Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers will make two selections in today’s CHL import draft.
The WHL team is looking to replace Finnish right-winger Juuso Puustinen and
Slovakian left-winger Ivan Rohac, neither of whom will be returning for a
third season.
Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner, who is into his third month in
office, said Wednesday that he has been working through Gerry Johannson, a
player agent with The Sports Corporation, an Edmonton-based agency.
“I’ve known Gerry a long time and we’ve always had a good relationship,”
Bonner said Wednesday, referring to Johannson, a former WHL defenceman and
assistant coach. “I think he’s a pretty loyal guy and I respect that. He’s
definitely been the guy I’ve been talking to.”
Johannson and Ritch Winter, who also works out of The Sports Corporation,
have long had a relationship with the Vancouver Giants, where Bonner spent
the previous six seasons.
“Relationships are huge,” Bonner explained. “I want to really build some
relationships with some agents. I think the relationships we were able to
build in Vancouver are going to pay off a little bit here with the European
draft.
“Everyone wants to draft a good player — that’s not a secret — but you have
to establish relationships with some guys so they’ll have faith in us and
know their (players) are going to a good program.”
Johannson has provided Bonner with a list of potential players that, in
essence, is a rating of The Sports Corporation’s draft-eligible clients.
Bonner said that when it’s the Blazers’ turn, he plans on taking the best
player off that list.
“I don’t know these guys,” Bonner said. “I have no idea. I have never seen
them play.”
Bonner knows that when it comes to the import draft, it’s all about being
able to trust player agents.
“If we take one of Gerry’s guys, he’s going to do his darnedest to make sure
the guy comes,” Bonner said. “If he doesn’t come, I know at least Gerry did
all he could to get him here. There’s no hidden agenda with his guys.”
The draft is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m., with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves
holding the first pick. The first six teams to pick are allowed 15 minutes
per selection, after which it’s 10 minutes. The Portland Winter Hawks, the
first WHL team and third overall, will be on the clock at 6:30 a.m. The Red
Deer Rebels (sixth), Prince George Cougars (ninth), Edmonton Oil Kings
(12th) and Prince Albert Raiders (15th) are the WHL teams scheduled to pick
before Kamloops.
The Blazers will use their own pick to select 18th overall, at around 9:20
a.m. They also will pick 30th, using a selection acquired from the Kelowna
Rockets a year ago. At that time, the Blazers gave up their 2007 first-round
pick (43rd overall) for the Rockets’ first selection in 2008. The Blazers
are scheduled to make that pick at around 11:20 a.m.
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And then there were three.The Blazers’ search for a new head coach has produced a short list
containing three names and, as of Wednesday afternoon, an offer was being
prepared for one of those candidates.
Bonner is being close-mouthed about who is on that list but one of them is
believed to be Barry Smith, who was fired in April after five years on the
coaching staff of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.
“We’re just putting together kind of what we’re thinking of for offers,”
Bonner said. “I like to think we’re real close.
“We’ve identified three guys that I feel real comfortable with. Now we’re
just prioritizing them and coming up with what kind of offer we’re going to
make.”
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For the first time in franchise history, the Blazers didn’t have any players
off their roster selected in the NHL draft.
There was believed to have been a chance RW Tyler Shattock, LW Shayne Wiebe
or D Jordan Rowley might be selected, but it didn’t happen.
Since the weekend, however, Shattock has heard from at least two NHL teams —
the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs — so is likely to attend a pro
camp on a tryout basis.
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Are you ready for a little hockey? In August?
The Blazers will get the WHL exhibition schedule started on Aug. 29 when
they visit the Giants in Ladner. The Giants will play in Kamloops the
following night.
Those are two of six preseason games the Blazers will play, all of them
against B.C. Division teams.
The Blazers also will play home-and-home exhibition series with the
Chilliwack Bruins and Prince George Cougars. Chilliwack is to visit Kamloops
on Sept. 5 with the teams meeting in Chilliwack the next night. The Blazers
and Cougars will meet in Prince George on Sept. 11 and back in Kamloops on
Sept. 12.
While an opponent isn’t yet known — the Western Conference’s 10 teams are to
hold their scheduling meeting in Kelowna on July 24 — the Blazers will open
the regular season on Sept. 19.
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NOTES: Four WHL teams — the Everett Silvertips, Edmonton Oil Kings,
Saskatoon Blades and Tri-City Americans — will play host to preseason
tournaments. . . . The entire WHL exhibition schedule is available at
whl.ca. . . . Scott Beattie, the former GM/head coach of the KIJHL’s
Kimberley Dynamiters, has been added to the coaching staff of the Kootenay
Ice. He replaces Colin Patterson, who signed on in May as head coach of the
Peterborough Phantoms of England’s Premier League.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca