WHL and the import draft

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Amid talk that the three major junior hockey leagues are wanting to at least review the CHL import draft, the Kamloops Blazers are set to welcome Slovakian defenceman Michal Siska to town today.
Siska, 18, was selected with the 30th pick in the 2008 import draft. The Blazers had taken centre Dalibor Bortnak, another Slovak, with the 18th pick.
Bortnak is playing with the Slovakian under-18 team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament that opens today in Piestany, Slovakia, and Breclav, Czech Republic. He had two assists in a 6-2 loss to the United States on Sunday.
Blazers general manager Craig Bonner said last night that Bortnak is scheduled to arrive in Kamloops on Aug. 20, two days before training camp opens.
Each CHL team is permitted to have two imports on their roster. Bortnak and Siska will fill the holes left by the departures of Finnish right-winger Juuso Puustinen and Slovakian left-winger Ivan Rohac.
“There’s arguments both ways,” Bonner said of the ongoing debate about the import draft. “I understand the work that goes into it. And there’s no doubt . . . with our two guys coming in, it’s a mystery. I’ve never seen them play. I’m going off the agents’ word and hopefully they can play.
“On the other hand, we’ve got 22 teams in the league now . . . is our talent pool getting watered down? Most teams generally have one solid Euro and sometimes two. You take two players out of the mix and you’ve got to look for two more impact guys.”
Bonner signed with the Blazers after six seasons with the Vancouver Giants, who won the 2007 Memorial Cup.
“From a selfish point of view,” he said, “Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak were big parts of us winning the Memorial Cup. For me to say I don’t want Europeans . . . I don’t think I could say that now.”
It isn’t likely to come to that, at least not in the immediate future. OHL teams discussed the draft at the league’s annual meeting in Ottawa over the weekend and decided to make their concerns known to the CHL.
QMJHL president Gilles Courteau is on record as saying changes have to be made and that perhaps it’s time to limit teams to one import or even none.
WHL commissioner Ron Robison doesn’t sound like he is ready to push things that far.
“We’ve had ongoing discussion with the CHL at the board level,” Robison said, “and with our general managers over the years. I think everyone feels it’s time to review the matter in one form or another. We’ve felt that it’s been a good complement to our Canadian talent base and with 22 clubs we feel we need the sources of talent that are out there.
“On the other hand, we agree with what Ontario and Quebec are saying. It’s time to review the system for sure.”
Robison added that he is convinced that WHL teams have room for “at least one” import player.
“But,” he said, “I think the time has come when we should review it and review the system of drafting as well.”
OHL teams expressed concerns about the ability of player agents to manipulate the draft.
“I think relationships are important,” Bonner said, “and as much as sometimes dealing with agents can be tiresome and a lot of work, that’s their job. They are representing players.
“Agents are like anyone else . . . if you’re honest and up front with them, you create a relationship and those relationships pay off. And where they pay off is in the import draft.”
JUST NOTES: The Blazers hockey school is on the ice at Interior Savings Centre this week. Among the veteran players teaching at hockey school are G Justin Leclerc, D Jordan Rowley, D Kurt Torbohm, F Mark Hall, F Alex Rodgers, F Tyler Shattock and F Matt Wray. . . . The Blazers open training camp Aug. 22 with freshmen and veterans reporting. The intrasquad game is scheduled for Aug. 26.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca