Showing posts with label Saskatoon Blades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saskatoon Blades. Show all posts

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Quiet Thursday rocked by two WHL trades; d-man, goalie on move ... Hey, Tri-City, Eli's coming!


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 G Ville Kolppanen (Lethbridge, 2009-10) has signed a one-year contract with Rögle Ängelholm (Sweden, SHL). Last season, with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (Russia, KHL), he was 9-14-3, 2.80, .917 in 30 games. He also had two shutouts. . . .
D Alex Plante (Calgary, 2004-09) has signed a one-year extension with Anyang Halla (South Korea, Asia HL). Last season, he had 12 goals and 12 assists in 48 games. He led all Asia League defencemen in goals. Plante has dual South Korean-Canadian citizenship.
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 The Saskatoon Blades have acquired D Seth Bafaro, 17, from the Tri-City Americans in exchange for a
SETH BAFARO
pair of WHL bantam draft picks — a third-rounder selection in 2019 and a fifth-round pick in 2020.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Bafaro, who is from Revelstoke, B.C., had one assist in 28 games with the Americans last season as a 16-year-old freshman. He battled injuries through the season, which limited his playing time.
Tri-City selected him in the third round of the 2015 bantam draft.
With the addition of Bafaro, the Blades could have seven defencemen in training camp with WHL experience. Only Bryton Sayers, who has used up his eligibility, won’t be back.
The Americans, with a surplus of young defencemen, were able to move Bafaro and get a decent return in a pair of draft picks.
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The Spokane Chiefs have acquired G Declan Hobbs from the Kootenay Ice for a seventh-round selection in the 2018 WHL bantam draft.
A third-round pick by the Ice in the 2013 draft, Hobbs, who is scheduled to turn 19 on Aug. 19, got into
DECLAN HOBBS
three games with Kootenay last season, going 0-3, 7.16, .800. He spent most of last season with the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks (1.94, .929 in 13 games).
In 2015-16, Hobbs, who is from Saskatoon, made 24 appearances with the Ice, going 2-14-3, 4.66, .873.
With the acquisition of Hobbs, the Chiefs now have one goaltender from each of five age groups on their depth chart, the others being Dawson Weatherill, 18; Donovan Buskey, 17; Ross Hawryluk, 16; and Campbell Arnold, 15. Hawryluk, a fifth-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft, and Arnold, taken in the second round in 2017, aren’t signed to WHL contracts.
Weatherill was 11-14-6 in 36 games last season, while Buskey, in four games, went 0-2-1, 4.25, .866.
Hobbs is the younger brother of Regina Pats D Connor Hobbs, who has signed with the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
Barring more moves, the Ice is expected to go into camp with Mario Petit, 20, and Jakob Walter, 18, scrapping for the starting role. Petit was acquired from the Everett Silvertips in May for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2018 draft.
In Everett, Petit backed up veteran workhorse Carter Hart. In 22 games, Petit was 11-5-4, 2.93, .896.
Walter, a second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft, got into 30 games while backing up Payton Lee, then 20, last season. Walter finished 4-17-2, 5.02, .868.
Also on the Ice depth chart are the likes of Jesse Makaj and Carter Woodside, both 16. Makaj, from North Vancouver, was a second-round pick in the 2016 bantam draft, while Woodside, from Asquith, Sask., was a sixth-round selection in that same draft.
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Concussion Report

 “Former B.C. Lions’ defensive lineman Rick Klassen may have died of lymphoma in December, but an autopsy of his brain has shown extensive chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurological disease that has led to such suspected symptoms as erratic behaviour and dementia,” writes Allan Maki of The Globe and Mail. . . . This one hits close to home, because Klassen’s son, Chad, is an acquaintance as he is a reporter with CFJC-TV here in Kamloops. As well, Rick Klassen played in the CFL while I was involved in coverage for the Regina Leader-Post. . . . One really has to wonder how many more stories like this one will develop as players of Rick Klassen’s generation reach 60 years of age? . . . Maki’s story is right here.
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Coaching

