Trader Brent Sutter

The Rebels swung a trade this morning with Brandon, sending 19 year old forward Chad Robinson to the Wheat Kings for a conditional 2014 7th round bantam pick.

Not an earth-shattering trade, but this trade isn't really the reason for this post: the real reason is that by my count, this is the eighth trade the Rebels have made in the last four weeks. Count them:

Sep 24: acquire Matt Bellerive from Vancouver

Sep 25: acquire Brandon Underwood from Regina

Oct 1: acquire Kaleb Denham from Tri-City

Oct 8: Adam Kambeitz/Christian Stockl trade with Saskatoon

Oct 11: acquire Austin Ferguson from Kelowna

Oct 18: send Stephen Hak & Colten Mayor to Regina

Oct 21: acquire Brady Gaudet from Kamloops

Oct 22: send Robinson to Brandon

Only the Denham trade didn't affect the Rebels roster (he's a signed prospect who remains in midget).

To put these numbers in some perspective, the Rebels made four trades in all of last season. The year before, 2010-11, they made only two. So it certainly looks as though Rebels G.M. Brent Sutter is not happy with the roster he inherited from the guys he left in charge of the team while he was coaching in the NHL and is setting out to conduct repairs.

Overage deadline

I believe tomorrow is the overage deadline in the WHL - after tomorrow, all teams must be down to three overagers on their roster. Thanks to a couple of trades in the last day or two, only four teams - Medicine Hat, Prince Albert, Portland, and Saskatoon - still have four overagers according to my records.

But of those four, only Saskatoon has to make a move today or tomorrow, I believe. They currently have forwards Adam Kambeitz, Josh Nicholls, and Brendan Walker, plus defenceman Connor Cox, as their four overagers and one of those guys will be somewhere else within the next 30 hours or so. Walker is the team captain there and they just traded for Kambeitz so it would seem likely that those two are safe. Therefore, the odd man out is likely to be Nicholls or Cox. And since the Blades recalled defenceman Kyle Schmidt from the SJHL today, it's not a huge stretch to think they have settled on a deal involving Cox. But we'll see.

Only Edmonton has an open spot for an overager, so if one of those guys doesn't go to Edmonton then the most likely scenario is that one gets traded to another team which promptly releases one of their current guys.

As for the other teams with extra overagers; Medicine Hat gets a break because Alex Theriau is on the injured list and doesn't count right now. Once he is healthy (expected to be in early November last I heard), the Tigers will have two weeks to make a decision on who to keep.

Prince Albert gets a break because Antoine Corbin is attending an AHL camp right now, so he doesn't count either. Again, once (if) he is returned they will have two weeks to get down to their three guys.

And Portland gets a break because Mac Carruth was just returned to them from the AHL on Sunday, so they have two weeks from this past Sunday to make a decision on their guys.

Another team in the AHL situation is Kamloops, where Austin Madaisky is away at AHL camp too. But the Blazers have removed Madaisky's name from their roster on their website (whereas the Raiders still list Corbin) so I haven't included them in the list of teams that have four guys. If you think Madaisky will be returned to the Blazers though, then obviously Kamloops becomes another team that will have to make a decision in the future on who to keep.

WHL forwards by the numbers

And now, the look at the WHL forward corps. As with the defencemen and the goaltenders, the games and points numbers are combined regular season and playoff totals.

Chart is sorted descending on career games played. The number in brackets is the team's rank league-wide in that category.

