Deadline early returns, part II

More on how teams and players have performed since the trade deadline....below is a chart showing the games played and winning percentage for each team in the league before the deadline and after it, with the increase/decrease in winning percentage calculated and ranked amongst the 22 teams in the league:

	Before Deadline		After Deadline
	GP	Win%	GP	Win%	Diff.	Rank
Brandon Wheat Kings	43	0.395	11	0.545	+0.150	(5)
Calgary Hitmen	42	0.321	11	0.364	+0.043	(8)
Chilliwack Bruins	39	0.500	11	0.318	-0.182	(18)
Edmonton Oil Kings	40	0.525	12	0.417	-0.108	(16)
Everett Silvertips	42	0.476	10	0.550	+0.074	(7)
Kamloops Blazers	43	0.488	11	0.227	-0.261	(19)
Kelowna Rockets	41	0.537	9	0.889	+0.352	(1)
Kootenay Ice	42	0.679	11	0.545	-0.134	(17)
Lethbridge Hurricanes	40	0.425	12	0.458	+0.033	(10)
Medicine Hat Tigers	40	0.675	10	0.600	-0.075	(15)
Moose Jaw Warriors	42	0.619	10	0.650	+0.031	(11)
Portland Winterhawks	42	0.679	10	0.700	+0.021	(12)
Prince Albert Raiders	44	0.432	9	0.389	-0.043	(14)
Prince George Cougars	40	0.562	10	0.300	-0.262	(20)
Red Deer Rebels	42	0.655	12	0.917	+0.262	(3)
Regina Pats	41	0.415	10	0.450	+0.035	(9)
Saskatoon Blades	41	0.768	11	0.864	+0.096	(6)
Seattle Thunderbirds	41	0.512	11	0.136	-0.376	(21)
Spokane Chiefs	39	0.679	11	0.682	+0.003	(13)
Swift Current Broncos	46	0.489	9	0.111	-0.378	(22)
Tri-City Americans	38	0.658	10	0.850	+0.192	(4)
Vancouver Giants	42	0.512	11	0.818	+0.306	(2)

As you can see, the most-improved teams since the deadline are Kelowna (.537 before the deadline and .889 since it), Vancouver, and Red Deer. What is most interesting about those three teams being in those position is that two of them (Kelowna and Red Deer) made no deals at the deadline at all, and Vancouver made a lot of deals but primarily were sellers, moving Craig Cunningham. Yet all three teams are outperforming teams that loaded up.

The teams with the biggest drop in performance since the deadline are Swift Current (.489 before the deadline and a dismal .111 since it!), Seattle, and Prince George. Swift Current was an obvious seller, moving out Cody Eakin. Seattle wasn't clearly either a buyer or seller in their deals, and Prince George made no moves at all. Yet, all three teams have taken a dive since January 10.

And another look at how individual players have performed since they were traded:

(Dec 10) Regina sends Carter Ashton and 3rd rd '12 to Tri-City for Tanner Olstad, Nils Moser, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '12, and 5th rd '12

Carter Ashton with TRI: 9-6-9-15-20,+5

Tanner Olstad with REG: 19-4-2-6-14,-11

Nils Moser with REG: 6-1-0-1-6,+1

(Dec 11) Saskatoon sends Tyler Kizuik to Lethbridge for 6th rd '11

Tyler Kizuik with LTH: 14-2-0-2-4,-3

(Dec 14) Regina sends Thomas Frazee to Kamloops for Shayne Neigum, Lyndon Martell and 3rd rd '12

Thomas Frazee with KAM: 19-9-9-18-22,-3

Lyndon Martell with REG: 15-6-4-10-9,+8

Shayne Neigum with REG: 17-6-1-7-44,-6

(Dec 28) Vancouver sends Craig Cunningham and 6th rd '11 to Portland for Spencer Bennett, Teal Burns, 1st rd '11 and 2nd rd '12

Craig Cunningham with POR: 15-8-10-18-13,+2

Teal Burns with VAN: 16-3-6-9-13,+4

Spencer Bennett with VAN: 16-15-14-29-10,+10

(Dec 30) Swift Current sends Joel Rogers to Vancouver for Dalton Reum

Joel Rogers with VAN: 6-1-3-4-16,+3

Dalton Reum with SC: 15-1-1-2-16,+2

(Jan 4) Moose Jaw sends Nathan Smith to Vancouver for Brett Lyon

Brett Lyon with MJ: 13-3-3-6-41,+5

(Jan 5) Brandon sends Darren Bestland to Vancouver for Matt MacKay and 4th rd '12

Darren Bestland with VAN: 13-1-6-7-13,+5

Matt MacKay with BRN: 13-3-14-17-6,+10

(Jan 7) Medicine Hat sends 4th rd '11 (Cond.) to Seattle for Scott Ramsey

Scott Ramsey with MH: 11-0-2-2-16,+5

(Jan 8) Edmonton sends 5th rd '12 to Vancouver for Mark Reners

Mark Reners with EDM: 10-4-3-7-2,-3

(Jan 9) Swift Current sends Cody Eakin to Kootenay for Christian Magnus, Ryan Bloom, Jarett Zentner, Colby Cave, Steven Myland, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, and 3rd rd '12

Cody Eakin with KTN: 7-5-7-12-5,+5

Christian Magnus with SC: 7-0-1-1-7,-3

Ryan Bloom with SC: 9-0-0-0-0,-3

(Jan 10) Everett sends Kellan Tochkin and Alex Theriau to Medicine Hat for Ryan Harrison and 2nd rd '11

Kellan Tochkin with MH: 10-2-7-9-12,+1

Alex Theriau with MH: (has not played due to injury)

Ryan Harrison with EVT: 9-4-6-10-26,+5

(Jan 10) Calgary sends Matt MacKenzie to Tri-City for Brooks Macek, Spencer Humphries and 3rd rd '12 (cond.)

Matt MacKenzie with TRI: 10-3-4-7-15,+5

Brooks Macek with CGY: 11-3-7-10-4,+1

Spencer Humphries with CGY: 10-1-4-5-10,+2

(Jan 10) Vancouver sends Tanner Sohn to Saskatoon for 10th rd '13

Tanner Sohn with SAS: 1-0-0-0-0,-1

(Jan 10) Regina sends Mitch Spooner to Seattle for 5th rd '12 (cond.)

Mitch Spooner with SEA: 11-0-2-2-2,-3

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Sebastian Svendsen to Moose Jaw for Michal Hlinka, 3rd rd '11 and 6th rd '11

Sebastian Svendsen with MJ: 10-4-4-8-0,-1

Michal Hlinka with PA: 8-1-2-3-0,+2

(Jan 10) Brandon sends Brayden Schenn and 3rd rd '12 to Saskatoon for 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, 1st rd '12, 1st rd '12 Import pick, Ayrton Nikkel, and Tim McGauley

Brayden Schenn with SAS: 7-5-10-15-10,+8

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Ryan Button to Seattle for Charles Wells and 1st rd '11 Import pick

Ryan Button with SEA: 5-0-2-2-8,-3

Charles Wells with PA: 9-0-3-3-6,-3

The one deal that really sticks out to me so far is the Cunningham-Bennett deal. With Spencer Bennett playing so unexpectedly (to most of us, anyway) well, that deal is looking like sheer genius for the Giants. They moved out Cunningham but they got back a guy who is actually doing better for them than Cunningham did, AND they got the big draft picks to go with it. 

First WHL positive drug test?

Prince George Cougar forward Spencer Asuchak has been suspended for 8 games for violating the CHL's drug abuse policy. Asuchak tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine in a test in December.

Methylhexaneamine is the same stimulant that was responsible for the positive tests and suspensions of two OHL players two weeks ago. It is apparently found in an over-the-counter supplement that those two players admitted consuming, and which Asuchak apparently admits to taking as well.

While none of these incidents are serious and all appear to be an honest mistake by the players involved (hence the relatively minor suspensions given to all three players), this is at least some proof that the CHL's drug testing program is working.

I do believe Asuchak is the first WHLer to be suspended by the league as a result of a positive drug test.

Stretch records 2010-11

One of the stats-type things I've done here on the blog for the last couple years is calculate the so-called "stretch records" - basically, figure out how a given team needs to perform down the remainder of the schedule in order to make the playoffs, assuming that a certain number of points will get you a playoff spot.

Here are this year's numbers.

For purposes of these calculations, I have assumed that in order to make the playoffs this season, a team in the Eastern conference is going to need 65 points, and a team in the West is going to need 68 points. This is different from most past years, where it has been much easier to make the playoffs in the West than in the East. But the West is ultra-competitive this year, while the East is showing a fairly standard dispersal of good vs bad teams.

So without any further blathering, the Eastern conference:

	Record to Date	Record needed for 65 Pts
1. Saskatoon Blades	33-10-2 (0.756)	0-27-0 (0.000)
2. Kootenay Ice	30-13-3 (0.685)	1-25-0 (0.038)
3. Red Deer Rebels	29-12-5 (0.685)	1-25-0 (0.038)
4. Medicine Hat Tigers	28-14-2 (0.659)	3-24-1 (0.125)
5. Moose Jaw Warriors	28-17-2 (0.617)	3-21-1 (0.140)
6. Swift Current Broncos	23-25-1 (0.480)	9-14-0 (0.391)
7. Edmonton Oil Kings	22-21-2 (0.511)	9-17-1 (0.352)
8. Prince Albert Raiders	19-24-5 (0.448)	11-13-0 (0.458)
9. Lethbridge Hurricanes	15-21-9 (0.433)	13-14-0 (0.481)
10. Regina Pats	16-23-6 (0.422)	13-13-1 (0.500)
11. Brandon Wheat Kings	14-25-8 (0.383)	14-10-1 (0.580)
12. Calgary Hitmen	14-28-3 (0.344)	17-10-0 (0.630)

And the Western conference:

	Record to Date	Record needed for 68 Pts
1. Spokane Chiefs	28-11-5 (0.693)	3-24-1 (0.125)
2. Portland Winterhawks	29-14-3 (0.663)	3-22-1 (0.135)
3. Tri-City Americans	28-12-3 (0.686)	4-24-1 (0.155)
4. Vancouver Giants	22-19-5 (0.533)	9-16-1 (0.365)
5. Kelowna Rockets	24-20-0 (0.545)	10-18-0 (0.357)
6. Prince George Cougars	22-20-3 (0.522)	10-16-1 (0.389)
7. Seattle Thunderbirds	18-19-9 (0.489)	11-14-1 (0.442)
8. Kamloops Blazers	21-25-2 (0.458)	12-12-0 (0.500)
9. Chilliwack Bruins	20-20-3 (0.500)	12-16-1 (0.431)
10. Everett Silvertips	18-21-6 (0.467)	13-14-0 (0.481)

As you can see, it can be argued that the Saskatoon Blades have already made the playoffs. They already have 68 points so if 65 is all that will be needed to finish in the top 8 teams in the East, then Saskatoon can lose all their remaining games and still be in the postseason, albeit likely as the #8 seed.

