Name change in Kamloops . . . AIK gives its blessing to Kylington . . . Blades, Royals cut a deal

F Luke Walker (Portland, 2007-10) signed a one-year extension with the Graz 99ers (Austria, Erste Bank Liga). Last season, in 51 games, he had 19 goals and 12 assists. He led the team in goals and was second in points. . . .
F Jozef Balej (Portland, 1999-2002) signed a one-year contract with Piešťany (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, with Plzeň (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had six goals and six assists in 47 games.
———

The arena that is home to the Kamloops Blazers will have its name changed to The Sandman Centre, effective Sept. 1. The Blazers, the Sandman Hotel Group (SHG) and the City of Kamloops have announced a 10-year deal on the naming rights.
For the past 10 years, the arena has been known as Interior Savings Centre. The Interior Savings Credit Union paid $120,000 per year for the naming rights.
The arena is owned by the city, but financial terms of the deal with SHG weren’t revealed.
Tom Gaglardi, the Blazers’ majority owner and the owner of the NHL‘s Dallas Stars, is president of Northland Properties Corp., which owns SHG. Gaglardi also is chief executive officer of SHG.
Interior Savings Credit Union (ISCU) had hoped to keep the rights and, in fact, entered a bid with that in mind. However, Interior Savings was told a few days ago that the rights were going to SHG.
“We were keenly interested in continuing on,” Gene Creelman, ISCU’s senior vice-president, member of community engagement, told Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week. “There is a process the city follows. We had submitted a good proposal.”
SHG has two properties in Kamloops, the newest having opened across from the Interior Savings Centre in 2014.
“If you look at it from a management or a business perspective, we understand what’s needed there, if one reads between the lines,” Creelman told Hastings.
The arena also has been known as Riverside Coliseum and Sport Mart Place since opening in 1992.
Hastings’ story is right here.
——
The chances of Swedish D Oliver Kylington playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings improved on Wednesday when AIK said it wouldn’t stand in the way of him playing in North America. . . . Kylington was selected by the Calgary Flames in the second round of last month’s NHL draft. The Wheat Kings later selected him in the CHL import draft. . . . Kylington, who is from Stockholm, had signed a two-year contract with AIK, a Swedish professional team. . . . On its website, AIK general manager Anders Gozzi said: “We do not stop Oliver from the opportunity he has been given.” . . . Kylington is quoted as saying: “I went into this season with a full focus on helping AIK (in the) coming season. I really believe in the venture to which the club is now doing and I wanted to be a part of it.” . . . Kylington, 18, will attend the Flames’ rookie camp and then, presumably, main camp. Because he was drafted out of Europe, he could play for the Flames, their AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, or the Wheat Kings in 2015-16.
——
The Everett Silvertips have signed to two players they selected in the CHL’s 2015 import draft -- D Alexander Scherbakov and F Yan Khomenko. . . . Both are 1998-born Russians, although Scherbakov is a late birthday. . . . The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Scherbakov, from Moscow, had five goals and eight assists in 30 games with the U-17 CSKA Moscow side last season. . .  The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Khomenko, from St. Petersburg, had 30 points, 20 of them goals, in 33 games with the U-17 Dynamo Moscow side.
——
Got a tip or some information you feel could be useful to me, feel free to email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
———

THE TRADE WIRE:

The Saskatoon Blades have acquired D Bryton Sayers, 19, from the Victoria Royals for a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2017 WHL bantam draft. Sayers, from Prince Albert, split last season between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Victoria. . . . In 2013-14, he had 11 points, including four goals, with Lethbridge. Last season, he had 10 points, two of them goals, in 38 games with the Hurricanes, and a goal and an assist in 20 games with Victoria. . . . The Royals had acquired Sayers from Lethbridge on Jan. 10, in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . In 2012-13, he was the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League’s defenceman of the year while with the Prince Albert Mintos.
———


