U.S. Division

Red, White and Blue Report: U.S. Division mostly quiet at deadline

Written by DUBNetwork on

The WHL trade deadline passed on Tuesday afternoon with little noise made by the five U.S. Division teams. While there was tons of excitement in the B.C. Division and in the Eastern Conference, the American teams had done their work in the days leading up to the deadline.

First place Everett made the biggest splash of all the U.S. teams in picking up Aaron Irving from Edmonton last week. Seattle added some depth while Spokane made a slew of moves that seemed aimed at next year and beyond. Portland made a couple of minor deals while the Tri City Americans were the definition of standing pat.

So now the rosters are set for the second half.

It should be a good one. Everett still has command of the division but they were in a similar place last year. Will the addition of Irving stave off a second half run by Tri City or Seattle? The schedule sets up for a lot of inter-division games from here on out so there could be movement for sure. One thing we do know, there will be a lot of fun match ups as the teams push Everett and jockey for playoff seeding.

Here’s the latest news surrounding the U.S. Division teams:

Everett Silvertips (25-5-6-1)

Adding Irving to an already stellar defensive group is going to make playing Everett that much tougher. Irving, a 20-year-old, comes with a ton of experience and some offensive skill from the blue line. His 43 points that he brings over from Edmonton is the most of any Silvertip defenseman and he’ll surely become a fixture on Everett’s top power-play unit. The Silvertips paid for him. They had to send the Oil Kings a first round pick in 2018 along with forwards Brett Kemp and Graham Millar. Along with Irving, Edmonton sent a seventh round pick back to Everett. The first rounder was big and so was giving up Kemp, who had shown a great deal of potential for a 16-year-old. Irving made his debut with Everett last Friday in a 4-3 overtime loss at Seattle. He played a ton of minutes but then showed up listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury on the injury list. It’s unclear when that occured but the injury doesn’t seem to be a serious one. Everett will be back in action Wednesday night against Spokane and then has a rematch with Seattle at home on Saturday.

Tri City Americans (25-17-3-0)

Tri City didn’t make any trades at this year’s deadlines but have been busy on the ice. The team is in the middle of their Eastern Conference swing and have been playing well. They’ve started the trip with three straight wins and have won five-of-six since the holiday break. With those wins they have crept to within four points of first place Everett — the Silvertips do have eight games in hand. Michael Rasmussen has scored twice on the swing so far, bringing his season total to 29 goals. He also made some news, showing up as the 11th highest rated NHL Draft prospect on Sportsnet’s January draft rankings. The Americans are defying logic in some ways as they don’t have the best posession numbers but are still finding a way to score goals. They average just under 3.5 markers per game while allowing just as many. Can they keep that up? They’re going to have to if they have visions of reeling in Everett for the division lead.

Seattle Thunderbirds (21-14-3-1)

The Thunderbirds made a couple of depth moves just before the New Year. They added defensemen Aaron Hyman and Austin Strand in separate deals to bolster their young blue line. So far they are 3-0 since adding Strand and if they are going to make ground in the division they will get their chance in January. Their 4-3 overtime win over the first place Silvertips was the first of five meetings the two teams will have this month. Seattle didn’t find the blockbuster trade this year but perhaps they consider getting Mathew Barzal back from the World Junior Championships as a good trade deadline addition. Barzal has only appeared in 12 games with Seattle this year and they went 8-2-2 in those games so good things could be on the horizon. Seattle has struggled of late to finish chances and have been especially bad on the power play. When they head to Everett on Saturday they do so on a 2-for-31 slump. Barzal will be back working the half-boards so perhaps there will be a resurgence?

Portland Winterhawks (21-18-1-0)

There was a lot of speculation heading into the deadline about whether or not Portland would sell. They hold a playoff spot right now but are looking like a wild card team. Defenseman Caleb Jones was their biggest chip but the gold-medal winning American player is staying in the Rose City for the rest of the year. The Winterhawks made a couple of minor deals at the deadline. With open over-aged spots they added defenseman Shaun Dosanjh from Lethbridge and then added 20-year-old forward Matt Revel from the Kamloops Blazers. Revel is currently injured and on long-term IR but there are reports he should return before the season’s end. Portland also moved 17-year-old blue liner Jake Hobson to Swift Current for a fifth-round draft pick. Due some crazy winter weather, the Winterhawks have not played a game since New Year’s Eve. They had to cancel two home games this past weekend and just Monday had another foot of snow dumped on the city. Hopefully that melts in time for their scheduled home game with Spokane this Friday.

Spokane Chiefs (17-17-5-2)

The Chiefs were the busiest of all the U.S. teams at the trade deadline. After a couple of moves last week, they continued by moving forward Curtis Miske to Prince Albert in exchange for a 2018 fourth-round draft pick. Spokane wasn’t done however and moved Tanner Wishnowski to Prince George for an eighth-round pick. The Chiefs also placed 16-year-old rookie Koby Morriseau to the long-term injured list. It’s been a tough year for the former 10th overall Bantam pick. He suffered a head injury in the preseason and then another in December. On the ice, the Chiefs continue to be the up and down squad you would expect for such a young roster. They split a pair of games with Kootenay last week in which they twice topped the 50 shot mark only to lose their next game against Seattle where they were out-shot 22-11 in the third period. With the way the rest of the division and conference are shaping up, the Chiefs are in danger of missing out on the post season.