was last year. #2 or even #3 wouldn't surprise me for this team either if everything doesn't fall into place. Even without Kane, there's a decent scoring attack with the likes of Wright (who I do expect to return from the NHL soon), Cunningham, Gallagher, Mappin, Bouma, Henry, etc - plus Garry Nunn, who is out for a while but who will return. Not Murderers Row but it should get the job done with some help from some experienced offensive-minded blueliners like Manning and Connauton. Plus, don't completely rule out Evander Kane returning either. One other plus for the Giants is the presence of the WHL's best coach in Don Hay....I don't think the value of that can be overestimated. On the downside, there's a lot of inexperience on the Giants defense and that comes with mistakes - mistakes that end up in the net if the similarily inexperienced goaltending tandem don't shine. Overall it's not a powerhouse Giants team like in the last couple years but one that I think is good enough for first in what should be a weaker division this year than in years past too.

2. Kelowna - the Rockets took some huge, huge losses from last season but I think they have the depth that they should recover nicely. They are not going to be what they were last year but I think they're a good pick for 2nd in this division. Scoring took the biggest hit but there's still Novotny, McMillan, Bloodoff, St. Denis, and super-rookie McColgan here, plus another 3 or 4 guys who add great depth to the 2nd & 3rd lines. Defence is maybe more of a concern, where they could really use Tyler Myers to return from the NHL, but if he doesn't there's still four guys who were on last year's team, including a good top two in Barrie and Bowman. Still though, there's a lot of rookies and inexperience on the blueline so there's some growing pains that will have to be expected here. In net they have the same pairing they used last year in Guggenberger and Brown; Guggenberger is hurt but will return eventually. There's still a lot of pieces here from last year's championship team and I expect the Rockets will do well for that.

3. Kamloops - the Blazers are getting better by the year, but it's a slow improvement as opposed to a meteoric one. There's a couple good scoring lines here - Stretch, Shattock, Ranford, Wiebe, Bubnick - and a decent supporting group with size and experience. The defence is a little light on star power but there's two or three very quality guys there and a good group of supporters as well - could be stronger in the depth there maybe but altogether not bad. The one question mark is in net, where consistency has been the enemy of both Leclerc and Groenheyde for their entire WHL careers. They can both be really strong one night and then not so good the next. The Blazers could really use one of those guys to step up and play well enough on a consistent basis to beat the other one out of a job. Even if the consistency doesn't come though, I don't think goaltending is a major issue here, they're going to get enough good performances out of these guys that they should easily be 3rd (Chilliwack and Prince George aren't going to be close to the top three teams here) or even 2nd in the division and I think they have a shot at home ice in the first round of the playoffs too.

4. Chilliwack - I think this team would probably not come close to making the playoffs if they were in the Eastern conference, but they're not.....so they can only miss by being worse than the worst team in the U.S. division, which they won't be either. They're one of the oldest teams in the league, which goes to prove that older isn't always better at this level. Still hurting from a bad 2006 draft, there is still almost no proven scoring on this team after Howse and Sundher and there's a lot of very average 18 & 19 year olds. The defence has a couple decently bright lights but the depth is not there after the top four. The goaltending is maybe the strongest area on the team, but still neither of the goalies here are likely going to be candidates for the all-star team. The good news is that there's some good 16 & 17 year olds here, both on the team and in the system, and of course there's also a new coach/GM from a winning background. Hopefully the young players will get to play and perhaps 2010-11 can be a big turnaround year for the Bruins. As it stands, I still like them more than Prince George and they should squeak into the playoffs.

5. Prince George (miss playoffs) - well, where to begin? Top to bottom this is my pick for the weakest lineup in the league, with very little in the way of top-end forwards, defencemen, or goaltending. There's just a lot of players here (at least 9 or 10) who were not good enough to play on other teams in the league and were acquired for free or very cheaply by the Cougars - that's not going to put a winning team on the ice very often. At forward the Cougars have one of the league's brightest young stars in Brett Connolly, but he has very little to play with up there. Viedensky, maybe Rodgers or Stanfield. Lots of average and below average-ness after that. On defence there's another very bright prospect in Jesse Forsberg, and I think the injured Dallas Jackson is an underrated player in the league. After that though - lots of below averageness. And in net, Michael Salmon is a well-regarded prospect but he & James Priestner are going to get thrown to the wolves a lot of nights this year and I don't think either of them is in the nightly game-stealing category quite yet. Maybe down the road, but not right now. Overall, I give them an excellent shot at #1 or #2 overall, which means in 2011-12 we'll probably see both Forsberg brothers wearing Cougars colors.