 The Tri-City Americans have hired Eli Wilson as their goaltending coach. He replaces Rejean Beauchemin, who had been with the Americans for two seasons. . . . Wilson is a veteran goaltending coach who has worked with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators. He also has been on staff with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. . . . Jerry Price, the father of G Carey Price of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, remains with the Americans as a goaltending consultant. Carey spent four seasons (2003-07) with the Americans.
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Jason Christie, a former WHL player, is the new head coach of the ECHL’s Jacksonville IceMen, who are affiliated with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. Christie is a veteran ECHL coach, having put up a record of 547-349-111 in 14 seasons. He also has a history with the Jets, having worked with previous affiliates in Ontario and Tulsa. He spent the past two seasons as the Tulsa Oilers’ head coach. Prior to that, he was the Ontario Reign’s director of hockey operations and head coach for four seasons. . . . Christie, from Gibbons, Alta., played four seasons (1986-90) with the Saskatoon Blades. . . . The Jacksonville franchise has morphed from the Muskegon Fury (1992-2008) to the Muskegon Lumberjacks (2008-10) to the Evansville IceMen (2010-16). The franchise sat out the 2016-17 season.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:52 PM
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Seattle head coach off to NHL ... Change the import draft? Why not? ... Portland got "a stud"


F Roman Tománek (Calgary, Seattle, 2004-06) has signed a one-year contract with Freiburg (Germany, DEL2). Last season, with Banská Bystrica (Slovakia, Extraliga), he had one goal and three assists in 17 games. He was loaned to Dukla Trenčín (same) on Jan. 3, and had a goal and three assists in nine games. . . .
F Jacob Doty (Seattle, Medicine Hat, 2009-14) has signed a one-year contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). Last season, with the Chicago Wolves (AHL), he had one assist in four games; he also had five goals and six assists in 11 games with the Missouri Mavericks (ECHL).
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STEVE KONOWALCHUK
The WHL-champion Seattle Thunderbirds are looking for a new head coach after the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks announced on Wednesday that they have signed Steve Konowalchuk as an assistant coach.
Konowalchuk, 44, was the Thunderbirds’ head coach for six seasons. The Thunderbirds reached the WHL final in 2016, where they lost to the Brandon Wheat Kings. In 2017, the Thunderbirds won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, beating the Regina Pats, 4-2, in the best-of-seven final. That was the Thunderbirds’ first WHL title.

Konowalchuk was 219-176-37 in regular-season games with Seattle. He joined the Thunderbirds on June 16, 2011, after spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He also played in the NHL, with the Washington Capitals and Colorado, after spending two seasons (1990-92) with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
Of the U.S. Division’s five teams, only Portland (Mike Johnston) and the Tri-City Americans (Mike Williamson) will return with the same head coach as last season.
The Everett Silvertips, who finished on top of the division, didn’t renew head coach Kevin Constantine’s contract. He will coach in South Korea next season. Dennis Williams is Everett’s new head coach.
The Spokane Chiefs have hired Dan Lambert, a former WHL star defenceman who coached in Kelowna, to replace Don Nachbaur, the head coach for the previous seven seasons. Nachbaur now is an assistant coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles.
The Kings also signed Dave Lowry, the head coach of the Victoria Royals for the previous five seasons, as an assistant coach. The Royals have since promoted assistant coach Dan Price to head coach.
At the moment, Seattle and the Calgary Hitmen are the only two of the WHL’s 22 teams without head coaches. The Hitmen are looking to replace Mark French, who left after three seasons to coach in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Ducks also added Mark Morrison to their staff as an assistant coach. Morrison, 54, is a former WHL player (Victoria Cougars, 1979-83). He spent four seasons (2007-11) as the GM/head coach of the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings. For the past six seasons, he has been assistant coach in the Winnipeg Jets’ organization, first with the St. John’s IceCaps and for the past two seasons with the Manitoba Moose.

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The CHL’s 2017 import draft was held Wednesday and I posted a lengthy look at the WHL teams and their selections a short while after it ended.
Included in that report was a link to a Saskatoon StarPhoenix story in which Blades general manager Colin Priestner commented on the intricacies of this draft.
Shortly after I posted that piece, I heard from Jeff Hollick, a former long-time radio voice of the Kootenay Ice. Hollick sent me a link to a piece that he had written for dubnetwork.ca on how to provide teams with a more level playing field in the import draft. That piece is right here.
As the Ice’s play-by-play voice, Hollick would have spent a lot of time around Jeff Chynoweth, then the team’s general manager. While not necessarily opposed to the draft, Chynoweth wasn’t reluctant in voicing his objections to the way it is conducted.
In the WHL, most owners and general managers look upon it as a necessary evil. But few, if any, enjoy it.
So why not do away with it? Why not just pull the plug on it? Teams no longer are allowed to draft European goaltenders, so why not just dump the draft altogether?
(If you’re wondering, USHL teams are allowed to use import goaltenders, but each one counts as two imports. USHL teams are allowed six import players, but two of them must be Canadians.)
In place of the draft, why not allow teams to list players, just like they do with North American players? Why not allow teams to start listing European players at 16 years of age?
The only difference would be that each team would be allowed to list only a set number of Europeans, say three. There are a gazillion European skaters available, so numbers wouldn’t be an issue.
That would allow teams to scout players, list them and then try to sell them on the organization. If that doesn’t work, the team could simply drop the player from its list and move on.
That also might do away with the messy system now in place where teams can end up with three or four import skaters in their training camp, knowing full well that two of them will have to go.
Seriously, almost anything is better than the system now in place.
However, nothing will change. Why not?
Because, as one general manager told Taking Note, “The OHL and QMJHL would never agree. They like their dominance in that draft.”
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IMPORT DRAFT NOTES:

The Portland Winterhawks selected one player, taking Swedish F Samuel Fagemo, 17, with the 28th pick. One WHL general manager told Taking Note that Fagemo is “a stud,” but that he doesn’t expect Portland to bring him over until 2018-19. That’s because Portland’s roster already includes two solid imports in Finnish D Henri Jokiharju and Danish F Joachim Blichfeld. . . . Jokiharju was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the NHL draft on Friday. . . . Blichfeld was taken by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2016 draft. . . . Each WHL team is allowed to keep two import players. Were Portland to have Fagemo and Blichfeld in camp and then have Jokiharju come back, they would have two weeks from his return to trade one of the veterans or release Fagemo. “And,” said the GM, “they aren’t going to trade Blichfeld.” . . .
The Vancouver Giants selected Slovakian F Milos Roman with the fifth pick and are hoping that he slots into their top six forwards. They took German F Yannik Valenti in the second round, 56th overall, but Steve Ewen of Postmedia reports they don’t plan on having him here until 2018-19. “Their thinking,” Ewen writes, “is that they’ll need a boost offensively then, with (Brad) Morrison and (Ty) Ronning graduated and (Tyler) Benson likely playing in the Edmonton Oilers’ system as a 20-year-old. Valenti put up 20 goals and 23 assists in 40 games last season with Jungadler Mannheim, a team in the German Junior League.” . . . Ewen’s story is right here. . . .
A year ago, the Giants had the fourth overall pick and took Czech F Filip Zadina. As Ewen points out, Zadina chose not to report and the Giants dropped him. On Wednesday he was selected by the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads with the 10th pick and quickly tweeted that he is “really excited to be part of great organization.” . . . 
Meanwhile, the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders both selected Nikita Alexandrov in the first round of the CHL import draft. . . . Flint took Russian D Nikita Alexandrov and, a few picks later, Charlottetown took F Nikita Alexandrov, who has played the past five seasons in Germany. . . . Flint’s Alexandrov, who apparently is 6-foot-5 and 155 pounds, is 18. The Islanders’ Alexandrov, who is 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, will turn 17 on Sept. 16.  
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G Michael Herringer, who played out his junior eligibility with the Kelowna Rockets last season, has decided to attend the U of Regina and play for the Cougars. . . . From Comox, B.C., Herringer began his WHL career by playing two games with the Victoria Royals in 2012-13. He played three seasons (2014-17) with the Royals and was their starter each of the past two seasons. In 115 career regular-season appearances, he was 71-29-5, 2.88, .904.
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If you’re a regular here, and even if you aren’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The KHL is only a few days from the opening of training camps for the 2017-18 season. Patrick Conway of Conway’s Russian Hockey Blog has been filling us in on the KHL’s coaches, and he’s back right here with a look at the Chernyshyov Division. This is where veteran coach Mike Keenan is hanging his hat this season.
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Trent Cull is the new head coach of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. Cull takes over from Travis Green, who now is the Canucks’ head coach. . . . Cull, 43, had been an assistant coach with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In fact, he spent eight of the previous 11 seasons with the Crunch. . . . He also spent three seasons (2010-13) as the head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 11:17 PM
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WHL teams select 27 imports ... Ice takes Kohler third overall ... Blades' GM: It's an odd draft ...