	#	Rookies	Ht (in.)	Wt (lb)	Age	Games	Points
Saskatoon Blades	14	3	71.93 (10)	192.86 (2)	18.36 (1)	1969 (1)	1111 (1)
Kamloops Blazers	14	3	71.71 (16)	181.21 (17)	18.14 (6)	1629 (2)	1046 (2)
Edmonton Oil Kings	14	4	71.86 (11)	185.71 (8)	18.14 (6)	1518 (3)	936 (3)
Seattle Thunderbirds	14	4	73.14 (1)	193.43 (1)	18.36 (1)	1441 (4)	414 (18)
Kelowna Rockets	15	4	71.80 (12)	181.73 (16)	18.00 (11)	1400 (5)	585 (7)
Medicine Hat Tigers	16	7	71.06 (22)	178.75 (20)	17.88 (16)	1400 (5)	579 (8)
Spokane Chiefs	15	5	72.07 (7)	188.33 (4)	18.33 (3)	1352 (7)	622 (5)
Calgary Hitmen	14	5	72.07 (6)	188.64 (3)	17.93 (14)	1320 (8)	657 (4)
Red Deer Rebels	15	5	71.73 (15)	178.33 (21)	18.07 (10)	1263 (9)	509 (12)
Prince George Cougars	14	3	71.14 (21)	182.50 (14)	17.86 (17)	1248 (10)	474 (15)
Swift Current Broncos	14	4	72.79 (2)	187.21 (5)	18.21 (5)	1245 (11)	416 (17)
Moose Jaw Warriors	15	6	71.60 (18)	180.93 (18)	17.67 (19)	1221 (12)	555 (10)
Tri-City Americans	14	3	71.79 (13)	177.86 (22)	18.14 (6)	1205 (13)	574 (9)
Everett Silvertips	14	5	72.00 (9)	184.29 (12)	18.07 (9)	1196 (14)	476 (14)
Portland Winterhawks	15	8	72.40 (3)	184.87 (10)	17.53 (22)	1103 (15)	622 (5)
Prince Albert Raiders	13	4	71.77 (14)	185.77 (7)	17.92 (15)	1055 (16)	508 (13)
Victoria Royals	13	3	72.31 (4)	184.38 (11)	18.23 (4)	1041 (17)	513 (11)
Vancouver Giants	15	3	72.07 (7)	180.60 (19)	17.93 (12)	996 (18)	446 (16)
Regina Pats	15	7	71.67 (17)	182.00 (15)	17.93 (12)	961 (19)	342 (20)
Kootenay Ice	12	3	72.08 (5)	183.67 (13)	17.75 (18)	934 (20)	348 (19)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	14	5	71.21 (20)	185.00 (9)	17.64 (20)	913 (21)	335 (21)
Brandon Wheat Kings	15	8	71.53 (19)	186.33 (6)	17.60 (21)	800 (22)	309 (22)

So Saskatoon is the league's most experienced offence, and the highest career point total. Kamloops is right there with them, 2nd in experience and in points.

I admit I was surprised to see a team like Portland, who have played so many playoff games in the last 2 years, be so far down the chart experience-wise. But it does make sense since the Hawks have lost a number of forwards from last year, as evidenced by the fact they are breaking in eight rookies up front this year.

As with the goaltenders and defencemen, Seattle is the biggest group of forwards in the league, and also tied for the oldest. Tri-City is the smallest; I don't have these numbers for past years handy but I feel confident in saying the Americans have had one of the smaller groups of forwards in the WHL for many years now.

Brandon's forward group is the youngest, least experienced, have the fewest career points, and are also the 5th-smallest. There are nine rookies in the Brandon forward ranks right now. Assessing all that, it seems logical to suggest that the Wheat Kings are going to struggle a little bit to score goals this year.

Anyway, enjoy...

WHL defences by the numbers

Next up, the team-by-team bluelines. I've added up the total career (regular season and playoffs both) games played and point totals for all the defencemen listed on league rosters.

As with the goalies, the number in brackets is that team's rank across the league in that category. Below list is sorted by total games played, descending:

	#	Rookies	Ht (in.)	Wt (lb)	Age	Games	Points
Saskatoon Blades	8	2	73.38 (13)	196.63 (6)	18.50 (1)	1033 (1)	390 (1)
Prince Albert Raiders	10	1	73.30 (15)	198.00 (4)	18.50 (1)	931 (2)	233 (7)
Portland Winterhawks	7	2	73.57 (11)	200.43 (3)	18.14 (6)	922 (3)	366 (2)
Kelowna Rockets	9	2	73.11 (17)	195.89 (8)	17.89 (15)	905 (4)	261 (5)
Brandon Wheat Kings	8	2	73.50 (12)	194.63 (12)	18.13 (8)	891 (5)	295 (3)
Medicine Hat Tigers	8	3	74.75 (2)	190.50 (18)	18.25 (3)	839 (6)	173 (14)
Kootenay Ice	8	2	74.38 (4)	195.00 (11)	18.13 (8)	775 (7)	196 (11)
Tri-City Americans	8	3	72.88 (21)	182.50 (22)	18.25 (3)	770 (8)	195 (12)
Moose Jaw Warriors	8	2	73.25 (16)	193.13 (16)	18.13 (8)	760 (9)	221 (8)
Swift Current Broncos	7	2	74.00 (7)	195.43 (9)	18.14 (6)	743 (10)	202 (10)
Spokane Chiefs	8	2	73.00 (18)	186.25 (21)	17.88 (17)	742 (11)	287 (4)
Kamloops Blazers	9	3	73.00 (18)	190.11 (20)	17.89 (15)	732 (12)	161 (15)
Calgary Hitmen	8	3	74.75 (2)	201.88 (2)	18.25 (3)	697 (13)	186 (13)
Vancouver Giants	8	3	73.88 (8)	190.25 (19)	18.13 (8)	668 (14)	161 (15)
Edmonton Oil Kings	8	2	73.88 (8)	192.88 (17)	18.00 (12)	632 (15)	253 (6)
Victoria Royals	9	4	73.00 (18)	197.89 (5)	17.56 (21)	577 (16)	93 (20)
Red Deer Rebels	10	4	73.70 (10)	196.00 (7)	18.00 (12)	571 (17)	141 (17)
Everett Silvertips	8	4	74.13 (6)	193.75 (13)	17.88 (17)	556 (18)	215 (9)
Regina Pats	8	3	73.38 (13)	193.50 (14)	18.00 (12)	508 (19)	107 (19)
Prince George Cougars	8	4	74.25 (5)	193.50 (14)	17.88 (17)	462 (20)	70 (22)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	8	4	72.50 (22)	195.25 (10)	17.88 (17)	418 (21)	108 (18)
Seattle Thunderbirds	7	3	76.00 (1)	202.86 (1)	17.29 (22)	340 (22)	89 (21)