The Swift Current Broncos have signed Ryan Smith as their new associate coach. Smith, from Winnipeg, replaces Josh Dixon, who resigned on July 8 and now is director of player development for CAA Sports. . . . Before signing with Humboldt, Smith was the general manager and head coach of the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers for five seasons. . . . “He’s done a lot of coaching,” Mark Lamb, the Broncos‘ GM and head coach, said in a news release. “Ryan has been a coach and GM in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Ryan was short-listed last year when we were filling this position and is ready for this challenge.” . . . Smith spent last season as the general manager and head coach of the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos, who now are looking for a GM/head coach. . . . Smith went to Humboldt after Dean Brockman left to join the Saskatoon Blades as an assistant coach.
——
Randy Cunneyworth has been named head coach of the Rochester Americans, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. . . . This is Cunneyworth’s second stint as head coach of the Americans. He put up a 306-273-61 record from 2000-08. . . . Cunneyworth had been working as Buffalo‘s development coach. . . . He also played 377 games over parts of seven seasons with the Americans.
——
Garth Mitchell is returning as head coach of the midget AAA Yellowhead Chiefs, who play out of Shoal Lake, Man. Mitchell, who earlier was the Chiefs’ head coach for eight seasons, was an assistant coach with the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals for the past three seasons.
——
The NAHL’s Amarillo Bulls introduced Matt Nicholson as their new head coach on Wednesday. He takes over from Jon Rogger, who now is an assistant coach with the Bloomington Thunder. . . . Nicholson has been an assistant coach at Robert Morris U for the past six seasons.
———



The Tri-City Americans have signed F Brett Leason, who was a third-round pick in the WHL`s 2014 bantam draft. From Calgary, the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder had 83 points, 43 of them goals, in 30 games with the Calgary Stampeders of the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League last season.
———

Best courtroom exchange ever pic.twitter.com/GxnvjiX9fC

— Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) July 29, 2015

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.

WHL trade deadline over for another year

The WHL trade deadline arrived on Saturday at noon MT. That’s 11 a.m. Pacific and 1 p.m. Central.
—-

THE NUMBERS:

(Since Dec. 10)
Trades: 38.
Players: 60.
Draft picks: 44.
Conditional draft picks: 8.
—-
Thankfully, the WHL trade deadline has gone by. It slithered past like a snake making its way through the grass in your backyard.
Maybe it’s the impact of social media, but it seems that this thing just gets sleazier and sleazier every year.
This time around, the WHL’s 22 teams were responsible for 60 players being traded since Dec. 10. If each team carries 23 players, there are 506 players in the WHL at any given time.
Granted, not every player traded over the last while was on a WHL roster at the time. But if every one of those players was on a roster, that would mean that 11.9 per cent of those players were moved since Dec. 10.
Yes, there are always going to be trades in the WHL, which is more business and entertainment than anything else. But if the WHL really, really, really cares about the relationship between its players and their education, as it says it does, isn’t it time to move the trade deadline a couple of weeks and have it fall during the Christmas break?
That would allow traded players to get relocated over the break and prepare to enter new schools when they start up again after the New Year holiday.
—
According to Paul Kingsmith of Global TV in Lethbridge, the Hurricanes have made 11 moves since Christmas. As he tweeted, “5 players, 4 picks come in. 8 players, 2 picks head out.”
Pat Siedlecki, the former radio voice of the Hurricanes, then tweeted: “How busy have the Canes been trading? Since start of 2013-14 season: 30 separate trades, involving 47 players and 30 draft picks.”
It’s worth pointing out that between the start of the 2013-14 season and the passing of this trade deadline, the Hurricanes won 22 games.
---
Les Lazaruk, the veteran radio voice of the Saskatoon Blades, pointed out that since the start of the 2013-14 season, and according to the WHL website, the Blades have made 31 trades involving 48 players and 44 draft picks. Lazaruk adds that “only five players remain from last season.” . . . The Blades have won 25 games since the start of the 2013-14 season.
—-
In an interesting exercise, Josh Schroeder at jdschroeder.ca has calculated the total distance travelled by WHL players who have been traded since the end of the Christmas trade moratorium. Give it a look right here.
—-
When one player is traded, the impact is felt in a lot of places and nowhere does it home harder than with his family. In a letter to the Regina Leader-Post, Jeff Hunt, the father of F Dryden Hunt, relates how things went after his son was traded by the Regina Pats to the Medicine Hat Tigers. That letter is right here.
—-

SATURDAY’S TRADES:

