With that in mind, a few observations on current rosters and recent transactions....
The WHL's overage deadline is still 3 weeks off (assuming it's October 10 like it usually is) but already the current overage picture is making it look like the deadline might be a quiet one. Currently only five teams (Everett, Kelowna, Medicine Hat, Seattle, and Tri-City) have too many overagers on their rosters while a whopping four teams (Edmonton, Kootenay, Prince George, and Vancouver) have room to add one more each. Assuming nothing else changed (though you know it will!), it would seem at least a few of the current surplus overagers will somehow find homes on the teams that have openings, and only one or two overagers currently on a WHL roster will end up having to leave the league.
But, it won't be that simple....there's some probable complications coming in the form of more NHL cuts - players like Dalton Thrower and Marek Tvrdon do not appear on Vancouver's roster but could still return to the WHL. And I wouldn't be one bit surprised if Edmonton is holding open that overage spot because of the possibility that one of their umpteen NHL-signed 20 year olds could still be returned unexpectedly to the WHL. A Martin Gernat, for example.
Conversely, four of those five teams who have too many overagers (Kelowna, Medicine Hat, Seattle, and Tri-City) still have one of their prospective overagers away at NHL camps (Myles Bell, Jacob Doty, Mitch Elliot, and Zach Yuen, respectively) and who knows, maybe some of those guys stick in the AHL and don't return. That would solve their WHL clubs' decision making pretty quickly. Only Everett has four overagers in their actual dressing room right now.
Another note about the overagers who are at NHL camps - if they aren't returned to their WHL teams by September 26, then their WHL teams will get an extension on the October 10 overage deadline. That's because the WHL allows teams two weeks to make a decision (if one is required) on players returned late from the NHL.
From overagers to imports now.....there is still one team, Everett, who have too many import players on their roster. Vancouver would join that list if Tvrdon were to be returned, but for now it's just Everett. Everett doesn't actually have three imports right this minute since defenceman Mirco Mueller is still with the NHL's San Jose Sharks, but he is expected to be returned at some point. When that happens, Everett will have a difficult decision to make since they are not allowed to trade new imports Ivan Nikolishen or Waltteri Hopponen. Their options will be to trade Mueller (would YOU trade away an NHL 1st round draft pick, a guy who could anchor your blueline for two more years yet??) or release one of Nikolishin (7 points in 6 preseason games) or Hopponen (5 points in 6 preseason games). Releasing one of those guys will surely see them snapped up on the WHL waiver wire by a team with import openings or inferior imports. It's not exactly a Sophie's Choice but it's not a very palatable one for the Silvertips for sure.
As for moving an import - whether it's Everett or Vancouver doing the moving - the options are a bit limited right now. Only four teams currently do not have two imports already: Kootenay, Lethbridge, Tri-City, and Victoria. Lethbridge is expecting Khristian Khenkel to show up after his visa situation is resolved, so they are probably not in the running to acquire anyone. Kootenay currently has zero imports; they are expecting Rinat Valiyev to show up (visa issues there too), but even if he does they'll still have another opening.
Goaltending is another situation where several teams are still unresolved: Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Seattle, and Swift Current all still have three goaltenders on their rosters. In Lethbridge and Swift Current the starting goalies are set (Corbin Boes and Eetu Laurikainen respectively) but the holder of the backup job remains to be determined yet: incumbent Chris Tai vs rookie Johnny Hogue in Lethbridge, and incumbent Landon Bow vs. rookie Travis Child in Swift.
In Saskatoon and Seattle, the question of who is #1 is still unanswered. In Saskatoon, the Blades appeared last week to be set with Alex Moodie as starter and Nathan Alalouf as backup, but then they acquired 19 year old Troy Trombley from Tri-City and I'm sure he isn't there to be the backup. It looks like Alalouf might be heading to Jr A while Moodie and Trombley slug it out for each start there. Meanwhile in Seattle there are three goalies there and no clear #1, #2, or #3 between three guys with minimal WHL experience - Devon Fordyce, Justin Myles, and Danny Mumaugh.
One last thing that has caught my eye the last couple weeks is a few veteran players being released - non-overage guys who played a year or two or three in the league but are being released because they've been passed in their teams' pecking order by younger players. It has to be tough for these players. They include Stewart Coyle, Braiden Doucette, Jarrett Fontaine, Riley Guenther, Harrison Harper, Darian Henry, Jake Mykitiuk, Michael Mylchreest, Bryar Ortynski, and Kade Pilton. Probably even missed a few there.
Of particular interest to me are Fontaine, Mykitiuk, and Mylchreest - all three are '95s who were released by the Prince George Cougars. In fact, all three were 16 year old rookies with the Cougars back in 2011-12, the year that the Cougars carried an almost unheard-of six 16 year olds full-time. (Alex Forsberg, Jordan Tkatch, and Chase Witala were the other three). You may remember that was a time of excitement in Prince George, the start of a rebuild, a youth movement. It's safe to say that those hopes didn't pan out as expected, especially since Forsberg's tenure with the team has also been rocky.
There's a larger conversation to be had here about the wisdom of keeping and playing so many young players at one time, especially on a weak team (the Cougars were 2nd-last in the WHL in 11-12) without a strong group of veterans to lead the way and take the pressure.
Even when you do everything right you'll still have the occasional player who simply doesn't develop as you expect, that happens on every team at every level. But three out of six is a pretty high failure rate and it's fair to ask questions about whether the Cougars' decision to keep six 16 year olds that season was a good idea in hindsight. And that, in turn, should be part of an even larger conversation about why that franchise has been over .500 only three times in the last 13 years and never by more than 7 points.
