Tigers/Tribe deals

Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw make two trades this morning....

The first deal sees Moose Jaw send 19 year old forward Matt MacKay to the Tigers for 17 year old prospect Mike Forsyth. The second deal sees the Warriors send 18 year old goalie Deven Dubyk to the Tigers for a 2010 6th round bantam pick.

Breaking down the first deal, this looks like the Warriors giving up on MacKay after having some high hopes for him when he joined the team from Jr A last January. In the press release they as much as say he has been beat out for his job by training camp tryout success story Spencer Edwards. So MacKay will try to get his career going again in the Hat. As for Forsyth, he is not in the WHL - he is playing Jr A for the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks - but he did play one game for the Tigers last year so he's committed to the WHL at least. The Warriors plan to leave him in Jr A this year and have him come back to the WHL at 18.

Also, the Tigers still have five 16 year old forwards on their roster; I would think that acquiring yet another 19 year old (they have EIGHT 19 year old forwards now) probably means that either two or three of those 16 year olds are about to be sent back to midget, or some of those other 19 year old forwards are going to be on their way out of Tigertown instead. Few teams run with that many 19 year olds total, let alone at one position.

For the second deal, Dubyk was the Warriors' backup goalie last year but was beat out for the job by Brandon Glover this year; Dubyk has been in Jr A in the SJHL since being cut by the Warriors but this is his chance to get back to the WHL. For the Tigers, this acquisition probably means they are preparing to move out Ryan Holfeld one way or another, either by trade or release if there's no trade interest. They have five overagers right now and moving Holfeld will get them down to four while allowing them to use a goaltending tandem of Dubyk and Tyler Bunz.

Giants/Rebels swap

Red Deer has traded 19 year old forward Cass Mappin to Vancouver for 18 year old forward Andrej Kudrna.

It seems like a fairly even deal although I've always liked Mappin's potential. I have to wonder whether the Rebels just got tired of waiting for Mappin to play with enough consistency to realize the big upside that he has. Kudrna's another guy where potential is the key word; he scored 18 goals last year playing 2nd fiddle to older forwards on the Giants so with a bigger role, maybe there's a lot of room for improvement on that number yet.

The Rebels do get the younger player but since Kudrna is unlikely to play as an overager whereas Mappin probably will, that part is a wash....both players probably have two years left to play in the league.

One thing is for sure: this deal will trigger more moves now, since the Rebels now have three imports and none are overage, so they are over the import limit. In fact, I believe they must have already done something with either John Persson or Jindrich Barak in order to even be able to make this trade. So, stay tuned for that.

UPDATE: the Rebels have released Jindrich Barak. It's on the Rebels website. That move leaves the Rebels with only six defencemen on the roster and Alex Petrovic is out for a while so they only have five healthy defencemen. So, look for another move there now.

And with the Giants now down to one import and with some overage spots either open (Nunn's long-term injury) or seemingly candidates for upgrading (Toigo), let the Milan Kytnar to Vancouver rumours begin....

Boyer traded, other moves

The Jeremy Boyer trade holdout is over....the Thunderbirds have traded him to the Saskatoon Blades for 15 year old forward prospect Stefan Burzan (who was the Blades' 6th round pick in the 2009 bantam draft) and a 2010 3rd round pick.

I think Seattle got a good return for Boyer, although nothing that is going to help them this season. But getting a decent WHL-committed prospect and a 3rd round pick for a guy who was refusing to play for you (which never enhances a player's trade value) is a pretty good return. So, this is probably a good deal for both teams.

For the Blades, getting Boyer probably makes it easier for them to trade Walker Wintoneak, which is probably going to have to happen in order to resolve the team's overage problems.

As a Blades aside, I see Hampus Gustafsson is no longer listed on the Blades roster on either their official site or the WHL's site. So, has he been released perhaps?

