The condition on the pick is that Thrower must play in the WHL as an overager. He is an unsigned 2012 2nd round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs do not have to sign him until June 1, 2014, so there is a possibility that they could return him to junior next year. I think that possibility is slim, but you never know.
Portland fans will delight in having Thrower in the Western Conference next year, where he can play the Winterhawks four times and have his chance to atone for his hit on Taylor Leier. Knowing Thrower is a pretty tough kid, he won't back down, so they'll get their chance. IF he plays as an overage, of course.
With the move, the Blades have reduced the number of '93s (potential 2013-14 overagers) on their roster to thirteen:
Jessey Astles
Erik Benoit
Nathan Burns
Graeme Craig
Darren Dietz
Andrey Makarov
Shane McColgan
Matthew Pufahl
Kyle Schmidt
Duncan Siemens
Matej Stransky
Lukas Sutter
Collin Valcourt
Dietz, Makarov, Siemens, and Stransky have all signed NHL contracts and are very unlikely to return, which means there's really only nine players in the discussion. Shane McColgan is a draft pick of the NY Rangers but has not signed a contract yet - the Rangers have four more days to get that done or they lose his rights back into the 2013 draft. If he does sign, he is probably gone. If he doesn't sign, then his chances of returning probably hinge a lot on if/where he gets drafted again in June.
Lukas Sutter is an unsigned 2012 2nd round pick of the Winnipeg Jets. Based on his unimpressive 2012-13 season, I don't think the Jets are going to be in a hurry to sign him. They have another year to do so yet (same as Montreal with Thrower) and there is no reason for them not to wait another year and see if 2012-13 is an anomaly for him.
Astles, Benoit, Burns, Craig, Pufahl, Schmidt, and Valcourt are undrafted and unsigned at the NHL level and so those seven, at least, could/should all be back in the WHL next year. I'm not sure there will be a lot of interest in Kyle Schmidt as an overager; he was a 6th/7th defenceman for the Blades and probably wouldn't have been much more than that for anyone else either. He could be a Jr A guy next year. Astles (7 goals in 4 seasons) is not a guy that teams typically carry as an overager either so he might also be done at the major junior level. But he is also a well-liked team guy, a leader who has shown he can play a physical role without hurting his team....not all role players can say that. So you never know, there might be some interest in a guy like that.
So that leaves Benoit, Burns, Craig, Pufahl, Valcourt, probably Sutter, maybe McColgan, and maybe Astles. Blades have a few more decisions to make before mid-October next year. There's a number of very good players there so I'd expect teams with overage deficiencies to be contacting the Blades sooner rather than later and try to get some things done long before training camps open.