The CHL import draft was held on Wednesday, which means a whole lot of general managers held their noses and jumped into the pool.
One who didn’t was Colin Priestner of the Saskatoon Blades. His team has two imports scheduled to return, so Priestner didn’t have to spend “500 hours on the phones and emails” to prepare for the draft.
“It really is an odd draft,” Priestner told Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
“It’s the only draft in the world where you don’t know what the players are. Every team’s got a different list of players from the agents; it’s agent-driven. Some teams are told this player’s under contract in Europe and will not be coming over, and the same player gets drafted five picks later to a big-market team, and suddenly, they don’t have a (European) contract.
“You get told no a lot. You’re calling agents, and you’re getting told no hundreds of times, then you’re seeing these players show up in Ontario or Quebec. It’s frustrating, because there’s no defined list of who’s opting in. The obvious solution to that is an opt-in draft. But the problem with that is, if a player opts in for the CHL draft and someone takes him in a small town in Quebec he doesn’t want to go to, he’ll just stay in Europe. It’s a frustrating situation for all our managers to go through, because you really don’t know who’s available.”
This isn’t new to this draft; it’s been going on since Noah first set sale. In fact, former Kootenay Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth talked about this exact thing for years and for a while even chose not to participate.
For whatever reason, though, the CHL chooses to maintain the status quo, other than banning the selection of goaltenders, that is.
Anyway . . . Mitchell’s complete story with Priestner is right here.
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The OHL’s Barrie Colts had the first pick in Wednesday’s CHL import draft and, as expected, took Russian F Andrei Svechnikov, who already is being seen as a potential No. 1 selection in the NHL’s 2018 draft.
Last season, he had 29 goals and 29 assists in 48 games with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.
The CHL’s 60 teams combined to take 72 players, with 22 WHL teams taking 27 players, and don’t forget that the picking of goaltenders is verboten.
What follows is a team-by-team look at the WHL’s 22 teams and how they fared. Note that I use a different numbering system than most teams. When a team passes on a pick, I don’t give it a number because no player was selected. This means that, for example, while the CHL will say that the Regina Pats took F Emil Oksanen with the 120th selection, he actually was the 70th player chosen. Yes, there were a total of 48 passes in this draft.
Anyway . . . here we go:
Kootenay Ice — 3. F Gilian Kohler (2000), Switzerland. . . . Had eight goals and a league-high 42 assists in 43 games with a U-20 team in Switzerland last season. Also had a goal and five assists in 21 games with Switzerland’s U-18 team. . . . 55. D Martin Bodak (1998), Slovakia. . . . Has played the past two seasons in Finland. . . . Last season, he had seven goals and 15 assists in 38 games with Tappara’s U-20 team. . . . These are the first import selections by the Ice’s new owners — Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell. . . . This would seem to indicate that Russian D Nikita Radzivilyuk won’t return for a second season.
Vancouver Giants — 5. F Milos Roman (1999), Slovakia. . . . Had four goals and two assists in 29 games last season with HC Frydek-Mistek, a pro team in the second tier of pro hockey there. . . . Also had five assists in four games for Slovakia at last summer’s Ivan Hlinka Memorial. . . . He is represented by Gerry Johansson of Edmonton-based The Sports Corporation, which is where former Giants GM Scott Bonner now works. . . . 56. F Yannik Valenti (2000), Germany. . . . Had 20 goals and 23 assists with Jungadler Mannheim’s U-19 side. . . . Was pointless in three games with Germany at the U-18 Worlds (Division I Group A). . . . The two selections would seem to indicate that Dutch F Bartek Bison, 19, won’t be back. He was acquired last season from the Prince George Cougars.
Prince Albert Raiders — 8. F Dominik Bokk (2000), Germany. . . . Had 34 goals and 37 assists in 41 games with Kolner EC, a U-19 team. . . . “He’s considered to be the top talent to come out of Germany since Leon Draisaitl,” Curtis Hunt, the Raiders’ GM, said in a news release. . . . Led the IIHF U1-8 Worlds (Division I Group A) with seven goals and was tied for second in points (10), in five games. . . . The Raiders passed in the second round as they expect Czech D Vojtech Budik, 19, back for a third season.
Edmonton Oil Kings — 11. F Andrei Pavlenko (2000), Belarus. . . . Last season, he had 11 goals and 19 assists with the Belarussian U-18 team. . . . Had two goals and two assists in three games with a U-17 team at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary. . . . Had two goals and one assist in seven games at the U-18 Worlds. Played on line with Oil Kings F Artyom Baltruk . . . With Baltruk returning, Edmonton passed in the second round.
Saskatoon Blades — The Blades passed in both rounds. . . . Czech D Libor Hajek and Russian D Mark Rubinchik both are expected to return.
Spokane Chiefs — 15. F Milos Fafrak (1999), Slovakia. . . . Had 11 goals and 28 assists in 44 games with the Slovakian U-18 team in the U-20 Extraliga. . . . Added two goals and two assists in five games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . 59. D Filip Kral (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Put up four goals and six assists in 13 games with HC Kometa Brno in the Czech U-20 league, then was moved to Kometa Brno in the Czech Extraliga, where he had two assists in 23 games. . . . Neither of the two Czechs from last season — F Pavel Kousal nor F Ondrej Najman — will be back.
Calgary Hitmen — The Hitmen passed as they anticipate having Russian F Andrei Grishakov and D Vladislav Yeryomenko of Belarus back for another go-round.
Brandon Wheat Kings — 20. F Martin Kaut (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Last season, had four goals and 12 assists in 22 games with Pardubice in U-20 Czech league. . . . Also played 26 games with HC Dynamo Pardubice in Czech Elite League. . . . Brandon’s other import is Czech D Daniel Bukac, who will return for a second season.
Red Deer Rebels — 23. F Kristian Reichel (1998), Czech Republic. . . .Had two goals and six assists in 41 games last season with Litvinov (Czech Extraliga). . . . Was pointless in five games at the World Junior Championship. . . . His father, Robert, put up 630 points in 830 regular-season NHL games (1990-2004) split between the Calgary Flames, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs. . . . Red Deer made just the one selection as Russian D Alexander Alexeyev will return for a second season.
Victoria Royals — 26. F Igor Martynov (1999), Belarus. . . . Last season, had four goals and seven assists in 20 games with Belarus’ U-20 team. . . . Played at U-18 World Championship, leading team with three goals and four assists in seven games. . . . Had two assists in five games as Belarus won gold at the U-20 Worlds (Division 1 Group A). . . . Was selected in 2016 import draft by the OHL’s Peterborough Petes but didn’t report. Also was picked by Dinamo Minsk in the third round of the KHL’s 2016 draft. . . . The Royals passed in the second round. Russian F Yan Khomenko, who was acquired from the Moose Jaw Warriors on May 4, is their other import.
Portland Winterhawks — 28. F Samuel Fagemo (2000), 17, Sweden. . . . Last season, played for Frolunda’s U-18 and U-20 teams, totalling 17 goals and 22 assists in 41 games. . . . Had seven points in six games as Sweden won the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. . . . Portland was allowed to pick one import because Finnish D Henri Jokiharju was a first-round selection (Chicago Blackhawks) in the 2017 NHL draft. . . . Also on Portland’s roster is Danish F Joachim Blichfeld. Keep in mind that if the Winterhawks sign Fagemo and he makes the roster, he can’t be traded. That means that if Jokiharju and Blichfeld both return, one of them would have to be moved.
Tri-City Americans — 31. D Roman Kalinichenko (2000), Russia. . . . Played last season for CSKA Moskva’s U-17 side, scoring twice and adding four assists in 29 games. . . . Also played for Russia at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. Was pointless in six games. . . . Is scheduled to play for Russia at Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in August. . . . 61. D Sergei Sapego (1999), Belarus. . . . Last season, he had 20 points, including three goals in 26 games with Belarus’ U-18 team and one assist in 12 games with the U-20 team. He had a goal and an assist in seven games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . The Americans’ roster also includes Finnish D Juuso Valimaki, who was a first-round pick by the Calgary Flames in the NHL’s 2017 draft, and they are expecting veteran Russian D Vladislav Lukin, 20, at training camp.
Swift Current Broncos — The Broncos passed in both rounds as Finnish F Aleksi Heponiemi and Russian Artyom Minulin are expected to return.
Kamloops Blazers — 36. Justin Sigrist (1999), Switzerland. . . . Last season, he had nine goals and 22 assists in 41 games with the GCK Lions, a U-20 team in the Elite Junior A League. . . . Added a goal and two assists in five games at the U-18 Worlds. . . . Twin sister Shannon played for Switzerland at 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Kamloops. . . . Czech D Ondrej Vala will be back for a third season, so the Blazers passed in the second round.
Moose Jaw Warriors — 39. D Oleg Sosunov (1998), Russia . . . They say that he’s 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds, so he could have an impact in the Eastern Conference. . . . Last season, he was pointless in 32 games with Loko Yaroslav of the MHL. . . . The Tampa Bay Lightning selected him in the sixth round of the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . With Russian D Dmitri Zaitsev returning, Moose Jaw passed on its second selection.
Lethbridge Hurricanes — 42. F Yegor Zudilov (2000), Russia. . . . Had 31 goals and 34 assists in 36 games with Avangard Omsk’s U-17 team last season. . . . Won’t turn 17 until Sept. 10. . . . Russian D Igor Merezhko will return for a third season, so Lethbridge passed in the second round. F Ebor Babenko, 20, also is on the Hurricanes’ roster.

Kelowna Rockets — 45. D Libor Zaransky (2000), Czech Republic. . . . Last season, had nine goals and 26 assists with HC Kometa Brno’s U-20 side. . . . Son of D Libor Zabransky, who was taken by the St. Louis Blues in ninth round of NHL’s 1995 draft . . . 67. F Marek Skvrne (1999), Czech Republic. . . . Was a teammate of Zaransky’s with Kometa Brno. Had eight goals and 13 assists in 21 games. . . . The Rockets’ roster also includes Czech F Tomas Soustal, 20.
Prince George Cougars — 48. F Vladislav Mikhalchuk (1999), Belarus. . . . Had 14 goals and 21 assists in 31 games in the U-18 program last season, and also had four assists in 13 games with the U-20 team. . . . Helped a team from Belarus win the Mac’s midget event in Calgary, putting up six goals and three assists in seven games. . . . The Cougars passed in the second round, as Russian F Nikita Popugaev is expected to return.
Seattle Thunderbirds — 50. F Nikita Malukhin (2000), Russia. . . . Last season, had four goals and two assists in 28 games with Irbis Kazan (MHL). . . . The Thunderbirds will have Finnish F Sami Moilanen back for a second season, so they passed in the second round. . . . Danish F Alexander True, 20, likely won’t return as a two-spotter. He scored the championship-clinching goal in Game 6 in Regina as the Thunderbirds won their first WHL title. . . . His brother, Oliver, 17, was picked yesterday by the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.
Everett Silvertips — 52. F Martin Fasko-Rudas (2000), Slovakia. . . . Last season, he had 15 points, including eight goals, in 31 games with Slovakia’s U-18 team in a U-20 league. . . . Also had a goal and three assists in two games with HK Dukla Trencin’s U-20 team. . . . 70. F Pavel Azhgirei (2000), Belarus. . . . Won’t turn 17 until July 12. . . . Shown at 6-foot-6 and 192 pounds . . . Last season, he had five goals and five assists in 34 games with Belarus’ U-17 team, and also had three assists in 13 games with the U-20 team. . . . Finnish F Eetu Tuulola won’t be back for a second season, while Austrian F Dominic Zwerger has used up his junior eligibility.
Medicine Hat Tigers — 53. F Mick Kohler (1998), Germany. . . . The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder had 60 points, including 16 goals, in 31 games with Kolner EC’s U-19 team, and had two goals and two assists in 20 games with Dresdner Eislowen (DEL 2). . . . 71. D Linus Nassen (1998), Sweden. . . . He had 16 points, including three goals, with Lulea’s U-20 team, and also had a goal and an assist in 21 games with Lulea of the SHL. . . . Was selected by Brandon in the 2016 import draft but didn’t report . . . Was a third-round selection by the Florida Panthers in the NHL’s 2016 draft. . . . F Swedish F John Dahlstrom, 20, will play professionally at home in 2017-18. Latvian D Kristians Rubins, 20, remains on the Tigers’ roster.
Regina Pats — 54. D Yegor Zamula (2000), Russia. . . . Had three goals and 23 assists in 36 games with U-17 Metallurg Magnitogorsk . . . 72. F Emil Oksanen (1998), Finland. . . . Played professionally last season, putting up 13 goals and six assists in 48 games with Espoo United of the Mestis League. . . . Also had three goals and four assists in seven games with Finland’s U-20 team. . . . Swedish F Filip Ahl won’t return for a second season. The Pats’ roster also includes Russian D Sergey Zborovskiy, 20, who is expected to play in the New York Rangers’ organization.


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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 1:29 PM
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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Silvertips lose import to HPK ... Ferguson cancels fishing trip ... Royals sign assistant coach


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
Western Conference’s top clubs, will play each other during the regular season. . . . They’ll play in Portland on Oct. 14 and 15, before heading for Kelowna and games on Oct. 20 and 21. In between, the Rockets will stop in Kennewick, Wash., for a single with the Tri-City Americans on Oct. 17.
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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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
EETU TUULOLA
to the Silvertips from HPK with whom he had signed a three-year contract.
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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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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If you’re a regular here, and even if you aren’t, feel free to make a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching Game


 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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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 9:14 PM
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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Los Angeles draft pick has opportunity to make difference ... Anderson-Dolan ready to be leader in LGBTQ community


One of the 217 selections made in the two-day NHL draft that wrapped up Saturday in Chicago has a chance to have a bigger impact than all the rest combined. The Los Angeles Kings used a second-round
(Photo: @LAKings)
pick, 41st overall, to take F Jaret Anderson-Dolan of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs.
Anderson-Dolan, or JAD as he’s come to be known in this Twitter-ruled world, is from Calgary, where his home life was put together by two mothers — Fran and Nancy.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Anderson-Dolan is a terrific WHL player. The puck follows him around and he makes things happen. He followed a 14-goal, 26-point freshman season by putting up 39 goals and 37 assists in 72 games last season.
He has an impeccable work ethic and is mature beyond his 18 years.
He has said repeatedly that he is quite prepared to get involved with the LGBTQ movement. Last season, for a Feb. 26 game against the visiting Kelowna Rockets, he used Pride Tape on a stick for a game. It was all part of a program known as Hockey is for Everyone. His teammates quickly followed suit for the warmup and some, including JAD, kept the tape on for the game.
He was featured in a number of stories from the draft. Here’s what he told Jon Rosen of lakingsinsider.com about living in a two-mother household:
(PHOTO: @spokanechiefs)
“For me, growing up it was really normal. Obviously, I don’t know any other way of growing up. Even though people may say obviously it’s a little bit different, but for me it’s completely normal. For me it kind of gives you a little bit of perspective, just how much the world is changing. I think it’s come a long way in the past couple years, so it’s really cool to be in this situation and have a voice in the community that way.”
He provided Rosen with some insight into his youth, with this:
“Growing up, Nancy, she has her own business with food addiction treatment, so I was raised in a house where we eat well and eat organic food and things like that, so for me, it’s just kind of a habit, just talking about things you can do to get an advantage of your opponent. If I’m disciplined with that, then maybe it’ll give me a little bit of an advantage. I was raised in a house where we eat right, so it’s pretty easy for me.”
He also is a leader, witness his wearing an ‘A’ with the Chiefs and being named captain of Canada’s team at the U-18 worlds.
“It meant a lot,” he told Rosen. “Just to represent Canada is a huge honor. Being named captain was a huge honor, and it was something that was really exciting. I think you learn from your parents. Fran was a leader on almost every hockey team she played for, so I think just being raised right, a lot of credit to my parents. For me, I just try to lead by example.”

With Anderson-Dolan opening up a world of new marketing opportunities for hockey, it will be interesting to see how the WHL handles this situation.
In May, Josh Horton, then with the Spokane Spokesman-Review, wrote a feature on Anderson-Dolan that included this:
“When Anderson-Dolan was going through the WHL bantam draft process, some teams told him and his family they would not take him because of his two mothers.
“Anderson-Dolan, with the talent to be picked in the top five of the draft, slipped all the way to No. 14 to Spokane.”
Anderson-Dolan told Horton:
“I can’t change people’s opinions. If that’s how they feel about it, I’d honestly rather not be in that organization if they’re going to be like that. I’d rather be in an organization with the Chiefs where they support it completely.
“Maybe that ended up with me falling in the draft a little bit, but I don’t really care, honestly.”
What do the Kings think?
Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times tweeted this quote, from Mark Yannetti, the Kings’ director of amateur scouting: “If anyone has a problem, they should screw themselves and find another job. . . . He has two loving, wonderful parents.”
(It may be only a coincidence that in the week leading up to the draft, Los Angeles added former Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur to its coaching staff as an assistant.)
Interestingly, while all sorts of radio, TV, newspaper and Internet-based reporters were writing about Anderson-Dolan’s home life, a pre-draft feature that was posted on the WHL’s website (whl.ca) on June 19 doesn’t mention it, his mothers or the role his prepared to play away from the arena.
No matter, though, because as JAD told Horton:
“I’m proud of my moms. I’m proud of my uncles, my aunties, everyone I know that is openly gay. I have no shame about it, and neither do they.”
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Meanwhile, in Saskatoon, the Blades, including president Steve Hogle, spent Saturday showing support for that city’s LGBTQ community.




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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 4:14 PM
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Sunday, June 18, 2017

Hitmen closing in on GM/head coach? ... Calgary signs draft pick ... Ex-WHLers in NHL coaching mix


F Ian McDonald (Tri-City, 2000-06) has signed a one-year contract with Gherdëina Selva Val Gardena (Italy, Alps HL). Last season, with Corona Brașov (Romania, MOL Liga), he had 26 goals and 36 assists in 38 games. He led his team in assists and was fourth in the league’s scoring race. . . .
F Martin Erat (Saskatoon, Red Deer, 1999-2001) has signed a one-year extension with Kometa Brno (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Last season, he had 13 goals and 23 assists in 39 games. . . .
F Jared Aulin (Kamloops, 1997-2002) has signed a one-year extension with Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland, NL B). Last season, he had 19 goals and 35 assists in 47 games. . . .
F Brett Sonne (Calgary, 2004-10) has signed a one-year contract with Angers (France, Ligue Magnus). Last season, he had 10 goals and 21 assists in 37 games with Herlev (Denmark, Metal Ligaen). . . . Angers’ head coach is Brett’s older brother, Brennan (Everett, Red Deer, Edmonton, 2005-08; assistant coach Everett, 2014-17).
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 Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
To all who took the time to offer congratulations after Taking Note was awarded a Paul Carson Award for a third straight year, thank you so much. It really means a lot.
There is no doubt in my mind that the best part of social media — like Facebook and Twitter — is the way it allows people to be in touch and to stay in touch. Once again, this all was proof of that.
Thanks again.
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The Calgary Hitmen have signed F Ryder Korczak to a WHL contract. He was a second-round selection in the WHL’s 2017 bantam draft. Last season, he had 27 goals and 56 assists in 30 games with the bantam AA Yorkton Terriers. He also played two games with the midget AAA Yorkton Maulers, recording two assists. . . . His older brother, Kaedan, was a first-round selection by the Kelowna Rockets in the 2016 bantam draft. Kaedan, a defenceman, played four regular-season and five playoff games with Kelowna last season.
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Meanwhile, the Hitmen continue their search for a general manager and a head coach.
They need a GM after the parent Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation moved Mike Moore, who also had been vice-president of business operations, to vice-president and alternate governor on May 15. Moore, a veteran of 20 seasons in the WHL, 10 of them with Calgary, had been the GM through four seasons.
The Hitmen need a head coach because Mark French, who signed a multi-year extension a year ago, left late last month to take over as head coach of the Fribourg-Gottéron Dragons of Swizerland’s NL A. French had spent three seasons as Calgary’s head coach.
There has been speculation that the Hitmen have shown interest in having Tim Hunter fill both positions. Hunter, 56, is preparing for his fourth season as the head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who announced on June 2 that he had signed a contract extension, the length of which wasn’t revealed.
It’s doubtful that the Warriors would release Hunter from his contract were he to move to another coaching position, but they almost certainly would let him go were he to take a GM/head coach job.
Hunter has some history with Calgary, having played nine full seasons (1983-92) and parts of two others with the Flames, who, like the Hitmen, are controlled by CSEC.
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Former WHL/NHL tough guy Rudy Poeschek now is facing a charge of failing to appear in court after missing a June 2 court date at which he was to have been tried on a charge of breaching probation. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. . . . Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week has more right here.
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As you were laying in bed last night, you were wondering: Whatever happened to Peter Pocklington? . . . Well, the man who traded Wayne Gretzky — or did he sell him? — from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings is living in Palm Desert, Calif., and continuing to ponder ways to make money. Marty Klinkenberg has a look at Pocklington right here.
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If you’re a regular here, and even you aren’t, feel free to contribute to the feeding of the Drinnan family by making a donation to the cause. You are able to do so by clicking on the DONATE button and going from there.
BTW, if you want to contact me with some information or just feel like commenting on something, you may email me at greggdrinnan@gmail.com.
I’m also on Twitter (@gdrinnan).
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Coaching

 The NHL’s Minnesota Wild are searching for an assistant coach to replace former NHL hitter Scott Stevens, who left the team after the season. According to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis StarTribune, Bob Woods, a former WHL player who did a turn as the Saskatoon Blades’ GM/head coach, “is the likely frontrunner.” . . . That’s because Woods has a long history with Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau, having coached alongside him with the AHL’s Hershey Bears and the NHL’s Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks. . . . Woods spent last season as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, but they have a new general manager (Jason Botterill) and a new head coach (Phil Housley) so change is in the wind. . . . Russo also speculates that a couple of other former WHLers — Ryan McGill and Dean Chynoweth — may be in the mix in Minnesota. McGill is the head coach of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack. Chynoweth didn’t coach last season after spending the previous season as the head coach of the San Antonio Rampage, the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. . . . According to Russo, Boudreau wants “a former defenceman with NHL experience.” McGill and Chynoweth both played and coached in the NHL.
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Posted by Gregg Drinnan at 10:25 PM
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