The Victoria Royals acquired D Bryton Sayers, 18, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a 2016 fifth-round bantam draft pick. . . . Sayers, from Prince Albert, has two goals and eight assists in 38 games with Lethbridge this season. He was a third-round pick by Lethbridge in the 2011 bantam draft. In 84 career games, he has 21 points, including six goals. . . . In 2012-13, while playing for the Prince Albert Mintos, he was honoured as the Saskatchewan Midget AAA League’s top defenceman. That season, he led all SMAAHL defencemen with 53 points in 44 games.
---
The Swift Current Broncos picked up F Miles Warkentine, 18, from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. . . . A native of Prince Albert, he also has played with the Moose Jaw Warriors, who selected him 16th overall in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . In 19 games this season, he has two goals and an assist. . . . In 125 career games, he has 19 points, including six goals.
---
The Spokane Chiefs acquired F Kolten Olynek, 18, from the Moose Jaw Warriors for a 2015 sixth-round bantam draft pick. . . . Olynek, from Saskatoon, had 10 points, including three goals, in 43 games with the Warriors. . . . He was a second-round pick by the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . In 104 career games, he has 24 points, eight of them goals. . . . The Warriors had acquired Olynek from Lethbridge for F Miles Warkentine in May. Warkentine was dealt by Lethbridge to Swift Current on Saturday, at about the same time that the Warriors were moving Olynek to Spokane. . . .
Having added Olynek, the Chiefs then dropped F Mitch Lipon from their roster. He is expected to join the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires. . . . Lipon, an 18-year-old Regina native, had two goals in 13 games with the Chiefs. In 71 career games, he has 15 points, eight of them goals. . . . He also has played with the Kamloops Blazers and Saskatoon Blades, and is a younger brother of former Blazers F JC Lipon.
---
The Lethbridge Hurricanes, wanting more size in their lineup, acquired D Scott Allan, 18, from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Allan is from Thornton, Colo. . . . He was pointless in 34 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. . . . This season, in Seattle, he had a goal and two assists in 25 games. . . . The Thunderbirds got him from Medicine Hat on Oct. 13, giving up a fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft in the process.
---
The Tri-City Americans acquired D Carter Cochrane, 18, from the Everett Silvertips for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . Cochrane, from Kamloops, has one assist in 31 games with Everett this season. . . . He played last season with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs and was a second-team all-star and on the all-rookie team.
---
The Vancouver Giants acquired F Parker Smyth, 16, from the Saskatoon Blades for a sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. . . . The Blades had selected Smyth, a native of Red Deer, with the 44th pick in the 2013 bantam draft. . . . Smyth, the son of former WHL/NHL F Kevin Smyth and nephew of former WHL/NHL F Ryan Smyth, has 12 points, six of them goals, in 22 games with the midget AAA Red Deer Optimist Chiefs. . . . Last season, Parker played on a line with Vancouver F Tyler Benson at the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna.
—-
The Portland Winterhawks have acquired F Mitch Walter, 18, from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a fourth-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft. Walter, from South Delta, B.C., was a second-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . Last season, he had two assists in 29 games with the Memorial Cup-champion Oil Kings. This season, he has two goals and three assists in 38 games. . . . The Winterhawks were in need of some help up front after F Tyson Predinchuk and F Ethan Price both left the team. . . . Brian Swane of the Edmonton Sun pointed out that Walter is only the second player Oil Kings GM Randy Hansch has traded since taking over as GM in the summer of 2013. The other was D Stephen Shmoorkoff, 20, who was dealt to the Swift Current Broncos. He now is with the AJHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders.
—-

TRADE DEADLINE DEALS:

(All draft picks in bantam draft)
Dec. 10 . . .
To Kelowna: D Josh Morrissey (95), F Gage Quinney (95).
To Prince Albert: D Jesse Lees (95), F Austin Glover (96), 2016 second-round pick, 2017 third-round pick.
---
Dec. 12 . . .
To Red Deer: D Nelson Nogier (96), F Austin Adamson (96).
To Saskatoon: F Mason McCarty (97), 2015 second-round pick, 2016 first-round pick.
---
Dec. 16 . . .
To Calgary: G Thatcher Demko, 19, who is at Boston College.
To Spokane: Conditional draft picks. Guy Flaming of The Pipeline Show tweeted that he had it as a second-rounder in 2015 and a second- or third-rounder in 2016.
---
Dec. 27 . . .
To Swift Current: D Griffin Foulk, 19.
To Lethbridge: Conditional eighth-round pick in 2016.
---
Dec. 27 . . .
To Red Deer: D Colton Bobyk, 18, and a 2016 fourth-round pick.
To Spokane: D Nick Charif, 19, a second-round 2015 pick and a conditional sixth-round 2016 selection.
---
Jan. 2 . . .
To Brandon: F Morgan Klimchuk, 19.
To Regina: F Jesse Gabrielle, 17.
---
Jan. 5 . . .
To Medicine Hat: D Kyle Burroughs, 19, and F Dryden Hunt, 19.
To Regina: D Connor Hobbs, 17, and two draft picks -- second-rounder in 2016 and third-rounder in 2015.
---
Jan. 5 . . .
To Saskatoon: D Kolton Dixon, 19.
To Red Deer: G Trevor Martin, 18.
---
Jan. 5 . . .
To Red Deer: F Connor Gay, 19, and three bantam draft picks -- a first-rounder in 2016, a second in 2015 and a seventh in 2017.
To Regina: F Jake Leschyshyn, 15, and a fourth-round pick in 2017.
---
Jan. 5 . . .
To Brandon: D Reid Gow, 20.
To Spokane: A fifth-round pick, Spokane’s option for 2015 or 2016.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Kelowna: F Leon Draisaitl, 19.
To Prince Albert: F Tomas Schmidli, 18, D Dalton Yorke, 18, and three bantam draft picks -- a first-rounder in 2015, a fourth-rounder in 2016 and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2016 or 2017.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Prince George: D Tomas Andrlik, 19.
To Prince Albert: A 12th-round pick in 2015.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Moose Jaw: D Connor Clouston, 18.
To Kamloops: A fifth-round pick in 2017.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Calgary: G Brendan Burke, 19.
To Portland: G Evan Johnson, 18, and a fourth-round pick in 2016.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Lethbridge: D Brady Reagan, 17.
To Regina: F Taylor Cooper, 19.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Victoria: F Alex Forsberg, 19, a third-round pick in 2015 and a fourth-round pick in 2016.
To Saskatoon: F Brayden Dunn, 16, and a first-round pick in 2017.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Portland: D Adam Henry, 20.
To Saskatoon: A second-round pick 2017.
---
Jan. 6 . . .
To Moose Jaw: F Axel Blomqvist, 19, a third-round pick in 2015 and a fifth-round pick in 2017.
To Victoria: D Alexey Sleptsov, 18, G Justin Paulic, 19, and a sixth-round pick in 2015.
—-
Jan. 7 . . .
To Tri-City: F Tyler Sandhu, 18.
To Red Deer: Fourth-round picks in 2015 and 2016.
---
Jan. 7 . . .
To Kamloops: D Marc McNulty, 19, and a 2016 sixth-round draft pick.
To Prince George: D Josh Connolly, 19, and a 2015 sixth-round draft pick.
---
Jan. 7 . . .
To Saskatoon: D Brycen Martin, 18, and a conditional 2017 fifth-round draft pick.
To Swift Current: D Jordan Thomson, 18, and a 2016 first-round draft pick (originally belonged to Red Deer).
—-
Jan. 8 . . .
To Kootenay: D Lenny Hackman, 19.
To Lethbridge: A 12th-round pick in the 2015 draft.
—-
Jan. 8 . . .
To Saskatoon: F Mitch Skapski, 18, and 2015 fifth-round draft pick.
To Victoria: A 2016 fifth-round draft pick.
—-
Jan. 8 . . .
To Lethbridge: G Jayden Sittler, 18.
To Victoria: A 2016 seventh-round draft pick.
—-
Jan. 8 . . .
To Seattle: F Cory Millette, 19.
To Prince Albert: A sixth-round pick in the 2015 or 2016 bantam draft.
—-
Jan. 9 . . .
To Kelowna: F Chance Braid, 20.
To Prince George: F Brogan O’Brien, 17.
---
Jan. 9 . . .
To Edmonton: D Marshall Donald, 19.
To Calgary: A 2015 fourth-round draft pick.
—-
Jan. 9 . . .
To Kamloops: F Joel Hamilton, 20.
To Vancouver: A 2017 sixth-round draft pick.
—-
Jan. 9 . . .
To Lethbridge: F Mike Winther, 20.
To Kamloops: A 2017 eighth-round draft pick.
—-
Jan. 9 . . .
To Vancouver: F Zane Jones, 20.
To Lethbridge: F Johnny Wesley, 17.
—-
Jan. 10 . . .
To Victoria: D Bryton Sayers, 18.
To Lethbridge: A 2016 fifth-round bantam draft pick.
---
Jan. 10 . . .
To Swift Current: F Miles Warkentine, 18.
To Lethbridge: A conditional seventh-round pick in the 2017 bantam draft.
---
Jan. 10 . . .
To Spokane: D Kolten Olynek, 18.
To Moose Jaw: A 2015 sixth-round bantam draft pick.
---
Jan. 10 . . .
To Lethbridge: D Scott Allan, 18.
To Seattle: A fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
---
Jan. 10 . . .
To Vancouver: F Parker Smyth, 16.
To Saskatoon: A  sixth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
---
Jan. 10 . . .
To Tri-City: D Carter Cochrane, 18.
To Everett: A conditional seventh-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft.
—-
Jan. 10 . . .
To Portland: F Mitch Walter, 18.
To Edmonton: A fourth-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft.

THE END!

There has never been a subscription fee for this blog, but if you enjoy stopping by here, why not consider donating to the cause? Just click HERE. . . and thank you very much.