Two other moves today - the Hurricanes took the first step towards resolving their four goaltender logjam by sending 18 year old veteran Michael Tadjdeh home. Tadjdeh, who I assume will be traded if there's any takers or released if there aren't, was the 'Canes backup goalie last year but was unable to hold onto his job this year after the team acquired Linden Rowat on the weekend. So the battle for the backup job in the windy city is now down to two 17 year olds, Finnish import Ville Kolppanen and the injured Brandon Anderson. I suspect Kolppanen keeps the job for now until Anderson is healthy, and then the team will have to choose between the two of them. One thing's for sure: Kolppanen's going to need better numbers than his current 7.49 GAA & .800 save percentage if he's going to keep the job.

And another veteran lost his job today too as the Broncos reassigned 19 year old defenceman Andrew Hewett back to Jr A in Manitoba. Hewett played 36 games for the Broncos last year but had been a healthy scratch every game so far this season.

Three overage news bits

Three overage news tidbits today...

First, the Lethbridge Hurricanes have filled their final overage opening by acquiring goaltender Linden Rowat from the Regina Pats for a conditional 2010 5th round bantam pick. I think it's a great move for the Hurricanes; combined with the acquisition of Mike Reddington a few days ago, these two moves should help shore up the Hurricanes' dreadful goals-against numbers this year.

The 'Canes now have four goalies in camp though so two of them are going to be going elsewhere in the next couple days, I would think. Rowat is clearly going to be the starter so look for the team to pick one of the other three who they think could be next year's starter and keep him as the backup, and the other two get reassigned. Michael Tadjdeh and Ville Kolpanen have played all the games so far and their numbers are horrendous, there's no nice way to describe 5.77/.833 and 7.49/.800. Brandon Anderson hasn't seen the ice yet this season due to injury. So we'll see who they keep.

Next bit of news, the Calgary Hitmen got a very pleasant surprise today when the Washington Capitals assigned overage forward Joel Broda back to the WHL. Broda was the WHL's only 50-goal scorer last year and getting a sniper of that calibre back is a big boost for any team.

And third bit, the New York Rangers have once again assigned overage import defenceman Tomas Kundratek to the Medicine Hat Tigers. As long as Kundratek reports, the Tigers will now have five overagers, so two guys gotta go somewhere.

Fleury cut

The Theo Fleury comeback may be over. Fleury - one of the great players in WHL history - was cut today by the Flames.

Sounds like he's going to take some time to think about whether he wants to continue to pursue his comeback. Despite being 41, he looked half-decent in the exhibition games he got into, and I think there's a chance he might be able to help a team that is weak at forward. He isn't going to score 30 or 40 goals anymore but he might be able to score 10-15. Surely there's an NHL club that could use 10-15 goals off their third line.

Klassen back to the Blades

The Blades got a pleasant surprise this morning when the New York Rangers assigned overage defenceman Sam Klassen back to them.

The move puts the Blades back over the overage limit though, as they once again have four - Klassen and forwards Milan Kytnar, Derek Hulak, and Walker Wintoneak. They also still have three imports so clearly there's some more moves coming from the Blades in the next couple weeks.

Beach on the move

Big trade this morning - Lethbridge has traded 19 year old forward Kyle Beach to the Spokane Chiefs in return for two defencemen, 19 year old Mike Reddington and 17 year old Landon Oslanski.

So Beach moves back to the U.S. division, where he has so many friends from his days with Everett. In return, the Hurricanes get some needed defensive help in the form of Reddington, and since Reddington is a probable overage player in 2010-11, they'll have him for two years and Oslanski for 3-4 years instead of one year from Beach. Not a bad trade for either side.

Everett releases two

Didn't take long for Everett to resolve their five overager problem. According to Nick Patterson's blog, they have released Colin Scherger and Travis Dunstall.

Overage picture

With all the moves lately, an updated look at the overage picture around the league.....

Brandon Wheat Kings: Matt Calvert (F), Del Cowan (F), Jay Fehr (F), Aaron Lewadniuk (F)

- Calvert is still at Columbus Blue Jackets camp and from all accounts is doing extremely well there, which may make it less likely that he'll be returned to the WHL. Until he comes back, the Wheat Kings don't have to make any moves anyway.

