Tri-City (Carter AShton) and Portland (Craig Cunningham) have already struck big deals in the weeks leading up to this point; now we'll see who else out there thinks they can compete with those guys. Portland may have actually made another move already and added a high-profile player for free - reports out of Denver indicate that Denver University defenceman William Wrenn has told the Pioneers that he is leaving school and joining the Winterhawks. Wrenn is a '91, a 6'1", 200 lber who was a 2nd round pick of San Jose in 2009. Adding a guy like that at no cost is a big plus for the Hawks.
Amongst other buyers, I'm particularily interested to see what Spokane might do in order to keep pace with the Hawks and Americans in the West. Spokane might be the hottest team in the WHL right now but will they feel any pressure to add some veteran assets to improve the team even more - especially when they might have to beat both Tri-City AND Portland just to get to the WHL final? Barring any upsets, likely two of those three teams WILL be faced with having to beat both of the others in order to get out of the conference in the playoffs, so the playoffs in the West are going to be intense....can't have too much depth, can you.
In the East, I think Saskatoon, Red Deer, Kootenay, Moose Jaw, and Medicine Hat could/should all be buyers, to some degree. All of those teams have a serious shot at getting out of the conference in the playoffs if they make the right moves and things go right for them. And honestly, all of the other 7 teams in the conference are probably sellers to some degree, so I think there's some clear definition in the two groups in the East, unlike in the West.
The West is a lot crazier in determining who's selling, because every team is still within one win of a playoff spot. And while finishing 6th or 8th might mean doom in the first round by facing a Portland or a Tri-City or a Spokane, finishing 7th means you get the B.C. division winner in the first round and right now the B.C. division leader is only 3 points ahead of 7th place. So obviously right now, finishing 7th represents a chance to knock off #2 and at least get to the 2nd round of the playoffs. So I think it might be really hard to tell who's selling in the West right now. You might see a lot of small buyers there and a lot fewer sellers.
Anyway, should be a fun week for us fans for sure. One deal already today actually, Moose Jaw adding 19 year old tough guy forward Brett Lyon from Vancouver for 17 year old forward prospect Nathan Smith, who will remain in Jr A.
Thursday might be the key day to the week - since there is an informal (or maybe even official, I can't remember) rule against trading players while they are playing at the WJCs, Thursday represents the first day we could see players like Cody Eakin or Brayden Schenn traded, and moving one of those guys could easily set off a ripple effect across the league.
6 comments:
I just don't see the Chiefs making a huge move this year. To my knowledge Speltz has never traded his 1st round pick and he showed last year at the deadline that he will not overpay for players. I can see a move for a second tier Trevor Glass type D-man but again only if the price isn't extreme.
There is no rule or convention in place for trading WJC players while they're away.
Luc Bourdon was traded from Val D'Or to Moncton during the 2006 tournament, and Steve Mason was dealt from London to Kitchener during the 2008 tournament.
Schenn to Kootenay fingers crossed.
hodges - it was the trading of Mason right before the gold medal game that prompted the OHL to institute a rule freezing the trading of players at the World Juniors:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article725717.ece
I don't know if the WHL and QMJHL followed suit with similar freezes, but certainly there haven't been any WJC players traded during the tournament since 2008 in any league.
My feeling is that today is the calm before the storm. I am fairly confident that Schenn will not see another game in a Brandon uniform. Eakin is a different story, Swift Current feels that when healthy, they have what it takes to go far. My opinion is that Swift Current should deal Eakin and try to build some young forwards around that talented young defence they have right now. Ryan Howse is another name being tossed around.
Schenn to Saskatoon makes sense on so many levels, when you think about it. He's the hometown boy, the Blades could really use an addition like that to keep pace with the Western clubs in case the Blades do make it out of the East, and of course the hometown boy thing has the great marketing angle there too. Plus they have a decent stable of 15-17 year olds, so they could afford to part with a few pieces.
Kootenay is the other team I'm eyeing carefully....they are right on the pace in the East and they have two first round bantam picks, one of which - the Musil pick - didn't actually cost them anything. They can easily afford to move one of those picks to land a big name player without hurting their future since they'll still have one first round pick like most teams do every year.
And if Brandon is moving Schenn, then there's no point in them hanging on to Glennie, so he should move somewhere too.
Mackenzie and Bubnick in Calgary. Howse in Chilliwack, as you mentioned. Why not Horak and Manning in Chilliwack too, for that matter....Lethbridge is another obvious candidate to unload vets but I think all their 91s either would have little interest around the league or are guys the Canes probably want back as overagers next year.
Five days now....like you, I look forward to what might happen tomorrow morning after the WJC freeze is over.
Post a Comment