And a third bit of news today, this one a link cobbled from the Pipeline Show's blog (link over there on the right). The University of Minnesota announced today that '91 forward Josh Birkholz has left the program. Birkholz, a 2009 3rd round pick of the NHL's Florida Panthers, was about to be suspended by the school for unspecified rules violations, and apparently has opted to leave school instead.
His WHL rights are held by the Everett Silvertips, so we should probably expect him to land there, in the absence of him signing of an NHL contract with the Panthers anytime soon.
The Gophers are also likely losing defenceman Nick Leddy, who is apparently on the verge of signing with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. Leddy's WHL rights are owned by the Tri-City Americans, so his situation might also bear watching from a WHL fan perspective. From all accounts out of Chicago though the Hawks think Leddy is very close to being NHL ready so perhaps he ends up in the AHL instead of the WHL, if he doesn't make the Chicago roster. We'll see.
BTW, this is the 1000th post on this blog.....personally I'm kind of surprised to have made it this long without losing interest. I still enjoy blabbing about the WHL though....
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ice coach named
And the new head coach of the Kootenay Ice is......
....Kris Knoblauch.
Kloblauch is a former Ice player (96-99), who has been an assistant coach with the team for the last three years.
Update: the hiring of Knoblauch represents a 180 degree shift in the team's position since May, when they opined in print that he was not ready to be a head coach yet. I'm guessing his readiness to be a head coach increased every time one of the other top candidates accepted a job elsewhere?
....Kris Knoblauch.
Kloblauch is a former Ice player (96-99), who has been an assistant coach with the team for the last three years.
Update: the hiring of Knoblauch represents a 180 degree shift in the team's position since May, when they opined in print that he was not ready to be a head coach yet. I'm guessing his readiness to be a head coach increased every time one of the other top candidates accepted a job elsewhere?
Another trade
2nd WHL trade in as many days today, and this is no small deal either.
Prince Albert sends 18 year old forward Ryan Harrison to Medicine Hat in exchange for 17 year old forward Todd Fiddler, 18 year old defenceman Austin Bourhis, and a 2012 4th round bantam pick.
Immediate big winner of this deal, at least on paper, is Medicine Hat because they get the only current WHLer out of the trade, and Harrison is a guy who should be a 25+ goal, 80+ point player for the next 2 or 3 seasons.
Prince Albert is gambling on some prospects, but Fiddler is a definite blue-chip guy, having won the Saskatchewan AAA midget league scoring title last year with 93 points in 40 games as a 16 year old. Bourhis played Jr A last year in Yorkton as a 17 year old, putting up 21 points and 139 PIM in 56 games there. Both Fiddler and Bourhis played one game each for the Tigers last season as well.
So, P.A. could win this deal long-term if Fiddler and Bourhis (and/or the draft pick too) all become impact WHLers. For now though, the Tigers got the only sure thing in the deal.
Prince Albert sends 18 year old forward Ryan Harrison to Medicine Hat in exchange for 17 year old forward Todd Fiddler, 18 year old defenceman Austin Bourhis, and a 2012 4th round bantam pick.
Immediate big winner of this deal, at least on paper, is Medicine Hat because they get the only current WHLer out of the trade, and Harrison is a guy who should be a 25+ goal, 80+ point player for the next 2 or 3 seasons.
Prince Albert is gambling on some prospects, but Fiddler is a definite blue-chip guy, having won the Saskatchewan AAA midget league scoring title last year with 93 points in 40 games as a 16 year old. Bourhis played Jr A last year in Yorkton as a 17 year old, putting up 21 points and 139 PIM in 56 games there. Both Fiddler and Bourhis played one game each for the Tigers last season as well.
So, P.A. could win this deal long-term if Fiddler and Bourhis (and/or the draft pick too) all become impact WHLers. For now though, the Tigers got the only sure thing in the deal.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Ferraro on the move
The Rebels have resolved their Landon Ferraro problem today: they have traded him to Everett.
The deal is the 19 year old Ferraro and a conditional 2012 5th round bantam pick to the Silvertips, for 19 year old forward Byron Froese and a 2012 3rd round bantam pick. (I'm guessing the Silvertips get the 2012 5th rounder if Froese plays for Red Deer as an overager in 2011-12.)
It's not a bad deal for Red Deer - Froese actually outscored Ferraro in both of the last two seasons, although Ferraro played slightly fewer games both years and probably would have outpointed Froese both years had he stayed healthy. So the Rebels get rid of a guy who didn't want to be there, pick up another 19 year old forward who is reasonably close in point production, and get a 3rd round pick to make up the difference.
For their part, Everett will no doubt be looking to see Ferraro take advantage of a fresh start by becoming the 50 goal man he likely has the ability to be....
The deal is the 19 year old Ferraro and a conditional 2012 5th round bantam pick to the Silvertips, for 19 year old forward Byron Froese and a 2012 3rd round bantam pick. (I'm guessing the Silvertips get the 2012 5th rounder if Froese plays for Red Deer as an overager in 2011-12.)
It's not a bad deal for Red Deer - Froese actually outscored Ferraro in both of the last two seasons, although Ferraro played slightly fewer games both years and probably would have outpointed Froese both years had he stayed healthy. So the Rebels get rid of a guy who didn't want to be there, pick up another 19 year old forward who is reasonably close in point production, and get a 3rd round pick to make up the difference.
For their part, Everett will no doubt be looking to see Ferraro take advantage of a fresh start by becoming the 50 goal man he likely has the ability to be....
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Updated: Most successful franchises
Last summer I did a post about who were the most successful WHL franchises over the last five years. I got a request last week to update that with the past year's results, and here we are.
As with last year, I am defining "success" by the number of playoff series a team has won; I think that's a fairly reasonable barometer to use since a team that finishes first overall in the regular season but bombs out in the first round of the playoffs did not have a "successful" year by anyone's standards, while a team that just squeaked into the playoffs in 8th spot but won the title certainly did have a successful year.
So, here's how everyone has done in the last five years, ordered by playoff series wins:
So, here's how everyone has done in the last five years, ordered by playoff series wins:
09-10 | 08-09 | 07-08 | 06-07 | 05-06 | Total | Missed | Finals | WHL Champs | Mem. Cup | |
Vancouver | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Calgary | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Medicine Hat | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Kelowna | 1 | 4 | 0 | -- | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Tri-City | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Spokane | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | -- | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Brandon | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lethbridge | -- | 1 | 3 | -- | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Moose Jaw | 0 | -- | 0 | -- | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Everett | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Seattle | -- | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Prince George | -- | 0 | -- | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Saskatoon | 1 | 0 | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Portland | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kootenay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Swift Current | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Regina | -- | -- | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Chilliwack | 0 | -- | 0 | 0 | n/a | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kamloops | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Edmonton | -- | 0 | -- | n/a | n/a | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Red Deer | 0 | -- | -- | 0 | -- | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Prince Albert | -- | -- | -- | 0 | -- | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Clear gap at the top, with Vancouver and Calgary having 12 series wins apiece, and then a drop-off down to the next team with 8.
At the bottom, there's five teams who haven't won a series at all in the last five years. We can probably cut Chilliwack and Edmonton a little bit of slack since they haven't even been in the league for all of those years. But, Kamloops, Red Deer, and Prince Albert have....and Prince Albert has even missed the playoffs for four of those five years.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday notes
Two more bits of news from the WHL this morning....
Biggest story is that Moose Jaw Warriors G.M. Jeff Truitt resigned this morning in order to take a job with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. The Warriors still have a head coach - Dave Hunchak - but will need to hire a new G.M. now.
By my count, there are the following head coach/G.M. openings around the league:
Kootenay: coach
Medicine Hat: coach (expected to be Shaun Clouston)
Biggest story is that Moose Jaw Warriors G.M. Jeff Truitt resigned this morning in order to take a job with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. The Warriors still have a head coach - Dave Hunchak - but will need to hire a new G.M. now.