Calgary Hitmen: Joel Broda (F), Cody Gross (F), Jason MacDonald (F)

- Broda is still at Washington Capitals' AHL camp but he has not signed with the Capitals yet so is still on track to come back to the WHL unless a contract gets done before October 1st. In Broda's absence, and after releasing Ryan Kerr this morning, the Hitmen have an opening now. MacDonald's and/or Gross's spots are possible candidates for upgrading as well depending on who comes available in the next three weeks.

Chilliwack Bruins: Jesse Craige (D), Mitch McColm (D), Andy Smith (F)

- Bruins are probably set with these three....

Edmonton Oil Kings: Brett Breitkreuz (F), Torrie Jung (G), Drew Nichol (D)

- Edmonton's probably set with these three as well....

Everett Silvertips: Zack Dailey (F), Shane Harper (F), Chris Langkow (F)

- released Colin Scherger and Travis Dunstall today, so this is probably their final three...

Kamloops Blazers: Justin Leclerc (G), Giffen Nyren (D), C.J. Stretch (F)

- probably no changes coming here....

Kelowna Rockets: Lucas Bloodoff (F), Mark Guggenberger (G), Colin Long (F)

- Long is still at Phoenix's camp and it seems less likely today that he'll be back than it did a few weeks ago. Guggenberger is out with a groin injury. Adam Brown's numbers as the starter in two games are pretty bad....but it's only two games. I don't think Guggenberger will be moved which means the Rockets are only looking for an overager if Long doesn't come back.

Kootenay Ice: Ryan Molle (D), Dustin Sylvester (F)

- one of only two teams in the league with an opening to add a player. They should be able to get somebody decent for cheap, if they're interested.

Lethbridge Hurricanes: Carter Bancks (F), Radim Valchar (F)

- the other team with an opening. They can use some help on the blueline and in net.

Medicine Hat Tigers: Bretton Cameron (F), Colton Grant (F), Ryan Holfeld (G), Mark Isherwood (D)

- Grant was the scratch in the Tigers' opening game. Not sure which way they are going to go, but any way you look at it there's a pretty good player going to be available from the Tigers. This situation would be even more complicated if Tomas Kundratek did indeed return to the Tigers at some point.

Moose Jaw Warriors: Jason Bast (F), Cody Smuk (F), Ryan Stanton (D)

- probably no changes coming here either...

Portland Winter Hawks: Adam Basford (F), Chris Francis (F), Kurtis Mucha (G), Stefan Schneider (F)

- until (if?) Mucha comes back from Edmonton's NHL camp, no decisions need to be made here. Basford is out with injury for several more weeks though.

Prince Albert Raiders: Dustin Cameron (F), Patrick Kozyra (D), Craig McCallum (F), Garrett Zemlak (G)

- Cameron and McCallum seem safe. Kozyra sat out of the first two games so that Zemlak can play; which one of those two guys eventually sticks around depends on whether the team wants Zemlak or 19 year old Steven Stanford as their #1 goalie.

Prince George Cougars: Tyler Halliday (F), Dallas Jackson (D), Alex Rodgers (F), Garrett Thiessen (D)

- Jackson is out 4-6 weeks but you'd think he and Rodgers are somewhat safe here. Should be between Thiessen and Halliday for the last spot.

Red Deer Rebels: Jordie Deagle (F), Cody Esposito (F), Nathan Green (F), Cullen Morin (D)

- Green is safe, probably Morin too. Deagle & Esposito split the opening two games so it's probably between those two for the last spot.

Regina Pats: Mitch Czibere (F), Matt Delahey (D), Brett Leffler (F), Linden Rowat (G), Matt Strueby (F)

- Rowat is already at home awaiting a trade. Delahey just returned from NHL camp and should be a lock along with Leffler, so is it Strueby vs. Czibere for the last spot? (And if so, does it matter than the Pats have scored but one goal in two games so far, and Strueby scored it?) Both those guys will be in the WHL somewhere though.

Saskatoon Blades: Derek Hulak (F), Milan Kytnar (F), Walker Wintoneak (F)

- the best crop of O/A's in the league, bar none. No trades needed.