More moves

Two more moves in the league today...

First, Kamloops has traded disgruntled forward Cole Grbavac, 18, to Medicine Hat for 19 year old forward John Stampohar. Grbavac had left the Blazers a few days ago because he was unhappy about his ice time, so this gives him a new start. Stampohar has looked for a while now like a guy who could use a fresh start too so it's a good move for him as well, IMO.

The other move is an overage one, as the Chilliwack Bruins have waived overage forward Andy Smith. I am a little bit surprised there wasn't any interest in Smith around the league; he's probably a guy who can get you 40-50 points from the 2nd line and that's a decent return for an overage. Certainly better than some of the overagers still on rosters around the league.

Losing Smith means the Bruins are back down to three overagers after acquiring Colton Grant yesterday.

UPDATE: One more move by the Bruins - they traded 18 year old defenceman Scott Ramsay to the Swift Current Broncos for a 2010 7th round bantam pick.

Two notes

Two notes today.....one which you've probably already heard, the Saskatoon Blades getting a lot bigger and tougher at the expense of one of their skilled young prospects. The Blades send 17 year old forward Jamie Crooks (who won the Alberta midget league scoring title last year) and a conditional 2011 bantam draft pick to Chilliwack for 19 year old Randy McNaught, a 6'5" power forward/tough guy. I think this is a bit of an indictment of Tyler Matheson's fighting abilities since the Blades traded him away last week, only to turn around and acquire a similar player in McNaught.

The pick is probably conditional on McNaught playing in the WHL as an overager next year. If he plays, the Blades owe the Bruins the pick. My guess anyway.

The other move, made today, sees the Rebels put overage forward Cody Esposito on waivers. The move gets the Rebels down to the limit of three overagers. There's now only six teams who are over the overage limit, with eight days remaining until the deadline next Thursday.

UPDATE: And another trade today - Medicine Hat trades overage forward Colton Grant to Chilliwack for a 2010 6th round pick. That gets the Tigers down to four overagers from five, while bumping the Bruins up to four overagers as well.

WHL U-16 tournament

All four provincial rosters are set for the inaugural WHL-sponsored U-16 tournament in Alberta at the end of this month. Here's the four rosters, with the WHL affiliations of the players. All but two of the 80 players in the tournament are WHL property:

Alberta:

Levi Bews (F) - Saskatoon (2009 2nd rd)

Troy Bourke (F) - Prince George (2009 2nd rd)

Mason Burr (F) - Red Deer (2009 2nd rd)

Matt Dumba (D) - Red Deer (2009 1st rd)

Devon Fordyce (G) - Prince George (2009 6th rd)

Tyrell Goulbourne (F) - Kelowna (2009 5th rd)

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

Joel Hamilton (F) - Red Deer (2009 4th rd)

Jayden Hart (F) - Medicine Hat (2009 3rd rd)

Brandon Magee (F) - Chilliwack (2009 4th rd)

Ashton McLeod (D) - Swift Current (2009 7th rd)

Mitchell Moroz (F) - Edmonton (2009 2nd rd)

Blake Orban (D) - Vancouver (2009 3rd rd)

Peter Quenneville (F) - Prince George (2009 4th rd)

Hunter Shinkaruk (F) - Medicine Hat (2009 1st rd)

Davin Stener (D) - Red Deer (2009 7th rd)

Troy Trombley (G) - Kamloops (2009 3rd rd)

Brandon Troock (F) - Seattle (2009 1st rd)

Nicolas Walters (D) - Everett (2009 1st rd)

Mike Winther (F) - Prince Albert (2009 1st rd)

British Columbia:

Mathieu Bellerive (F) - Vancouver (2009 2nd rd)

Braxton Bilous (D) - Lethbridge (2009 6th rd)

Matt Bissett (F) - Chilliwack (2009 7th rd)

Shane Danyluk (F) - Prince Albert (2009 2nd rd)

Jari Erricson (F) - Everett (2009 2nd rd)

Mitchell Guiel (F) - Lethbridge (2009 5th rd)

