Year end notes

It's the last day of 2012 and that means the WHL trade deadline is less than two weeks away. In past year we've already seen some major deals made by this point after the Christmas trade freeze lifts. None so far this year but there will certainly be some action in the next 11 days.

To that end, today I have updated the rosters and statistical roster breakdowns here on the blog as the trade deadline approaches, in case you want to see where your team stacks up now against others in the league in average height, weight, age, etc.

And sometime in the next day or two, I'll post a little look at what draft picks each team has remaining in the 2013 and 2014 bantam drafts, so fans will have a little idea of what each team has to play with when it comes to dealing draft picks.

And now, wrapping up some loose ends here.....a lot of this stuff you probably knew already, but....

Two players retired from the WHL this past week, 19 year old goaltender Liam Liston of the Vancouver Giants and overage defenceman Alex Theriau of the Regina Pats.

Theriau's decision is injury-related as he aggravated an existing hip injury and plans to take the rest of the year off to rest it in hopes of playing CIS hockey next season. The Pats had four overagers and would have had to trade or release one in the next 11 days anyway, so Theriau's retirement saves them any work there.

Liston is a bit of a surprise and a disappointing end to a once-promising career. He broke into the league in 2010-11 by winning the Brandon #1 goaltending job as a 17 year old rookie, but lost the spot to Corbin Boes in early in 11-12, was traded to Lethbridge and his career went on the decline over the last 15 months, culminating in his decision last week. The .836 save percentage this year wasn't providing the kind of goaltending the Giants undoubtedly hoped for from a 19 year old....not when the Giants had a 16 year old backup with a .901 number behind the same defence.

Another player gone from the WHL this week is sophomore 19 year old import defenceman Albin Blomqvist, who has shut his season down and returned to Sweden for the rest of the year to recover from a concussion. Blomqvist is unlikely to return as an overage import in 2013-14 so we've probably seen the last of him in the WHL after a season and a half.

In another departure, Brandon defenceman Rene Hunter did not return to the Wheat Kings after the Christmas break. Hunter missed time earlier this year as well for person reasons and it appears his decision to stay home is related to that.

Brandon did get an unexpected bonus though as the Calgary Flames assigned 20 year old forward Michael Ferland back to the Wheat Kings on December 28th. Ferland scored 47 goals for the Wheaties last year as a 19 year old so this is a huge, huge addition for them - and an opportunity to perhaps flip Ferland to a contender for a pretty haul of picks and prospects. Ferland is probably one of the top combinations of skill and toughness in the WHL this year and so many teams would probably like to get their hands on him for a playoff run.

And last but definitely not least, two players have requested trades and did not return to their teams from the Christmas break as a result: 18 year old forward Jayden Hart of Medicine Hat and, most significantly, 17 year old forward Alex Forsberg of Prince George. Forsberg was the #1 overall pick in the 2010 WHL bantam draft so his decision to leave the Cougars is a blow to that team. It's also worth noting that during the summer Forsberg's older brother Jesse - the Cougars' team captain at the time - requested a trade from the Cougars as well and was subsequently traded to Seattle.

Is this just one family being unhappy with the Cougars, or a symptom of bigger problems in the organization?

Look for Prince George to trade Forsberg by the deadline, I would think - the return for him would be significant enough that they probably don't want to wait until next year to resolve the problem. As for Hart, he's a little bit less of a hot-ticket item and while I think he'll be moved by the deadline as well, it wouldn't be as much of a surprise to see the Tigers not find a deal to their liking and decide to see what the summer will bring there.