Seattle Thunderbirds: Lindsay Nielsen (F), Prab Rai (F), Jeremy Schappert (D)

- seems set to me....

Spokane Chiefs: Brett Bartman (D), Dustin Donaghy (F), Ryan Letts (F), Jared Spurgeon (D)

- Spurgeon and Letts are injured, possibly for a while yet. I can't see them keeping both Donaghy and Letts though, those are two pretty similar players.

Swift Current Broncos: Derek Claffey (D), Eric Doyle (D), Michael Stickland (F), Matt Tassone (F)

- Tassone is out for a long while yet, so the Broncos probably don't have to make any moves until he's ready to return, whenever that is. All four of these guys belong in the league though so it'll be a tough decision when it's time to make one.

Tri-City Americans: Johnny Lazo (F), Brett Plouffe (D), Jarrett Toll (D)

- pretty good group here too, might not be any changes

Vancouver Giants: Ryan Funk (D), Garry Nunn (F), Nolan Toigo (D)

- Nunn is out for a couple months, so there's a possibility the Giants could bring in somebody else in the interim?

Langkow to Everett

And another overage forward on the move this morning - Saskatoon sends Chris Langkow to Everett for a 2010 6th round pick and a 2011 3rd round pick.

Langkow had 50 points for the Blades last year and should help Everett's offence. His presence further jams up Everett's overage situation though.

For Saskatoon, this solves their overage problem but not their import problem. They still have three imports - forwards Milan Kytnar and Hampus Gustafsson and defenceman Jyri Niemi - and need to move out one of the three. It'll probably be Gustafsson.

Valchar to Lethbridge

Lethbridge has acquired overage import forward Radim Valchar from the Portland Winterhawks for a 2010 6th round bantam pick.

Valchar should help provide some offence for the Hurricanes, and the price was cheap since I imagine there wasn't a lot of demand for a two-spot player.

Kundratek/Saturday notes

Looks like Tomas Kundratek may not be joining the Tigers after all....the day after assigning him to Medicine Hat, the Rangers changed their minds and sent him to their AHL camp instead. Supposedly the reason is that they are concerned that he may bolt for the Czech Republic rather than report to Medicine Hat if the Rangers were to stay with the WHL assignment.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kundratek signed a contract with the Rangers, and doesn't that pretty much do away with his right to play where he wants? I can understand why he might be a little unhappy about being sent to junior, since it means that he doesn't get paid (as opposed to what he'd make playing in the AHL or back home in the Czech Republic) and the contract also slides a year so he'd still owe the Rangers 3 years. But he did sign the contract and therefore since the NHL doesn't have any labour issues with the Czech federation, he can't simply skip out on the Rangers' wishes and go play over in Europe. So we'll see how this ends up. I think if they eventually do send him to the Hat, he doesn't really have a lot of choice unless he wants to try playing in Russia. We'll see.

Now some notes after tonight's games....

Lethbridge lost 7-3 to the Tigers and have now given up 15 goals in their first two games. Sure, they're missing a few key players at NHL camps yet but there's still no disguising that this team has some defensive issues - they were 0-6 in the pre-season too and were lit up for 31 goals in those six losses. Are the problems with the defencemen (Mestery is -5; Jackson, Hulit, & Ross are -3)? The goaltenders (Kolpannen: 7.13 GAA, .800sv%; Tadjdeh: 8.37 GAA, .848sv%)? A combination of both, with some blame on the forwards thrown in? I don't know the answer but I think this is a team with too much inexperience at those two key positions. They have two open overage spots and picking up a goaltender and a reliable defenceman to fill those spots is probably a good idea. I said earlier this summer: Lethbridge is a good fit for the Pats' Linden Rowat. He can give them a steady veteran presence back there and mentor whichever one of their young goalies they think could be their starter in 2010-11.

Portland went into Seattle and shut down the Birds, 5-0. Sure, it's only one game, but I don't know what to say to the people I've seen who are still picking Portland for last in the U.S. division. They're not going to be last....try first. Or at least second. I'm still working on my division predictions (look for them next week sometime maybe, I decided to wait this year and see who comes back from the NHL and who doesn't) but I don't envision putting Portland lower than 2nd in that division. There's a lot to like now about the former league doormats.