Justin Hickman (F) - Seattle (2009 2nd rd)

Stephen Hodges (F) - Chilliwack (2009 1st rd)

Ryan Olsen (F) - Saskatoon (2009 1st rd)

Kade Pilton (D) - Chilliwack (2009 2nd rd)

Austin Plevy (F) - Kelowna (2009 5th rd)

Turner Popoff (D) - Chilliwack (2009 7th rd)

Connor Rankin (F) - Tri-City (2009 1st rd)

Griffin Reinhart (D) - Edmonton (2009 1st rd)

Nick Renyard (G) - no WHL affiliation

Evan Richardson (F) - Swift Current (2009 1st rd)

Morgan Rielly (D) - Moose Jaw (2009 1st rd)

Mackenzie Skapski (G) - Kootenay (2009 3rd rd)

Reece Wilcox (D) - Portland (2009 3rd rd)

Morgan Zulinick (F) - Edmonton (2009 3rd rd)

Manitoba:

Colin Baudry (F) - Moose Jaw (2009 7th rd)

Jordyn Boyd (F) - Everett (2009 6th rd)

Travis Brown (D) - Moose Jaw (2009 4th rd)

Brett Cote (D) - Chilliwack (2009 3rd rd)

Brayden Cuthbert (F) - Moose Jaw (2009 5th rd)

Chris Driedger (G) - Tri-City (2009 4th rd)

Brenden Fiebelkorn (G) - Prince Albert (2009 4th rd)

Reid Gow (D) - Spokane (2009 1st rd)

Justin Hamonic (D) - Tri-City (2009 5th rd)

Brendan Harms (F) - Brandon (2009 6th rd)

Dylan Kuczek (D) - Brandon (2009 2nd rd)

Brendan Leipsic (F) - Portland (2009 6th rd)

Mathhew Miller (D) - Edmonton (2009 4th rd)

Cody Nelson (F) - Brandon (Added summer 2009)

Sutton Olson (F) - Swift Current (2009 4th rd)

Landon Peel (D) - Regina (2009 3rd rd)

Corey Petrash (F) - no WHL affiliation

Ryan Pulock (F) - Brandon (2009 7th rd)

Jack Rodewald (F) - Regina (2009 8th rd)

Brett Stovin (F) - Saskatoon (2009 5th rd)

Saskatchewan:

Taylor Balog (F) - Regina (2009 2nd rd)

Kohl Bauml (F) - Everett (2009 3rd rd)

Colby Cave (F) - Kootenay (2009 1st rd)

Brady Gaudet (D) - Kamloops (2009 1st rd)

Colton Heffley (F) - Kelowna (2009 2nd rd)

Shea Howorko (F) - Swift Current (2009 2nd rd)

Jared Iron (F) - Kootenay (2009 8th rd)

Andrew Johnson (F) - Moose Jaw (2009 2nd rd)

Taylor Leier (F) - Portland (2009 2nd rd)

Mason Logan (D) - Regina (2009 5th rd)

Dawson Macauley (G) - Medicine Hat (2009 2nd rd)

Logan McVeigh (F) - Kamloops (2009 2nd rd)

Derrick Pouliot (D) - Portland (2009 1st rd)

Eric Roy (D) - Brandon (2009 1st rd)

Regan Santoro (G) - Chilliwack (2009 10th rd)

Ashton Sautner (D) - Edmonton (2009 8th rd)

Tyrel Seaman (F) - Brandon (2009 4th rd)

Mike Statchuk (D) - Saskatoon (2009 5th rd)

Chandler Stephenson (F) - Regina (2009 1st rd)

Jaimen Yakubowski (F) - Lethbridge (2009 4th rd)

21 of the 22 WHL teams have at least one player in this tournament; the one exception is the Calgary Hitmen. It has to sting that not one of their 15 year olds, not even their first round bantam pick (forward Chase Clayton, from B.C.) made the cut, while other teams have their 7th, 8th, even 10th round picks here.

Prospects by WHL team:

Chilliwack: 7

Brandon: 6

Edmonton: 5

Moose Jaw: 5

Regina: 5

Everett: 4

Portland: 4

Red Deer: 4

Saskatoon: 4

Swift Current: 4

Tri-City: 4

Kamloops: 3

Kelowna: 3

Kootenay: 3

Lethbridge: 3

Medicine Hat: 3

Prince Albert: 3

Prince George: 3

Seattle: 2

Vancouver: 2

Spokane: 1

Central division predictions

Guess I'd better get on with this before the season is half-over.....