By my count, there are the following head coach/G.M. openings around the league:
Kootenay: coach
Medicine Hat: coach (expected to be Shaun Clouston)
Medicine Hat: G.M.
Moose Jaw: G.M.
Medicine Hat has a press conference in about an hour's time in which they will (speculation) announce Willie Desjardins is leaving and that Clouston is the new coach. They may also name a new G.M.....guess we'll have to wait and see.
The other bit of news is that overager Dan Iwanski has told the Everett Silvertips that he will not return to the WHL next year and will instead pursue his post-secondary education. Iwanski's departure drops the Silvertips down to five overage candidates, two of whom - Radko Gudas and Thomas Heemskerk - are expected to play pro. So, the 'Tips may be down to just three O/As now....which means no cuts from that group.
Monday, July 12, 2010
One more note
One bit of WHL news I forgot to include in this morning's post....
It looks like Landon Ferraro and the Red Deer Rebels are going to part ways before the fall, if Ferraro has anything to say about it. I think we all knew there were problems there when he was made a healthy scratch for the Rebels' last playoff game back in March but Ferraro made some comments to the Detroit Free Press over the weekend that spell out his unhappiness with the Rebels and coach Jesse Wallin.
Could be an interesting situation to watch.....if he is healthy, Ferraro is possibly a 50 goal man next year on a good team. Red Deer, meanwhile, is poised to take a step forward next season and move into the ranks of the league's top teams; so, they're probably not really wanting to move Ferraro at all, and if they do move him they probably don't want prospects and picks for him. More likely they'd want similar established players who can help them next season the way Ferraro would.
Ferraro is a one-year player, so whoever trades for him will probably be a team that fancies itself a contender next year. Who out there might be interested?
And another thing to think about....the 1991 forward group is not as deep as the 1990 group was, so the value of a good 1991 forward is probably higher than the prices we saw being paid for 19 year olds last year. Given that, Ferraro could be pretty expensive to acquire....
It looks like Landon Ferraro and the Red Deer Rebels are going to part ways before the fall, if Ferraro has anything to say about it. I think we all knew there were problems there when he was made a healthy scratch for the Rebels' last playoff game back in March but Ferraro made some comments to the Detroit Free Press over the weekend that spell out his unhappiness with the Rebels and coach Jesse Wallin.
Could be an interesting situation to watch.....if he is healthy, Ferraro is possibly a 50 goal man next year on a good team. Red Deer, meanwhile, is poised to take a step forward next season and move into the ranks of the league's top teams; so, they're probably not really wanting to move Ferraro at all, and if they do move him they probably don't want prospects and picks for him. More likely they'd want similar established players who can help them next season the way Ferraro would.
Ferraro is a one-year player, so whoever trades for him will probably be a team that fancies itself a contender next year. Who out there might be interested?
And another thing to think about....the 1991 forward group is not as deep as the 1990 group was, so the value of a good 1991 forward is probably higher than the prices we saw being paid for 19 year olds last year. Given that, Ferraro could be pretty expensive to acquire....
Monday notes
Couple things this morning, both poached from Gregg Drinnan's far-superior blog. Seriously, if you read both of our blogs and you ever read my blog before reading his, you're doing it backwards.
First, the Edmonton Oilers have loaned Finnish winger Toni Rajala to the Finnish club Ilves Tampere for the 2010-11 season. Rajala played for the Brandon Wheat Kings last year but since he was not drafted from the WHL there is no requirement that he remain in the WHL until he's 20 like there is for players who were drafted from this league. So the Oilers could send him wherever they liked (he signed a contract with the Oilers last summer) and next season that'll be the Finnish mens league. I would imagine this is due in no small part to Rajala needing to complete a compulsory year of service in the Finnish military, something he can apparently do while still playing hockey over there. If the Oilers envision Rajala having a chance at playing in the NHL in 2011-12, they'd surely want that military commitment over with by then. So, it makes sense on all levels really.
