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F Josh Nicholls (Saskatoon, 2008-13) has signed a one-year contract with Litvínov (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, with the Colorado Eagles (ECHL), he had 11 goals and 21 assists in 30 games. He also had a goal and three assists in six games with the Straubing Tigers (Germany, DEL). . . .
G Kevin Nastiuk (Medicine Hat, 2001-05) has signed a one-year contract with the Coventry Blaze (England, UK Elite). Last season, with Dresden (Germany, DEL2), he was 16-6-0, 1.99, .938 with one shutout in 25 games. He led the league in GAA and save percentage. . . . Nastiuk will attend Coventry University Business School while playing for the Blaze. . . .
F Petr Vala (Seattle, 1997-98) has signed a one-year contract with Zell am See (Austria, Alps HL). Last season, with Lustenau (Austria, Alps HL), he had 17 goals and 25 assists in 38 games. He led his team in goals and points. . . .
D Vladimír Mihalik (Red Deer, Prince George, 2005-07) has signed a one-year extension with Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, Extraliga). Last season, he had two goals and nine assists in 52 games.
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The WHL released its 2017-18 regular-season schedule on Tuesday. Check your favourite team’s website for more info.
As usual, there are some quirks . . .
For example, the Portland Winterhawks will play four straight games against the Kelowna Rockets in a span of eight days (Oct. 14-21). Those are the only times the teams, who are projected as two of the
Later, the Winterhawks and Kamloops Blazers will play three of their four games on consecutive nights (Jan. 26-28). They will play in Kamloops on Friday and Saturday nights, then head for Portland and a Sunday game.
That nifty bit of scheduling brought this response from a Portland follower:
“I give up — it is so evident that common sense left the scheduling process years ago. . . . As far as the three-game set against the Blazers . . . does the league know this is hockey and not baseball where three-game series are common? . . . It’s obvious that the league doesn’t care two cents about their customer base . . . and more importantly doesn’t care two cents about the quality of play that those customers are going to be watching.”
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The Regina Pats, the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup, are looking at two eight-game road swings, one from Nov. 18 through Dec. 6 when the Canadian Western Agribition takes over the Brandt Centre in late November, and the other from Feb. 19 through March 8 when the Canadian men’s curling championship is in the house. The Pats will play three games in three days on two occasions, which is nine fewer than the Everett Silvertips.
The Silvertips’ schedule calls for them to play three games in three nights on 11 occasions. That includes three in January, three in February and one in March.
One fan from the Pacific Northwest tells me that Everett will play three games in three nights in three different cities on three occasions, while the Seattle Thunderbirds, the reigning champions, do that four times.
“That produces bad hockey,” the fan wrote. “It’s not good for the players or the fans.”
Keep in mind that three games in three nights actually means three games in fewer than 48 hours.
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The Saskatoon Blades will open the season with four straight home games — in 15 days. Les Lazaruk, the veteran radio voice of the Blades, tweeted that the only other time Saskatoon played its first four games at home was 1972. The Blades will open on Sept. 22 against the Swift Current Broncos, but then won’t play again until Sept. 29 when they entertain the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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Calgary didn't sign Eetu Tuulola by June 15 deadline, so he returns to HPK of the Finnish league https://t.co/BgTsG5RTuT— Jesse Geleynse (@JesseGeleynse) June 27, 2017
F Eetu Tuulola won’t be back for a second season with the Everett Silvertips. Instead, he will be playing for HPK in his native Finland.
Last season, as an 18-year-old freshman, Tuulola had 18 goals and 13 assists in 62 games while on loan
to the Silvertips from HPK with whom he had signed a three-year contract.
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| EETU TUULOLA |
The Calgary Flames selected Tuulola in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. The Flames have yet to sign Tuulola, but because they drafted him out of Europe — and not off a CHL team’s roster — they hold his rights for four seasons.
With two seasons left on that HPK contract, Tuulola will return to Finland and play there. For him to remain in Everett, the Flames would have had to buy out the deal with HPK and then sign him. With Calgary choosing not to do that, HPK has brought him home.
This means that the Silvertips will select two players in today’s CHL import draft. F Dominic Zwerger, their other import last season, has played out his junior eligibility.
The draft is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. PT, with the OHL’s Barrie Colts making the first selection. They are expected to take Russian F Andrei Svechnikov, who is seen by observers as a possible No. 1 selection in the NHL’s 2018 draft.
From Barnaul, Russia, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Svechnikov had 29 goals and 29 assists in 48 games with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks last season.
The Kootenay Ice, the first WHL team on the board, hold the third selection.
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Here are a few more WHL players who are in NHL development camps as undrafted free agents:
D Jonathan Smart, 18, of the Regina Pats has been invited to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ camp, as has F Ethan McIndoe of the Spokane Chiefs. McIndoe will turn 18 on July 22.
D Aaron Irving, who completed his junior eligibility with the Everett Silvertips last season, is with the Vancouver Canucks. He was selected by the Nashville Predators in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL draft but went unsigned.
F Giorgio Estephan of the Lethbridge Hurricanes will skate with the Minnesota Wild. Estephan, 20, was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2015 draft. The Sabres didn’t sign him, then he went undrafted last weekend.
D Nolan Kneen, 18, of the Kamloops Blazers was invited to camp by the Florida Panthers.
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So much for the fishing trip! Instead of going fishing with his family, G Dylan Ferguson of the Kamloops Blazers found himself in Las Vegas on Tuesday. That’s because the NHL’s expansion Las Vegas franchise picked him up from the Dallas Stars in a trade on Monday and now he’s at the Golden Knights’ development camp. . . . There’s more right here.
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The Vancouver Giants have signed G Todd Scott to a WHL contract. Scott, 17, was a 10th-round selection in the WHL’s 2015 bantam draft. From Albertville, Minn., he played last season with the NAHL’s Coulee Region Chill and the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. He was 3.56, .904 in 15 appearances with the Chill, and 2.51, .903 in seven games with the Musketeers. He also was 2.00, .912 in three games with the U-16 Omaha AAA Lancers. . . . The Giants finished last season with two goaltenders on their roster — Ryan Kubic, now 19, and David Tendeck, who won’t turn 18 until Nov. 25. Also on their depth chart: Trent Miner, 16, of Souris, Man., who was a first-round selection in the 2016 bantam draft; and Jacob Wassermann, 17, of Humboldt, Sask., who was taken in the eighth round of the 2015 bantam draft.
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Trevor Redden is the new play-by-play man for the Prince Albert Raiders. . . . Redden had been the business manager and radio voice of the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. . . . Drew Wilson, the team’s radio voice on CKBI, moved to Saskatoon following last season and now is part of the sports department of the Saskatoon Media Group, which is headed up by Les Lazaruk, who does the Saskatoon Blades’ games.
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There was a time when F Kyle Beach may have been the most-despised player in the WHL. Beach played for the Everett Silvertips, Lethbridge Hurricanes and Spokane Chiefs. He could score and scrap and stick and all of that stuff. Oh, he was disliked. The complete package was enough for the Chicago Blackhawks to select him 11th overall in the 2008 NHL draft. Now playing in Austria, Beach has yet to get into even one NHL game. With last weekend’s draft in Chicago, David Haugh spoke with Beach filed this piece right here to the Chicago Tribune.
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5 years ago Nail Yakupov & Mikhail Grigorenko were considered the 2 "best" players in the draft. Today they didn't get qualifying offers.— Bill Hoppe (@BillHoppeNHL) June 27, 2017
A tip of the cap to Bobby Pillote of Awful Announcing for this piece on the silliness of ranking drafts immediately after they are held. . . . He writes: “Draft grades are also almost entirely meaningless; a single set of draft grades is about as likely to predict the future as Stephen A. Smith is likely to correctly pick the winner of the NBA Finals.” . . . He also provides a number of NBA- and NFL-related examples. No, he doesn’t mention the NHL, but the tweet above is self-explanatory.
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The Victoria Royals have signed J.F. Best, 33, as an assistant coach. Last season, the Ottawa native was an assistant coach with the CCHL’s Kanata Lasers and their U-18 AAA affiliate. . . . On the Royals’ staff, he will fill the vacancy created when Dan Price moved up to head coach after Dave Lowry signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. . . . Best has worked in performance analysis with the Danish Ice Hockey Federation since 2015, including at the 2017 World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto, and at the 2017 Worlds in Cologne and Paris. . . . He spent one season (2015-16) as director of performance analysis with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. In 2013-14, he was on staff with the Tri-City Americans as performance analyst and hockey operations assistant.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks revealed Tuesday that Ben Cooper, their video assistant coach, no longer is with the team. Cooper is a former Royals assistant coach.
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Rod Aldoff has left the Pensacola Ice Flyers after a second stint as the SPHL team’s head coach. Aldoff, who is from Lethbridge, began last season as the head coach of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, but was fired on Nov. 29 after a 2-11-4 start. He was hired to coach the Ice Flyers on Feb. 14 -- there were 20 games left in the regular season -- after Kevin Hasselberg was fired. The Ice Flyers went on to lose out in the second round of the playoffs. . . . Through all of this, Aldoff has been under contract to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. . . . Earlier in his coaching career, Aldoff guided the Ice Flyers to a pair of SPHL titles.