Similarly, Kootenay and Red Deer only need one more win each to "assure" themselves of a playoff spot.

What I like best about this year's number is the difference between the two conferences. If you look at the West, every single team in the conference can make the playoffs without having to play much better than they have to date. And if you look at the current standings, every single team in the conference does have a claim to a playoff spot right now, either through actual points or through games-in-hand. So the West is most interesting in that two teams are going to fall short of those seemingly attainable stretch records and thus miss the playoffs. 

The East is more conventional - some teams can coast and still make it, some teams need only maintain their current pace (more or less) to make it, and some teams need major improvement to make it. Saskatoon is one extreme; at the other end, you look at Brandon and Calgary, teams that are .383 and .344 so far, and they probably need to play .580 and .630 hockey the rest of the way to make it. Tall order there, huh.

Deadline deals - early returns

Just for fun, a look at the deals made in the month leading up to the trade deadline, and how those trades are working out for the teams/players involved.

Only involved players who are playing in the league are included here...

I'll start with the Ashton deal since that was the first major strike of the pre-deadline period.

(Dec 10) Regina sends Carter Ashton and 3rd rd '12 to Tri-City for Tanner Olstad, Nils Moser, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '12, and 5th rd '12:

Carter Ashton with TRI: 3-2-5-7-4,+3
Tanner Olstad with REG: 14-3-2-5-8,-5
Nils Moser with REG: 6-1-0-1-6,+1

(Dec 11) Saskatoon sends Tyler Kizuik to Lethbridge for 6th rd '11
Tyler Kizuik with LTH: 12-2-0-2-2,-3

(Dec 14) Regina sends Thomas Frazee to Kamloops for Shayne Neigum, Lyndon Martell and 3rd rd '12
Thomas Frazee with KAM: 13-6-6-12-18,-2
Lyndon Martell with REG: 9-4-1-5-2,+1
Shayne Neigum with REG: 11-4-1-5-23,-6

(Dec 28) Vancouver sends Craig Cunningham and 6th rd '11 to Portland for Spencer Bennett, Teal Burns, 1st rd '11 and 2nd rd '12
Craig Cunningham with POR: 9-4-5-9-11,-5
Teal Burns with VAN: 9-3-6-9-11,+6
Spencer Bennett with VAN: 9-9-5-14-6,+3

(Dec 30) Swift Current sends Joel Rogers to Vancouver for Dalton Reum
Joel Rogers with VAN: 6-1-3-4-16,+3
Dalton Reum with SC: 9-0-0-0-10,-1

(Jan 4) Moose Jaw sends Nathan Smith to Vancouver for Brett Lyon
Brett Lyon with MJ: 7-2-3-5-21,+4

(Jan 5) Brandon sends Darren Bestland to Vancouver for Matt MacKay and 4th rd '12
Darren Bestland with VAN: 6-1-3-4-9,0
Matt MacKay with BRN: 6-0-3-3-4,-1

(Jan 7) Medicine Hat sends conditional 4th rd '11 to Seattle for Scott Ramsey
Scott Ramsey with MH: 5-0-2-2-9,+7

(Jan 8) Edmonton sends 5th rd '12 to Vancouver for Mark Reners
Mark Reners with EDM: 5-1-3-4-0,0

(Jan 9) Swift Current sends Cody Eakin to Kootenay for Christian Magnus, Ryan Bloom, Jarett Zentner, Colby Cave, Steven Myland, 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, and 3rd rd '12
Cody Eakin with KTN: has not played yet due to injury
Christian Magnus with SC: 3-0-1-1-7,-2
Ryan Bloom with SC: 3-0-0-0-0,-1

(Jan 10) Everett sends Kellan Tochkin and Alex Theriau to Medicine Hat for Ryan Harrison and 2nd rd '11
Kellan Tochkin with MH: 4-0-5-5-4,+2
Alex Theriau with MH: has not played yet due to injury
Ryan Harrison with EVT: 3-3-2-5-6,+4

(Jan 10) Calgary sends Matt MacKenzie to Tri-City for Brooks Macek, Spencer Humphries and conditional 3rd rd '12
Matt MacKenzie with TRI: 4-1-2-3-0,+3
Brooks Macek with CGY: 3-0-1-1-2,-1
Spencer Humphries with CGY: 3-1-1-2-6,+1

(Jan 10) Vancouver sends Tanner Sohn to Saskatoon for 10th rd '13
Tanner Sohn with SAS: 1-0-0-0-0,-1

(Jan 10) Regina sends Mitch Spooner to Seattle for conditional 5th rd '12
Mitch Spooner with SEA: 5-0-0-0-0,-3

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Sebastian Svendsen to Moose Jaw for Michal Hlinka, 3rd rd '11 and 6th rd '11
Sebastian Svendsen with MJ: 4-1-1-2-0,-2
Michal Hlinka with PA: 4-1-1-2-0,+2

(Jan 10) Brandon sends Brayden Schenn and 3rd rd '12 to Saskatoon for 1st rd '11, 2nd rd '11, 1st rd '12, 1st rd '12 Import pick, Ayrton Nikkel, and Tim McGauley
Brayden Schenn with SAS: has not played yet due to injury

(Jan 10) Prince Albert sends Ryan Button to Seattle for Charles Wells and 1st rd '11 Import pick
Ryan Button with SEA: 5-0-2-2-8,-3
Charles Wells with PA: 4-0-2-2-4,0

Early winners? Losers?

Of course this is just for fun now because the real winners & losers of these deals won't become apparent until we see how the contenders do in the playoffs.

Goalie numbers

Regina goaltender Matt Hewitt recorded the best outing by a goaltender in the WHL this season last night, stopping 59 of 62 shots in backstopping the Pats to an upset 4-3 win over the Saskatoon Blades.

After seeing that, and remembering that Seattle's Calvin Pickard faced 52 shots on Tuesday against Tri-Cities, I started wondering about which goaltenders face the most shots every night on average. A few calculations later, and here we have the results: average number of shots faced per 60 minutes of play for each goaltender in the league who has played more than 300 minutes.

Calvin Pickard	39.02
Matt Hewitt	37.57
Eric Williams	36.72
Luke Siemens	36.35
Dylan Tait	35.75
Damien Ketlo	35.17
Keith Hamilton	34.87
Jamie Tucker	34.84
Mac Carruth	34.62
Jordon Cooke	34.25
Lucas Gore	33.47
Ty Rimmer	33.47
Brandon Anderson	33.26
Mark Friesen	32.48
Jeff Bosch	32.34
Brandon Glover	31.96
Drew Owsley	31.95
Liam Liston	31.84
Corbin Boes	31.53
Thomas Heemskerk	31.43
James Priestner	31.42
Steven Stanford	31.21
Deven Dubyk	31.15
Adam Brown	30.92
Cam Lanigan	30.74
Braden Gamble	30.62
Brendan Jensen	30.55
Kent Simpson	30.12
Laurent Brossoit	30.07
Juraj Holly	29.95
Dawson Guhle	29.52
Tyler Bunz	28.83
Jon Groenheyde	28.77
Nathan Lieuwen	28.65
Mark Segal	28.63
Adam Morrison	28.17
Michael Snider	27.76
Darcy Kuemper	26.95
James Reid	25.96
Brett Teskey	20.17

(Sadly, I did not differentiate between teams for goalies who have played for more than one team this year. Their numbers include stats for both teams they played for)

To nobody's surprise, Pickard tops the list at just over 39 shots per 60 minutes on average. By comparison, his divisional rival in Spokane, James Reid, typically faces only a leisurely 26 shots per night. 

One other thing I wanted to do was compare goaltenders on the same team. As you might expect, it looks like in most cases the numbers are pretty similar between all of a team's goaltenders, indicating that the team plays pretty much the same defensively in front of both their goaltenders - and/or that the goaltenders both face similar quality opponents.

But there are exceptions. Like Kootenay:

Nathan Lieuwen: 28.65

Brett Teskey: 20.17

That's an 8.5-shot average difference. Do the Ice play much more cautiously when Teskey is in net because he's less experienced? Or is his total lower because he's the backup and generally plays the weaker opponents? 

Two other teams saw goaltenders with more than a 4-shot variation from each other:

Everett:

Luke Siemens 36.35

Kent Simpson 30.12

Calgary:

Brandon Glover: 31.96

Michael Snider 27.76

Thoughts on why this is the case for these three teams? In Everett's case, it's the reverse of Kootenay - the starter is facing LESS shots than the backup. In Calgary, there isn't a clear-cut starter and Snider/Glover are sharing starts and facing both weak and strong opponents. So why do the Hitmen allow four more shots per game on average against Glover? 

And lastly - back to where we started, a list of the busiest nights for goaltenders this year:

1. Matt Hewitt, Regina - 62 shots vs Saskatoon, Jan 12/11 (won game)

2. Calvin Pickard, Seattle - 59 shots vs Tri-City, Nov 24/10 (shootout loss)

3. Lucas Gore, Chilliwack - 57 shots vs Red Deer, Dec 15/10 (loss)

4. Eric Williams, Prince Albert - 52 shots vs Red Deer, Oct 16/10 (loss)

4. Calvin Pickard, Seattle - 52 shots vs Kamloops, Oct 30/10 (overtime loss)

4. Jamie Tucker, Prince Albert, 52 shots vs Kootenay, Dec 8/10 (loss)

4. Luke Siemens, Everett, 52 shots vs Prince Albert, Dec 11/10 (loss)

4. Calvin Pickard, Seattle - 52 shots vs Portland, Dec 18/10 (win)

4. Mac Carruth, Portland, 52 shots vs Tri-City, Dec 28/10 (loss)

4. Calvin Pickard, Seattle - 52 shots vs Tri-City, Jan 11/11 (loss)

Roster breakdown, post trade deadline

As requested by readers, the updated roster breakdown for the league, after the trade deadline moves.

	Total	Ht	Wt	Avg Age	Rookies	Imp's	16's	17's	18's	19's	20's
Brandon Wheat Kings	22	72.32	187.64	17.86	11	1	3	7	5	4	3
Calgary Hitmen	23	72.91	188.87	17.91	9	1	3	5	9	3	3
Chilliwack Bruins	25	71.92	183.48	18.16	6	2	2	4	10	6	3
Edmonton Oil Kings	25	71.96	185.08	18.00	8	2	1	9	7	5	3
Everett Silvertips	23	72.30	187.39	18.13	8	1	2	5	7	6	3
Kamloops Blazers	22	72.77	191.32	18.05	5	2	3	3	9	4	3
Kelowna Rockets	24	72.29	182.29	18.00	8	2	3	6	6	6	3
Kootenay Ice	22	73.27	192.41	18.36	4	0	0	5	7	7	3
Lethbridge Hurricanes	23	72.91	189.70	18.22	5	2	1	5	8	6	3
Medicine Hat Tigers	24	72.83	185.17	18.29	7	2	1	6	5	9	3
Moose Jaw Warriors	23	72.96	188.13	17.91	9	2	3	7	5	5	3
Portland Winterhawks	23	73.57	193.87	18.00	6	2	3	3	10	5	2
Prince Albert Raiders	23	72.13	187.78	18.09	9	2	2	7	4	7	3
Prince George Cougars	23	72.43	189.04	18.00	9	2	2	5	10	3	3
Red Deer Rebels	23	72.78	185.35	18.00	7	2	2	7	6	5	3
Regina Pats	22	71.59	180.23	18.05	9	1	1	7	7	4	3
Saskatoon Blades	22	73.18	192.41	17.95	7	2	3	7	3	6	3
Seattle Thunderbirds	23	73.57	195.87	17.96	7	2	2	6	9	3	3
Spokane Chiefs	24	72.46	190.63	18.08	8	2	1	8	6	6	3
Swift Current Broncos	26	71.96	184.04	18.08	8	2	1	9	6	7	3
Tri-City Americans	22	72.09	187.45	18.27	5	0	3	3	4	9	3
Vancouver Giants	25	72.28	186.44	18.04	9	2	2	7	7	6	3

Heights are given in inches, weights in pounds. 

So the oldest teams are Kootenay, Medicine Hat, and Tri-City; the youngest are Brandon, Moose Jaw, and Calgary.

Tallest are Portland, Seattle, and Kootenay; shortest are Regina, Chilliwack, and Edmonton.

Heaviest are Seattle, Portland, and Kootenay; lightest are Regina, Kelowna, and Chilliwack.

Brandon has the most rookies, with 11. Kootenay has the fewest with 4.

And more player moves

Two, maybe three more player moves this morning....

Spokane has reassigned '92 defenceman Kyle Krzyzaniak to Jr A.

Regina has reassigned '93 forward Michael Sagan to Junior A as well.

And '92 import forward Juraj Roznik has disappeared from the Pats' roster on both the WHL and Pats websites, although there is no official mention of him being released.

I will post some updated, post-deadline, team roster breakdowns later today.

And one other note, a treat for those of you who are able to watch TV in the daytime today - Shaw is airing the Ice/Oil Kings game live from Edmonton at 11:30am Mountain. It's Edmonton's annual "hockey hooky" game (or some such name) where they bus in a whole bunch of schoolkids to the rink for the game.

That should be Cody Eakin's debut with the Ice, I believe.

Final Drinnan-gate thoughts

So, the Kamloops Daily News vs. the Kamloops Blazers feud ("Drinnan-gate"?) came to an end yesterday.

Basically, WHL commissioner Ron Robison sat down with the newspaper and the team and went over the team's list of complaints. At the end of that meeting - which only took 2 hours, apparently (perhaps the complaints were in point form?) - the commissioner ordered the ban to be lifted immediately, Drinnan to be reinstated without conditions, and also admitted that the team had violated the league's media policy.

I await the announcement of the fine which the team deserves. There has to be a punishment to discourage future attempts at this. The league got a lot of bad P.R. over this situation; how much worse would it be for them if it happens again?

It also turns out that the league's own "concerns" - which led to them deciding not to do anything for three weeks while they took that savage beating in the court of public opinion - amounted to nothing more than the league's nose being out of joint because the paper did not cover a press conference.

Guess what? The paper doesn't have to cover any press conference. There's no law that because you serve coffee and muffins and give a speech, that anyone in the media must attend. They can attend or not attend at their own discretion; they answer to their readers/viewers, not to you. If that is the league's sole justification for not resolving this issue immediately, then that is just sad.

And besides, Drinnan had a very valid reason for why the paper wasn't there - he has only a two person sports department and the press conference was scheduled at 10am, and morning papers often see their staff at work until the wee hours. Perhaps some consideration could be shown to the print media in the scheduling of press conferences too, instead of just thinking about how if they get it done early they can get a sound bite on the noon hour TV or radio news.

A few other things as well:

One, regarding the Blazers' complaints about "negative reporting": "negative" is in the eye of the beholder. These look like the complaints of a few people who are made uncomfortable by having the team's lack of success pointed out in print. Too bad. Public scrutiny and criticism come with these jobs. If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Two, I'd like to see somebody push Blazers owners Mark Recchi and Shane Doan to back up their comments about "negativity" and how criticism is affecting the players. Nobody has yet been able to provide an example of where the paper criticized a specific player. There's examples of the coach criticizing specific players though. Embarrassing.

Lastly, I see that Gregg's detractors have been scouring the WHL's press release word by word, looking for any drops of negativity they can wring out of it.

That some of these people work in the "media" and actually endorsed the notion of banning a reporter because you don't like him personally or don't like his opinions is amazing. Can't they see the very bad implications this kind of thing would have for themselves if it were allowed to stand, and they themselves should ever say something the team disliked?

The actions of a few people who claim that Drinnan is the one with a vendetta are....enlightening.

And barring any new developments, this will be my last post on Drinnan-gate. Promise. Back to the on-ice product now.

Ban ends

No details available from today's meeting yet, but the Kamloops Daily News is reporting that the Blazers' ban on Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan has been lifted.

Finally. Three weeks later than it should, but it ends the way almost all of us thought it should.

Update: first article available, provides a few details such as the fact that the ban is lifted without conditions, and  Ron Robison admitting that the Blazers violated the league media policy with the ban.

Now we just need the league to lay a nice big fine on the Blazers, to discourage any team in the league from ever doing this again. If there is no punishment, then its only a matter of time before somebody else tries it, knowing there will be no consequences in the end.

More moves

A few 18 & 19 year old player reassignments this morning....I'm sure they all happened yesterday, just not publicized until today. Or, at least, not noticed by me until today...

Brandon has reassigned '92 forward Wheaton King and '91 forward Mark Mieritz. King goes to Jr A and I assume Mieritz will go home to Denmark.

Calgary sent '92 defenceman Brody Luhning back to Jr A.

Moose Jaw assigned '92 forward Mackenzie Royer to the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks. (If this is the end for Royer in the WHL, then that November trade is Cody Beach for Nathan MacMaster, Danny Gayle, and Brandon Glover now?)

Saskatoon assigned '92 forward Braeden Johnson to Jr A.

Swift Current sent '92 goaltender Derek Tendler to Jr A, clearing up their 3-goalie situation there.

A reader also passed along to me that Seattle reassigned '92 defenceman Austin Baecker to Jr A, although the team has yet to confirm that and he's still listed on their roster.

Roster moves coming?

By my count, Calgary (26) and Swift Current (27) are over the roster limit of 25 and must have released or re-assigned players today.

Coincidentally, both teams are carrying three goalies. I expect that Calgary will resolve their situation by releasing Slovakian import goalie Juraj Holly, but nothing official there yet. Nothing at all about Swift's situation.

UPDATE: Calgary has released Holly, and re-assigned defenceman Carter Berg to Jr A. They planned to keep Berg but he wanted to go back to Jr A so he could play defence. Calgary was planning to keep him as a forward.

Last deal - Everett/Medicine Hat

Everett sends 91 forward Kellan Tochkin and 92 defenceman Alex Therieu to Medicine Hat for 92 forward Ryan Harrison and a 2011 2nd round bantam pick.

Hitmen/Americans

Matt Mackenzie from Calgary to Tri-City for 18 year old forward Brooks Macek, 18 year old defenceman Spencer Humphries, and a conditional 2012 3rd round pick

Conditional pick is almost certainly for if Mackenzie returns to the WHL as an overager next season.

Giants/Blades

Giants trade '91 defenceman Tanner Sohn to Saskatoon for a 2013 10th round pick.

Giants had sent Sohn home last week to wait for a trade. Here it it.

Hawks/Hurricanes

Lethbridge trades '94 forward Ryley Bennefield (2nd round pick 2009) to Portland for '95 defenceman Brandon Scheidl (4th round pick 2010).

Neither player is in the WHL this year.

4 to come

WHL says 4 more deals were made prior to the deadline, and will be announced once the players involved are notified.

So, 8 deals made today by my count. A little off from past years' numbers, but I think the high prices just kept some teams on the sidelines and limited the ability of others to make more than 1 or 2 deals.

Regina/Seattle deal

Regina deals defenceman Mitch Spooner to Seattle for a conditional 2012 5th round bantam pick.

Spooner had left the Pats a few weeks ago to return home and take stock of his career. So, I'm thinking the conditional part on the pick may be conditional on him deciding to play for Seattle.

Getting close....

30 minutes to deadline and only three deals announced today. Got to be a bunch of last-minute stuff going on or it'll be the quietest deadline in years.

Calgary Herald reporter Kristen Odland is at Hitmen practice and says that defenceman Matt Mackenzie has left practice early. Says she hears he may be headed to Tri-City. We shall see.

Warriors/Raiders deal

Prince Albert makes their 2nd deal of the day - 19 year old import forward Sebastien Svendsen is off to Moose Jaw in exchange for '93 import forward Michal Hlinka and 2011 3rd and 6th round picks.

Moose Jaw continues to beef up for a playoff run....

Schenn to Blades

To nobody's surprise, the Schenn deal is done. He is now a Saskatoon Blade, along with a 2012 3rd round pick.

In return, the Wheat Kings receive '95 forward Tim McGauley (Blades 2010 first round pick), '95 defenceman Ayrton Nikkel (Blades 2010 2nd round pick), the Blades' first and second round picks in the 2011 bantam draft, the Blades' first round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, and the Blades' 2012 first round import pick.

So, in summary: the Blades give up their 2010, 2011, and 2012 first round picks, plus their 2010 and 2011 second round picks, and the 2012 first round import pick.

This will have serious repercussions on the Blades for years to come after this. They either win a WHL title this year or this is going to go down as one of the worst trades they have ever made. This is an astronomical price to pay for half a season of one player, any player.

Seattle-Raiders deal

Prince Albert trades '91 defenceman Ryan Button to Seattle for '91 forward Charles Wells and Seattle's 2011 first round IMPORT draft pick. Not bantam draft.

Blades press conference

Saskatoon has called a press conference for 2pm CST (that is 2 hours before the trade deadline) to "discuss the trade deadline".

Brandon play-by-play voice Bruce Luebke is reporting that the deal is done and Schenn is to be in attendance at the press conference in Saskatoon. Guess the only thing left now is to find out what price was actually paid. I'm hearing two players and three picks. We'll see for sure I guess.

Somewhat unusual for the Blades to be holding the press conference two hours before the deadline passes though - unless this is all they're doing and they're done now.

D-Day 2011

Today at 3pm MST is the 2010-11 WHL trade deadline. As always, I expect it to be a busy day - last year there were 15 separate deals made on the deadline and I would think today should be fairly similar.

Oftentimes, the deadline is like a dam breaking - once the first big piece moves, a ton follow quickly after in a reaction. Well, Cody Eakin was traded last night and that should function as the first big piece moving. Now all of Kootenay's rivals need to look in the mirror and decide what they're prepared to do to keep pace with the Ice, or whether it's time to change strategies.

In fact, there were a number of reports last night (even on TSN.ca) that Brayden Schenn had been dealt to Saskatoon, where we all thought he was going for a long time now. Those reports turned out to be premature but I've heard from two sources that I consider very reliable that there is still something in the works between those two teams, and that the deal hit a snag last night only because one player involved in the package going to the Wheat Kings balked at being traded. If they sort that out or replace him in the trade....it should get done.

Teams must also have their active rosters down to no more than 25 players by the deadline as well, so we will probably see some players being reassigned to Jr A and whatnot. Right now I don't believe there are any teams over the 25 player limit (remember that short-term affiliates and callups don't count) but depending on trades that are made, some teams could find themselves over the 25 number and have to make more moves to get under.

One other note about the Eakin deal that almost never gets mentioned when teams make these 2-for-1, 3-for-1, 8-for-1 deals. In terms of players on the protected list, Swift Current just moved out one and acquired five; assuming their protected list was already at 50 players, this deal just gave them 54 - which means they would have had to drop four other prospects off their list. So there was more of a cost to them than just Eakin. Similarily, the deal would have opened up four spots on Kootenay's list for the Ice to use to list some more players, which helps them recover the loss of the prospects to the Broncos.

Obviously Swift thinks the prospects they just acquired are better than the guys they're dropping, and it's equally unlikely that Kootenay is going to be adding any players as free agents who are better prospects (right now anyway) than guys like Bloom and Cave. But it's still a factor in these multiple-player deals.

And one other note, for those who were wondering - I am told the 2011 first round pick in the Eakin deal is Vancouver's pick, not Kootenay's own. So the Ice gave up the pick they got from the Giants for David Musil. This is important because it is very likely that Vancouver's pick will be higher in the draft order than Kootenay's - so the Broncos got the higher of the two picks.

Anyway, I will be updating the blog with trades as they are reported today. If it's like past trade deadlines, the WHL is going to try to embargo all trade announcements until after the deadline, so we might not hear them all at first. Some deals will trickle out though.

If you hear anything, you can comment or e-mail me. I will not, however, post anything on the blog unless it is a confirmed trade (by the league or one of the teams) or unless the information comes from a source which I consider to be extremely reliable. Basically, I'm not posting message board speculation as fact here.

Oh, and I will update the draft pick charts ASAP and bring them up to right below this post, if anyone wants a reference for which picks each team has. I'll keep updating that during the day too.

Available picks (updated)

By request of readers....my updated charts of how many picks in each round each team has available in the 2011 and 2012 bantam draft. Useful for determining who can trade what picks this week.

As before, this is compiled from available information on trades and is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Corrections are always welcome.

The 2011 draft:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Brandon	2	1	1	1	3	0	1	2	1	1
Calgary	1	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
Chilliwack	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Edmonton	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	2	1	1
Everett	1	0	0	1	0	1	2	1	1	1
Kamloops	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Kelowna	1	1	1	0	3	1	1	1	1	1
Kootenay	1	0	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1
Lethbridge	2	2	1	0	1	1	0	2	1	1
Medicine Hat	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Moose Jaw	1	4	0	0	0	2	1	1	1	1
Portland	0	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1
Prince Albert	1	0	3	3	0	1	2	1	1	1
Prince George	1	0	1	1	0	2	0	2	1	1
Red Deer	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Regina	1	0	1	2	0	1	1	1	1	1
Saskatoon	0	0	1	1	1	2	1	0	1	1
Seattle	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1
Spokane	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	1
Swift Current	2	2	1	1	1	0	2	0	1	1
Tri-City	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	1	1	1
Vancouver	1	4	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	1

And the 2012 draft:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Brandon	2	1	0	2	1	2	1	1	1	1
Calgary	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Chilliwack	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	1
Edmonton	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1
Everett	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	1
Kamloops	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
Kelowna	1	1	2	1	0	1	1	0	1	1
Kootenay	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Lethbridge	1	1	1	1	3	2	1	1	1	1
Medicine Hat	1	1	1	0	1	2	2	1	1	1
Moose Jaw	1	1	2	1	1	0	1	1	1	1
Portland	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Prince Albert	1	1	0	2	1	1	0	1	1	1
Prince George	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1
Red Deer	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Regina	1	2	1	1	3	1	0	1	1	1
Saskatoon	0	1	2	1	2	0	1	1	1	1
Seattle	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1
Spokane	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1
Swift Current	1	1	2	1	0	1	1	1	1	1
Tri-City	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	1
Vancouver	1	2	0	0	2	0	2	1	1	1

Ice, Broncos major deal

Jeez, you try to have a quiet Sunday afternoon/evening with the family and this stuff happens. :-)

Swift Current has dealt Cody Eakin to Kootenay for eight players/picks. Yes, eight. The Ice are giving up '92 forward Christian Magnus (who was originally Swift's first round pick in the 2007 bantam draft, he was sent to the Ice in the John Negrin deal two years ago), plus prospects Colby Cave (Ice first rounder 2009), Jarrett Zenter (Ice 4th round 2008), Ryan Bloom (Ice 2nd round 2008), and Steven Myland (Ice 10th round 2009), plus 2011 1st and 2nd round picks (no word on whether the first rounder is Vancouver's or Kootenay's own) and a 2012 3rd round pick.

Can you say holy crap? That's basically 3 first rounders, 2 second rounders, a 3rd, a 4th, and an 8th. All for half a season of Cody Eakin.

The prices this year are insane....if that is what Eakin is worth, we can only shudder at what Brandon might get for Brayden Schenn, if/when they move him.

Giants - Oil Kings deal

Looks like Mark Reners was barely in Vancouver long enough to unpack his suitcase, as the Giants have dealt him to Edmonton to a 2012 5th round bantam pick. That is exactly what they gave up to get him from Lethbridge a month ago.

He had 3 points (2g-1a) in 11 games for the Giants.

Delay in resolving Drinnan ban equals bad P.R.

From the Globe & Mail to Fark.

From the Red Deer Advocate to Metro to the Squamish Chief.

From former co-workers to rivals in the Kamloops media.

From the Kamloops Daily News' city editor, to Kamloops' CFJC reporter James Peters.

From CBC Radio's "As It Happens", to Yahoo Sports.

In the blogosphere, there was this blog. And this blog. And this blog. And this one. And that one and that one.

Heck, even Spike TV's blog mentioned it.

And then there is Twitter: Terry Jones, Jones again, James Mirtle, Steve Simmons, Simmons again, Ryan Rishaug (former Blazer player there), Gordon McIntyre, Jeff Marek, Patrick King, Sara Orlesky, Ben Kuzma, John MacKinnon, Chris Botta, Greg Wyshynski, Lloyd Hamshaw (former WHL communications director), and Hamshaw again. And those are just the original tweets that I found in a quick search - I'm not even touching the hundreds of people who have re-tweeted those originals to their own followers.

What do all these people and publications all have in common: they all support Gregg Drinnan and/or condemn the Blazers' actions - and thus all spell bad P.R. for the Western Hockey League and the Kamloops Blazers. Regardless of which side of this issue you are on, the WHL's reputation has been a loser. This is a P.R. disaster for them.

The Blazers banned Drinnan in a letter on December 22nd. He and the Kamloops Daily News went public with the ban on January 4th. Today is January 9th, and the issue is not resolved. And it won't be resolved for at least another two days yet - until the meeting between the paper, the team, and the league on Tuesday.

The WHL admits that it knew about the Blazers' plans on or even before December 22. That was 18 days ago. They had to have known that once the ban became public, it was going to turn into a P.R. crapfest for the league. But it still took 3 weeks for the league to get everyone into a room to resolve things. Which just begs the question: What took so long to get this issue resolved?

Regardless of which side you are on, I think we can all agree that this should have been over and done with a long, long time ago.

Seattle-Tigers deal

Seattle sends 19 year old defenceman Scott Ramsay to the Tigers for a conditional draft pick. Seattle's website now says the pick is a conditional 2011 4th rounder.

Tigers adding depth, some size and toughness. Seattle starting to make moves for next year, moving out a guy who probably wasn't going to be an overager for them next year anyway?

Tick....tick....tick....tick

The trade deadline draws closer and closer, with little to no movement appearing imminent. If this year is anything like past years though, this is simply the calm before the storm. Look for things to heat up on the weekend perhaps, and then there will be a flurry of deals on Monday. There always are.

Saskatoon GM Lorne Molleken was unusually candid in today's Saskatoon Star-Phoenix about trying to land Brayden Schenn. GMs do not normally name opposing players that they are pursuing; in the NHL that is sometimes called tampering to speak that way about a player on another team. Of course, I think (as do you, I'm sure) that such tampering allegations are laughable, but the fact is that normally GMs don't name players they might be interested in acquiring. So this is an interesting development which perhaps adds some more fuel to the fire (not that it was needed) that the Blades are pursuing Schenn.

Another note on the Kamloops situation....was reading through some articles on the team lately, looking for the dreaded negative reporting that the team is so upset at Gregg Drinnan about. Specifically, looking for examples where Gregg criticized specific players. Didn't find any yet. Found these quotes though:

• He was especially critical of the play of the club's top line, which features Chase Schaber between Brendan Ranford, who leads the WHL with 25 goals, and Jordan DePape. "They're a line that is very productive and sometimes your productive line gets away from what the game plan was," Charron said. "I felt they could have been more consistent in terms of getting the puck in deep and they weren't." 

• "...publicly criticizing goaltender Jeff Bosch and left-winger Brendan Ranford, who leads the WHL in goals and points, on Radio NL after a 3-2 loss to the Cougars in Prince George on Friday night, Charron has shown he no longer is prepared to be patient. " 

As you can see, Guy Charron has at least twice recently specifically called out players by name for their play. Based on this, I expect that the Blazers will soon announce that in the interests of eliminating the culture of negativity and protecting the players' delicate teenage psyches, Charron is no longer permitted to talk to Blazers players. He can attend games and talk to the other team, but he will not be permitted to talk to his own players.

And a parting shot this morning....wish I could take credit for this but I can't....

The Blazers are considering changing their theme song from "Taking Care Of Business" to "Home On The Range".

Where seldom is heard,
a discouraging word,
and the skies are not cloudy all day....

Brandon-Vancouver deal

Giants have sent overage forward Matt MacKay and a 2012 4th round bantam pick to Brandon for overage defenceman Darren Bestland.

Brandon now has 16 forwards on their roster, including all three of their overagers up front now. There has to be something else coming in Brandon in the next few days....I don't think it's hard for the speculation to fire right up about what might be happening there, is it?

Interesting sidebar here - Bob McKenzie of TSN thinks Brayden Schenn has been playing with a separated shoulder. If true, does that impact the price the Wheat Kings could get for him? It didn't really impact the price for Travis Hamonic last year though, did it.

Vancouver had surplus forwards and add another needed veteran to their blueline, as well as replacing a little bit of toughness they lost when they traded Brett Lyon. Not sure they needed to give up a 4th round pick to do that though....

Canada gets silver

Canadian choke-job? Or a masterful Russian rope-a-dope?

Maybe a little of both. After appearing very strong in the first two periods and building a 3-0 lead which could have easily been a few more goals yet, Canada surrendered five third period goals to Russia and lose the gold medal game for the second years in a row.

As much as it sucks as a Canadian fan, I found myself liking the Russian kids (though not to the point of rooting for them!) as the third period went on and especially when it was over. They were so genuinely excited and almost disbelieving of what they'd been able to accomplish....it wasn't fun to watch the faces of the Canadian kids as the game ended, but the Russian kids deserved this. They turned it on when they had to and they got the job done. Canada did not.

USA wins bronze

Team USA has defeated Sweden 4-2 in the World Junior bronze medal game, so the Tigers' Emerson Etem and Rockets' Mitch Callahan will be coming home with a medal from the tournament.

With the nine WHLers on Canada guaranteed at least silver as well, and team Pacific winning bronze at the U-17 tournament, it's been a good holiday tournament season for WHL players.

Gold Medal on the line tonight

World Juniors gold medal game goes tonight, with the nine WHLers on team Canada guaranteed of a silver medal and looking for a win over Russia to get gold.

It's Us vs. Them. West vs. East. Capitalism vs. Socialism. Western Imperialists vs. the Evil Empire. Well, maybe none of those political tags apply anymore, but to me there's still something special about Canada versus Russia in hockey.

It's true that Russian hockey isn't the same anymore since the heyday of the Soviet Big Red Machine; Russian hockey has declined quite a bit since the breakup of the USSR 20 years ago. To the younger generation of Canadian hockey fans, people under age 30 or so, rivalries with the USA and Sweden have probably replaced Russia as Canada's enemy #1. And they have, honestly, I can't argue. But to me and I'm sure many other members of older generations who grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, in the Brezhnev/Khruschev/Reagan Cold War days, there's still something special about playing the Russians for a gold medal.

Now let's beat those Godless Communists one more time...

Tuesday notes

Couple notes tonight....

The World U-17 Challenge wraps up tonight in Winnipeg. Unfortunately for WHL fans, neither of the western Canadian teams is going to be in the gold medal final, which will be between Ontario and team USA. Team USA is basically the USNTDP U-17 team, so perhaps we'll see some of those guys in the WHL eventually. Hardly a sure thing there though.

But, some good news - Team Pacific - representing B.C. and Alberta - played Quebec for the bronze medal this afternoon, winning 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Chilliwack Bruins' Brandon Magee. The game featured an absolutely wild third period - the period started with Quebec leading 3-1, but Pacific tied it 3-3 before the midway point. Quebec retook the lead, then Pacific promptly tied it again at 4-4 with three and a half minutes remaining in the period, bringing on the overtime.

Team West - representing Saskatchewan and Manitoba - failed to make the semifinals and finished 6th, losing the 5th place game to the Atlantic Canada team. Lots of WHLers in the top scorers for the tournament too, from both Pacific and Western. You can see the top scorers here.

Second note today - a showdown is looming in Kamloops between the Blazers and the Kamloops Daily News. Seems the Blazers are unhappy with what they perceive to be a negative slant in the newspaper's coverage of the team, and as a result have banned Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan from speaking with team personnel until he takes his happy pills and realizes everything in Blazerland is actually wonderful. Hey Gregg, haven't you heard? Seventh place is the new first!

All sarcasm aside, apart from this being an obvious violation of the WHL's media access policy (for which I'd think the Blazers likely will be fined when the league finally sorts this mess out), it's baffling that the team appears not to understand the role of the press and thinks it can dictate what is said about the team. Whether the team likes what is said about it or not doesn't matter; Gregg is entitled to his opinion on the team just like everyone else.

And, the simple fact is that things in Kamloops aren't sunshine and roses and haven't been for a long time - they used to be the toast of the league in the 90's but now haven't won a playoff series in twelve years. Actually, forget winning a SERIES - they haven't won a playoff GAME since 2005. Pretty hard to ask anyone to write positively about a record like that. Perhaps they should focus their energies on improving the team on the ice rather than on trying to improve the spin.

UPDATE: Just wanted to update this to point out that I have read probably close to everything Gregg has written in the last 4 years or so since he started his blog, and I don't see where the "negative" slant is that the team is complaining about at all.

Oh, and I can't help but wonder what the NHL will think of Blazers owner Tom Gagliardi backing this bush league move if Gagliardi ever again tries to buy an NHL team. The bad publicity that the team has already started to get from this is only going to get worse by the day.

And when is Ron Robison and the WHL going to sack up and step in here? A real professional organization would have put the hammer down on the Blazers immediately.

Deadline week is here

Gentlemen, start your (fax) engines.....it's trade deadline week in the WHL, with six days now leading up to the deadline - 3pm Mountain time on Monday. This week is the last chance for the top teams to add the missing piece(s) they think will give them the chance to become champions, while for the also-ran teams this year, it's a chance to get some future assets for players who will possibly be moving on from the league.

Tri-City (Carter AShton) and Portland (Craig Cunningham) have already struck big deals in the weeks leading up to this point; now we'll see who else out there thinks they can compete with those guys. Portland may have actually made another move already and added a high-profile player for free - reports out of Denver indicate that Denver University defenceman William Wrenn has told the Pioneers that he is leaving school and joining the Winterhawks. Wrenn is a '91, a 6'1", 200 lber who was a 2nd round pick of San Jose in 2009. Adding a guy like that at no cost is a big plus for the Hawks.

Amongst other buyers, I'm particularily interested to see what Spokane might do in order to keep pace with the Hawks and Americans in the West. Spokane might be the hottest team in the WHL right now but will they feel any pressure to add some veteran assets to improve the team even more - especially when they might have to beat both Tri-City AND Portland just to get to the WHL final? Barring any upsets, likely two of those three teams WILL be faced with having to beat both of the others in order to get out of the conference in the playoffs, so the playoffs in the West are going to be intense....can't have too much depth, can you.

In the East, I think Saskatoon, Red Deer, Kootenay, Moose Jaw, and Medicine Hat could/should all be buyers, to some degree. All of those teams have a serious shot at getting out of the conference in the playoffs if they make the right moves and things go right for them. And honestly, all of the other 7 teams in the conference are probably sellers to some degree, so I think there's some clear definition in the two groups in the East, unlike in the West.

The West is a lot crazier in determining who's selling, because every team is still within one win of a playoff spot. And while finishing 6th or 8th might mean doom in the first round by facing a Portland or a Tri-City or a Spokane, finishing 7th means you get the B.C. division winner in the first round and right now the B.C. division leader is only 3 points ahead of 7th place. So obviously right now, finishing 7th represents a chance to knock off #2 and at least get to the 2nd round of the playoffs. So I think it might be really hard to tell who's selling in the West right now. You might see a lot of small buyers there and a lot fewer sellers.

Anyway, should be a fun week for us fans for sure. One deal already today actually, Moose Jaw adding 19 year old tough guy forward Brett Lyon from Vancouver for 17 year old forward prospect Nathan Smith, who will remain in Jr A.

Thursday might be the key day to the week - since there is an informal (or maybe even official, I can't remember) rule against trading players while they are playing at the WJCs, Thursday represents the first day we could see players like Cody Eakin or Brayden Schenn traded, and moving one of those guys could easily set off a ripple effect across the league.

Macs tournament results

The Macs midget tournament wrapped up today with the Edmonton South Side Athletic Club beating the Saskatoon Contacts 3-2 in the final. It's the first win for an Edmonton-area team at the Macs since 1991, and SSAC was a perfect 7-0 in the tournament, the only undefeated team.

Since I posted the WHL prospects in the tournament a few weeks back, here's an update on how all the prospects in the tournament fared. Teams are given with their record, which might help give context to some of the stats. All skater stats are GP-G-A-PTS-PIM and goaltenders are GP-W-L-T-SV%-GAA.

Tournament all-stars listed as well. Tournament MVP was Edmonton SSAC goalie Curtis Honey, who is (as far as I know) unlisted by WHL clubs. Honey was 4-0 with a 1.75 GAA and .942 save percentage in the tournament. His twin brother Connor Honey (also unlisted) co-lead the tournament in scoring at 7-2-12-14-2.

Beardy's Blackhawks (3-1-0):
Brett Boehm (C-94) - Everett (listed player): 4-0-0-0-4
Alex Forsberg (C-95) - Prince George (2010 1st rd): 4-3-4-7-2
Brett Lewchuk (G-95) - Spokane (2010 5th rd): 1gp, 1W-0L-0T, 0.962sv%, 1.000gaa
Tanner Moar (D-94) - Kelowna (2009 7th rd): 4-0-0-0-0
Elliott Peterson (LW-95) - Calgary (2010 11th rd): 4-1-0-1-2
Landon Robin (C-94) - Edmonton (trade with Van.): 4-6-2-8-2
Jaryd Watson (C-95) - Kelowna (2010 9th rd): 4-0-1-1-0

Calgary Buffaloes (2-2-0):
Cameron Barnes (G-94) - Kelowna (listed player): 4gp, 2W-1L-0T, 0.883sv%, 3.83gaa
Morgan Klimchuk (C-95) - Regina (2010 1st rd): 4-4-1-5-0
Nik Kosman (D-94) - Calgary (listed player): 4-1-1-2-12
Johnathan Merkley (C-95) - Lethbridge (2010 1st rd): 4-1-1-2-0
Blake Orban (D-94) - Vancouver (2009 3rd rd): 4-4-2-6-14 (named to 2nd All-Star team)
Braeden Salverda (C-95) - Calgary (2010 10th rd): 3-0-1-1-0
Coleman Vollrath (G-95) - Chilliwack (2010 3rd rd): 2gp, 0W-1L-0T, 0.667sv%, 4.60gaa

Calgary Flames (4-2-0, semifinalists):
Jared Hauf (D-95) - Seattle (2010 1st rd): 6-0-1-1-12
Dillon Heatherington (D-95) - Swift Current (2010 1st rd): 6-0-3-3-6
Cole Ully (LW-95) - Kamloops (2010 2nd rd): 6-1-3-4-4
Jamal Watson (RW-95) - Lethbridge (2010 5th rd): 5-1-4-5-8

Calgary Northstars (3-2-0, quarterfinalists):
Riley Guenther (D-94) - Tri-City (2009 3rd rd): 5-0-0-0-10
Andrew Guglielmin (G-94) - Spokane (listed player): 4gp, 3W-1L-0T, 0.941sv%, 1.51gaa (named to 2nd All-Star team)
Chad Labelle (C-95) - Medicine Hat (2010 6th rd): 5-2-2-4-4
Jesse Lees (D-95) - Kelowna (2010 1st rd): 4-2-0-2-0
Mitchell Moroz (LW-94) - Edmonton (2009 2nd rd): 5-2-1-3-10
Cade Owad (C-95) - Spokane (2010 7th rd): 5-2-0-2-0
Riley Whittingham (RW-95) - Spokane (2010 3rd rd): 5-0-0-0-4
Bobby Zinken (D-95) - Swift Current (2010 4th rd): 4-0-2-2-4

Calgary Royals (3-1-0):
Geoff Crisfield (D-93) - Chilliwack (listed player): 4-0-1-1-8
Josh Morrissey (D-95) - Prince Albert (2010 1st rd): 4-1-1-2-8
Bolton Pouliot (G-94) - Red Deer (2009 7th rd): 4gp, 3W-1L-0T, 0.927sv%, 1.77gaa
Joel Rogers (D-94) - Spokane (listed player): 4-1-1-2-0

Cariboo Cougars (2-2-0:
Josh Connolly (D-95) - Kamloops (2010 3rd rd): 3-0-0-0-0
Luke Gordon (C-94) - Calgary (listed player): 4-1-2-3-4
Raymond Grewal (D-95) - Prince George (2010 5th rd): 4-0-3-3-2
Brett Harris (LW-95) - Regina (2010 5th rd): 4-1-0-1-2
Eli Jarvis (C-95) - Prince George (2010 12th rd): 4-1-1-2-2
Jared Rathjen (G-94) - Chilliwack (listed player): 3gp, 1W-2L-0T, 0.875sv%, 3.35gaa
Brett Roulston (C-94) - Kamloops (listed player): 2-0-0-0-0
Chase Witala (C-95) - Prince George (2010 5th rd): 4-2-0-2-2

Edmonton SSAC (7-0-0, tournament champions):
Cole Benson (C-95) - Edmonton (2010 9th rd): 7-1-1-2-0
Dakota Conroy (LW-94) - Brandon (2009 3rd rd): 7-5-5-10-10
Marshall Donald (D-95) - Calgary (2010 3rd rd): 7-0-0-0-14
Devin McAndrews (C-95) - Medicine Hat (listed player): 7-0-0-0-4
Marc McCoy (C-94) - Red Deer (2009 5th rd): 6-3-5-8-20 (named to 2nd All-Star team)
Dane Phaneuf (D-94) - Prince George (2009 3rd rd): 7-1-1-2-14
Adam Tambellini (RW-94) - Portland (listed player): 7-8-4-12-4
Cole Wedman (D-94) - Spokane (2009 6th rd): 7-0-5-5-14

Greater Vancouver Canadians (3-2-0, quarterfinalists):
Anthony Ast (C-95) - Vancouver (2010 1st rd): 5-1-1-2-0
Arwin Atwal (D-95) - Prince Albert (2010 8th rd): 5-0-3-3-6
Brodie Burdeny (G-94) - Calgary (2009 4th rd): 2gp, 1W-0L-0T, 1.000sv%, 0.00gaa
Macoy Erkamps (D-95) - Lethbridge (2010 2nd rd): 5-0-3-3-0
Garrett Forster (RW-95) - Calgary (2010 9th rd): 5-2-1-3-4
Jason Fram (D-95) - Spokane (2010 8th rd): 5-2-0-2-0
Demico Hannoun (C-95) - Regina (2010 9th rd): 5-1-1-2-12
Tristan Jarry (G-95) - Edmonton (2010 3rd rd): 5gp, 2W-2L-0T, 0.814sv%, 4.49gaa
Trevor Lima (D-95) - Vancouver (2010 6th rd): 5-0-0-0-2
Brodyn Nielsen (C-94) - Vancouver (listed player): 5-2-1-3-18
Nicolas Petan (C-95) - Portland (2010 1st rd): 5-3-1-4-2
Carter Popoff (C-95) - Seattle (listed player): 5-2-3-5-4

Leduc Oil Kings (3-2-0, quarterfinalists):
Colten Cassidy (D-94) - Swift Current (2009 8th rd): 5-0-0-0-6
Hayden Dawes (RW-94) - Calgary (2009 5th rd): 5-1-1-2-14
Jaedon Descheneau (RW-95) - Kootenay (2010 3rd rd): 5-6-3-9-2
Braiden Doucette (D-95) - Moose Jaw (2010 4th rd): 5-0-3-3-4

Moose Jaw Generals (1-2-1):
Austin Daae (LW-93) - Saskatoon (listed player) - did not play?
Zach Douglas (D-95) - Seattle (2010 5th rd): 4-0-2-2-0
Matthew Gibney (G-93) - Seattle (listed player): 3gp, 1W-2L-0T, 0.851sv%, 2.33gaa
Carter Hansen (D-95) - Moose Jaw (2010 1st rd): 4-1-1-2-0
Tyler King-Cunningham (D-95) - Spokane (2010 1st rd): 4-0-1-1-0
Cory Millette (RW-95) - Red Deer (2010 2nd rd): 4-2-1-3-2
Tyler Mueller (D-94) - Regina (2009 12th rd): 4-0-2-2-2
Dayton Picard (C-94) - Saskatoon (listed player): 4-1-0-1-4
TJ Reeve (RW-94) - Regina (listed player): 3-0-0-0-2
Ashton Sautner (D-94) - Edmonton (2009 8th rd): 3-0-0-0-6
Hunter Smith (RW-95) - Brandon (2010 9th rd): 4-0-1-1-0
Zach Walker (D-93) - Seattle (2008 5th rd): 3-0-0-0-0
Sean Whelan (D-94) - Regina (2009 11th rd): 4-0-1-1-6

Okanagan Rockets (0-4-0):
Alexander Fraser (D-95) - Kelowna (listed player): 4-0-1-1-0
Luke Harrison (C-95) - Chilliwack (2010 3rd rd): 4-2-0-2-2
Brent Lashuk (LW-94) - Kelowna (trade with P.A.) - did not play?
Adam Todd (G-94) - Saskatoon (2009 4th rd): 4gp, 0W-4L-0T, 0.831sv%, 7.21gaa

Prince Albert Mintos (2-1-1):
Brennen Bosovich (LW-93) - Tri-City (listed player): 4-1-1-2-0
Tyson Dallman (C-93) - Tri-City (listed player): 4-2-2-4-6
Tad Kozun (LW-93) - Red Deer (listed player): 4-2-2-4-4
Taran Kozun (G-94) - Kamloops (listed player): 2gp, 2W-0L-0T, 0.922sv%, 2.00gaa
Sawyer Lange (D-94) - Prince Albert (2009 4th rd): 4-1-2-3-0
Dawson MacAuley (G-94) - Medicine Hat (2009 2nd rd): 2gp, 0W-1L-1T, 0.917sv%, 1.52gaa
Bryden Serafini (LW-94) - Regina (listed player): 4-0-1-1-0
Mike Statchuk (D-94) - Saskatoon (2009 5th rd): 4-0-0-0-4
Jordan Tkatch (C-95) - Prince George (2010 2nd rd): 4-1-1-2-2

Red Deer Rebels (1-2-1):
Stefan Danielson (D-95) - Swift Current (listed player): 4-0-3-3-2
Tanner Jailett (G-93) - Red Deer (listed player): 4gp, 1W-2L-1T, 0.922sv%, 1.79gaa
Joel Topping (D-95) - Lethbridge (2010 2nd rd): 4-0-0-0-2

Saskatoon Contacts (6-1-0, lost final):
Kohl Bauml (C-94) - Everett (2009 3rd rd): 7-7-6-13-2 (named to 1st All-Star team)
Austin Calladine (C-95) - Calgary (2010 2nd rd): 7-1-8-9-4
Kayle Doetzel (D-95) - Red Deer (2010 1st rd) - did not play?
Colby Harmsworth (D-95) - Calgary (2010 3rd rd): 7-0-1-1-4
Taylor Leier (RW-94) - Portland (2009 2nd rd): 7-9-5-14-4 (named to 1st All-Star team)
Craig Leverton (C-95) - Lethbridge (2010 2nd rd): 7-4-3-7-4
Cody Pettapiece (D-94) - Edmonton (2009 6th rd): 7-0-7-7-8
Branden Scheidl (D-95) - Portland (2010 4th rd): 7-0-0-0-0
Mack Shields (G-95) - Calgary (2010 4th rd): 3gp, 3W-0L-0T, 0.838sv%, 4.00gaa
Carson Stadnyk (C-95) - Everett (2010 8th rd): 7-1-2-3-0

Sherwood Park Kings (2-2-0):
Greg Chase (C-95) - Calgary (2010 1st rd): 2-0-2-2-2
Adam Clark (G-93) - Moose Jaw (2008 4th rd): 1gp, 0W-1L-0T, 0.833sv%, 4.00gaa
Bowen Croft (RW-94) - Edmonton (2009 9th rd): 4-1-2-3-0
Adam DeChamplain (C-94) - Portland (2009 10th rd): 4-0-2-2-0
Mason Geertsen (D-95) - Edmonton (2010 1st rd): 4-0-1-1-12
Tyler Lewington (D-94) - Medicine Hat (listed player): 4-1-0-1-22
Tyler Morrison (D-95) - Vancouver (listed player): 4-0-0-0-0
Matt Tomkins (G-94) - Swift Current (listed player): 3gp, 2W-1L-0T, 0.870sv%, 3.33gaa
Mitch Wheaton (D-95) - Kelowna (2010 10th rd): 4-0-0-0-8
Dakota Zaharichuk (LW-94) - Medicine Hat (listed player): 4-2-2-4-2

South Island Thunderbirds (1-2-1):
Steen Cooper (C-95) - Portland (2010 4th rd): 4-1-0-1-0
Nolan DeJong (D-95) - Regina (2010 7th rd): 4-0-0-0-14
Spencer Loverock (D-95) - Portland (listed player): 4-0-0-0-2
Jack Palmer (C-95) - Brandon (2010 8th rd): 4-2-1-3-2

St. Albert Raiders (2-2-0):
Nelson Gadoury (C-95) - Edmonton (2010 5th rd): 4-0-2-2-2
Jayden Hart (C-94) - Medicine Hat (2009 3rd rd): 4-2-3-5-2
Wyatt Hoflin (G-95) - Kootenay (2010 2nd rd): 2gp, 2W-0L-0T, 0.838sv%, 3.01gaa
Tanner Kovacs (G-94) - Lethbridge (listed player): 2gp, 0W-2L-0T, 0.818sv%, 4.16gaa
Brett Kulak (D-94) - Vancouver (2009 9th rd): 3-0-3-3-2
Luke Mahura (RW-95) - Prince Albert (2010 2nd rd): 4-1-1-2-2
Carter Proft (C-94) - Brandon (2009 5th rd) - did not play?
Carson Samoridny (RW-94) - Everett (listed player): 4-4-1-5-0
Ty Stanton (D-95) - Medicine Hat (2010 2nd rd): 4-0-0-0-0
Kaiden Tobin (D-95) - Prince Albert (2010 7th rd): 4-0-0-0-4
Matt Waseylenko (D-93) - Prince Albert (2008 5th rd): 4-0-0-0-6

Tisdale Trojans (0-4-0):
Sheldon Argent (C-94) - Prince Albert (listed player): 4-0-0-0-0
Taylor Balog (LW-94) - Lethbridge (trade with Reg.): 4-0-1-1-0
JJ Coleshaw (C-94) - Edmonton (listed player): 4-1-1-2-2
Tanner Eberle (C-94) - Moose Jaw (2009 7th rd): 4-2-2-4-2
Jarrett Fontaine (C-95) - Prince George (2010 3rd rd): 4-0-0-0-8
Dylan Frey (RW-95) - Kamloops (2010 6th rd): 4-0-0-0-0
Jeff Hubic (D-94) - Kootenay (2009 4th rd): 4-0-0-0-2
Ty Mclean (C-95) - Regina (2010 5th rd): 4-2-4-6-2
Spencer Wand (D-95) - Kootenay (2010 4th rd): 4-0-0-0-4

UFA Bisons (3-2-0, quarterfinalists):
Cody Brown (D-93) - Seattle (listed player): 5-0-2-2-28
Mason Burr (RW-94) - Red Deer (2009 2nd rd): 5-2-3-5-8
Connor Chartier (RW-94) - Spokane (2009 2nd rd): 5-4-5-9-2
Shayne Gwinner (D-94) - Moose Jaw (2009 2nd rd): 5-1-2-3-8
Darian Henry (D-94) - Everett (2009 7th rd): 5-1-1-2-10
Spencer Jensen (D-95) - Medicine Hat (2010 1st rd): 5-0-2-2-6
Sam Johnson (C-94) - Kootenay (listed player): 5-3-2-5-0
Samuel McKechnie (RW-94) - Lethbridge (2009 3rd rd): 5-2-0-2-2
Luke Philp (C-95) - Kootenay (2010 3rd rd): 4-3-2-5-4
Torrin White (RW-95) - Moose Jaw (2010 1st rd): 5-0-2-2-0

Valley West Hawks (0-4-0):
Adam Austin (D-95) - Everett (2010 4th rd): 4-0-0-0-0
Kyle Becker (D-94) - Medicine Hat (2009 7th rd): 4-0-2-2-4
Kyle Burroughs (D-95) - Regina (2010 3rd rd): 4-1-0-1-8
Latrell Charleson (D-95) - Moose Jaw (2010 7th rd): 4-0-0-0-19
Scott Cooke (RW-94) - Vancouver (2009 5th rd): 4-1-0-1-2
Trevor Cox (LW-95) - Medicine Hat (listed player): 4-2-0-2-2
Kevan Kilistoff (LW-95) - Vancouver (2010 9th rd): 4-0-1-1-0
Jordan Klimek (D-95) - Tri-City (listed player): 4-0-0-0-2
Trent Lofthouse (LW-94) - Everett (listed player): 3-0-0-0-2
Steven Myland (G-94) - Kootenay (2009 10th rd): 3gp, 0W-2L-0T, 0.857sv%, 4.28gaa
James Neil (RW-95) - Seattle (2010 3rd rd): 4-0-0-0-4
Austin Vetterl (C-94) - Vancouver (listed player): 4-0-1-1-4

Vancouver NW Giants (0-4-0):
Joseph Carvalho (D-95) - Prince George (2010 4th rd): 4-0-0-0-0
Daniel Cotton (G-94) - Seattle (listed player): 2gp, 0W-2L-0T, 0.855sv%, 4.51gaa
Dexter Dancs (LW-95) - Vancouver (2010 12th rd): 4-0-0-0-2
Mitchell Fyffe (RW-94) - Regina (listed player): 4-1-1-2-6
Jackson Houck (RW-95) - Vancouver (2010 3rd rd): 3-1-0-1-12
Alex Kerfoot (C-94) - Seattle (2009 12th rd): 4-1-2-3-0
Scott Legault (G-94) - Vancouver (listed player): 2gp, 0W-2L-0T, 0.771sv%, 4.01gaa
Cam Marks (D-95) - Vancouver (listed player): 2-0-0-0-4
Bo Pellah (D-95) - Spokane (2010 6th rd): 4-0-0-0-6
Sam Reinhart (C-95) - Kootenay (2010 1st rd): 4-1-3-4-6

Winnipeg Wild (4-2-0, semi-finalists):
Madison Bowey (D-95) - Kelowna (2010 2nd rd): 6-2-3-5-8 (named to 1st All-Star team)
Travis Brown (D-94) - Moose Jaw (2009 4th rd): 6-1-3-4-0
Danys Chartrand (D-94) - Red Deer (listed player): 6-0-2-2-4
Patrick D'Amico (RW-94) - Prince George (listed player): 6-5-5-10-2
Kurt Keats (C-95) - Moose Jaw (2010 5th rd): 6-1-2-3-2
Remi Laurencelle (C-95) - Lethbridge (2010 8th rd): 6-4-1-5-0
Ryan McDonald (RW-94) - Everett (listed player): 6-3-0-3-0
Matt Miller (D-94) - Edmonton (2009 4th rd): 6-1-4-5-4
Cory Nysv%rd (G-93) - Regina (2008 6th rd): 3gp, 3W-0L-0T, 0.909sv%, 2.67gaa
Paul Stoykewych (D-95) - Portland (2010 2nd rd): 6-1-3-4-4
Spencer Tremblay (G-94) - Moose Jaw (listed player): 3gp, 1W-2L-0T, 0.885sv%, 3.38gaa

Portland-Vancouver blockbuster

Yowza....when was the last time you saw an overage player traded for a first round bantam pick, let alone a first AND a second round pick? Well, it happened today.