Central Division:

1. Calgary - the Central is going to be a pretty close race I think, with not a lot of points separating the top 3 or 4. I can come up with good reasons why any of the top four teams here could win the division but I settled on Calgary as the most likely. They have the best group of forwards, and they have the best goaltender. Best in two out of the three main categories should be enough for first place. Calgary's returning lineup, with the likes of Broda, Kozun, Schultz, Foucault, Stone, etc produced 184 goals last season, about 50 goals more than anyone else in the division has returning this year. In net Martin Jones might be the best goaltender in the WHL this year, so that area is solid as well. On the minus side of the ledger, the defence is very inexperienced once you get past Stone - no other defenceman on the team has more than 90 career games played. Nice thing about having a quality goaltender though - the mistakes of a rookie defenceman don't always bite you quite as hard.

2. Medicine Hat - the Tigers are always competitive and this year will be no exception. They are the oldest team in the league this year and also one of the most experienced. There's not a lot of big star forwards but there's a solid collection of a good half-dozen 50, 60, 70 point guys who should more than get the job done offensively. The defence has a good collection of offensive and defensive minded players and is the most experienced group in the division. And you can't forget the coach, Willie Desjardins, who has been very successful in the WHL. The big question mark comes in net, where it looks like sophomore Tyler Bunz is going to be given the starting job any day now. Bunz is very highly regarded but is he up to the task of being a #1 at age 17? The other issue, as it seems to be every year in the Hat, is that the Tigers are the 2nd-smallest team in the league. They thrive on small, speedy players, which has its' obvious benefits, but also leaves them open to being intimidated and/or worn down by bigger teams. A nicer mix of big and small would make me feel better about the Tigers' chances.....I've said that every year for forever now and sometimes it doesn't hurt them but sometimes it does.

3. Kootenay - when you crunch the numbers, the Ice are an average, middle of the pack team in almost every category, and I think 3rd in a division of average strength is just about right. They have a few really good forwards, a few more average, and a few good role players. Defence is lead by Brayden McNabb, who I think is one of the best WHLers that most fans around the league don't hear much about. Couple other good vets here too, just like in net, where Nathan Lieuwen has the ability to be one of the league's better goalies if he can find the consistency his game was lacking last year. Overall a decent, not spectacularly strong lineup that I think should be good for third place if the goaltending finds its form....if not, I can see the Ice slipping to 4th and the Oil Kings moving up to 3rd.

4. Edmonton - is this the year the Oil Kings shed the "expansion" label by breaking the .500 mark? I think it is. There's a lot of statistical reasons to doubt them - they're small, they're young, they're inexperienced, they have very few proven veteran scorers, I could go on and on here. But I'm going to throw stats out the window here a moment because I just like the way this team has played since, oh, January of last season. They look like a good team and sometimes that's more valuable than having superstars. Oh, and the goaltending isn't too shabby either, which really makes you wonder why Lethbridge ever flipped Torrie Jung to Edmonton in the first place. Largely because of Jung, the Oil Kings are going to the playoffs again this year, and Lethbridge isn't. One other thing to note about the Oil Kings - this is their third year, and if you discount the immediate success of Everett and the continued struggles of Chilliwack, the 3rd & 4th years have been the years where past expansion teams like Calgary, Kootenay, and Vancouver have taken big strides. I think Edmonton is setting up well to follow that lead this year.

5. Red Deer (miss playoffs) - there is too much good young talent on this team for the Rebels not to be taking a big step forward this year, so it is a very difficult decision for me to pick them to miss the playoffs again. I'm just not sold that they are any better than any of the teams I ranked above them; perhaps they could make the playoffs by being better than the #4 team in the East (Moose Jaw, Swift Current, whoever that ends up being) but I still have my doubts. There's some good forwards here - Green, Ferraro, Coetzee, Nugent-Hopkins - but the depth isn't quite there. There's some good defencemen - Weller, Petrovic, Archer - but again, the depth is a little less than some other teams. And I like Darcy Kuemper, but the Rebels probably have the worst starting goaltender in the division unless Tyler Bunz falls on his face. The good news is, every player I mentioned except Green is going to be here again next year and I think 2010-11 could be Red Deer's year to return to being a contender. The young guys are that good. Maybe just not good enough this year yet.