After two games, Vancouver's Jamie Tucker has a .852 save percentage. Again, it's only two games, but are any of the people who were confident he could replace Sexsmith starting to sweat? Even a bead or two?

After two games played (for most teams), eight players are tied atop the WHL scoring lead with five points apiece. I am fairly confident in saying that five of them are not names that would have come up in anyone's preseason predictions of the league's possible scoring leaders.

Opening Night, Part II

Some notes after Friday's games, which kicked off the season for 16 more WHL teams:

• After 9 games, we've had 14 fights already. No effect being felt from the new rules so far. Don't count on feeling one at all.
• not a pretty picture for Lethbridge, who lost 8-1 in Cranbrook and were outshot 48-14 in the process. That's not a typo. At the end of the 2nd period it was 7-0 and the Hurricanes had FOUR shots. True, they didn't have Carter Ashton or Kyle Beach, but this was a serious butt-kicking and the Canes still have to play seven more games on the road before they get a home opener.
• Still in the Department of Being Outshot, the Chiefs more than doubled the Cougars, 52-23 tonight.
• Tyler Fiddler scored three goals all of last season for Calgary. He had a natural hat trick tonight in Red Deer, matching last season's entire goal output in just the season opener. Red Deer was 0-for-8 on the powerplay, including 0-for-5 in the first period alone. It's probably a different outcome if they're even 25% on the powerplay tonight.
• they were on the road and missing 6 of their top 10-12 players. But did anyone really expect Brandon to lose 6-1 to Prince Albert?
• Swift Current had a 6-2 lead with 3.5 minutes left in their game with Moose Jaw. The Warriors scored three times in that span to fall just one goal short of a really remarkable comeback.
• 84 shots on goal in the Everett - Seattle game? Fans certainly got their money's worth, although from the attendance it looks like the building was 1/3 empty on opening night. That problem didn't only exist in Seattle though - the WHL.ca attendance numbers show the buildings in Prince Albert, Chilliwack, and Cranbrook were nowhere close to sellouts on opening night either.

Season opener

Well, last night's game certainly didn't lack for entertainment, although I'm sure that neither coach is particularily pleased with his team's defensive play or goaltending.

There were 19 rookies in the lineups last night - basically half the players in the game - and I thought inexperience was evident on both sides. There were a lot of defensive breakdowns and some pretty shoddy goaltending at times at both ends as well. It's not a game that Adam Brown or especially Jamie Tucker are going to want on their highlight films.

Stepan Novotny had four goals for the Rockets, which means this is the 2nd year in a row that a player has scored four goals in the season-opening game on Shaw. Last year Michael Stickland did it for the Ice against the Chiefs. Hopefully Novotny's stick doesn't go cold the way Stickland's did after his big night - Stickland only managed 2 goals in his next 19 games last year after his big opener.

Eight more games on the slate tonight, with four other teams waiting until tomorrow to get the season started....

And with all the references flying around to Novotny being on pace for 288 goals this year, I thought I would offer up this projection of the final standings in the West:

	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS
Vancouver	72	72	0	0	0	144
Kelowna	72	0	0	0	72	72
Chilliwack	0	0	0	0	0	0
Everett	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kamloops	0	0	0	0	0	0
Portland	0	0	0	0	0	0
Prince George	0	0	0	0	0	0
Seattle	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spokane	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tri-Cities	0	0	0	0	0	0

Kundratek returns to the Hat

In a bit of a surprise move, the New York Rangers assigned defenceman Tomas Kundratek back to the Medicine Hat Tigers today.

Kundratek is an overager and had signed by the Rangers, which made his return somewhat unlikely. Interestingly, in the same press release you can see they sent another signed WHL alumnus, Sam Klassen, to their AHL team so that means the Blades probably aren't getting him back as an overager.