Portland trades overage forward Spencer Bennett and 18 year old forward Teal Burns, plus a 2011 first round pick and a 2012 2nd round pick, to Vancouver for overage forward Craig Cunningham and a 2011 6th round pick.

So Cunningham just netted the Giants two players and two very high picks in return - and as an overager, Cunningham is definitely only a half-season player. Huge price paid by the Hawks but clearly they believe this is their year to go for it. Interesting also that they included Bennett in the deal even though they did not have to move an overager to add Cunningham. They still have an overage spot open now and can still add another overage player before the deadline.

For Vancouver, the deal recoups the first round pick they gave up to get David Musil, so they are back in the first round and they have a number of 2nd round picks in 2011 too, so this could be a draft that sets them up for years to come if they hit on all these picks.

Thursday notes

Few things today....

First, the CHL has named the rosters of players who will play in this year's Top Prospects game in January. 13 WHLers have been named to participate; the list can be found here.

I notice that press release says the game takes place January 18-19. Apparently they have expanded the game from its usual 60 minutes and it now runs so long that, like a cricket match, it takes place over two days.

Next note; despite the WHL having a trade freeze in effect, the Oil Kings and Broncos completed a trade yesterday which saw the Oil Kings send the rights to 17 year old forward Graham Black to the Broncos for a conditional 2011 8th round bantam pick. The trade freeze is only for WHL roster players and since Black is currently playing in the Saskatchewan midget league, it is allowed to take place.

Black is actually leading the SMHL in scoring by a big margin, so perhaps the Broncos will attempt to add him to their roster after the Christmas break.

Speaking of trades, in the WHL a first round pick gets you a forward like Carter Ashton, an NHL first round pick. In the QMJHL, a first round pick gets you an undrafted forward with 40 points in three seasons. I don't pretend to be an expert on the QMJHL but to me that looks like a bad, bad trade.

Lastly, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association has finally named its team for the Canada Winter Games in February. B.C., Alberta, and Manitoba named their rosters (also chock-full of WHL prospects) previously. As I did with the other provinces, here's Saskatchewan's roster, with WHL affiliation:


G Brett Lewchuk - Spokane - 2010 5th rd
G Daniel Wapple - Moose Jaw - 2010 4th rd
D Kayle Doetzel - Red Deer - 2010 1st rd
D Tanner Faith - Kootenay - 2010 2nd rd
D Colby Harmsworth - Calgary - 2010 3rd rd
D Tyler King-Cunningham - Spokane - 2010 1st rd
D Branden Scheidl - Portland - 2010 4th rd
D Colby Williams - Regina - 2010 4th rd
F Austin Calladine - Calgary - 2010 2nd rd
F Jarrett Fontaine - Prince George - 2010 3rd rd
F Alex Forsberg - Prince George - 2010 1st rd
F Carter Hansen - Moose Jaw - 2010 1st rd
F Craig Leverton - Lethbridge - 2010 2nd rd
F Tim McGauley - Saskatoon - 2010 1st rd
F Zac MacKay - Swift Current - 2010 4th rd
F Ty McLean - Regina - 2010 5th rd
F Cory Millette - Red Deer - 2010 2nd rd
F Tyson Predinchuk - Spokane - 2010 6th rd
F Justin Spagrud - Tri City - 2010 3rd rd
F Jordan Tkatch - Prince George - 2010 2nd rd

Suspensions for clean hits?

Both these plays happened a short while back but I've been meaning to comment on this.....the WHL has recently suspended a couple of players for what in my opinion are clean hits.

First was a much-publicized hit by Brandon's Ryley Miller on Everett's Kellan Tochkin on December 8. You can see the video of that hit here. A less publicized hit was one by Adrian Van de Mosselaer of Edmonton on Brad Hoban of Swift Current on December 15. Video of that hit is here.

Both Miller and Van de Mosselaer got two game suspensions for those hits. I don't see why though....Miller was just a good clean open ice hit on a guy going through center ice with his head down. In Van de Mosselaer's case, watch Hoban at 1:03 - he sees the hit coming and instead of doing something about that, he turns his head and shoulders back towards the boards to look for the puck.

In both cases, if the recipients of the hits had protected themselves and kept their heads up, they probably don't get hurt on what are otherwise clean hits. Near as I can tell, the only reason anyone got suspended in either case is because somebody got hurt.....IMO that's not good enough. Clean hits are clean hits whether somebody gets hurt or not. Have we gone so far in trying to clean up dirty hits and head shots that we're now starting to take hitting out of the game altogether?

U.S. World Junior roster set

USA Hockey made their cuts and named their final 22 man roster for the World Juniors this morning. Two WHLers - forwards Emerson Etem and Mitchell Callahan - were trying out for the team and both of them have made the cut.

The USA roster:

Goaltenders - Jack Campbell, Andy Iles
Defensemen - Brian Dumoulin, Justin Faulk, Derek Forbort, Nick Leddy, Jon Merrill, John Ramage, Patrick Wey
Forwards - Nick Bjugstad, Ryan Bourque, Chris Brown, Mitch Callahan, Charlie Coyle, Jerry D'Amigo, Emerson Etem, Chris Kreider, Jeremy Morin, Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, Drew Shore, Jason Zucker

Bjugstad (Everett), Brown (Calgary), Faulk (Tri-City), Forbort (Everett), Leddy (Tri-City), Nelson (Tri-City), Shore (Chilliwack), and Zucker (Seattle) are also on the protected lists of WHL clubs. So a strong western flavour on the USA team even if only a couple are actually in the WHL.

B-pool World Junior results

The two "b-pool" world junior championships wrapped up on the weekend, and it was big news for a couple of WHLers who were taking part. Latvia (featuring Edmonton Oil King Kristian Pelss) won one tournament, while Denmark (with Brandon's Mark Mieritz) won the other tournament.

As a result, Latvia and Denmark have qualified for the 2012 World Juniors, which are being held in Edmonton & Calgary.

Mieritz had 3 points (2g-1a) in 5 games for the Danes. Pelss had 4 points (2g-2a) in 5 games for the Latvians.

Mieritz and Denmark finished tied for first with Slovenia but won the tournament because of head-to-head result. Slovenia featured Kelowna's Gal Koren (who had 8 points - 3g, 5a - in 5 games), and former Winterhawk Gasper Kopitar, who had 4 points - 2g, 2a - in the 5 games.

Friday notes

Just a couple things on my notepad today....

First, a question from a reader who is wondering if the current group of young defencemen in the WHL - specifically those eligible for the 2012 NHL draft - is the best group ever for one draft. Of course these things are impossible to measure until many years from now, but the evidence is certainly compelling that this is going to be a truly remarkable NHL draft class of blueliners from the WHL.

There are currently 14 defencemen in the WHL this year who are eligible for the 2012 NHL draft. There will be more next year of course - most 2012 draft eligible players are only 16 this year and many of those kids won't crack WHL rosters until next season, and some of those will become stars as well. But looking only at the kids who are in the league right now, it's looking like a very, very good group.

The 14 currently in the WHL, with size and current stats (GP-G-A-PTS, +/-):



Matt Dumba (Red Deer Rebels) - 6'0", 172 lb, 34-9-3-12-58, +4
Reid Gow (Spokane Chiefs) - 5'11", 182 lb, 24-2-5-7-12, +3
Brady Gaudet (Kamloops Blazers) - 5'11", 172 lb, 24-4-2-6-19, -8
Lucas Grayson (Red Deer Rebels) - 6'0", 171 lb, 19-0-1-1-41, -1
Josh Hanson (Portland Winterhawks) - 6'2", 195 lb, 22-1-0-1-8, +3
Keaton Lubin (Calgary Hitmen) - 5'11", 175 lb, 14-0-0-0-4, -5
Ryan Murray (Everett Silvertips) - 6'0", 185 lb, 33-2-11-13-27, +16
Derrick Pouliot (Portland Winterhawks) - 5'11", 170 lb, 34-4-14-18-27, +6
Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton Oil Kings) - 6'4", 202 lb, 31-4-12-16-24, +11
Morgan Rielly (Moose Jaw Warriors) - 6'0", 190 lb, 32-4-14-18-17, -1
Jaynen Rissling (Calgary Hitmen) - 6'3", 215 lb, 30-2-9-11-59, -15
Damon Severson (Kelowna Rockets) - 6'1", 175 lb, 31-4-7-11-25, +1
Dalton Thrower (Saskatoon Blades) - 5'11", 178 lb, 33-3-6-9-42, +1
Nicholas Walters (Everett Silvertips) - 6'1", 185 lb, 19-0-1-1-29, -8

Murray, Rissling, and Thrower are all 17 year olds this year, but are late-1993 birthdate players who aren't NHL eligible until 2012. The rest are all 16 year olds this year. 

Just looking at that list, I can see at least 5 players (Dumba, Murray, Pouliot, Reinhart, Rielly) who at this point are anywhere from "sure-thing" to "pretty good chance" bets at being NHL first round picks in 2012. A couple of those guys are probably even looking at possibly being top ten picks.

Three or four others on the list are a bit back of the calibre of those top five, but they all have another year and a half in the WHL to keep improving yet before the draft.

Just for comparison purposes, the number of WHL defencemen picked in the first round of recent NHL drafts:

2010: 2
2009: 1
2008: 4
2007: 6
2006: 1
2005: 0

What do you think? Could the 2012 group potentially be the WHL's best ever, both in number of high picks and in (super)star potential?

Secondly today, read this article about a minor hockey coach in Ontario who has been seriously shafted, if you ask me.

I get that the guy broke the rules and maybe could have handled things a little differently. But I don't think there's any question that morally he is completely in the right here. The punishment is grossly disproportionate to the crime - can the people in charge not see that? A few games suspension, that's fine...but this is ridiculous, especially in light of how the real perpetrator of the whole situation, the player who made the racist remarks, was suspended for only three games. His coach was given no punishment at all.