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Don Cherry is going to be so mad when we announce our incoming freshmen later today and only sees one Canadian…— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) June 27, 2017
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D Juraj Valach (Tri-City, Vancouver, Regina, Red Deer, 2006-08) signed a one-year contract with Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia, KHL). He had been on a tryout with Medveščak Zagreb (Croatia, KHL). Last season, with Slavia Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga), he had six goals and seven assists in 43 games. . . .
F Edgars Kulda (Edmonton, 2012-15) signed a one-year contract with Dinamo Riga (Latvia, KHL) after a successful tryout. Last season, with the Edmonton Oil Kings, he had 13 goals and 17 assists in 47 games. On Thursday, he played in a 3-1 exhibition game victory over Lada Togliatti. He was on the first line with Lauris Dārziņš (Kelowna, 2004-06) and ex-NJ Devils C Tim Sestito.
— Latvian Rodrigo Abols and Swede Carl Ericson — are forwards. . . . Abols, 19, had 38 points, 20 of them goals, in 35 games last season with HK Riga of the Molodezhnaya Hockey League. He also got into 15 games with Dinamo Riga of the KHL, putting up a goal and four assists. He also played for Latvia at the IIHF World championship. . . . Ericson, 19, had 42 points, including 16 goals, in 43 games with Leksand’s U-20 side. He also got into 11 games with the Leksand team in the SHL, a Swedish pro league. . . . The Winterhawks may lose their top three scorers from last season — Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nic Petan and Chase De Leo — which means Abols and Ericson will be looked to for some offence. The Winterhawks will be wanting both to be in their top six forwards.
Meanwhile, Vojtech Budik tweeted on Monday afternoon: “Next season I will play for @PARaidersHockey.” . . . Budik, a 17-year-old defenceman, is from Czech Republic. He was selected by the Raiders in the CHL’s 2015 import draft. . . . Last season, he had 12 points, including three goals, in 12 games with the Czech U-18 team, and added five assists in 19 games with the Czech U-20 side.
If you are a Brandon Wheat Kings fan living in Manitoba, you are able to purchase a specialty license plate that salutes your favourite team. Brian Smiley, a spokesman with Manitoba Public Insurance, has told Brandon radio station CKLQ that almost 800 Manitoba motorists have purchased the plates, which go for $70 apiece. . . . CKLQ reports that “part of the proceeds from Wheat Kings plates go towards supporting the Brandon Humane Society.”
down to a short list of three candidates. . . . DeGray is looking to replace Greg Ireland, who resigned earlier this month and now is the head coach of Adler Mannheim in Germany. . . . DeGray told Bill Walker of the Owen Sound Sun Times that he heard from more than 60 applicants. . . . DeGray hopes to have a coach in place before Aug. 6. He is managing Canada’s U-18 team that leaves then for Europe and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament. . . . DeGray also told Walker that “I don't hire friends . . . I would prefer to keep friendships than to have to fire a coach and lose a friend. There are lots of qualified guys out there.” . . . Walker’s complete story is 
won in four, five and six games, which, if you are into omens, might indicate the Rockets will win the final in seven. . . . The Wheat Kings have scored 65 goals in their 15 games; the Rockets have scored 65. . . . Brandon has surrendered 34 goals; Kelowna 39. . . . Kelowna fell behind in five of the six games in its 4-2 Western Conference final victory over the Portland Winterhawks. . . . As for injuries, Brandon F Reid Duke, F Tanner Kaspick and D Kale Clague have been practising this week. Duke was injured in Game 5 of a second-round series. Kaspick and Clague went down in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. . . . The Rockets will be without F Tyrell Goulbourne, who underwent surgery last week to repair a skate cut to his left calf. F Rourke Chartier, a 48-goal scorer in the regular season, is day-to-day after missing the last three games against Portland. . . . Here’s an interesting tidbit from Brandon Sun sports editor Rob Henderson: “The combined 226 points that Brandon and Kelowna racked up this season are more than any other pair of finalists except 1979 when the Wheat Kings (with a league-record 125 points) topped the Portland Winterhawks (111) for the WHL title.” 
also owns the Portland Winterhawks. Perhaps you are wondering that the move might mean to the Winterhawks. If so, here’s what Winterhawks president Doug Piper told Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune:
Ryan Donald has signed on as assistant GM and assistant coach with the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters. He had been the head coach and assistant GM of the Woodstock Slammers of the junior A Maritime Hockey League. He is a graduate of Yale who captain the Bulldogs. He also played in the AJHL with the Fort Saskatchewan Traders and Camrose Kodiaks. In Trail, he will be working with GM/head coach Nick Deschenes and assistant coaches Craig Clare and Barry Zanier.
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