The Tigers only had one import, so adding Kundratek doesn't mess them up in that department, although he does give them five overagers now so they'll have to trade/release two others instead of just one. I'm sure they don't mind though, he's going to be a leader on that blueline this year.

Shaw schedule released

The WHL and Shaw have released the 2009-10 WHL On Shaw broadcast schedule today.

Things kick off with the season opener tomorrow night in Kelowna featuring the Giants visiting the Rockets. In total they're showing 30 games and will show 20 of the league's 22 teams at least once. Here's the team-by-team counts:

Saskatoon: 6

Vancouver: 6

Calgary: 5

Brandon: 4

Edmonton: 4

Kelowna: 4

Kootenay: 4

Regina: 4

Kamloops: 3

Lethbridge: 3

Medicine Hat: 3

Red Deer: 3

Chilliwack: 2

Moose Jaw: 2

Prince Albert: 2

Everett: 1

Portland: 1

Prince George: 1

Seattle: 1

Swift Current: 1

Only Spokane and Tri-City do not get shown, but they're also not Shaw markets so that shouldn't be too surprising.

Looks reasonably fair....yeah, it's not perfect, but they're showing twelve different teams at least three times each so they're making an effort to show more than just Calgary, Vancouver, and Kelowna every night. There's only five Canadian teams who aren't shown at least three times and three of those are the league's three smallest markets so , again, that' s not really surprising.

New fight rules

Just some thoughts here on the new rules regarding fighting that the league is putting into place this year.....I see some people are already proclaiming these rules as the beginning of the end of fighting in the WHL and I think that's a bit extreme.

Basically, players will no longer be able to:

• remove their helmets prior to fighting
• circle around and posture & preen before engaging in the fight
• fight right off a faceoff
• deliberately throw their opponent to the ice during the fight

Is this going to eliminate some fights? Yes, it will. But I don't think it's going to have nearly the negative effect on fighting that some folks might think.

Look at the NHL - most fights there do not feature helmet removal and the players don't waste everybody's time for 30 seconds before engaging either. Fights right off the faceoff are rare as well. Despite all that, fighting in the NHL is up almost 60% since 2005-06.

Guys who want to fight are still going to be able to fight, they just have to keep their helmets on (which means more battered knuckles but isn't going to stop most fighters) and have to get right to business, which I don't think is going to be a problem either after the first couple times they see the linesmen step in early. And they have to pick their spots better, no more jawing at the faceoff and dropping the gloves at the drop of the puck - they'll just have to let the play run for a few seconds first and make an effort to get involved in it. This part will probably be the one which deters some fights, but overall it isn't going to change much for most players, I don't think.

Do I like the new rules? No, not really....I didn't see there being a problem with the fighting rules before. But I don't think the new rules change things all that much either. I'd be surprised if we saw even a 10% decline in fights in the WHL this year. Might be a number worth tracking....

WHL U-16 tournament details

If you live in central Alberta, this might be something worth checking out next month.

We heard reports a while back that the WHL was going to host a tournament for U-16 players, but now the details are out - each of the four western provinces will field a team of 15 year olds (which will certainly encompass most of the top WHL prospects in that age group) which will play a tournament in Blackfalds, AB - just outside Red Deer - in late October.

It'll basically be a showcase for many of the WHL's recent top bantam picks and future stars, which is probably why the WHL is involved in sponsoring the thing. Can't hurt to get your name out there and maybe get some of the top uncommitted 15 year olds to spend a week hobnobbing with the signed-sealed-delivered prospects while surrounded by WHL scouts.

Giants/Rebels deal

Vancouver sends 17 year old defenceman Simon Witt to Red Deer for the Rebels' 2011 3rd round bantam pick.

With the move, the Giants move closer and closer to starting the season with three 16 year old defencemen.

Tuesday notes

Gregg Drinnan did a great job (as always) wrapping up the significant events from the WHL yesterday. Rather than rehash everything, I'll just point you there.

A note today from Edmonton, from the Pipeline Show's blog, where it appears the Oil Kings have settled on their three overagers and released veteran defenceman Garrett Thiessen.

And it sounds like former WHL star Brad Isbister has called it quits on his career.