This is another blow to the rebuilding Wheat Kings though. They just passed on their 2nd import pick two weeks ago in order to keep Rajala on the roster, meaning they now will only have one import next year.Would have been nice if the Oilers had tipped Kelly McCrimmon off about their plans two weeks ago, eh?
Brandon loses Rajala's offence, which they could have used next year as they lose 7, maybe 8 of their top 10 scorers from last season, and they also lose a guy who would have had some good trade value to a contender, a move that could have expedited Brandon's rebuild.
The other bit of news? Even more significant - as it appears that Medicine Hat Tigers are going to lose their coach and G.M., as Willie Desjardins appears to be finally taking the leap to the NHL, with a new job in the Dallas Stars organization. The replacement at coach will be current assistant coach Shaun Clouston, who has been a head coach in the WHL before in Tri-City. No word on who will take over as general manager though.
Anyone who follows the Tigers knows just how significant Willie Desjardins has been to that team. When he took over as coach in 2002-03, the Tigers had missed the playoffs for five straight years (think about how hard you have to work at being bad in order to accomplish that in a league where only a few teams miss the playoffs every year) and been last overall a couple times in that span. Since he arrived they have made the playoffs every year, been above .500 the last seven seasons, and won two WHL titles, in 2004 and 2007. Talk about your night to day transformations.
It's impossible for the Tigers to replace a guy like that. Desjardins was one of the early people in the league to recognize the way hockey was trending away from emphasizing size and more towards speed and skill. His Tigers teams were quick and they could score. Now, speed is something you see every team in every league, including the NHL, putting a premium on.
Very big shoes for Clouston (and the new G.M.) to fill there.
First, the Edmonton Oilers have loaned Finnish winger Toni Rajala to the Finnish club Ilves Tampere for the 2010-11 season. Rajala played for the Brandon Wheat Kings last year but since he was not drafted from the WHL there is no requirement that he remain in the WHL until he's 20 like there is for players who were drafted from this league. So the Oilers could send him wherever they liked (he signed a contract with the Oilers last summer) and next season that'll be the Finnish mens league. I would imagine this is due in no small part to Rajala needing to complete a compulsory year of service in the Finnish military, something he can apparently do while still playing hockey over there. If the Oilers envision Rajala having a chance at playing in the NHL in 2011-12, they'd surely want that military commitment over with by then. So, it makes sense on all levels really.
This is another blow to the rebuilding Wheat Kings though. They just passed on their 2nd import pick two weeks ago in order to keep Rajala on the roster, meaning they now will only have one import next year.Would have been nice if the Oilers had tipped Kelly McCrimmon off about their plans two weeks ago, eh?
Brandon loses Rajala's offence, which they could have used next year as they lose 7, maybe 8 of their top 10 scorers from last season, and they also lose a guy who would have had some good trade value to a contender, a move that could have expedited Brandon's rebuild.
The other bit of news? Even more significant - as it appears that Medicine Hat Tigers are going to lose their coach and G.M., as Willie Desjardins appears to be finally taking the leap to the NHL, with a new job in the Dallas Stars organization. The replacement at coach will be current assistant coach Shaun Clouston, who has been a head coach in the WHL before in Tri-City. No word on who will take over as general manager though.
Anyone who follows the Tigers knows just how significant Willie Desjardins has been to that team. When he took over as coach in 2002-03, the Tigers had missed the playoffs for five straight years (think about how hard you have to work at being bad in order to accomplish that in a league where only a few teams miss the playoffs every year) and been last overall a couple times in that span. Since he arrived they have made the playoffs every year, been above .500 the last seven seasons, and won two WHL titles, in 2004 and 2007. Talk about your night to day transformations.
It's impossible for the Tigers to replace a guy like that. Desjardins was one of the early people in the league to recognize the way hockey was trending away from emphasizing size and more towards speed and skill. His Tigers teams were quick and they could score. Now, speed is something you see every team in every league, including the NHL, putting a premium on.
Very big shoes for Clouston (and the new G.M.) to fill there.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Wednesday notes
Just a couple quick things this morning....
First, a few more players confirmed to have signed WHL contracts recently....I've updated that list of committed prospects and added it to the team-by-team links list on the right side there. Additions/corrections (ideally with some sort of proof?) are always welcome....
Second, a very good issue raised the other day when the IIHF (who really shouldn't be stating opinions on these matters, but that's another topic) suggested that import players do not benefit from playing in the CHL (link borrowed from Gregg Drinnan).
Now, I could write an essay about how flawed the IIHF's comments are, but fortunately I will not have to, because Brock Otten of the website School Your Pool already did it for me. If you look at the actual numbers, you'll see that there's not that significant of a different between the NHL success rate of Europeans who stay in Europe versus those who come to the CHL. Of course the players who stay in Europe have a slightly better success rate in the NHL - but that's likely because many of the top European prospects do not come to the CHL! They are the players most likely to have NHL success regardless of where they develop. The Backstroms and Ovechkins aren't lining up to play in the CHL; they stay in Europe because they are getting good opportunities there, get drafted from Europe, and that skews the homegrown numbers upward a few ticks. I bet if you looked at the success rate of European players drafted in the 3rd round or later of the NHL draft, and compared where they played, you wouldn't see much difference at all. It's those 2nd-tier prospects who are most likely to come to the CHL because they feel they're not getting the best opportunities to develop at home.
The IIHF seized upon the notion that Europeans in the CHL aren't having very much success in the NHL and drew the conclusion that playing in the CHL hurts them. Maybe they should have checked how the players who stay in Europe do first....oops.
And lastly....I see ESPN is giving up an hour of their prime-time schedule tomorrow night so NBA star Lebron James can announce which team he will sign with as a free agent. He'll have to talk real slow to make that announcement last an hour. Such excitement! May I suggest, though, that the ratings from that show will be nothing compared to the ratings ESPN will get when they give the Kootenay Ice an hour of prime-time to announce their new coach.....
First, a few more players confirmed to have signed WHL contracts recently....I've updated that list of committed prospects and added it to the team-by-team links list on the right side there. Additions/corrections (ideally with some sort of proof?) are always welcome....
Second, a very good issue raised the other day when the IIHF (who really shouldn't be stating opinions on these matters, but that's another topic) suggested that import players do not benefit from playing in the CHL (link borrowed from Gregg Drinnan).
Now, I could write an essay about how flawed the IIHF's comments are, but fortunately I will not have to, because Brock Otten of the website School Your Pool already did it for me. If you look at the actual numbers, you'll see that there's not that significant of a different between the NHL success rate of Europeans who stay in Europe versus those who come to the CHL. Of course the players who stay in Europe have a slightly better success rate in the NHL - but that's likely because many of the top European prospects do not come to the CHL! They are the players most likely to have NHL success regardless of where they develop. The Backstroms and Ovechkins aren't lining up to play in the CHL; they stay in Europe because they are getting good opportunities there, get drafted from Europe, and that skews the homegrown numbers upward a few ticks. I bet if you looked at the success rate of European players drafted in the 3rd round or later of the NHL draft, and compared where they played, you wouldn't see much difference at all. It's those 2nd-tier prospects who are most likely to come to the CHL because they feel they're not getting the best opportunities to develop at home.
The IIHF seized upon the notion that Europeans in the CHL aren't having very much success in the NHL and drew the conclusion that playing in the CHL hurts them. Maybe they should have checked how the players who stay in Europe do first....oops.
And lastly....I see ESPN is giving up an hour of their prime-time schedule tomorrow night so NBA star Lebron James can announce which team he will sign with as a free agent. He'll have to talk real slow to make that announcement last an hour. Such excitement! May I suggest, though, that the ratings from that show will be nothing compared to the ratings ESPN will get when they give the Kootenay Ice an hour of prime-time to announce their new coach.....
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