6. Lethbridge (miss playoffs) - the early season trades to improve the goaltending and defence helped but this is still a team that is short on top-end quality and depth at every position. They're a young team with a lot of inexperienced players and it's going to be a learning year for the Hurricanes. There's some good vets here like Bancks, Ashton, Valchar, Reddington, and Rowat, who should keep things from getting too bad, but I just don't see this team having what it takes to be any better than anyone else in the division....or in the conference, for that matter.

Just one other note about the Central - this is going to be a very close division. I can see a finish where not much more than 20 points separates first from fifth. So it wouldn't take much in the way of key injuries, trades, etc, to move teams around a lot on these rankings.

Raiders make moves

Three moves by the Raiders this morning....

First, they trade 19 year old goaltender Steven Stanford and a 2011 6th round bantam pick to their hated rivals in Saskatoon, in exchange for a 2011 4th round pick and two defencemen - 19 year old Brendan Wall and 17 year old Tyler Yaworski.

Then, they deal a conditional 2010 draft pick to Brandon for 19 year old goalie Dalyn Flette; the pick is a 7th rounder unless Flette is still in Prince Albert by December 1st, in which case it becomes a 5th rounder.

And lastly, they have released overage defenceman Patrick Kozyra, which gets them down to three overagers.

The Raider goalie situation is still murky....moving Stanford and releasing Kozyra would appear to give the starting job to overager Garrett Zemlak, but what to make of the acquisition of Flette in that case? Is Flette there to push Zemlak for the #1 job or is he there to push '92 rookie Jake Edwards for the backup spot? You'd think at 19 he's there to be the starter but then why keep Zemlak as an overage? So, we'll have to see what happens in Raider-land. Getting Wall and Yaworski (who will join the club ASAP from midget) shores up the Raider defence and means there might be some more moves coming there?

For the Blades, they now have a veteran goalie to push Adam Morrison for the starting job. I don't think this is good news for current backup Chris Sharkey though.

East division predictions

OK....I've put this off long enough due to waiting for players to return from NHL camps, early season trades, and some personal matters as well. But here they are, my season predictions. To save (a lot!) of time, I'm going to dispense with the lengthy stats list that was part of each team's section in the past and only give the analysis section....it's the only really important part anyway, I think.

First up is the East division....the other divisions to come in the next couple days as well, depending on time.

East Division:

1. Brandon - hard not to like the Wheaties for #1 in the division, the conference, probably even the league. One big reason is that even if they have some flaws, they are guaranteed a spot in the Memorial Cup and that means they're probably going to pull out all the stops to fix those flaws. Not all teams will do that, which means when all is said and done after the trade deadline, the Wheat Kings should have very few of them. And there's not a lot that needs to be fixed; they have probably the #2 offence in the league (only Saskatoon's looks better to me right now) lead by guys like Schenn, Glennie, Calvert, Fehr, and possible super-rookie Toni Rajala. The defence is big and experienced and even if there's not a lot of offensive punch there, they don't really need it that much since the forwards have that area more than covered. In net is the big question, whether Andrew Hayes is a carry-the-team type goalie, but he has certainly gotten off to a very good start this season anyway. Overall there's not a lot to not like here....and like I said, if holes DO appear, you can be sure they will all be filled due to the stakes being so high this year.

2. Saskatoon - if Brandon is #1, then the Blades are #1A. These are two very good teams and I have to pick somebody first and somebody second, but that doesn't mean there's a lot of difference here. Don't be surprised to see the Blades in 2nd overall behind the Wheat Kings. The offence here is comparable or even better than Brandon's - there are probably six players here who should/could crack 30 goals and maybe as many as nine who could get 20 goals. Defence is strong too, smaller than Brandon's maybe, but similar in experience and definitely a better mix of offensive and defensive minded players. And like Brandon, the big question is in net, where starter Adam Morrison entered the season with a scant 750 minutes of experience (that's 12.5 complete games) to his credit. Like Hayes, the question is can Morrison carry a team into May? Overall though, this is another team that it's hard not to like the chances of. As with Brandon, even if the goaltending DOES leave something to be desired some nights (and I'm not saying it will), there's an awful lot of goals going to be coming off these players' sticks and that kind of offence can make up for a lot of other minor ills.

