Brandon: drafted defenceman Alex Urbom (19) and forward Toni Rajala (18), two potential impact players for their Memorial Cup run. Now they just need to get both of them to show up, something that has been a problem for Brandon with imports in the past.
Calgary: traded for forward Mikhail Fisenko (19) from Vancouver and drafted Finnish forward Erik Haula (18), but Haula is probably a longshot to play in the WHL since he has committed to the University of Minnesota for 2010-11 (a rare European player on that team) and is supposed to play in the USHL this year. So, a sales job is required if Haula is to play in the WHL. If they don't land him, don't rule out Bostjan Golicic returning as an overage import.
Chilliwack: drafted forward Roman Horak (18) and will have forward Alex Wiklund (19) return. They should be set.
Edmonton: made no picks and will return forwards Tomas Vincour (19) and Robin Soudek (18).
Everett: picked two defencemen, Radko Gudas (19) and Rasmus Rissanen (18). At 19, Gudas is a one-year WHLer so they need him to make an immediate impact. The Tips are the greenest team in the WHL on the blueline heading into 09-10 so they could use both of these guys making an immediate impact, actually.
Kamloops: new forward Matej Bene (17) will join returnee Dalibor Bortnak (18) as the Blazers' two imports. If they both have good years, they could both play there again in 2010-11 as well.
Kelowna: returnee forward Stepan Novotny (19) is the only sure thing for now. The Rockets drafted forward Teemu Pulkkinen (17) as well but they do not expect to see him until 2010-11. He could be a high NHL pick in 2010 so if he does show up in Kelowna a year from now, this will look like a pretty smart pick.
Kootenay: forward Dominik Pacovsky (19) will be back and they have added defenceman Petr Senkerik (18) to go with him. Similar to Everett, the Ice have a very inexperienced blueline (only one player with more than one year's experience) so they could really benefit from having Senkerik be a stud instead of a dud.
Lethbridge: the Canes said goodbye to a Finnish goalie (the graduating Juha Metsola) and replaced him with a new one, Ville Kolppanen (17). The Canes have only about 20 games of WHL experience total amongst their other goalies so they are probably hoping lightning strikes them twice and that Kolppanen can compete for the starters job. The other import will be returnee defenceman Luca Sbisa (19) but chances are good he'll be in the NHL instead of in Lethbridge again. His NHL rights were traded from Philadelphia to Anaheim and the Ducks' blueline is going to have some openings so he'll probably stay there.
Medicine Hat: forward Zdenek Okal (19) will be back and they drafted 18 year old defenceman Rasmus Damgaard (is "Damgaard" a good name for a defenceman or what?) to join him. Rumour has the NY Rangers potentially returning Tomas Kundratek as an overager but I just don't see it....he has signed with the Rangers, why wouldn't they put him in the AHL. If he wasn't signed I could see him back in the Hat but with the contract done, it just doesn't happen very often.
Moose Jaw: drafted two forwards, Antonin Honejsek (18) and Jakub Herman (17) and have released veteran Martin Filo, so they'll be going with the two new guys.
Portland: traded up from #5 to #2 overall in the import draft to pick Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter (17) so they must have been worried about one of the OHL/QMJHL teams at #3 or #4 picking the guy. They gave up 4th and 6th round bantam picks - a significant price - to move up three spots so Niederreiter better live up to the instant expectations there will be for him now. They also picked another forward, Jakub Berglund (18) so that should be their two for the year.
Prince Albert: drafted forward Fredrik Cedergren (19), and at that age he'll be a one-year player so they must expect him to contribute right away. I'm unsure which of defenceman Tomas Voracek (19) or forward Igor Revenko (19) they dropped in order to pick Cedergren....Voracek went home early last year to be with his mother, who has cancer, but perhaps he is ready to return next year; if he is, I would think they would probably welcome him back - he's big and looked good as a 17 year old in 07-08. On the other hand, Revenko had a decent season offensively last year so he would probably be welcome back too. Guess we'll have to wait and see which one they cut loose.
Prince George: drafted forward Jaroslav Vlach (17) to go with returnee forward Marek Viedensky (19). Also retain the rights to forward Jerome Flaake (19), who never reported last year after being picked. If Flaake gets his release and reports, the Cougars will have to make a cut/trade. But they don't have to worry about that until Flaake walks into their dressing room...
Red Deer: released both of last year's imports, Tommi Kivisto and Tomas Polak, and picked two new ones: defenceman Jindra Barak (18) and forward John Persson (17). Now they pray those two are better than the last two.
Regina: drafted forward Michal Poletin (18) to go with returnee Tomas Hricina (19). Should be set at that.
Saskatoon: drafted the early 09-10 candidate for best name in the WHL in forward Hampus Gustafsson (18), to go with returning defenceman Jyri Niemi (19). Possible monkey wrench in the works is that overage forward Milan Kytnar could be returned by the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. If that happens, somebody's gotta go.
Seattle: drafted forward Mikhail Senturin (17) to go with returning defenceman Stefan Warg (19).
Spokane: drafted forward Dominik Uher (18) to go with returning defenceman Stefan Ulmer (19), which means they've pretty much cornered the market on WHLers whose surnames begin with the letter "U".
Swift Current: surprise, they picked a goalie, Finland's Joni Ortio (18). With Morgan Clark returning in net and four other young goalies who thought they were going to compete for playing time next year, there's suddenly a six-man logjam in the Broncos crease. If Ortio comes over, you have to think Morgan Clark will be looking for another team that needs a 19 year old backup goalie. Back to imports, the Broncos will have forward Jan Dalecky (19) back as well.
Tri-City: not so much of a surprise, the Ams picked a goalie too. Russian Alexander Pechurski is 19 years old so he would be expected to compete to be the starter if he comes over. Like I said though, not so much of a surprise since they lose Chet Pickard and neither of last year's two backups posted jaw-dropping numbers to make you think they could be #1 this year. The Ams also picked another import, forward Sergei Drozd (19). Two 19 year old one-year rookie imports....makes you think the Ams want to make some noise again next year, doesn't it.
Vancouver: traded Fisenko to Calgary and picked forward Sebastien Svensen (18) to go with returnee forward Andrej Kudrna.
1 comment:
Voracek is not returning to the Raiders
Craig
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