Week two of the season is in the books and it is still hard to get a read on the league. This week saw a stream of players returning from NHL camps so perhaps we will get a better handle on who is good and who is in trouble in the week ahead. There were some trades, some surprising starts, a lot of blow outs and some rookie milestones this week. Here’s what you need to know:
Contenders stumble out of the gate
Before the season, the Portland Winterhawks, Calgary Hitmen and Victoria Royals were all expected to set the standards in their respective conferences. After this weekend those three have stumbled out to a combined 2-11 start. Portland and Victoria have to be concerned with the amount of goals they have given up to start the season. Victoria is 1-4 and has allowed 25 goals and Portland is winless on the year after dropping a 6-4 affair Sunday night to Everett. Portland’s goals allowed swelled to a beefy 26 with the loss, their fifth straight.
Victoria’s troubles have come against Kamloops—expected to finish at the bottom of the standings. The Royals have taken on the Blazers three times already, losing twice in blowouts in which they allowed 14 goals.
The Winterhawks’ early season stumbles were easy to explain away by the number of players they were missing from NHL camps. But this week they saw most of those guys back. Goalie Brendan Burke, Chase De Leo and Anton Cederholm were all in action but the results were the same. Oliver Bjorkstrand was released by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday and should be in the lineup this week. The problem is that neither Bjorkstrand, or Nic Petan who is still with Winnipeg, play defence. Portland is weak on the back end and it’s something they are going to have to improve if they wish to win that 5th straight conference title.
Rockets and Wheaties soaring early
At the other end of the spectrum, the Kelowna Rockets and Brandon Wheat Kings have been blowing the doors off of everybody.
Brandon is 4-0 and has averaged more than five goals per game. The Wheat Kings have had good starts from guys like Ryan Pilon (two goals, six points) and Jesse Gabrielle (four goals, five points) and this past weekend their NHL guys came back, helping them to two wins. Jayce Hawrluk returned from Florida Panthers camp to pot three goals and John Quenneville returned from New Jersey’s camp and quickly racked up four points. It’s early yet, but the Wheaties have made an early statement to the teams in the East.
Kelowna has won all three games played and is off two lop-sided wins. The Rockets were in Prince George and beat the Cougars 7-2 on Friday and 8-2 on Saturday. They’ve scored 21 times and have only surrendered five goals. They have six players who have already scored two or more goals, led by Tyson Baillie’s four lamp-lighters. With Portland and Victoria starting slow, things are looking good in Kelowna.
Wheeling and dealing
The Everett Silvertips made the splashiest move of the week by picking up Nikita Scherbak from Saskatoon. They have yet to see the high-flying Russian in action, but their time is coming—Scherbak was returned to Everett by Montreal on Sunday. Everett made another trade this week as they shipped Zane Jones to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2015. Jones was acquired by the Silvertips at last year’s trade deadline after playing previously for Calgary.
With teams having a couple of weeks left before having to get down to their league limit of three 20-year-olds, there were a couple of notable over-agers swapped. Calgary sent Mike Winther to Kamloops in exchange for a fourth-round daft pick in 2015 and a sixth-rounder in 2017. Winther had previously played for Prince Albert before arriving in Calgary.
The Hitmen weren’t finished. They shipped import player Pavel Padakin to Regina for a third-round pick in 2017. Padakin was expected to play in the KHL this season with HC Donbass Donetsk in the Ukraine. The political unrest in that region forced him back to Canada as the club’s home arena was destroyed by pro-Russian forces—forcing them to shut down for the season.
The Seattle Thunderbirds traded Sam McKechnie to the Saskatoon Blades for a conditional sixth-round pick in next year’s draft. The move leaves Seattle with four 20-year-olds still on the roster so they still have some work to do before the deadline.
I'm looking forward to joining the Saskatoon Blades @BladesHockey . Can't wait!
— Sam Mckechnie (@sammck12) September 25, 2014
Player of the week
Carson Stadnyk, RW, Everett Silvertips He was huge for Everett, picking up three goals and four assists in two games. The seven points from the Saskatoon native helped the Silvertips sweep Portland in back-to-back games. Everett needs goals and if Stadnyk can give them some secondary scoring to support Scherbak, the Silvertips will be tough to beat.
Runners up Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry returned to the Oil Kings and picked up two impressive wins for the defending champs—making 61 saves and only allowing two goals over the weekend. Kelowna’s Tyson Baillie scored three times over the weekend to pace the Rockets.
2015 NHL Draft tracker
Our weekly look at notable performances by the WHL’s top draft-eligible players
Nick Merkley, C, Kelowna Rockets The reigning WHL Rookie of the Year picked up a goal and three assists this week for the charging Rockets. He also showed up on NHL Central Scouting’s watch list as an “A” prospect, indicating he is projected as a first-round pick.
Alec Baer, C, Vancouver Giants Got on the score sheet for the Giants Sunday with a goal and an assist. He also took part in U.S.A. Hockey’s All-American Prospects game in Buffalo on Thursday.
Jesse Gabrielle, LW, Brandon Wheat Kings Off to a strong, four-goal start for the Wheat Kings, adding fire power to an already loaded roster. Ttwo points in two Brandon wins this week.
Ryan Pilon, D, Brandon Wheat Kings Pilon leads the Wheat Kings in scoring so far and is off to the early league lead in scoring for defencemen. He added a goal and two assists in Brandon’s 6-3 win against Saskatoon on Friday.
Frosh Week
Both Regina’s Sam Steel and Vancouver’s Tyler Benson picked up their first WHL goals this weekend, but both are looking up in the rookie scoring race to 17-year-old Devon Sideroff of the Kamloops Blazers. Sideroff has already potted three goals on the season and leads all WHL rookies in scoring.
For those of you not in the building, check out Tyler Benson's first WHL goal! #hockey #Vancouver… http://t.co/XIqGkmJl9J
— Vancouver Giants (@WHLGiants) September 27, 2014
Bits and bites
The NHL released its Central Scouting watch list earlier in the week. This is one of the first looks at which 2015 NHL Draft prospects are on the radar. The WHL had 39 players on Cedntral Scouting’s watch list.
Nachbaur with milestone win
Spokane head man Don Nachbaur picked up his 600th career victory this week when the Chiefs beat the Tri City Americans. He is the fourth coach in the history of the WHL to reach the mark. He has previously coached the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Tri City Americans.