3. Moose Jaw - best of the rest, but believe me they won't be close in the standings to Brandon or Saskatoon. I know the Tribe was dead last overall last year but there are just too many good veterans on this team to have that happen again. They have the makings of two good scoring lines and the most veteran defence in the division. They also have a new GM with a good track record from Kelowna. I do think the goaltending is a concern, as I've never been as big a fan of Jeff Bosch as some people have....his career numbers are way below average and that's not all because of last year's dismal team. How well can Bosch carry the team on the nights they require it? I think this is a playoff team but I don't know if I like them higher than 6th seed in the conference. When it comes to conference seeding, a disadvantage that the East division teams will have is that they have to play Brandon and Saskatoon so many times, whereas the similarly-middling teams in the Central don't have to play the big two quite so many times.

4. Swift Current - should be close to the Warriors in the final standings. Some good quality scoring threats here like Wudrick, Tassone (when he returns), Eakin, Stickland, Dowling, etc, plus one of the better offensive defencemen around in Doyle. I'm just not that sold on the depth on the blueline after Doyle & Claffey - and even though I've mentioned them all, they can't keep all four of Tassone, Stickland, Doyle, and Claffey either. Goaltending is also an area of concern, where Morgan Clark has so far failed to prove he is a #1 calibre goaltender in the WHL and all they have behind Clark is unproven rookie Alex Sirard - who has looked decent so far, but still: unproven. Also a rookie coach & GM - and I think Lamb will be good at this job, but might there be an adjustment period to the WHL? Overall I don't see this team missing the playoffs but they might find themselves being first round fodder for a Brandon or Saskatoon.

5. Regina (miss playoffs) - I don't know if this is a team that should miss the playoffs....they have a couple big-time players like Eberle and Teubert, etc. Eberle has a good supporting cast up front with Leffler & Weal, and on the back end there's Matt Delahey to go along with Teubert. And the goaltending, while relatively unproven, does at least come with some high expectations. On the downside, I think the blueline depth after the aforementioned two guys is a little suspect...but the real kicker here is that given the Pats' history, I kind of expect to see them trade Eberle and Teubert by the time they return from the WJCs. That could suck the life out of this team in the 2nd half of the season. They're probably not contenders even with those guys and without them, I can see them dropping into the 9th/10th spots in the conference. They won't be terrible but it might not be enough to get into the playoffs either.

6. Prince Albert (miss playoffs) - easy to pick on the Raiders since they've been struggling for a few years now but I'm just not seeing a big improvement here. There's an absence of #1-line quality forwards (to be fair, there's a good depth of 2nd/3rd line calibre players) and the defence is lacking in depth after Button and Rowley. The goaltending is similarly average to below average. Few stars, little depth - I just don't see any reason why they are a better team than anyone else in this division.

Juniors in the NHL

The NHL season starts tonight, so a quick look at the junior-eligible players who are still on NHL rosters as the season begins.

Should these players remain in the NHL and not be released by their NHL clubs, these are who the respective World Junior teams could be missing come Christmastime:

Canada:

Michael del Zotto (D) - NY Rangers

Matt Duchene (F) - Colorado

Evander Kane (F) - Atlanta

Tyler Myers (D) - Buffalo

Ryan O'Reilly (F) - Colorado

Alex Pietrangelo (D) - St. Louis

Steven Stamkos (F) - Tampa Bay (played 08-09 in NHL)

John Tavares (F) - NY Islanders

James Wright (F) - Tampa Bay

Russia:

Nikita Filatov (F) - Columbus

Dmitri Kulikov (D) - Florida

Sweden:

Erik Karlsson (D) - Ottawa

Viktor Hedman (D) - Tampa Bay

Switzerland:

Luca Sbisa (D) - Anaheim (played half of 08-09 in NHL)

USA:

Zach Bogosian (D) - Atlanta (played 08-09 in NHL)

WHLers are bolded.

At least a few of these players will no doubt be reassigned by their NHL clubs by the gatepost 10 game mark of the NHL season, so some of them will definitely be returned to junior and/or available at the WJCs.

Personally, I think as many as half of them are better off playing in the junior ranks again this year instead of in the NHL. But I see Tampa Bay, the best-run franchise in hockey, has THREE junior-aged players on their 23 man roster, so what do I know, really.