So Portland has the league's most veteran defence group, while their I-5 rivals in Seattle have the least experienced. For some perspective there, Hawks defenceman Troy Rutkowski has 335 games of career experience, which is 5 games less than the entire Seattle defence.

Seattle does have the biggest average defence, checking in at a huge 6'4" and almost 203 pounds, the largest in the league in both height and weight. But can their big men play? Lethbridge has the smallest average defence, at 6'0.5". Lethbridge is also 4th-youngest (tied) and 2nd-least experienced (and half their experience is in Dan Johnston's body), so we'll see how a small, young, inexperienced defence can do.

Saskatoon's defence is the oldest and also has the most career points, with 390 - and that's 320 more points than the Prince George Cougars, the least offensively-successful team on the blueline.

WHL goalies by the numbers

The WHL regular season starts tonight, and so to mark the occasion I have put together a few charts, breaking down the current roster of all the teams in the league to show the average height, weight, age, and relevant experience numbers of each team by position.

First up, goaltenders. This is descending by total minutes played (regular season plus playoffs). The number in brackets after each value is their league-wide rank in that category:

	#	Ht	Wt	Age	Minutes
Portland Winterhawks	3	75.00 (3)	186.67 (8)	19.00 (1)	17278 (1)
Edmonton Oil Kings	2	74.50 (5)	190.50 (6)	18.00 (9)	7400 (2)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	2	71.00 (20)	177.50 (15)	18.50 (4)	6433 (3)
Prince Albert Raiders	2	73.00 (9)	182.50 (10)	19.00 (1)	5452 (4)
Seattle Thunderbirds	2	75.50 (2)	161.00 (22)	18.50 (4)	5402 (5)
Spokane Chiefs	2	72.50 (15)	180.00 (13)	18.00 (9)	5396 (6)
Regina Pats	2	71.00 (20)	165.00 (21)	19.00 (1)	5360 (7)
Brandon Wheat Kings	2	73.00 (9)	194.00 (3)	18.50 (4)	5205 (8)
Saskatoon Blades	2	73.00 (9)	182.50 (10)	18.00 (9)	4075 (9)
Everett Silvertips	3	73.67 (8)	184.67 (9)	18.00 (9)	3948 (10)
Vancouver Giants	2	73.00 (9)	176.00 (18)	18.00 (9)	3666 (11)
Kamloops Blazers	2	71.00 (20)	169.00 (20)	18.50 (4)	3507 (12)
Calgary Hitmen	2	75.00 (3)	191.50 (5)	17.50 (18)	3353 (13)
Kelowna Rockets	2	71.50 (18)	177.50 (15)	18.00 (9)	3149 (14)
Red Deer Rebels	2	73.00 (9)	180.50 (12)	18.50 (4)	2395 (15)
Tri-City Americans	2	73.00 (9)	177.50 (15)	17.50 (18)	1701 (16)
Kootenay Ice	2	74.00 (6)	192.00 (4)	17.50 (18)	1267 (17)
Victoria Royals	3	72.33 (17)	169.67 (19)	17.67 (17)	1095 (18)
Prince George Cougars	2	72.50 (15)	195.00 (2)	17.50 (18)	697 (19)
Moose Jaw Warriors	2	71.50 (18)	179.00 (14)	17.00 (22)	177 (20)
Medicine Hat Tigers	2	76.00 (1)	196.50 (1)	18.00 (9)	19 (21)
Swift Current Broncos	2	74.00 (6)	189.00 (7)	18.00 (9)	0 (22)

Portland's goalies have over seventeen thousand minutes played in the league. At the other end of the spectrum, Swift Current's tandem has never played a minute in the league before this season

Height/weight probably aren't as important for goalies as they are for skaters, but Medicine Hat has the biggest goaltenders on average, while Lethbridge, Regina and Kamloops have the smallest.