Charron working to put pieces together

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Guy Charron must have felt like someone faced with putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
It was Monday, the day after the WHL’s trade deadline, and the Kamloops Blazers’ head coach was trying to put together the pieces.
His team, which will face the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday, is on its first two-game winning streak since early November. But that team now has a decidedly different look, what with defenceman Zak Stebner and right-wingers Tyler Shattock and Jimmy Bubnick having been dealt to the Calgary Hitmen.
To further complicate matters, Charron hadn’t yet seen centre Chase Schraber or defenceman Austin Madaisky, the two players who came the other way in that deal. Road conditions prevented their arrival in time for yesterday’s practice.
From a coaching perspective, however, Charron is faced with filling minutes. Shattock, 19, and Bubnick, 18, played regular shifts on the team’s top two lines and also got power-play time. They also has accounted for 39 Goals, with 16 of those coming via the PP.
“The biggest impact will probably be on the power play,” Charron said.
And then he pointed to the likes of Colin Smith, 16, Jordan DePape, 17, and Brendan Ranford, 18, as players who are going to be given more opporunities to contribute.
“A guy like (Smith) will have a lot more opportunity to produce in that area,” Charron stated. “DePape was playing on the power play. Then you’ve got Ranford. . . . There’s no doubt that there are goals that we are going to have to find somewhere.”
The conversation repeatedly comes back to Smith, the seventh overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft who spent a lot of this season playing alongside Shattock.
“I see (Smith) certainly having the ability to help,” Charron said. “He’s going to play more on the power play on a consistent basis and will have more of an opportunity to produce.
“Is it asking too much of a young guy? I don’t know. He has the ability and he’s got the skill. He eventually will have to play that role with this team.
“It’s his time to be on one of the top two lines offensively and I think he has that ability. Now it’s a matter of finding the proper wingers for him and letting him go. That’s how they develop.”
Charron also said he anticipates using Schaber, who has six PP goals among his eight goals this season, with the man advantage.
“He’s got six power-play goals so maybe he’s one of those guys who will be able to fill some of that loss,” Charron said. “After that . . . other people are going to have an opportunity. To say exactly who . . .”
Charron also is faced with sorting through an abundance of centres to find players to skate on the right side. He spent some of Monday talking with players only to find that centres like C.J. Stretch and Dalibor Bortnak have never played on the wing.
“(Bubnick and Shattock) on the right side combined for pretty substantial numbers offensively,” Charron said. “To say who will and will not . . . time will tell. But guys will be given those opportunities.
Of late, Charron has been pleased with a line that features sophomore Jake Trask with freshmen Dylan Willick and Matej Bene. But, the coach said, he may be looking for more offence from Trask, a sophomore who has 10 goals but is a streak scorer.
“Trask is going to get more power-play time because we are going to have to find ways to make it work,” Charron said. “Right now, he‘s in more of a defensive role. His line hasn’t hurt us at all. If anything, that has been a very consistent line since they have been together.”
Trask and Willick also have turned into a top-notch penalty-killing unit, but that is something that may change if Trask ends up with ample power-play time.
Asked what his lines might look like come Wednesday night, Charron laughed and admitted he didn’t have a clue.
“I’ve been looking at my board and trying to make the puzzle fit,” he said. “It will be a juggling act for the first little while and see if we can get as quickly as possible some chemistry with the lines.”
Through it all, though, one thing is for certain and that is that the young players on this team should be excited because there is ample playing time to be earned these days.
“Absolutey . . . Absolutely,” Charron said.
JUST NOTES: NHL Central Scouting released its midseason rankings Monday. The rankings of North American skaters eligible for the NHL’s 2010 draft include two Blazers — Madaisky at No. 59 and Ranford at No. 168. . . . F Sahir Gill, whose WHL rights belong to the Blazers, has returned to the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Gill, 18, left the national champion-Vipers over the summer and joined the USHL’s Chicago Steel. However, he left the Steel last week. Gill, whose rights the Blazers obtained from the Vancouver Giants for a conditional draft pick, has committed to attending Boston University and playing for the Terriers in the fall. . . . D Wes McLeod of Kamloops was traded Sunday by the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints. McLeod, 19, and four other players, all 19 or 20, were traded to various teams, all for future considerations.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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